Welcome to Week 17 of me publicly broadcasting my goal of getting down to 195 pounds every Friday until that goal is accomplished.
History Of How I Got Here
2010 – Early 2015
- Used weight training to lose 80 pounds of fat and than maintained a healthy weight around 205-210 pounds based on home/work lifestyle.
- 2015 goal to lose 15 pounds of fat which that would equate to about 195 pounds (if no muscle loss)
- Challenged myself to get to 195 during 2015 Holiday Seasons (hardest time for me to lose weight)
November – December 2015
- Countdown Week 1 (click here)
- Countdown Week 2 (click here)
- Countdown Week 3 (click here)
- Countdown Week 4 (click here)
- Countdown Week 5 (click here)
- Countdown Week 6 (click here)
January 2016 – March 2016
- Countdown Week 7 (click here)
- Countdown Week 8 (click here)
- Countdown Week 9 (click here)
- Countdown Week 10 (click here)
- Countdown Week 11 (click here)
- Countdown Week 12 (click here)
- Countdown Week 13 (click here)
- Countdown Week 14 (click here)
- Countdown Week 15 (click here)
- Countdown Week 16 (click here)
**SPECIAL NOTE**:
Truth be told, Michael doesn’t care how much he weighs. The real stat that matters to him is his waist. That’s the measurement that tells the real story about his fat loss. One of Michael’s other goals is to have a consistent 34.5” or smaller waist size. Since waist measurements aren’t as sexy as weight loss, he decided to focus on the scale for these countdown weeks, while looking at the waist as a secondary measurement.
WEEK 17: March 4 – March 10 2016
March 4th Stats
Scale Weight: 205.8 pounds
Waist: 34.9 inches
Week 17 Main Goals
- Drop scale weight from 205.8 to 204.5 pounds.
- Drop waist under 34.9 inches
- Average eating about 1776 calories a day
- To support my activities and achieve the desire physique look I’m going for that breaks down to:
- 195 grams Protein
- 160 grams Carbohydrates
- 39 grams Fat
- To support my activities and achieve the desire physique look I’m going for that breaks down to:
Observations & Challenges
Workout
This is the first week of me switching to a workout I had much success with in the past. This workout is an original routine designed by the late great Vince Gironda. Vince Gironda was a golden age bodybuilder who helped several great bodybuilding champions develop their trophy bodies! There would be no Arnold Schwarzenegger or Larry Scott without Vince.
Gironda style of workouts is more about getting muscle definition by isolating the muscles with typical reps between 8-12. His workouts are all about the technique with minimum exercises. The real kicker is his short rest periods of 15-20 seconds. Because of the short rests, his training plans don’t require you to do strenuous cardio routines. That’s why some of his trainees in the past were in such great condition.
In January 2015, I had great success following his programs. That was how I lost so much weight in a short time. I purposely hesitated in doing this style of workout again because I wanted to use it once I got closer to my goal.
The past few weeks I was doing a strength/hypertrophy hybrid. That style of workout switched between heavy weights and light weights. I like the workout but knew that after 6 weeks it was time to shock my body with a completely different movement pattern.
Gironda’s 8×8 workout is all about light weights. There’s no way you could survive the workout doing heavy weights! Gironda’s 8×8 workout is the ultimate ego killer! Maybe that’s why I like it so much. On paper it looks easy, but to those who actually attempt it, it will bring tears to your eyes!
I’m a big boy so I didn’t cry this past week……..I’m just limping around everywhere lol. My quads are S-C-R-E-A-M-I-N-G! All I did was Gironda’s Sissy Squats using my bodyweight. Talk about being humble! Just last week I was ass-to-grass front squatting 185 pounds and now here I am limping due to only using my body.
Maybe I’ll get the courage to post a video of me doing the Gironda Sissy Squats so people can see just how hard they are. If his workouts were easy everyone would be doing it!
Sleeping
I started using my SleepCycle app again to see how my sleep is going. I started the week of strong with 7 ½ hours of sleep but as the week has gone on, my sleep quality has waned. I’ve been doing a good job of going to bed around 9:30 PM and getting up at 5:00 AM but i’m still tossing and turning throughout the night.
I have a habit of waking up at least twice nightly. Luckily, I still fall back asleep within 5-10 mins. But that’s a habit I would like to break. I’m assuming it’s stress related. Or it could be due to the weather changing. I prefer a colder room and it’s been pretty warm this past week.
I’m not quite ready to start turning on the AC yet. I’ll keep a eye on this next week.
Mentality
I feel pretty good. I would always love faster progress but I’m currently where I deserve to be. I let myself slip up throughout this winter and just now feel my groove getting back. As long as I keep my eye on the prize, I’ll get there sooner than later.
Food Journal
Here are my delicious food stats for the week:
End of Week 17 Stats: March 11th, 2016
- Scale Weight: 206.2 lbs (0.4 lbs gain from previous week)
- Waist: 34.5 inches (0.4 inches lost from previous week)
- 79% Compliant
- 15 out of 19 meals I ate during the week were compliant with my eating plan
This was another great week. I could visually see the changes in my waist. I think I’m finally at a point where fat loss is happening exactly where I want it to happen, which is my stomach.
Whenever I’m trying to lose fat, my face, arms and legs are always the first to shrink. The three areas in which I really don’t need to lose any more weight! Such are the cards I’m dealt with. It’s just the nature of my fat loss beast.
I was surprised to see that my scale weight had not changed. It makes me wonder if that’s due to muscle gain, water retention or maybe the dinner I had the night before still in my body? I have increased the amount of water I’m drinking to almost 120+ ounces a day. So maybe it is water weight.
Despite the weight gain you need to remember one key point…..I REALLY DON’T CARE HOW MUCH I WEIGH!!! MY PURPOSE IS TO LOSE FAT!! That’s it! If you depend only on the scale, you are sitting yourself up for sabotage. The waist measurement and visually test tell me I’m making great progress again.
Upcoming Week 18 goals:
- Drop scale weight from 206.2 to 205.5 pounds.
- Keep waist from going over 34.7 inches
- Eat about 1776 calories a day
- For my fat loss/muscle maintenance goals that ideally breaks down to:
- 195 grams Protein
- 160 grams Carbohydrates
- 39 grams Fat
- For my fat loss/muscle maintenance goals that ideally breaks down to:
17 Weeks Down……8-10ish Pounds of Fat to Go……Waist goal achieved and now must be maintained!
Weather is warming up…..I feel skin revealing season starting soon! How will I handle the pressure? Tune next Friday for Week 18!
