My Cutting Progress - Summerville Fitness and Nutrition

As some of you may know, I took about 5 weeks off of working out, going to the gym, dieting, working or blogging due to the birth of my baby girl. It has been a whirlwind over these last 5 weeks, but I started everything back up again on 7/22/19 (Monday). As I stated in my “Falling of the Fitness Wagon” post, it’s always helpful to set a concrete start date for your fitness goals/journey to begin. Make sure to give yourself ample time to plan as well.

These last five weeks have consisted of a lot of sleepless nights/days (which raises cortisol levels, promotes fat gain and makes it hard to gain muscle), eating whatever I could make fast in about 15 minutes (frozen pizza, chicken nuggets, cereal, etc.), and having little social interaction. Over the course of the last five weeks I have added about 7 pounds (of fat) and appear noticeably “deflated” from my pre-baby comparison. I have likely lost some muscle on top of that so that 7 pounds of fat might actually be even more fat once you account for any lost muscle.

You have to remember that even taking this much time away from dieting or the gym is fixable. Your muscles have an amazing ability to bounce back pretty fast in terms of strength and size after taking some time away (even a moderate amount of time like I did). I am back on my same cutting program as outlined previously in the “cutting diet” post. I will expect to lose about a pound a week on this diet still which means I have set myself back by maybe 7 weeks or so (amazing that 5 weeks of doing the wrong thing will take me at least 7 to recover from isn’t it). I will likely drop more than a pound a week the first couple weeks due to losing some water weight and shifts in other bodily process (such as losing muscle glycogen at times due to resistance training). This is to be expected and is why I say it takes time to fine tune your diet.

Here’s What We Are Going To Do

95% of your fitness journey is going to revolve around nutrition. Weigh your food, unless the calories/macros are based on volume, not weight, or the macros are already predetermined. You need to be as close to exact as possible and I can’t stress this enough. Most people have NO IDEA what they are putting into their body no matter how good they think they are at estimating. Weighing your food may seem daunting or taxing, but it is honestly quick and painless and is one of the best tools in the arsenal of a successful fitness junky.

I recommend weighing yourself daily for at least a couple of weeks. Make sure you have a scale that is capable of giving you a body fat percentage because this is going to be important to know if you reach a plateau. Your body fat percentage will tell us if you have stalled out or if you have just reached a stage where you are adding fluid/water and muscle as fast as you are losing fat (more likely to happen for the extremely obese or those new to fitness). At this juncture (equilibrium) you will not see the numbers on the scale change, but the body fat percentage will. This is a magical spot in your fitness journey so stay in this type of “equilibrium” as long as possible (who doesn’t like gaining muscle and losing weight at the same time?)

Weigh yourself at the same time every day. Preferably in the morning, after you pee (maybe even poo) and before you shower or eat/drink anything. This will give you the most consistent and accurate weights as the food/water in your system is not as much of a variable at this point because you have no food in there after fasting all night and your water weight tends to reach equilibrium every night while sleeping (which is why some people tend to have to get up and pee several times a night and some don’t).

We are aiming to lose 1-2 pounds per week at most. Any more than that you are definitely losing precious muscle mass and/or you are dehydrating yourself, both of which are ultimately detrimental to your overall fitness journey. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Real fitness takes time and dedication. I have even found that I seem to be gaining muscle while losing fat by putting myself in such a small caloric deficit. This claim is based on appearance only, I have not compared my muscle measurements yet (I had measured my arms/legs/etc. at the beginning of my cut some time ago).

You can lose weight a lot faster than this by drastically cutting your calories or using things like Ketogenic diets, intermittent fasting, OMAD, etc. These diets have been discussed in other posts and I have explained why they are not the best diets for fitness. If you don’t care about aesthetics (how you look), don’t mind eating like a rabbit and don’t care about maintaining or developing lean muscle and just want to “lose weight as fast as possible” then you will likely experience fat gain again when you relapse from your crash/extreme diet and you obviously haven’t been reading my other posts haha. Muscle is the furnace that controls our metabolism. The more lean muscle you have, the more calories required to run it, the more you get to eat, and the more fat loss you will experience. This goes for women and men. If this is news to you, please go read my other articles that talk about the subject in detail.

