Blonde will make thin ....Here we go again !

[vegaslover]

Yo! So my weight today was 66.5kg.  

These are the weights i'm currently up to 2 weeks into Stronglifts. All are in kg

Squat: 32.5
Overhead Press: 25
Deadlift: 50
Bench Press: 27.5
Barbell Row: 37.5

Not doing any accessory work yet but plan to do 3 months of the basic Stronglifts program and then re-evaluate. It's quite possible i'd switch to a more hypertrophic goal at that point. Workouts are easy atm but i'm not intending to rush anything, will take it slow and focus on getting my form down.

Are you including the weight of the barbell in those numbers, or do they refer to weight added to the bar? I like your idea of startong off slow and getting the form down pat. Really focusing on your lift and improving that mind-muscle connection is massively overlooked.

Total weight including barbell.

Had a question. For someone looking to maintain emphasis on a clean bulk, what is the consensus on weight gaining shakes to help get extra calories in every day?

I personally wouldn't go for them, just add extra protein shakes, or start on the shakes if you haven't already. If you want really clean gotta come from clean foods. Most people bulking use shakes as it's fucking hard work eating enough clean foods all the time.

[Ant040689]

Surely everybody knows by now that fat, protein and carbs are all bad for you. Weight lifting stunts your growth and limits your intelligence and cardio screws up your knees. Gotta be mad to get out of bed these days.

What studies have you got that from?

[vegaslover]

Been a terrible couple of weeks for me on the diet front. Lots of eating out and general bad eating. Weigh in this morning reflects this.

1st June 15:   15st 8lbs

Not done much training as such but been very active. Been half term so been out playing football, cricket etc with my son everyday. Done lots of walking too. Going for really clean eating this month, bar tonight where I am meeting up for a couple drinks with friends. This was arranged a few weeks ago. Will be going for salads with chicken/tuna and fruit as snacks. I don't like mayo/oils/dressings etc so salads easy for me. Looking for minimum 1 stone loss by July. Will give a tenner to charity for every pound I miss this by.

[zerofive]

Yo! So my weight today was 66.5kg.  

These are the weights i'm currently up to 2 weeks into Stronglifts. All are in kg

Squat: 32.5
Overhead Press: 25
Deadlift: 50
Bench Press: 27.5
Barbell Row: 37.5

Not doing any accessory work yet but plan to do 3 months of the basic Stronglifts program and then re-evaluate. It's quite possible i'd switch to a more hypertrophic goal at that point. Workouts are easy atm but i'm not intending to rush anything, will take it slow and focus on getting my form down.

Are you including the weight of the barbell in those numbers, or do they refer to weight added to the bar? I like your idea of startong off slow and getting the form down pat. Really focusing on your lift and improving that mind-muscle connection is massively overlooked.

Total weight including barbell.

Had a question. For someone looking to maintain emphasis on a clean bulk, what is the consensus on weight gaining shakes to help get extra calories in every day?

Food > shakes, but if you're struggling to eat all your calories then shakes are a great way to go. Wouldn't advocate "weight gain" shakes at your level of progress. I would just suggest mixing a run-of-the-mill whey protein with gold-top milk, or blending it up with some nut butter.

My number one suggestion if you're struggling to get through sufficient calories, though: brown rice with an egg stirred in. It really stodges things up, so you can pretty much drink it; minimal chewing required! A 100g serving with one egg offers 400+ calories and you can shovel that shit in like 5 spoonfuls.

[EvilPie]

7th April: Weight 15st 13lb. Waist 37" to 38.5"

14th April: Weight 15st 11 1/4lb. Waist 36.75" to 38.25"

21st April: Weight 15st 7 3/4lb. Waist 36.5" to 38"

28th April: Weight 15st 4 3/4lb. Waist 36.25" to 37.75"

5th May: Weight 15st 6lb. Waist 36" to 37.25"

12th May: Weight 15st 4lb. Waist 35.75" to 36.75"

19th May: Weight 15st 5 3/4lb. Waist 36" to 37.25"

26th May: Weight 15st 6lb. Waist 35.75" to 36.75"

2nd June: Weight 15st 2 3/4lb. Waist 35.5" to 36.5"

So it's final check in day and I've not quite hit my goal. I think I may have set it a bit tough to be honest as a 36" worst case waist means about a 35" best case which given my general frame is far from easy.

