I'm done with the second but last week of my current plan and I'm feeling really good. :) I finished my second rotation of FB Abs round 2, so basically the experiment "Can I get visible abs with FB Abs?" is over now. I really enjoyed the program. It forced me to kinda leave my comfort zone (= focus on strength training) and put more emphasis on HIIT and increasing my endurance. I'm glad that I made big progress in this regard. I'm definitely doing alot better during tough HIIT workouts and it feels great to be able to really push myself untill the very end of the workouts. Got the feeling that my strength - especially upper body - decreased by a little bit, but I have little doubt that it won't take very long to get it back. Probably a couple of weeks to get used to the different kind of challenge again.
In terms of nutrition I just kept doing the same as the last weeks: Constantly around 2400 calories, at least 80% of it from healthy, unprocessed food. I really like to go for a reasonably small calorie deficit. It's just way easier to sustain and the whole process is much more enjoyable. I like eating good food and I hate being hungry, so I'm really glad that I found a way for me to stay well satiated and energized during a weight loss phase. And it really helps me to keep in mind that it's just not necessary to eat perfectly clean all the time. I.e. this week we had really good, hot weather, so we got ourselves a box of ice cream. An ice cream per day on top of our usual small daily treat of "pleasure food" was surprisingly easy to harmonize with my current fitness goals. Anyways, I'll keep my deficit up for one more week, during wich I will test how much strength I lost during the whole process. Afterwards I want to find out my current exact maintenance level by slowly increasing my daily calories up to the point where my weight stays constant over a couple of weeks. Never really tried this and I want to gain some experience with the transition, since my wife will soon be at that point, too, and I hope to be able to give her a hint or two. I guess this whole maintenance experiment will probably take untill the beginning of October and then it's time for another muscle building phase. :)
The scale dropped from 170.4 lbs to 169.8 lbs. Again a little more than half a pound, which is pretty excellent in my eyes, since I am already at a point I am very happy with. All in all that's 8.6 lbs of weight loss during my 8 weeks with FB Abs 2. A little more than 1 lb per week, so that's almost exactly what I was aiming for. :)
My wife took this picture just a moment ago. Doesn't look too bad in my eyes. x)
As always, I wish all of you a nice Sunday, a good start into the next week and all the best for your own projects and programs!
Getting abs with FB Abs 2 - Week 8/9
I'm done with the second but last week of my current plan and I'm feeling really good. :) I finished my second rotation of FB Abs round 2, so basically the experiment "Can I get visible abs with FB Abs?" is over now. I really enjoyed the program. It forced me to kinda leave my comfort zone (= focus on strength training) and put more emphasis on HIIT and increasing my endurance. I'm glad that I made big progress in this regard. I'm definitely doing alot better during tough HIIT workouts and it feels great to be able to really push myself untill the very end of the workouts. Got the feeling that my strength - especially upper body - decreased by a little bit, but I have little doubt that it won't take very long to get it back. Probably a couple of weeks to get used to the different kind of challenge again.
In terms of nutrition I just kept doing the same as the last weeks: Constantly around 2400 calories, at least 80% of it from healthy, unprocessed food. I really like to go for a reasonably small calorie deficit. It's just way easier to sustain and the whole process is much more enjoyable. I like eating good food and I hate being hungry, so I'm really glad that I found a way for me to stay well satiated and energized during a weight loss phase. And it really helps me to keep in mind that it's just not necessary to eat perfectly clean all the time. I.e. this week we had really good, hot weather, so we got ourselves a box of ice cream. An ice cream per day on top of our usual small daily treat of "pleasure food" was surprisingly easy to harmonize with my current fitness goals. Anyways, I'll keep my deficit up for one more week, during wich I will test how much strength I lost during the whole process. Afterwards I want to find out my current exact maintenance level by slowly increasing my daily calories up to the point where my weight stays constant over a couple of weeks. Never really tried this and I want to gain some experience with the transition, since my wife will soon be at that point, too, and I hope to be able to give her a hint or two. I guess this whole maintenance experiment will probably take untill the beginning of October and then it's time for another muscle building phase. :)
The scale dropped from 170.4 lbs to 169.8 lbs. Again a little more than half a pound, which is pretty excellent in my eyes, since I am already at a point I am very happy with. All in all that's 8.6 lbs of weight loss during my 8 weeks with FB Abs 2. A little more than 1 lb per week, so that's almost exactly what I was aiming for. :)
My wife took this picture just a moment ago. Doesn't look too bad in my eyes. x)
As always, I wish all of you a nice Sunday, a good start into the next week and all the best for your own projects and programs!