I repeated my body composition test and results were as follows:

Body weight: 188 pounds (221 lbs on March 15, 2004)
Fat percentage: 20% (28% on March 15, 2004)
Fat mass: 37.6 pounds (62 pounds on March 15, 2004)

So in 20 weeks, I managed to shed 25 pounds of fat (averaging 1.25 pounds of fat loss per week). I achieved 33 pounds of weight loss or 1.65 pound of weight loss per week.

During that same time period, I saw my strength increasing significantly. While I required an 80 lbs assistance for chinups, I can now do a set of 10 without assistance. I can chest press 230 pounds compared to 80 lbs I started with.

Overall, I am very pleased. I am aware however that I still have a way to go. I am still 8 pounds above where the body composition machine says I should be. I also would like to see myself at no more than 18% fat percentage.

Strength wise I am very pleased mostly because I am finally capable of completing a set of 10 chinups without requiring any assistance. I would be very happy if I manage to maintain this level of strength.

Size wise, I was ecstatic today to slip into some of my size-33-pants, something I have not been able to do for a long time.

My goals for the next 4 weeks are accordingly 8 pounds of weight loss, 2% of fat loss, while maintaining my strength and size.

Things are really looking up. Those aerobics interval training sessions seem to be doing a great job. I am off the plateau and weight is again dropping and dropping :) A major target has been crossed. I now weigh 189.5 pounds. I have so far lost 31.5 pounds since March 15, i.e. around 4 months. That averages 1.7 lbs per week!

My trainer further points that this weight loss occurred in concert with serious strength build up and lean mass gain. So bottom line I am fitter, leaner, stronger, and healthier. Quite wonderful.

My weight machine numbers are back up:

Chest Press: 220 (200) lbs (Awesome)
Incline Chest Press: 190 (180) lbs
Preacher Curl: 95 (90) lbs
Chinups: 5 (10) lbs
Lateral Pull Down : 160 (150) lbs
Seated Rows: 160 (155) lbs
Triceps Push down: 110 (100) lbs
Triceps Extension : 120 (110) lbs
Leg Press: 570 (540) lbs
Leg Extension: 110 (100) lbs
Leg Curl: 165 (165) lbs
Shoulder Press: 170 (160) lbs
Seated Lateral raise: 120 (110) lbs
Rear Deltoid: 135 (125) lbs
Forward Crunches: 4×40 (3×30)
Reverse Crunches: 4×40 (3×25)

Next week I’ll recheck my body composition and see what that says.

My weight has not changed this week :( . My trainer believes I am hitting a plateau and suggests that we change our routine for 2 weeks.

I am going to do lots of aerobic exercise using an interval training program he setup for me. Basically, I will do one hour of interval aerobics 5 days a week on top of the weight lifting exercises. This means that I may need to come back to the gym hours after my weight lifting for the aerobic part.

Aerobic interval exercise basically means spreading the hour into 6 packs, each of 10 minutes. The 10 minutes will go as follows:

1 minute at 60% maximum HR
1 minute at 65% maximum HR
1 minute at 70% maximum HR
1 minute at 75% maximum HR
1 minute at 80% maximum HR
1 minute at 85% maximum HR
1 minute at 90% maximum HR
1 minute at 80% maximum HR
1 minute at 70% maximum HR
1 minute at 65% maximum HR

I must say this interval aerobic stuff is quite invigorating. We’ll see whether anything transcends from that. I literally cannot imagine how that would not be the case. I am guessing no less than 1000 calories spent per session. These must be burnt off some fat lying somewhere. I am still doing my weight lifting so I really should not lose any lean muscle.

I am on a roll with 2 more pounds lost this week down to 196 lbs. 6 more pounds to go and I’ll be ecstatic.

I took my trainer to dinner today as a sign of appreciation for his hard work. He stated that I have exceeded his expectations and that I am progressing quite nicely. He gives me 4 more weeks to cross that 190 lbs barrier.

My weight lifting numbers this week are mostly unchanged. I am hoping to soon be able to complete a full set of chinups without assistance.

Weight loss continues this week with 2 more pounds down to 198 lbs. I actually am starting to feel in good shape and am getting compliments right and left with respect to the progress I have achieved.

