OLB II, 2007: Introduction
Seeing that my Operation Lean Bastard (OLB) back in 2006 inspired a lot of people to achieve their own fat loss goals, I’ve decided, after a lot of requests, to share yet another journey with you. If you read my first OLB, or if you used to read my online magazine Ironmag, you know that I’ve been struggling with health issues my entire life. To make a long story short; I’ve had asthma, allergies and immune system deficiencies since I was five years old. When I was a kid my lungs were partially damaged from withstanding 13 pneumonias in one year. I actually went in and out of the hospital during three years, never spending more than one or two weeks at home at most.
In 2004 I suffered from a double sided pneumonia that was misdiagnosed and mistreated, at which it lasted for six weeks (it took two courses of antibiotics to fight it off). This damaged my lungs even more.
In early 2006 I got a viral infection that threw me off for three months, which was the reason for the first Operation Lean Bastard. However, the virus was only dormant and re-surfaced at the beginning of January 2007 when I caught a cold during the holidays. This time around it caused several infections and triggered my asthma. I couldn’t go outside if the temperature was below zero, because my lungs would cramp within minutes. And when I could go outside, I didn’t get any further that a few hundred yards before my asthma kicked in and my leg muscles started to cramp from lack of oxygen. It wasn’t until late May that I could causally start to exercise again – after spending close to six months mostly in bed and on my ass in front of the computer. With close to six months of inactivity my body fell apart quite a bit, which leads us to OLB II.

The journey starts
As of early June I received a clean bill of health from my doctor. No symptoms of any Virus and no traces of bacterial infections. That sounded pretty good, eh? Well, that was the good part. The not-so-good part was that my lungs ability to oxygenate the blood was close to zero.
With these facts I had no other options than to prioritize fat loss and physical conditioning while actually trying to avoid re-gaining muscle mass – at least initially. Re-gaining muscle mass and increasing your body weight when you can’t even oxygenate what little muscle mass you have left isn’t such a good idea, so fat loss and conditioning it was!
Since my immune system had recovered well (pretty good white blood count) I decided to pretty much follow the same ketogenic “low calorie” diet I used in 2006 and back in 2004. It’s high in fat, high in protein and with carbohydrates solely from vegetables (mostly green.) I’ve used this approach successfully for years on clients that want really fast results. It’s extremely effective, yet simple and rather basic in its layout. However, there are always individual adjustments, especially as you progress along the diet (as for example, slowly adding in carbohydrates as your carbohydrate tolerance improves). I’ll share these strategies with you as we go.

Training wise I started out with three to four weight training sessions a week. At the beginning of my comeback I followed a simple Push and Pull program. Since my lungs only could provide small amounts of oxygen, I had some problem training larger muscle groups such as the legs and back. During the first three weeks I alternated between a training day consisting of presses and one of rows and pull-downs. As my health improved and I could start training legs, I switched to a regular upper- and lower body split. More on that later…

Let’s continue with my body composition as of June 9, 2007.

June 9 – start of the journey
Morning weight: 167.64 lbs (76.2 kg)
Waist measurement: 35.12” (89.2 cm)
Body fat percentage by Parrillo 9-sites: 16.15%
Body fat percentage by Jackson/Pollock 7 sites: 13.1%
Weight of body fat by Parrillo: 27.07 lbs (12.3 kg)
Weight of body fat by Jackson/Pollock: 21.96 lbs (9.98 kg)
Weight of lean body mass by Parrillo: 140.58 lbs (63.9 kg)
Weight of lean body mass by Jackson/Pollock: 145.68 kg (66.22 kg)

Well, these numbers are not exactly flattering. And to tell you the truth, the Parrillo 9-sites equation, which yielded the highest body fat numbers, is probably a bit optimistic. Although I got pretty lean last year, I was far from ripped. Actually, I haven’t been fairly ripped since 1999. That means that I have quite a lot of hardened fat interspersed between muscle insertions. That fat is quite stubborn and also the last to go. I do however have a few tricks up my sleeve.

I should also point out that the readings above were taken after four days of pre-dieting on zero carbs and just below maintenance calories. I did that to get rid of some glycogen and water weight. This will also make the readings more accurate when you compare them to the new readings after one week of dieting.

Here’s the dreaded “before” picture:

Notice my pore posture. Sitting on your ass for six months tends to bring back old back and hip injuries since you get stiff as a board. I’m working on correcting that through stretching and naprapathy.

