Day 28:

Yesterday's cals:

In:   1861 (30% carb, 14% fat, 56% protein)
Out: 3457
46% deficit

Today's activity:

No walk this morning (bad boy!)

HIIT cardio in the pm (15 minutes 3-8mph, 60 second intervals)

Weights:  Chest/Biceps (45 second rest between sets)

Bench Press:    4x8*
Incline DB:      4x8*
Press-Flye:      4x8*
Flye                 3x8 Superset w/
Pushups           Max (which wasn't much, lol..)

Preacher BB Curl: 4x8*
Seated DB Curl:    4x8*
Cable Curl:            3x8*

* indicates last set is a triple-drop set

Here's me all puffed up afterwards. Those are always fun pics...

OK, hoping there's no residual creakiness in the shoulder tomorrow. Can never tell how it'll react to Barbell bench, so we shall see. If it bugs it, the DB version works nicely as well. Just a pain for drop sets since I don't have enough DB handles. I oughta fix that soon.

Workout felt awesome!!! The one it's based on says it should be done in 40 minutes. Not. Even rushing around between exercises it took me 55, but as long as it's under an hour it's all good.

Quads and calves tomorrow, should be fun...

Also week 4 stats and pics. Not looking forward to these after how the week started out, but we'll see.

Day 27:

Yesterdays calories:

In:  1764
Out: 2844

OK, putting the circuits to bed. Didn't like, didn't feel anything, lost ground this week methinks.

Soo... Build mode!!!! I seem to burn fat better when I'm building anyway, so I'll chalk this week up to experience and move along with my planned program.

Today's workouts:

3.2 mile walk in am
3.2 mile walk before bed

Weights:  Back/hammies (45 seconds rest between sets)

Straight Arm pulldown:  4x8*
Wide-grip pulldown       4x8*
Barbell Row                   4x8*
DB Row                          4x8*

Leg Curl                         4x8*
RDL                               4x12


*last set is triple-drop set.

Aannd a nice deep burn and pump in every fiber of my back and hammies. That's what I'm talking about!!!! Brushing the teeth tomorrow should be a challenge...

Day 26:

Yesterday's calories:

In:   1872 (27% carb, 25% fat, 48% protein)
Out: 3046
38% deficit

No weight workout scheduled today.

3.2 mile walk in the am
3.2 mile walk in the pm.

Yippee.

OK, I have to say that I'm just not enjoying this week's workouts at all. Sure, they're brief and I'm sure I'll see some results on Sunday, but they're just not... Fun. No chance to get into a groove at all. As soon as I'm pumped, psyched, and ready to roll, it's "switch" and then it's over.
One good thing is that I'm really enjoying the HIIT cardio on the treadmill. I had planned on using this routine for 2 weeks before moving on to my building cycle, but I'm going to listen to my bio-feedback loop and put this particular routine to bed early.

OK, whiney rant over. Time to quit complaining, keep the good, throw out the bad, and move on to the next phase...

Day 25:

Yesterday's cals:

Cals in:  1475 (44% carb 17% fat, 39% protein)
Cals out: 2720
46% deficit

Well, day 2 of the circuit stuff went a bit better than the first. Got the weights properly selected for this round and improved on the bodyweight ones a rep or two, so that came out well. Little tweaky feeling in my left brachialis area, so something to keep an eye on. Moved the HIIT up slightly on the treadmill for a few cycles, but I think my sweet spot's 8mph til I get in better shape.

Workouts:

3.2 mile walk in AM

Weights
A1 DB bench      3x6
A2 chin-up          3x 8,7,6
B1: DB incline:   3x8
B2: Inv. Row       3x 8,7,7
C1: DB curl:        3x 8
C2: DB tri ext:     3x 12,12,10

HIIT on treadmill 20min  (60,60 @ 3mph, 8-9mph)

Day 24:

Yesterday's calories:

Cals in:   1711
Cals out: 2797
39% deficit

OK, so day 1 of the heavy circuits/HIIT was a bit of a mixed bag. Squats came up nice and clean, but a little of that lower back tightening during RDL's kind of sucked. Either I went up too fast or doing them right after heavy squats isn't a good idea. Or the fact that it was already a little tight from moving all the stuff around in the garage and putting up a wall. Or I'm just whining. Take your pick.
Still feels weird doing only 3 sets an exercise after the 10x10's, but I'm giving it an honest go this week to see how the numbers are at the end of the week.
Already looking forward to the heavier weight workouts, so this better work!!!!

Today's workouts:

3.2 mile walk in the am (32 minutes)

Weights: (all supersets, again)

A1: Squat 3x8
A2: Pushups 3x15
B1: RDL       3x8
B2: DB press 3x8
C1: step-up:  3x12/side
C2: rear-delt: 3x10

20 minutes HIIT on treadmill (3mph/8mph, 60 seconds alternating)

3.2 mile walk in evening after dinner.

Day 23:

Yesterday's calories:
Cals in:   1711 (42% carb, 22% fat, 34% protein)
Cals out: 2810
32% deficit.

Boring day today. Why? No workout, that's why. My usual cruise around the neighborhood and the rest of the day was spent studying, doing some computer stuff, and sheetrocking the garage. Bleh.
Also underate some on the protein end. Just a little. 154g when I'm supposed to be doing 200g, but don't tell nobody, k???

On a plus note, I got reminded of something when I was watching the Olympic trials.
Like Springsteen, I was born to RUN!!! Walking's fine and all, but it's been way too long since I ran anything over half-speed, so after cranking my treadmill up to max for a bit, I remembered what it felt like when I was fast. It felt awesome, so I think I'll go about getting fast again.

Day 22:

Aaaaand wasting no time, Week 4 begins!!!!!!

Today's day 2 of my transition from 10x10's into 2 weeks of fast, heavy circuits and HIIT, so today's workout so far:

Morning walk
3.2 miles, 34 minutes. Nice leisurely pace today. Cool breeze. Nice....

Weights: All supersets, 1 minute rest between sets, total time: 20 minutes.

A1: DB Bench (close-grip) 3x6
A2: Chin-up (max)  3x 7,7,6
      (straps)

B1: Incline DB:  3x8,6,5
B2: Inverted row  3x 8,5,5
      (straps)

C1: Hammer curl:  3x8
C2: DB tri press:   3x12,12,10

Underestimated the DB bench, overestimated the inclines. Just need to condition myself for the rows and chins up to 3x8 and then add weight. Using the straps instead of a bar makes things sooo much harder!!!! Great for joint conditioning though, methinks.

Finished with a 20 minute run-walk on the treadmill. 3.5mph walk, 8mph run @ 3% incline. 1 minute walk, 1 minute run repeated 10X. Hammies feel nice and full. No, scratch that. 2 hours later they're barking, lol....

Ab circuit tonight and maybe another walk after dinner if I feel freaky....

WEEK 3 PROGRESS:

Well lessee, I started out this week looking to increase my deficit further to see if I could nudge the fat burn numbers up but started to feel a little sluggish and cranky, so I ended up bumping up the carbs a bit and dropping 2 of the cardio sessions while leaving the weight training the same. End result: a 7,500 calorie deficit for the week and a 2.1 pound fat loss. 7500 divided by 3500 = 2.14, so that is scary accurate once again for the calories in vs. calories out part of the fat-loss equation.

On the flip side, the extra rest and calories allowed me to make some very nice jumps in strength and LBM this week, so there must be a balance there somewhere.

I'm moving from my 10x10's and strictly steady-state cardio to a heavier, shorter, more intense style of circuits this week and replacing some of the steady-state with HIIT-style cardio for the next 2 weeks, so I'm very curious how it will affect my results heading into what's supposed to be my building phase in a few weeks.

All in all, very happy with the results. I like the way I'm feeling, and Ellie's liking the way I'm looking so it's all good!!!!

OK, piccie time! Yes, I will continue to look pissed-off in the side shot until I'm happy with what I see...

Day 21:

Yesterday's calories:
1658 cals in (32% carb 25% fat 43% protein)
2744 cals out
39%  deficit

Today marks the last day of my 10x10 cycle, moving to a faster-paced and intense circuit-style training for the next 2 weeks to prepare for the "big build" portion of my plan. We'll see how it unfolds.

Test workout:

A1: Squat 3x8
A2: Pushup 3x15
B1: RDL 3x10
B2: DB shoulder press 3x12
C1: DB step-up 3x12
C2: Rear-delt raise 3x10
One minute rest between supersets.

