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.

Low back squat and higher calorie weekends

Most hard core Powerlifters squat with a low back squat. You can lift more from that position. I've used a high back squat all my life. Since it seems I'm going to be sticking with powerlifting I decided to start using a low back squat. Today was my first day using decent weight from a low back squat position. I built up to 5 reps at 300lbs using a low back squat. I always assumed it would feel uncomfortable. But it felt great. I felt much stronger and I seemed to pop out of the hole more naturally and effortlessly. I'm looking forward to seeing how this works it strength worse at my next meet.

I always struggle with my diet on the weekends. I thought of a simple fix I tried this last weekend and it worked. I ate 500 calories more on Saturday and Sunday, 1000 calories more total than I'd usually eat to lose weight. And I dropped my calories 200 a day during the week, which is also 1000 calories. It's the same calories for the week. I'm just eating more when I struggle and eating less the days I'm usually fine dieting. 

I weighed in today at 271. I've lost exactly 75lbs. 55 more to go until I hit my goal of being in the 220lb powerlifting weight class.

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.

Diet focus and goals

I've been struggling with my diet the last few weeks. I've been dieting for 5 months straight. I still have almost 6 months left before I get to my goal weight. It was beginning to feel overwhelming. But a couple days ago I recieved an email from Joaquin Chaves, the president of The New Mexico Local weightlifting Club. He's set the dates for the two NMLWC meets. The NMLWC Youth and Master's championships on May 12th and the NMLWC weightlifting championships on June 30th. That helped motivate me again. Helped me refocus. If I can lose 40 more pounds in the next 4.5 months then I'll show up to the state games weighting 100lbs less than I did at last year's weightlifiting state championships.

Duration of diet causing injuries?

On Tuesday I was playing basketball with my two sons and when I went to drive to the basket I pulled my left calf. It wasn't a bad pull. It hurt, but not bad enough to limp when I walked. Today I completed a CrossFit workout at Bear Canyon CrossFit without any problems. A little less than a month ago I pulled my left pectoral muscle while benching. That's two muscle pulls in less than a month. I'm not sure what's going on with my body. I'm wondering if perhaps it's from being on a calorie defacit and loosing weight for so long or if it's just that I'm 42 years old now. I've lost 68lbs in the last 5 months. If it is from the weight loss and I continue to get injured I don't think I'd be willing to stop. I want to get down to 220lbs so bad I'd rather be chronically injured than continue to be obese. I don't think that's a healthy way to look at diet and working out. If I continue to drop weight at my current rate I'll be down to 220lbs by July. Hopefully once I get to my goal weight I'll be able to train without the injuries and make taking care of my body a priority

Pictures online

Because of how fat i got I refused to let any of my friends or family take pictures of me. And when they did I made them promise not to post it online. I was so humiliated by how obese I had become. Since September I've lost 60 pounds. And last night I posted a picture of my son and I with our coach at the gym. This was the first time in almost a decade I posted a picture of myself on Facebook. 60 down. 48 more to go. This was me September of 2017.

This is me last night.

I'm finally not ashamed of how I look. I'm not humiliated of who I am. I'm starting to feel confident and happy again.

Avatar Nutrition and exsessive weight loss

After having not lost any weight for 3.5 weeks, I've lost 10 pounds in the last 10 days. I use a diet app called Avatar Nutrition. It adjusts my calories/macros to make sure I loose a set number of pounds each week. I was afraid that since I lost significantly more weight than I should have that the program was going to increase my calories an excessive amount. It didn't. It only raised it 100 calories. There seems to be some kind of fail safe on the program that prevents to large of increases or decreases of calories each week. The longer I'm using Avatar Nutrition the more I'm liking it. I've lost 54 pounds since September 5th. Another 50 pounds to go to reach my goal of the 242lb powerlifting weight class.

2018 goals

I had e couple big goals for 2017. I wanted to deadlift 495lbs and I wanted to be able to compete the 307lb weight class. I was able to accomplish both in December. My next big goals is to be able to compete in the NASA powerlifting state championships in April in the 275lb weight class. And by the end of 2018 to squat 500lbs or more, bench 300+, and deadlift 600+. A 1400+ pound total.

Christmas binge

I had eaten perfectly every day since September 5th. But Christmas Eve and Christmas I ate whatever I wanted. All that crappy food in excessive amounts made me feel sluggish and weak during my last couple workouts. Today I'm back on the diet wagon. And I'm glad to be eating healthy and reasonable amounts again too. I've been on a roll for the first time in years. As long as I continue to do what Avatar Nutrition tells me to do I should be at my dream weight by mid-late summer. It'll be nice to lift in the 110k weight class. And being 60 pounds lighter will help a lot in CrossFit too. Being 300lbs doesn't exactly make me efficient or fast to say the least.

I was home on Christmas Eve and Christmas. This was only the 2nd time I've ever been off of work and home with my kids on Christmas. It was great. I'm really in a good place right now. I'm happy.

