Woke up late today due to sleeping late (sort of). 

2 scoops of rice protein with half a teaspoon of cinnamon. 

50 grams of ground beef, 150 grams of veggies (onions, snap peas, bell peppers) 3 eggs. 

Now I know why people make you include veggies in your meals… they fill you up, they’re good for you, and they’re not high in calories.  100 grams of ground beef is 221 calories, 100 grams of broccoli is like 9 calories.  I also found out yesterday that the muffin I ate for breakfast every morning was about 400 calories.  Ouch. 

Tues – Woke up at 6ish, got 30 min of walking in with the 40lb vest.  Feel less sore today.  Two scoops rice protein.

Breakfast – 3 steamed eggs, ground beef, mozzarella, brussel sprouts

4 flameout, 3 vitamin d, 3 liver cleansing

Beef stew for lunch

3 pb&j sandwiches overall.

Two chicken burgers, just the patties.

Two scoops of metabolic drive with two teaspoons of fish oil. 

Wed – 2 scoops of rice protein/half teaspoon of cinnamon. 

100 grams of ground beef, 100 grams of broccoli.  3 eggs, some cheese.  How do I know it’s 100 grams?  Cuz I finally broke out the scale that we got from the supermarket for buying over a certain amount… which I got just before Chinese New Year.  Combine that with www.livestrong.com/myplate and I’m really starting to see how many calories I’m pounding down (it’s a decent amount but not over the top)  Now… I don’t want to get crazy with it but when I go back to losing weight after New Years this will be helpful. 

4 flameout, 3 vitamin d, 3 liver cleansing. 

Lunch – 7 dumplings

Snacks – 3 pb&j sandwiches

Dinner – one chicken patty

2 scoops surge recovery

2 scoops metabolic drive with 2 teapsoons of fish oil. 

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The high rep squats are definitely picking up steam. Last night’s session was a challenge.  Part of me wants to get the set over with as quickly as possible which is what I did on the first set and I was gassed but I slowed down on the 2nd and 3rd sets, took in a big breath on the descent and exhaled on the way up.  Seemed to give me more stability and my heart wasn’t racing out of control (tho it was still racing).  Still not getting enough rest…. last night we woke up in the middle of the night to kill a mosquito.  Had to stalk that bugger from 2am-3am until it buzzed around my ear and I killed it.  I hate mosquitoes. 

Monday Nov 26 – got up at 6.  Putzed around FB (need to stop that) but took 30 min walk with 40lb weight vest.

Breakfast – two eggs, some cucumber & mushrooms.  4 flameout, 3 vitamin D, 3 liver cleansing.

Cobb salad from blue frog with extra chicken and avocado.

Two pb&j sandwiches for the day.

4-6 slices of pomelo. 

2 liters red tea.

Overate at Mr. Willis.  Need to tone that down a bit.  A few slices of bread with butter, serving of arugula, foie gras, two pcs of smoke salmon, one chicken breast, 3 slices of pizza. 

Two scoops of protein.  3 zma.  

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Thoughts – doing a decent job so far.  Can probably get a bit more consistent on weeekends and definitely need to tweak my sleep “hygiene”.  Need to stick with eyemask and stop playing pocket planes.

Last night’s football game was pretty solid in terms of conditioning.  I’m not sure if it was carrying less weight (15 lbs lighter), the high rep squats and complexes, or the walking with the weight vest.  Probably the weight… I haven’t done enough of the other two to really make that big of a difference.  It was also very cool so I didn’t lose too much via sweating.  However a lot of my teammates were cramping which tells me they were either a bit out of shape and/or didn’t drink enough water with sodium.  Maybe I need to bring some of that to practices and games for teammates. 

Rest day on Friday – steamed eggs with peppers, mushrooms and ground beef. 

Lunch at roku – sushi X 6pcs and the rest of the lunch set.

Dinner at shintori

3 pb&j sandwiches for the day.

Recharge day – tried to make breakfast tortillas but they stuck together and I couldn’t get them separated.  Fail.  Had mushrooms, ground beef, peppers, eggs and some cheese instead. 

Two pb&j sandwiches.

One bottle of surge before/during the game.

