It’s easy to set macho targets, it’s less easy to achieve them. At the beginning of June I clarified 5 core objectives for the month. 3 out of 5 ended up as resounding successes (see photo montage), 1 of 5 was a narrow miss and the final target was 9% off (see “resource management” below). This was well wide of the mark and yet still a positive result. A 6% surplus in these times is a blessing, bearing in mind that so many right now are eating their way through savings to get by. I’m doing OK, not because of talent or hard work but dumb luck for the most part.
(1) CALORIE DEFICIT
I smashed target here, exceeding it by over 10,000. This was down to tight control of calorie intake rather than calories burned. Much of the month I spent too sore to workout (see below). In early June I also had to set asides exercise for a job assessment that cost me a lot of time. Overall: great result.
(2) WEIGHT LOSS
I lost 6.4lbs in June, going from 15s 1.2lbs to 14s 8.8lbs. As far as failure goes this is far from a bad result, even whilst raw calorie deficit numbers suggest I should have lost a lot more. A 55,000kcal deficit should equate to 10-15lbs losses and 6.4lbs is clearly well behind this. There are a few possible explanations:
- My muscle mass has increased
- My total body mass of water increased by 2% towards the end of June, which equates to over 4lbs
- I didn’t count calories on treat days, and I am well aware that I would have over-consumed on these days. The worst case scenario would be a 2,000kcal surplus for each day, perhaps meaning that 4 treat days may have lost me 2lbs of extra gains. I’m reluctant to give these up but I can scale them back if all else fails in improving the speed of weight loss.
- Age – the youngsters might not want to hear this but it’s a lot harder when you’re 39 than 19. It takes longer and you have to do much more for the same results. I am certain that with this dietary regime I would have lost a stone or more 20 years ago.
(3) WORKOUTS
Breaking through the ache barrier when you resume big weights sessions is deeply unpleasant, especially in relation to leg day. Each leg session has been followed by roughly a week of severe DOMS, which logically makes it hard to do much else in the meantime. A lot of gym nuts say “never skip legs day” and I get why: once you fall out of the rhythm it’s agony to get back into it. I do not know why the leg muscles seem uniquely susceptible to extreme DOMS, I only know that they are. Whilst you break through this barrier you either cancel other activities (e.g. cycling) or underperform in them. Obviously they are less pleasant too but what is the alternative? Most full-body moves (generally regarded as the best overall exercises) derive their thrust from the legs. Thus, to do the best workout moves you have to go through a painful platform building process.
Ultimately I am pretty much there, at least I hope. There is no ache free imminent future, I just want to get to the point at which I can do my full schedule (see: https://martinjamesphd.com/training-plan-may-20/). Next week will be the test of whether I am there or not.
(4) GARDEN
The garden looks amazing, unquestionably the best it has ever looked. New grass has come through, even in the majority of patches where it struggles for whatever reasons. My flagships (lilies, hydrangeas, roses) have also come through beautifully whilst all of my trees are thriving. It’s tidy too with the borders, shrubbery and other areas looking neat and orderly.
Every time I look out of my windows I feel happy and proud of how beautiful it looks. If every green space in our little country looked like this we would have the prettiest country on Earth. Such ambitions are beyond my scope but nobody can say I haven’t done my bit! 🙂 (see below)
(5) RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
A 6% surplus isn’t bad against the backdrop of substantial investment. I can confidently say that not a penny has been wasted in June, much if not all of the over-spend has been long-term investment. Some were strictly necessary (replacing or adding home tech) and much of the rest was the stockpiling of goods, that I therefore won’t have to buy in months or years hence.
The one area of excess was home luxuries which I have to accept as a weakness of mine. If times get harder ahead then this is an obvious opportunity to scale back spending still further.
PEAK GARDEN 🙂
Dr Martin James 