Day 29

Workout: Elliptical HR:120/60 minutes
Nutrition: Calories: 2076 / Protein: 276 / Carbs: 0 / Fat: 104
Weight: 179.8

I'll start by saying - I've never ever finished a day with 0 carbs before ever.  I didn't mean to, here's how the day went.

10am: BCAAs on the way to the gym.  Did 60 minutes elliptical while holding my HR around 120.  Nice pretty easy workout.

Noon: BCAAs driving home.

3pm: Can of Chicken with mustard and salt and pepper.  It wasn't my first choice, but I was at my parent's house and looking for anything to eat.

Calories: 350 / Protein: 60 / Carbs: 0 / Fat: 8

6pm: My mom came home and insisted on cooking for me since I was visiting.  She plopped down a 32oz steak (28oz after I cut off the fat) in front of me and I ate it all.  Nothing else.  Crazy meal.  I hope the cow ate a bunch of veggies or something.

Calories: 1600 / Protein: 184 / Carbs: 0 / Fat: 86

That's it for the day.  Nothing big going on, I am feeling pretty lean, I am determined to stick with this 3200/1800 breakdown for the next 31 days and see what happens.

Day 28

Workout: StrongLifts A
Nutrition: Calories: 3020 / Protein: 209 / Carbs: 221 / Fat: 99
Weight: 178.8

9:30am: Took some BCAA's and my supps on the way to the gym to meet my lifting partner, Joe.  Solid workout, although we ran out of time.  The first 3 compounds take a lot of time with 3 minutes between sets, but that shit is getting so heavy for me, I need all 3 minutes!

Squat:
5x280
5x280
5x280
5x280
5x280

Bench:
5x170
5x170
4x170
2x170
5x150

Row:
5x190
5x190
5x190
5x190
5x190

Machine Fly: (Rest/Pause)
12x110
9x110
8x110

Machine Incline Chest Press: (Rest/Pause)
15x90
12x90
9x90

Noon: Took another 10g of BCAA's while my friends devoured pizza.  UGH.  Not my most fun LeanGains moment honestly, but I was planning on going out tonight, so needed to slide my window ahead a bit to keep at least reasonably close to my 8 hours (more like 10 today.)

2pm: Broke fast with a monster meal.  The cheesecake was kind of crappy since I forgot to add the Stevia when I was mixing it, which sucks.  I ate half of it, before realizing that it just wasn't worth it.  Then ate 4oz cream cheese with a fork, 2 yogurts and nearly a pound and a half of green grapes.

Calories: 1292 / Protein: 96 / Carbs: 193 / Fat: 6


4pm: While working, I snacked on 4oz sharp cheddar cheese.

Calories: 400 / Protein: 28 / Carbs: 0 / Fat: 32


6pm: Made a meat lovers omelet and some cheesey broccoli for dinner before going out.  Awesome.

Calories: 836 / Protein: 61 / Carbs: 8 / Fat: 61


9pm-11pm(ish): Met a girl out for some drinks.  Had a great time and factored this in to my day to keep things close.  4 light beers, not bad damage.

Calories: 408 / Protein: 3 / Carbs: 20 / Fat: 0


Overall, a good day, with a great evening.  I was a little disappointed on missing a couple sets of my planned "A" workout, but I'll get them on Monday.  My lifting partner likes doing only the first main core sets, and not the assistance work so much, so I'll stay after, or do them at home if I want to knock it out.   I didn't make 170lbs 5x5 on my bench sadly, I'll go for it again Monday - maybe this week, I'm feeling stronger.

After 28 days, I feel lean, although, not as lean as I'd like to be.  I think I should be further along.  Still, I'll hold steady to the program.  I ran a different formula to check my BMR and came up with 2750, higher than I'm really thinking.  I think with all the slow cardio I'm doing extra, I'm probably peeling it off, but slowly.  It's ok, slow and steady wins the race.

or something.

Day 27

Workout: Elliptical 60min (held HR at 110), Bike 15min, Walk 45min (held HR 110 with elevation changes)
Nutrition: Calories: 1757 / Protein: 186 / Carbs: 23 / Fat: 101
Weight: 180.8

2pm: Broke fast with a meat lovers omelet again.  Nothing much to say here, I freaking love it.  Added broccoli on the side for some green stuff.