Ab circuit (10 minutes)
Short HIIT circuit on bike (30sec high, 60 sec low, repeated 5X)

Thoughts: Definitely a completely different feel than the 10x10's. Shorter too, by about 15 minutes. Undershot my poundages on the squats and RDL's, so probably around 40-50% more weight when I start them for "real" next week. Depending on tomorrow's numbers, I think I'll be bumping the carbs up to closer to 150-200 on regular days and dropping the fat down to no more than 15-20%.
I know I've lost some more fat this week and I feel lighter and tighter, but unless I dropped over 3 lbs of fat this week, I need to step it up a bit if I want to hit my goals for the summer.

Pics and stats tomorrow.

Day 20:

Yesterdays cals:

1529 in  (23% carb, 25% fat, 52% protein)
3207 cals out
52% deficit

Today's activity:

Weights: Legs

Squat:       6x10, Quadblaster 4x8 superset w/
Leg curl:  10x10 (30 sec rest)
RDL:         3x12 (60 sec rest)
Seated calf: 5x15 (60 sec)
Standing:    1x50 (alternating legs)

EDIT: Back started tightening up on set 6 of squats, so I broke out the Quad-Blaster for the first time this challenge for the last 4 sets. OMFG!!!!! It felt like someone was hosing my quads down with a freaking blowtorch!!!! Don't know if you get quite the same overall metabolic lift from them as you do squats, but they definitely concentrate all that stress right on the quads.
Ouch....

Day 19:

Yesterday's calories:

Cals in:   2277 (33% carb, 31% fat, 36% protein)
Cals out: 2707
16% deficit

Early check-in today, as I have to go out this afternoon. Plenty of energy today after yesterday's refeed, so of course it's time to torture myself with another minimal carb day, lol.

Today's workouts:

3.2 mile walk first thing 32 minutes. Hit all the lights right for a change...

Weights: Shoulders/Arms

Triset (lateral, front, rear raise)   3x12
BB curl:    10x10 superset w/
Tr press:    10x10 (30 sec rest)

Ab circuit (a little less intensity this time around. Walking tomorrow would be good...)

Still have this evening's cardio left, so planning a leisurely 45-60 minute bike ride during boob-tube time after dinner.

Day 18:

Yesterday's calorie counts:
Cals in:    1346 (11% carb, 19% fat, 70% protein)
Cals out:  3247
58% deficit

Ah, why oh why did I decide to do extended ab workouts I hadn't done before 2 days in a row??
My hip flexors now hate me....

Did a refeed meal today, as my hands were a little trembly late this morning. Usually a sign that my blood sugar level's been in the toilet too long. All good after a little carb-up.


Today's workouts:

No morning walk, as I couldn't stand up straight.

Weights: Chest/Back day

DB Bench:     10x10's superset w/
Pulley Row:   10x10 (30 sec rest)
Pulldown:        3x12 ss/w
DB Flye:          3x12 (30 sec rest)

Plank circuit (side, front, vacuum): 40 sec sides, 60 front, 60 vacuum.

Evening walk 45 minutes, 4.2 miles

Day 17:

Yesterday's cals:
Cals in:   1575 (16% carb, 23% fat, 61% protein)
Cals out: 2884
45% deficit

Today's activity:

No weights today, BOO!!! But I'm being a good boy like I said and sticking to my plan. Today's going to be essentially a no carb, low fat, high protein kind of day as my body seems to respond well with a few of those thrown in a week. Plan is to create a 2,500 calorie deficit for today with a combination of low and medium cardio and the low carbs and fats. One light morning walk (my usual), one whole-body cardio session with some very light resistance thrown in to keep the blood moving, and one 45-60 minute low-medium intensity bike ride while watching whatever's  on the idiot tube a little after dinner should do it.

Hip flexors are definitely sore from the ab work yesterday. Luckily, it's all muscle soreness and none of the sharp joint pain I had a few months ago, so it's all good. Just means one more area I didn't know was so out of condition that I can improve on this summer, yay!!!

Gotta admit though, It's noon and I'm kinda hungry....