June 16:
The first week was pretty tough. I trained four times this week and each session took about 45 to 50 minutes. No leg training at all since I still get winded from walking for five minutes. Diet-wise I consumed an average of 1398 kcal a day this week, with slightly more calories on training days (about 1500kcal) than on rest days (about 1300kcal).

Body composition readings, June 16 – after one week:
Morning weight: 164.56 lbs (74.8 kg)
Morning weight difference: -3.08 lbs (-1.4 kg)
Waist measurement: 34.05” (86.5 cm)
Waist measurement difference: -1.07” (-2.7 cm)
Body fat percentage by Parrillo 9-sites: 14.35% (-1.5%)
Body fat percentage by Jackson/Pollock 7 sites: 11.57% (-1.27%)
Weight of body fat by Parrillo 23.61 lbs (10.73kg)
Weight of body fat by Jackson/Pollock: 19.04 lbs (8.65 kg)
Body fat difference by Parrillo -2.96 lbs (1.34kg)
Body fat difference by J/P: -2.48 lbs (1.13 kg)
Weight of lean body mass by Parrillo: 140.95 lbs (64.07kg)
Weight of lean body mass by J/P: 145.52 kg (66.15 kg)
Lean body mass difference by Parillo: -0.12 lbs (-0.05kg)
Lean body mass difference by J/P: -0.6 kg (-0.27 kg)

As usual, the results during the first weeks are pretty mind blowing. And keep in mind that the first readings were taken after four days of zero carbs to even out the glycogen and water issue. Burning close to 3 lbs of body fat in the first week with only four sad excuses of weight training sessions is pretty darn good.

June 23:
Yesterday, we celebrated Midsummer Eve in Sweden. Luckily I was able to stay on track with my diet and actually avoided any kind of alcohol. I could therefore have my measurements taken today without any nutritional or hormonal interference.

When you’re on the “tubby side” of the scale with a body fat percentage above 15 to 20 percent (or 20% to 25% for women) it’s almost impossible to lose muscle mass if you weight train during a diet – even if you cut your calories drastically. But when you go below 10 percent body fat (or about 14% for women) your body will become more and more susceptible to any kind of stress and there’s a growing risk of losing muscle mass as you struggle to get to a truly ripped condition (i.e. ready for a bodybuilding competition.) On a positive note, as you get leaner, your glucose tolerance will improve and your body will handle insulin better. This means that you can add small amounts of carbs to your diet as you progress and become leaner – preferable around your training sessions where they will be most effective. The best way to do this, and to combat muscle loss, is with single carb-up meals or even whole days. The leaner you are, and the more muscle mass you have, the more frequent the carb-up days should be.

Anyway… This week I had five weight training sessions. Still no leg training except for some easy calf work. The training is pretty low volume and I alternate between heavy/low rep days and moderate/high rep days.
As for the diet, I consumed on average 1500 kcal a day, which was a bit more than during the first week. I’ll lay out the diet in detail later on. Now, let’s take a look at today’s body composition readings.

June 23 – after two weeks
Morning weight: 162 lbs (73.6 kg)
Morning weight difference: -2.56 lbs (-1.2 kg)
Waist measurement: 33.66” (85.5 cm)
Waist measurement difference: -0.39” (-1.0 cm)
Body fat percentage by Parrillo 9-sites: 12.83% (-1.52%)
Body fat percentage by Jackson/Pollock 7 sites: 10.27% (-1.30%)
Weight of body fat by Parrillo: 20.78 lbs (9.45 kg)
Weight of body fat by J/P: 16.64 lbs (7.56 kg)
Body fat difference by Parrillo: -2.83 lbs (-1.28 kg)
Body fat difference by J/P: -1.40 lbs (-1.09 kg)
Weight of lean body mass by Parrillo: 141.22 lbs (64.19 kg)
Weight of lean body mass by J/P: 145.36 lbs (66.07 kg)
Lean body mass difference by Parrillo: +0.27 lbs (+0.16 kg)
Lean body mass difference by J/P: -0.15 kg (-0.08 kg)
(changes are since last week)

Well, almost another 3 lbs gone and close to 0.4” off the waist. Considering five brief training sessions (a total of 3.5 hours of training) these results are really good. And I feel a lot better as I’ve shed about 6.29 lbs of dead weight in two weeks. My fitness have improved somewhat and I can now walk short distances without getting winded (or experiencing muscle cramps). It’s still too early to do any kind of cardiovascular work though. My health needs to improve a lot more before I’ll feel safe to add the extra stress from easy jogging and intervals.