Calories: 755 / Protein: 53 / Carbs: 9 / Fat: 55

6pm: Just had some xtend while on the treadmill at the gym.  Just 2 scoops/10g.  I did 2 hours of slow paced cardio today.  1 hour on the elliptical using a "fat burn" setting that keeps your heartrate at what you want.  I kept it at 110 - under the 120 it suggested for my age, but thinking I'm safter burning slightly less and drinking some BCAA's.

8pm: Stopped by McDonalds on the way to meeting some friends for some cheap protein.  3 Grilled chicken patties.  Then met some buddies to watch some baseball and had a dozen hot wings on wing night.

Calories: 960 / Protein: 122 / Carbs: 14 / Fat: 46


My buddy Joe is in the process of searching for some cheaper bulk BCAA's we can take since I'd like to actually do more, more often when doing low calorie days and walking a lot on top of that.  I was thinking get some unflavored cheap stuff and mix up a huge batch with koolaid flavor?  I dunno, but that'd taste good I think.  Something to think about.

I'm feeling a bit light headed today actually, not sure if it's from all the slow cardio and a low calorie day or what.  When reading other leangains blogs, I find that Martin doesn't recommend keto on low carb days - more like 100g, but since I've done keto on and off for years now with no problems, I was assuming it wouldn't be a big deal, but I totally have some brain fog happening right now.  I'm going to see if it passes, if not, I'll do some more carbs on Thursday for my next rest day.

Day 26

Day 26
Workout: StrongLifts B, Walk 3mph/0%/30min, Walk 3mph/5%/90min
Nutrition: Calories: 3212 / Protein: 306 / Carbs: 235 / Fat: 101
Weight: 178.8

Feeling leaner than I've been in a while this morning when I got up to go to the gym and take my progress pic.  Nice feeling.

9:30am: Sipped 10g BCAA's and a tank of coffee heading to the gym for my weights workout with Joe.  Numbers were good - including a new PR on deads.

Barbell Shoulder Press:
5x105
5x105
5x105
4x105
5x95 (barely)

Dead Lift:
5x305 (In the 300's now!)

Shrug:
10x280
10x280
10x280

Weighted Dips:  (first time using my belt - only 10lbs to make sure I don't go crashing onto the floor)
8x10lbs
10x10
10x10

Chins: (no weights here until I get to at least 10 full extension chins on the first set)
8
7
5

I had a second 10g of BCAA's at a chinese restaurant while watching my lifting buddy kill a general tso's feast.  That was not super cool.

2pm: Broke my fast with a whole crustless cheesecake I made yesterday for my post workout feast.  Man, it's so good, I stopped at the grocery and bought the stuff to make one tomorrow for my Wed feast.  Damn.

Calories: 1236 / Protein: 143 / Carbs: 101 / Fat: 14

4pm: Just a quick block of cheese while working.

Calories: 320 / Protein: 32 / Carbs: 4 / Fat: 24

6pm: Met some friends out for dinner at a diner near me.  I love love love the chili there and it fits my goal macros well.  Had salmon, broccoli and a lot of chili (6 cups.)

Calories: 1147 / Protein: 106 / Carbs: 83 / Fat: 45

8:30pm: After dinner the boys and me went to go watch some Monday Night Football at a bar that has sweet potato fries.  Luckily for me, I was about 400 calories short.  :)

Calories: 425 / Protein: 4 / Carbs: 47 / Fat: 18

Overall a really strong day, both in workouts and nutrition.  It's actually the first time I think I've had 4 separate meals since starting leangains (all in my 8 hour window.)  I don't plan on eating quite like this normally, but couldn't get enough calories in my 2 big meals to hit my 3200 calorie goal.  I'm jumping on the treadmill tonight for 90 minutes to walk and watch some Smallville I think - catching up on Season 8.

Day 25

Workout: Walk 90 min / 3.5mph / 0 incline
Nutrition: Calories: 1792 / Protein: 173 / Carbs: 23 / Fat: 108
Weight: 180.8

9am: 10g BCAA's on the way to church, followed by plenty of coffee.  I was dragging ass after a late night gig/post-gig hang Saturday.

11:30am: Broke my fast early due to meeting friends for a birthday brunch.  This is what I really love about this system, how it's so simple to move things around, yet still hold steady on the plan.  Went to a diner, where with some adding of ingredients, recreated my meat lovers omelet.  Ham, Sausage, Bacon and cheese man, tastes so good.  I had tomato slices instead of hash browns that looked awesome.