Day 16:

Yesterday's cals:
1610 cals in  (19% carbs, 25% fat, 56% protein)
2776 cals out
42% deficit

Today's workout:
Legs:
Squat       10x10 superset w/
Leg curls 10x10 (30 sec rest)
RDL's     3x12 (45 sec rest)
Seated Calf:   6 x 15 (45 sec rest)
Standing:        1x50

Finished with my first attempt to do the P90X "ab ripper" workout. Hmm... Got through the first 10 and the last 5 of the 25 reps per set. Got too used to my hip flexors and lower abs being in shape from years of running. Apparently that's gonna need some rebuilding as I positively SUCKED at this workout today. I think I'll be including it every other day or so until I can complete it and move on to the next.  Good workout, but the trainer is SOOOO freaking annoying!!!!

Tomorrow's an off-day for weights, as well as a low/no carb day for me, so I'm gonna see if I can put in the cardio work and see if I can manage a 2,500 calorie deficit. I promised myself I'd be a good boy and do my 3 on 1 off instead of skipping the day off every other cycle. We shall see...

WEEK 2 PROGRESS:

Well, all in all not bad. Lost another 2.6 lbs of fat and gained another 1.6 of muscle, so it's still a step in the right direction. Call me an overachiever, but I'm looking for a minimum of 3 lbs of fat off a week, so I'll call this one a partial success.

Day 14:

Yesterdays calories:
Cals in:   1408 (8% carb, 25% fat, 67% protein)
Cals out: 3164
Deficit: 55%

Today's exercise stuff:

3.2 mile walk, 31 minutes (Morris Day and the Time along to relieve boredom...)

Weights: Chest/back

DB Bench Press:  10x10 superset w/
Low pulley row:   10x10 (30 sec rest)

DB flye:          3x12 Superset w/
lat pulldown:  3x12

Side plank:  60 seconds each side
Plank:          60 seconds
Vacuum:     60 seconds


Moved up a bit again in the rows, hit all 10x10 in DB bench, so time to move up a notch.



30 minute bike ride to finish out the day.

Tomorrow's the Week 2 weigh-in and measuring, so I'll have new pics up along with today's calorie totals.

Ah, Lucky Day 13 (on a Friday, no less....)

Yesterday's calorie count:
Cals in:    2900
Cals out:  2847 (43% carb, 44% fat, 13% protein)
2% surplus (finally...)

Okie-doke. So I finally managed to take in more than I burned. Not as easy as I thought it would be. I'm seeing how a high-carb, low protein refeed day followed by a low-carb, high protein day works. Seems to be pretty well. Had a killer leg workout today and plenty of energy (after I could walk again, of course, hehe)

Today's activity:


AM: 3.2 mile walk before breakfast (32 minutes)

Weights:

Squats:      10x10 superset w/
Leg Curls: 10x10 (30 seconds rest)
RDL's          1x20

Seated calf raise:  5x15 (45 sec rest)
Standing calf:       1x50 (1 leg, alternating)


PM:

30 minutes stationary bike, medium effort  (8.7 imaginary miles, supposedly)


Special shout-out to my teamie Nieves Sierra who's the real biker. She's doing a 2 day ride for charity this weekend, so thoughts, prayers, and much respect for you, milady!!!!!


Today's calories, etc. in tomorrow's post.

Day 12:

Yesterday's calorie count:
Cals in:   1852 (24% carb, 27% fat, 49% protein)
Cals out:  3273
43% deficit.

Workout:

Today, not much really. Picked up a saddle pad for my bike that I had on hold, worked on the car, had about half a leg workout done before I had to take the fam to Concord for Daniel's summer reading class and get the car smogged.
Today' supposed to be a surplus calorie day for me, and right now I'm looking at about a 300 calorie surplus, so if I can keep from trying out my new tushie cushie, I'll have my first true "maintenance" day since the 3rd.

Final in/out stats tomorrow.

Day 11:

Yesterday's calories:
1768 in (24% carb, 27% fat, 49% protein)
3656 out
51% deficit

Today's was supposed to be legs, but since my refeed day is tomorrow, I decided to hit shoulders and arms today and save legs for my high-calorie day tomorrow.

