19.08 Update
Calories Consumed: 1850
Workout: -

I left my house very early in the morning and I just got back (had a ton of errands to run + some other time-consuming stuff) so no workouts today. Still on point nutrition wise and that makes me happy.

@Jon-PokerVIP @Jon
Yeah I weigh myself every morning because that's when you get the most accurate reading. Our weight fluctuates like crazy throughout the day for a number of different reasons like water retention, sodium/carb intake etc.

@Harvie @Harvie
Thx sir! I think you might be right about the pictures. I just find making photos of food... strange. That being said I'll post some more of those from time to time. As for the caloric intake yeah it's on a lower side. Mostly because I know that my metabolism is super slow so I want to push it as hard as I can without going so low that I might have some hormonal issues. My BMR is about 2.8-2.9k so I definitely shouldn't go any lower than 2k but it happens sometimes.

20.08 Update
Calories Consumed: 2072
Workout: 24 HIIT Sets

After a long and draining day, I overslept a bit and skipped the morning workout. Fortunately everything else went according to play. That one additional day of recovery actually got me thinking. Doing intense HIIT workouts 2 times per day probably isn't optimal and In not for the fact that I really hate slow cardio I'd probably substitute morning workout with it. So far I don't really feel the need to change anything but I might modify my workouts slighly depending on how I feel.

21.08 Update
Calories Consumed: 2246
Workout: 24 HIIT Sets

Skipping morning workout for two days straight made me realize that 2 sessions of HIIT were putting too much stress on my body. I feel way better now, but I still think working out 2 times per day is doable and I might incorporate some sort of slow cardio into my routine. Nutrition was on point again and I'm hoping for some good news Monday morning.

Good luck for your journey Matt

I took a small break from updating this journey to take care of some personal matters, but I'm back and hungry (for progress).

Week II Summary
Starting Weight: 144.6kg
Current Weight: 143.9kg

Again I was hoping for a bit more, but can't really complain. I decided to remove morning HIIT workout from my routine to minimize te risk of injury (HIIT is pretty intensive and doing it two times a day gave me very little time to recover increasing the risk that one sloppy rep of kettlebell swing could stifle my progress by making me unable to train for a couple of weeks). I could substitute it with some kind of slow cardio and I'll think about it when my progress slows down. For now I'll add 4th strength training session to the mix and just continue doing what I'm doing.

Since there was no update yesterday I'll post a photo of my dinner:



Vegan Goulash - sooooo good, and you don't have to make it for 2 hours (mushrooms cook way faster than meat).

Oh and here's today's breakfast as a bonus:


It will keep me energized and hydrated for a good amount of time and it's surprisingly not that high in calories (around 500).

25.08.15
Calories Consumed: 2026
Workout: 16 HIIT Sets + 1h of RT

Back to regular updates! Again everything is fine which doesn't sound sexy, but most things worth doing basically boil down to disciplined slow and steady progress (whether it's a relationship, learning how to play an instrument, building muscle etc.)

I don't think I could eat that goulash, I'm just not a fan of vegetables thrown together. The fruit breakfast is right up my street tho!!
This is a stupid question...but do you eat everything in glass bowls?

26.08.15
Calories Consumed: 1834
Workout: 24 HIIT Sets

And another solid day!

@BarraBod @BarraBod Nah regular plates are fair game, I just find the shape of bowl aesthetically pleasing for some reason:P

I certainly have not been doing what i planned in August but have still managed to lose 5lbs now which i am pretty happy about considering.

Just booking in a gym session for tomorrow and my mates are actually going with me which makes the whole thing a lot easier and a much more fun experience.