Calories: 768 / Protein: 62 / Carbs: 3 / Fat: 55

4pm: I had  my favorite meal - whey waffles.  I added a couple blueberries, not really even enough to log.  After the waffles, I hit the treadmill for 90 minutes of walking.

Calories: 558 / Protein: 73 / Carbs: 18 / Fat 22

6pm: Leaving for work, I just had a single 1/3 pound 80/20 Angus Beef Patty on the foreman with some sugar free relish and mustard.  Buns are overrated.

Calories: 390 / Protein: 27 / Carbs: 0 / Fat: 31

8pm: I had about the top 1/3 of a single coors light spread out for 3 hours of the Steeler game at a bar with some friends.  During the game, I probably put down about 5 diet cokes :)

Calories: 34 / Protein: 0 / Carbs: 2 / Fat: 0

Overall solid day, I had thought about doing a second "cardio" session, but fell asleep nice and earlish for me on the couch.  Pretty poor sleep actually, I hope to improve on that tomorrow.

In addition, I started the double dose of Yohimbine HCL and Fish Oil - AM and PM versions.  Hoping to cut more fat in the next 5 weeks leading up to Halloween.

Day 24

Workout: Walk 3mph / 5% incline / 2 hours
Nutrition: Calories: 1475 / Protein: 180 / Carbs: 46 / Fat: 60
Weight: 182.0

2pm: Broke my fast with my regular meat lovers omelet.  It was awesome, as always.

Calories: 726 / Protein: 51 / Carbs: 3 / Fat 55

4pm: I knocked out 2 hours on the treadmill while watching some tv.  Fun stuff.  Just walking, trying to keep my heartrate in the lowish target zone.

6pm: Shakeology + 1/4 cup sour cream + 1/3 cup egg whites.  I tried to make a quick creamy ice cream type shakeology treat.  It didn't work. Basically just tasted like Shakeology with crushed ice.

Calories: 240 / Protein: 31 / Carbs: 25 / Fat: 1

8pm: I was at work for ever tonight, and only had a shake with 4 scoops of whey that I always keep in my car for situations like this.  The food options at the casino were horrid.

Calories: 480 / Protein: 96 / Carbs: 12 / Fat: 4

Solid day really, since I realized that I was about 300 calories over my goals for yesterday, I aimed for 300 under today to balance it out.  I probably should have taken some BCAA's and might do that first thing in the morning tomorrow.  I'm writing this at 1:42am and not hungry, but feel extra tired and a little weak.  I will attempt to get up early before church tomorrow and hit the treadmill for a while before breaking my fast early tomorrow at 11am for a friends birthday brunch.

Today's feeding window was only 2pm-8pm, so starting tomorrow at 11 is still keeping a 15 hour fast between days.  Not bad.

Day 23

Workout: StrongLifts A
Nutrition: Calories: 3209 / Protein: 291 / Carbs: 223 / Fat: 122
Weight: 180.6

2pm: Hit the gym much later than expected due to sleeping my lazy butt in this morning.  Squats were up, Bench was down (again....grrrrrrrrrrr....) and on the last set of bench, I failed on the 5th rep and couldn't rack the bar.  Sliding the bar off my self I sliced the crap out of my hand.  I couldn't stop the bleeding, so I went home so I didn't spill my blood all over the gym.  I returned home and knocked out the rest of my workout.  I drank 10g of BCAA's on the way to the gym.

Calories: 42 / Protein: 11 / Carbs: 0 / Fat: 0

Squat:
5x275
5x275
5x275
5x275
5x275

Bench:
5x170
4x170
5x155
5x155
4x155--->major blood loss.

Barbell Row:
5x185
5x185
5x185
5x185
5x185

Incline DB Press:
12x60
12x50
12x40

Machine Fly:
10x50
5x50
5x50

Push-Ups:
25
15
15

Wide Lat Pull-Downs:
15x70
15x70
15x70

4pm: Broke my fast with the beginning of a feast.  I ate the other half of that AMAZING freaking cheesecake and started calculating my macros for the day.  After, I polished off 4 no fat yogurts, which were awesome.  After this - I'm diving into a full plate of whey protein waffles.  Big meal.

Calories: 1967 / Protein: 168 / Carbs: 207 / Fat: 42

7pm: Meeting some friends before my gig for wings.  24 wings should make the calories and macros workout perfectly.

Calories: 1200 / Protein: 112 / Carbs: 16 / Fat: 80


Motivation was pretty high today, but slowed down after my cut on my hand.  Still, totally happy to finish my workout and start the feast.  Gotta go make my waffles!