Here’s a new picture after two weeks of OLB II:

The largest improvements are noticeable in the shoulders and the face, ha ha. I also believe that the stretching and training has helped my back and hips a bit, as my posture is somewhat better.

And yeah, I’m sorry for the poor quality of the pictures. They’re taken with a poor compact camera and only with some daylight as the light source. I’m however planning to build my own photo studio in August, but until then these pictures will have to do.

June 30:
At the beginning of this week I trained my legs for the first time since I got sick in early January. I had trouble breathing at the end of the workout and I felt a bit nauseated, but I managed it. And as you can imagine I was so sore I could hardly walk the day after, but it was a welcomed soreness.
As it comes to workouts I only trained three times this week before measuring my progress (actually I had my fourth workout of this week today – training my lower body again). Nutritionally, the only change this week was the addition of 5g glutamine before workouts, 10g during and 15g after workouts (combined with my previous BCAA and Creatine stack).

So, how did this week pan out in terms of progress? Well, I lost about a pound of fat and actually gained about a pound and a half of muscle. This is probably a combined effect from being able to train legs again and adding glutamine as a glucose mimicker to my workouts. You could speculate that some of the gain in lean body mass is because of fuller glycogen stores due to less training this week. But since I actually only reached about 1400 kcal on my off days this week, I doubt it. As I added the glutamine, I adjusted the calories accordingly and when you add up the week I got just above 1500 kcal a day on average – just as the previous week.
As it is now, I’ve lost most of the fat I gained since last summer (about a pound or two short). And that means that most of the fat that is left is old hardened body fat that I’ve carried around since about 1999 (when I previously was the leanest I’ve been at about 6 percent body fat). This fat can be a bit harder to burn off, which probably is the reason why the fat loss slowed down a little bit during this week.

June 30 – after three weeks
Morning weight: 162.4 lbs (73.8 kg)
Morning weight difference: +0.4 lbs (+0.2 kg)
Waist measurement: 33.38” (84.8 cm)
Waist measurement difference: -0.28” (-0.7 cm)
Body fat percentage by Parrillo 9-sites: 12.05% (-0.78%)
Body fat percentage by Jackson/Pollock 7 sites: 9.65% (-0.62%)
Weight of body fat by Parillo: 19.57 lbs (8.89 kg)
Weight of body fat by J/P: 15.67 lbs (7.12 kg)
Body fat difference by Parillo: -1.21 lbs (0.55 kg)
Body fat difference by J/P: -0.97 lbs (0.44 kg)
Weight of lean body mass by Parillo: 142.83 (64.92 kg)
Weight of lean body mass by J/P: 146.73 (66.7 kg)
Lean body mass difference by Parillo: +1.61(+0.73 kg)
Lean body mass difference by J/P: +1.37 (+0.62 kg)

Although I didn’t lose as much fat as the previous weeks, I did re-gain some muscle mass this week. And that’s something that’s makes an even bigger impact on your physique.

Here’s a new picture from June 30 – after three weeks of OLB II:

And a comparison picture from day one, week two and week three:

And a little picture where I’m finishing off my upper body session with some hammer curls (the only exercise I do for my arms. Except for chins and presses.):

The results after three weeks:
Morning weight difference: -5.24lbs (-2.4kg)
Waist measurement difference: -1.74” (-4.4 cm)
Body fat difference by Parillo: -7.5 lbs (-3.41 kg)
Body fat difference by J/P: -6.29 lbs (-2.86 kg)
Lean body mass difference by Parillo: +2.25 lbs (+1.02 kg)
Lean body mass difference by J/P: +1.05 lbs (+0.48 kg)

That’s it for this time. I’ll post the remaining weeks within a few days (where I will go into more detail).

Thank you for your interest and for reading!

 
The first part of the OLB II journey has been up a couple of days and I’ve received some positive feedback – and of course, requests for more details on my diet and my training.

The OLB Diet
Okay, let’s be frank. This diet isn’t for everyone. It’s pretty extreme, it’s hard and you’ll likely have to make quite a bit of changes in your lifestyle and habits to be able to follow it. Since it is a low calorie diet, you should not follow it more than 8 to 12 weeks. However, I’ve made my best making it as healthy as possible. And since it will be very effective, it will greatly improve your health as you lose fat and keep the diet within this time limit.

