Thoughts: It will be another week and a half before I take my 4 week progress photos and measurements. So far on the program, I’ve bounced between 134 to 139 lbs depending on various factors ranging from PMS to free day water retention. It must be a lot easier to be male and not have to account for two weeks of crazy, hormone-influenced water weight gain.

I’ve retained all of the strength and size gains I put on during my bulk and might even be adding more with the change in lifting routines. Whereas Max-OT had me doing 2-3 sets of only 4-6 reps at maximum weight, my SGX training plan averages 2-3 sets at 12-20 reps. Even though I am using slightly lower weights, my arms are responding very well to the change. The measurements I took last week indicate that my lower body is getting a tiny bit smaller while the upper body is holding steady and even gaining a bit in size. I honestly wouldn’t care if I only dropped 5 lbs or less this challenge as long as I retain my muscle mass and simply shed the fat covering the good stuff.

The main difficulty I’ve had (besides starting SGX on PMS week) has been due to two things:

1) On BFL/LL, my last meal was taken around 10:30 pm every night. On SGX, let’s just say that my meals get cut off a bit earlier.

2) I’ve become semi-addicted to the online roleplaying game World of Warcraft, which causes me to stay up past 10:30 pm and therefore get HUNGRY. My body doesn’t care what my meal plan says; it wants to be fed every 2-3 hours. I’m also not quite getting enough sleep, which is a big no-no when it’s time to cut.

I’m focusing on having a very clean weekend and week now so I can give an accurate report on the program next weekend.

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Nutrition: SGX Training Day eating pattern
(Details omitted by request)

Regular (Non-SGX) Daily Supplements: multivitamin with iron, calcium 500 + D, flaxseed oil

Water for yesterday: 14 cups

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Workout:
8:30 am steady state treadmill walk (3.5 mph / 15% incline / 45 min)
12:00 pm Lower body workout
10:00 pm calisthenics challenge (20 min)

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The Awful Truth:
1. Finished off Kashi (1 cup?)
2. Didn’t drink enough water

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Brownie Points:
1. Had my planned veggie omelette meal for dinner instead of the crapload of pasta that was delivered by the catering company–lasagna, mac and cheese, salad with dressing already mixed in, potatoes, and brownies. Not a single clean dish in the lot.
2. Fully on track today with meal contents and timing.
3. Raised my 3 x 20 squats up to 105 lbs today. Will shoot for 115 lbs next week. It would be rather splendid to do three sets of 20 squats at my body weight by the end of the 12 weeks.

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Short-term Goals:
1. Do the laundry (still)
2. Recharge PDA before I lose my data again.
3. Mail out old PDA to friend in California.
4. Bring more Equal to work.