J's Progress Log

[J0]

Current: I am a 37 year old, out of shape, man with a 2 year old son and pregnant wife carrying son number 2. I hope to fill this log with progress in both weight lifting and health. I currently have no lifts to speak of and am 6'4,'' 257 lbs with a 40.25 in waist.

Goals: My main goal(s) is/are to get stronger and healthier overall. By healthier I guess I mean waist under or around 38 in., normal or better bloodwork, increased quality of life, finding enjoyment in exercise and not struggling to play with my kid(s) vigorously for more than 20 min. I "enjoy" squat, bench, deadlift and press, however, I do not have the affinity for them as, say, a powerlifter does. I think they have great value in an exercise (sorry training) program and I plan to add weight to them (get stronger) but their absolute number is not an end in themselves to me. Adding volume, intensity, or both works for me.

Background: I was a D1, scholarship, football player (please don't ask where). No really; please don't ask where. I used to bench a lot, squat a lot, deadlift a lot and run a lot of sprints and ram my head into other people's head a lot. I lifted weights in high school and college but from reading a fair amount I am sure I did not optimize my strength or growth potential as a youth. I was not instructed or "forced" to squat and deadlift routinely (didn't need to be forced to bench, do curls etc.). I suppose the majority of my experience with weights could be summed up as silly nonsense. With this in mind, though, I am familiar with lifting weights and conditioning.

Day 1 (Today): Stop drinking all the beer and put down the Funyuns....
Day 2 (Hopefully tomorrow): Lift something in addition to myself....

[Wilhelm]

Welcome!

Here's to your progress.
Thank you for adding your log. +++

[J0]

Thank you, Wilhelm!

7/30/2018 - Monday

Bench - 3x8 - 185
Power Clean and Press - 5x3 - 135
Some chest and back stuff.

8/4/2018 - Saturday
Weight - 260
Waist - 40.75

Squat - 135x8, 155x5, 185x5
Some leg stuff
Air Bike - 11 min

Everything is in pounds and sets x reps. Not too terrible. Would have liked to have lifted three days but two is better than zero. Just seeing how things feel after a 3+ year layoff. Hopefully once some lifting consistency happens it will give me some incentive to clean up my diet a bit and lose the belly.

Goals for next week: Lift at least 3 days. See how the deadlift and press feel. Do some cardio 2 or 3 times for 15 min. or longer.

[J0]

8/28/2018

Weight: 255
Waist: 40.5

So, a little update for all the strangers on the internet. My wife had our second child a few weeks ago. He was 4 weeks early, needless to say we were not fully prepared. Therefore, I have been lifting as time permits. Not an ideal time to strive for consistency but will certainly do what I can. Really, something seems to always come up so I should just schedule workouts early and get them done. I workout in my garage so it's not like I need to factor in drive time etc.

Nutrition wise I have been eating what people bring over. Apparently we are helpless once a new person enters the home. Really, he literally just sleeps, eats and poops. But I do appreciate the sentiment and believe its really an excuse for people that have never been to my house to come over and hold a baby... But I digress. I am currently trying to find my maintenance and then will cut some kcals in order to lose some fat. I have been tracking over the last week and will continue through this week to see where I am at and go from there.

I will probably not cut too aggressively seeing as my sleep is already compromised. But at least my 2 yr old comes out to the garage to lift with me. For some reason all he wants to do is pushups and calf raises.....

Hopefully I can maintain a log here with some consistency. I mean, what is the point of lifting in your garage and not being able to tell the world about your overwhelmingly average lifting?

Last week or so of workouts:

8/22/2018

Bench - 230x5; 245x5; 225x8
Incline Bench
CGBP
Tri Ext

8/23/2018

Squat - 255 - 3 sets x reps
Deadlift - 285x5
Leg Press - 8 plates 3x12

8/26/2018

Press - 155x5,5; 185x2; 145x8,8,8
Bench - 185 - 3x12

8/27/2018

Squat - 225x5; 245x5; 275x7; 225x10, 10
Deadlift - 225x8,8,8
Leg Press

[mettkeks]

8/28/2018
My wife had our second child a few weeks ago.

My condolences.

Really, he literally just sleeps, eats and poops.

Living the life.

Hopefully I can maintain a log here with some consistency. I mean, what is the point of lifting in your garage and not being able to tell the world about your overwhelmingly average lifting?