In order to calculate a good target calorie intake I use my own formula of 25 x Lean Body Weight in Kilograms (that’s roughly 11.4 x Lean Body Weight in lbs.). For me, at the beginning of the journey, that was about 1550 to 1600 kcal. Remember, this is extreme dieting; it’s not for the beginner. That number is what I will shoot for on average. On rest days I will eat a little bit less, since I’m hardly moving my ass, and on training days I will eat a bit more to aid recovery.
This calorie number will also increase slightly during the diet as I add in more training and possible re-gain some muscle mass. This goes against the concepts of traditional dieting where you tend to lower the calories as you go. But I find it crucial to slowly add in some calories, especially during and after your training sessions, to keep the metabolism going as fast as possible.

This is how the macronutrient breakdown looks like:
Protein: 175g (45E%)
Carbs: 39g (10E%)
Fat: 82g (45E%)
Total: 1600 kcal

Now, those 10E% of carbohydrates are a buffer that includes the carbs I get from natural yoghurt, the protein powders and from glutamine (I use glutamine as a glycogen mimicker before, during and after workouts). Since most of the carbohydrates from veggies are in the form of fiber and thus poorly absorbed by the body, I hardly count them at all. And keep in mind that vegetables are more than fiber, vitamins and minerals. They contain a lot of important phytochemicals (protective or disease preventive chemicals) and antioxidants. They’re also important for the Acid/Alkaline balance in our bodies. The take home lesson? Eat your veggies – and eat a lot!

The daily calorie allotment is divided into four or five meals. On a low calorie plan like this, each meal would be too small if I had more frequent meals. In order to keep a steady supply of amino acids and keeping cortisol at bay, I take my BCAA and creatine mix four times a day, between meals. On training days one portion is taken before the training session and one during. This combination will also help against any mental fog associated with low calorie diets.

This is how a typical training day template would look like:

6.45 a.m. 1 litre of water, 1 large cup of coffee
7.30 a.m. 6g BCAA, 3g Creatine (Methyl & Ethyl Ester), 5g glutamine
7.45 a.m. Training
8.10 a.m. During training: 20g BCAA, 3g Creatine, 10g glutamine
8.45 a.m. 15g glutamine, 1g Vitamin-C
9.00 a.m. Meal 1 + Vitamin, mineral and antioxidant capsules
11.30 a.m. 6g BCAA, 3g Creatine
2.00 p.m. Meal 2 + 4g fish oil (Omega-3)
4.30 p.m. 6g BCAA, 3g Creatine
7.00 p.m. Meal 3 + 4g fish oil (Omega-3)
9.30 p.m. 1 capsule of ZMA
10.00 p.m. Meal 4 + 4g fish oil (Omega-3)
10.30 p.m. 2 capsules of ZMA

Meal 1 should contain as little fat and fiber as possible since it’s ingested post-workout. I usually have a protein shake made with some natural yoghurt. If I want more carbs I’ll add some Vitargo or Maltodextrin. Meal 2, 3 and 4 consists of meat, eggs, vegetable oil and veggies. On rest days every meal will be like meal 2, 3 and 4 with BCAA and Creatine in between each meal.
 

The Training
When it comes to fat loss programs the key is to burn more calories, elevate the metabolism and generate some lactic acid. For the average client I usually work with full body or upper- and lower body splits. For competing bodybuilders I usually use a 4-split routine where we alternate between heavy and moderate sessions. The training sessions are constructed around supersets, tri-sets or circuits (with non-competing exercises).

My own training program at this stage is based on an upper- and lower body split where I rotate between heavy and lighter sessions.

General parameters:
One exercise for each plane of movement. I.e. Bench presses for horizontal pressing movements, Seated Row for horizontal pulling movements, Push Press for vertical pressing movements etc. The program is split into four days, two low rep days and two high reps days. Exercises vary between low rep days and high rep days. About 75% of the exercises are multi-joint exercises.

Parameters for low rep days:
8 to 10 sets of each exercise for 3 to 5 reps. Positive failure is allowed only on the last set.

Parameters for high rep days:
4 to 5 sets of each exercise for 12 to 10 reps. Positive failure is not allowed at all.

Example of an upper body training day:
A1. Bench Presses
A2. Barbell Row
B1. Push Press
B2. Chins
C. Hammer Curls

That’s it for now on training. My routine will change when my lung’s ability to oxygenate the blood has improved.

