Karmas' Renovation Journal

[KarmaSutra]

On the advice of Warboss, Quiksilver and a couple of other brothers, I'm starting a journal to log my progression.

My inner game is impeccable. It's the outside of my house that needs work.

So this being the 23rd of October 2007 E.V., will be my start.

I am:

5'6" currently 271 lbs. 6,469,910% body fat.

I'm a fat fvcker.

I'm type II diabetic and take Byetta shots (bid) along with Glucovance, Lisonipril and Vytorin. My Cholesterol is now within normal range but my triglycerides are through the fvcking roof. Where they should be 80 - 90 I'm at 582.

This is my log for today:

I had 2 cups of coffee with splenda (always splenda) with a splash of half n half. I had two slices of wheat bread with some roast beef and a slice of cheese.

Went to the gym.

25 minutes on the treadmill
then worked on my chest:
Incline bench press 3x10 w/135lbs
crossover cables 4x8 (last to failure) 70lbs
Incline dumbbell presses 30lb dumbbells 3x8

From there I went to the squat rack because I wasn't feeling winded at all. Kind of tight around my shoulders and chest. Felt good.

Squat rack 5x5 starting with 225lbs. Each set I added 10 lbs.

After squats it was to the bike for a 10 minute huff of 2 miles.

For dinner it will be baked chicken with California veggies and whole braised mushrooms.

I have a hard time finishing things I start so this will be a daily grind for me.

ANY ENCOURAGEMENT AND ADVICE IS GREATLY APPRECIATED.

I'm going to stick to drinking water / green tea. And yes I am cutting back tremendously on cigars. My Dad was just in the ER for the 4th time this last week and it scared the sh!t out of me.

Until tomorrow friends . . .

 

[Kerpal]

Do you strength train regularly? Nice numbers on the squat :yes:

 

[KarmaSutra]

Do you strength train regularly? Nice numbers on the squat :yes:

I'm going more for overall fat loss and strength gain than symmetry, for now.

By summer I want to be able to walk outside without a bra.

 

[Quagmire911]

You show a willingness to get there which is always good. It is going to be a lot of hard work but if you do things right you will be well on your way by the summer.

Some other things you need to be doing:

-Get in minimum 10g fish oil a day, 30g would be a lot better though. You could start taking this and do nothing else and you would begin to lose fat.

-Spread your food over six meals a day. Veggies are your friend. Whilst not completley carb negligent they do fill you up and don't add much to the equation. They also have a lot of health benefits.

-NO carbs 6 hours before bed. You can still have veggies though. Edit-Warboss says no carbs for you, oh well!

-Build your cardio sessions up to 45 minutes, six times a week. No cardio on leg day. Try and do it in the am after a scoop of whey.

---Thats some pointers to boost the metabolism and get things moving a bit quicker.

Here is an excellent article, that I see you have already read. Nearly a year ago you posted in that, it's time to get on moving!

http://www.sosuave.net/forum/showthread.php?t=114618

---Also post up the routine you will be using. I saw in another thread that you mentioned something about isolation not working for you, which isn't a surprise as they do little on there own. I see now you are doing compounds, but just wanted to makesure you were onto something concrete-for your own sake

Anyway good luck, we'll be here to keep you company the whole way,

Quagmire

Ps-Remember and squat AS LOW as you can go. Don't know if you will have the flexibility to go Ass to grass yet but go as low as possible.

Edit-I thought I should re-iterate the importance of 6 meals a day. Also because of your being 270lbs, you still need a lot of food. A lot of people in your situation would cut calories to 2000, starve themselves and lose a ton of muscle. It is hard to put an estimate on how many calories you should be getting in a day. Everyone is different even if they are the same weight. You also need to try and get at least 1.5grams protein per pound of body weight so that's at least 400g a day, preferably more. The more protein the better as it balances your blood sugar out.
Maybe start of on roughly 4000 calories a day and see how you get on. After a week you should have lost a couple of pounds. Because of your size you will lose weight quicker than average for the first while, eventually it should steady out at around one pound a week but it is impossible to say when this will happen, although it will be a while. If you only lose a pound your first week then cut calories down a few hundred a day and see if that helps. If you have only began working out you will also add a bit of muscle even with calories around maintenance or lower, because of the amount of protein and stimulus. You also don't want to lose 7lbs a week as some of this will likely be muscle. You can probably expect 2-3lbs for the first while, although at the start it's hard to say what will happen.

