JNL Fusion and LeanGains Diet Log (male)

Leanalgreen
Leanalgreen Posts: 36 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
It's time that I really focus on my fitness and stick with it. I'm not in bad shape. I am 232 lbs at approximately 16% body fat. Several months ago I was much leaner and in better shape, but I suffered from depression for two months and gained a bit of weight back. I'm feeling better now and need to stay disciplined. It's my hope that by writing in this log every day I can help to motivate others while practicing self discipline. Forcing myself to post every day should be good practice.

I started JNL Fusion a week ago and really enjoy it so far. At first I wasn't sure it would be tough enough. I've been lifting and working out very hard for years and the idea that this was a workout based on women gave me doubts. MAN was I wrong! JNL Fusion is weight training mixed with Insanity. It doesn't require a set number of reptitions and is only based on times. You can make it fit any fitness level you are at. The thing I love (and hate) about it is it is HIIT training. You do 30 seconds of weight training followed by 30 seconds of high intensity cardio. It really works to boost your heart rate and give you the best workout possible.

I'm also starting the LeanGains diet plan starting today. I will go into further detail later, but basically this is an intermittent fasting diet. I will be eating only between the hours of 12pm-8pm and not eating anything in between. There is actually a ton of research behind this kind of diet that shows it not only to be ideal for losing fat, but also for overall health. It is based on insulin sensitivtiy and is very interesting. I'll let everyone know how it goes.

Starting Weight: 242 lb
Current Weight: 232 lb
Goal Weigh: 220 lb

Replies

  • Leanalgreen
    Leanalgreen Posts: 36 Member
    JNL Day 9 LeanGains Day 2
    I plan on being able to write my posts between lunch and early afternoon most days so that means each blog will start off with the end of the previous day and work its way to where I’m at currently. Yesterday was my first full day of the LeanGains diet and it went very well. It actually helped me to keep a significant deficit in my calories, which is perfect right now because my plan is to cut quite a bit of fat. Proponents of the LeanGains system say that you can eat slightly less strict than would be required on other diets, but my plan is to remain very strict with high protein and medium to low carbs. My macros will be approximately 50% protein, 30% carbs, and 20% fats in the beginning. Depending on how things go I will adjust accordingly.

    Last night was slotted to be a leg day for JNL Fusion. Since I did heavy squats and really killed my legs the day before I decided to turn it into a pure cardio session. I was fully fed at that point so there was no issue with lack of energy or anything else. I actually felt very good. I followed that up this morning with fasted cardio. The sessions itself was great, but I did myself in when it came to fasting for another seven hours. By the time 10:00 am came around I was ready to eat my own arm. I think that had a lot to do with the cardio in the morning and the deficit I had yesterday. Today I will eat a bit more and see if that helps. Another thing I learned today that I will have to adjust for tomorrow is to still spread my meals out like I normally would. I was so hungry at lunch time that I ate 1,000 calories in one sitting. I was stuffed for a few hours, but at 4pm I was hungry again. Tomorrow I will attempt to spread my meals out between four meals of roughly 500 calories each. With a high protein content I am hoping this is enough to keep me satisfied.

    Tonight I will be doing JNL Fusion’s speed and agility workout. My wife already did it today so she warned me it was short and sweet. I’m excited about it and hope that it will help me gain some quickness and agility. I’ve always been a big ol’ lineman and with the goal of looking like a lean running back I need start acting the part. Depending on how it goes I will add thirty minutes of cardio to it and call it a night. I want to take things a little easy while I determine how this diet treats me.

    Starting Weight: 242 lb
    Current Weight: 232 lb
    Goal Weigh: 220 lb
  • Leanalgreen
    Leanalgreen Posts: 36 Member
    JNL Fusion and Lean Gains Log
    Day 3

    There wasn’t too much new and exciting about yesterday as far as my fitness goes. I wasn’t nearly as hungry as the days before. I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I ate closer to 8pm on day 2 than I had previously. That little bit of extra food the night before went a long way in keeping me satiated until lunch yesterday. I also didn’t do the fasted cardio at 4am so I only had to be awake for 5 hours before eating instead of 8. I did spread my food out over longer period of time yesterday. The previous days I really only had two very large meals, which caused me to be very full for a short amount of time and then starving the rest. Yesterday I didn’t experience any of the extremes, but I was mildly hungry and mildly full at times.

    JNL Fusion was awesome. It was shoulder shredder, which has been my favorite workout so far. It is the closest to my normal weight training routine that any DVD workout has been. It included standing presses, side raises, front raises, and revers flys. Like the previous workouts I was able to make it as difficult as I wanted. I decided to stick with medium weights with high reps, but there would have been nothing wrong with increasing the weight and lowering the reps if I wanted a strength building workout. The cardio blasts in between sets was perfect for keeping my heart rate elevated. I really feel that this was a great workout both from a weight lifting perspective and cardio/weight loss. I’m usually not a fan of shoulder days, but this workout was fun.
    Day 4

    Today is the start of day 4. At the time of this writing it is 10am and though I’m a little hungry I shouldn’t have any problem making it to lunch time. I’m interested in seeing how today will workout because I’m about to go to the gym for fasted cardio and a chest workout. I’ve been keeping my protein very high so I should have no problem with muscle wasting, but my carbs have been low. I want to see how that affects my chest workout. I’m hoping my strength and endurance aren’t decreased by the lack of carbs. JNL Fusion is great for many things, but I’m a fan of heavy strength training for my chest and that’s something you just can’t accomplish without the gym. On the bright side, I will be able to eat almost immediately following my workout. I will definitely be incorporating more carbs into this meal than my previous ones in order to refill my glycogen levels.

    As you can probably tell this has been very experimental so far. I have set hours for when I can eat and I know what range I want my macros in, but other than that there isn’t much planning. It hasn’t helped that my workout times have been varying greatly. It’s been working well so far and by the time it’s done I should have a good idea of what works and what doesn’t. My weight has stayed the same the past few days, but I lost an inch and a half on my waist already. I couldn’t be happier about that.

    SW: 242
    CW:232 GW: 220
  • Leanalgreen
    Leanalgreen Posts: 36 Member
    Day 5 and 6
    This is going to be a short update because it’s getting late and I have to put my daughter to bed. I felt it was important to write it though because of how well things are going. After the first couple of days the hunger in the morning subsided. I haven’t been starving the way I was on days 1-3. I think that’s partly due to the fact that my body is getting used to fasting and I have been making sure to eat more later in the evening before my fast ends. In the beginning I stopped eating by about 6pm, which actually extended my fast from 16 to 18 hours. I was also eating about 1500 calories instead of the 2200 I should be eating. I’ve ironed those issues out now and things couldn’t be better.

    My strength and endurance in the gym have been unaffected whether I workout fasted or after I’ve eaten some food. I actually had my leg day yesterday and my squats were better than they have been in a while. Starting out I was going to go light and stay around 315, but I couldn’t help myself from adding an extra 100 and knocking out 415 a couple times. After 4 sets of squats I still had enough in me to do leg extensions, leg curls, leg press, and a full calf workout. I finished that up with cardio.

    My back workout today was just as good as leg day. I did weighted pullups for the first time and was able to add 45lbs on top of my 230 lb body weight. I was very happy with that. The rest of the workout was filled with pull downs, rows, and some dead lifts followed up by cardio again. Tomorrow I’ll be back to JNL Fusion working my biceps. It has been perfect for all body parts. Being a gym guy though I’ve been sneaking in the gym for chest and leg days to get my fix of heavy lifting.

    SW: 243

    CW:230

    GW: 220

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