Morning walk: 3.3 miles, 34 minutes

Weights:
Giant set:
side-rear-front shoulder raises: 3 x 12

BB curls:                 10x10 superset w/
Tricep pressdowns: 10x10 (30 seconds rest)

Knee raises 2x20 superset w/
3-way leg raises 2x20 (30 sec rest) 
(don't know what to call these. It's like a lying leg raise, but rotating your legs to one side and then the other. If there's a name, lemme know. Kills your obliques and lower abs though)

Played some 1-on-1 with Dre this afternoon for an hour. That baby hook shot comes in handy when your kid's 3" taller and all arms and legs..

Thoughts: All in all, very productive day. Had to help Ellie with the groceries, so I had to rush the last 2 sets. Since I got them in less than 30 seconds rest, guess it's time to move up another notch next workout, yay!!!

btw, for all you coffee drinkers: Cytosport vanilla whey tastes AWESOME with about a half-scoop in your coffee and blended. Just like a vanilla cappucino and 14g protein. Not a bad deal at all....

Day 10:

Yesterday's calories:
1652 in (16% carb, 27% fat, 57%  protein)
3077 out
46% deficit (and low/no carb days suck!!!)

Today's training:

Morning walk 3.2 miles, 34 minutes with Ellie

Chest/back:

DB inclines 10x10 superset with
Low rows    10x10 (30 seconds rest)

flyes:             3x12 superset with
pulldowns:    3x12 (30 second rest)

Giant set:

Reverse crunch x 20
side plank  40 sec. each side
plank         60 seconds
vacuum     30 seconds.

Evening walk 3.2 miles

All in all happy! Bumped inclines by 25% in my third workout and pulldowns by almost 30% and just barely finished them, so it's all good.

Day 9:

It's an off-day for lifting so that means it's a lower calorie, low carb kinda day. That coupled with a nagging migraine means Jerrod is NOT a happy boy today. Oh well, life happens.

Today's activity was the walk first thing in the morning with Ellie, flopping around in the pool in the afternoon, and 45 minutes of light cycling watching tv.

My son Daniel has started on his first "official" workout program and today was back and biceps. He did good. It's taken a little time to get him out of the bad lifting patterns of his school's program, but today his form on deadlifts was perfect!! Not a lot of 15 year-olds who are trained in proper form instead of how much you can heave up however you can, but he's diligent and getting consistent.
Proud Papa!!!

Lesse, yesterday's calorie totals:

1900 calories in (30% carb, 21% fat, 49% protein)
3170 calories burned
40% caloric deficit.

Looking forward to hitting chest and back tomorrow! Days off drive me up a wall so far...

OK, day 8's workout is all done and it's almost dinner-time.

No morning walk today. I figure my feet and knees could use one day a week where I don't wake them up pounding pavement. No promises about the evening though. Work's just beginning.

Today's workout: Shoulders and arms

Shoulders:
Superset rear/side/front raises 3 x 12

Arms:
Barbell curls      10 x 10 superset with
Tricep presses:  10 x 10  (30 seconds rest)

Hanging leg raises: 3 x 10
Lying leg raises:    3 x 15

Lower abs are WEAK!!! Probably why my belly pooches out so much, yukk!
I did get through arms without having to reduce the weight or lengthen the rest periods, so I'm very happy about that. Shoulders were burning pretty good doing the raises. Haven't done them in a long time and I think it'll be less grinding on them than the upright rows I did the first workout. Gotta leave something in the tank for the coming months, right?

All in all, I'll give today's workout an 8/10. Room for improvement, but definitely some progress made. Plus I can walk normally after yesterday's leg workout, so that doesn't suck....

Calorie burn info tomorrow when it's finalized.

WEEK 1 STATUS REPORT:

Height:   5'9"
weight:   205 lbs
bodyfat: 19.3% (-2.3%)
Fat:      39.6 lbs (-4.7 lbs)
LBM:     165.4 lbs (+4.7 lbs)
(Thanks to my friend Tracy for the handy spreadsheet so I don't have to think...;P)

Measurements:

Waist:   37.75 inches  (-1.0 inches)
Belly:   39.50 inches  (-2.0 inches)
Neck:    18.50 inches  (+0.75 inches)
Chest:   46.00 inches  (0)
Biceps:  15.75  inches (+0.25 inches)
Quads:   25.00  inches  (+0.5 inches)
Calves:  16.00 inches   (+0.25 inches)

Observations:

Well, I've got to say that I'm pretty happy with week 1. I was shooting for at least a 3 pound fat loss, and I surpassed that so it's all good! The jump in LBM was a little surprising, but since this week was a wake-up call for my muscles, I suppose they're just getting back on board so while it's good, I won't get overly excited about it until I see those measurements going up consistently. Phase 1 is still all about the fat loss, so any muscle that hops on for the ride I consider a bonus at this point.