July 2, keeping track of my progress with my training log

July 4, doing some high repetition seated calf raises
 

July 7:
This past Saturday I had my first re-feed day where I doubled my calories mainly from carbohydrates. If you take the re-feed day into account I got 13344 kcal this week. However, during the rest of the week I got about 1500kcal on training days and 1200kcal on rest days. Excluding the re-feed day, this gives an average of 1400 kcal a day for the other six days of the week. That was a bit low but it seemed to work out just fine.

July 7 – after four weeks
Morning weight: 161.5 lbs (73.4 kg)
Morning weight difference: -0.9lbs (-0.4 kg)
Waist measurement: 33.03” (83.9cm)
Waist measurement difference: -0.35” (-0.9 cm)
Body fat percentage by Parrillo 9-sites: 11.28% (-0.77%)
Body fat percentage by Jackson/Pollock 7 sites: 8.95% (-0.7%)
Weight of body fat by Parillo: 18.22 lbs (8.28 kg)
Weight of body fat by J/P: 14.45 lbs (6.57 kg)
Body fat difference by Parillo: -1.35 lbs (-0.61 kg)
Body fat difference by J/P: -1.22 lbs (-0.55 kg)
Weight of lean body mass by Parillo: 143.28 (65.13 kg)
Weight of lean body mass by J/P: 147.05 (66.84 kg)
Lean body mass difference by Parillo: +0.45 (+0.2 kg)
Lean body mass difference by J/P: +0.32 (+0.14 kg)

I lost 1.3 lbs of fat and regained a tiny bit of muscle this week. Not bad at all.
But the most amazing thing is the change in my health that has occurred in the last month. During the spring I had to take four inhalations of cortisone (Becotide, 400mg) and three inhalations of the fast acting Ventoline (400mg) each and every day. In late April I shifted to a combo-medication called Symbicort Forte (320mg). Usually you should be able to function with only one inhalation a day. I had to start out with four and then I still had to use my fast acting Ventoline twice a day.
In early June, when I started training again, I managed on three inhalations of Symbicort a day and one or two inhalations of Ventoline during training.
Now, a month later I only take one inhalation of Symbicort in the morning and I haven’t used my fast acting Ventoline in two weeks! That’s just amazing.
However, I still can’t do any serious cardio work, but I will hopefully be able to in another month or two.
 

July 14:
During this week I introduced a tiny amount of about 25 to 30g carbohydrates to the post-workout meal instead of the post-workout glutamine. I still take glutamine before and during my training though. This brought the total daily carbohydrate intake (counting about 25% of the veggies as well) to about 60 to 70 grams a day on training days, while they remained at about 35 to 40 grams on rest days. My calorie intake on training days was about 1600 kcal and about 1300kcal on the two rest days. When pulling out the exact numbers from my nutritional journal, I got on average 1506 kcal a day this week. That’s an increase of about 100 kcal a day compared to the week before.

July 14 – after five weeks
Morning weight: 160.6 lbs (73.0 kg)
Morning weight difference: -0.9lbs (-0.4 kg)
Waist measurement: 32.83” (83.4cm)
Waist measurement difference: -0.2” (-0.5 cm)
Body fat percentage by Parrillo 9-sites: 10.59% (-0.69%)
Body fat percentage by Jackson/Pollock 7 sites: 8.40% (-0.55%)
Weight of body fat by Parillo: 17.01 lbs (7.73 kg)
Weight of body fat by J/P: 13.48 lbs (6.13 kg)
Body fat difference by Parillo: -1.21 lbs (-0.55 kg)
Body fat difference by J/P: -0.97 lbs (-0.44 kg)
Weight of lean body mass by Parillo: 143.59 (65.27 kg)
Weight of lean body mass by J/P: 147.12 (66.87 kg)
Lean body mass difference by Parillo: +0.31 (+0.14 kg)
Lean body mass difference by J/P: +0.07 (+0.03kg)

This week I lost about 1.2 lbs of fat and re-gained a tiny amount of muscle. The fat loss seems to slow down a little bit, which is natural as most of the recently gained fat is gone. What mostly remains now is old hardened fat that I’ve accumulated since 1999/2000.
 