Under 300lbs!

I weighed in at 299lbs for the 2nd day in a row. I've lost a total of 47 pounds so far. My goal is to get into the 110k (220-242lb) powerlifting weight class. So I need to loose anywhere from 57-79 more pounds. Depending on how I feel will determine how low I'm willing to go.

I was a little hungry this week. Which is unusual. I really haven't been hungry at all since starting Avatar Nutrition. I lost more weight this week then I usually do. 4.1lbs So the the Avatar program will increase my macros next week. They do that to prevent quick weight loss, rebound dieting, muscle loss, and metabolic damage. So far I really love Avatar Nutrition. It works.

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.

Avatar Nutrition and malfunctioning scales

The last few weeks i haven't been losing any weight. Avatar Nutrition has been reducing my macros every week. I've been getting increasingly frustrated and hungry. Yesterday I stepped on the scale and the scale said 319lbs which doesn't make sense. There's no way I've gained weight this week with how hard I'd trained and I've eaten perfectly. I stepped off the scale, then back in and it said 307. Then 311, then 319. I realized my scale was broken. I purchased another one. This morning I weighed in at 306.6 lbs. Turns out I have lost weight the last few weeks. Thankfully. I'm so relieved. As of this morning I've lost exactly 40lbs. 86 more pounds to go until I got my goal weight of 220lbs.

Bear Canyon CrossFit and Bear Canyon CrossFit barbell club

Like I said in my last post, I miss weightlifting. I can't train at the two places I want to train at because of my work schedule, High Dessert Athletic Club or with Vernon Smith. And I won't train weightlifting by myself. Weightlifting by  yourself sucks! So I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out how/where to train. I found a CrossFit gym a block from my house. I remembered watching them compete in the state games this summer and thinking to myself that they were the only CrossFit weightlifting team I'd ever seen that had decent weightlifting form. So yesterday I drove to Bear Canyon CrossFit to try them out. I did a CrossFit workout both yesterday and today. I'm in REALLY bad shape. No cardio what so ever. I had to keep dropping my weight until I was down to the girls R/X weight. Today I decided I wasn't going to lower my weights during the workout. I started at the girls R/X weight right off the bat. And the workout was still hard with that light of weight. I'm in really bad shape! No one seemed to be judge me. As a matter of a fact they were all super supportive. I also trained with their barbell club. It was max day. So I maxed out my snatch and clean and jerk. I've lost a rediculous amount of strength and explosiveness. I maxed at a 86k snatch and 110k c & j. Those are down from 100k & 125k. That's a big loss of strength. I want to get back into weightlifting, I need to lose a crap ton of weight, and I need to get my cardio back. So I joined for a month long membership. The big question is, how is thier weightlifting coaching? If the weightlifting coaching is good, I'll sign a year long membership. If not then I'll just go back to Vernon Smith's powerlifting program. I'll keep you updated on my progress and what I think of Bear Canyon CrossFit and thier barbell club.

Starting point:
Body weight- 326lb (down from 346)
Max snatch- 86k
Max clean and jerk- 110k

Goals:
Do a competition at 224lbs (the lowest I've ever competed in a weightlifting comp is 288lbs)
Sntach- 101k (1k above lifetime PR)
Clean and jerk- 126k (1k above lifetime PR)
And of course my long time and biggest goal- qualify for the Masters National weightlifting championships

Week two of my return and winter post bid

My weight training has been excellent. My strength is returning. I'm not getting sore anymore from the strength training sessions. I've been following my diet plan from Avatar Nutrition perfectly. I've lost 25 pounds so far. I'm down to 321 pounds. I haven't felt focus like this since my best triathlon years of 2008-2010. Anyways, 97 more pounds to lose until I get to my goal weight of of 224 (the 105k weight class). Hopefully by the 2018 New Mexico state games, the weightlifting state championships.

On Tuesday we leave for vacation for New York for 7 days. I'll find a gym and continue my workouts while on vacation. But there's no way I'm going to follow my diet plan. I'll just pick it up when I get back.

I post bid for work on October 19th. The next bid will last 5 months. There's a shift I'm hoping I get. It's Monday- Friday, weekends and holidays off, 1230-1930. That would be perfect for my training and my kids. I could spend the morning with them. Make them breakfast, make thier lunches, help them get ready for school, drop them off to school, I'd have a couple hours to train in the weight room and track before work, get home in time to eat a late dinner with the kids, tuck them in, and be able to spend a couple hours with the wife before bedtime. Sounds like a dream shift to me. The only down side is it's only 35 hours a week. But I figure I deserve it after working 75-90 hours a week for 10.5 out of the last 11 years.

