#ProjectSHRED - The whole story....
03/12/2014
With the end of #ProjectSHRED and my holidays complete, I wanted to kind of bring it to a conclusion. Often it’s good to reflect on things, see how you feel, what you did and how you did it.
Those who have been following intently will know that I dropped 14lb over the 12 weeks, most of it I would consider to be fat mass and I have kept maximum fat-free mass as possible. That was my goal, to get as lean as possible within that period but not losing muscle and trying to keep my performance in the gym as high as I can. I am happy to look back at my progress and genuinely believe that I smashed it, and the transformation was completely on point. I have proved that flexible dieting is a huge success if followed intelligently, and that you can reach your goals without sacrificing your entire life for it, as some fitness professionals would have you believe. It doesn’t have to be restrictive, doesn’t need to cause havoc with your social life, and doesn’t need to leave you feeling like a starving Monk.
While all this is great, my energy levels dropped more than I had anticipated, and my performance in the gym definitely dipped. It’s only when I started eating over maintenance levels where I really noticed how poor they had gotten and how much energy had come flooding back. With it, my love for lifting came flowing too.
What I also didn’t expect was the bottomless appetite it left me once I did start eating more food again. Dieting is hard at times, and certainly the flexible dieting approach makes it somewhat easier, but I cannot say that there won't be hard times. There are, there is no way to avoid it. But I didn’t expect there to be such a rebound in my appetite, it was almost as if my body was thinking food was going to run out anytime soon and my hormones were making me feel like I could eat and eat and eat.
Now, I enjoyed it I wont lie, and it was something I was prepared to do. But in hindsight it is also something that I would definitely change and have more discipline. The endless appetite and bottomless stomach was a survival function, or a side effect from dieting for a long period. It was something I had anticipated could happen as its common amongst long time dieters.
Competitors in bodybuilding, physique and bikini shows diet for months and months to get into “stage” shape, then usually follow with days, if not weeks, of binging where their appetite just can’t seem to be doused no matter how much food consumed. Massive weight gain often follows because the metabolism has been driven down during the dieting phase over time, and doesn’t have time to come up again once they start eating higher calories. That creates a huge calorie surplus where the metabolism is low and energy intake high, which is then stored as fat (I have attached a graphic by Layne Norton demonstrating this). The same can be said for people who follow long term plans like weight watchers, slimming world etc. This makes utter sense though right? I mean, how many of you, or how many people do you know are constantly yo-yoing on and off these diets, losing weight and then gaining all if not more before starting on another diet again? This is a dream for these companies, because it’s almost self-proficating… People will come back time and time again, blaming themselves for the “diet” not working and turning back to the method that worked in the first place for the answer, only to go and fail again. But they are just restarting the cycle and placing money in the pockets of these companies. The real answer should be in finding support that educates you for the long-term, being able to follow a plan that drives UP your metabolism over time and allows you to eat foods you enjoy in moderation. Something that is sustainable for life. Anyway I digress…
I have experienced that weight gain and metabolic disconnect in the last two weeks, I over ate and put on as much fat as I lost. I didn’t give my metabolism enough time to recover, and upped the calorie consumption way too soon. I did really enjoy the foods I was eating, but in hindsight, I didn’t enjoy them enough to make it worth losing my physique for.
But I will NOT feel guilt or disappointment. This was a massive learning curve for me and something that will allow me to continue to improve in the future. Guilt is a wasted emotion and breeds no positives. I have accepted it has happened and will move on. I have proved to myself I can get into the shape I wanted, and I will do it again with the knowledge next time on how to deal.
So what’s next for this half of Evolve Fitness and Nutrition?
I want to spend some time focusing on my performance in the gym, trying to hit some big numbers on my lifts. I am not happy with my current condition, but I am happy to accept it is where it is, knowing that I can improve my weights and try to build more muscle mass ready for my next cut in 2015, where I’ll be bigger and better! Improving your physique takes years and years, and you need to go through cycles to make little improvements over time. This is often why you see fitness professionals having “off seasons” where they focus on improvement, accepting that their physique will slip a bit due to the amount of calories they need to eat to fuel performance and build muscle.
You could say it’s kind of an evolution…
I’ll leave you with a little montage of the foods I was eating on holiday, it’s the stuff dreams are made of (although in dreams you don’t necessarily put on fat).
