Getting Over Dieting Plateaus

Hello again,

After week one I was pretty happy about averaging around 157lbs without very much effort at all, but became busier with work, leaving less room for the gym. I still want to get a bit leaner for the summer and for our memorial weekend trip to NYC, so I buckled down and dropped quite a bit of carbs and fats during the week and hit a couple of new lows back to back. This allowed me to indulge a bit on the weekend and not worry about it all too much.

Cheat meal #1: Ribs, sweet potato, and a skinny margarita

A question that comes up a lot with my clients is how to live a normal life, enjoy going out on the weekend, and still reach weight loss or strength goals. Many of us want to be able to do both, without sacrificing one or the other. 

I'll be really honest. If I am getting ready for a competition, I do not drink. I usually don't even go out, mostly because I'd rather spend that time training without exhausting myself with activities. I don't go out to eat if I can help it, and I do not miss a single training session. In order to be competitive, there are certain things that I feel are necessary to do, and to give up. But that's only three months of your life, and in return you get the joy of getting on the platform, giving it your all, and knowing that you couldn't have done anything differently that would have positively affected your performance. The worst thing to happen on meet day is to wonder "what if" you could have done better. 

On the other hand, I think that having a well-balanced social life is incredibly important for mental health and well being. This includes social drinking, eating, and spending time with loved ones. And that's what your off-season is for. Unless you are really overweight, there is no reason not to have periods throughout the year where you are more relaxed in these aspects. I leave out those who are overweight because I believe that physical health is much greater priority than a social life, and a healthy body weight will improve your social life much more than drinking or eating with your friends every weekend. But I digress!

Morning after my cheat meal

after a low of 155.4 lbs the day before

There are quite a few "tricks" I would say that I use in order to allow consistent progress while maintaining balance. They're nothing necessarily new or exciting, just habits I've practiced in order to get really good at not completely falling off the wagon or freaking out when I'm invited to social events. 

1. Learn to fast without starving yourself. 

Leading up to a cheat meal, I'm usually so excited that I don't even want to eat my normal meals, mostly because I'm tired of chicken and vegetables and weighing all my meals by this point. I usually skip breakfast or have tiny protein filled snacks throughout the day. My favorites lately have been protein shakes, yogurt with berries, and nuts. I heard somewhere that your body doesn't absorb all the calories from nuts so I'm going to just pretend that's true and eat them every day haha.

What this does for me is ensure that I get protein throughout the day, but that my calories stay low enough that an uncounted, fatty or carb heavy meal doesn't completely blow my diet out of the water. Snacking rather than completely fasting also helps to not go on a complete binge when it's time to have your cheat meal. 

2. Order sensibly. 

Exercise caution during your cheat meal. After all, if your goal is progress, you have to realize that all of your cheat meals do count against you. The better choices you make now, the closer you will be to your goals later, and the less catching up you will have to do throughout the week to battle an uncounted meal or two. Make this meal about catching up with friends and having a good, relaxing time, rather than about stuffing your face with as much food as possible. 

Cheat meal #2: Burger with a side salad (swapped out the fries!)

For example, the meal pictured above came with fries on the side, but I swapped it out for a salad. You can also share a meal with a friend, or eat half and take the other half to-go. Just be mindful of your choices. 

3. Cut the crap.

During the weekdays, I have zero unnecessary calories. This really helps drop the total calories consumed throughout the week, which helps to drop more body fat. By centering my meals around getting in adequate protein, fruits, and vegetables, I make sure I stay regular, get in some nutrients, and keep my hard earned muscle. Some people don't like this approach, and would prefer daily "cheats" or "treats" and that's okay too, but at some point, if you're not making progress, you need to either cut those out, or increase your calorie expenditure by adding in more exercise. If you're one of those who claims you don't have time to exercise, you are obligated to go the "cut the crap" route.

I hope this helps some of you who may be struggling!

And for those of you interested in getting help with your nutrition or programming, click here.

Until next time,

Mel 

Diet Break Review

Hi everyone (ok, probably like one person),

After the close of the transformation challenge, I took a scheduled diet break. Before I get into the details, I just want to briefly go over what exactly it is I'm talking about.

A diet break, simply put, means purposely applying the breaks on eating at a deficit, bumping your calories back up to maintenance, and allowing your body and mind to get back to neutral.

I don't want to get into too much detail, but Lyle Mcdonald does a great job at summing it up in a way that's easily digestible here.

In the first two weeks, ate roughly 2000-2400 calories a day, but I also bumped up my exercise intensity to make up for a lot of it. I use a Microsoft Band to track calories burned, and according to its readings, I burned about twice as many calories as a training session in a deficit. I also kept up my cardio, but dropped it to only 150 calories a day, rather than the 250 I had been doing.

