Lipo drex

Today I started taking a supplement called Lipo Drex. It's a thermogenic fat burner. I'm just under 189 lbs.

My weight has been slowly going down for the last month, but I'd like to see it go down a little faster. Superman and one of my female gym friends are both taking lipo drex. I'm intrigued by the fact that it is supposed to keep carbs from being stored as fat. It's supposed to shuttle them straight to the muscles to be used.

Superman is a campus protein rep (beastmastercp.com ), so I like trying all kinds of different supplements so I can give him my opinion. He has 2 other girls who try stuff too, but they are competitors, and fairly lean...I am not. As a matter of fact, I am only about 30 lbs lighter than he is. The way it is dosed, under 150lbs you take 1 pill, over 150 you take 2. I may be taking more than Superman because he is stim-sensitive.

Keeping it real

Despite a rough start, I'm trying really hard to stick to the calories and macros that Superman suggested. I've fallen into a routine, and found meals and snacks that I can almost enjoy. There are still a few days a week where I struggle to get my mid afternoon snack in, but I do try.

I'm still doing my upper body workouts 2x a week. I don't have time to hit all the muscles every week, so I picked two workouts that I alternate.  One is back and biceps, the other is chest, shoulders and triceps. All my Monday workouts start with a 'dead hang' to help with my grip strength. Yesterday,  just for grins, I took this picture between sets. 

Tough love

Superman did my bodyfat with calipers. Since I'm a normal person (not a competitor ) he only used 3 points instead of 7. He used the calipers to pinch a skin fold on my triceps, my thigh, and my belly. According to his measurements,  my body fat is between 37 and 38 percent.  Earlier in the day I used my bathroom scale and a handheld device to do it on my own. The handheld and the calipers were within a few points of each other, and the scale was about 10 points higher.

So, at 37% body fat, at minimum I need to lose 7 percentage points off my body fat. 10 points would be ideal.

I started my diet this week, but there have been tons of issues. Birthday cake, birthday dinner....working a double the ONE day I neglect to bring a real meal. I'm trying though. I'm doing my best to eat my protein, and the right amount of carbs. To spread everything out over the day. To find recipes for real food that I enjoy eating.

When I look in the mirror,  I'm happy with my lower half, and I'm ok with my top half...except about a 6 inch band around my belly button.  That's where I hold all my fat. My goal is to lose the fluff there so my clothes fit correctly. So my pants don't roll down.

The strong and athletic look is something I like. But I want enough body fat that I don't lose my curves ( low body fat generally means a small chest. I like my DD chest).

Epic FAIL

Yep, that's right. My pull up attempt was an epic fail. I tried twice, and pulled up a tiny bit...so little that you cannot even tell on the video that I have started my attempt.

It's OK though. I've known for a while that I was not going to be able to do it. But I had to attempt it. There have been so many times that Superman asked me to do something that I thought was impossible...and I did it. Even though I failed at my goal, progress was made. When I started on this journey a few months ago, I struggled to bench 95 lbs for 8 reps. Now I struggle to bench 105 lbs 8 times. I started doing my shoulder presses with 20lbs dumbbells, and now I can do a set with 30 lbs dumbbells. Superman noticed that the increased shoulder strength made holding the bar for front squats easier.

I'm not quitting til I can do that pull up. The last week or so I have been researching and planning. I'm continuing to work upper body on Mondays and Thursdays. Exercises specific to pull up strength (such as dead hangs, and negative pull ups) are being incorporated. My next attempt will be the last week in March.

Showing myself some tough love....

In 2016, I'm going to show myself some tough love. This year, Superman has helped me with nutrition several times, yet none of my weight loss has stuck. Superman gave me calorie levels, and told me when to eat carbs...but I need more to work with. I need help with the numbers. "Mamacita" is a figure competitor, and one of my gym friends. She's going to help me figure out macros for burning fat, and teach me how to spread everything out over my day.

The first week of the year, Superman is going to measure my body fat with calipers. My scale shows about 48%, and my handheld device shows about 40%. I'm prepared for calipers to show similar levels. If they do, I will need to lose about 10-15 percentage points off my body fat to be in the normal range. I believe if I hit 25-30% body fat, my muscle definition will be visable. That has been my goal for years.

I'm not 100% sure that I am going to be able to successfully do a pull up in a few weeks. No matter what, an attempt will be made before the end of the year. And I plan to continue doing my 2x weekly upper body workouts.  I like how it feels, and I've been slowly making gains in several lifts.

Too big of a goal?

I'm hoping that "operation pull up" does not end up being a failure. I'm worried it will be. I'm 6 weeks in to my 12 week plan, and don't feel near strong enough.

I'm working back and shoulders 2x a week, once on my own, and once with Superman. I'm concentrating on lats, delts and mid back. Yesterday I tried to see how far I could pull myself up, and it didnt feel like I got up more than a few inches :(

Operation pull up

I can't do an unassisted pull up 😭 I've been trying for over 2 years now. But one of my very few goals for this year is to do one.

Back my first year at the gym, the year  I met JC, I tried to do a pull up on the monkey bars at the local park. I got myself up about half an inch. That's when I started doing assisted pull ups. I've made progress on them--from needing 120lbs or more of assist, down to 95 lbs of assist.

I read a lot of fitness articles, and have my Personal Trainer textbook too. Pretty much everything I've read says it's a good idea to work your weaker areas 2x a week. Superman and I pretty much always do legs on Tuesday and upper body on Thursday. So this week I started doing shoulders, delts, and lats on my own on Monday. Today (Thursday ) Superman will do more upper body and back stuff with me. I've got basically until Christmas to get strong enough to do this. I'll be happy with one pull up, but I would love to be able to do several more.