Am I on the right track?

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kalagaraz
kalagaraz Posts: 11 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Age: 29 in one month
Sex: Male
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 169
BodyFat: I'd say around 30%, too much to get good measurements with calipers.

So I started this last week as I'm fixing to turn 29 next month and I've always said I wanted to have abs while still in my 20s which means I'm running out of time.

Here's what I've been doing and I'm just looking for some general advice if I'm doing too much or if I could possibly be doing more.

Calorie intake

1500 - 50% protein - 30% fat - 20% carbs

Workout: Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Phraks greyskull LP (https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/phraks-gslp)

It's a full body strength training routine. Squats, Bench, Overhead Press, Barbell Rows, Deadlifts, etc...

Workout: Tuesday, Thursday

21 Minutes HIIT treadmill (walk 3mph, run 8mph)

5:00 walk 5:00
0:30 run 5:30
1:30 walk 7:00
0:30 run 7:30
1:30 walk 9:00
0:30 run 9:30
1:30 walk 11:00
0:30 run 11:30
1:30 walk 13:00
0:30 run 13:30
1:30 walk 15:00
0:30 run 15:30
5:30 walk 21:00

During running, heart rate monitor watch puts my HR over 90% of maximum. Definitly feel like dieing after this.

Saturday, Sunday rest

I'm also looking for ideas on what the best way to measure progress would be. I'm hoping with the strength training I manage to gain some muscle if possible, so don't think scale weight will be a good indicator of progress. Hard to measure bodyfat right now as I'm too fat. Maybe waist measurements or something?

Thanks in advanced for any advice/support!

Replies

  • ottermotorcycle
    ottermotorcycle Posts: 654 Member
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    Your workout program is, I think, perfect as long as you find it sustainable. Upping your carbs on cardio days may help you feel less like dying without sacrificing your goals.

    Thing is - you might need to focus on just losing fat right now, which your plan will give you, as I imagine 1500 is a caloric deficit for you. You won't be able to build muscle eating at less than maintenance, but you can get stronger (progress measured in lifting progressively heavier weights) and as you lose body fat, you will be able to see your muscles more. For getting abs, losing body fat is more important.

    I'd stay on this plan for a while, consider carbs to fuel cardio, and re-evaluate in a couple of weeks?
  • shagerty777
    shagerty777 Posts: 185 Member
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    I'd drop protein down to about 150 grams and add those calories back to carbs. Carbs are fuel for the body and with that workout routine you'll need fuel. Adherence, time and a lot of patience will be your best friends on this journey. As for progress, take progress photos and measurements.
  • kalagaraz
    kalagaraz Posts: 11 Member
    edited September 2017
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    Yeah I'll reduce my protein and up my carbs a bit. My thought process there was that eating protein fills me up vs carbs and I'd honestly rather do 30-40 minutes exercise with low energy than feel hungry all day haha.

    Took some photos today, and my body measuring tape should be here tomorrow. Hopefully by next month will see some improvement!

    Thanks for the good advice.
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
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    i can't advise about programming or nutrition. but on mindset: just remember that life goes on when you turn 30, and don't make it so much about your birthday deadline that your subconscious mind wants to quit as soon as that day comes.

    remember to monitor non-tangible results too. such as how you feel and whether you're enjoying yourself, whether you're getting stronger regardless of how big or not-big your muscles are, and so forth.

    and about your plan, i guess the only thing that comes to my mind is hiit is pretty aggressive if your body hasn't been used to running. so remember to think about more than just your heart and lung while you do. keep an eye on how your muscles, bones, ligaments and so forth are feeling as well. dial the intensity down if it's what some part of you feels like it needs.

    gl with it. it seems like almost every guy i've known found 30 a difficult kind of 'what have you accomplished' type age, so again just remember that there's still tons of life that will go on once that day's in the past.

  • kalagaraz
    kalagaraz Posts: 11 Member
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    So I've been at this pretty consistently and haven't missed a workout yet and don't plan on it as I look forward to it every day. It's starting to feel like I should be doing more though, but I might just be getting impatient. Does anyone have any thoughts on maybe doing steady state cardio on Saturday and just resting on Sundays?

    The HIIT is still hitting me pretty hard, but I've managed to bump it up to a 1% incline and doing 8 cycles of 8mph 30 seconds, 3mph 90 seconds, and extending it out to 26 minutes.

    The strength training I'm seeing great results and increases in strength, but it's feeling too easy and like I should be doing more on those days. Maybe it will get harder as the weights get heavier, but so far it feels like my rest day between HIIT sessions lol. This makes me thing maybe I should do some cardio on strength days too, but I don't want to mess with the greyskull program too much. I'm not a fitness expert and assume the guys that made it know what they are doing.

    Scale weight looks to be progressing well, but don't really trust it too much as I started taking creatine after my original post so I assume I've gained water weight. I've took measurement every day after waking up in morning after using bathroom.

    9-24 (169.6) - first measurement
    9-29 (161.4) - lowest measurement
    10-3 (164) - last measurement

    I took baseline measurements, and before pictures, but I want to wait about 8 weeks before I compare any of those, using the scale weight as my tiny motivator, and hoping to use the waist, thigh, etc... measurements as a big surprise later on haha.

    Anyways, TLDR: Should I do more, or just be patient?
  • kalagaraz
    kalagaraz Posts: 11 Member
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    Things seem to be going good.

    Interesting data, weight loss is linear if your consistent and graph it correctly haha.

    KyKYDgn9R-qaKXuLH4yUwA.png

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