Over the weekend of the 7th and 8th of February, I had gotten into a discussion with a counterpart while at my Army Reserve drill. Can you lose more body fat by doing no cardio, working out, upping protein and cutting carbs? Or, by semi watching what you ate and doing cardio. I am biased because I kind of like cardio- especially if I can run outside when the weather is decent. It was a heated discussion, wrapping from a verbal to text message debate. I believe that cardio is an essential part of a work-out regime (and is needed for being in the Army), and can give you leeway to splurge on "fat kid food" now and again (because.... pizza). My counterpart believes that cardio can be minimal, and still get the results you want/need by restricting the diet and minimizing splurges on food. Eh, we will see. We decided I should try this for a week.
I had been (at this point) working out several times a week lifting weights, Crossfit, and running. The running was causing pain on the outer part of my knees, so I had knocked it down to only a couple times a week- once outside while the weather warmed up and 5 to 10 minutes on a treadmill at the gym for a warm up. The injury occurred while taking part in a Tough Mudder race in September 2014, branching off of physiological-mechanical issues I had learned from dealing with plantar fasciitis overseas (plantar fasciitis is mostly gone and rarely gives me trouble, but I guess my hips swaying and being weak is causing the issues now). I was having a hard time losing body fat while doing my normal workouts with minimal cardio and splurging every now and again- but I had not GAINED any, either. For this "experiment," I was to lower my carb intake to between 100 grams-150 grams and raise my protein intake to try to match one gram per pound I weighed, and continue working out as I had been- if not raise that a bit. I took my measurements and weight.
Starting measurements:
Body Weight: 143 lbs.
Waist: 28 1/2"
Hips: 38 3/4"
Forearm: 9 1/2"
Wrist: 6"
I used this body fat calculator. Now, I know that physical measurements such as these do not give an accurate reading, but, it would suffice for this little project. (I also picked the one site that seemed to give me a more accurate reading as compared to Army standards, which shows me at around 27% body fat.)
What the above translated to was:
Fat Weight: 37.43 lbs.
Muscle Weight: 105.57 lbs.
Body fat %: 26.2 %
For those of you who know me personally- know that I love beer. Usually the darker the better- stouts and Scottish ales being my favorite, and ciders being my new thing. ALL HIGH IN CARBS. I also enjoy pizza and sandwiches. So, this was going to be a bit of a change for a while. the only thing I could not truly give up is that dang, wondrous, flavored creamer I put in my coffee (vanilla caramel, in case you were wondering... peppermint mocha if I can find it). I figured "hell, I can sacrifice this stuff for a week!" (And, I ended up starting a day later than planned because of enjoying some beers the night I was supposed to start... willpower FTW.)
I did my measurements after a week. I was surprised by the results in just 7 days, resulting to losing almost a half inch from my hips and waist combined, and half of a pound. I took the measurements two days in a row to rule out bloating and water retention, and came up with the same. I decided I would go for another week, just to see the kind of results I could get from sticking to this plan.
But? I was STARVING. I figured out my carbs and protein content. On average, I stayed below 150 grams of carbs per day (donuts for Valentine's day, sushi, and scarfing down two sandwiches one night while starving after a pretty grueling work out.) The protein on the other hand..... was lacking. I didn't get above 80 grams any day during the first week, and my calories were right around 1350 per day, on average. I was kind of starving myself. The second week, I added protein shakes to the mix to include more calories and protein. By the third week, my life had become a little stressful, and with birthday celebrations in order, I splurged a little. But, back on track- as of March 2nd! Hitting the gym pretty hard, taking my rest days seriously, and doing double days when i can muster the strength during the CrossFit Open 2015. I also did start some cardio back into my routine, doing intervals on the treadmill once or twice a week, and running outside when it is ok enough to do so once a week (all in all, I've only done cardio 4 times... so... yeah).
These are my measurements as of today, March 4th:
Body Weight: 143 lbs.
Waist: 27 1/2"
Hips: 38"
Forearm: 9 1/2"
Wrist: 6"
Translated to:
Fat weight: 37.08 lbs.
Muscle Weight: 105.92 lbs.
Body Fat %: 25.9 %
So, all in all, I have lost 1 3/4", no weight loss, muscle gained at .35 lbs., fat loss at .35 lbs., but lost .3% body fat- even with a few days of beer and celebration for the birthday. I am sure I may have lost more inches, but I am saving allover body measurements for another blog post where I will post before and after photos.