Check your body fat percentage once a month or every couple months. This number isn’t so important in the beginning, but you definitely want a body fat percentage to know where you started. I do it to make sure the weight I am losing is fat, not muscle and just purely out of curiosity at times. Once you start to get towards your goal weight/body fat then this metric will be measured more frequently, and it is also used if you reach a plateau in order to assess the situation (as above).

My First Week Numbers

7/22/19 – The first pre-gym, pre-diet weigh in was at 197.6 pounds and 16.7% body fat. I stand at about 6’1″ and have noticeable “flab” over my abs at this point, but they are still easily visible when standing. My muscles appear “deflated” compared to my pre-baby self
- I started at just about 250 pounds last year after a “dirty bulk” but it is spread out over a pretty tall frame so most people can’t tell when I have some extra fat on me when I’m fully clothed
- I carry my fat mostly in my abdomen (lower abs more specifically), chest and love handles (this is where most men tend to carry their fat)
7/23/19 – 197.6 lbs
7/24/19 – 196.4 lbs
7/25/19 – 196.4 lbs
7/26/19 – 195.2 lbs
7/27/19 – 195.4 lbs
7/28/19 – 196.2 lbs

As you can see, I have already lost a little over 2 lbs over the first five days. I expected to lose a little bit of water weight and some weight from lost muscle glycogen on top of the normal 1 pound a week. I will not worry about sticking to the 1 pound rule until a few weeks out.

Week 2

7/29/19 – 195.8 lbs
7/30/19 – 195.8 lbs
7/31/19 – 194.2 lbs
8/1/19 – 195.8 lbs
8/2/19 – DID NOT CHECK WEIGHT
8/3/19 – 197.8 lbs
8/4/19 – 195.8 lbs

I had cheat meals on the evening of 8/1 and 8/2, both of which had a ton of carbs and salt. This is why my weight increased a decent amount on 8/3. The carbs increased my muscle glycogen stores and the salt made me retain a little more water (increasing carbs can also make fat cells swell with water, but this is also temporary). Both of which can actually benefit you if you time it right. Some bodybuilders and athletes do this on purpose (carb cycling and water retention) at certain days or certain points. I do not worry about weight fluctuations around cheat meals. This is also why I take my lowest weight of the week to base my progress on (but you will still notice a trend with the average). You will see that I have dropped about another pound. Come week 3 I will likely be down close to the 193 range at some point. My appearance hasn’t changed much, but I can tell my muscles are starting to look less deflated and the belly fat is starting to look a little less pronounced.

Week 3

8/5/19 – 195.6 lbs
8/6/19 – 195.6 lbs
8/7/19 – 195.2 lbs
8/8/19 – 194.2 lbs
8/9/19 – 194.2 lbs
8/10/19 – 194.4 lbs
8/11/19 – 194.4 lbs

I started the week off badly because I not only had a cheat meal Monday evening, but I also went out to eat twice at the end of the prior week as noted above. I had regular ice cream (like 1,000 calories worth) on Friday 8/9 as well. As you can see, however, the weight is slowly coming off. My average weight is down in the 194 range instead of the 195 range of last week. This is what you are aiming for! About 1-2 pounds per week and allowing yourself to live life, go out to dinner with friends, have that beer when you want/need one, have a cheat meal, eat ice cream with your wife after a bad day. Fitness shouldn’t run your life, it should fit into it. As far as my appearance, not much has changed, still noticing very small changes. Slightly more definition to the abs and less of a muffin top when I sit. My muscle definition and fullness seemed to have returned to their pre-baby form and are hanging steady.

