The Honeymoon is Over – Saying Goodbye to the Bulk

I officially started my dieting phase on Monday and ended the building phase. It’s been 26 weeks since the last time I had NO plan – No lifting and No meal plan. And it’s been about 14 months since I’ve done any cardio (I don’t count the 3 cardio sessions I did the week of my competition).

Last week I was under orders from my coach to take off, no lifting and no planned meals for an entire week. The result? See here:

I gained just 1lb, half an inch in my waist (BOO) half an inch in the hips (YAY!), half an inch in each leg, (YAY!), and of course, 1.5inches in my stomach. (BOO).

So you might think I’m upset about this but keep in mind, this was the result of being ON plan one week and being OFF one week. It was such a much needed break for my body. I did enjoy a few ~~runs~~ fast walks during the weekend while the weather was nice, a few alcoholic beverages, and celebrating Easter a week early with carbs galore. If this is the result of that, then I’m really pleased.

So these are the STARTING numbers for my cutting phase. I’m logging all of my food until I get a detailed plan from my coach which is due to arrive any minute now. I took in about 1600 calories yesterday and am on track to do about the same today. I worked legs yesterday and upper body today. I’m holding off on cardio until I get my plan because, as I’ve learned, it’s all diet. :) And the less cardio I have to do to shed this extra layer, the better and happier I’ll be.

I thought about ending my bulking phase with a little Ode to Food..but I’m not feeling the creative juices flowing on that one. So here are some Lessons Learned instead:

The scale is my friend…the food scale that is. I don’t care who you are, when you slap exactly 90ounces of tilapia or exactly 85grams of chicken on the scale, it’s like a little mini celebration. As pathetic as it sounds, I can’t help but think “HELL YEAH I’M A ROCK STAR” for being able to eye-ball what 85grams is and then to be right on the money? Okay it’s silly but I feel pretty damn awesome for doing it.

You can never get tired of peanut butter. Did you know there are people out there who don’t love peanut butter? How dare they! I learned to control my cravings by making my own in my VitaMix. It’s amazing what you WON’T devour when you’ve made it yourself. And when you’re ~~super cheap~~ frugal like me.

Good Food Attitude Required. You cannot possibly enter a bulking phase with a bad relationship with food. Of course, you can’t diet with one either. But I would say you better have a positive attitude because when you consume a lot of it, you don’t want to HATE food. You don’t want to HATE what it’s doing to your body. You’re getting larger and larger and clothes aren’t fitting but don’t hate on the food. It’s doing what it’s supposed to. You’re training your body to grow and you have to keep in mind that a surplus of food is necessary to achieve this.

Body Image is Everything. To go along with the food attitude, if you are miserable with how you look, you won’t last long. It’s not easy to see my six pack go away, it’s not a cake walk to step on the scale and record the new number, and it’s damn annoying to try on clothes that fit 3 months ago that can’t get past your hips. But it’s just the way things work. It’s the way your body responds to added muscle (plus a little fat).

If eating an entire plate of asparagus is wrong, then I don’t want to be right. There’s not really a lesson here. I just love asparagus. And I will never ever ever get tired of it. :)

Dieting progress posts will be forthcoming, as well as some much requested Workout posts. I’ve been asked to blog a 20 minute Hotel Workout for those clients of mine who travel frequently. So be on the lookout for that!

As always, you can find my other posts on various training topics at Muscle is the New Sexy, new posts from me come out every Wednesday. Don’t forget to like me on Facebook here and follow me on Twitter (mostly fitness related but sometimes sports and humor get mixed in) and Instagram (always just fitness related content).

Happy Training!