May 16, 2005
Results: Week Two
Although the lean mass I added on week one stuck, this week I some of the fat I lost the first week returned. What I've been doing differently from my Last 10 Pounds eBook this time around has been to try an easier approach to the workout portion of the plan.
I've done this for two reasons:
1. My back issues. I've tried to go easy on my back, but still get in a strength and lean mass building workout.
2. I wanted to see what is the minimal amount of exercise that can be done that will still move me towards my goal.
In checking my journal from when I wrote my book, I see that I was working out much more often and intensely than I am now and I was eating the same amount of calories, so it holds to reason that I'll need to either work out more, reduce calories, or do a combination of both.
Also, during the first week I had 2 beers on one day, but that was it for the week. Last week I had a beer almost every day. I guess I was trying to buck the convention that you have to cut out alcohol if you want to lose fat. 
Far from getting discouraged, I'm going to learn from this and this week I'm going to do the following:
1. No alcohol.
2. Increase the intensity and frequency of my workouts.
3. Cut back on daily calories by 200.
Here are my results so far:
Week |
Weight |
Fat % |
Fat loss/gain (lbs) |
Waist |
Day 1 |
158.0 |
13.2% |
34.25 |
|
Week 1 |
157.5 |
12.1% |
-1.8 |
34 |
Week 2 |
159.0 |
13.0% |
1.5 |
34 |
BTW, the results above show the importance of tracking body fat weight separate from overall weight. Although I weigh one pound more than when I started, you can see that I'm still a bit below my starting body fat. If someone where not tracking body fat that would look at the scale and say "Hey, this isn't working, I've actually gained a pound!"
Lesson: Don't forget to track your body fat.