Week 4

8/12/19 – 193.6 lbs
8/13/19 – 193.4 lbs
8/14/19 – 191.8 lbs
8/15/19 – 191.8 lbs
8/16/19 – 191.8 lbs
8/17/19 – 192.2 lbs
8/18/19 – DIDN’T CHECK MY WEIGHT

Week 4 I made the jump into the 191 pound category (just barely) so it’s safe to say that about another pound was lost. We have had two weeks from hell (well water pump, dryer and hot water heater all went out this last week), but I managed to stick to my diet pretty well. This week we had a few “cookouts” planned so I substituted my normal taco style meals for the exact same weight (yes I weighed out a quarter pound of meat a ton of times) in double cheeseburgers (one quarter pound patty of turkey burger and one of beef). Substituted the taco wrap for a whole grain bun and the normal sour cream for some condiments and cheese. I stayed almost at the exact same calories and macros and was able to change up my diet to fit my lifestyle this week. I was able to help inspire a close friend to start weighing out his food and one of the first things he did was do burgers with a lean meat and this gave me the idea to apply that meal to my life as needed. I am happy to say that I am back to my pre-baby weight! That sounds weird to say since I’m not the one that pushed out a baby, but sadly enough its true haha.

Week 5

8/19 – 195.6 lbs
8/20 – 194.2 lbs
8/21 – 191.6 lbs
8/22 – 191.6 lbs
8/23 – 191.6 lbs
8/24 – 191.6 lbs
8/25 – 190.4 lbs

As you can see I was a bad boy 8/18 (the day I didn’t check my weight). I had donuts with my niece, a cheat lunch and a lot of pizza that night for my fantasy football draft. You can note how the acutely elevated salt and carb intake impacted my weight over the next few days. I also stalled out a little this week as well because I had to skip two gym days in order to try and get some of these home appliances fixed and delivered (long story). I did, however, manage to break into the 190 lb mark by the end of the week still! Still noting very small changes in my physique, but definitely welcomed changes. My muscles have less fat over them and more definition, my vascularity (pump) has also noticeable improved as it tends to do when there is less fat covering your veins. I feel as though I am still maintaining (if not gaining) muscle and I am slowly noticing the fat coming off. Everything is going according to plan, so I will see how next week goes. I will be at an out-of-town wedding next weekend and we will see if I can contain myself around all the good food (and booze). I also won’t be checking my weight those days because you want to try and weigh yourself on the same scale (and I am not the type of guy to pack a scale…I’m dedicated, but not THAT dedicated).

Week 6

8/26 – 190.4
8/27 – 190.4
8/28 – 191.8
8/29 – 190.6
8/30 – 189.6
8/31 – 191.0
8/32 – Will be out of town
9/1 – Will be out of town

I cheated on my diet on 8/27 and gained a little weight as a result, but as you can see, the end result is that I finally ended up under 190 pounds by the end of the week!

Week 7

9/2 – out of town
9/3 – 194.4
9/4 – 192.2
9/5 – 190.2
9/6 – 190.2
9/7 – 191.4
9/8 – 190.2

Due to some drinking and cheating (multiple times) at the wedding I saw the numbers on the scale jump up quite a bit for a few days, but as I have said before, these changes aren’t permanent and tend to be more from salt/water balance and glycogen shifts. I got back down to the 190 mark pretty quick, so I only ended up delaying getting back into the 180s. I had a burger at the Cheesecake Factory that was literally more than 80% of my usual DAILY calories, so I was definitely surprised when the scale wasn’t worse.

Week 8

9/9 – did not check my weight (forgot)
9/10 – 192.0
9/11 – 190.4
9/12 – 189.0
9/13 – did not check my weight
9/14 – did not check my weight
9/15 – did not check my weight

As you can see, I did not check my weight that much this week. I started cheating on my diet 9/13 through the next Monday 9/16 because my wife was out of town and I didn’t want to try to food prep while watching the baby by myself. I still made health-conscious choices, but also had some ice cream, cereal for breakfast, etc. I also had a death in the family that led to some comfort food. I will likely be paying for it through next week.