Lost the game but felt good overall in terms of strength and stamina.  Might need to get better conditioned and play two ways.  Our defense needs to shored up.

Went to John and Dinah’s home, two large slices of turkey, some rice, mashed potatoes, one slice of pumpkin pie, slice of pound cake and probably a dozen grapes.

Workout 3

3 eggs with mushrooms, spinach, peppers, ground beef omelette courtesy of the wifey.

Lunch – 5 pcs of salmon with arugula, 6 pcs of sushi.  Tea.

One pb&j sandwich

Workout – was definitely not recovered from Saturday so had to dial the weight down on BP.  Focused on keeping my elbows in. 

2-3-5 @175#, then 155#, 155#.  Bat wings with 25#.

One arm press with 45#, 45#, 45#.  The 3rd set was actually easier than the 2nd. Focused on anchoring and keeping the left shoulder back.

Complex @ 95#, 95# at 5 reps each.  Did 2 Military press on the first set instead of 5. Switched to push press on the second set.  Definitely a bit wobbly there.

Back sqauts 95# X 30.  Told myself that it was easy on Monday… just get this one set done and worry about the 2nd one later.

Back squats 115 X 30.  Felt good.  I thought I might need to split this up into 2 sets but I did it all in one shot.  Focused on filling my belly with air by inhaling before dropping down.  Exhaling on the way up.

Drank two bottles of surge during.

Dinner at Franck – 3 pcs of bread with butter, mozzarella with 6 cherry tomatoes, 4 scallops. 

Sleep overall was eh… went to bed before 10 but woke up at 1.  Slept most of the night thru. 

Started the day off well with two scoops of vanilla rice protein and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon.  Used some leftover veggies, ground beef and eggs to steam up what I’m calling a Chinese fritata.

Pb&j sandwich.  4 flameout, 3 vitamin d, 3 liver cleansing. 

Today’s thanksgiving!  Need to earn that thanksgiving stuffing at the gym. 

2-3-5 bench press with 175#/175#.  Bat Wings.  10 X 5 sec holds.

45# one arm presses X 2 sets.  Left arm gave out on the 2nd set so only did 4 reps. 

Complexes 65#, 85#, 95#, 95#, 95# X 3 reps each. 

Did bird dogs to “cool down” before the squats. 

95# X 30, 95# X 30. Wiped but felt good.  Finished two bottles of surge.  Went home had a pb&j sandwich.  Went to church to meet up with some friends and had some turkey, a bit of stuffing, brussel sprouts, and a bit of pie.  Drank a starbucks iced lemon tea. 

Misread the workout journal in the book and did 7 sets of 5 instead of 5.  Ended at 5 reps at 175 for do-able reps.  Feel like I lost some bench strength but I’m not going to sweat it.

Bat wings with 25#.  One arm press with 45#.  Complexes with 65#, 85#, 95#.  30 back squats with 95#.  Surprisingly “easy”…. maybe it’s all the weighted vest walking I’ve been doing.  Then I took a look at workouts #5 and that was the end of the “fun”. 

Yes to more protein, fish oil and fiber.  Healthy solid meals.  More fruit.  3 Pb&j sandwiches.  If I get too hungry then I’ll adjust.  Morning shake with cinnamon.  Night time shake with multi and fish oil. 

Day 2 – rest and prep.  chopped up some veggies for salad.  Nutritionally was just ok.  Got some veggies and meat in but not entirely. 

Day 3 – recharge.  Didn’t really work out at all… did some foam rolling.  Still not getting solid sleep so need to change up some thing there. Got all the protein, pb&j, fiber and fish oil in though.  Got the flameout, vitamin d, and liver cleansing in the morning.  4 multivitamins at night with the fish oil.  Realized that my previous bottle was spoiled… I thought it was new but apparently it had been opened before.  No longer having stomach issues with this new bottle.  Keep plugging.  

I started my mass made simple phase on Monday.  Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches… yummmm. 

Results of my vdiet and transition – lost 8.4kg/18.5lbs in a little less than 6 weeks.  I’m sure there was some water weight in there but I also clipped 15 inches off my body measurements.  Still a long way to go though.  I did a Dexa scan in HK last week and confirmed what the mirror still shows, improvement but still chubby.  29.6% body fat.  I’m guessing I was about 38% body fat right before I started. Damn Gina! 

