New Years New Thread! JLay87's Weekly Update Lifting Journal

[ENIGMA16]

It's a new year and I have a new determination. I'm planning on updating this thread weekly only so that I don't end up cluttering it with daily posts.

ME: 22 years old, 5'7" and 170lbs

Weirdly enough, I couldn't find a photo that really showed off my physique. However, this was taken this last summer, so it's pretty much where I was at before I started lifting. I'll probably take weekly progress photos starting tomorrow and post them, as well.

As for my workout, I'm doing the Starting Strength program, which alternates between the following:

Workout A
Squat 3x5
Bench Press 3x5
Deadlift 1x5

Workout B
Squat 3x5
Press 3x5
Power Clean 5x3

Jumps:
Squat - 10 lbs
Bench Press - 5 lbs
Deadlift - 15 lbs
Press - 5 lbs
Power Clean - 5 lbs

As for my diet, I'm doing a carb cycling diet that Effort designed for me:

High Carb Day - Monday, Wed, Fri

Meal 1- 55carbs, 28gprotein
Meal 2- 55carbs, 28gprotein
Meal 3- 55carbs, 28gprotein
Meal 4- 55carbs, 28gprotein
Meal 5- 55carbs, 28gprotein
Meal 6- 55carbs, 28gprotein

Low Carb Day - Tue, Thurs, Sat, Sun

Meal 1- 28carbs ,35protein
Meal 2- 28carbs ,35protein
Meal 3- 28carbs ,35protein
Meal 4- 35protein, 20g fat
Meal 5- 35 protein,20g fat
Meal 6- 35 protein, 20g fat

Protein has basically been eggs, whey protein, chicken and beef. Wasn't a problem at all because before I was already eating a ton of eggs and beef. Chicken's easy because you can cook it and it lasts longer than other meats.

Carbs have been oatmeal and brown rice. Probably will get sick of these eventually but until then I'm going to stick to these. Will eventually add rice cakes and mashed sweet potatoes.

Fat has basically been whatever's on the meat (usually for my last few meals on a low carb day I'll have beef which is fattier) plus a little bit of olive oil that it's cooked in.

Post workout meal is some grape juice (60g carbs) and 2 scoops whey protein.

Goals
- Maintain my current workout program. Get to the gym 6 days a week and keep making gains until I plateau.
- Lose body fat. I have yet to flesh this one out to something tangible. I'm thinking about getting measured with those skin calipers monthly or something like that.
- Maintain my diet as close as possible.

Here's where I'm at for the past week:

Monday 1/4
Squat 205 lbs
Bench Press 135 lbs
Deadlift 165 lbs

Tuesday 1/5
Didn't end up going to the gym because I was so sore.

Wednesday 1/6
Squat 215 lbs
Press 75 lbs
Power Clean 95 lbs

Thursday 1/7
25 min elliptical (couldn't make 30)

Friday 1/8
Squat 225 lbs
Bench Press 140 lbs
Deadlift 180 lbs

Saturday 1/9
30 min elliptical

Monday 1/11
Squat 235 lbs
Press 80 lbs
Power Clean 100 lbs

So as you can see I've been able to keep up with my intended gains so far. Hopefully that will last throughout the week.

Looking back, I started on 12/4/09 with the following:
Squat 195 lbs
Bench Press 120 lbs
Deadlift 135 lbs

Which means that in a month my squat has increased 40 lbs, my Bench Press 20 lbs and my deadlift 45 lbs. These are pretty impressive, I think, but would have been larger if it weren't for me not being able to get to the gym so often due to the holidays and whatnot.

As for my diet, I have been keeping a food journal throughout the week.