Don't know, but telling strangers what you are doing is always important.

Last week or so of workouts:

8/22/2018

Bench - 230x5; 245x5; 225x8

Of course, another schmuck benching more than mettkeks. Is there a nest or so?

SpoilerShow

Welcome and may your log be stuffed with gainz!

[J0]

Mett,
yeah 2 kids certainly poses a little more of a challenge logistically than 1. And I forgot to add cry to his list of life activities. Fortunately, our 2 year old likes having the baby around and hasn't acted out from the decrease in attention. My dogs, on the other hand, are less thrilled about the new addition....

Bench is fickle. Sometimes up, sometimes down, usually doesn't move after a bit for me.
Thanks for the welcome! I hope some type of gains happen in here (well except in waist circumference).
Best of luck with your lifting as well.
_____________________________________

8/31/2018 - Friday

Weight - 254.5
Waist - 40.5
Nutrition - On my last few days of tracking to find what my maintenance is.
Last 2 weeks average macros. Fat-99.21 Carb-546.25 Fiber - 32.71 Pro-265.03
Protein always seems to trend high because I like eggs, meat and dairy. Also, secondary protein from carbs tend to add up quick...

Bench - 245x1; 265x1; 285x1@7; 250x5; 225x6; 205x8
Incline barbell bench
CGBP-With Rogue multi bar
Tri Ext

Total Time - 55 min.

[mgil]

I see the strength is coming on quickly, even with the chaos.

Keep telling those folks to bring casseroles in exchange for holding babies.

[J0]

I see the strength is coming on quickly, even with the chaos.

Keep telling those folks to bring casseroles in exchange for holding babies.

Not too bad, just hope to keep making progress for the long term.

Yeah, I think I got the best end of this deal. Many casseroles were brought and consumed. Got to like the all-in-one meals.

_______________________________________

9/1/2018 - Saturday

Weight - 254.2
Waist - 40.75
Macros Yesterday - 163.5 Fat; 613.5 Carb; 307.5 Pro - Unplanned 2 whoppers w/cheese and fries explains much of this....

Squat - 225x1; 245x1; 275x1; 295x1; 315x1@8; 285x5; 245x8; 225x10
SSB Squats - First time doing these, got the bar a few days ago. Felt decent but certainly a learning curve.
Leg press

Sled Sprints - Weight = Sled + Toddler - 40 yards out/40 yards back = 1 round - High handles out/Low handles back - 6 rounds

Total Time - 75 min

[J0]

9/2/2018 - Sunday

Weight - 254.6
Waist - 40.75
Macros Yesterday - Fat 98; Carb 624.5; Fiber 47; Pro 262.5

Power Clean - 135x5; 155x5; 185x3; 205x3,3; 155x8
Barbell Row (Deadlift Grip) - 185x8; 205x8; 225x7
Pullups - BW - 3,3,2 in about 5 min. Hope to work on these, pretty weak but perhaps could have done a couple more if done first..
Lat Pulldowns (wide/close/reverse) - 140 - 3x12
Landmine/T-Bar Row - 3 plates - 3x8
1 Arm Rows - 85 - 3x10
Some shoulder stuff
Some curls

Echo Bike - 15 min

Total Time - 85 min

Notes: Legs were a bit more stiff from yesterday than I anticipated. Possibly limited my power cleans a bit. Hamstrings felt tight during barbell row but loosened up quickly. Would like to get better at pull-ups. Will possibly move them up closer to the beginning and do them a few times a week.

Carbs a bit high but that's what happens when your wife grows vegetables/fruit and turns them into delicious, sugar filled breads/desserts (currently zucchini bread and blackberry crumble). And who eats blackberry crumble without vanilla ice cream? I am sure they are out there but it is not I. So, what I am gonna do, not eat them...? Right now as long as the waist stays stable I am a happy man.

[J0]

Well...... Now 40 with a 4 year old, 2 year old and a pregnant wife. Still 6,4 but am down to 243 and a 37 in waist. Going to revive the log and see if I can stay consistent and workout a little bit. At least more than once a week. Still eat a lot of food and a lot of sugar, I really like sugar, but less fat and protein now. Not really sure what to care about. My wonderful face is now always covered by a mandatory mask and its winter. Almost like there is no reason to lose weight or shave. Also don't know why I should pay for school in advance if they are going to cancel 21 days because some kid had a cough? Shouldn't I pay at the end of the month for the amount of days he actually went? Anyway, I might even workout today and get a sweat going.