My numbers continue to improve:

Chest Press: 200 (180) lbs (A goal achieved right here)
Incline Chest Press: 180 (160) lbs
Preacher Curl: 90 (90) lbs
Chinups: 10 (10) lbs
Lateral Pull Down : 150 (150) lbs
Seated Rows: 155 (150) lbs
Triceps Push down: 100 (100) lbs
Triceps Extension : 110 (105) lbs
Leg Press: 540 (540) lbs
Leg Extension: 100 (100) lbs
Leg Curl: 165 (165) lbs
Shoulder Press: 160 (140) lbs
Seated Lateral raise: 110 (110) lbs
Rear Deltoid: 125 (125) lbs
Forward Crunches: 4×35 (3×30)
Reverse Crunches: 3×35 (3×25)

Today is the end of week 13 thereby ending my third month of training. My weight on Monday again showed 2.5 lbs of weight loss and my weight is now flirting with 200 lbs.

I repeated my body composition test.

Weight: 200lbs
Fat Percentage: 24%
Fat Mass: 48 lbs

Goals to reach by end of July:

Weight: 185 lbs (Lose 15 pounds)
Fat Percentage: 20% (Drop 4%)
Fat mass: 37 lbs (lose 11 lbs)

I have adjusted my goals as I do not believe it is realistic for me to think I will lose 26 pounds of fat in 7 weeks. 15 lbs means 2+ lbs per week. Even that I am not sure it will happen but I am hoping it will.

The toughest I believe is to drop the fat percentage. I started at 28% and now after 3 months I am at 24%. I am quite skeptical that I will reach 20% by end of July.

The other troubling issue is that I am losing lean body mass. Over last 3.5 weeks I lost 8 lbs total among which only 3.5 lbs came from fat! 4.5 lbs of LBM were lost!!!

Not sure how to interpret that. My trength and weight lifting numbers continue to improve. I am also shrinking in size and now at regular 34 (Quite an improvement from size 38 3.5 weeks ago).

Eating wise, I have dropped my protein intake from 1.5 gram protein per lb of total body weight to 1.25 grams. I also dropped the strawberries to 1 lb per day down from 2. No fiber supplements, no protein shakes.

My weights this week were identical to last week with the exception being the chinup requiring 10 lbs of assistance instead of 20 lbs. I can almost smell when I’ll be able to do these assistance free.

The weight loss that resumed last week continue this week with another 2.5 pounds down. Current weight stands at 203 pounds. Suddenly, reaching my goal does not seem that far fetched despite the fact that over the preceeding few weeks I decided that I would be extremely happy if I make it to 182 by end of July as long as I keep my lean body mass gains and my strength keeps improving.

I continue to do aerobics and my eating regimen is tighter than ever. I let go of the shakes and fiber supplements, and upped my leafy vegetables. I still have around 2 lbs of fruits a day but I am having only those with the lowest glycemic load (strawberries, cherries,..)
I am again noticing some improvements in my weight lifting numbers:

Chest Press: 150 (150) lbs
Incline Chest Press: 140 (140) lbs
Preacher Curl: 75 (70) lbs
Chinups: 20 (20) lbs
Lateral Pull Down : 130 (125) lbs
Seated Rows: 135 (135) lbs
Triceps Push down: 80 (80) lbs
Triceps Extension : 100 (90) lbs
Leg Press: 500 (450) lbs
Leg Extension: 80 (80) lbs
Leg Curl: 135 (135) lbs
Shoulder Press: 120 (90) lbs
Seated Lateral raise: 100 (95) lbs
Rear Deltoid: 105 (100) lbs
Forward Crunches: 3×30 (3×30)
Reverse Crunches: 3×25 (unchanged)

My weight Monday again reflected 1 pound of weight loss.

I repeated my body composition test:

Weight: 207.9 lbs vs 210 lbs 1 month ago

Fat Percentage: 24.7% vs. 25.8% 1 month ago
Fat Mass: 51.4 lbs vs. 54.2 lbs 1 month ago

Goals to reach by end of July:

Weight: 175 lbs (Lose 32.5 pounds)
Fat Percentage: 17% (Drop 7.7%)
Fat mass: 30 lbs (lose 21.2 lbs)

There is tangible progress yet is going at a slower rate than I expected. If I continue to lose around 2.5 lbs of fat per 5 week period, then it’s 0.5 lb per week or 45 weeks until I reach my goal :( . That’s quite depressing. Time for some additional research to what I can do to increase my weight loss.

My trainer is suggesting I do start doing high intensiy cardio on my off days. He wants 50 continuous minutes (warmup and cooldown do not count here) with high intensity aerobic exercise keeping my heart rate at around 140-160 beats per minute. I will start these next week.

My weight lifting numbers this week (4×12) are almost identical to last week with one exception. My chinups now require 30 lbs of assistance instead of 40 lbs. That by itself is wonderful to see.

My weight Monday reflected 1 pound of weight loss. At least loss has resumed.

