northernmusician's Journal, 03 August 2015

So I've come to terms with what has to be done. I'll take 20 weeks to lose about 7 pounds - possibly a little less. This means sticking to 2100 calories per day. Can I cut faster? Sure, I could do that, but I came to a realization yesterday. It all came to me while reading 'Dieting Dynamics' in Clarence Bass' book "Take Charge".

We've all heard it... put a frog (sorry rocker, not talking frog butts here) in a pot of boiling water and it will jump out. Put a frog in comfortable water and bring up the temp and it will be quite happy to boil to death. Okay, I've never tried it, but I think the idea is solid so... eat way below your calorie requirements (especially when you're already at low body fat levels) and the likelihood of a binge (jumping out of the uncomfortable water) is higher. Eat just a little below your requirements, let's say, 250 calories below and you're far more likely to say in the pot, so to speak.

I'll be working my way through the numbers using iifym com. I'm going to assume that my lean tissue at that point was the same as now - we're going to call it 160 pounds.

Let's look at it this way. When I was 235 pounds I was 32% body fat. The calories I needed for bmr (basal metabolic rate) was 1900 calories - ready for this? - the exact same number of calories needed for bmr now! Is that spooky or what? What I was burning each day, being a couch potato, was 2300 calories, but to stay at 235 pounds I was eating in excess of tdee to maintain the body fat. Yes, I was in 'maintenance'. A very important point is, if I lose the weight (which I've done and bounced around some) and go back to those 'maintenance' calories - let's call it my old way of eating - I will gain weight quickly again until I level off at 235 pounds.

Does anyone doubt that the weight gain would be fastest at the beginning and slower at the end of that weight gain process? Nope. Why not? Because, if you've ever dieted before and regained the weight, you understand that weight piles on fast when you go back to your old way of eating and then, as the weight gain decreases, we become more and more complacent but eventually we are back to our original, or higher, weight.
You know this true in reverse as well. How? Because you know that during your weight loss the losses slow down until suddenly you plateau, or rather, hit maintenance calories for that weight.

Now comes my issue. At 185 pounds, my lean body mass is 160. To hit 10% body fat I need to get to a weight of 178 while maintaining my lean mass. In order to do this, I'm not going to worry about my carbs except to keep them low glycemic. Let's call it whole foods - fruit, bean, veggies, and unprocessed whole grains. I'm not going to restrict them, though, low glycemic foods don't cause and insulin spike, which keeps the cravings down. Water weight loss from restricting carbs will not get me any close to 10% bodyfat so there's no point in obsessing over it.

As some of you know, I'm a minimalist. Using the current lean body mass calculations, over the past year I have put on close to 5 pounds of lean tissue. I'm ecstatic. My approach? Very laid back. I think the problem most lifters have is they do to much. They don't give their bodies enough time to recover and gain the muscle tissue. They tear the tissue down before it has had the chance to complete recuperate and grow. At 56, I simply can't do more and gain muscle or I'll be over training as a non-steroid user. I've been using a time under tension approach, but my sessions have been on average 20 minutes per day doing one lift only five days per week. Now I'm switching to a periodization approach often used by powerlifters. I'm sure it will work for me as it's still only one lift per group per week. (Sorry. Needed to write that paragraph for me.)

Here's the issue then. IIFYM says my bmr is just above 1900 calories, but, because of my lifting approach, I have no idea whether I should be using 'couch potato' exercise levels or 'exercise 3 days per week'. Couch potato tdee is 2300 calories, and for 3 days per week my tdee calories is 2650 so I'm going to set my calories at 2200. I'm thinking that should easily give me a 250 calorie cut. Instead of trying to quickly cut the weight, I'm expecting to see body fat of 10% by.... NEW YEAR! I also expect the weight loss to be faster at the beginning (but not fast... about a pound every 2 weeks) and slowing toward the end.

What's the bonus of this approach? When NEW YEAR hits I will be able to INCREASE my calories to maintenance and be quite sure of where that calorie level is. My calories still should be high enough to maintain or grow muscle tissue. Knowing this is my approach should also keep me fairly on track over Christmas.

So the plan is... 10 minute warmups on the rowing machine before each lifting session. Lifting 5 days a week... short, but intense sessions. Calories in control with some space at the end of the day for a snack. This will be my minimalist approach.

Time to climb into the pot.

184.0 lb Lost so far: 1.0 lb.    Still to go: 9.0 lb.    Diet followed reasonably well.

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2104 kcal

Fat: 110.17g | Prot: 147.50g | Carb: 142.63g.   Breakfast: Maple Syrup, Cinnamon, Quaker Old Fashioned Oats, 2% Fat Milk, LeanFit Whey Protein Shake - Vanilla, Espresso Coffee, Unsalted Butter Stick. Lunch: Butter, White Bread, Chili Con Carne with Beans. Dinner: Olive Oil, Lettuce Salad with Assorted Vegetables, Ground Beef (Cooked). Snacks/Other: Carrots, Cauliflower, Kirkland Signature Smoked Salmon, Pink Lady Apples. more...