So overall in 8 weeks I've dropped just over 10lb in weight and a couple of inches off my waist. Considering I've not missed a single curry night and had several little alcohol/food based accidents I'm really amazed at how much I've lost. All it's taken is a slight cut in the evening meals and also making sure I have a healthy lunch every day rather than the former shop bought sandwiches.

It's Vegas on Friday and a big mash up on Wednesday for my 40th so obviously I'll be eating and drinking whatever takes my fancy whilst I'm away. Once I get back though I'm going to get straight back on a similar plan and see how close I can get to a proper six pack. I've got another little break planned for August so if I can have a six pack for that I'll be a happy chappy.

Not sure if I'll keep up the weigh ins and reporting but there's a pretty good chance as I've enjoyed doing it. At the very least there will be once last report when I get back to see what effect the holiday has had.
 

[Ant040689]

New goal is to train every day. If it is a rest day, I will do flexibility work in the form of stretching, so i am always doing something. Cleared 3+ miles on each of the last 4 days, with one weights session in there. Just gotta keep it up.

[Kmac84]

Weighed in today, further small loss which felt massive because I've been having a shocker, or so I felt.  Not been at the Gym/Swimming in last 2 weeks and been restricted with my daily lunch time walk as my back has been breaking most days.   

Weight in at 154kg, so that's a 9kilo loss since middle of April.    Slow and steady, I'm happy with that. 

In the next 2 weeks I'll aim off to take of 2 - 3 kilo and increase activity.   

[muckthenuts]

Back for another update. Here's where i am:

Body weight: 66.7kg (i have literally no idea what sort of progress i should be shooting for in this category, but i'm glad it's at least gone up from 66.5kg a fortnight ago)

Squat: 50
Bench Press: 35
Overhead Press: 35
Deadlift: 72.5
Barbell Row: 45

Booked a personal training session earlier this week just to check my form was good, definitely want get that down pat before the weights start upping. Workouts are still relatively easy and i wondered whether i started off a little too low in weight - but the last few reps of my OHP today were tough so i know harder work in all the movements is just around the corner.

Diet wise, i'm eating 5/6 times a day with the majority of my main meals consisting of some combination of brown pasta/rice with tuna/salmon/chicken breast plus broccoli and spinach thrown in. Having 1 protein shake a day mixed with milk and drinking as much water as is humanly possible. It's been pretty clean but i have an inkling that the odd calorically dense mcdonalds here and there wouldn't be such a bad thing for me right now? Happy to be corrected otherwise though!

[vegaslover]

1st June 15:   15st 8lbs
8th June 15:   15st 4lbs

Loss this week:  4lb
Total loss:        4lb

Didn't eat as clean as wanted to but keeping active. Been very busy this week decorating, certainly eaten less.

[zerofive]

Back for another update. Here's where i am:

Body weight: 66.7kg (i have literally no idea what sort of progress i should be shooting for in this category, but i'm glad it's at least gone up from 66.5kg a fortnight ago)

Squat: 50
Bench Press: 35
Overhead Press: 35
Deadlift: 72.5
Barbell Row: 45

Booked a personal training session earlier this week just to check my form was good, definitely want get that down pat before the weights start upping. Workouts are still relatively easy and i wondered whether i started off a little too low in weight - but the last few reps of my OHP today were tough so i know harder work in all the movements is just around the corner.

Diet wise, i'm eating 5/6 times a day with the majority of my main meals consisting of some combination of brown pasta/rice with tuna/salmon/chicken breast plus broccoli and spinach thrown in. Having 1 protein shake a day mixed with milk and drinking as much water as is humanly possible. It's been pretty clean but i have an inkling that the odd calorically dense mcdonalds here and there wouldn't be such a bad thing for me right now? Happy to be corrected otherwise though!

These numbers are starting to look a bit better! It's unusual for someone to be able to barbell row more weight than they can squat so I figured that would sort itself out as you progressed. Keep progressing according to the program dude, you may have started a little on the low side but your numbers will keep going up and eventually you'll find your training starts to get much tougher. If at no point have you felt like absolute toast after squatting or deadlifting for 5 sets of 5 reps, then you can definitely go heavier. I have an inclination that your trainer will say something about your bench press form, let me know if i'm right or wrong about that won't you

Also, diet looks really good. Lots of protein, carbs and veggies, lots of water, the occasional calorie boost. Absolutely spot on in my opinion. Keep going bud.