Naturally, with an increase of food volume, you are carrying more food weight in your gut, AND you are burning more calories through TEF. Not sure how these balance out without doing some ridiculous and unnecessary math, but basically, unless you are binging or not counting your calories at all, the fat weight you can gain in a few weeks' time is negligible.

My two week break became a three week break, as I had to visit family in LA for some personal reasons. If you know me, you already know what these are and I'd rather not get into it here. During that week, I did not do any training, and didn't count a single calorie. I spent that time with family, and in fairness was pretty distracted and to be frank, could not give a flying fart about my diet/training.

Now that I've been back for a week, I've been battling jet-lag, not training at all, but my weight between post-vaca until now has dropped 3 lbs, only 1 lb away from my all-time low during my 12 week cut. No training, no cardio. I'm willing to bet that again, most of this is reduced food volume/water weight, but it's still a good place to be when starting my dieting phase again.

I've been consistently weighing in around 157 point something, which allows me about 4-5 weeks of dieting before the Memorial Day celebrations start rolling around. My lower back is almost 100% better thanks to Dr. Kang's wizardry, so hopefully I'll be able to get under a barbell soon enough. For now, I'm going to continue following my current macros, and try to get my butt back into the gym.

Thank you for reading!

Until next time,
Mel

Bodybuilding Transformation Challenge Week 12 FINAL PICS!

Today I woke up at the lowest weight I've seen since about 2014, and since we are closing out the transformation challenge, I snapped a few progress pictures.

Morning weight: 156.8

There have been a lot of bumps in the road, but I figure in a span of three months life's going to happen. I really don't feel like I went out of my way to get super lean, I just dieted sensibly and made sure I got some training in, which you probably know by now if you've been following my blog. 

Three months of weigh-ins.

I made pretty solid progress the first month. Around month two it looks like I completely stalled, which is when I started implementing more steady state cardio after my training. Four sessions a week at 250 calories got things moving, but then I got prescribed some meds for my respiratory issues, and BOOM. I gained about 10 lbs in a week, not even kidding. I didn't log in all my weigh-ins that week because it was very discouraging, and I got super bloated. 

Holding a lot of water, roughly 163-165 lbs.

Right after I got off the meds (which did fuck all for my respiratory issues), I dropped all the weight and then some. I thought I had an extra week to diet since I was counting down by the date (April 10th), but realized the transformation ends (April 3rd) about a week ago, and I was super bummed because we celebrated Jake's birthday at the end of March, and I wanted an extra week to drop more weight from that weekend. Plus my "lady time" is coming next week and I always gain a few right before, and drop a bunch right after. Oh well, rules are rules. 

Straight from myfitnesspal log: ThisIsIt22

Looking back at my log, I'm very happy with what I see. I never broke my streak, and only missed about 6 days of logging my food. There are some days I may not have logged every single thing I ate, but for the most part, I know that I stayed between 1500 and 1800 calories a day, without too much deviation. I had one really silly day of eating, and I really have no excuse for that other than to say I'm surprised it didn't happen more often given my track record. Haha.

My starting photos vs. some good lighting from last night.

Altogether I lost a solid 12 lbs in 12 weeks, so I can't complain about that. I know I still have a long way to go, but now that I've re-learned how to diet properly and have had a little bit of success with it, I know that I can get to where I want to be, no matter how long it takes. 

My tentative plan is to take a diet break for the next two weeks. I'm going to loosely count and keep my calories closer to maintenance, at about 2,000, while increasing my training intensity. Hopefully my weight stabilizes here and I can start dieting again for summer. 

Until next time,

Mel

Bodybuilding Transformation Challenge Weeks 9-11

Whew! These last few weeks have been out of control.

Not going to lie, I'm basically updating this blog so it won't be incomplete at this point. I did pretty well and hit new lows in weeks 9 and 10, but then Jake's birthday rolled around and it was all downhill from there.

My doctor prescribed me some meds to combat these respiratory issues I've been having, and what resulted was a bunch of bloating and inconsistent eating that put a solid 5 lbs of probably a combination of water and fat for good measure.

I thought I had an extra week to dial things in, but time has completely escaped me and the close of the transformation challenge is this weekend. I'm nowhere near where I want to be, but I'll take the 10 lb loss if that's all that's going to have come out of this challenge.

I'm honestly over it; I have been for several weeks now, but I'm not going to throw in the towel. I'm going to finish out this week and bring in the best package I can given the circumstances. For the next few days I'm just going to drop my carbs and continue my workouts as usual, which is four training days followed by 250 cals of cardio, then carb up the day or two before picture time. Maybe even get a spray tan if I'm feeling spicy.

A maintenance break is going to be absolutely glorious.