On a more positive note, the physiologist who did the scan told me I have strong bones. haha.  Very likely due to the powerlifting I have been doing.

I wasn’t 100% strict with vdiet with all the travel and stuff but I did learn that a slip in the diet didn’t have to become a full blown tumble and avalanche of eating.  However, I will also say that I did it before so I knew what was ok and what wasn’t.  I also think that if a person really want to lose body fat fast they should take a look at Lyle McDonald’s books, specifically Rapid Fat Loss.  I would probably follow that next time in liue of the vdiet.  I just picked the velocity diet because I’m familiar with it. 

Measurements -

Woke up late at 655 when I thought I was woke up “early” before the alarm went off…. annoying ipad alarm is linked to my volume which was muted so didn’t go off properly.  Prepped breakfast. 

Breakfast – Two eggs fried using coconut oil, serving of chili.  Made this last night and it is a huge amount of veggies. 

Scale was up about half a kilo but can’t sweat it.  Finish the program, finish the program, finish the program. 

I’m shoot for visible abs which is approx 10-12% body fat by end of next year while also hitting some of my strength goals.  Big words since it’s never happened in my life even at my “thinnest” which was 170ish in college.  People who know me should know that I’m not trying to brag about what may happen.  I’m simply putting something out there and letting the weight of expectations propel me to my goal. 

Lunch – two scoops protein, 4 flameout, 3 vitamin d, 3 liver cleansing.  I also ordered a bottle for my cousin.  2 fiber tablet.

Dinner – I can’t remember… at all.  haha  Some sort of solid food probably… I know I skipped my night shake just to see how I feel without it. 

Woke up and walked straight into the kitchen this time.  Went with the hard boiled eggs instead and heated up the last batch of the chili/bolognese. 

2 hotrox and went on a quick 20ish min walk and included the stairs.  Legs felt stronger today… had a bounce to it. 

Breakfast – two hard boiled eggs, serving of chili/bolognese

Lunch – 1 hard boiled egg (wife’s leftovers) and two scoops of protein.  4 flameout, 3 vitamin d, 3, liver cleansing.

Dinner – string beans, chinese meatball soup, 2-3 short ribs, 10-12 mini shrimp sweet shanghai style, some chicken soup, one little rice cake, some sort of dessert.  the positive takeway I abstained from the fried rolls next to the shrimp, didn’t have the pan fried scallion pancake or pork dumpling.  drank tea. 

Evening – two scoops of protein, 2 teaspoons of liquid fish oil, 4 multis, 3 zma. 

Scheduled DEXA scan while I’m in HK next week.  It’s supposed to be the gold standard of body composition tests.  Pretty cheap… 380 HKD which is like 50 usd.  In the states it can be anywhere from 150-250.  I’ll see if I can do it from time to time and see where I’m at and make sure I don’t get too fat again.

So now I’m transitioning with some solid meals.  Going slowly and with a plan at least for breakfast.  I’m sure plenty of people have heard that adage that says failing to plan is planning to fail.  Need to make this habit of making breakfast stick. 

Made decent progress but realize I’ve still got a ways to go both strength wise and with body composition. Staying patient and sticking with the program.  I was doing some more reading and almost started to postpone this and try something else but realized that’s the way to failure.  So what if this isn’t the most 1000%, super optimal way?  It’s ok…. let me execute and finish.  It’s only 7 weeks.  I can finish, learn some more and get into other methods stronger and more knowledgeable. 

One of my highlights was contacting Dan John the author of Mass Made Simple and asking him some questions.  And he replied!  I hear he’s a really nice guy and lots of people have a lot of respect for him so I shouldn’t be surprised but still….getting a email from him was making me giddy.  I’m sure I’ll think of him in a different light when I’m in the last week of his program and in the middle of my squat to 50 reps.  

Anyway here are some measurements (I skipped week 3 because it was just too hectic with me traveling to NY).  I was loathe to put this on here but figure that better to do it and stay accountable rather than hide it and fail.   Progress!  Looking forward to more.