27.08.15
Calories Consumed: 1903
Workout: 16 HIIT Sets + 1h of RT


@Jon-PokerVIP That sounds great. Going to the gym with friends is one of the best ways of keeping yourself motivated since it kinda becomes a social experience and you're all somewhat accountable for each others success. Oh and good job on losing 5lbs. You don't have to do everything perfectly to lose weight as long as you're in a caloric deficit most of the time and you move around. I'm having a bit harder time losing weight than most people since my metabolism is really slow but I'm making progress each week and that's what counts;)

28.08.15
Calories Consumed: 1691
Workout: 16 HIIT Sets + 1h of RT

I started to notice that my cravings are slowly going away. I haven't had a huge problem with those and I ate mostly healthy, but I wouldn't say no to a can of Pepsi if it was ice cold and I w hot/thirsty. Today I had access to a ton of junk food and I relatively effortlessly passed on all of it which further reinforced the feeling that this journey might be kinda slow, but it most likely will be successful.

Monthly Summary - August:
Starting Weight: 147.5kg
Current Weight: 142.6kg

I've started this journey one week into my cut so that's why starting weight for the month differs from the starting weight I've put into my first post. My goal was to lose 6kg, I lost 4.9kg which is also pretty great and I'm happy with the result. I'll probably ramp up the intensity a tiny bit in the next month, but I'm not planning on doing anything crazy. Sustainability above all. Even though about 70-80% of my diet was clean I also ate pizza, ice cream and drank pepsi on more than one occasion which makes the result even better. I enjoy this hybrid of clean vegetarian eating most of the time with the occasional dirty source of calories while staying in a caloric deficit. I'd probably go 100% clean if that can of pepsi or 2-3 slices of pizza one time per week caused me to binge, but this doesn't seem to be a problem. It really doesn't feel like I'm on a diet, it's more of a lifestyle change and since vegetables aren't very caloric dense I can eat humongous portions and still end up at 1.8-2k calories for the day. Protein intake can be an issue if I don't think about it, but I'm always eating at least 100-150g of it without regular supplementation (I may drink a protein shake once every two days or so) and you don't really need as much protein as fitness industry would lead you to believe. That being said I could bump it up to 200-250g with relative ease and I might do that in the next month or two when I'll switch to a powerlifter style training. Oh and it turns out that that you don't need to be on a low carb/ketogenic diet to lose weight (well at least I don't, but I have good reasons to assume that I'm not the only one). On some days, I've consumed as much as 80% of my calories from carbs (thou usually it was closer to 50-60%) and I still managed to lose more than 1kg per week. I'm not a firm believer in 80/10/10 or any other kind of diet for that matter. I also think that protein is fairly important and as I said before I'll most likely increase my protein intake when I switch my style of training, but moderate/high carb diets are a lot easier to sustain.

Oh and one last thing. After 26 years of being somewhat lactose intolerant (I'm fine with a bit of low-fat milk and some small amount of cheese, but as soon as I ate something with heavy cream or white cheese of any kind like mozzarella/feta etc. my digestive system would quickly send me a message saying: 'bro something is not right') I occasionally eat eggs but since I'm so close to a vegan diet I figured I'll switch in the next month or two and eliminate all animal products from my diet.

01.09 Update
Calories Consumed: 2049
Workout: 8 HIIT Sets + 1h of RT

My first update in September. Exciting stuff. My goal for the month is to lose 6kg again and again I'll be perfectly happy with 4-5kg (with 3kg being ok and everything below that being not that great). I'm sure it's doable and I'll probably ramp up the intensity of my workouts slightly to ensure that it happens. I'll probably move out of the place I currently live in at the end of the month, but it shouldn't really disrupt my routine that much.

As for today, I had a pretty great session of resistance training. I made some small strength gains (I was able to increase the number of reps in my usual routine) which is great considering that I'm in a caloric deficit. My HIIT workout was shorter than usual though for a very simple reason, it was so hot that I could barely move around without 12kg kettlebell in my hands. I'm kinda pumped since the last month went pretty smooth and barring some random accidents/sickness there's very little danger of me going off track.