We will from now on do 2 weeks of 4×12 and then 1 week of 5×6 (We did before 2 weeks of 4×10 and 1 week of 4×6).
My numbers throughout this week show improvements from two weeks ago. As a matter of fact, most numbers are the same but since we did 12 instead of 10 repetitions, an improvement did take place.

Chest Press: 140 (140) lbs
Incline Chest Press: 130 (130) lbs
Preacher Curl: 70 (70) lbs
Chinups: 40 (50) lbs
Lateral Pull Down : 125 (125) lbs
Seated Rows: 135 (120) lbs
Triceps Push down: 80 (80) lbs
Triceps Extension : 100 (90) lbs
Leg Press: 450 (405) lbs
Leg Extension: 80 (80) lbs
Leg Curl: 135 (120) lbs
Shoulder Press: 90 (100) lbs
Seated Lateral raise: 95 (900) lbs
Rear Deltoid: 100 (105) lbs
Forward Crunches: 3×30 (3×30)
Reverse Crunches: 2×20/1×15 (unchanged)

Again today, there has been no recorded weight loss. I am keeping things in focus and will not allow myself to be discouraged. I will research however if I am eating anything that is sabotaging my diet.
My jeans are getting quite loose and so I bought a size 36 today (down from 38) and that made me quite pleased as they were actually quite loose.

Today is Day 1 in week 8 and it’s the time for the 5×6 routine.

My numbers today:

Chest Press: 170 (160) lbs
Incline Press: 150 (140) lbs
Preacher curl: 80 (83) lbs
chinups: 50 (60) lbs of assistance.

Numbers in parentheses represent my performance three weeks ago. Things are looking good with the exception of a 3 lbs drop in Preacher Curl strength.

Today is day 4 of week 7.

My weight lifting routines have mostly not changed from last week with some exceptions:

Fly Maneuver: 105 lbs vs. 113 lbs 2 weeks earlier (Again a drop in performance)

Seated Lateral Raise: 90 lbs vs. 95 lbs 2 weeks earlier (Another drop)

Rear Deltooid: 105 lbs vs. 100 lbs. 2 weeks earlier

My trainer is not concerned about the few drops noted. He is confident that a significant progress has been achieved and that things look quite well on multiple levels. A drop here and there every now and then is expected and is no big deal.

He also advised that it is not realistic for me to expect my weight to continue dropping as it did in the first few weeks. In his mind, 0-1 lb per week is realistic as I am doing things the very hard way: Losing fat while adding muscle. The muscle mass itself would translate in higher weight but that’s a good thing. As long as we continue to see a drop in fat percentage when the body composition test is repeated, there would be no reason to worry. I am fine with that.

Weighed myself today and to my dismay there has been no change in my weight :(

I was hoping that the consistent weight loss that happened over the last 6 weeks to continue. Maybe my body is fighting the weight loss or something. I will wait and see how weight does next week.

My weight lifting numbers have not changed with the exception of requiring less assistance with chinups (50 lbs vs. 60 lbs last week).

Preacher Curl performance remains same at 70 lbs making me doubt my original numbers in that regard. My trainer is not concerned and says that my form is much better with full rangeof motion and that initially I was not doing that well.

I can’t believe it’s been 6 weeks since I started my mission to get back in shape. I feel better than ever and have lots of energy.

Most of my numbers have gone up this week and I am quite happy.

Lat Pull Down : 120 vs. 105 lbs 2 weeks earlier

Seated Row: 120 vs. 110 lbs 2 weeks earlier

Triceps Push Down: 80 lbs vs. 75 lbs 2 weeks earlier

Triceps Extension: 90 lbs (unchanged)

Leg Press: 360 lbs vs. 315 lbs 2 weeks earlier

Shoulder Press: 100 lbs vs. 90 lbs 2 weeks earlier

Seated lateral raise: 95 lbs vs. 80 lbs 2 weeks earlier

Rear Deltiod: 100 lbs vs. 90 lbs 2 weeks earlier

Leg Extension: 80 lbs vs. 70 lbs 2 weeks earlier

The only regression seems to be in the biceps muscle group. I’ll wait to see how that plays next week and see what exactly is going on.

I weighed myself today and noted with relief that I lost another 1.5 lb last week. Absolutely fabulous. Things are looking fantasic.

I am back to 4×10 routine. The change in exercise we implemented last week did me good as most of my numbers are up as to when compared to two weeks ago:

Chest Press: 150 lbs vs. 120 lbs 2 weeks ago!!!
Incline Press: 140 lbs vs. 120 lbs 2 weeks ago!!
Preacher curl: 70 lbs vs. 80 lbs before (not sure why….)
chinups: 60 lbs of assistance. vs. 70 lbs 2 weeks earlier

With the exception of the biceps strength, all seems to be working great.