I have logged 11 hours and 35 minutes of exercise this week.
Unreal.
They breakdown roughly below:
I’m exhausted and sore all over. Literally. From head to toe.
posted at 10:59pmWell it’s not Wednesday but here’s a gratuitous picture of myself anyway
Gimme my six-pack back…
posted at 10:12amThis is a rant to myself. Ever since coming back from the honeymoon, I’ve been less physically active. I’ve been to the gym 15 times in about 10 weeks. Over the last 12 weeks (including the 2 weeks of wedding/honeymoon) I’ve accumulated the following caloric surpluses 918, 2822, -395, 1627, 1316, 899, 1637, 1695, 2133, 992, 1168, 393; a surplus total of 15,135 calories. The damage in my results? How about less strength, more fat, less muscle, less body hydration %. While my weight has stayed relatively constant at about 145.5 lbs, my body fat has increased by my Tanita scale readings and also by how I feel (i.e. I can grab more flab around my midsection).
Based on my daily caloric log of taking in a surplus of 15,135 calories over 12 weeks, I essentially gained 4.32 lbs. of fat. How is that possible when my weight says I’m still 145.5 lbs? Well here are my speculations:
I believe there is a little truth to each factor. Genetically I’m less prone to storing fat so there is likely not a 1:1 conversion rate for each excess 3,500 calories become exactly 1 lbs. of fat. Secondly, I know for sure I’m physically weaker. I can’t do as many pull-ups nor can I bench press the same weight I used to 10 weeks ago. I also likely underestimate the caloric expenses of my physical activities as well as my baseline daily caloric need. Lastly, while I try to estimate as closely as possible my daily caloric intake, it’s likely I sometimes overestimate… sometimes I just get really lazy and don’t count the exact number of calories of each meal and go with a “rough number” of how many calories it felt like I consumed.
All in all these are reasons for why my weight hasn’t increased but I’m becoming increasingly flabby and less toned. Seriously. Eating 15,000+ calories extra in 10 weeks without adequate exercise. What DID I think was going to happen?
posted at 10:54amIn the first game of tonight’s volleyball session, I took a pass that sent me into the knee of a teammate. His knee hit the middle of back towards the left side. It’s mostly a muscle pain but on deep inhalations and also while bending over I am in a lot of pain. It got worse as the night went on, obviously I did not sit out after he hit me. I feel like there’s some internal pain like I might have hurt my left kidney although I think it’s a little high for the kidney area. I’ll see what happens but this feels like something that might keep me from walking for at least a few days!
I wrote this for a co-worker. I figured I’d share this with the tumblrs
How to Use the Charles Yeh Workout Log
I know it looks super complicated but let’s break it down.
1. Input everything below (except the column “Slept”). You’ll be using a scale which reads weight, fat% and hyd%. Then input the time you go to bed and the time you get up. The spreadsheet will calculate your hours slept.
2. Based upon your physical activities you’re going to input the # minutes of exercise. I have populated the activities in the 1st row. These are my most frequent activities. In the 2nd row I have populated this with the calorie/minute expenditure per the activity above. Use these #’s for now until you get advanced enough to adjust these for your own preferences and body expenditures. The last column is the total, this will automatically populate. The last row is the individual activity total, this will also automatically populate.
3. This is where the magic is. This is perhaps the most complicated section of the spreadsheet:
The “Cal In” is where you put your total number of calories taken in on that day. I have created a separate spreadsheet in the workbook called “Calorie In”. You can also do this by hand and just input the # of calories taken in that day. Either way works.
The “Cal Out” is where calculate your total # calories used by your body. This is a function of what your body burns normally (A) and what your body burns extra via exercise (B). A plus B equals C your total number of calories used on that day. To get “A” click on the “Calorie Out Base” link at the bottom of the workbook to see the Caloric Needs Calculator. Here you will input your weight, height, age, and activity multiplier. The calculator will calculate your BMR, Caloric Needs, and also a Per Minute Need. “A” is the “Caloric Needs” portion of this calculator. Once you get this number you now know what your body burns on a daily basis without ANY exercise.
But of course you’re doing exercise! So now you need to add your extra calories burned into the equation (B). Take the # of minutes you exercised and multiply it to the per minute rate for that particular activity. As I mentioned earlier, I have already populated the activities with MY own per minute expenditure. Let’s not worry about this for now. After you’ve done this, you now know how many calories you burned during that activity which is the “B” of the equation. Take “A” and add that with “B” and now you have a close approximate of what your body burned today. Looking below, you’ll see that I ate 1,800 calories on the 3rd day of the week. My Calorie Out Base is 1,924 (A). I also played volleyball for 3 hours on the 3rd day of the week. The 3 hours of volleyball burned 792 calories (B). “A” plus “B” equals 2,726 calories. Since I only ate 1,800 calories, I burned an extra 926 calories that day.
The notes section is for your use. You can put whatever you want in that section.
This concludes the basic tutorial of my spreadsheet. Please ask questions.
posted at 4:08pmI hereby formally resign from the 300-Challenge.
I have decided I’m not done cutting.