FOOD JOURNAL

Tuesday, 1/5 - Low Carb
9:30am
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 scoop whey protein
1/2 cup egg beaters
12:00pm and 3:00pm
3 hard boiled eggs
2 cups skim milk
6:00pm
Beef with vegetables
2 M&M cookies
2 slices Pizza Hut stuffed crust & cheese sticks
~12:00am
Wheat spaghetti, a few vodka Fresca's, one glass champagne

Wednesday, 1/6 - High Carb
7:00am
1 cup oatmeal
3/4 cup egg beaters with mushrooms and onions
10:00am and 1:00pm
Chipotle chicken with onions, mushrooms and rice
3:30pm
Chipotle chicken with onions, mushrooms and 7 rice cakes
7:00pm
Grape juice and 2 scoops whey protein
9:30pm
Beef with vegetables

Thursday, 1/7 - Low Carb
11:30am
3 eggs
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 scoop whey protein
2:30pm
1 1/2 cups Fat Free cottage cheese
2 rice cakes
6:30pm
Beef with vegetables
10:30pm
Pitcher of PBR, two spotted cows
2:15am
Beef with vegetables

Friday, 1/8 - High Carb
12:15pm
1/2 cup Fat Free cottage cheese
3/4 cup oatmeal
2:30pm
Cheese quesadilla with black bean sauce (restaurant)
7:00pm
Grape Juice + 2 scoops whey protein
10:00pm
1/2 of a Pizza Hut Meat Lovers Pan Pizza (Large)Saturday, 1/9 - Low Carb
12:30pm
1 scoop whey protein
1/2 cup oatmeal
3/4 cup egg beaters
6:30pm
Beef with vegetables
9:30pm
Beef with vegetables
2:30am
4 vodka tonic and lime
1 foot long Subway BLT with Ranch dressing on Italian herb & cheese
1 bag jalopeno chips

Sunday, 1/10 - Low Carb
1 Little Caesar's pizza
1 order crazy bread with sauce
Some grape juice

Monday, 1/11 - High Carb
2:00am
1 scoop whey protein
5:00am
Sausage McMuffin with egg
Bacon Egg and Cheese Biscuit
Hashbrowns
4:00pm
Whole frozen pizza

Anyways, that's where I'm at. I've highlighted all of the deviations from my diet, and it seems like a lot to me, but they don't seem too significant (except for the past day or two, which is due to me having a weird work schedule and not planning ahead for it).

So is my diet solid, based on this food journal? Can I lose the fat that I want to lose by eating like this, or do I need to adhere to it stricter to see results?

 

[EFFORT]

So is my diet solid, based on this food journal? Can I lose the fat that I want to lose by eating like this, or do I need to adhere to it stricter to see results?

Fat loss won't happen with those deviations. If you want the fat loss stay with brown rice, and oats for carbs. Keep beef away from your high carb days and use whey, chicken breast, and tuna as your protein sources for high days.

Low days use the same carb sources and use the beef,fish, chicken, eggs, whey as your protein sources.

Olive oil and fish oil for fat and salad, broccoli for veggies. Cut out the rest of the junk and let the milk go to.


Do cardio first thing in the morning on 3 of your low days before any food, 30min on the elliptical.

 

[Quagmire911]

Ouch, 4 vodkas and then a footlong subway? This equals fat gain, not fat loss.

The question was inevitably going to be asked by myself or Kerpal, how low are you squatting? Be honest.

Quagmire

Ps- Drinking and fat loss don't go hand in hand. Drinking and fat gain too. Better to have some time off until you are lean.

 

[ENIGMA16]

Fat loss won't happen with those deviations. If you want the fat loss stay with brown rice, and oats for carbs. Keep beef away from your high carb days and use whey, chicken breast, and tuna as your protein sources for high days.

I don't eat beef on high carb days; I eat beef for the last 3 meals on my low carb days, because it's delicious and contains the fat that the diet calls for.

Olive oil and fish oil for fat and salad, broccoli for veggies. Cut out the rest of the junk and let the milk go to.

The milk that I drank was because I was at work, so it wasn't part of my normal diet. However, I did count up the carbs/protein and they all added up to what was required for my diet. So what is wrong with that?

Do cardio first thing in the morning on 3 of your low days before any food, 30min on the elliptical.

I typically can't get to the gym that early.

Ouch, 4 vodkas and then a footlong subway? This equals fat gain, not fat loss.