Until next time,
Mel

Bodybuilding Transformation Challenge Weeks 6-8 of 12

These last three weeks I was really hoping I'd see a bigger change than I have. I've stayed at pretty much the same body weight, with maybe some minor physique changes. This would be fine during a normal cut, but I have to put my head back into the game and drive it a little bit harder if I'm going to be in the running against people who are loads better at dieting and are starting off with a better foundation in bodybuilding (as well as those with great genetics, but I won't worry about things not under my control).

Progress shot at 7 weeks.

The hardest thing for me to have done and to have overcome in these last several weeks was simply to diet moderately. I've always crash dieted consecutively, almost religiously for a very long time, and it has always helped me get to where I've needed or wanted to be. To me it's almost a reflex. To lose weight, stop eating anything other than protein and green veggies. Sure, it's fantastic if you don't care about strength or having any energy to function, but it's unsustainable and the weight will always come back on once you go back to eating normally. High protein and low everything else is not normal and will not be sustainable long term, but moderate dieting is sustainable for life. It's a skill I never thought I'd get good at, but I'm very proud to say that if anything, these last two months have shown me that I'm able to be truly flexible with my diet, while still getting to my goals, however slowly that may be.

I came from the mindset that everything must be counted in order to "fit" your macros properly. I used to weigh the 2g onion in my salad, the splash of almond milk, even my damn hot sauce if I knew it had even a single carb. What ended up happening was I stopped eating salads and started eating pre-packaged, sodium loaded, unhealthy foods. Why? Because it's a damn pain in the ass to chop a salad and weigh the ingredients individually, find the right ingredients in MFP, put in the right equation to get the exact amount of what you put in it when you're starving and busy. And if someone took a bite of my food? I would panic. Legitimately PANIC. Where did the macros go? How many was that? What should I eat to make it up? DAMMIT I spent 45 minutes perfecting my meal with those exact macros and someone had the nerve to taste it???

Yep, that neurotic.

Protein bread, olive oil mayo, deli meats, & lite salami.

15F / 21C / 45P ~ 400 kcal

Never again. If I don't want to eat the remainder of my food, I get rid of it or save it for later. If I eat it later, I approximate the macros. If I want a bite of something, I'll have it. Sometimes I'll leave 100 calories of cushion for these little mishaps, sometimes I won't. But you know what I will never do? I will never break into an anxious sweat over someone tasting my food or wanting me to taste theirs. I will never sacrifice my healthy, delicious salads for bland, unhealthy frozen meals due to laziness. I will never succumb to uncontrollable binge-eating driven by stress levels over food. What I will do is chill out, weigh my meals during meal prep once a week, and improvise along the way. If I'm feeling stressed or anxious, being a neurotic counter won't help.

Overall, the mental gains these two months have been totally worth it. I haven't binged, or even thought about binging for a long, long time. And I have flexible dieting to thank for that. Flexible meaning, my diet can be whatever the hell I need it to be, in order to live a healthy and fulfilling life without stressing over something as trivial as food.

We have four more weeks in this transformation challenge, time to get things in gear.

Until next time,
Mel

Bodybuilding Transformation Challenge Week 5 of 12

After blogging last week, I thought to myself, "there really can't be much more I can say about this cut, it's just going to be business as usual." Well boy, was I wrong.

I feel like I'm learning something new about myself, and re-learning so many things about dieting that I had forgotten because I simply hadn't committed to one [seriously] for long enough in the last few years.

I decided to give myself a bigger push and drop my calories from around 1700 closer to 1500 in order to keep up with my 2 lbs loss a week. I nearly hit that number with a low weigh-in of 159.2, but what's even better is that I didn't gain any weight after my cheat meal on Friday night. I decided that I'd roll over my cheat meal into a re-feed on Saturday since I didn't go over-board with my cumulative fat intake on Friday.

Overall, what I discovered this week was that simply removing foods or giving myself less of a portion to eat wasn't going to cut it. Instead, I opted to swap out some foods and replace them with other, more filling versions. Instead of having a banana and/or an apple, I eat more berries. Instead of oats or rice, I have vegetables. Instead of whey protein, I eat egg whites or chicken. The goal here is to keep my volume of food the same, but to eat less calorically dense foods in order to curb hunger.

Bye-bye, flour tortillas!

I'm pretty confident that 1500 calories will provide a big enough deficit, to where I will lose weight consistently, for at least the next few weeks as we close out the second month of this challenge. Instead of cutting any more calories, I will just increase my cardio as needed.

For this week, my new mini-goals will be to continue lifting 4x a week, and to add a 10 minute session to the end of each workout that consists of HIIT. Since I'm not changing my macros this week, my menu will stay the same, which makes grocery shopping, as well as choosing my meals much more easy and straightforward.

Until next time!
Mel

Bodybuilding Transformation Challenge Week 4 of 12

We're one month in, which means it's time for some progress pictures!