July 21 – after six weeks
Morning weight: 159.7 lbs (72.6 kg)
Morning weight difference: -0.9lbs (-0.4 kg)
Waist measurement: 32.48” (82.5cm)
Waist measurement difference: -0.35” (-0.9 cm)
Body fat percentage by Parrillo 9-sites: 10.06% (-0.53%)
Body fat percentage by Jackson/Pollock 7 sites: 7.76% (-0.64%)
Weight of body fat by Parillo: 16.07 lbs (7.3 kg)
Weight of body fat by J/P: 12.39 lbs (5.63 kg)
Body fat difference by Parillo: -0.94 lbs (-0.42 kg)
Body fat difference by J/P: -1.09 lbs (-0.5 kg)
Weight of lean body mass by Parillo: 143.63 (65.29 kg)
Weight of lean body mass by J/P: 147.31 (66.96 kg)
Lean body mass difference by Parillo: +0.04 (+0.02 kg)
Lean body mass difference by J/P: +0.19 (+0.09kg)

Damn, I dropped just below 160 lbs this week. But who can complain when you get leaner, healthier and don’t lose any muscle mass in the process?
I’ve now been on the OLB diet for six weeks and it’s time for what I call a maintenance week. Actually it’s a quick re-feed followed by a few days at maintenance calories. It’s a great way to up-regulate your hormones, keep the metabolism flying and encourage some extra muscle growth.
 

The results after six weeks:
Morning weight difference: -7.94 lbs (-3.6kg)
Waist measurement difference: -2.64” (-6.7 cm)
Body fat difference by Parillo: -11 lbs (-5 kg)
Body fat difference by J/P: -9.57 lbs (-4.35 kg)
Lean body mass difference by Parillo: +3.05 lbs (+1.39 kg)
Lean body mass difference by J/P: +1.63 lbs (+0.74 kg)

I’ll post week 7 and 8 within the next couple of days. Thank you for reading!

 
July 28 – maintenance week:
This week was a re-feed and maintenance week. During the first two days I got about 3000 kcal with roughly 280g of protein and 280g of carbs and the rest from fat. The third and fourth day I got about 2500 to 2600 kcal with roughly 270g of protein and 250g of carbs and the rest from fat. On the fifth and sixth day I stepped down to about 1800 kcal with 250g from protein and 100g from carbs and the rest from fat. And finally, on day seven, I returned to a regular dieting off-day with about 1400kcal and 180g protein, 30g carbs and 60g fat. By lowering the carbs (and calories) towards the end of the week while training I burned off most of the stored glycogen and thus lost some water weight before this week’s weight-in.
 

July 28 – after seven weeks (and four re-feed days)
Morning weight: 161.5 lbs (73.4 kg)
Morning weight difference: +1.8 lbs (+0.8 kg)
Waist measurement: 32.6” (82.8 cm)
Waist measurement difference: +0.12” (+0.3 cm)
Body fat percentage by Parrillo 9-sites: 9.53% (-0.53%)
Body fat percentage by Jackson/Pollock 7 sites: 7.44% (-0.32%)
Weight of body fat by Parillo: 15.39 lbs (6.99 kg)
Weight of body fat by J/P: 12.01 lbs (5.46 kg)
Body fat difference by Parillo: -0.68 lbs (-0.31 kg)
Body fat difference by J/P: -0.38 lbs (-0.17 kg)
Weight of lean body mass by Parillo: 146.11 lbs (66.41 kg)
Weight of lean body mass by J/P: 149.49 lbs (67.95 kg)
Lean body mass difference by Parillo: +2.48 lbs (+1.13 kg)
Lean body mass difference by J/P: +2.18 lbs (+0.99 kg)

The re-feed/maintenance week did add some muscle to my bones. I gained about 2.48 lbs while I lost 0.68 lbs of fat. Some of that gain may still be in the form of glycogen and intracellular fluids. We’ll know for sure next week.
 

August 4:
This week was tough. Most of Sweden is covered with mugwort pollen, which is something that makes my allergies go haywire and my asthma to kick in to overdrive. I also switched to a new and somewhat harder training routine this week. That was maybe not the best planning in the world, but I made it through – with a lot of asthma medication.
The training routine spans over four workouts with one heavy upper body workout and one heavy lower body workout where the rep-range is 4 to 6 reps. Each heavy day is followed by a full body workout done in circuit fashion (five exercise in a row) with a rep-range of 15 to 20 reps. These are lactic acid workouts and they’re pure hell. My lungs gave out during the second circuit so I had to split some exercises into regular supersets just to be able to finish the workouts. Allergies sucks – and so does my lungs.
 

