My summer workouts consisted of lots of L exercises (L raise, L sits, quadruped exercises like TactFit, primal, kettlebell, low carbs and shorter workouts. Bulletproof coffee, grass fed beef and tuna was on the entire summer menu. Who knew??
My fall workouts turned into a lot of machine work, bar work, heavy lifts and more missed days due to studying. My food changed, returning some fruit and mostly haphazard mistakes to the table. I cut the beef and relied mostly on chicken and fish, with infrequent beef bouts. I thought something was really wrong and then thought it may have been due to extreme depletion, that my system and energy seemed out of balance. That's bound to happen with a lot of intense changes in need of solution. By summer's end I had a net loss of three pounds. Hmph.
But Winter, this is where it seems that I am once again finding balance...but mostly, just a ton of carbs. Well, it's not the amount of carbs the public eats, but it is definitely a larger amount of carbs and bears some recognition as it applies to the scale. I've returned to the cardio route, whereas in the past and up through the summer, I was convinced that carbs were the devil, MCT oil was God, and beef was an angel, just helping people heal from visions of (fat) sugar plum fairies dancing in their heads. But I think this was a needed, necessary change. Yes, I doubled up on need. More on my food and supplementation in my food blog, Chronicles of Food.
I'm on top squats, a peripheral heart action circuit, one set of about four or five kettlebell exercises, total body lift, (C T B S L...Chest, Triceps, back/biceps, shoulders and legs) and anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour of cardio. Last week I got three hours of cardio in including the weekend. When you're trying to achieve bigger calorie outputs, this is what usually happens. There was a time when my pitter pattering heart would beat in funny, arrhythmic patterns, as my heart is prone to do...brachychardia created a need to reduce my cardio, and my life changed to one of lifting. However...it was never fun though, to see the scale change. I think I was in denial this whole time, as I wiled it away to muscle gain...and for the most part I think it is. But now, about five years later, I am all of about 14 pounds heavier while being on a regular workout regimen.
Okay, I'll share my weight. It's no secret anyway: I'm 5'7" and I weigh 177. I wear a size 12. I was at 174 for the longest. I was 160 from about 2006, which was a sizable jump from 149 and vegetarian, back when I stopped running marathons, and started building muscle. Then I stayed at about 164 for another five years, slowly sliding up until I hit 174 in 2010. Doctor said this is okay and normal, and to excuse my age. But I'm not okay with it, because it's so far off everything I said I would do. And I don't believe in age drastically reducing hormone function when you are this active.
The part you truly need to understand about this is not the weight, but the fact that I WEAR THE SAME EXACT SIZE I DID AT 164. There was very little change from one weight to the next. 14 pounds on my body is the definition of extra muscle weight. So why am I excited to still lose? Because the new frontier is to get as lean as possible.
And well...now some of that weight is fat. I'm not gonna S-T-R-E-T-C-H the truth on that one. Herein lies the balance of enough movement, the damned clear credential, and the lovely bennies of butter and cream. This is to be discussed on another post...
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