---Take your waist, thigh and chest measurements. This will help in tracking fat loss.

 

[Warboss Alex]

Dude, at your age and bf I would eliminate carbs completely except vegetables. the rules of 'carbs at breakfast' etc don't apply to you.

yes, even post-workout and do this for at least 2-3 weeks because at your stats and age your insulin sensitivity is gonna be in big trouble.

sounds extreme but we need to get you into 'fat burning' mode as quickly as possible - even more important to control insulin because of your diabetes.

 

[Quagmire911]

Dude, at your age and bf I would eliminate carbs completely except vegetables. the rules of 'carbs at breakfast' etc don't apply to you.

yes, even post-workout and do this for at least 2-3 weeks because at your stats and age your insulin sensitivity is gonna be in big trouble.

sounds extreme but we need to get you into 'fat burning' mode as quickly as possible - even more important to control insulin because of your diabetes.

The voice of reason has spoken, do as he says!

 

[Warboss Alex]

ps - your triglyceride count will drop when you eliminate carbs

 

[KarmaSutra]

Quagmire and Warboss,

I appreciate and internalize your suggestions and I'll make the necessary adjustments.

No carbs for me outside of veggies.

So should I go Atkins as a religion or stick with fish and fish oil, chicken, steak (in moderation) and other heart healthy proteins?

How often to supplement with a protein shake? I loathe milk so I can't drink it. I do have a couple of huge canisters of whey mix with tons of glutamine to supplement meals.

I know fruit is off limits too.

 

[wolf116]

Who said steak in moderation? I would think you should be able to enjoy beef and eggs. Yes they are heart healthy!!!!

IMO it's great that you loath that milk cr@p.

Make sure you have low carb 100% whey.

 

[KarmaSutra]

Who said steak in moderation? I would think you should be able to enjoy beef and eggs. Yes they are heart healthy!!!!

IMO it's great that you loath that milk cr@p.

Make sure you have low carb 100% whey.

Red meat I like to eat pretty much raw (with hamburger an exception) and as I get older it fvcks up my tummy. So I have to moderate my red meat intake.

This morning starts:

3 scrambled eggs
cheeseburger w/ a slice of american (no bread).

 

[Quagmire911]

Wolf is correct, meat and eggs should be included in your diet. Hard to get the neccasary protein and fat without eggs.

For a shake use: Two scoops flavoured whey+4 raw eggs+some water-Then use a blender. I promise you you will not know raw eggs are in there. You may need more or less calories for a shake, you just have to adjust the number of eggs to suit.

As far as the diet in general, do not follow Atkins. A much better option would be the anabloic diet as this includes a better balance of fats.

Here is more information than you are probably going to need on the subject:

http://stronglifts.com/anabolic-diet/

Very useful and a lot of meal ideas. Have a general read over the various articles.

Alex mentioned something about carbs in relation to a 2-3 week period, this may mean the carb ups dont apply to you for a few weeks. Although I will let him clarify.

Good luck,

Quagmire

Ps-When you are getting fish oil buy from a bulk supplier online. Will save a lot of money. Try and get in at least 30g a day. You can get oil if you like and this equates to 2 tablespoons of liquid, although if its flavoured you will probably need to double that. Or just take 30 capsules a day as most would do.

---And post up the weights routine you have decided on

 

[Neubie]

Quag, WBA, and Wolf pretty much said everything already, i don't really have anything to add, so i'm just going to play the motivator...

:cheer: Come on Karma you can do it! :cheer:

but seriously, i wish you best of luck man. You have the willingness as Quag said, so thats a very good start.

Keep at it!

 

[Warboss Alex]

Hell no, save the Atkins for the fat housewives and office workers. It's not a man's diet. Ketosis is very catabolic in the long run and while you'll probably get some initial good results in the diet, you won't be able to sustain them when your training steps up a gear.