Yeah I know, that was stupid (although better than McDonald's or something fattier).

The question was inevitably going to be asked by myself or Kerpal, how low are you squatting? Be honest.

About as low as I can go. The top of my thigh goes past parallel. My ass is almost touching the ground.

I've been really focused on proper form as opposed to just increasing the weight. I've particularly been motivated by watching others at my gym (it's a university gym) try squatting with the worst form on earth. I seriously have only seen one or two people do a proper squat. The majority of people end up going up on their toes, only doing a half/quarter squat or end up doing something resembling a good morning more than a squat. When I first started squatting this guy at the gym really helped me solve all the flaws in my form (I was originally going up on my toes a lot and sort of bending my right knee in).

I am getting really close to plateauing, though. Yesterday I was squatting 245 and almost couldn't get my last rep in. I'm going to keep going up 10 lb jumps until I can't get the last rep or two in and then will switch to 5 lb jumps.

EDIT: Also, after lifting my back has been super achy. I can tell for a fact that it's coming from my squats, because it will start after my squats and by the end of my workout it basically hurts to stand up. It's in my lower back. I first experienced this the first few times after squatting, but then it went away. It came back recently, with me increasing my squat so much. It usually happens for about an hour after lifting, and so it feels like a muscle ache so I'm wondering if this is normal because I'm pushing myself so hard or if it's something else. After it goes away an hour after lifting I don't experience it until I lift again.

Ps- Drinking and fat loss don't go hand in hand. Drinking and fat gain too. Better to have some time off until you are lean.

Yeah I know, I'm just having trouble because I'm trying to break down my social barriers and it's a lot harder to talk to women when you're sober than it is when you're drunk.

Anyways, I've figured out that about 95% of the deviations in my diet have been due to the fact that I've been cooking on a daily or single meal basis and so I've deviated when I haven't had time/energy to cook. To solve this problem I've calculated my weekly requirements and so I'm just going to cook on a weekly basis now (every Sunday night) so that the food is always available in my fridge so that I don't have any more excuses.

Thanks for the help, guys! It really does motivate me to put more effort into it so I really appreciate it.

 

[EFFORT]

I don't eat beef on high carb days; I eat beef for the last 3 meals on my low carb days, because it's delicious and contains the fat that the diet calls for.


I was talking about on these days

Wednesday, 1/6 - High Carb
7:00am
1 cup oatmeal
3/4 cup egg beaters with mushrooms and onions
10:00am and 1:00pm
Chipotle chicken with onions, mushrooms and rice
3:30pm
Chipotle chicken with onions, mushrooms and 7 rice cakes
7:00pm
Grape juice and 2 scoops whey protein
9:30pm
Beef with vegetables


Friday, 1/8 - High Carb
12:15pm
1/2 cup Fat Free cottage cheese
3/4 cup oatmeal
2:30pm
Cheese quesadilla with black bean sauce (restaurant)
7:00pm
Grape Juice + 2 scoops whey protein
10:00pm
1/2 of a Pizza Hut Meat Lovers Pan Pizza (Large)Saturday, 1/9 - Low Carb
12:30pm
1 scoop whey protein
1/2 cup oatmeal
3/4 cup egg beaters
6:30pm
Beef with vegetables
9:30pm
Beef with vegetables
2:30am







The milk that I drank was because I was at work, so it wasn't part of my normal diet. However, I did count up the carbs/protein and they all added up to what was required for my diet. So what is wrong with that?


Not the best choice your trying to lose fat, milk and dairy products in general aren't the best from someone trying to take off body fat.


I typically can't get to the gym that early.