Nutrition was easier to maintain than I thought. I was a bit concerned that the steep deficits would cause me to lose muscle, but so far no. I doubt seriously that I can consistently gain in a deficit, so I'll temper my enthusiasm and keep my eyes on the fat loss prize for the next few weeks. Then it's on to the fun part!!

And without further ado, here's the pics of day 8 of 98:

OK, final stats for yesterday:

Calories in:    1330 (9% carbs, 24% fat, 67% protein)
Calories out:  3390
Deficit:          60%

I'm playing with protein-only days the day after a refeed with 2 sessions of steady-state cardio and my leg workout to see how it feels. Obviously, not something I'd do more than once a week. Surprisingly, my energy levels were pretty high throughout the day, so I guess there is something to those refeed days. Weekly results and pics in the next post.

Day 6:

Ah, a little progress. Always good. Started today with my usual walk around the neighborhood. 3.2 miles in 31 minutes. Ellie's afraid I'll get mugged for my earphones and doesn't think me whaling on a would-be mugger is good exercise, so I'll probably alter my course or use the stationary bike for the nighttime. Any hints on making a bike seat more comfortable on the hiney, please chime in....

Yesterday's totals:
2250 calories in (55% carb, 20% fat, 25% protein. Fell a little short on protein)
3150 calories burned
28% deficit.

Intended for yesterday to be a 0 deficit day, but I was so stuffed after the pasta I was pretty much done. We'll see Sunday how the results are and adjust accordingly.

Today's workout: Legs!

10 sets of 10 Squats superset with
10 sets of 10 Leg curls (45 seconds rest)
 2 sets of 12 Romanian Deadlifts (45 sec rest)

Calves are still hating me for all the walking, so they get a break today. 50 miles in 6 days ain't bad for a desk jockey!!!

Today's a protein-only day after yesterday's carb-fest. Between the leg workout and 2 light carb workouts, that should be plenty to keep the legs growing and the belly shrinking. we shall see...

And day 5 begins, first refeed day, YAY!!!!
Shooting for 3,000-3,200 calories and a 5-10% surplus today.

Final stats from yesterday:
3188 calories burned
1505 calories consumed
16% carb, 32% fat, 52% protein
47% deficit

Knee felt a bit clicky today, so I'll be doing my cardio on the exercise bike. Poor legs have been hammered, but I could walk up and down the stairs today without wincing, so it looks like the DOMS are working themselves out...

Today's workout is chest and back, so it's back to my beloved 10x10's again.
Incline DB press:  10x10 superset with
Seated Row:          10x10
30 seconds rest between sets

Flat bench flye: 3x12 superset w/
Pulldown:       3x12
30 sec. rest between sets.

And with that, it's off to enjoy a nice healthy portion of Beef Stew for lunch and then Dre and I are off to watch Prometheus, yay!!!!!! Homemade pasta and meat sauce for dinner later, YUM!!!
I think refeed days are going to be like Christmas every week at this rate....

Ah, already on day 4 of 98. The week seems to have flown by.  Funny how the more stuff you have to do the faster the time seems to go?

Lessee, final calorie count for yesterday was 1756 calories in with 51% protein, 29% fat and 20% carbs.
Calories burned were 3342, so I ended up with a 47% deficit for the day. Let's just say that I'm totally looking forward to my refeed on Friday!!!

Today's my first off-day from weight training this challenge so not much to report on that end. If there's a part of my body that's not completely sore, could someone point it out? I can't move anything...

Replaced my desk chair with my big blue Swiss ball today. Partly because I spend so much time in front of the computer, and partly because my butt's too sore at the moment to sit comfortably in it. How sad is that??? (plus you can do crunches while typing, not a bad thing...)

Lessons learned today:
-Billy Idol only has 5 songs that work for me for cardio.
-Listening to Oingo Boing automatically makes you walk faster.
-Cruising the neighborhood with a giant pair of red metallic V-Moda headphones on singing 80's songs will get you funny looks from people... Oh well.

