Fat loss update

I mentioned it in the last post, and I’m always curious about how people’s diets are helping them in their quest to become more awesome. The fat loss diet that Brad and I are doing has been sort of going. We eat the same thing during the day no matter what and then at night we either blow it and order a pizza or we are super good and eat fish and salad.

The purpose of the plan is to get lean. I think it’s probably to get “physique-stage ready”, but I’m not sure. Whatever it is, it isn’t really designed with longevity in mind which is why I am hoping to find a way to tweak it.

7:30 AM- 2 eggs, 1/4 cup oatmeal, 1/4 c berries.

10:30 AM- 4 oz bison steak, 4 0z baked sweet potato

1:30 PM- 4 oz chicken thighs (usually 1 1/2-2 thighs) and 1/4 c brown rice

4:30PM- 1 1/2 scoops of protein powder mixed in water, small handful of nuts

–this is when I workout, I may or may not have a second protein shake depending on how famished I am–

8:40PM- 4 oz fish and 1 cup of greens with super healthy sugar free dressing

10:30PM- 1/2 serving of Progenex cocoon

 

I was curious about the macros of this plan, so I plugged all of it into the myfitnesspal to analyze it.

 

 

 

I don’t love the fact that it’s only 77 grams of carbs. This is one reason I feel like there’s no way this is designed for longevity. Plus on the plan you are allowed to eat one cheat meal per week. Which we’ve been going absolutely crazy on. But lately we’ve been doing more of a moderation cheating weekend instead. I don’t even know what that is, except that it involves french toast and bacon.

I do need to mention that I’ve enjoyed several PR’s over the past couple of months with my increased protein intake:

• Push press from 165 to 175
• Jerk from 200 to 210
• Full Snatch from 150 to 155
• Squat Clean from 210 to 215
• Back squat from 305 to 310

They may be small, but I don’t even match PR’s consistently since I’ve been cross fitting for so long. But hitting all these new ones says a lot to be about increased protein.

Here is a progress picture that I took on November 3rd when we first started the plan and then again on Dec 11th one morning when I was feeling especially lean.I currently look a lot more like November 3rd. I want to be frank–I’m starting to not care about what I look like. So what if I am 25-30% body fat? Who really cares? Will people like me more if I look super lean? No. I started out with the motivation of losing some lbs to get better at bodyweight exercises and gymnastics at the gym. Losing a couple of lbs isn’t going to make me better! Getting stronger and practicing more IS. And I have been–I almost never get stuck in the dip part of the muscle up any more 😉

Here are some pics of the food:

If I am working away from home, this is what I haul with me: 

A happy fridge ready for a week of attempted fat loss:

 

I have recently become very intrigued by “flexible dieting” though. Commonly known as “IIFYM” or “if it fits your macros” which I think is a terrible name to call it. It sounds like all anyone does is find ways to get pop tarts and oreos into their diet. I am still a big believer in eating mostly paleo-types of foods. But I’ve really enjoyed adding rice and oatmeal back into my life. I think since they’re both gluten free that they would mesh well with anyone’s plan. Carbs are tricky to get enough of if you are following a paleo plan.

I am thinking I will sit down today and figure out what my macros should be on a flexible eating and then tweak this fat loss plan towards that goal. Longevity, folks! I bet the main change will be for me to add more carbs. Probably double the carbs I am currently eating. And I think I will do myself a favor and stick them near my workouts instead of doing them only in the morning. Screw being lean, I wanna be a better athlete.