Avatar Nutrition and flexible eating

The times in my life I've lost a significant weight I did it with low carb eating or a computer program called Diet Power. Diet Power was awesome because it adjusted my calories to ensure I hit a certain weight of my choosing by a certain date also of my choosing. The big problem with Diet Power was it was a computer program that was downloaded with a disk. So I had to carry a lap top with me everywhere. I also tried flexible eating with a diet coach. That worked well. I thoroughly enjoyed having someone knowledgeable there to tell me how many carbs, fat, and protein I needed to eat to make my goals. I also really enjoyed being able to log my food and prepare meals with absolute control and accuracy of carbs, fat, and protein. But a nutrition coach was expensive and having to report my daily successes and failures with feed back every week was to much pressure for me.

I recently found a website that seems to have all of the positive aspects of a nutrition coach and Diet Power on a mobile site for your phone. It's called Avatar Nutrition. It allows me to prepare and log food. And it also adjusts my calories, carbs, fat, and protein to ensure I'm maintaining my weight loss goals.

I started it today. I'll be able to use it until my family and I leave for a 7 day vacation in New York. During that time I'll put the Avatar Nutrition program on vacation mode, so I'll be able to start back where I left off when I get back from vacation.

Current weight 325lbs, down from 346lbs a month ago. My goal is to get down to the 220's.

I'll keep you updated on how I'm doing and what I think of Avatar Nutrition.

no calorie adjustment this week

I sent my nutrition coach my weekly report. My calories were perfect all 7 days. My protein intake was great 6 out of 7 days. But I still didn't lose any weight. My #1  goal is to lose 2 pounds a week. In most situations a nutrition coaches would drop my calories. But my nutrition coach knows I'll be competing in a weightlifting meet this weekend. So he sent me an email telling me hes not lowering my calories to ensure a good weightlifting meet. How awesome is that? I have some really awesome people in my corner helping me to qualify for the master national weightlifting championships. If it's at all possible I will do it. Maybe not this year. But I will.

masters weightlifting and weight classes

From October through February I was motivated to eat right and lose weight. After 4 months I gave up.

The master's weightlifting national championships list of men was released. It shows everyone's age, weight class and qualifying lift. If I lifted the totals I hit last weekend at the HDAC Spring Break Invitational I'd be in 6th place in the 105+ weight class. If I lifted in the 105k weight class I'd of been in 5th place.  I think I could lift a 220k total. If I did a 220k that would put me tied in 4th place in the 105+ and a very strong 3rd place in the 105k weight class.

I'm really regretting my decision to stop dieting. I've gained 16 pounds since then and I feel like crap.

I figured out that if I was to lift in the 105k weight class next year I'd need to lose 85 pounds. 85 pounds in 54 weeks would be about 1.58 pounds a week average. That's doable.

chaotic day

Today was a rough day. My daughter got sent home from school during the time I'm usually training, so I missed my workout. The check engine light came on in my Suburban. I only was able to get 3 hours of sleep. I was really hungry all day.

The good news is I got to the gym a couple hours before work and I got in a great workout. A workout that usually takes me 1 hour 50 minutes took only 1hour 10 minutes. I pushed HARD to get it done in time. My legs were trashed! It felt great. I still got to work on time with a couple minutes to spare. After 21 years working at the prison I've only been late 4 times. My streak continues. The other good news is I've lost 5.8 pounds in the last 7 days. Most of that was probably water weight from eating like crap while being on vacation. But still, I'm on track to getting to the 105k weight class. 16 pounds lost, 72 more to go.

new weightlifting personal best lifts (PR's)

In October 2015 I competed in the Lift Outside The Box weightlifting meet. I weighed in at 143 kilos, (314.6 pounds) I snatched an 87, and clean and jerked 115 kilos for a 202k total. I missed qualifying for the 2016 Masters National Weightlifting championships by 5k.

For the last 2 months I've been losing weight and my lifts have increased. Usually a person loses strength while losing weight. Today I weighed in at 136.8 kilos and I lifted a lifetime PR of a 92k snatch and a 116.5k clean and jerk, for a total of 208.5k. My totals are now 1.5k above what I need to do to qualify. If I'm making these kinds of gains now I can't help but to dream what I'll be able to do once I get to my goal weight and am able to start eating to make big weightlifting gains.

My goal of being a competitive 105k masters weightlifter is progressing.

update on calorie change

A couple days ago my sports nutrition coach changed my daily calorie allotment. It took a couple days for me to figure out what the new calorie regiment would feel like. On my non-training days it feels like I have lots of carbohydrates to eat at everyone meal. On my training days I eat the majority of my carbs before, during, and after training. The rest of the day I only have a dozen grams of carbs to eat at each meal. Even though my carbs feel low the rest of the day, I never feel hungry because I have 300 grams protein and 125 grams fat each day. I've always felt best eating lower carbs  and a little more fat than most people. On the occasions I've tried low fat diets I fell apart quickly. I lost strength, endurance, and energy. This diet seems perfectly suited for my body type. I'm down to 304 pounds. I've lost 14. Just 75 pounds to go to hit my goal of being a 105k.