Thanks
Brett
Adapt. Evolve. Become.
P.S. If you want to know how YOU can get into the shape of your life contact us to see what services and support we can offer. There is no magic formula or secret, just good planning and coaching. What have you got to lose?
14/11/2014
#Projectshred UPDATE So for those of you who have been following my progress, you'll know 12 weeks ago I decided to go on what is, in the fitness industry, called a "cut". A cut is where you place your energy balance (calories in vs calories out) in a deficit with the goal of dropping fat but retaining as much muscle as possible. My motivation here was to drop fat before I get away to Las Vegas and Mexico, which is happening today! Yay for me! A relaxed diet and a fair amount of indulgences over the summer left me in a condition I could only describe as fluffy. You could still see my upper abs slightly, but there was plenty of fat around my belly and midriff. Over the last 12 weeks since the end of August I have tracked all of my food intake to ensure I was consistent with my energy intake. I haven't missed a single workout from my plan, and hopefully the results show. Sure, I could've progressed quicker, I only used a modest deficit of about 250kcals as I wanted to ensure as little muscle lost as possible. I also did less than 30mins cardio a week with a strict diet, but no foods were restricted. I ate out at least once a week on average, had chocolate pretty much every day, and only really towards the last two weeks could I say I was every hungry at points. My gym performance did suffer towards the end, but this is something you have to accept is inevitable when you're in an energy deficit for a sustained period of time. I have dropped a total of 14lb over the twelve weeks which I am very happy with. It's only a small cut and I haven't got freakily lean (that goal's for another time ) but I am chuffed with the progress made. I know the lighting is a bit different before everyone comments but I think you can still see the progress. Now it's time for me to relax and enjoy myself for the next couple weeks. I am not planning on restricting food at all, but I will still be training while on holiday. I will still make nutritious food choices, but I will certainly be indulging in the foods! Look out for the next goal when I am back! 💥
12/11/2014
#Projectshred UPDATE Only 3 days to go until I hit the bright lights of Las Vegas and then the soft shores of Cancun! To say I am excited is a bit of an understatement… I am also excited to show off what I have been working hard at over the last 11 and a bit weeks. That may sound vain, but for a lot of people THAT is their motivation for dieting and training, purely body composition. And that is most certainly how my fitness journey started… I was fed up of feeling over weight and wanted to feel comfortable in my own skin. So I joined the gym and started hitting the treadmill. This was 10 years ago and it has taken me that long to really start to gather some knowledge about training and nutrition. I used the word journey, because that is exactly what it is, a journey. As cliché as it sounds, it is a voyage of discovery where you learn as much through experience and action as you do from trainers, books, magazines, social media and friends. My motivation started out purely for aesthetics, but it has grown into much more than that. It has grown into making sure I feel awesome, that I feel healthy and the aesthetics just seem to follow for the ride. It’s also about self-worth and self-motivation. About “dem feels” you get when you see progression. That your hard work means something and has equated to something totally awesome. I do it because I look at life and I really see that I don’t want to be one of those people who eats only junk food, sits around watching too much TV and doesn’t ever get out and get active. One of those people who thinks they feel OK but in reality they feel like crap and have no idea how cool feeling awesome really is! Because they’ve never experienced it, they have conditioned themselves into only knowing how crap feels. It actually saddens me that people are like this, and that is also my motivation for writing these blogs and trying to help people with their health. Basically it comes down to health. Why would you want to live a life where feeling substandard is normal? That’s not for me at all. Today I weighed in at my lowest weight since “dieting”. I am 164lb on the button, which means a full 14lbs lost. A number doesn’t really mean anything, but is just a small indication of some change. What’s more progress to me is that my lower abs have returned and my mirror image is there. So, only two more days and I will be off… Been a long time coming.