Today's a mild triple cardio day for me. Morning walk of 3.2 miles, A nice walk with Ellie before dinner of 2.4 miles, and I'll finish off with a half-hour or so on my exercise bike tonight while we watch Rookie Blue.

OK, off to eat dinner. Will post today's final stats tomorrow.

Day 3 of 98:

Another 3 mile cruise around the neighborhood this morning. Kind of getting used to it and it actually wakes me up! (anyone who knows me knows I believe morning should start at 11am...)

Supposed to be an off-day but I decided to hit shoulders and arms and rest tomorrow. Workout was
10x10 upright row
3x10 rear delt raises
10x10 BB curls superset with
10x10 Tricep rope presses

I think someone stole my biceps as they were weeeeeaaaaakkkk! That's Ok though. by day 98 my little 15 1/2" peashooters will be transformed into 17"+ guns and it'll all be good. Mark my words.

Edit: Ok, got a wild hair and decided to take another walk around the neighborhood (nothing on TV this time of year...) so  I ended up with a little over 7 miles today. That's kinda cool.

Nutrition is similar 25/50/25 planned. I'll put the totals in in tomorrow's post when I have all the numbers.

Day 2 of 98:

Started this morning with my "short loop" around the neighborhood. It came out to 2.6 miles and was done in 29 minutes, so a good pace (Fittie calculated 10 flights of stairs due to the hilly parts).

Well, after getting the final info back from Fitbit and Myfitnesspal's entries, I ended up with 1530 calories in and 3320 calories out, so I ended up with almost an 1800 calorie deficit, or nearly twice what I first thought. Vastly underestimated my calories burned somehow, but since my energy levels were pretty good I won't worry about it overmuch. Still learning how to make my toys play nice with each other.
 Today and tomorrow will be more of the same diet-wise, with Thursday being my first refeed day of the challenge. First week's measurements will be on Sunday morning, so assuming I maintain the current path, I'm hoping for a solid 3 pounds of fat loss with minimal loss of lean body mass. Might even gain some, as my arms seem to have gotten a bit skinny over the last few months. We shall see...

Leg workout today, so that should be fun. I'll post up again later. On a lighter note, we had some fun creating characters for ourselves in a Star Wars theme for the challenge and the video we put together got a mention on Tom Venuto's Facebook so that was kind of cool. You can see the video below:

 (Yes, it's corny, but we're having fun so who cares?):

Ah, first day back to seriously working out is always fun.


Today's cardio was a nice little walk around the neighborhood and up and down the hills. 3.27 miles in 39 minutes according to my little Fitbit buddy.

Resistance training was my favorite breaking-in program: 10x10's!!!
Today was dumbbell incline presses supersetted with medium-grip pulldowns with 30 seconds rest between supersets. I was gassed to say the least but it felt good.
Finished with a 1 minute plank hold and 2 30 second vacuum holds for abs just to wake them up a bit.

1650 total calories assuming I stick to my meal planner and I end up with a nice little 950 calorie deficit for the day so it's a solid start. Looking to work up to a 1,500 calorie deficit 3 out of 4 days with a bit of a refeed twice a week. First part of the plan is to drop 13-15lbs of fat and 20-25lbs of total weight in the first 4 weeks and then build up from there. I think I should be able to regain any LBM losses fairly quickly once I shift gears. At least that's the plan....

OK, so today's officially Day 1 of the Summer Challenge, so the morning was full of weighing, measuring, taking pictures, yada yada. I've just started fiddling around with Blogger, so my posts will be pretty basic to start with.

Wasn't in quite as good condition as I thought I was this morning. I was expecting to be around 17% bodyfat or so and look at least decent with my shirt off. Let's just say that the mirror lies!!!!

Here's the starting stats and pictures for today. Pardon the ugly shorts.

Height:   5'9"
weight:   205 lbs
bodyfat:  21.6%
Fat:      44 lbs
LBM:     161 lbs

Measurements:

Waist:   38.75 inches
Belly:   41.00 inches
Neck:    17.75 inches
Chest:   46.00 inches
Biceps:  15.5  inches
Quads:   24.5  inches
Calves:  15.75 inches

Okay then, that's enough embarrassment for day 1. Time to get to work...