Through this month-ish of changing my eating habits and exercising, I have become a bit more obsessive over how I train and what types of foods I am putting into my body. While protein powder is not at all unprocessed, it has been essential in keeping up my energy and has possibly helped with my recovery. I have noticed I'm not sore as long as I used to be- but that could also be getting used to the sore. The new program I have started is a bit brutal sometimes and instead of the total body days with cardio, I incorporate Crossfit and other circuits and HIIT. You can check it out here.
If you are curious as to what I have consumed this past month, you can leave a comment below! Thanks for reading!
I had been (at this point) working out several times a week lifting weights, Crossfit, and running. The running was causing pain on the outer part of my knees, so I had knocked it down to only a couple times a week- once outside while the weather warmed up and 5 to 10 minutes on a treadmill at the gym for a warm up. The injury occurred while taking part in a Tough Mudder race in September 2014, branching off of physiological-mechanical issues I had learned from dealing with plantar fasciitis overseas (plantar fasciitis is mostly gone and rarely gives me trouble, but I guess my hips swaying and being weak is causing the issues now). I was having a hard time losing body fat while doing my normal workouts with minimal cardio and splurging every now and again- but I had not GAINED any, either. For this "experiment," I was to lower my carb intake to between 100 grams-150 grams and raise my protein intake to try to match one gram per pound I weighed, and continue working out as I had been- if not raise that a bit. I took my measurements and weight.
Starting measurements:
Body Weight: 143 lbs.
Waist: 28 1/2"
Hips: 38 3/4"
Forearm: 9 1/2"
Wrist: 6"
I used this body fat calculator. Now, I know that physical measurements such as these do not give an accurate reading, but, it would suffice for this little project. (I also picked the one site that seemed to give me a more accurate reading as compared to Army standards, which shows me at around 27% body fat.)
What the above translated to was:
Fat Weight: 37.43 lbs.
Muscle Weight: 105.57 lbs.
Body fat %: 26.2 %
For those of you who know me personally- know that I love beer. Usually the darker the better- stouts and Scottish ales being my favorite, and ciders being my new thing. ALL HIGH IN CARBS. I also enjoy pizza and sandwiches. So, this was going to be a bit of a change for a while. the only thing I could not truly give up is that dang, wondrous, flavored creamer I put in my coffee (vanilla caramel, in case you were wondering... peppermint mocha if I can find it). I figured "hell, I can sacrifice this stuff for a week!" (And, I ended up starting a day later than planned because of enjoying some beers the night I was supposed to start... willpower FTW.)
I did my measurements after a week. I was surprised by the results in just 7 days, resulting to losing almost a half inch from my hips and waist combined, and half of a pound. I took the measurements two days in a row to rule out bloating and water retention, and came up with the same. I decided I would go for another week, just to see the kind of results I could get from sticking to this plan.
But? I was STARVING. I figured out my carbs and protein content. On average, I stayed below 150 grams of carbs per day (donuts for Valentine's day, sushi, and scarfing down two sandwiches one night while starving after a pretty grueling work out.) The protein on the other hand..... was lacking. I didn't get above 80 grams any day during the first week, and my calories were right around 1350 per day, on average. I was kind of starving myself. The second week, I added protein shakes to the mix to include more calories and protein. By the third week, my life had become a little stressful, and with birthday celebrations in order, I splurged a little. But, back on track- as of March 2nd! Hitting the gym pretty hard, taking my rest days seriously, and doing double days when i can muster the strength during the CrossFit Open 2015. I also did start some cardio back into my routine, doing intervals on the treadmill once or twice a week, and running outside when it is ok enough to do so once a week (all in all, I've only done cardio 4 times... so... yeah).
These are my measurements as of today, March 4th:
Body Weight: 143 lbs.
Waist: 27 1/2"
Hips: 38"
Forearm: 9 1/2"
Wrist: 6"
Translated to:
Fat weight: 37.08 lbs.
Muscle Weight: 105.92 lbs.
Body Fat %: 25.9 %
So, all in all, I have lost 1 3/4", no weight loss, muscle gained at .35 lbs., fat loss at .35 lbs., but lost .3% body fat- even with a few days of beer and celebration for the birthday. I am sure I may have lost more inches, but I am saving allover body measurements for another blog post where I will post before and after photos.
Through this month-ish of changing my eating habits and exercising, I have become a bit more obsessive over how I train and what types of foods I am putting into my body. While protein powder is not at all unprocessed, it has been essential in keeping up my energy and has possibly helped with my recovery. I have noticed I'm not sore as long as I used to be- but that could also be getting used to the sore. The new program I have started is a bit brutal sometimes and instead of the total body days with cardio, I incorporate Crossfit and other circuits and HIIT. You can check it out here.
If you are curious as to what I have consumed this past month, you can leave a comment below! Thanks for reading!