01/11/2014
#projectshred UPDATE This morning was an early total arm session. Was banging the gym doors down to get in... 💥 Being totally transparent here, the last couple weeks or so of training has been really hard. My energy levels in training have been non-existent, and my strength levels have suffered as a result. I have been really struggling to push or pull my usual weights, and any chance of progression is firmly out of the window for now. But I have to accept that it is expected, eating for substantial periods of time in a calorie deficit will catch up to you, and it's inevitable performance is going to suffer. This is where I would usually advise someone to throw in a "refeed" to try and boost their glycogen stores, energy levels and just get their motivation up a bit! BUT there are less that 2 weeks to the end of project vegas so I am going to tough it out for now! A "refeed" is an intended and accountable meal or day of food where you would usually put your calories back up to maintenance, or just above, in the form of additional carbohydrates. This is in order to replenish the glycogen (carbs stored as energy in the muscle) levels and also regulate your leptin hormone (hormone made by fat cells which regulates the amount of fat stored in the body. It does this by adjusting both the sensation of hunger, and adjusting energy expenditures) levels. What a "refeed" isn't is a CHEAT meal/day. An excuse to eat whatever crap you want without being accountable. That is a sure fire way to ruin a lot of your progress when you binge and lose control! Have a happy and healthy weekend guys! Only 2 more weeks and the next project begins... #projectsaywhat? Also, here's a picture of my breakfast I am about to smash... Flexible dieting is the key to consistency and progression
27/10/2014
#projectshred UPDATE Weighed in at 167.2lb today. So basically no loss this week after minimal loss the week before. My fat loss has certainly slowed down the last few weeks, as expected at some point, and I feel that I need to make some further changes to continue progression. With only just under three weeks to go it's time to be a little more restrictive and hit the dieting harder than I have. Yesterday I hit my protein and fibre targets with a good 700 out of my 2,300 calories to spare, so I decided to use the calories I had left over for a little treat! A peanut butter crunch Krispy Kreme, crunchie rocks and a medley bar. My weight is still constant, I don't feel "fatter" and I haven't gained any weight. Eating those foods have not blown my progress out of the water! Dieting and fat loss is as much psychological as it is physiological, and it's important for people to be able to understand that essentially a calorie is a calorie, and eating so called "unclean" foods will not hamper progress. In fact, a non-restrictive but moderated diet has been shown to increase compliance and adherence, and therefore will more than likely improve people's chances of hitting their goals by helping avoid binging. We all know that you will always crave the things that you tell yourself you can't have. That being said, I have a goal to get down to a certain weight and in a certain condition before I go to Vegas, so this will obviously need to effect my nutrition choices. Often you have to trade something off to gain something else, so I will be a little more restrictive in my diet this week. Usually I am fairly relaxed in terms of the level of accuracy in counting macros, giving myself a small leeway for error/convenience. For the next three weeks I will try to stick to 95% of unprocessed foods rather than 80-90% where I usually would, in an attempt to progress, as well as being as accurate as I can with tracking energy intake. Only 18 days to go until Vegas...
04/10/2014
#projectshred UPDATE Lowest weight so far this morning. A steady couple pound down since last weekend, so how to celebrate?! An awesome brunch with the wife and family
19/09/2014
#Projectshred UPDATE I Started this week at 173.4lbs, was a bit up from Saturday morning due to some high carbs meals I had Friday and Saturday, but still felt and looked alright in the mirror. Following my post last week, it’s important to know that fat loss isn’t linear and the number on the scales doesn’t mean a great deal in isolation. But I am back down to 171lbs now, and I even managed a three course lunch with my work colleagues yesterday… I bet you are all dying to know what I had? Also, I bet you all are dying to know whether I managed to stick to my diet? :-0 I went for… • Smoked Salmon with soda bread and horseradish sauce • Burger and fries • Chocolate brownie with ice cream I even managed to fit in my usual tradition of #starbucksthursdays (A large Caramel Macchiato!) and stayed within my calorie allowance, hit my macro and fibre targets within an acceptable range, as well as eating enough nutrient dense foods to make sure I got a load of micronutrients into my system. Dieting doesn’t have to be restricted, but it does take planning and some trading. If you’re eating calorie dense foods, then there will always be a trade off somewhere, it’s inevitable. You may have to eat less volume over the day so you stay within your caloric target, or you have to eat lighter calorie, more nutrient dense foods for the rest of your meals. There are times when you will go hungry when dieting, it is impossible to avoid that, but there is no need to become the social outcast and deny yourself of certain foods, not attending social gatherings because there isn’t anything “clean” enough on the menu! If you make good food choices most of the time, you will avoid the feeling of any “diet” and minimise any feelings of hunger… I trained with my boy Benny C today, a strength session on chest and back, threw in a couple of shameless gym pics for fun, thought I’d share them with you all because I like to add pictures to make my posts more interesting! Because I was training in the morning, no time for breakfast so I went fasted. Now, I could’ve grabbed some takeaway breakfast from somewhere kike a bacon roll and a coffee, but instead I made these little beauties… Protein Pancakes. I made them last night, put them in a tuppware box and brought them to work this morning to reheat. No excuses for not having a good breakfast! Smothered in full fat Total Greek yoghurt, berries and @Theproteinworks zero syrup. If I get enough likes for this post I’ll share the recipe with you all… They’re quick and easy, 41g of protein per serving, and taste awesome! Thanks Brett Adapt. Evolve. Become.
— with Ben Carver and Brett Hadley.
18/09/2014
#Projectshred UPDATE 6am HIIT session! #sprints #hiit #cardio #skipping #burpees #barstards#noonearound #grindinwhileyousleepin #instagramin
15/09/2014
#Projectshred UPDATE Under 9 weeks til #Projectvegas After getting back on the carbs and getting my water/sodium intake to something a bit more usual, and having a sneaky fish and chip takeaway Saturday night with the family, I woke up at 173.4lbs. Significantly more than on Saturday morning before #Projectshoot I am not going to worry about it, it's something I expected as I knew a lot of the weight that was dropping last week was because I had removed carbohydrates for the whole week and then tapered off my water/sodium intake, which meant my body would almost "dry out" a little. So adding carbs and sodium/water again I knew my weight would increase. But I am now over 3 weeks into my diet and I need to get things going properly, but steadily and consistently. On another note, yesterday I made a little batch of Protein Banana Bread as I had some bananas and egg whites that needed eating up... For those dieting and want a reasonably low carb, high protein snack but still like something sweet, like cake to go with coffee, this is an awesome thing to whip up! OK, it's not going to taste the same as a slice of carrot cake, but it's pretty good and you can rest assured it will easily fit in your macros! If I get enough "likes" I will put the recipe up so you can all enjoy Remember, please help us grow our page by sharing the content with your network. Aside from updates, we put out some awesome free advice, and we encourage people to ask us any questions they have so we can help support their health, goals and physiques! We need your help to get this to a wider audience, so please share. #legday #lovesahashtag #projecthashtag
03/09/2014
#Projectshred UPDATE I am now 10 days into project shred and so far so good! Down to 172.8lb this morning, from starting at 178lb. I fully expect that, when I get down to 170lb over the next couple of weeks, I may have to make some tweaks to my Macros as the weight loss will start to slow down. Chatting to a pal of mine yesterday about dieting, muscle building and weight loss etc, got us debating about how do you know if it is actually fat you are losing. How do you know it is not muscle, or anything else? The short answer is that it is nigh on impossible for the average Joe to know definitively, if you don;t have access to expensive equipment or bottomless pits of cash. You can use biometric impedance analysis (BIA) (which are basically the machines in Boots or other pharmacies etc that tell you your height/weight and body fat %) but these are ridiculously inaccurate due to being effected by so many variables such as water levels in your body, temperature, when you last ate a meal, amongst others. Skin calipers are another option to measure body fat, but again these only measure small parts of your body and are only as accurate as the person using them to measure your skin. If they deviate even slightly from one days measurement to the next in terms of where they take it, results can be significantly skewed. They are cheap however and could be a reasonable guide if taken in context. Then there’s DXA scan (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry) which is considered the gold standard, but will cost you about £100 and it isn’t available everywhere in the country, so is not a viable option for most people. So how will I know if am losing water, muscle, lean tissue or whether it really is fat? I won’t, but I fully expect to lose a little muscle while dieting. That’s basic biochemistry, but I will do everything I can to maintain muscle while losing fat. If my strength and performance in the gym is still on point, then this is a very good indicator for me that muscle isn't getting stripped away. Also the calorie deficit I set to start cutting fat is very small, only 5%, so I know this will also help minimise any muscle wastage rather than dropping 500-1,000 calories of my maintenance in a drastic attempt to lose weight. I also really wanted to share with you all this awesome breakfast recipe I have been having… I have shared a variant of this before but this one is even more awesome, and full of protein, good fats, and fibre! Eggs and Beans in Spicy Purgatory NUTRITION (without bacon) 322cals P: 25g C: 21g (11g fibre) F: 11g INGREDIENTS ½ tin chopped tomatoes ¼ yellow pepper ¼ red onion 2 mushrooms 50g spinach 100g (canned, drained) borlotti beans 2 eggs Splash cider or white wine vinegar (normal will do if you don’t have anything else) Sprinkling mixed herbs Dash cayenne