As I said, I have had some big plans thus far this year. The blogging fell somewhat to the wayside, though I have been cooking a lot. (Potato chip praline post coming soon. It sounds weird. It is delicious. I turned it into crack cookies.)
My gym goals have been going well. For the past three weeks, I have made 4-6 visits a week. (Only one of those visits involved no exercise. Due to the Wendigo that came through here awhile back, I lost power. Cold and dark at my house? Of course I'm going to go to the gym to sit in the hot tub.) It's definitely tough with my schedule, so I go at night. There is a small band of regulars who are there between 9-12. Depending on when I arrive, I get to see different ones. There are some wonderful women who are there. They're supportive and encouraging, and if I ask one of them how they got that killer set of deltoids, they give me pointers!
Speaking of which... I got my DEXA scan done. I installed MyFitnessPal on my phone. (Of all of my apps, it's the one I use the most and the one I would like to lose the least... seriously, I love it!) What does all of this have to do with anything? Well, put simply, I am trying to recomp. Body recomposition is the Holy Grail for weightlifters and bodybuilders. The gist of it is that you try to change your body's composition: increasing the amount of lean body mass while also decreasing the amount of body fat. People seem to be split on whether or not it's possible.
Team impossible: To lose fat, you need to be in a caloric deficit. To gain muscle, you need to be in a caloric surplus. Never the twain shall meet.
Team possible: You can do it! One way is through nutrient cycling. This is essentially adjusting how much you eat (and in what proportions) to coincide with workouts. On days when you lift, you should eat more, including more carbohydrates and protein, than on days when you don't lift. Basically, you should treat some days like gain-weight days and some days like lose-weight days. Another way is by changing your workouts. The long and short of that is this: lift heavy, focus on compound movements that work many large muscle groups, and don't rest a lot between sets. It looks pretty grueling, to be honest.
In the past week or so, I've met people who swore up and down that it was totally possible or totally impossible. (Generally speaking, Team Totally Possible consisted of people who had successfully recomped or knew people who had. This included the DEXA guy.)
Anyway, I'm testing the theory. I will be getting my next DEXA scan in a few months, most likely at the end of summer. Between now and then, I have a vacation that will most likely derail me a bit, as there's no way in hell that I'll be able to bring weights on the trip with me. (Hello, bands!)
I am keeping track of what I eat and what I do via MyFitnessPal. Stay tuned for progress! If I succeed, I will have found what is (for me, at least) the Sorcerer's Stone of body!
For those keeping score at home, my current macros are 20/20/60. (I'm shooting for about .75 g of protein per pound/1 g. protein per pound of LBM.) I have no idea how in the hell I'm going to manage to get all of those carbs down. So many vegetables!
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