August 4 – after eight weeks
Morning weight: 161 lbs (73.2 kg)
Morning weight difference: -0.5 lbs (-0.2 kg)
Waist measurement: 32.40” (82.3 cm)
Waist measurement difference: -0.2” (-0.5 cm)
Body fat percentage by Parrillo 9-sites: 8.89% (-0.64%)
Body fat percentage by Jackson/Pollock 7 sites: 6.95% (-0.49%)
Weight of body fat by Parillo: 14.31 lbs (6.5 kg)
Weight of body fat by J/P: 11.20 lbs (5.09 kg)
Body fat difference by Parillo: -1.08 lbs (-0.49 kg)
Body fat difference by J/P: -0.81 lbs (-0.37 kg)
Weight of lean body mass by Parillo: 146.69 lbs (66.68 kg)
Weight of lean body mass by J/P: 149.80 lbs (68.09 kg)
Lean body mass difference by Parillo: +0.58 lbs (+0.27 kg)
Lean body mass difference by J/P: +0.31 lbs (+0.14kg)

Okay, I lost about a pound this week and gained a tiny bit of muscle mass. Not bad since most of my workouts sucked. This also shows that I did gain a lot of muscle mass during the previous maintenance week. That’s cool.

And here’s finally a new comparison photo. Unfortunately it’s not exactly shot in the same perspective as the previous ones. And the lightning really sucks. I’m still planning on buying some studio lamps in the near future. But until then, this will have to do.

 
And here’s a comparison of the photos I’ve had taken. They’re from day one, after two weeks, after three weeks and after the eight week.

 
And here’s a bad shot of my back from my training session on August 2nd.

There’s still a lot of hardened fat to lose. My caliper reading at the subscapular reading point was about 6mm this week.
 

August 11:
There’s still a lot of mugwort pollen in the air and the weather has been really warm with a high humidity. However, my heavy lifting days have gone really well. I’m increasing the weight or the number of reps in each and every workout. The lactic acid workouts are still a bitch though. But I manage.
 

August 11 – after nine weeks
Morning weight: 160.82 lbs (73.1 kg)
Morning weight difference: -0.18 lbs (-0.1 kg)
Waist measurement: 32.09” (81.5 cm)
Waist measurement difference: -0.31” (-0.8 cm)
Body fat percentage by Parrillo 9-sites: 8.48% (-0.41%)
Body fat percentage by Jackson/Pollock 7 sites: 6.63% (-0.32%)
Weight of body fat by Parillo: 13.63 lbs (6.19 kg)
Weight of body fat by J/P: 10.66 lbs (4.84 kg)
Body fat difference by Parillo: -0.68 lbs (-0.31 kg)
Body fat difference by J/P: -0.54 lbs (-0.25 kg)
Weight of lean body mass by Parillo: 147.19 lbs (66.9 kg)
Weight of lean body mass by J/P: 150.16 lbs (68.25 kg)
Lean body mass difference by Parillo: +0.5 lbs (+0.23 kg)
Lean body mass difference by J/P: +0.36 lbs (+0.16 kg)

Although I lost about 0.3” of my waist this week, the fat loss was only about 0.6 lbs. It’s getting tougher. Beginning next week I’ll throw in some yohimbe HCL at 7.5 mg (three capsules) twice a day. Yohimbe seems to help in breaking down fat, especially old hardened fat, so I might as well give it a try. I haven’t used yohimbe since 1998 and back then, the only available form of yohimbe was the yohimbe bark capsules. The week after next week I’m planning to add some interval training if my lungs can handle it. If they can’t, well, then I’ll have to settle with walking at quick pace wearing a weight vest or a backpack.
 

The results after nine weeks:
Morning weight difference: -6.82 lbs (-3.1 kg)
Waist measurement difference: -3.03” (-7.7 cm)
Body fat difference by Parillo: -13.44 lbs (-6.11 kg)
Body fat difference by J/P: -11.3 lbs (-5.14 kg)
Lean body mass difference by Parillo: +6.61 lbs (+3 kg)
Lean body mass difference by J/P: +4.48 lbs (+2.04 kg)

To be continued.

 
August 18:
I received a couple of bottles of Yohimbe HCL this Wednesday and started to supplement with 7.5 mg (three capsules) twice a day the day after (Thursday). The recommended dose is 1 or 2 capsules a day, but I’ve never cared much for girlie-men approaches since I have a very high tolerance for most substances. I’ve also discussed the dosage with some other coaches and some people that swear by the stuff. And it seems that six to nine capsules should be just perfect. So six capsules a day it is, to begin with anyway. I will probably increase the dose after a week or so.
During the first two days I felt a bit lethargic and tired, but on the third day I felt great and energetic again. We’ll see if the Yohimbe will make a difference in the next couple of weeks.
 