02.09 Update
Calories Consumed: 2122
Workout: 16 HIIT Sets + 1h of RT

I feel great. It's probably hard to notice changes in my body from the outside, but I know it well and I can clearly see that it's changing. I had another solid workout session (back + triceps) and again I was able to push rep ranges a tiny bit which means that I'm making some strength gains. The fact that I kinda hate cardio might actually work out well for me because resistance training is still amazing for burning calories and I might actually get some strength gains and maybe (hopefully) some muscles out of this deal. As I mentioned before I'll probably move out at the and of the month and I'll make sure that the next place that I'll live in has a gym nearby so I can start moving some heavy weights:)

04.09.15
Calories Consumed: 1655
Workout: 20min on elliptical + 30min of resistance training

So I almost jinxed myself in one of the previous posts. Yesterday I woke up with severe lower back pain. I used to have problems with it in the past, but it went away for a good while now. Unfortunately, it got back and even though I'm positive that I haven't pulled a muscle I'm sure that intense back session + HIIT workout consisting of heavy core and back hitting compounds had something to do with it. Today it wasn't really that bad but my back was still really tender so I decided not to force it. At the same time... I want my progress:) So I dusted off an old elliptical machine and even though I hate slow cardio I decided to suck it up. Light chest workout + 20min on elliptical was enough to get me back in the groove and I might stick with the elliptical as my cardio for a while until my back says it's ok to go back to kettlebell. Especially because it turns out that my cardiovascular endurance haven't really improved with kettlebell usage. Kettlebell definitely, visibly improved my strength and explosive power, but not my endurance. 20min is not a lot and even though it obviously wasn't my max (again I decided not to force it) I felt fairly tired and I doubt I would be able to go for more than 10-15 more minutes. If I'll have to stick with elliptical for a while I'll try to target 30-40min as my minimum for the first week or so and increase that to about 60min as soon as possible.

I also suffer from really bad lower back pains and is ofc caused by my weight and sitting at a desk all day long. I use one of those yoga ball things where i basically just lie on it and squirm around a bit until my back feels better. It does seriously help and i can't recommend it enough for anyone suffering with bad backs and necks.

Kettle bells are truly incredible and wayyyy harder to use than a normal weight or dumbbell!!

05.09.15
Calories Consumed: 1985
Workout: 15min on elliptical + 60min of resistance training

I had really good biceps + shoulders workout (it was supposed to be back, but it still hurts more than it should). Only 15 minutes on elliptical because I was running late, but I'll take it.

@Jon-PokerVIP
I know what you mean and I'll probably try it. Since I stopped working out in the morning, I should probably develop some sort of yoga-esk stretching routine and do it instead. Stretching can be really beneficial when it comes to flexibility/agility/joint health, but doing it before workout isn't always the best idea (it can do more harm than good if you do it before some heavy, explosive movements).

As for kettlebells, yeah I love them. You can do so much with so little time when you use them. And yeah kettlebell exercises are usually more difficult because they engage more muscle groups and you sometimes have to rely on momentum while still controlling your body throughout the movement so you can maintain proper form and not injure yourself. Kettlebells aren't perfect for everything, they won't build much muscle (or any muscle for that matter if you're somewhat experienced lifter), but they can help you preserve them while still burning fat and gaining some functional strength in the process.

Doing good bro keep it up!

Hope this helps

Week I Summary
Starting Weight: 142.6kg
Current Weight: 142kg

Given the fact that I had those back problems and I had to skip one workout because of it + make two of the other ones lower in intensity, 0.6kg is a solid number. My back still hurts a bit and I'm not sure how I'm going to address it this week, but I'll try to ramp up the intensity.

@Obliterate
Thx sir! I'm not planning on stopping anytime soon. I'm not sure what's my target weight, probably something like 100kg-105kg which is a lot for some people but with my 8.5inch wrists and 12.5inch ankles (I have very thick bones) I weighed around 100kg even when I was super physically active. I'll most likely shift my focus at some point from what I'm doing now, to powerlifting style of training (if knees and back allow) but until I reach that 100-105kg mark I'll stay in caloric deficit.

@Jon-PokerVIP
Pretty basic but good and well thought out routine. I'll probably use it as my baseline and add 2-3 more exercises for the lower back. Thanks for that!