Day 18

Today took lots of willpower. As you may know, a weekend at the beach is NOT easy! I did alright on the diet, not superb but I still feel I conquered most diet temptations. My friends were really tying to push drinks on me at the bar, giving me crap about not drinking. Whatever, I'm gong to be shredded in the end- not them. I sat with them at 5 guys burgers too while they ate but I didn't touch anything. That wasn't really a problem, it was avoiding Candy kitchen across the street and grotto pizza next door to that! I did have a bag of pretzels which threw off my protein ratios but after drinking protein shake for breakfast and having nothing but melons all day, I REALLY needed some crunch!

What makes this blog great is that I don't pretend to be some perfect trainer who can't admit to the public that I too, face the same obstacles as you when dieting. I screw up, recognize it, and shoot for a better day tomorrow. It's just a matter of priority, a matter of motivation...how much do you want it? For me, I wanted the pretzels more than the cuts today and that was my mistake. I will try to work them off tomorrow. Overall, I feel I did well compared to what I have been tempted with this weekend.

10AM: Protein Shake w/fiber          300cal/42g protein
10AM: 5 strawberries                        25/0g
1PM; Protein Bar                             300/20g
4PM: Protein Bar                             300/20g
5PM: 2 cups watermelon                 100/0g
6PM: 1 cup cantaloupe                     75/0g
9PM: 5 oz. pretzels                           550/10g
10PM: String Cheese                          50/6g
Total 1700cal / 98g protein

Day 17

I finally made it to the beach and before we even checked into the condo, I hit up the grocery store for a watermelon and 2 lbs. of strawberries. I brought protein shakes with me as well to keep the protein numbers up. However, the previous guests left a perfectly good bag of chicken strips and fries in the freezer! Yum. I stuck with the diet most of the day but after coming back from a day at the beach I was famished and I broke down and cooked some. You may be thinking, oh chicken, it's good for you. Not if it's breaded (pre-soaked in cooking oil) and I have to eat 400 calories just to get 35g of protein in. That's what breaded mixes are. It advertised as "baked" but the cooking oil is already in the mix. Same with Tater Tots and baked fries. You might as well throw them in the deep fryer because your not getting any less calories. Again, corporate America wants to fatten their pockets even if if it means fattening you!
10AM: Med Apple                  75cal/0g
Noon: Protein Bar                    300/30g
Noon: 1 cup water melon           50/0g
3PM: Energy bar                      150/10g
5PM: 4 chicken strips               400/35g
5PM: Fries (1 cup?)                  250/3g
5PM: 1 lb strawberries              150/0g
7Pm: Fries  (1.5 cups)               375/5g
9PM: Protein Shake                  300/42g
9PM: 3 cups watermelon           150/0g
Total 2200 calories/ 125g protein
In general, this day was NOT good and will hamper my results. Lets see if I can do better tomorrow.

Day 16

Today was great. I did extraordinarily well on the diet and I got a ton of running in. Due to some cancelations today, I was left with 3 hours to get my workouts in! I went running all around the city for about an hour, came back trained a client and took another two hours to so some more cardio and weights. For the first half of the day I only consumed about 900 calories. Normally this would not be beneficial to my metabolism but my body was running on all the glycogen (stored carbs) that I ate the two nights before. Heres the diet for Friday day 16.

10AM: Ballys Protein Shake w/fiber         275cal / 45g protein

1PM: Nitrotech Protein Bar                            300/30

2PM: Energy Drink                                        100/0g

5PM: Potbelly Chicken Salad                          400/20g

          w/fat free dressing  

8PM: 5 Protein Truffles                                  125/12

10PM: 1 cup watermelon                                  50/0

10PM: 8 oz. deli Ham                                      275/35

11PM Medium Apple                                        75/0

11PM: 1 cup watermelon                                   50/0

1650Calories/142g protein

I'd also like to note that the fat free dressing I requested at Potbelly was likely not fat free. I could see oil spots floating around on the top so I estimated for an extra 50 calories for the dressing. Corporate America cares nothing about your physique, it's up to you to keep up the watch for hidden calories. I have a great article on my other blog @www.derrickinglut.com that talks about how PAM cooking spray and Splenda DO HAVE calories. Plenty of them. Check it out here! 

