About a month and a half of work: A progress report.

The holidays are something else aren't they? So many family gatherings centered around eating, adverse weather conditions making it difficult to get outside and play, and lots of stress to top it all off. It's no wonder getting in shape is a very common new years resolution.

I don't know the exact date... but somewhere in October I decided to switch from paleo to the ID-GAS diet (aka, the I-Don't-Give-A-Shit diet)

I had several birthdays to attend in October, plus Halloween parties, then November was ripe with birthdays/Thanksgiving, then there's about 3 birthdays in December and Christmas, then New years... Three months of not caring what or how much I put in my body was probably the worst mistake I could've made in regards to keeping fit, but at the time I didn't have any strategy for being able to have a social life and keeping in shape. Do you know how much it sucks to be at the party with all your best friends eating, drinking, and having a great time and every time someone goes to give you a drink or food you have to say "Sorry, I'm on a diet." Then to have to explain the diet because your drunk friends are very curious as to what diet is more important than hanging out and having a good night.

Needless to say it's a hassle and it's emotionally damaging. I hated having to do it, so I didn't. I just enjoyed my life and my friends and let the weight pile on.

I don't have an exact weight here because my scale has been lying to me. I'm probably between 200-210 here though. This picture was taken on the 10th of December.

Keep in mind, this is still 30-40 lbs lighter than I was at age 17, so I guess I'm comparatively trim, but it's nowhere near where I want to be. 

January 2nd I went strict paleo again. I didn't do it on the 1st because we spent the holiday with friends up in B-ham and we hit up a bomb Thai restaurant new years day and I wasn't going to skimp on the jasmine rice with panang curry. 

So 8 days later, I took another progress picture just because I happened to be looking at the first one on that day, and that's what spawned this 1 month progress picture program.

Here's a side by side comparison one month in. 

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Not great, but like I said, I'd only been back on a decent diet for about a week, so I wasn't expecting much. There's a little bit of stomach shrinkage (I think) and my man boobs are receding slightly. Strangely enough, on the day the second picture was taken I was learning about my new program and this picture is a marker for where I was before I started following a LeanGains approach. 

Now, LeanGains is awesome. I really dig it, but to be honest, I fucked it up quite a bit for the first 2 weeks, and even some in the 3rd week. It's somewhat complicated when you get down to the specifics of calorie cycling and macronutrient composition. Since the numbers will vary from person to person, there's no way for the owner of the site to give someone guided advice outside of consultations and coaching, which at this point is impossible because LeanGains is attracting a huge following. A book is in the works that details more specific information, but until then we are left to scan the archives looking for data relating to our questions, which I've found to be really fun. His site is packed with awesome information.

So my current photo is with one month on a trial and error version of the LeanGains program. I like to wonder how much better my physique would have looked if I had known all that I know now on January 11th... but that's pointless, haha. Here's a picture I took of myself today, February 10th 2011.

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Here's the wild thing about my progress so far: My weight has been really stable, fluctuating between 195 and 200... but that's usually dependent on whether or not I've eaten or drank. I seem to be attaining near perfect body recomposition. You can see some evident bulking in the shoulders and a little in the biceps. My chest is thinning out along with my ribs and stomach. The real great part is the increase in strength.

My bench weight has increased 30 lbs

Deadlifts have increased 60lbs

Squats increased 60 lbs

I've began adding weights to my chin ups and dips.  

Leg press has gone up 135lbs

Dumbell Press has gone up 30lbs

Granted, I'm sure part of this success has to do with the neuromuscular system getting back on track, but I've been steadily adding at least 2.5 to 5lbs to my lifts each week. 

What you can't see with these pictures is my leg and back definition which is coming in quite nicely. I guess a side view wouldn't hurt to show exactly how far my stomach has retracted inwards, but I don't really care to make this a "Look at every part of my body" progress post... so I wont. 

Another great thing is that since I've been following LeanGains, I've been able to go out for drinks on the weekend, Sara and I bought a tub of low fat ice cream that we chowed down on, and my meals are absolutely enormous. So it's great having a program that allows flexibility, like I mentioned in an earlier post. 

So go to www.LeanGains.com and learn what you can. If you have questions for me, I may or may be able to relate some of my ever expanding experience to help you out. Though a lot of it is trial and error in the beginning. To sum it up, it's an amazing system that combines the use of intermittent fasting, calorie cycling, macronutrient cycling, and strength training. It also has great guides for cheat days and alcohol consumption. So check it out. 

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