USPA referee certification and reverse dieting

I recieved word today that I passed the USPA referee/judge written exam. The next step is for me to take the practical test. I'm going to ask the meet director of the USPA meet, The Showdown powerlifting meet in Lubbock Texas if I could take the practical test there. I have loved ones who live in Lubbock. My family and I can stay with them while we're there.

I'm so hungry all the time. I'm not sure if it's because my body is trying to build muscle from the powerlifting training or if my body is still freaking out from having dieted for 8 months continuously. I started a reverse diet last week. Not only will the gradual increase of calories help with the hunger, but it'll also help with building some serious strength. Perfect timing. I have two more important meets this year. July 1st is the LWC New Mexico state championships and December 1st is the USPA New Mexico powerlifting state championships. I plan on dieting again starting on December 2nd. The day after the USPA state championships. Until the state championships I'lI be focusing on getting as strong as pissposs. And that'll take extra calories.

First week of reverse dieting

I started a reverse diet on Tuesday. Avatar Nutrition gave me an immediate increase of calories from 2,400 to 2,917 the first day. I thought it would take awhile for my body to start feeling the results of the calorie increase. But almost immediately I felt better. The second day I was lifting more reps with the same weight. By the fourth day I was lifting more reps with significantly more weight. I have never been able to do 4 sets of 10 dips before. Friday i was able to do it for the first time. And I felt like I could have done more. Last Saturday I was only able to front squat 215lbs one set of 6, then had to drop to 195 for my last three sets of 6. Today I was able to do four sets of 6 reps on front squats with 225lbs. And again, I felt like I could have done more. I'm really glad I decided to reverse diet. My body had had enough of being at a calorie deficit. 8 months of dieting and 80lbs of weight loss was as much as I could handle. I'll start dieting again December 1st. But until then I'm going to concentrate on healing my metabolism and getting stronger.

I've decided I'm going to reverse diet for three months. Then maintain for three months.

Reverse dieting and maintenance

I've been struggling to continue to keep my calories in the diet range.  A couple days ago I changed my goal on Avatar nutrition to a reverse diet. I'll reverse diet for three months, then maintain for three months. After that my metabolism should have recovered and I'll be able to start dieting again to get down to my dream weight.

Ready to maintain

I've been dieting non-stop for just shy of 9 months. I'm getting burned out. I'm ready to eat normal. I think I'm going to change my diet goals. Instead of getting down to 230, I'm going to just get down to 240. I'm at 262 right now. Losing 22lbs is manageable. With how burned out I am 22lbs won't be easy. But it's manageable. First I'll get to 240, reverse diet, then maintain for awhile. At least that's my plan for now. I tend to leap before I look. l change goals a lot. I'm impulsive. And annoying. I even annoy myself. So that's my plan for now. But knowing me it'll probably change.

Emergency diet changes

I've been dieting consistently for 6 months. I've lost close to 75lbs. But I've been getting more and more hungry every week. I used to think it was a motivation problem. But I've learned since then that the increasing hunger is my bodies way of protecting itself for starvation. The hunger is the caused by the bodies matabolism slowing down significantly. This weekend I got so hungry I fell off the wagon. Long ago I lost 120lbs training triathlon and using a diet program called Diet Power. I continued to diet and lose weight continuously for a very long time. As I lost weight I continued to get hungrier and hungrier. By the time I got to my goal weight I was so ravenous that I ended up gaining all my weight back, and then some. I've learned my lesson. I now know what I need to do. I'm going to continue to diet until I get to 270lbs and then I'm going to reverse diet for awhile. I'm bouncing between 271-275 right now. So it shouldn't take too long to get to 270.

Powerlifting strength, CrossFit, and weight loss

As of this morning I weighed 271lbs. I've lost 75lbs so far. My weight loss is slowing down. My squat has been getting weaker more quickly as I'm losing more weight. My bench and deadlift strength gains have slowed significantly. But they're still going up so that's good. But as I'm losing weight I'm getting better at crossFit. I can now do pull-ups, double unders, burpees, and toes to bars. I couldn't do any of those a month ago.

Based on my loss of strength I'm changing my first weight loss goal. It was 220. Now it's 230. After I hit 230 I'll do a slow reverse, then maintain for as long as I reversed. After that I'll attempt to reach my ultimate goal of 220lbs. If you haven't heard about a reverse diet I'd highly suggest reading up on it. It's fascinating.

Increasing calories for the state championships

I felt a little weak in the gym yesterday. It's because I have been dieting since September 5th. I've made great progress on my weight loss, 42 pounds, while also making some of the biggest streangth gains I've ever made- thanks to my powerlifting coach Vernon Smith. But I'm going to hit pause on my weight loss temporarily. I have the USPA New Mexico state powerlifting championships on December 9th, in 13 days. So I'm going to reverse diet for a couple weeks to ensure a good meet.

I just learned about reverse dieting. I learned about it when I first got on Avatar Nutrition. Reverse dieting is pretty interesting. If you haven't heard about it I highly suggest reading up or listening to some YouTube videos about it. What I'm doing isn't actually reverse dieting. Reverse dieting is to repair a dieters matabolism. I'm only doing it to make sure I'm at my best for the upcoming powerlifting meet. After the meet I'll go back to dieting to get down to my dream weight of 110k powerlifting weight class. But until then I'm focusing on the meet. For the first time I'll be lifting in a division other than the super heavyweight. I'll be lifting in the 139k weight class, thanks to Avatar Nutrition.