Everyone looks better in some good lingerie.

I've lost about 8 lbs so far, which averages out to 2 lbs a week, with a low weigh-in of 160.9. If I can keep up this rate of weight loss over these next 8 weeks, I'd be ecstatic!

I'm really glad that I decided to do this cut the "healthy" way. At this point, I have absolutely no cravings for "bad" food, and I wouldn't be able to consume very much anyway. The hubby & I went out to dinner for our cheat meal last night, and we didn't even order any sodas because we know it makes us both really bloated and lethargic. Our cheats are more for spending time with each other, not cooking and measuring our food, but still being relatively mindful of what goes in our mouths. I've learned that cheat meals will always set me back unless I'm able to be reasonable with my approach. It's not about the food anymore, it's about the time I get to spend relaxing with my hubbs.

This next week is going to be business as usual, I'll continue to prep my meals for the week in advance. I'm going to drop my calories by a smidge, and increase my cardio a bit as well. We'll see if we can get into the 150's by the end of this week!

Until next time,
Mel

Bodybuilding Transformation Challenge Weeks 2&3 of 12

These last two weeks have been pretty telling about how things will be going during this cut. I've been a lot better about hitting my macros, meal prepping, and getting into the gym. I've gotten over my cold, and since then it's been much easier to manage my energy throughout the days and weeks. I know that as long as my breakfasts and lunches are prepared for the day, I'm golden.

My workouts have been a little more sketch. My back pain comes and goes, so I have my good days and bad days. I don't want to assume that I know what aggravates it, but I do know that my pain was almost gone until I did a 40 minute morning cardio session, which was just some light treadmill action. I've been trying to go to the gym in the mornings rather than in the evenings when it's super busy. This way I get my workout done while my husband is doing his morning workout, so in the evening I can still spend time watching Netflix with him and Bernard.

Netflix and cuddlin' with my two main bears.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the way these last couple of weeks have gone, mostly because I've gotten into the groove of dieting, and I've been able to stick to my macros without having any cravings. Don't get me wrong-- I get hungry during the day, especially at work, but keeping snacks on hand and eating healthy, whole foods usually helps. I've opted to have fruits, vegetables, oatmeal, and rice as my main sources of carbs so that I can get some volume out of my meals, which helps a lot. I also have a lot of variety with different protein sources for every meal, that way I don't ever get bored of what I'm eating. But honestly, when you're hungry, you will eat just about anything and it will probably taste good.

As for my weight, I did hit a new low of 161.4, which isn't much in terms of a weight drop, but I've been hitting lower morning weights on average. Getting under 162 has been nearly impossible for a better part of this last year, so that was pretty exciting to see. I've been getting in anywhere from 1500-1800 calories a day which is a pretty decent amount of food considering I sit at a desk for most of the day, and work out for maybe an hour at most a couple of days out of the week.

Bernard wants to get swole.

This upcoming week, my goals will be to hit my macros on the nose & to hit each body part once this week, bringing my total weight training sessions up to four. I'll also be doing post-workout cardio to fill out my hour at the gym. Bodybuilding workouts haven't been taking me very long!

Until next time!
Mel

Bodybuilding Transformation Challenge Week 1 of 12

All right guys,

We're officially finishing up the first week of dieting for bodybuilding.com's transformation challenge. I convinced the hubby to diet with me, so we're in this together! I'm super excited to have a partner in this challenge.

This week started off with a long flight back to Upstate NY from Los Angeles, and then I jumped right into a new job here in town, so my schedule was completely knocked upside down. Not only did I severely under-eat, but I also had zero energy for the gym because of the major jet lag and exhaustion.

I *tried* to get in most of my protein, but my coach has me on 165g, which is way over what I'm used to getting. I think I hit roughly 140g on my best day, and a poverty 80-100g protein/sub 1k kcals most other days. I basically turned into a bitchy sloth-zombie. I realized that if I'm going to function at work and not completely K.O. right when I get home, I need to get in more calories and more food. I still don't think I've hit over 1,500 kcals in a single 24 hour period so far this week, and I paid for it by getting this nasty cold. It's like every time I diet the whole universe plots against me succeeding. Just kidding, I know I suck at it and I just need to work on eating the RIGHT amount, and stop being such an extreme dieter.

I didn't really weigh myself in the beginning of this cut because I didn't have access to a scale, but I gave myself a generous starting weight of 170 lbs. My lowest weigh-in this week was roughly 162 lbs which is where I've been holding steady for several months now. My lowest weight of 2015 after my cut was around 157 lbs.

My goal for this upcoming week is to get over this cold (as if I have much control over this one), meal prep a little better so I'm not starving at work, and get to the gym or do home workouts at least three times. Hopefully this helps me get back into the swing of things so I'm not just losing all my muscle during this cut.

Until next time!
Mel