August 18 – after ten weeks:
Morning weight: 160.16 lbs (72.8 kg)
Morning weight difference: -1.1 lbs (-0.5 kg)
Waist measurement: 31.85” (80.9 cm)
Waist measurement difference: -0.24” (-0.6 cm)
Body fat percentage by Parrillo 9-sites: 7.92% (-0.56%)
Body fat percentage by Jackson/Pollock 7 sites: 6.06% (-0.57%)
Weight of body fat by Parillo: 12.69 lbs (5.77 kg)
Weight of body fat by J/P: 9.71 lbs (4.41 kg)
Body fat difference by Parillo: -0.94 lbs (-0.43 kg)
Body fat difference by J/P: -0.95 lbs (-0.43 kg)
Weight of lean body mass by Parillo: 147.47 lbs (67.03 kg)
Weight of lean body mass by J/P: 150.45 lbs (68.39 kg)
Lean body mass difference by Parillo: +0.28 lbs (+0.13 kg)
Lean body mass difference by J/P: +0.29 lbs (+0.13 kg)
 

August 25:
I’ve been supplementing Yohimbe HCL for about ten days now and I can honestly say that it has made quite a difference! After only four or five days I noticed that some of my hardened and stubborn fat had got a lot looser, especially in my lower back and between the muscle bellies in the upper arm and deltoid area, as well as in my legs and around the belly button. And I have a lot of energy and feel really great too.
I also had my first cardio session during the diet on august 20. I tried to run some intervals, but my lungs couldn’t handle it. So instead I had to settle with a much less effective (and time wasting) power walk. To make the best of it though, I loaded my MP3-player with a good educational audio book. Listening to music would really be a waste of time, but books, interviews and recorded seminars seldom are. Since I already study 2 to 3 hours every day of the week, I might as well do it while walking. Anyway, I walked for 45 minutes on Monday and another 30 minutes on Thursday. Since you burn very little energy during power walks and since there’s no EPOC (afterburn), I don’t think these sessions made any difference at all. But it was nice to at least exercise my lungs to some degree.
When it comes to weight training I started a new training block (of four weeks) this week. After mixing it up for a couple of weeks I’m now back to what works best for me; my upper- and lower body training split with four workouts a week. It’s the one from 2002 that I recently posted on the blog. Only difference is in the selection of exercises (varies with every training block).
 

August 25 – after eleven weeks:
Morning weight: 159.28 lbs (72.4 kg)
Morning weight difference: -0.88 lbs (-0.4 kg)
Waist measurement: 31.61” (80.3 cm)
Waist measurement difference: -0.24” (-0.6 cm)
Body fat percentage by Parrillo 9-sites: 7.29% (-0.63%)
Body fat percentage by Jackson/Pollock 7 sites: 5.57% (-0.49%)
Weight of body fat by Parillo: 11.61 lbs (5.28 kg)
Weight of body fat by J/P: 8.87 lbs (4.03 kg)
Body fat difference by Parillo: -1.08 lbs (-0.49 kg)
Body fat difference by J/P: -0.84 lbs (-0.38 kg)
Weight of lean body mass by Parillo: 147.67 lbs (67.12 kg)
Weight of lean body mass by J/P: 150.41 lbs (68.37 kg)
Lean body mass difference by Parillo: +0.20 lbs (+0.09 kg)
Lean body mass difference by J/P: -0.04 lbs (-0.02 kg)

The results from the body comp this week were very much like the week before. Parrillo’s 9-site method shows somewhat greater fat loss, which is good since it contains more troublesome locations such as the lower back (where I lost 1 mm this week). The abdominal reading also went down by 1 mm, from 5.5 to 4.5 mm. For the last couple of weeks I’ve only lost about .5 mm every week in these areas. So I’m now pretty convinced that the Yohimbe HCL supplementation helps a lot, especially with stubborn hardened fat. I’ve also noticed some improvements in the shoulder area.

Here’s a new picture from this Saturday morning:

 
And here’s a new comparison picture with the “before” photo, and a photo from week 3, week 8 and week 11:

 
The results after eleven weeks:
Morning weight difference: -8.36 lbs (-3.1 kg)
Waist measurement difference: -3.51” (-8.9 cm)
Body fat difference by Parillo: -15.46 lbs (-7.03 kg)
Body fat difference by J/P: -13.09 lbs (-5.95 kg)
Lean body mass difference by Parillo: +7.09 lbs (+3.22 kg)
Lean body mass difference by J/P: +4.73 lbs (+2.15 kg)