Day Fourty-Four

Today's Weigh-In: 215.1 lbs.

I'm still maintaining a slow but steady weight-loss of about a pound per week. Pretty happy about that. My energy in the gym and recovery capacity hasn't been awesome, to be perfectly honest, but I knew going into this that I would have to make some trade-offs to achieve this goal. In the past when I started to have trouble recovering I would end up eating more, but that would stall my weight-loss efforts, so I would basically stagnate. But this time I have one goal, and that's weight loss with as little strength/muscle loss as possible, and so I know that having to reduce my volume and stick to the basics is a necessary thing. I really like being in the gym and training, so it's hard mentally, but once I hit my goal and ramp up my calories I'll be able to ramp the volume back up.

Right now I'm mostly focused on hitting my strength work (back squat, bench press, shoulder press, deadlifts, and Olympic lifting) consistently and only adding in as much conditioning as I feel I can recover from, which right now is about 2 really short (5-10 minutes) workouts a week. I've been doing a version of CheatMode on my workout days, fasting for 16-18 hours, eating one meal, hitting my workout, and then eating the rest of my food (including higher carbs) after. On non-workout days I've still been mostly doing the fasts but eating lower-carb and spreading things out more evenly, and just eating less food. It's definitely working; the numbers don't lie, and I'm leaner visually (can see my ribs more clearly, and shoulders look more cut). Still got a long ways to go, but if I can keep up this momentum I will definitely hit my goals.

Day Thirty-Two

Today's Weigh-In: 217.4 lbs.

Well, I lost 4 pounds this month. Less than I wanted, but hey, it's still 4 pounds gone. If I can keep it up I'll be at my goal in 5 months instead of 3, but if that's what it takes then fine.

Not much to report. Doing pretty well overall. I have made one fairly big change in my lifestyle recently which was to stop consuming liquor completely, and to limit myself to a 2-drink maximum when drinking wine or beer. This should help me get through those weekend get-togethers without blowing through my calorie limits with non-nutritious booze (and bad food decisions made as a result). I had been drinking 4-5 drinks per night, mostly whiskey, which I knew was too much but didn't care. Now I care, so we'll see how it goes.

I've been asked to help judge an Olympic weightlifting meet tomorrow, which should be fun. I've competed once before but never judged, but I'll be excited to meet some other local people who are into this (unfortunately not very popular) sport.

I'm trying to fill my time with as much gym-time as I can. It keeps me accountable, and it keeps my mind focused on my goals. Even when I have to drag myself out of bed to go I know I will feel awesome when I'm done. We have a great community of people and friends at Crossfit 714, and they inspire me to push my limits, so the more time I spend around them the better.

Anyways, that's all for May. I'm hoping June will be a bit better due to my modifications, and If I can hit 211 by July I'll be pretty happy.