What I advise you to do (which is also what I recommended to a guy in a similar situation to yours, who had great results with it) is:

- 6 meals a day with protein, vegetables and fat in every meal. Don't count calories right now, eat until you're full (but do -not- starve yourself). The meals should be roughly the same size except breakfast (which should be bigger) and the prebed meal (which should be light).
- Foods you can eat include eggs, any meat, any cheese (not processed cheese, real cheese with no carbs in it), fish, poultry, nuts (no peanuts and limit cashews), vegetables and cream. Mayo (fullfat) and mustard are okay for condiments but no ketchup or BBQ sauce (yet). Keep a carb count - no more than 30-40g of carbs a day (from veggies or 'indirect' sources like nuts/seeds).
- No carbs or fruit whatsoever, not even postworkout. Take a scoop of whey before and after your training but this isn't essential for you. There's probably an argument to avoid it because of whey's insulinogenic properties but we don't have to get that anal. Leave the glutamine for now.
- Fibre intake must be high: green vegetables must be eaten every meal, otherwise have a handful or two of flaxseeds.
- Eat by the clock, not by your hunger. On mod-high fat diets you typically experience far less hunger pangs than on a high carb diet. Make sure you're eating every 2-3 hours, hungry or not.
- For sweets cravings, diet soda or sugarfree jello with whipped cream is fine.
- Hydration must be at least a gallon of pure water a day.
- Coffee and tea is okay. Use low carb milk if you need milk in it. Best thing to drink besides water is green/white tea which I recommend as a supplement anyway (see below).
- This may be hard the first few days for you but you will adapt quickly. Run this diet for 2 weeks minimum, preferably three. You might feel like death initially - STICK IT OUT. You are now trying to change your metabolism into using fatty acids (NOT ketones) as fuel instead of carbs. Your body will resist this initially by making you feel like **** but stick it out and you'll feel better than ever.
- Training should be done explosively with lower weights and higher reps for now. This is to learn form, deplete glycogen further and ensure your joints are prepared for the heavier weeks to come (the 2 week 'bedding in' period). We don't need anything too taxing on the CNS given your diet will be kicking you in the balls enough.
- Cardio should be done every day, at least once day. Doesn't matter what you do, walk, cycle, elliptical, stairmill, swim, whatever - basically just move your arse for 20-30 mins.
- Supplementation: FISH OIL (for you I'd say 30g a day to restore deficiencies), multivitamin, 800iu Vit E (because of the higher fish oil dose), 1-2g Vit C, zinc (50mg a day), magnesium (600mg a day), calcium 1200mg, vitamin b-complex (especially b12 - alternatively get some liver tabs), green tea extract (1g/day), ALCAR (500mg twice daily plus 500mg pre-workout). These are in order of importance so if you're on a budget start with fish oil and add the rest in as you can.

*The supps aren't too different to what I generally recommend to people but the doses are changed to reflect your situation. Older guys (not that you're old, but you know what I mean) need higher levels of minerals (zinc/mag/cal) plus it's very important to get in the b vitamins to ensure prostate health/reduce the risk of Parkinson's/Alzheimers.

Right now the priority is fat burning, insulin sensitivity and health. Muscle gain will be a priority in a month or so once you've got this stuff under control.

This was hastily typed since I need to go out pretty soon but if I've forgotten anything I'll add to it later

 

[Warboss Alex]

Alex mentioned something about carbs in relation to a 2-3 week period, this may mean the carb ups dont apply to you for a few weeks. Although I will let him clarify.

Nope, no carbs for the first 2-3 weeks to ensure fat burning. It will suck but in the long run it'll be worth it.

Try and get in at least 30g a day.

The Force continues to be strong with this one!

 

[KarmaSutra]

after breakfast my Dad calls and says he's en route to the ER for more heart tests. So I abandon the gym and haul ass to the hospital.

While he's being admitted Mrs. K picks me up and we go for lunch. I had a chef salad with only enough ranch to lightly coat the salad.

Went to work and had 3 double cheeseburgers from McDonalds (ripped the bread off and no ketchup).