Week 9

9/16 – did not check my weight
9/17 – 191.0
9/18 – 191.0
9/19 – 190.0
9/20 – 189.2
9/21 – Forgot to check weight
9/22 – 189.4

Back into the 189 range again after a rough week last week. I will hopefully get down into the 188 range by the end of next week (Week 10) or I need to consider that I may have plateaued. I also decided to have a couple sweet snacks (mini candy bars) and share some heavily salted french fries with my wife Sunday night 9/22, so my week 10 numbers may start off a little worse for wear. My physique still appears to be improving and I feel like my muscle definition is improving. I also feel I am still losing fat, so I will see how this next week goes and consider lowering my calories a little (maybe 150 calories or so) if I feel I have plateaued, but any increase at the beginning of week 10 is likely from my brief cheat on Sunday.

Week 10

9/23 – 190.4
9/24 – 189.0
9/25 – 188.2
9/26 – Forgot to check weight
9/27 – 187.8
9/28 – 187.4
9/29 – 187.4

As I suspected the issue was not a plateau but was simply inconsistency with my diet. Once I was a little more strict and back to drinking my normal amount of water and not cheating as much, you can see I am now back to consistently dropping weight again. This also goes to show that even though you might not have the best weeks in regards to dietary compliance, you tend to bounce back quickly. The numbers on the scale changed by almost 3 pounds this week. This DOESN’T mean I had a 3 pound weight loss, this means that I was likely retaining water and glycogen at the beginning of my week due to the increased salt and sugar intake and decreased water intake.

Week 11

9/30 – 189.0
10/1 – 187.0
10/2 – 186.2
10/3 – 187.4
10/4 – 186.0
10/5 – 186.2
10/6 – 186.6

The first thing you may notice is that I went from 187.4 to 189.0 in the course of a day. This is most likely because I didn’t realize I hadn’t pooped in almost 3 days! I am usually a daily pooper (in the medical field we tend to be very open about our bathroom habits, so sorry if this is TMI), but for some reason my bowels were on strike over the weekend apparently. Lets just say I took care of the problem on 9/30 and things normalized again after that. As you can see, on average, I am down in the 186 pound range this week, which means I’m still on track for about a pound a week. I am noticing that I feel much better (not a big muffin top anymore) and I look much more defined. My wife even paid me a compliment when I was changing with my shirt off the other day (thanks babe!).

Week 12

10/7 – 185.2
10/8 – 185.2
10/9 – 185.2
10/10 – did not check weight
10/11 – 185.6
10/12 – 185.2
10/13 – 186.6

Down into the 185 range all week! The last weight on Sunday was likely a little higher (186.6) simply because I woke up sweating at like 3 am because the wife turned the heat on so I slammed two or 3 big glasses of water at like 3 am. Otherwise, I’m making good progress. I am noticing quite a bit more muscle definition and a lot less fat. I am at the stage in my fat loss where the muscle definition really starts to come through so you don’t look quite as “big” but you are really leaning out. When you have a little bit of fat over your muscles it can give the illusion of bigger muscles. There is also likely a little bit of muscle loss as this tends to come with any degree of hypocaloric state (less calories than are required to maintain weight). I don’t feel as though I have lost much muscle mass (unlike when I was doing the Ketogenic diet) but I will know for sure when I recheck my body fat percentage in a few weeks. I also continue to make pretty significant strength gains in the gym which can argue against significant muscle loss.

Week 13

10/14 – did not check weight
10/15 – 185.2
10/16 – 184.6
10/17 – 184.8
10/18 – 183.8
10/19 – 183.6
10/20 – 183.2

I have dropped down into the 183/184 range this week! I have been pretty strict with my dietary compliance with only a few LIGHT cheat meals and no major cheat DAYs in over a month (or so it feels). Even though my weight has bobbled around a little over the weeks due to cheat days and having some summer/pool fun and not worrying about my diet, you will see that I have lost about 13-14 pounds over the last 13 weeks, which puts me right on track for my 1 pound a week goal. Going to keep pushing forward and have a nice cheat day/meal planned for Sunday 10/20! Cheat meals/days can actually help your weight loss goals because it replenishes the oh-so-important hormone Leptin.