I am implementing a new body fat target: sub 10% per scale
I am implementing new strength challenges:
Here’s where I currently stand:
After “letting go” for a week or more, I’ve decided I don’t like the bloated feel much. Nor do I appreciate the double chin nor the extra weight around the waist. I have decided that I have to get sub 10% bodyfat on the scale to be at a comfortably thin starting point to put back weight. Otherwise the double chin and loss of six-pack occurs too quickly.
Tomorrow I get back on track with nutrition and exercise.
posted at 11:09pmThis week is a “flux week”. It’s was the end of our wedding/honeymoon, coming back to work, and settling in. I averaged 144.8 lbs. 11.1% fat 63.9% hydration. This is the leanest I’ve been according to the scale. Contrary to what I predicted I did not gain a single pound on vacation. After coming back to LA and getting back on my routine, I’ve reflected an overall drop in weight and fat compared to pre-vacation statistics.
I’ve achieved my goal of 10% body fat (according to the scale). I keep saying “according to the scale” because I’m under the firm belief that the scale overestimates body fat. Even though I’ve reached my targeted “paper” goals, I feel like I could keep going and achieve better definition on the abs. I might push a few more weeks before switching to a gain for the 300 Challenge. I’m going to officially cap my weight minimum at 140. I know it’s a psychological barrier to not dip under 140 lbs. but there’s no good reason for me to get any leaner. It’s all aesthetics from here (was it ever anything else?)
Unfortunately everything will have to wait. I’m mildly under the weather. Slight sore throat possibly progressing to a cough; likely a result of a depressed immune system when I drank too much Saturday night. I’m a little tired but could be a lot worse. I was able to get a quick 25 minute jog in at lunch to speed up my metabolism and hopefully cure myself of this cold. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
posted at 4:39pmI base the scale results off of my five most recent weighings:
8/27/08 146 lbs, 11.1% body fat, 64% hydration. This was the night before I left for Maui and the temporary end of my strict diet/exercise plan.
9/1/08 147.2 lbs, 10.9% body fat, 64.3% hydration. This was during our layover from Maui to Tahiti. I weighed myself about 5am after eating Jack-In-Box.
9/9/08 144.3 lbs, 10.8% body fat, 64.3% hydration. This was right after getting off the plane. I had not had food nor had I had water in over 8 hours. Basically dehydrated and hungry. Yet still in the 10’s?
9/9/08 144.4 lbs, 10.4% body fat, 65% hydration. This was immediately after getting home before eating dinner.
9/9/08 146.2 lbs, 10.8% body fat, 64.6% hydration. This was immediately after eating dinner.
So basically going off my diet and relaxing and sleeping has resulted in a slight decrease in body fat % per the Tanita scale. Weight-wise I seem to have gained 0 to 1 pound. The weight gain is so marginal that it is well within the limits of my daily flux. Muscle-wise I feel like I’ve gained muscle because my body feels a little swollen. Could it be that my body basically rebounded and recovered the muscle that it lost while I was under extreme dieting? Or could it be simply that I am fooling the scale by a temporarily changed body composition that is perhaps in flux as I digest and absorb all the extra calories that I’ve been eating? I won’t know for sure until a couple more weighings. I need to stabilize my diet and get back into my exercise routine.
posted at 10:25amThis is basically an extension of the last post.
My scale refuses to lie to me. Not even once to make me happy. In fact, it simply CAN’T lie to me.
I got on the scale. It registered 11.2% fat. I’m thinking, “Sweet! Since I’m still wearing boxers (extra weight), all I gotta do is take them off and I’m in the 10’s!” So I take the boxers off, get back on.
*beep *beep 11.0% fat
Sweet! I’ll try again, maybe it’ll read lower this time!
*beep *beep. This time it reads 11.2% fat.
“Why you little…”
Maybe it’s cuz I haven’t absorbed the water I just drank? I’ll wait 10 minutes. So 10 minutes later I get back on the scale.
*beep *beep 11.2% fat.
I know! I’ll take a leak and rid myself of the extra water (weight) that hasn’t been absorbed. So I take a moderately long leak and jump back on the scale.
*beep *beep 11.1% fat
Oh! So close… If I try again I’m sure I can get under 11%!
*beep *beep 11.2% fat.
“God *#$@-ing damnit!!! Lie to me man! Just once to make me feel better, lie to me!”
As much as I hate my scale. I’ve grown rather attached to it. On my trip to Hawaii, I actually put the scale into my suitcase and was 100% intent on taking it with me. Then I imagined the scale going through the x-ray machine at the airport and the TSA people rewinding the conveyor belt to get a better look at the contents. “Hmmm, that looks suspicious. Maybe we oughtta check it out”. But I can’t risk my suitcase not making it to Maui because I’ve got 2 tuxedos in there for my groomsmen? So I take the scale out.
What am I going to do for 4 days? I can’t check my fat%! I hope Dai brings his handheld so I can at least check? I’m going to text message him now.
Is there something wrong with me for wanting to bring my scale with me?
PS. I just did a #2 and stripped out of my clothes and reweighed myself. Still 11.2% Don’t believe the idiots out there that say this scale is unreliable or inaccurrate.
posted at 11:08pm