or paprika Bacon (optional, but oh so awesome!) INSTRUCTIONS Fry the pepper, spinach, onion, mushrooms and borlotti beans until softened. Add chopped tomatoes, vinegar and cook for a couple of minutes. Add a dash of cayenne, paprika, mixed herbs and seasoning. If you struggle for time in the mornings, you can do this stage the night before and leave in the fridge overnight, to reheat in the morning. Cook until a sauce begins to thicken. Make some small holes in the mixture and gently crack the eggs into the sauce. Lower heat to a simmer and cover pan. Cook for approx 5 minutes covered, or until eggs are done to your liking, but recommend keeping the yolk runny! Add a couple bacon medallions for some extra awesomeness. REMEMBER please keep interacting with us and help us spread the awesome FREE knowledge we give out. We do this to help people and to try and make everyone healthy and more awesome, so if people don’t share and interact then so many people will miss out.
30/08/2014
#Projectshred UPDATE This morning I weighed in at 174.4lb, same as yesterday. I would guess that's most of the water weight gone now and I will allow my diet to start shedding some of the fat. I love Saturdays because I normally train arms, which is always fun, and I also try to fit in some cardio. After the arm sesh with my training partner Ben, today was some HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) with a couple of my boys. Sprints, burpees, barstards, push ups, pull ups, plyo-squats and some jogging. Then home for a good breakfast, as I tend to train fasted on a Saturday to use more of my glycogen stores and to also get my body primed for burning fat for the day instead of carbs. I like to back load my carbs after training as my muscles are like sponges absorbing the carbs and protein into the muscles, rather than it being easily stored as fat, to replenish glycogen stores and start the repair process. So I happily eat pancakes post workout knowing it's helping my muscles grow I've also attached a copy of my brutal arm workout but WARNING it's not for the faint hearted!
26/08/2014
So.... I got 20 likes for my post so I guess that means enough people want to see what I am doing to structure my cut over the next 12 weeks before I hit Vegas and Mexico! I've decided to nickname this #projectshred because you have to give these things a nickname or they don't really work... This morning I weighed myself and I am 178lbs, this is 8lbs heavier than I was just over a week ago. The human body stores water with carbohydrates, and I have eaten a LOT of those over the past week, so I know that some of this weight will be water weight rather than fat mass. It's a case now of settling back into my usual eating habits and letting the water weight drop off over the next day or so, then I will be able to see where I am. The water weight will also explain the "fluffy" look I have developed, rather than looking a bit "tighter". This is normal and I expect that to change over the next week or so. I have no exact targets for now, but I will probably try to get to around 165-160lbs, which will be relatively easy if I stay consistent with training and diet. I won't be excluding any foods here either, as those that follow this group will know that I follow a flexible approach to my diet and don’t believe any foods need to be avoided. I want to avoid losing as much muscle mass as possible and I will measure this through my performance in the gym, trying to maintain my strength levels while in a calorie deficit. Last night I took measurements as follows; Height – 6ft Waist – 34.4in (through the belly button, not trouser waist) Chest – 40.9in Thigh – 22.5in Bicep – 14.6in I have also taken pictures, as you need as many variables to check progress. One method will not paint a true picture of progress (especially the scales, I would normally recommend most people avoid using scales). I have also calculated new macros based on my current weight, these are individual to me, and allows me to plan my diet over the day. Today I started with a high fat/high protein breakfast in the form of an omelette with loads of veggies! Because I’ve been used to eating high carbs over the last week my body will be craving them, so I want to blunt this by leaving them out until post workout, where they will be used to restore muscle and recover. The high fat/protein will also keep me feeling full and satisfied which is so important when you’re in a calorie deficit and inevitably will get hungry at some point. Later I’ll be planning my training days, so watch this space. If anyone has any questions, or wants me to update on specific areas then please do let me know.
