Today was leg training. Usually a workout that I enjoy, but today was a bit funky. I was weak from the get-go. My legs were already sore from the weeks cardio and the deadlift session on Wednesday, I knew it was going to be rough. But, no excuses, I racked the weight and gave it my best shot. Interesting comments on the workout to come.
Weighed in at 185.0 today with clothing on. Still trimming down slowly, as I planned! Feeling good about the way I am looking so far. I have decided that I will use the MS and Clen after this run of AT2 and AE is finished. Then conclude with EP and DAA, comments on this to come.
Training:
Squats: 135x12, 225x8, 315x1
DB Split Squat: N/A
Leg Press: 315x12, 450x10, 630x5, 720x1, 720x5
Lying Leg Curls: 55x20, 95x12, 125x8, 125x8
Lex Extension: 50x15, 70x12, 90x8, 90x8
Calf Raise: 50x25, 75x25, 125x10, 125x10
Cardio: 175 calories, walking treadmill
Training was a little crazy today. Notice the 1 rep of both 315 on my squats and 720 on leg press? Those are both because of failure to complete the second rep while I was in the middle of trying. I had to bail out of a squat to prevent injury, that is always embarassing! Also, the leg press maching slipped on me while I was coming down, which meant I got squished by 720lbs! I knew that I was too weak today to continue doing squats, so I did not push it too hard, even though I was disappointed. However, I would not accept the failure on leg press. I unstacked all of the plates, reset the machine, and loaded it right back up. I owed it to myself to get those reps, even if it about killed me. I was proud of myself for getting them, despite being very fatigued at this point. Other than that, the leg workout was pretty normal. I went ahead and did some light cardio afterwards, which I dont always do.
Diet:
Meal 1 (60%): 1 1/4 cup egg whites, 7oz sirloin steak, 1 cup broccoli, 1 medium onion, 3 slices ezekiel bread, 1tbsp natural peanut butter
Calories: 956, Carb: 68, Fat: 21, Protein: 117
Meal 2 (30%): 1 scoop protein, 8oz skim milk, 1 turkey burger, 2 slices ezekiel bread, 1tbsp EVOO
Calories: 611, Carb: 46, Fat: 17, Protein: 69
Meal 3 (10%): Chocolate Mint Clif Builder Bar
Calories: 270, Carb: 31, Fat: 8, Protein: 20
Snack: Dark chocolate bar (starbucks)
Calories: 165, Carb: 14, Fat 14, Protein: 2
Daily Total:
Calories: 1999, Carb: 159, Fat: 60, Protein: 208
Diet wasnt bad today. I went over by about 100 calories because of the dark chocolate bar I had late in the evening with my coffee. I love chocolate and had not had any for a long time, so I decided to treat myself a bit for my hard work. Just a small indulgence that goes a long way for my sanity during dieting. If I would not have had the coffee with this I wouldnt have eaten it, my insulin level spikes really easily when I diet for extended periods of time and then consume something like chocolate, I begin craving tons of food as a result. I hoped the coffee would blunt my appetite a bit, gratefully it did and no harm was really done.
I am noticing my strength is going down quite a bit of recent. The dieting is starting to take its toll on my body. I am wondering ho much of this has to do with the fact that I am not getting as many wholesome foods in my diet as I was when I was at college and at home. I am having trouble affording groceries right now because I have not managed to get a paycheck from my internship yet, makes it hard to afford wholesome foods. As a result, protein bars and powders have become a normal thing in the daily diet whereas they were consumed much less often a few weeks ago. This might have nothing to do with anything, it might simply be that as my weight continues to drop and the calories are still low that my strength is just finally starting to go down. Just a part of dieting it seems.
I am contemplating a refeed again tomorrow to assist with strength recovery. What are everyones thoughts on this? I hate to slow down the weight loss, but I want to make sure I am doing this right. Dont want to take it too fast and lose muscle mass. AnaBeta Elite has done a good job helping me maintain strength while on this calorie deficit so far, but it can only do so much for so long.
Conclusion: It was a decent day. Nothing spectacular to report.
I have decided, as mentioned above, that I am going to go forward with my plan to use MS and Clen in place of the EP and DAA of this stack, delaying the EP and DAA a probable 8 weeks. My reasoning for this is this: my strength is already down and I am leaning up quicker than I expected based on the mirror. I think that the 8 weeks spent using Clen and MS will be enough to take me to where I want to be, after finishing the AE and AT2 portion of this stack that I am currently on and have a few weeks of still to go. Rather than use EP and DAA to recover strength and then have to watch it drop again when I begin using Clen and MS with my diet, I would prefer to go ahead and use the Clen and MS while I am already at this reduced strength to get to where I want to be, the final touches, hopefully, and then conclude the log with my strength recovered using EP and DAA.
Thoughts, everyone?
Thanks again to everyone for following!