[J0]

Bench - 3x10 - 225
Incline DB Bench - 3x10 - 75
Press - 3x10 - 135
DB Press - 3x10 - 65
Bike - 20 min

[mgil]

Welcome back and good luck!

[J0]

TL;DB (Too long; didn’t bother) – Got fat, quit lifting, used RP Diet App to get less fat, using Carbon App now to track, goal is to put back on some muscle, lose more fat in the future
__________________________________________
Totally fell off from the last post and did not exercise from Dec. 2020 to April 2021. In between there I gained a lot of fat and surely lost a good bit of muscle. I went from 243 to 245 but my waist went from 37 to 41; so I successfully completed a recomp.

In Jan. I went in for my yearly physical and had some not great labs come back, which was the first time for me. Pretty much didn’t care at the time due to other stressors and continued to do nothing positive for my health for another couple of months. Once we had our 3rd son mid February I started thinking more about my health but it took another month before I took some actionable steps.

In April I decided to lose some weight so started the RP App 2 week free trial. I liked it and it made it easy for me to enter and track food. Before the app I was trying to keep an Excel spreadsheet but it was tedious entering new foods or changing serving sizes or adding meals etc. Also, my spreadsheet has never helped me achieve anything so I tried something new.

The RP App started me on 210 protein, 400 carbs and 85 fat. This seemed reasonable but I lost 5 pounds the first week so at the check-in the carbs were bumped up to 475 and the fat 90. After the initial 5 pound loss I lost an average of 3 pounds a week for a couple weeks then slowed to 2 pounds a week until the end of the diet at 9 weeks for a total loss of 23 pounds. My macros at the end were 210 protein, 375 carbs, 65 fat. I continued with maintenance at the suggested macros of 205 protein, 400 carbs and 80 fat. I still lost another 2 pounds over each of the next two weeks of maintenance, which put me at around 218 pounds and a total loss 27 pounds. My waist went from 41 in. down to 35.75 in. After the two weeks of maintenance I stopped using the app and just ate whatever and over the following 10 days I was 220.4 and my waist was at 36 in.

I decided I didn’t want to regain a lot of weight so went ahead and continued using the RP App but tired of the strict meal schedule and the compliance percentage. On the diet phase I was 87% compliant but did not like that the only options were either compliant or not with no way to quantify my non-compliance. Like one non-compliant meal I simply had an extra serving of rice but another time it was half a large Papa Murphy’s pizza with bread. Anyway, the app worked to keep me accountable for the longest time of actively trying to lose weight and, thus, kept me interested. Another thing I didn’t care for regarding the RP App is using discrete macros instead of overall macros to hit targets. Meaning, my protein was set at 210 but that was only from the “pure” protein choices or packaged food and not from the carb selections. This made my total protein in actuality around 245 depending on carb choices. I guess I still wanted to know what my kcals were despite the app working well. However, it was nice not having my oatmeal, potatoes, bread etc. count against my protein…. In the end, though, I opted to cancel the subscription and try the Carbon App.

I started the Carbon App for maintenance and it started me at 200 protein, 535 carbs and 79 fat. First impressions with Carbon were positive. My first week on Carbon I went down from 220.4 to 219.8, which is within the +/- min and max, so it suggested not doing anything. I however, was still a bit hungry at night and once I started weighing daily my trend started going down again. So, this is the middle of my second week on Carbon and I have been maintaining on 200 protein, 625 carbs and 75 fat.

A big drawback with the Carbon app, for me, is the inability to set certain days at different macros without it self-adjusting other days to fit an average kcal target for the week. I really liked that I was able to plan a week out in the RP App based on exercise, activity/steps, sleep etc. With Carbon even the custom macros are not set for specific days and simply adjust the targets for each of the days. There may be a way to do this but I am a simple man and don’t want to spend the energy on it. In Carbon you are able to pre-establish up to seven meals and name them or timestamp etc. Again, this cant be set for individual days but can be changed from day to day if one wanted to add or subtract a meal. This is helpful for me because I usually wake up really early for no reason and can’t sleep and I usually eat about 45 min after I get up. So adding a meal is pretty easy. Anyway, you get the idea.