[EvilPie]

So the post Vegas weigh in....... A whole week of eating and drinking exactly what I want........ I guess a disaster could be on the cards......

7th April: Weight 15st 13lb. Waist 37" to 38.5"

14th April: Weight 15st 11 1/4lb. Waist 36.75" to 38.25"

21st April: Weight 15st 7 3/4lb. Waist 36.5" to 38"

28th April: Weight 15st 4 3/4lb. Waist 36.25" to 37.75"

5th May: Weight 15st 6lb. Waist 36" to 37.25"

12th May: Weight 15st 4lb. Waist 35.75" to 36.75"

19th May: Weight 15st 5 3/4lb. Waist 36" to 37.25"

26th May: Weight 15st 6lb. Waist 35.75" to 36.75"

2nd June: Weight 15st 2 3/4lb. Waist 35.5" to 36.5"

16th June: Weight 15st 1 1/4lb. Waist 35" to 36"

Erm...... I guess no disaster then........

So what's the explanation for the continued loss? To be honest I was half expecting it. Firstly I've been back since Saturday and have eaten very well and trained a few times.

Whilst over there I didn't over indulge on food. I ate well and didn't think about calories at all but I didn't stuff myself to bursting point and also I spent a lot of time too drunk to eat so missed several meals.

Regarding the drink. That would ordinarily put quite a bit of weight on but I spent most of the week drinking vodka rather than lager so the calories would be significantly lower.

Exercise wise I did quite a lot of walking a lot of it being in the blistering sun so that's a lot of calories burned.

So I did manage to hit my target of a 36" worst case waist albeit a couple of weeks late. Need something else to focus on now and a new target date.

[EvilPie]

So what's next in my training plan? I've lost 12lb and 2" off my waist in 2 months which I'm really happy about but there's still some way to go.

I really don't want to lose any more weight. I haven't been 14st something since I was a teenager so I really need to focus on the weights and look to maintain where I am now rather than lose any more.

I'm going to stick with the same general diet as before but maybe flick in an extra protein shake somewhere. Training will be weights 4 mornings a week to quite an intense level and then T25 in the evenings to try to continue the progress with the waistline.

I have a trip planned in August although I don't know the exact date yet. Target will be 15st 4lb minimum with a 35" worst case waist. I think this target is quite moderate as long as I stay injury free but time will tell.

The other decision is whether to stay on here or move back to my training thread? It was obvious to be here whilst I was trying to lose weight but now the goal is different I may shift back. I like to maintain that diary to look back on occasionally  so I think I'll shift over there soon.

[vegaslover]

 1st June 15:   15st 8lbs
 8th June 15:   15st 4lbs
15th June 15:  15st 0lbs
22nd June 15: 14st 12lbs

Loss this week:  2lb
Total loss:        10lb

Past week was very good upto weekend. Obv had to eat all the choc given to me for Fathers day...lol

[Kmac84]

I took of another half a kilo this last fornight, not great but given my activity levels have practically been zero other than going to work and going home I am fairly happy with that.   I have another session with the Chriopractor tonight so looking for some relief so that I can at least get back swimming at the weekend. 

I'd say I am still on target for my first major goal of a 15k weight loss by September, I have time on my side and even in bad week's with zero activity I am still burning calories by watching what I am eating. 

[muckthenuts]

Due to a combination of reasons i didn't train or eat particularly well for a week, and naively thought i could still pick up where i left off when i went to the gym today. How wrong I was! Couldn't believe how comparatively weak i felt, and i'm very grateful to the kind gentleman for pulling my final bench rep up off from my chest when I couldn't physically lift it away lol. Pretty embarrassing

Anyway here's where i'm up to:
Squat: 65
Bench: 45
Row: 47.5
OHP: 35 (taking my time with this movement - have begun cleaning the bar to get it up rather than use up a squat rack)
Deadlift: 80


Unfortunately finding time to train/eat strictly is going to be unavoidably difficult over the couple of weeks or so and i'm considering maybe getting some hypertrophy in until i get the time to stick rigidly back to a routine again. I have a beach holiday planned in August so that's a little extra reason for thinking about the change before picking back up with Stronglifts in a month or so. Any thoughts on this? I remain 100% mentally committed to my original goals, just thinking i probably won't progress if i'm training infrequently so perhaps muscle soreness might be more productive instead.