Doing it first thing in the morning before eating any food is going to be the most optimal way for fat loss, take a honest look at your schedule and see if theirs anyway possible you can. I'm not saying you have to get up at 4am, just set it up so when you wake up the first thing you do is your cardio (only 3 days a week at this point) then start your eating



good find on whats causing the deviations. Make sunday your weekly cook day and really plan things out ahead of time. The better you can plan the less you'll deviate

bold

 

[Kerpal]

EDIT: Also, after lifting my back has been super achy. I can tell for a fact that it's coming from my squats, because it will start after my squats and by the end of my workout it basically hurts to stand up. It's in my lower back. I first experienced this the first few times after squatting, but then it went away. It came back recently, with me increasing my squat so much. It usually happens for about an hour after lifting, and so it feels like a muscle ache so I'm wondering if this is normal because I'm pushing myself so hard or if it's something else. After it goes away an hour after lifting I don't experience it until I lift again.

Have you actually read Starting Strength? If not, I suggest you do that before you injure yourself.

As for your squat, have you ever recorded yourself? A lot of times, people think they're going a lot deeper than they really are (See: APF powerlifting meets). The top of your thigh at your hip joint must go at least below the top of your knee at the bottom of the squat. It has nothing to do with "parallel", whatever that means.

 

[ENIGMA16]

Have you actually read Starting Strength? If not, I suggest you do that before you injure yourself.

Yes I have.

As for your squat, have you ever recorded yourself? A lot of times, people think they're going a lot deeper than they really are (See: APF powerlifting meets). The top of your thigh at your hip joint must go at least below the top of your knee at the bottom of the squat. It has nothing to do with "parallel", whatever that means.

Ah, I don't have the book in front of me but I am sure that the top of my thigh at the hip joint is going at least below the top of my knee. I am going down as far as I can. I have asked people to watch me at the gym to make sure and they confirmed it. I've also asked people to check my back to see if it's rounding and it is not, so I'm really just thinking that it's a muscle ache.

 

[Drum&Bass]

If your back muscles ache from squatting its not that big of a deal. Its most likely due to lack of (flexibility/strength) or your bodies (genetics/proportions).

Its natural to have an achy back when squatting (when the low back muscles become increasingly tense) it doesnt happen all the time but if it persists, its a sign that your back just needs to get used to prolonged tension. As long as there is no pain in your spine you'll be OK.

Id hold off on heavy loads for now and stick with lower weight and build up the amount of comfortable reps you can do.

As far as squatting depth I wouldnt haggle over it to much..it all depends on flexibility and over time with practice you'll improve. Just go as low as you can and that will work just fine...but do practice going lower..bring your feet very close together and turning them outwards.

F.Y.I.
The Mark Rippetoe DVD is wwaaaaayyyyyy better than the book. As in there is no comparison.

 

[Quagmire911]

It is easier to talk to women sober, you can actually think straight .

The reason I asked on the squat is that your deadlift should be higher. You are either squatting too high, or puss*ing out on your deadlift. If you are squatting 245 legit to a good depth, you should be deadlifting 290+ for reps. Which is it?

Regardless, keep consistent and you will do great.

Quagmire

 

[ENIGMA16]

It is easier to talk to women sober, you can actually think straight .

The reason I asked on the squat is that your deadlift should be higher. You are either squatting too high, or puss*ing out on your deadlift. If you are squatting 245 legit to a good depth, you should be deadlifting 290+ for reps. Which is it?

Regardless, keep consistent and you will do great.

Quagmire

Well my deadlift seems low because I probably started too low. But since my squat is going up 10lb jumps (which will probably decrease to 5lb jumps in the next week or two) while my deadlift is 15lb jumps it will overtake my squat eventually. I've been thinking about increasing it to 20lb jumps just for a few weeks but we'll see how it goes.

EDIT: Actually, I just realized that my deadlift will never surpass my squat because I am squatting 3 times a week and only deadlifting 1-2 times a week. This means that I'm increasing my squat 30lbs a week while my deadlift is only going up 15-30lbs a week. So my deadlift won't surpass my squat until I decrease my squat jumps (which will happen in the next week or two) or increase my deadlift jumps (which I'm thinking about doing).

It is easier to talk to women sober, you can actually think straight .