For dinner tonight I have 4 tilapia filets broiled and CA veggies.

My blood sugar is 85 but I feel kind of drained so I'm having a cup of coffee and I had 2 hershey kisses (small ones) to bring my BS up becuase I weas having the shakes.

Gym at 0500 when I get out of here.

 

[KarmaSutra]

Got to the gym at 0510 and started my warmup on the treadmill for 30 minutes.

Then went to decline bench presses:
1x8 100
1x8 120
1x8 100
1x11 100 (to failure)

cable rows
1x15 110
1x8 110
1x8 110
1x10 110

Reverse fly machine

1x12 120
1x10 120
1x10 120

From there I felt good and hot so I decided to go do some squats.

1x20 135.

Done.

For breakfast I had 4 baked chicken legs (skin went to my girls), thin sliced roasted turkey and thin sliced roast beef. Huge glass of sugar free peach tea and now off to bed.

Warboss/Quagmire,

I really enjoy squats so is it ok to do them every time I work out? I feel like I accomplished something when I kill myself with them.

 

[Quagmire911]

- Training should be done explosively with lower weights and higher reps for now. This is to learn form, deplete glycogen further and ensure your joints are prepared for the heavier weeks to come (the 2 week 'bedding in' period). We don't need anything too taxing on the CNS given your diet will be kicking you in the balls enough.

Karma, you need to do the above for the allotted time period. As Alex stated its to break you in, and at your age and weight your joints will need it more than mine for example, although I still do it. You were doing high reps, but you shouldn't be killing yourself on squats just yet.

You can squat every workout, a good program for this is detailed here:

http://stronglifts.com/beginner-strength-training-program/

However remember to up the reps and go light for 2 weeks, again for the reasons above.

You shouldn't do 30 minutes on the treadmill before the weights. A better option would be to do 5 minutes and then warm up accordingly with the weights, as detailed in :

http://www.ironaddicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3404

If you can't do cardio in the am then do it after the weights for that day, although have a piece of fruit or some whey to fuel you through it.

Quagmire

Ps-You don't HAVE to start with an empty barbell, although it may be good if you are not confident with form. You haven't mentioned anything to this effect though. You were squatting a reasonable amount of weight which suggests you may have done some weight training before, or it may be because your just a big guy.

 

[Warboss Alex]

For breakfast I had 4 baked chicken legs (skin went to my girls), thin sliced roasted turkey and thin sliced roast beef. Huge glass of sugar free peach tea and now off to bed.

Why did your girls get the skin man? YOU need the skin. You need as much fat as protein in your diet if not more. Keep the skin next time. Also have some veggies with that meal. Check for hidden carbs in the peach tea

Warboss/Quagmire,

I really enjoy squats so is it ok to do them every time I work out? I feel like I accomplished something when I kill myself with them.

at your beginner level you may get away with squats every workout (but NOT 20 rep squats), use the template on stronglifts.com or a Rippetoe workout for that. but you can't do this indefinitely and only one workout is truly all out on such a program so I prefer to hit max intensity every time (over squat/deadlift/bench workouts).

you could probably do an alternating upper/lower and do an all-out squat variation on your lower body workouts as well.

all I can say is choose one program and don't try to change it

ps - okay, I retire, Quag is too quick for me

 

[Quagmire911]

Gettin' old

 

[Quiksilver]

Good work bro.

You have a long road ahead, probably 18 months before you can look back with pride and say "Look what I did." Yet like any artist, you'll probably never be able to say "I am complete" so don't set an END date. Set goals, but never look to finish Project Karma.

That being said, it seems from the responses here that the approach you're taking is very aggressive. I'd hazard to say that, for a beginner, it's too aggressive. There's a whole tonne of info being thrown at you here, so I'd suggest starting with the basics.

The three fundamentals of fitness(fat loss & muscle gain) are Diet, Rest, and Training.

Diet:

t looks like you have enough info to go far with your diet, but I remember when I was first getting critiqued on what I ate, the amount of different advice I got sort of bogged me down. I'd go through the day thinking "Okay, what am I supposed to eat here? Can I have this? Is this okay?" So my whole day aside from work was based around eating.

