10 Weeks Out
Current progress pics:
The week before last, I hit my first plateau. It wasn't a dead stall, but things slowed down significantly. To keep pace, I made my first adjustments last week. I took my food down from 11465 to 11007 cals/week. Cardio increased from 625 to 775 cals/week. I'm still cycling my diet between 2 lower calorie days (rest days), 2 medium calorie days, and 3 higher calorie days, and I'm still loving this approach.
I want to highlight that this is the first time I've made changes in 6 weeks of prep. Things don't need to change every single week. If you're making progress, stick it out. There's a definite time to implement changes, and that's when there's a definite stall. Rule out things like water retention from stress, lack of sleep, irregular bowel movements, menstrual cycle, etc. Progress will eventually stall as your bodyweight lowers and you expend less energy going about your daily life.
For me, a stall right about now is actually pretty common. I'm down about 6 lbs this prep, I'm nearing the lower end of my set point, and it takes more of a "push" to get me past this point. There's usually a range where your body comfortably likes to be. The further you push form this range, the more your body may resist. The key is to work with your body, not against it.
Two things I'm really focusing on right now that tend to drop off as energy gets lower is performance in the gym and NEAT. A focus on strength and performance helps to maintain LBM through a diet and to keep energy expenditure high. I prefer to eat to fuel my workouts and let that activity account for the energy expenditure, rather than cutting calories too low where strength and performance in the gym suffers, and therefore energy expenditure also suffers.
The second thing I'm focused on is my NEAT (non exercise activity thermogenesis) by keeping active doing non-exercise things and resisting the urge to just sit around all day. Little things like parking further away (although I'm almost always forced to do this at my apartment, LOL), or walking when I can, taking the dogs on extra walks, playing with the dogs, cleaning my apartment, pacing, standing instead of sitting, taking out the trash in multiple trips, checking the mail, practicing my posing, and random dancing, wiggling, or fidgeting. Throughout the course of the day, all of these little things add up. Your NEAT actually compromises a big portion of your daily energy expenditure. Understanding NEAT and taking advantage of it is a powerful tool.
Hit a new low yesterday of 107.8 lbs. The scale is not my sole focus; it's simply a tool to help measure progress. That said, I'm willing to be more aggressive now in order to have time coming into my shows to increase food -- something I know I respond well to from experience. Experience and insight is another powerful tool. The more times you or your coach can work with (and therefore learn) your body, the more you can dial it in. The approach should be evidence-based, using applicable research and best practices. But it should also be based on experience, those "in the trenches" things you learn along the way, or the unique ways in which someone responds. This is what makes coaching both a science and an art.... what makes it endlessly interesting, complex, and exciting. :)
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| 1.24.2016 // 10 weeks out |
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| front post -- straight on vs. angled |
I want to highlight that this is the first time I've made changes in 6 weeks of prep. Things don't need to change every single week. If you're making progress, stick it out. There's a definite time to implement changes, and that's when there's a definite stall. Rule out things like water retention from stress, lack of sleep, irregular bowel movements, menstrual cycle, etc. Progress will eventually stall as your bodyweight lowers and you expend less energy going about your daily life.
For me, a stall right about now is actually pretty common. I'm down about 6 lbs this prep, I'm nearing the lower end of my set point, and it takes more of a "push" to get me past this point. There's usually a range where your body comfortably likes to be. The further you push form this range, the more your body may resist. The key is to work with your body, not against it.
Two things I'm really focusing on right now that tend to drop off as energy gets lower is performance in the gym and NEAT. A focus on strength and performance helps to maintain LBM through a diet and to keep energy expenditure high. I prefer to eat to fuel my workouts and let that activity account for the energy expenditure, rather than cutting calories too low where strength and performance in the gym suffers, and therefore energy expenditure also suffers.
The second thing I'm focused on is my NEAT (non exercise activity thermogenesis) by keeping active doing non-exercise things and resisting the urge to just sit around all day. Little things like parking further away (although I'm almost always forced to do this at my apartment, LOL), or walking when I can, taking the dogs on extra walks, playing with the dogs, cleaning my apartment, pacing, standing instead of sitting, taking out the trash in multiple trips, checking the mail, practicing my posing, and random dancing, wiggling, or fidgeting. Throughout the course of the day, all of these little things add up. Your NEAT actually compromises a big portion of your daily energy expenditure. Understanding NEAT and taking advantage of it is a powerful tool.
Hit a new low yesterday of 107.8 lbs. The scale is not my sole focus; it's simply a tool to help measure progress. That said, I'm willing to be more aggressive now in order to have time coming into my shows to increase food -- something I know I respond well to from experience. Experience and insight is another powerful tool. The more times you or your coach can work with (and therefore learn) your body, the more you can dial it in. The approach should be evidence-based, using applicable research and best practices. But it should also be based on experience, those "in the trenches" things you learn along the way, or the unique ways in which someone responds. This is what makes coaching both a science and an art.... what makes it endlessly interesting, complex, and exciting. :)
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| Evidence Based Practice credit: Brad Schoenfeld |
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