Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Warp Speed Fat Loss - Days 13 through 17 of 28!

"Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand." - Isaiah 41:10

It's been a while since I gave my last update on the Warp Speed Fat Loss program so I need to play catch up before I head out of town for the Perform Better seminar in Rhode Island this weekend.

Days 13 and 14 (Saturday and Sunday, May 24 and 25) went fairly well. As you know, we had to take the previous Wednesday (Day 10) as our off day due to a work-related event, so we adjusted the training schedule and meals accordingly.

We performed the weight workout on Saturday and the intervals on Sunday. Both workouts went well, although Stacey was dealing with a lot of knee and hamstring pain during Saturday's workouts. The circuits were just too much and she had to back off slightly. She also started feeling sick on Saturday and ended up not training Sunday as she was taking various cold medicines and didn't have the energy to train that day. I managed to continue progressing by completing more reps with the same weight, adding more weight or performing more circuits in the allotted time.

Despite it being Memorial Day weekend, we were able to stay on track almost 100%. We weren't absolutely perfect as we did attend a barbecue on Monday (Day 15) and ate a small amount of homemade ice cream with fresh blueberries. Other than a small serving of ice cream, we ate all scheduled meals and snacks and even performed our weight workout prior to the barbecue. This was very hard for me as I was extremely hungry and there was so much food that I wanted to eat including baked beans, a larger serving of meat and a few other goodies - but I resisted.

Since we were attending the barbecue in the afternoon, we performed our weight workout much earlier than usual. It was extremely tough for me to train earlier in the day as I always prefer to train in the evening after I've eaten at least three or four meals. I also did my best to increase the intensity in Monday's workout compared to previous workouts.

By the time Days 16 and 17 arrived (Tuesday and today - Wednesday), I was losing my motivation and struggling with everything! I had gone down to the next meal plan, and the small change in calories affected me immediately. I was having many of the same feelings that I had when I started the program including headaches and constantly feeling hungry and irritable. Tuesday's interval workout felt like one of the worst workouts of all while on the program. We are in the third week, and the intervals are up to five sets followed by the steady-state cardio.

My hamstrings, knees, shins and calves were still sore from previous workouts, so Tuesday's workout was extremely hard for me. But I managed to get it done and progressed yet again. Tonight's weight workout went okay. I managed to increase the weight on my incline dumbbell presses and dumbbell rows, but I wasn't able to increase weight or sets during the first circuit. However, even though I used the same weight as the last session, I could tell I improved because I took less rest and moved much quicker and more efficiently. I did increase the weight during the second 10-minute circuit.

Unfortunately, I have been exhausted for the past five days. Ever since my work-related event last Wednesday, I have not caught up on sleep or have felt rested or recovered. The increased intensity of the workouts and lower calories of the meal plan this week definitely didn't help things. But I continue to move forward.

I'm beginning to become frustrated as I lost three pounds and then gained back two. Stacey also gained back a few pounds. So now I'm actually only down one pound since the start of the program. My goal is to try to gain muscle while losing fat at the same time, and I feel that I may be doing that to some degree, but I am not seeing the fat loss as quickly as I thought considering the amount of training I'm performing at such a high intensity in addition to the low-calorie, low-carb meal plan. I figured that halfway through the third week, I would see more changes or be closer to single-digit bodyfat than I currently am.

At the moment, I'm just worn out. I can tell that the training and diet is catching up to me, and the lack of motivation will affect my training if I don't continue to push myself to finish strong. Also, I'm leaving tomorrow for the Perform Better seminar in Rhode Island. This is going to make it hard for me to follow my training and meals exactly as written, but I will be taking my meal plan with me and trying to follow it the best I can while being on the road.

I'm staying with my uncle, as I have family in Rhode Island. So at least I'll be able to cook some of my meals and make my snacks each day. I'll also get to spend some time with my family in the evenings and on Sunday afternoon after the seminar.

Although I won't be able to complete Friday and Saturday's workouts as scheduled since I'll be at the seminar from 8am until at least 6pm each day, I will be participating in approximately seven "hands-on" seminars throughout the weekend. This will give me a chance to train even though I won't be peforming the Warp Speed Fat Loss program as planned. But I may end up performing a lot more work during the seminar than I would even on the program.

I'll also meet up with Alwyn Cosgrove, as he is one of the presenters during the seminar, and ask him plenty of questions about the program and many other things related to training and the fitness business. I'll also get a chance to attend presentations by many other strength coaches, nutrition experts and fitness business professionals.

I plan on coming back with more knowledge and motivation to keep going! And maybe I'll even get a chance to relax at some point during my travels. I will most likely not be posting until I return on Monday, but I'll give an update on the seminar and the Warp Speed Fat Loss program, as I will be training when I return on Monday (even if I'm still sore from the hands-on seminars).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Keep it up!

Anonymous said...

What day are you on? What is current progress?