Day 14 & 15

I've got some new video I'm working on, and a tally of my calories for the last 2 days. I've also got some new pics posted here for the 2 week mark. Anyway, day 14 was horrible. Day 15 was bad too, but better than 14. I estimate it was nearly 4000 calories on day 14 and 2800 on day 15. Maybe. It was a cheat day after all, and I am off to the gym right now to go burn up the surplus. I ended up eating some italian food (manicotti, bread and salad) at a restaurant later that night that put me way over my calories, even though it wasn't one of the heavier dishes, eating out can really do you in! I did get lots of cardio in, but not enough to balance these numbers. Details to come later peeps..These two days will be posted but I only have an hour to get my gym time in and then headed straight to the beach tonight. I will bring my laptop with me so I can post. Oh the beach - one diet obstacle after another!! Wish me luck!

Day 12 & 13

Hey peeps, sorry I didn't get a chance to write yesterday, it was crunch time for my final exam and that had me completely preoccupied. Well, its almost midnight the next day and my final is now over! I am so happy to have that burden off my shoulders. Now I can really focus on knocking off the last bit of fat on my body. 


Also, I'd like to mention something I've heard a lot of people say lately "Getting shredded should be easy because Well Derrick, you were lean to start with". Comparatively speaking, that is true. BUT what people DON'T realize is that after one gets in the single digits of body fat, especially for my age group, it becomes exponentially difficult to get lower. Increased efforts only yield diminishing returns as the body fights to hold on to essential fats. THat's what I will have to deal with in the next 2 weeks. If I started at 20% and said "hey, I'm going to drop down to 14% in 4 weeks" that would be FAR EASIER task than dropping from 11% to 5% (both are a 6% drop). I'm already lean and the leaner I get the harder it gets. Thats where determination and skill separates typical gym rats from the pros. 
Heres my diet yesterday. Munchies didn't strike, but actual hunger did. Higher calories than I anticipated. 
9AM: 1/2 Protein shake w/fiber      125cal/25g protein
10AM: Promax protein Bar              275/20g
Noon: 8oz. Deli Ham w/ mustard    250/36g
3Pm: ProNos Shake                        300/42g
4Pm (TRAIN LEGS plus CARDIO)
5Pm: 2 protein puddings                350/70g
6PM: Promax Protein Bar (cherry)    275/20g
8PM: Promax Protein Bar (peanut)   300/20g
10PM: 2 cups Collard Greens             75/0g
10PM: Protein BAr (german Choc)    300/20g
10PM: 12 strawberries                       50/0g
        TOTAL   2300cal/253 g protein
Heres my diet today:
9AM: 2 cups watermelon                  100/0g
10AM: 1/2 lb cherries                       150/5g
10AM: 8 oz Deli Ham w/mustard        250/36g
Noon: 15 Strawberries                       75/0g
3PM: ProNos Shake                           300/42
5Pm: McD's grilled chicken Salad       275/25g
         (w/fat free dressing)
7Pm: Ham& cheese wrap                  400/30g
7PM; (half) Pomax Bar                      150/10g
7:20PM-9:30PM      FINAL EXAM!
9:30 PM: Speed Stack/3 Miles              25/0g
CARDIO/Back Biceps (30 MIn Hi-Int)       
Midnight: 3 Cups Watermelon            150/0
  TOTAL 1875calories/148g  protein                     

Day 12

OMG the diet was terrible today! It was absolutely gorgeous outside and all my friends went to the beach. I unfortunately locked myself inside to study for my final on Tuesday. You know what happens then...I munch! I was clean out of strawberries and watermelon too which made it hard to find filling foods that didn't have too many calories.  Eventually, I had to go to the grocery store to buy more, only to notice they had the most delicious looking cheesecake slices on sale. You put together the rest. So, I guess today was my cheat day and I will have to skip wednesdays planned cheat day. Monday is time to get back on track. I've got myself scheduled so I can't miss that!

9am: Shredded wheat cereal w/protein                350cal/35g protein
11am: More shredded wheat & protein                350    /35g
noon: Large Grapefruit                                           75   /0g
1Pm: 2 cups Collard greens (prepared)                   75   /5g
2Pm: Large Grapefruit                                            75   /0g
4PM: 1 lb cherries                                                275    /0g
6PM: Cheesecake                                                 450   /15g
6Pm: 10 strawberries                                               50   /0g
7PM: Deli Ham 4oz.                                             125   /25g
8PM: Protein Bar                                                  275   /20g
10pm: 3 cups watermelon                                     150   /0g        
Total: 2250 calories /135g protein (way too low!)

