Welcome to Week 16 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)
November 20, 2015
- Hardest time of the year for me to lose weight is during the holidays, so I challenged myself to get to 195 pounds during the season.
- Countdown Week 1 (click here)
- Countdown Week 2 (click here)
December 2015
- Countdown Week 3 (click here)
- Countdown Week 4 (click here)
- Countdown Week 5 (click here)
- Countdown Week 6 (click here)
January 2016
- Countdown Week 7 (click here)
- Did not achieve 195 pounds during the holiday season
- Decided to continue to pursue and document 195 goal until accomplished
- Countdown Week 8 (click here)
- Countdown Week 9 (click here)
- Countdown Week 10 (click here)
- Countdown Week 11 (click here)
February 2016
**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 16: February 26 – March 3 2016
February 26th Stats
Scale Weight: 206 pounds
Waist: 35.0 inches
Week 16 Main Goals
- Drop scale weight from 206 to 205.5 pounds.
- Drop waist under 34.9 inches
- Eat about 1776 calories a day
- Ideally that breaks down to:
- 195 grams Protein
- 160 grams Carbohydrates
- 39 grams Fat
- Ideally that breaks down to:
Observations & Challenges
Workout
I’m at a point with my weightlifting program that I know I need a deload week. A deload week is basically a week in which you take it easy at the gym. It can be something as simple as doing on 50% of the weight you normally do for a workout for one entire week.
This allows you to still continue your habit of working out but using light enough weights in which your body can properly heal to prepare for your next weeks training sessions.
My current rotation is:
- Day 1 :Pull Workout,
- Day 2: Push Workout
- Day 3: Rest.
- Repeat.
So that means I’m only getting two days of rest each week. The workouts go between heavy and light weights. The heavy days are started to take a toll on my recover.
Sleeping
I haven’t necessary went to bed early consistently but I have been getting 7 ½ – 8 hours of sleep for the past week. I took the baby step of making sure I wasn’t up after 11 pm. I can definitely feel a difference in my body when I wake up.
Eating
I had no big cheat meal planned this week. I didn’t have a big craving for anything because I feel like I’m in a good place with what I eat. The only cheat meal I had was two consistent nights of eating cake.
It’s interesting because even though I ate the cake, I didn’t go over board with my servings. The cake was homemade and filled my house with it’s warmth. I thought about ignoring it until others finished off the cake. But I know from my past, that it would just lead to one humongous cheat day.
That cheat day would morph until me wanting a sweet substitute for the cake I didn’t eat. So the odds of that cheat day becoming a cheat week would amplify. I went ahead and had some of the cake. And you know what? Yes it was good but I got over it.
I’m at a point where sugary foods are just too sweet for my taste buds. I have no desire to overindulge because I know I’m getting closer towards my goal.
Mentality
My mind has been pretty focused. I know that when I first attempted this 195 goal, I did not have the right mentality. I thought that I would just cruise to 195 like I’ve done in the past despite the holiday.
Seeing that I’ve been logging this for 16 weeks is truly humbling. It’s a reminder to take each day at a time and keep progressing forward. Doing the tasks in Release The Beast: Conquer Mental, Physical & Diet Challenges To Unleash The Champion Inside! helps as well.
Food Journal
Here are my delicious food stats for the week:
End of Week 16 Stats: March 4th, 2016
- Scale Weight: 205.8 lbs (0.3 lbs lost from previous week)
- Waist: 34.9 inches (0.1 inches lost from previous week)
- 87% Compliant
- 20 out of 23 meals I ate during the week were compliant with my eating plan
Looking at my daily calorie numbers, I do see I was over my 1776 calorie target for more days than I was on target. That was due to me experimenting with eating more on my workout days. It’s just something I wanted to try and now I see the results.
This was another week in which the mirror shows me more than what the scale says. I can see more definition (especially in my back) than previous weeks. That’s a good sign of progress.
I do think I’m getting to a point where I’m not doing enough activity throughout the day to burn extra calories. I’m not a fan of doing cardio to lose weight. I believe that results can be seen with weightlifting once get your diet in order.
Once diet is good, you can just burn more calories simply by lifting weights and moving around more. Simple activities such as walking, doing chores, taking steps, etc. It doesn’t have to be all out crazy conditioning sessions every single day.
I’m going to start adding simple activities such as walking up my stairs every day. In addition to the stair walking, I’ll be changing my workout routine that will use 8 rep sets with 30 seconds rest in between. I think that will be enough stimuli to keep me going.
Once the above stops working, that’s when I will start adding actually workout conditioning sessions.
Upcoming Week 17 goals:
- Drop scale weight from 205.8 to 204.5 pounds.
- Waist under 35 inches
- Eat about 1776 calories a day
- Ideally that breaks down to:
- 195 grams Protein
- 160 grams Carbohydrates
- 39 grams Fat
- Ideally that breaks down to:
16 Weeks Down……10ish Pounds to Go……Just 0.5 inches left to lose from my waist!
Winter is ending soon, will I be able to meet my goal in March? Tune in for Week 17!
