Tuesday, 19 Aug 2008
1 Week in Review… Actually 2
There’s quite a bit of analysis that needs to be done on the past two weeks. I won’t do the same depth of analysis but here are the highlights:
Week of 8/4
- Downward trend in weight
- Decrease in fat %
- Increase in hydration
- Fat % “peaked” in middle of week dropoff towards end of week
- Felt great! There’s obviously less fat around the stomach
Week of 8/11
- Downward trend in weight
- Increase in fat %
- Decrease in hydration
- Fat % “peaked” at the end of the week
- Felt tired all week! But still obviously less fat around stomach
- Took 3 days off
- Slept more than week of 8/4
- Slightly distracted with camera stuff
Conclusions
There’s an obvious 2 week decrease in bodyweight. Based upon the caloric calculations, I should have lost 1/2 a pound of fat over the last two weeks. Based upon my actual bodyweight changes, I’ve lost close to 2 pounds in 2 weeks. So either I’m overestimating my caloric intake and underestimating my caloric expenditure OR I’m losing more muscle than I’m losing fat.
Is it possible that I’m losing more muscle than fat? Yes. Do I feel like I’m losing more muscle than fat? No. I’m stronger today than I’ve been in probably 5 years (I peaked in weight training in 2003-2004). Could the scale be wrong? I think I’ve done enough analysis to never doubt the scale anymore.
So what happened? Why was my fat higher last week than the week before? In retrospect I believe this is a normal fluctuation in body changes. Sometimes the body pushes back and yells, “What the f- are you doing to me?!?!” In extreme circumstances the body will go into shock and sometimes even completely shuts down.
Last week was an example of pushing my body a little too far. I was not getting enough sleep (I need 8+ hours every night to sustain this type of regimen). Furthermore I was simply not eating enough (particularly carbohydrates) to sustain the level of activity I requested. So my body protested and put me into “safe mode”.
This past weekend I caught up on sleep and ate some pasta on Sunday night which sealed the deal, putting me back on track. That’s why this week my goal is to get under 11% on the scale. It isn’t something that I can actively do as the scale registers the “results”, but I have faith that proper nutrition, exercise, and sleep will put me in the 10’s!
Here’s a picture from Friday that’s part of the lighting (photograph) collection and part of the abs collection as well:
