Hanging in There

Today marks Day 22 of the Velocity Diet, and I'm still alive.  Woo!  I've maintained about 80-90% compliance on the diet, although Dave and I have implemented solid meals with the same protein-fat-carb breakdown as our dinners a few times a week.  I know that takes away from some of what the people who market that diet so fanatically advocate, but from reading other V-Dieter's blogs, this alteration is VERY common and still produces pretty much the same results.  The whole point of the V-Diet is mental discipline and strictly portioned meals, and if the solid food comes in those exact proportions, you're accomplishing the same thing.  Sorry, T-Nation.  ;)

I have been really busy at work, so the blog posting has been less frequent than I'd like, as have the weigh-ins and measurements.  I will do another weigh in and measurement next week to check my progress.  A lot of changes apparently happen during the 2 week period following the initial 28 day super strict timeframe, but everyone responds differently.

As far as MY progress: Physically, my weight has fluctuated day to day (like usual), but overall I'm down about 6-7 lbs.  I've lost more in the way of inches than anything else.  My clothes fit more loosely, and I noticed that my bodyweight exercises like pull ups and rings feel easier.  It's amazing what a small weight fluctuation can do to those movements!  In terms of energy and attitude, it's been rough.  I get tired in the afternoons due to the very low carb levels, and I really don't like "meal" times because I dread the shakes.  They really don't taste bad; I'm just freakin' SICK of them. 

I'll just do a catch-up summary of a couple of my workouts below and add more as I find time:

9/2/10 Workout

Quads Gym

Warm Up: high incline walking - 15 min. (I was feeling particularly sluggish this day and needed to loosen up a lot)

Good Mornings (in kg): 20 x 10, 30 x 5, 35 x 8, 40 x 8

Press (in kg): 30 x 5, 35 x 3, 40 x 2

Note: I have been doing presses a lot lately, and there is some interesting anecdotal evidence from Dan John that women should be pressing every day.  Check it:

"'Press more' in terms of volume, of course…women should press probably every day, doing something in a pressing movement. I didn’t say heavy, I didn’t say 100 reps. In the same vein, wom[e]n should stop stretching all the time. They are predisposed to flexibility, yet lack in pressing strength. No, for total candor, I like the female design and I am not being critical. My point is that everyone likes to play to their strengths and ignore their weaknesses. Women need to press. Women tend to have a narrow shoulder base vis-à-vis the waist and it is difficult to press with that issue. I would argue that a guy can get away with just one press in his program, but a woman should master every variation they can find. I have had some great insights, by the way, from training women, as working with this 'problem' has given me some insights to improve my own lifting. So, I decided to add more variation into my training and it has made it more fun and more productive."

Source: http://www.begin2dig.com/2010/06/pressing-matters-wee-chat-with-dan-john.html

3 Round Circuit:

Incline Single Arm DB Press: 25 # x 10 each earm

25 Sit Ups

9/3/10 Workout

CrossFit

Squats (5-5-5): Bar x 10, 145 x 5, 165 x 5, 190 x 5 --> felt WEAK.  Ugh.

MetCon (rx'ed): my breakdowns of reps are listed after rep scheme

30 Pull ups -- 23-4-3

30 Front squats (65#) -- 19-6-5

30 Kettlebell swings (35#) -- unbroken

1k Row

8:19