Skinny to Strong

It is already 3 weeks into the new quarter and I did not yet write my goals. I have it in my mind. it is just that I did not put it down on paper yet. So for the next 3 months my goal is to gain 3 lbs of fat while maintaining the same weight. It simply means I will have to convert 3 lbs of fat into muscle! Here are the raw numbers January 1, 2010: Baseline Weight: 125.6 lbs Fat %: 12.5% Fat: 15.7 lbs Lean Mass: 109.9 lbs Note that I am using the caliper measurement for fat. I don't think I can rely on the omron body fat monitor. I will still keep track of the fat numbers from omron fat monitor daily but I probably will not use them in any calculations. Since I cannot take the caliper measurement everyday I will use the fat % number that is closest to a particular date I am refering to. March 31, 2010: Goal Weight: 125.6 lbs Fat %: 10.11% Fat: 12.7 lbs Lean Mass: 112.9 lbs Change in 3 months Weight: 0 Fat %: 2.39 % Fat: -3 lbs Muscle: 3 lbs I will try and not l...

I was having trouble believing the fat numbers using my omron fat monitor, so I analyzed my numbers using the measurements taken with the body fat calipers. There is a world of difference. These numbers are more believable. Makes me think if I should just stop checking fat % using omoron body fat analyzer. It will be an expensive body weight scale then. I take fat caliper measurements every weekend only. As a result I cannot show the pretty graphs that I usually have in my posts because there will only be 4 data points per month. Anyway here are the numbers again but with body fat calipers. October 1, 2009 Stats Weight: 118.51 lbs Fat %: 8.74% Fat: 10.64 lbs Lean Mass: 108.15 lbs December 31, 2009 Stats Weight: 126 lbs Fat %: 11.6% Fat: 14.62 lbs Lean Mass: 111.38 lbs Change in 3 months Weight: 7.49 lbs Fat %: 2.86% Fat: 4.26 lbs Lean Mass: 3.23 lbs Those are much better numbers. When I set the goals I wanted to gain 3.75 lbs of muscle while limiting the fat gain to...

Another transformation picture session. In three months I gained a lot of weight and a lot of fat too. Sorry the after picture isn't clear. Date: 26 September 2009 - Weight: 117.5 lbs - Fat: 10.34% Date: 26 December 2009 - Weight: 126 lbs - Fat: 15% I see some changes. Not a lot. I gained some fat that is very visible in the after shot and some muscle too. I can still see the ab definition ever so slightly. Overall I am not very satisfied with the amount of change I see in 3 months. I hoped I would have more muscle and look a lot bigger. Oh well I have to remember that I am an ectomorph and every little helps.

It has been a few days into the new year and looking back at 2009, I have made some really good progress. The year 2009 has been more of an experimental year where I was experimenting with various routines and nutrition and trying to find the ones that work effectively for me. A lot of things happened in 2009. First and most important achievement is starting this blog! Without the blog I would not have a good record of how I felt each day and what changes I have been making and what their effects were. Maintaining a log of just numbers is boring. Written notes puts the numbers into perspective. Looking back into my body building past, I changed my routines many times over to find the right one for me. First I started off with P90X which was not very useful for my body type. I quickly got tired and was over training. A few months of P90X and I did not make any progress at all. Then it was time for strong-lifts and that went well. I gained a lot of strength. I lifted weights ...

Here are the weight and fat graphs for December 2009. Body Weight Graph Since I reached my goal of 125 lbs for the end of december I tried to maintain the same weight while I tried to reduce the fat. So I started eating the right number of calories that I need. As can be seen from the graph I was maintaining my weight for a while but then it started dipping for no apparent reason. I increased my calories a bit and it stared going up quickly. It is quite hard to keep track of the exact amount of food to eat. Body Fat % Graph While I maintained the same weight I started to see an increase in body fat. I was not sure why that would be the case. Am I losing muscle so quickly? A small increase in weight causes the fat to shoot up quickly while a stable weight still increases it slowly. The only option left to loose fat is to loose weight? I don't like the idea at all. I am also doubting the fat monitor. It tends read the fat changes a while after the weight has changed. So if ...

Time for some numbers now that december 2009 has come to an end. Not just the month, but the year and decade as well have come to an end. In december again I have gained a lot of fat while I gained very little weight. The reason mainly is because I reduced the amount of calories to a more "maintain weight" level. Body weight and fat gain for the month of December, 2009 Weight: 126.00 lbs Fat %: 15.51% Lean mass: 106.46 lbs Weight gain: 1.46 lbs Fat % gain: 1.48% Lean mass gain: -0.61 lbs It is indeed strange that I have lost muscle. Unfortunately since I am doing slow tempo reps I am using lower weights so I cannot be sure if I really lost muscle or it is just an error in the body fat analyzer. I have a theory that my body fat analyzer has a lag in noticing the fat% change. When I gain weight I usually don't see a quick gain in fat. It comes after a few days of the weight increase. So I am assuming I will see the fat reduction will come a little later after ...