Day 22

Day 22

Workout: Bike 30 minutes, Treadmill 80 minutes: 3mph/5% incline.
Nutrition: Calories: 1806 / Protein: 171 / Carbs: 21 / Fat: 112
Weight: 181.8

3pm: Broke fast with a meat lovers omelet.  My absolute favorite thing to eat in the world.  Honestly, I love this stuff!

Calories: 726 / Protein: 51 / Carbs: 3 / Fat 55

6pm: Hit the gym for some light walking cardio while I studied, but the power was out, so I hit a bike for 30 minutes instead.  I didn't go hard, since I was studying, but did work up a bit of a sweat for sure.

7:30: I had to hit McDonald's on the way to my rehearsal tonight.  Just picked up my favorite stuff, which hit my macros dead on.  3 Grilled Chicken Patties + 3 McDoubles (no ketchup, no bun) - freaking sweet.

Calories: 1080 / Protein: 120 / Carbs: 18 / Fat: 57

10:30pm: Came home and still feeling chubby, so I threw on some shorts and hit the treadmill.  It felt great, just walking 80 minutes 3mph/5% incline.  Sometimes I'll go up to 10%, but tonight I was just feeling a lighter walk, but longer duration.  Gotta lose this belly - it's killing me!

Overall motivation has been really high the past few days, I hope to keep it this way for 60 and make the end of October on a hardcore streak.  I'm not loving that my weight hasn't dropped in 2 weeks, although I know that's not the point here, however.... I want results NOW.  UGH!

Day 21

Workout: StrongLifts B
Nutrition: Calories : 3178 / Protein 225 / Carbs 229 / Fat 144
Weight: 180.8

10am: Great workout today.  For the first time, we ditched squats from the B workout and added dips and chins.  I'm going to buy a weighted belt for next B session.  Not for chins yet, I figure I'll wait until I can do sets of 10 body weight, then add weight.  Dips I was doing sets of 12 and probably could have managed a few more.  Really fun short workout.  I had 10g BCAA's at about 9:30 and 10g at about noon while in the studio.

2pm: Broke fast at Applebee's after our recording session with an epic meal.  Honestly, I saw it on the menu and was so excited to eat it, I was literally drooling at the bar.  I added some garlic mashed potatoes for the additional carbs and was in heaven.


Calories 1500 / Protein 88 / Carbs 116 / Fat 77

5pm: On the computer working today, just ran out to the kitchen and threw 2 1/3 80/20 patties on the Foreman.  I'll give 1/2 of one to the dog to make my macros work for the day.

Calories: 585 / Protein 41 / Carbs 0 / Fat 47

9pm: Cheesecake.  OK, this is my first ever time attempting cheesecake, here's the recipe - pics to follow after.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/easy-sour-cream-cheesecake/detail.aspxIngredients

• 1 (9 inch) prepared shortbread pie crust

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese

• 1 cup white sugar

• 2 eggs

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 cup sour cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

1. Cream together cream cheese and sugar. Add eggs one at time, blending well. Add vanilla and sour cream. Pour into shortbread crust.

1. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cake jiggles evenly across the top when lightly shaken. Run a knife around the outside edge, but leave the cake in the pan. Let cool on counter, then place in refrigerator. Remove from pan when completely chilled, and serve.

I did make some substitutions (I know - risky on my first ever attempt.)  I want to keep overall calories down and add some protein.  I used 2 blocks of fat free cream cheese (only 240 cal each) and fat free sour cream, used 1/2 cup of calorie free splenda (normally I would use stevia, but I ran out) and added 2 scoops of french vanilla whey.  I licked the spoon from the batter and it was AMAZING, I just hope the baked cake is as good.


I plan on eating 1/2 the cheese cake today, and half after my workout Friday.  Hell yes.


Calories: 1009 / Protein 75 / Carbs 113 / Fat 20


Overall, this is the highest carbs I've had in a while, I'm curious to what the effect (if any) will be.  I'll check in later with a report on the cheesecake.  I'm getting damn excited about eating it!

Day 20

Workout: Walk 60 minutes 5%/3mph
Nutrition: 1800
Weight: 180.8

Dropping the pounds slowly.  Good solid day.  I love chicken wings.  Seriously.