Week 14

10/21 – 182.6
10/22 – 182.8
10/23 – 183.2
10/24 – 183.2
10/25 – did not check weight
10/26 – battery on scale died
10/27 – 185.2

This week started off with a bang and ended up fairly confusing. I went as low as 182.6 lbs but my daughter woke me up early on 10/25 and I ate breakfast once she fell back asleep and forgot to check my weight. The following day I stepped on the scale and nothing…the battery went dead on the scale and it was a fancy battery that I had to make a trip to the store for. I had a cheat meal that night and ended up on the wrong side of 185 the next morning. I can’t be sure how accurate it is because of the cheat day and also with the scale having new batteries.

Week 15

10/28 – 189.4
10/29 – 187.8
10/30 – didn’t check weight
10/31 – 184.6
11/1 – 185.4
11/2 – 184.6
11/3 – 184.6

After my massive cheat day I registered at least 4 pounds heavier than the day prior and up almost 7 pounds from my lightest weight just a few days before that. My cheat meals had a lot of carbs and sugar involved so this is likely a lot of muscle glycogen and some water weight that has been added. I am concerned for a few reasons. I am not sure if my scale was dying the week prior so I don’t know if my 182 weights were accurate at all since I haven’t been back down to the 183 region even since I replaced the batteries, but I also started a few cheat days when the batteries died so I will never know. The scale is also now doing some weird stuff and bouncing around a lot, forcing me to take multiple readings. I’m not sure if this scale is good anymore, but we will just have to give it another week and find out. The last concerning point is that if most of this weight gain is from muscle glycogen, that means I am likely not getting enough carbs in my diet to really maximize my workouts (muscle glycogen helps with muscle strength and endurance and is replenished by carbs/sugars). If I find this to be the case I will likely have to find a way to sneak some fats out of my diet and raise my carbohydrate intake a little. My cutting diet plan is fairly low on carbs so this could very well not be enough to help get the most out of my time in the gym. However, fats tend to be a little more important on a cut to keep hormone production steady (testosterone is a hormone for instance). Carbs are also important, but less so than protein or fats on a cut. I have been pretty diligent with my diet this week besides a few pieces of Halloween candy (couldn’t help myself).

Week 16

11/4 – 184.6
11/5 – didn’t check weight
11/6 – 182.6
11/7 – did not check weight
11/8 – did not check weight
11/9 -182.6
11/10 – 183.6

I broke back into the 182 pound range this week. I had many days where I had to get up before I could check my weight as I had my daughter by myself and she’s not one for sleeping past 3-5 AM. I don’t find it helpful to weigh myself if it’s not at the same point in my day (right after I wake up and after I pee or move my bowels, but before I eat or drink anything) because then you aren’t tracking as accurately as possible. No significant cheat meals this week so I will hopefully see progression next week and maybe into the 181 pound range!

Week 17

11/11 – Did not check my weight
11/12 – 181.8
11/13 – 182.6
11/14 – 181.2
11/15 – 181.2
11/16 – 181.2
11/17 – Did not check my weight

I broke into the 181 pound range this week which means I am back on track with my progress. Once I hit 180 (or in the 180 pound range) I plan on checking my body fat again to determine how much of my weight loss has been fat/muscle. I feel like I have lost a significant amount of body fat and my muscles have a lot more definition, and dare I say, look bigger. Even though this slow cut has been a pain, I feel like I have actually managed to gain muscle while losing fat by only putting myself into a mild caloric deficit! That being said, our brain can play tricks on us too. When we lose a lot of the fat that lays on top of the muscles and get more muscle definition, we create the “illusion” of bigger muscles. A healthy tan can also give the illusion of better muscle definition (which is why you see competitive body builders that look like they just stepped out of the spray tan booth) – this, however, is not my case because I am not tan at all (I practically glow in the dark). I am not sure how much of my “bigger muscles” is coming from this illusion effect. We will know more regarding if I have actually built muscle while losing fat once I get my body fat percentage soon. Unfortunately, Thanksgiving is also coming up right before my goal date (December 5th), so I hope I can get back on track after this massive cheat day.