Hah well when I'm buzzed/drunk I have absolutely no problem walking up to women and engaging in conversation, but then I have trouble not making an idiot out of myself. When I'm sober I have trouble initiating but once it's started I'm usually good. So I just need to approach women sober and I should be fine.

EDIT: Sorry, EFFORT, just saw your post now.

beef

I'll have to check what I wrote down because I think I just typed it up wrong. I don't remember eating beef that often on Hi days (I remember doing it once only).

Not the best choice your trying to lose fat, milk and dairy products in general aren't the best from someone trying to take off body fat.

Yeah you keep saying that, but why? I mean if it's going towards my required protein/carb/fat then what is bad about it?

Doing it first thing in the morning before eating any food is going to be the most optimal way for fat loss, take a honest look at your schedule and see if theirs anyway possible you can. I'm not saying you have to get up at 4am, just set it up so when you wake up the first thing you do is your cardio (only 3 days a week at this point) then start your eating

I typically work at 7:45 in the morning, meaning I would have to wake up at around 5 to be able to drive to the gym, get 30 minutes of cardio in, come home, shower, and then drive to work. It just doesn't work with my schedule.

I'll keep this in mind for days that I have off, though. Thanks for the tip.

 

[ENIGMA16]

Finally another update!

Tuesday 1/12
Wasn't able to get to the gym

Wednesday 1/13
Squat 245 lbs
Bench Press 145 lbs
Deadlift 195 lbs

Thursday 1/14
30 mins elliptical

Friday 1/15
Squat 255 lbs
Press 85 lbs
Power Clean 105 lbs

Saturday 1/16
30 mins elliptical

Monday 1/18
Gym Closed (MLK Day)

Tuesday 1/19
30 mins elliptical

Wednesday 1/20
Squat 235 lbs (Failed 255 lbs on set 2 so I went down to 235. I think this was because I missed Monday's workout)
Press 85 lbs
Power Clean 105 lbs

Thursday 1/21
22.5 mins elliptical

Friday 1/22
Squat 235 lbs
Bench Press 145 lbs
Deadlift 195 lbs

I decided to go back to the same weights because I missed Monday's workout. I also at this time decided to decrease to 5 lb jumps on the squat because after failing on Wednesday I don't think 10 lb jumps are sustainable for me anymore.

Saturday 1/23
30 mins elliptical

Monday 1/25
Squat 240 lbs
Press 90 lbs
Power Clean 110 lbs

Tuesday 1/26
30 mins elliptical


So I think I've made decent progress, but obviously in the past week or so I've had a few setbacks. This will become more apparent when you look below at my food journal, unfortunately. However, I think I've gotten everything back under control and am on track to improving.

FOOD JOURNAL
So I left this off on the 11th. Unfortunately, I don't have any data for the 12th and throughout the next couple days I forgot to write down a bunch of stuff. Also, the meal codes (i.e. "Meal D") are explained after the journal.

Wendesday, 1/13 - High Carb
9:30am
81g Oatmeal
183g egg beaters
2:30pm
91g black beans
1/4 cup egg beaters
4:30pm
grape juice
2 scoops whey protein

Saturday, 1/16 - Low Carb
1:30pm
Meal D

Monday, 1/18 - High Carb
11:00am
Meal A
2:00pm, 6:30pm, 9:30pm
Meal C

Tuesday, 1/19 - Low Carb
9:00am
Meal D
1:30pm
Pretzels
3 hard boiled eggs
1 can tuna
6:30pm
1 can tuna in oil (wanted to get rid of it)
1 can tuna in water with EVOO
11:00pm
15-20 pieces of shrimp

Wednesday, 1/20 - High Carb
9:00am
4 hard boiled eggs
pretzels
2:30pm
Meal C
6:30pm
Meal B
9:30pm
vodka tonics, beer, cheeseburger/fries, cheetos, combos, 2 candy bars

Thursday, 1/21 - Low Carb
5:30pm
Meal E
9:30pm
4 vodkas, 2 beers
2:30am
Meal E

Friday, 1/22 - High Carb
12:00pm
Meal A
3:00pm
Went to restaurant and had a walnut burger with cheese and pickle
8:00pm
Meal B
Late
vodka fresca, 1 martini, vodka tonic, 1 SMALL chili dog

