Goals: August 2018
I had a goal weight of 262 lbs for August 6 and an actual weight of 272, for a +6 on the month and a loss of 26 lbs YTD.
My goal for September 3 was 258 lbs, but I’m going to adjust that to 267 and adjust my goal for the year by a few pounds also.
Uh oh.
I’m stuck on a pretty serious plateau, with no weight lost and successfully kept off in over 10 weeks. I’ve been as low as 264 on a Monday, but have popped right back to 270 almost immediately. I’m not entirely sure that this plateau is a bad thing, given how much strength training I’ve been doing.
If I finished the year down 30 lbs at 268 but saw significant strength gains, that would not be a bad year; but I do know that my weight is my #1 risk factor for a long list of diseases, and I’d like to get my weight loss moving again this month.
Diet Plan
There were some big changes in my diet in July: I went out to eat more, ate more, and drank more than the past 3 months in particular.
I made some changes in the last week of July that I’d like to keep for August — new calorie counts, protein goals, and prohibitions.
I have a BMR around 2400 calories and a daily goal of 2200 calories. This leads to a deficit of 1400 calories per week. Combined with 2100 calories per week burned via workouts (approx. 400 per workout * 5 days), this should lead to a pound of weight loss per week.
I want to take in 0.6 grams of protein per lb. of body weight, to make sure I stay full and have plenty of fuel for strength training. At 270lbs, that’s 162g of protein, which is hard to do on a 2200 calorie diet. Below is my attempt at pulling that off.
The specific foods (eggs, chicken breast, “protein bar”) are just preferences of mine. I can probably find some alternatives but a) I don’t mind the lack of variety and b) it’s hard to find higher-protein foods than these that don’t add a significant number of calories.
Finally, I need to cut some things all the way out for a while — not because they are all that bad in isolation, but because they cause me to get off of my diet in general.
- “Cokes” (that is, sodas) both “real” and diet cause me to want more sugar. They gone.
- Even in moderation (2 drinks at a meal), alcohol of all kinds makes me eat badly and work out weakly. Hit the road, Jack.
Workout Plan
I’m going to back off of strength training this month to see if I can keep some weight off. I’ll go back to 3 days/wk of strength training instead of 6, and use the non-strength training days to do some cardio.
I’d like to work on doing a barbell squat this month, with good form. I’d also like to switch to a barbell row for my back, as the dumbbells for the row (up to 50 lbs) are getting too heavy for my elbows.
Fitness Goals
I’ve created a chart to track some PRs for fitness. I’ve seen some real growth here in July.
In August, I have an 8/22 checkup with my doctor, and I plan for diet, exercise, and leg pain to be a primary topic.
In addition to trying out the new exercises in the Workout Goals, I’ll be looking to improve on my measurables from the exercises in the table above.
Challenges
Being stuck in a weight plateau is terrible! I’m going to let August play out, but I’m on the verge of significantly adjusting (by nearly 20 lbs) my weight loss goals for 2018 if things don’t turn around soon. That feels disappointing … but I’m trying to keep my eye on the long game of losing significant weight over the course of several years.
I also feel that I’ve lost some faith in “the process” this month, because I wasn’t able to lose weight primarily through strength training exercises as planned. Even on weeks this month that I kept my diet pretty well, I gained weight. This suggests that my workouts are leading to muscle gains…but I guess I’m not fully convinced.
Bye!
Thank you for reading — I’ll write again soon!