Day 19

Workout: StrongLifts A, T Core Abs, Walk 45 minutes 5%/3mph
Nutrition: 3200
Weight: 181.8

Feeling really good, solid lifting session.  Most went up, but failed again on squats.  I started dropping weight after failure instead of only doing 2 reps or so.  Seemed to help a bit.

Day 18

Workout: Walk 5% incline/3 mph for 60 minutes
Nutrition: 1800
Weight: 183.0

Solid day, just walked and ate wings :)

I'm watching my weight, because it hasn't changed in a week.  I was exactly 183.0 last Sunday, I was expecting to be lower.  I'm still thinking about how lean I want to be on Oct. 30 (day 60) and wondering if I should add cardio/eat less.  While I'm still worried about being fat, I want to keep lifting more weight, and my numbers have been improving, so I dunno....

I need Martin Berkhan to coach my fat ass!!!  Here's a goal of what I'm going for:

Before:

After:

I'd love to see progress like that, but I gotta lean out before I start really gaining I think.  The biggest thing is the progress I've made in the past 18 days of clean leangains eating has been good - 18 more should be a lot better.  This shit is progressive!

Day 17

Workout: StrongLifts B
Nutrition: 2800
Weight: 183.0

Great workout:

I really am enjoying Front Squats at 15 reps.  Great change of pace from doing heavy ass back squats 3x a week.  I just wonder if I should ditch it completely and stick with just back squats every other workout.  Still thinking about it.  This is week 15 of StrongLifts and still making gains, so I'm happy.

Nutritionally, this is the furthest under my calorie goal I've been in a while.  I just went to a gig and thought I'd be able to find more food and came up about 500 calories short of my 3200 calorie goal.  I want to keep an eye on that.

Day 16

Workout: Abs and Walking 5% incline/3.3 mph for 45 minutes.
Nutrition: 1500
Weight: 181.8

Slow day - didn't do much except sleep in, play a gig and a couple short easy workouts.  I only did 12 minutes of ab work (combo from ARX and Bodyrock.tv) then did my gig.  I got home at 3am and decided I wanted to hit it, so I walked on the treadmill for 45 minutes.  I was actually going to do some Kenpo, but my brain was fried after work and I wanted to just relax.  Grabbing a book and going to bed (at 4:19am..... sigh)

Day 15

Workout: StrongLifts A++
Nutrition: 3200
Weight: 181.8

The weight is slowly coming down, I'll do day 1-15 pics tonight.

I'm happy with progress, however frustrated at how long it's taking at the same time.  I'm 1/4 of the way through, basically no cardio still, I will be doing it for the second half daily to get ripped for Halloween.

Solid gym numbers today:

Day 14

Workout: Walk outside 25 minutes
Nutrition: 1800
Weight: 182.4

Just a walk today with the dog.  It was my birthday, so I celebrated with my planned rest day and very few calories.

:(

Day 13

Workout: StrongLifts B
Nutrition: 3200
Weight: 182.6

Solid workout solo at the gym today.  I failed on my shoulder press at 100lbs on the last set, kind of disappointed, but overall - good workout.

Day 12

Workout: Walk 3mph/10% incline for 60 minutes

Nutrition: 1800

Weight: 182.6

Just walking today on my rest day.  Felt happy to get it in, I was thinking about skipping it, but my friend Poe convinced me to join her in the cardio "fun."

Trying on the first draft of my Skeletor costume.

Day 11

Workout: StrongLifts A
Nutrition: 3600
Weight: 183.0

I had to wake up ass early this morning to play a church gig, then watch the other guys eat a delicious eggs/bacon/sausage breakfast while I only drank coffee to maintain I.F.  :(  booooooo!

Still, I did it, hit my workout in the afternoon and had my planned epic meal right after at Golden Coral.

I had 3 sweet potatoes, 3 chicken quarters and 2 heapping plates of loaded meat/cheese nachos!  It was pretty awesome.  The only thing I hate about eating like that is not knowing the macro/calorie total of everything.  Oh well, I think I estimated close(ish).

Squat: 5x5x260lbs
Bench: 5/5/4/3/3x170lbs
Row: 5x5x190lbs (grip started failing so i went to switch grip)
Incline Dumbbell press: 3x12x52.5
Pull-ups: 6/6/6 -- felt really good about my pull-up numbers.  Nice to see some improvement there, I was going nice and deep too, almost straight arm!

Day 10

Workout: REST
Nutrition: 1800
Weight: 182.2

Rest day today, in order to EAT during the Steeler game tomorrow.  Played a few gigs and I.F. carried out perfectly.