Tuning the results

When I started the new training program, I had expected to lose weight for the first few weeks before I started working on muscle gain. Against my expectations, I was very slightly gaining weight. Granted, it appeared to be mostly muscle but I was supposed to be losing, not gaining. I knew I was over a little bit on my intake, but not by this much.

So I went all the way back to the beginning and recalculated everything. It turns out I was way off.

I had calculated my calorie intake for maintaining weight. Oops.

So, I reran the calculations to lose a little bit of weight and adjusted my diet to match. My weight started dropping almost immediately.

This week was also the third week of the training cycle, making it the most intense week when I am already showing signs of fatigue. Happily, I met every power and weight target I had this week.

As part of the third-week plan, I did one workout at the gym that matches what I will be doing next month. It's partially so I can see how it feels and partially so I have a better idea of how much weight I can handle so. I hit a few shockingly high numbers considering that I've only been back in the gym for a month or so: 6 reps of 225 pounds on the squat and 12 reps of 630 pounds on the incline leg press. I can only imagine what I'll be able to do next month when I'm actually focusing on heavier weights to start gaining muscle.

But first, I get a really easy training week because we're on vacation!!

This week's numbers: (in comparison to last week)
Weight: 171 (down 1.0 pounds from last week)
Body fat: 17.7% (same as last week)

Upper Arm: 12 3/4" (no change, but looking more defined)
Chest: 35 3/4" (down 1/4")
Waist: 34 (down 1/4" from last week, down 1 1/4" since Sept 1)
Thigh: 24 1/2" (same)