Saturday, 1/23 - Low Carb
11:30am
Meal D
2:30pm, 5:30pm
Meal E
Evening
vodka diet, 1 beer, vodka tonics, 1 shot whiskey, TONS of McDonald's

Sunday, 1/24 - Low Carb
1:00pm
Meal D
4:00pm
Meal E
8:30pm
1 scoop whey protein
1 can tuna in oil

Monday, 1/25 - High Carb
7:00am
Meal B
11:00am, 3:00pm, 8:00pm
Meal C
10:00pm
1 scoop whey protein

Tuesday, 1/26 - Low Carb
7:00am
Meal D
10:00am
5 hard boiled eggs
pretzels
12:00pm
1 scoop whey protein
2:30pm
Beef & veggies
5:30pm
Beef & veggies
1 scoop whey protein

Alright, so I've switched to cooking and planning my food out on a weekly basis, and so I basically wrote down a few regular meals that I eat, as follows:

Meal A
81g oatmeal
183g egg beaters

Meal B (Post Workout)
60g carbs (grape juice)
2 scoops whey protein

Meal C
112g chicken
73g brown rice

Meal D
112g egg beaters
33g oatmeal
1 scoop whey protein

Meal E
154g chicken
37g brown rice

Meal F
Beef & veggies (I don't usually measure this out because I don't always buy the same type of beef and so it wouldn't work)

I've basically broken these down into the following ideal diet schedule:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday - High Carb
1. Meal A
2-6. Meal C (Except one is replaced by Meal B, which is my post-workout meal)

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday - Low Carb
1. Meal D
2-3. Meal E
4-6. Meal F

This way I make all of my chicken/beef on Sunday and it's ready for the week.

The only problem is that I forgot to make my Low Carb chicken for this week, so I haven't been able to fully implement it yet. Also, you'll notice that I've deviated a lot less lately than I did last week, which I think is due to better planning. The deviations that are there are mostly due to drinking, which should go down significantly, as I have elected to work on Saturday and Sunday mornings, which should greatly decrease the amount of drinking I'm doing.

I still haven't seen a lot of progress in terms of fat loss but I'm just chalking it up to this being really only my first/second week of sticking to the diet significantly. I'm hoping that within the next two weeks I will see some progress as long as I stick to it. Now that I have a regular work schedule and a school schedule I should be able to slide into a familiar routine.

Also, I've started going to bed earlier and waking up earlier to get my workouts in before work. The past two days I've woken up at 5 and gotten to the gym at 6 (when it opens) so we'll see how long that keeps up.

I've realized that I made a lot of bad decisions in terms of diet in the past few weeks and I'm determined to rectify those so that I should have this routine solid by the end of the week.

I did have a few questions, but I can't remember them. I'll post them in a new post if I think of them.

 

[Jitterbug]

What are you doing eating high carbs while you're going for fat loss?

I squat way more often than I deadlift (2-3 times a week to 1) but my deadlift is always higher than squat (currently 155kg to 120kg). Some data pulled from a group of 50 strong lifters in my city shows that a balanced ratio means your squat should be around 80% of your deadlift.

I think like most people deadlifting, you're just not working it hard enough. You'll know you're working hard enough when sometimes you're pulling with all your strength, and it still takes 5 seconds (feels like forever) for that bloody weight to get off the floor. Most people give up and think it's too heavy as soon as the weight doesn't get off the floor straight away.

 

[ENIGMA16]

What are you doing eating high carbs while you're going for fat loss?

It's a carb cycling diet, so it's actually a low carb diet.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/par30.htm

I squat way more often than I deadlift (2-3 times a week to 1) but my deadlift is always higher than squat (currently 155kg to 120kg). Some data pulled from a group of 50 strong lifters in my city shows that a balanced ratio means your squat should be around 80% of your deadlift.