Week 18

11/18 – 181.2
11/19 – 181.6
11/20 – 181.6
11/21 – 180.6
11/22 – 180.6
11/23 – 180.6
11/24 – 179.8

I broke into the 180 lb range this week as expected. Given that 3 measurements in a row were 180.6 I can assume accuracy and not a fluke. 17 pounds in 18 weeks (with some ups and downs in between and some weeks where I backtracked even) which puts me right about where I wanted to be with this cut. I decided to check my body fat percentage again and it came out at 13.3%. If you recall at the start of this process (18 weeks ago) I weighed in at 197.6 lbs and 16.7% body fat, which gives us a lean mass of 164.6 lbs. My current numbers suggest about 156.6 lbs of lean body mass. Now I don’t want to go jumping right to saying that I have experienced an 8 pound muscle loss. If you read my post on Body Fat Percentage you will know to take the numbers on any of these body fat percentage scales with a grain of salt as they have a fairly high level of inaccuracy. The best (affordable) way to know your true weight loss is to use simple calipers and a mirror. Calipers are more accurate than most body fat scales. Body fat scales can be off by up to 26% BF (and this is even in the high end scales). Calipers aren’t horribly accurate either, but this is mostly due to user error. Bod Pods (air displacement) or hydrostatic weighing are the gold standards, but they are hard to find and generally cost a decent amount of money to get them done ($75 for one Bod Pod reading).

I digress, my breakdown would mean that of my total 17 pound weight loss, 9 of the pounds were fat and 8 of the pounds were muscle. That would mean that nearly half my weight loss was muscle. Based on what I am seeing in the mirror and in the gym (my strength increases) I find this very unlikely. As I stated last week, muscle definition can trick our brains into thinking that our muscles look bigger, but I am filling out my shirts (sleeves and chest) better than I did at 197 pounds and I honestly think I managed to GAIN muscle during this cut because I used such a small caloric deficit and a slow cut. This is a stark contrast from my last cut where I lost almost 50 pounds. This 50 pound weight loss started when I was at my heaviest due to my back problems and subsequent back surgery, and noted a significant muscle loss (although I was not happy/proud to admit that). That particular cut was done traditionally for about half of the weight (in a significant caloric deficit) and also on the ketogenic diet for latter part of it. Both diets resulted in significant and visibly noticeable muscle loss for me (but also fat loss). You can read more on both types of diets in my past posts where I discuss the pros and cons of different diets. This cut, however, I will defend and say that if I have lost muscle I believe it to be very minimal and I truly believe I may have gained muscle.

If I were to guess I’d say my actual body fat percentage is around the 14-15% mark based on looks alone and that my initial body fat percentage was closer to 20% and (after just doing the math on those numbers) that would support close to NO muscle loss, without muscle gains however. I will break out the calipers tonight and see if my body fat percentage is even close to what the scale is telling me. I will likely post that number and my final weigh in tomorrow morning.

Thank you to anyone who was following along with my progress and I hope that those following along were able to gain insight, inspiration or knowledge into their own fitness journey by following along with me. You can see the ups and downs and even points where I stalled out or backtracked even. It happens to us all and you can see that with a little determination and grit we can easily push past these temporary obstacles and get back on track. I will likely be going on a “lean bulk” after my upcoming vacation in order to add some quality muscle to my frame again during the next many months and I might just create a separate progress page for that so anyone interested can follow along and observe again.

Addendum

11/25 – 179.8
11/26 – 179.8
11/27 – 178.2
11/28 – did not check weight
11/29 – 181.0
11/30 – did not check weight
12/1 – did not check weight
12/2 – 177.6
12/3 – 176.6

These are the final numbers before I left for my trip to a Mexico wedding. Not sure how accurate the last few numbers are because that is quite a jump in only a few days. It is very possible that I had less water over those few days because I was packing and I think I wasn’t using my trusty half gallon jug for a few days because I didn’t want to wash it before we left. My first weigh-in after Mexico was at 185.8. I immediately started a cheat week and then my bulk, which is detailed on “My Bulking Progress” page.