Pull Day
Be FLEXIBLE -- Made adjustments to my planned lunch today and removed a few slices of bread and tablespoons of peanut butter to make room for a work lunch at Pitfire Pizza!
Mmmm... Pitfire Pizza... Dieting is so hard ;P
Was craving a Big Mac so I scheduled it on my refeed day over the weekend and washed it down with my favorite soda -- Diet Crush!
Good Lighting Opportunity -- wanted to see how the triceps looked. Should've practiced some leg poses because this was on leg day.
I always take my health supplements -- a good multivitamin, a greens product, something for the joints, and omega 3s for overall health and wellness. Think of it as health insurance in case you splurged a bit much on processed foods ;P The oatmeal and strawberries pictured above was a dinner from one of the nights last week.
I am starting to get really excited with my leg development because it is finally developing! LOL. I've never had any vascularity in my legs, but I feel like they have definitely grown in the past year. It goes to show that progress, though slow and miniscule, can compound over time and net BIG rewards. Just need to be patient and consistent.
-Hit a low of 150.0 lbs last week, but started to feel a bit run down and fatigued
-Decided to increase carb intake on refeed day to 3500 calories -- 150g P, 625g C, 40g F
-Also decided to increase regular day macros by +100 calories every day until that shitty feeling goes away--I hate this feeling, and it reminds me of how I felt every day when I used to bro diet. This shouldn't happen at 7 weeks out
-Cardio still at a total of 800 calorie burn per week
-Training will shift in focus to STRENGTH and less emphasis on VOLUME
With the demands of daily life--work, relationship, wedding plans, the house hunt--I really need to be flexible with my diet so I do not drop the ball in any other aspect of my life. Thankfully, I have the best fiancee in the world who is my #1 supporter, I think she let's me get away with more things than I should. I combat those feelings of fatigue to catch up to her daily rhythm on our days off with caffeine and if I need to, I'll drink tea all day to be as normal as possible. The moment I allow myself to be lazy is the moment I put everything else in jeopardy. I won't let that happen.
Today, my department at work wanted to do a team meeting at Pitfire Pizza. I always bring my lunch, but I don't want to be the odd man out either. Though I am in contest prep mode, I am also a flexible dieter. What is more important to me? Obviously, competing is not my livelihood nor my life, so I decided to skip a few slices of bread and spoonfuls of peanut butter that I planned for the day to meet my macros to allow myself a pizza from one of my favorite pizza joints. I built my own pizza and guesstimated the macros. I understand that eating out, whether the restaurant provides a nutrition menu or not, the macros provided are not exact. Hell, I'd be lucky if they're close. Either way, as long as you make a good educated guess and note the amount of calories you're taking in, it's better than not tracking it at all.
I based my guesstimate on other like-references online. Pitfire Pizza is an artisanal pizza joint so I compared their menu items to other artisanal pizza joints that provide nutrition menus to make my educated guess. I used CPK and Blaze Pizza as my reference points and just made my estimates from there. A few tips when guesstimating is:
1. be honest with yourself -- if it looks greasier than the macros reported, add more fat grams to it
2. it's better to over estimate than under estimate
3. don't sweat the stuff you can't control -- once you made your estimate, then don't think about it -- you've already committed -- just carry on!
4. don't make it a habit... or make it a habit! It truly depends on your lifestyle. If you are preparing for a competition, then I'd say keep the restaurants to a minimum. If you're just dieting, go for it! You are only a slave to your diet when you allow yourself to be.
My goal this week is to be in the 149s in terms of body weight. It's not the primary goal, but it's something I am hoping to achieve. I actually am just hoping to experience more pronounced vascularity on my body and more muscle separation. That's the true testament for progress at this point. I believe I'm 5-6% bodyfat, closer to the 6s, and I'm experiencing great strides in my conditioning after this short reverse diet that I've done in the month of December. I am consuming 2400 calories regularly and refeeding at 3500 calories and I'm in the 150s. Early this year when I was consuming 2300-2400 calories, I was definitely 3-5 lbs. heavier and not nearly as conditioned. My metabolic capacity has definitely increased. My carb intake is regularly between 300-350+ on regular days as well, which is astonishing. There is definitely something to be said about the human body always seeking homeostasis in relation to EVERYTHING. Perhaps that is why I am fuller and more vascular.
If I can step on stage on March 1st with normal carb intake of 200+ grams and not dipping below 2000 calories, that would be a huge win for me. I'll just keep trucking and see what happens!
No comments:
Post a Comment