Day 11

Sneak Preview


Diet today was:
10AM 25 cherries 100 calories /0g protein
10AM ProNos Shake 300 cal /42g
Noon Large grapefruit 75 cal /0g
Noon Speed Stack 30 /0g
2pm Dymatize shake w/fiber 300 /50
4Pm Kiwi 50 /0g
6Pm Large Grapefruit 75 /0g
6Pm 9oz. Deli ham w/ mustard 250 /45
7PM 3 turkey sausage links 150 /18g
8Pm 25 Cherries 100 /0g
TOTAL 1430 calories/155g protein

Day 10 - A close one!

Somehow last night between tossing and turning I threw my upper (thoracic) back out. Seriously!!? I was half asleep when it happened, so I only vaguely remember the position that caused it. It came on quickly like a cramp and is a very dull, centralized pain. Though I'm familiar with the exercises for therapy, my cruise is just 3 weeks away, I don't have the time to rehab this thing right now. Fortunately, there are workarounds I can perform for most muscle groups, but my overall intensity will have to be lower when working my upper body. Since the diet is 75% of my progress, I should still be able to get lean, but I may be slightly smaller in the end. We will see!


UPDATE: Back is feeling 95% 12 hours later, so I must have had a really bad muscle spasm. That was a close one! Muscle spasms/cramps can be caused by a shortage of electrolytes, muscular imbalances or excessive heat. I will have to be careful to make sure all 3 possibilities are monitored.
Man I'm feeling leaner than ever. My obliques are coming through nicely and my 6 pack has tightened up for sure. I think my arms may have gotten a bit smaller, so I need to work on getting the proper amount of protein or add Creatine in at some point. I have a HUGE amount of studying to do this weekend for my final but I'm going to get in my workouts one way or another!

9AM: 1 lb cherries (hey they were on sale!)                275 cal   /5g protein
11am: Can of tuna w/10cal mayo                                175        /30g
2PM: 1 cup watermelon                                                 50       /0
3PM: ProNos Shake                                                    300       /42g
5Pm: Promax Bar                                                        275       /20g
7Pm; Protein Pudding (x2)                                          350       /70g
9PM: Orange                                                               100      /0g
10PM: 1 lb cherries... mmmmmm                               275      /0g
TOTAL 1800 Calories/ 167g protein .....no workout today

 

Day 9

Oh man today was a high calorie day. I didn't eat any crap food, just a lot more food than I planned on eating. However, it's all good because I feel leaner than ever and the extra calories really charged my workout tonight! I got in 30 minutes of treadmill and some more legs. Dead lifts, more dead lifts, calve raises, quad extensions and lots of jump rope. Wow I'm energized now! It's midnight. I should go to sleep. This could be a problem!

6AM: Promax protein bar  (lemon)          280cal    /20g protein
9AM: 3 servings Cottage Cheese             250        /45g
10AM: PLum                                           50          /0g    
11AM: ProNos Shake w/fiber                  300        /42g
1PM: 4 cups of watermelon                      200        /0g
4PM: Promax Bar  (cherry)                      275         /20g
5Pm:  ProMax Bar  (peanut)                    300         /20
7PM: 15 cherries                                      65           /0g
8PM Salad 2Xw/chicken f/free dressing  325         /50
8PM: Speed Stack                                      30         /0
9PM ProMax Bar     (cherry)                   275         /20
TOTAL 2350 calories/ 217g protein

You might be wondering how I have the time to eat all this food in a day. Well the answer is, I really don't. I don't even take lunch breaks at work. Mostly I munch on protein bars or fruit on the go. Most of the food I buy requires very little prep time....blending at most or maybe some microwaving. I constantly snack, that way I don't come home from work with a ravaging appetite and eat 5000 calories!

Day 8 - The results are in!

OK Peeps, the results are in and they are looking good! My weight has dropped to 189.5@9.5% body fat. I was hoping to come in at 9%, but it's still early in the game, I can make it up. Up in the top pics we can see the obliques coming through. Midway down, we can see the fat layer around my waist has been reduce by about 1/3. Down on the last pics we can see that the muffin top around my shorts has disappeared. All this and I hardly did much cardio. It's ALL ABOUT YOUR DIET. Speaking of diet, here's what I ate today.

9am: 2 cups of watermelon                           100 calories /0g protein

1030AM: 9oz deli ham with mustard            275             /55g

2pm: ProNos Shake                                      300             /42g

4pm: Promax protein bar                               275             /20g

7PM 3 baked chicken breast w/hot sauce      400             /75g

9PM; 3 cups watermelon                                150            /0

10PM Dymatize shake w/fiber                      300             /45

Total 1800 cal/ 237grams protein