Viva's Training Log (26M/+40%BF/Novice)

[Viva Miriya]

Hello, how's it going. I'm making one of these to keep myself honest and accountable and to just have a log of what I'm doing to reference back to.

My Background: I am a 26 y/o college student and Navy Veteran, my height 5'8, and I currently at 247.5lbs and 44.8% BF as of this morning's weigh in. Though I should note the weight fluctuates between this number and 242.6-243.6 depending on how my diet went the previous day though body fat remains within that range with a deviation of, at most, .2-.8%. A few lbs fluctuate here and there but the consensus is clear: I'm F A T A F.

Weightlifting Background: I started with stronglifts 5x5 in early 2016 at because that was free. Then I bought rip's Starting Strength 2nd edition on the kindle, read it and bought the app, then began logging my workouts in the app around May 2016 briefly. My highest logged weights for the program can be found below. My goal is to drop down to 160lb to fit within Army Height and Weight standards with some wiggle room and to develop as much strength as I can over the next 3 years.

Squat: 255
Press: 135
Deadlift: 275
Bench Press: 155
Power Clean: 140
Chin Ups: N/A

I then switched to working out at Lost Battalion Hall here in NYC where the weights were metric and I stopped doing starting strength, sorta. I still did my back squats, my overhead press, and my deadlifts but that's it. I think I got up to 120kg on the squat, 140kg on the deadlift and I recall overhead pressing about 60kg. Then I stopped going because...ok let's be honest, I had no real good reason to stop going. A constant theme in my life is lack of Self-Discipline. It has been a problem for me until recently and I am now restarting the program as of May 9th. The weights I logged in those workouts are as follows:

May 9th
Squat: 215
Press: 115
Deadlift: 245

May 11th
Squat: 225
Bench: 135
Power Clean: 135

Tomorrow I intend to do the following and will report back on how it treats me.
Squat: 235
Press: 125
Deadlift: 260

My intended weight progression is to go up each workout by 10lbs on the Squat, 15 on the Deadlift, 5 on the Press, 10 on the deadlift, and 5 on the Power Clean until I encounter difficulty and then I'll dial it back down appropriately.

What else am I doing: I'm doing couch to 5k running Monday, Wednesday, Friday to get myself back to being able to at least jog/hobble across the track for 30 minutes straight then I'm gonna work on making that 30 minutes at a running pace and improving. By the Fall Semester (August) I'm training with my campus's Division II outdoor track team. This isn't optional, I need to be able to run long distances for what I wanna do. I'm gonna do my best to take care of myself during process and I'm aware of the damage I'm doing to my joints by running on these legs as a fat body but its gotta be done, I need to develop into a strong runner. No time like the present.

Weaknesses: Self Discipline in general and when it comes to self managing stress. I'm was trying to eat around 1600 calories and at best I'm good on most days but its the one or two days where I don't measure or at least accurately guesstimate what I'm taking in that stalls my weight loss, but I will fix this. Also the one or two days out the month I eat my feelings and order some diner food or ice cream like that'll help lol. Never does yet I still use it as a crutch occasionally. I'm also gonna get around to finding some simple food recipes besides chicken breast and mixed veggies to spice things up so I'm more likely to just cook at home or bring my food with me to school. It definitely beats paying 16 bucks for some plastic container they charge by weight which is filled with like 3-4 pieces of chicken and all the vegetables I could shove in there. Cheaper and definitely more accurate when it comes to logging my food intake and a better habit overall.

If you are reading this you may have noticed I said "was trying to eat" 1600 calories a day. I reread the nutrition section under programming in starting strength and apparently the guideline for someone like me is 3500 calories a day, no milk, paleo style. That and I apparently need to read the To Be A Beast article. This section will likely radically change as I adjust appropriately based on these readings.

Hydration: Generally 3-4L a day, with a minimum of 2L. 1L with each meal and 1L before a run or lift session.

Nutrition Macros (intended, mileage varies):
I checked out reddits /r/fitness FAQ when I set up my macros on myfitnesspal. Currently they are as follows:

Protein: 115g
Carbohydrates: 172g
Fat: 33g

Things I will read up on NLT Sunday, May 14th: Rippetoe and Baker's Practical Programmin and Feigenbaum's To Be A Beast Article

So that's my story and what I'm doing, I'll keep this updated weekly. If anyone stumbles upon this and wishes to comment, feel free to do so. I will listen to you and do my best to take in any knowledge you have for me. I'm pretty sure I got a grip on the problem: its basically being disciplined and sticking it out for the long haul, ignoring temptation/weakness, and cleaning up the diet. If there's anything I'm missing out on, let me know.

Have a good one and get after it.