Start with the fundamentals.

Protein: Aim for 200-300g of protein per day. I get all my protein in the form of ground beef(0.9kg a day), large whole eggs(12 a day), and chicken(300g a day). Of course substitute in other meats or fish or whey whenever you feel like it. Don't count proteins from other sources into your total(pasta, milk, almonds, etc) as they don't have a complete amino acid spectrum.

Fat: Aim for 100-200g of fat per day. Sounds scary? Well that's just social conditioning and marketing. I get all the fats I need in the ground beef, the eggs, the olive oil I cook with, and salmon/fish oil supps.

Carbs: Here is where we have debate though... People are tellling you to go ZERO carb already. Finding it hard yet? I'd start to cut carbs out of your life incrementally, which might be harder for some... Just start to make healthy choices here, okay? No more microwave dinners! You'll start to see results from your training(lifting/cardio) by keeping your carbs--regardless of what it is you eat--under 100-200g. I'd actually say that WHEN you see fat loss start to taper off, THEN you start cutting carbs down below 100-150g. Right now, I think you can milk your body quite well. Being very aggressive will work, perhaps a tad faster, but wouldn't you like to lose fat while maintaining sanity?
I get all my main carbs from sweet potatoes, some whole wheat pasta, oatmeal rarely, and fruit daily. I haven't had cereal, pancakes, or pop tarts in about a year and a half.

There will be time for 0 carb in the future, but it's simply not necessary yet. Limit your carbs to healthy ones, and keep them under 100-200g. Bookmark this page.

Veggies: There isn't really much to say besides "eat your veggies". They have a variety of uses to the body... They raise your metabolism, they're full of vitamins and minerals that will help your body recover after workouts faster, they fill you up to avoid food binges, they....actually thats about all they do. A couple of them actually taste good too!

--

Rest:

I'd focus on rest as well. Make sure you DO get 8 hours of full sleep every night. At your age, your CNS won't recover as fast after workouts, so rest is more important. Aside from cardio and lifting, take it easy. You want to be able to sustain progress for months and years, so being very aggressive too soon will take you into a nose dive and emotional/psychological swings. Keep a sleep log, monitor what time you go to bed and wake up for a little while just to make sure.

Training:

cardio:

Again, people are suggesting aggressive starts here. I'd take it slow and aim for sustainable progress, increasing frequency as needed. Right now, with your bodyfat likely around 30-40%, you will lose fat off from 2 cardio days per week. If you're lifting mon-wed-fri, throw in morning cardio on tuesday and thursday. In two weeks, bump it to tuesday, thursday, saturday. Every two weeks just add an extra session. I believe that gunning for 6 right off is a bad idea. As you know, your body adapts and learns to conserve. Just like racing a high performance car, you want to milk each gear for all it's worth. Start with 2 45 minute BEFORE BREAKFAST(but after a piece of fruit) cardio sessions a week.

Lifting:

The name of your game is speed buddy. Bring one of those stopwatches that you wear around your neck, to the gym. Don't rest for more than 30-120 seconds between sets, depending on how heavy it is for you. Assuming you're in the gym for 45 minutes, you want your heart rate high for the whole time. This acts as an extra cardio session ON TOP of the lifting. Always press the weights with speed too. Be explosive, and really put your heart into each rep. I want to see you crying after leg day. Intensity, and speed.

Extras:

Try to cut down on every day stresses. Stop procrastinating if you do, and be a Today man. My dad is a Yesterday man, he always thinks of what he could have done Yesterday. I'm a bit of a Tomorrow man, and always think of what I can do tomorrow. I'm working on becoming someone who thinks of what to do Today to eliminate stress. Get your work done, get pedantic bullsh1t out of the way, and watch your cortisol levels drop, and fat loss increase.

"A man with a weight on his mind is more heavily burdened than a man with a weight on his back."

If you want strategies to make cooking/preparing food easier, throw me a PM. I remember when I was starting, I KNEW what to do sort of, but actually carrynig out the process of eating A LOT of clean food every day was/is hard, and is something rarely talked about here.

Good luck, and start posting your workouts/diets here if you aren't already!

peace