Project abs Victim II

I had a client do project abs with me this year. He followed a similar plan to mine and mostly just ate meat, fruit, veg and nuts.
His results are quite impressive:

Week 1:
Weight: 87.4kg
Waist: 88cm
Hips: 103cm
Thighs: 62cm

Week 8:
Weight: 80.7kg (-6.7kg)
Waist: 82.5cm (-5.5cm)
Hips: 97cm (-6cm)
Thighs: 57.5cm (-4.5cm)

A few weeks on and he's kept the fat off. His lifts have gone up significanlty and he has stuck to his new healthy eating plan. No reason this can't work for everyone! Well done Victim II :)

Weigh in 8- The final: You can't out diet bad training

Weigh in Eight
Weight: 60.4kg (-5.8kg)
Waist: 65cm (-10cm)
Hips: 92cm (-6cm)
Thighs: 55cm (-4.5cm)

I'm fairly happy with the results, even though I didn't get as lean as I did last year. I think this goes to show that you cannot out diet bad training. This year, with my wrist injury, I just couldn't get the volume done that I needed to and as a result, my body composition is pretty much back where it was at the start of December and I'd imagine it will plateau there until I can start pushing the weights again.

Another point to note is that it took me 3-4 weeks to put on that extra fat and it took me 8 weeks to lose it and that meant 8 weeks of strict eating, no indulgences. In conclusion, the best way to get to, and maintain a healthy body composition is to eat well and train hard. I'm copyrighting that! ;)

Weigh in Seven

Fatloss is going a little slowly (not at all) this week, plan is to up the cardio and get more sleep.

Weigh in 7
Weight: 62.1kg (+ 0.2kg)
Waist: 65.5cm (+ 0.5cm)
Hips: 94cm (+ 1cm)
Thighs: 55cm (no change)

Weigh in Six

Weight is still coming off slowly which is good; the more slowly, the more sustainable. I'm pretty much back to where I was at the start of December now. It took me about three weeks to put on that 6kg and only five weeks to lose it!


Weigh in Six
Weight: 61.9kg (-0.8kg)
Waist: 65cm (-1cm)
Hips: 93cm (-1cm)
Thighs: 55cm (no change)

Weigh in 5

I've upped my cardio (zumba and kettlebells instructors courses) so I had to take on a bit more carbs. I was feeling fairly zonked for a couple of days there. I think I was a little bit lighter prior to the extra carbs so I might be holding a bit of water. Anyway, numbers are still coming down and I have buckets of energy so it's all good.
I've been feeling generally much better since I stopped the Christmas gorging. My sleep is still a bit all over the place but that's probably because I haven't been very good about bedtime. That'll be my next step. I'm still struggling to kick coffee as well but I'll get round to it soon!

Weigh in 5
Weight: 62.7kg (-0.3kg)
Waist: 66cm (-1cm)
Hips: 94cm (no change)
Thighs: 55cm (-1.5cm)

Weigh in 4: Plateau

I've been sticking to the plan and pretty much eating only meat, fruit, veg and nuts but I've still hit a plateau. It happens; I'm not worried. Weight loss is not linear. I've started doing a bit more interval training and I'm easing myself into it slowly but in light of this plateau, I'm going to rip off the bandage and just go for it and up the intensity on my conditioning work. My wrist is improving a lot so I'll be able to get back to my normal weightlifting training soon too. 

With regards food, I don't think there's an awful lot that I need to change. Perhaps I will drink more green tea (the odd cup of coffee is slipping back in!) and I'll pay more attention to portion sizes and eat slower. 

 

Weigh in four

Weight: 63kg (-0.2kg)

Waist: 67cm(-0.5cm)

Hips: 94cm (no change)

Thighs: 56.5cm (no change)

 

WEEK THREE WEIGH IN

This was a fairly easy week; I'm going back to eating normal after Christmas as opposed to starting a new diet so I wasn't expecting it to be very tough this time anyway.

A typical day of food for me would look like this:

Breakfast: leftover meat curry (homemade from scratch)

Lunch: Same as breakfast

Dinner: New meat curry

Supper: Meat curry

Snacks: small handful of cashews or almonds or walnuts 2-3 times a day. Mandarin before and after training and a protein shake after training too.

Meat curry varies from day to day, I try to rotate the spices, meats and vegetables I use. I quite like curry but this could also be stew, soup, chili, salad or just a mish mash of whatever meats and vegetables are on sale in the local butcher/ supermarket. In three weeks, I don't think I've made the same dish twice. Portion size is usually quite generous and as you can see, that's actually a fair bit of food for me. I work pretty hard to ensure I don't get hungry. I'm not training as much as I generally do because my wrist is still injured but I cycle about 40-50 minutes most days and I lift weights (front squat and deadlift) 3-4 times a week.

Weigh in three

Weight: 63.2kg (-1kg)

Waist: 67.5cm (-3cm)

Hips: 94cm (-1cm)

Thighs: 56.5cm (-1.5cm)

Week one progress and week two weigh in

I did find myself quite tired at certain times during the week and I had a handful of sugar cravings that lasted a few hours but I didn't give in to them and thankfully I think I'm over the worst of it. I didn't find any of this too bothersome and the benefits far outweigh the nuisance of cravings and feeling a little sluggish for an hour or two during the day. Nothing a cup of green tea can't help anyway!

Around day five I started to notice the biggest change as my body ditched a lot of the excess water associated with carbohydrate bloating.

This weeks weigh in:

Weight: 64.2kg (-2kg)

Waist: 70.5cm (-4.5cm)

Hips: 95cm (-3cm)

Thighs: 58cm (-1.5cm)

 

Project Abs II, weigh in one

I've had another decadent Christmas and I regret nothing. I've put on about a stone and I don't care a bit. I've had the leanest, healthiest and strongest year of my life and I put it down to the success of Project Abs last year. In order to achieve any goal, it's important to be in the right frame of mind and what I find helps me to reach my body composition goals is a decadent Christmas then a lean new year. I find that letting my hair down a little and enjoying the festive season and all it's culinary treats is a great way to get me in the right frame of mind for a lean January. Towards the end of December, I am completely sick of mince pies and mulled wine and really looking forward to how great I'll feel when I start eating well again. For the next 8 weeks, this is going to be a log of my progress towards a leaner, healthier me. 

My numbers this year are pretty much the same as the start of January last year, the difference this time is that I didn't spend most of the year walking around at that weight. On the 3rd of December 2011, I weighed in for a competition at 60.9kg which was pretty much what I weighed for most of the year. I don't really have to do much to lose the fat this time; just by going back to healthy training and what has become normal eating for me, I should be rid of the Christmas excess in no time.

Day 1, weigh in 1

Weight: 66.2kg

Waist: 75cm

Hips: 98cm

Thighs: 59.5cm