On the whole I enjoyed the process with the RP App and would use it again for fat loss. Now, though, I like having the flexibility of not having absolute macros for each meal at a specific time.

RP App
PROS CONS
It Worked Well Cost – Kind of; relatively
Easy to search or scan foods in Strict Schedule
Supplies a list of suggested foods for each category For some – Meal timing
Plan out a whole week in advance Set macros for every meal
Uses activity as a guide for carbs
Fairly broad and accurate food database
Sliders for each meal make it easy to alter food amounts
Reliable options on how to proceed after a check-in
Good accountability
Trend line for weight – motivated me
Uses a good weight algorithm
Does allow you to block time as busy, thus not schedule a meal then

I am feeling much healthier and have started lifting weights again a few times a week. During the diet I started walking my dog and did a little weight lifting but didn’t really have any desire to attempt anything structured.

Had labs redone and everything is excellently within normal range. I did buy a glucometer after my labs said my fasting blood glucose was 103 and have been taking it regularly both fasted upon waking and after various meals to see the effect on blood sugar. For the last 6 weeks or so my fasting blood sugar is between 70 and 80 and only gets in the 90’s if I have a high fat meal (usually also high carb) for dinner (correlated of course but have noted it on multiple occasions).

So, after that wall of verbosity I guess my goal now is to get back into lifting and put on some of the lost muscle. I will probably use weight and waist as a guide but am kind of tired of weighing myself; but it is easy enough to do in the morning. I thought about continuing to lose weight but seeing as I am currently comfortable and feeling good I would rather eat at maintenance or a little above for a while to see how that goes. Then depending on how things go perhaps look to lose another couple inches off the waist in the future.

The impetus for bringing this Lazarus Log back from the dead is another one of my paper logs has been saved from disuse by a 5 year old creatively practicing his name and art projects….. figured an online log may be safer going forwards, seeing as now I have 5 yr, 2 yr, and 4 month old boys to contend with…

Tuesday 6-22-2021

Weight – 220.8 Waist 35.8

Squats – First squatting in 6 months

Worked up to 185 for some sets of 10.

Felt weird but okay, can’t say I really missed squatting but nothing hurt
Leg Curls
Leg Ext
Some ab stuff

We shall see what happens tomorrow…..

[mgil]

Good luck with your DOMS

[J0]

Thanks, mgil. Not too sore today, although was unusually sore from half hour of slip n slide with the boys yesterday.

6-23-2021

BW - 220.6 Waist 35.9
Macros for 6-22 Pro: 214 Carb:642 Fat:71

Pulldowns - 120 3x12-15
T-Bar Row - 70 - 2x12-15

Hike with family- 2 hrs

Was going to upload some progress pics of before and after diet. Also before I started lifting more consistently but can't seem to figure it out..... Oh well they are on the phone.

I am starting to enjoy resistance training again. Hopefully I can be somewhat consistent and also not overdo it. Here's to starting light and progressing slowly!

[zem1]

Dude, congrats on the newborn! Awesome. Welcome to the site & keep up your great effort mate.

[J0]

Thank you very much, zem. I hope your training is going well!

[J0]

6-24-2021

Weight: 221.8 Waist:35.9

Macros for yesterday the 23rd: Pro-227 Carbs-741 Fat-121
Went out to Red Robin with family for dinner, macros are mine and Carbon’s best guess….

Workout

Press – Worked up to 135-3x8
Incline Bench Press – Worked up to 185-3x12
Activity: Dog walk; family bike ride

Weight spiked a little, most likely due to food volume and sodium at dinner. Plan is still to roughly maintain for awhile and gain some consistency with weights and go from there.

[J0]

6-25-2021

Weight: 220 Waist: 35.75
Macros for 24th – Pro:212 Carb: 627 Fat: 71

Trap Bar Deadlift - 240 – 3x8
Leg Press – 6 plates – 3x15-20

Activity: Dog walk; yard work before heat wave

[J0]

6-28-2021

Weight: 220.2 Waist: 35.5

Lakehouse last 2.5 days with family. Lots of water sports/activities, no food tracking, some alcohol.

Workout

BB Rows - 3x10-12 – 185
Pulldowns – 4x12-15 – 140

Activity: Dog walk, bike ride with boys, scooters with boys, slip n slide

Thankful for A/C, which is usually superfluous here in the good ol’ PacNW but a welcome addition these last few days at 100+.