2018 W38 of 52 – Steve’s Body & Mind Progress Journal

THEME OF THE WEEK: #1: Measuring Up The Cut Results | #2: My New Training Block | #3: The Connection Between Flavour & Nutrition

It was a glorious week last week. No more cutting, and back to eating more of what I love! 💕

#1 – Measuring Up The Cut Results

Ok, so as a quick reminder, these were my stats as I entered my cut at the end of July 2018. For all the details and body pics, click through to 2018 W32 of 52 – Steve’s Body & Mind Progress Journal. I actually started at 202.4LBS, but only took the body measurements a couple weeks in.

Lets jump starlight to the Facts of This Cut diet:

• The Cut lasted a total of 8 weeks (I could have gone a little quicker TBH)
• I dropped 12LBS of Bodyweight, with only 1-2LBS of Lean Mass
• Currently holding 8.6% Body Fat, which equates to 16.5LBS
• I increased my Strength & Weekly Training Volume throughout = >15,000KG p/w!
• I lost 4cm on my Waist, gained 1cm on my Thighs, and only lost 0.3-1cm across all other body parts
• Energy and mood has been pretty stable. Mostly non-dramatic, but didn’t move or be as animated as usual (i.e. less NEAT & Enthusiasm)

And here are some pics:

Not Too Shabby!

I achieved what feels like the training NIRVANA of losing body fat whilst retaining almost all muscle mass and significantly improving strength an volume.

I don’t declare to have any magical solution, nor do I have gifted genetics. Far from it, putting on mass is very hard for me, largely due to having low testosterone and longish monkey-boy arms. What I did do was to follow the evidence-based guidelines to the letter, with near 100% compliance, and looked to maximise all the variables in my favour.

This is what it looked like:

1. An initial 20% Calorie Deficit, about 2900 kcal
2. 1-1.2g of Protein per pound of Bodyweight. Up to 240g per day
3. Strength Trained 4x a week using AUG-18 #HyperWorkouts Training Block
4. I did everything I could to Progressively Overload
5. I timed my Carbs mostly at dinner and around my morning workout
6. Intermittently Fasted a few times to help increase my Weekly Deficit
7. Had 2-3 Carb Refeeds at Maintenance calories to break the negative adaptation
8. Didn’t change my diet (IIFYM+ Thrive) or my Dinner portion Size
9. For the last 7-10 days, I increased my Calorie Deficit to 25-30% (as low as 2,200 on non training days)
10. I supplemented as normal. Hard on the optimal Wellness front! See here.
11. Oh, and I made sure to REST! 7-8h of sleep a night, and training downtime.

All in, I’d say a it was a success. The only downside for me was that it took eight weeks. I would have rather got it over and done with in six. To do that, I would have needed to taper down to 25-30% Calorie Deficit quicker. I would also need to make much more effort to move more, as my NEAT tanked. It’s hard, because I’m busy at my desk, but that would need to change.

#1 – My New Training Block

The good news with my Cut is that whilst it took a little longer than I would have liked (but within what I expected), it ended up timing perfectly with my training block scheduling. I finished up the AUG-18 #HyperWorkouts Training Block at the same time I declared the cut over.

I then went on a one week Deload, which involved two practice sessions of the new Training Block at max 50% training volume, a couple mobility sessions, a couple more walks and generally getting some downtime.

Whilst on this Deload week, I jumped my calories up to maintenance of ~3200 kcal, and am now up to 3500 kcal to see if that’s a sufficient bulk. I’ll likely move back ups to 4000 kcal pretty quickly, to maintain weight progress.

And more GREAT NEWS – the OCT-18 #HyperWorkouts Training Block has been designed and I’ve been taking it for a spin this week, whilst filming the videos. It’s good fun, with a few surprises to keep those strength and muscle gains coming. A few different exercises, as well as using some new accessories.

OCT-18 #HyperWorkouts Training Block videos and posts will be edited next week, ready for release on AdapNation’s Instagram & Facebook pages in the first 5-10 days of October 2018. Watch this space guys! Oh, and for the ladies, the Ladies OCT-18 #HyperWorkouts will be realising at about the same time. 😃

#3 – The Connection Between Flavour & Nutrition

I read a fair amount – almost exclusively non-fiction. All in, up to an hour a day split between first thing in the morning and in bed. Some books just take time as the momentum isn’t there, whilst others grab my curiosity and attention. One such book was one I just finished called The Dorito Effect by Mark Schatzker.

In a nutshell, the book explores the trends in both processed food and engineered natural foods, and how Big Food companies have been exploiting the fact we are Flavour Seekers for the last 50-70 years. It walks you through the science of flavour and aroma being so tightly connected to nutritional content in natural real foods, and how processed foods are separating flavour from nutrition – causing our bodies mass confusion and a decline in health and physique.

This book was so helpful in confirming and developing my families fascination and excitement for real food, home cooking and listening to our bodies in terms of what nutrients it needs. It fully supports out eating principles, as outlined in the IIFYM+ Thrive eating approach, and confirms just how messed up the Big Food industry is with synthetic flavouring and addictive properties.

So much so, it inspired me to write my own piece on this very subject. This article synthesises much of what made the biggest impact on me from The Dorito Effect plus other lessons learnt through our own relationship with food plus other reading.

I’d highly recommend taking 15mins out to dig into what is going on between flavour, aroma, nutrition and the food as we know it today.

Coming Up In Next Few Weeks

In terms of Fitness, Nutrition, Wellness and Body Goals, here’s my focus for the next few weeks:

1. Cracking on with the OCT-18 #HyperWorkouts Training Block
2. On a surprise ‘holiday of a lifetime’ (again), so will sync training goals with these 10 days
3. Interested to read Elon Musk’s Autobiography – he’s a weird (but AMAZING) cat!

I’ll let you know how I get on with an update every 2-3 weeks… 🙂