Now that I've gone down to 5 lb jumps (as opposed to the previous 10) this means my deadlift will eventually catch up. Now my squat is going up 15 lbs a week whereas on a B week my Deadlift is going up 30 lbs. So my numbers will soon correct themselves.

I think like most people deadlifting, you're just not working it hard enough. You'll know you're working hard enough when sometimes you're pulling with all your strength, and it still takes 5 seconds (feels like forever) for that bloody weight to get off the floor. Most people give up and think it's too heavy as soon as the weight doesn't get off the floor straight away.

Like I said in an earlier post (don't remember if it was in this thread), I just picked an arbitrary weight to start at that wasn't too heavy and just stuck to 15 lb jumps for my deadlift. My reasoning was that it's more important to stick to my goals than to start too heavy. Which I think was a good idea; now I'm starting to lift heavier and it's starting to push me, so I'm starting to see legitimate gains.

 

[Jitterbug]

That's cool, and you're right, sticking to your goals and going hard at it is the most important thing! Cheers

 

[ENIGMA16]

One question I did ask, and I asked a similar one earlier but I'm going to generalize it. Does it matter what my calorie intake is? Because I just ate 5 hard boiled eggs for a high protein meal (35g protein, 10g fat) and wasn't sure if this is going to slow down my progress.

BTW it feels like I've lost some fat in my love handle area, which is absolutely wonderful because that's where pretty much all my fat is.

Also, I have a new reason to do this: I'm going down to Florida for spring break. So that's definitely motivation to get my body looking as good as possible.

 

[ENIGMA16]

Also would it do me good to cut carbs more on my high carb days? Because after being on the diet for a bit it seems like a lot of rice to eat; I think I could fill up on less. The more progress I can make sooner the better (obviously).

EDIT: I realize I should have put these in a single post. Oh well.

My final question is that I'm having trouble measuring out stuff because of the difference between uncooked and cooked meat/rice. I usually weigh my chicken/rice before I cook them. I've figured out that by volume the rice is roughly the same volume as the uncooked rice and the water (i.e. 1 cup dry rice plus 2 cups water yields 3 cups cooked rice), however it would be much easier to use a weight determinant. So how would I account for the difference in cooking? This also applies to chicken. This is really confusing to me so I was wondering what most people that are really into lifting/dieting do.

I feel like I have pretty much everything except portion control down now, and that is simply because I'm not sure how to measure out my portions because of the above problem.

 

[Jitterbug]

The fat loss diet I got from my coach (who has a gym with 38 lifters deadlifting over 200kg - and except one fat dude - are all ripped) has zero starchy carb: no rice, bread, pasta etc. All carbs come from fruits and veggies. No fruits after lunch. Fat loss on that diet (plus training 3 weights 2 cardios a week) is estimated around 500g (which is 4500 calories deficit) a week.

I've been following that diet for 4 weeks and lost about 1.5kg while gaining strength, so that's at least 1.5kg of fat loss.

 

[EFFORT]

Also would it do me good to cut carbs more on my high carb days? Because after being on the diet for a bit it seems like a lot of rice to eat; I think I could fill up on less. The more progress I can make sooner the better (obviously).

EDIT: I realize I should have put these in a single post. Oh well.

My final question is that I'm having trouble measuring out stuff because of the difference between uncooked and cooked meat/rice. I usually weigh my chicken/rice before I cook them. I've figured out that by volume the rice is roughly the same volume as the uncooked rice and the water (i.e. 1 cup dry rice plus 2 cups water yields 3 cups cooked rice), however it would be much easier to use a weight determinant. So how would I account for the difference in cooking? This also applies to chicken. This is really confusing to me so I was wondering what most people that are really into lifting/dieting do.

I feel like I have pretty much everything except portion control down now, and that is simply because I'm not sure how to measure out my portions because of the above problem.

1cup cooked of brown rice is 45g of carbs
1cup of dry oats is 54g carbs

no more worries about weighing rice

As for chicken weigh it after its cooked, 1oz is generally 6g of protein so use that as your multiplier

check your pms