Day 15: When in doubt, bake

day 15

Weight: 123.2 lbs.
Workout A: 20 min., 42 sec.
Total inches: 117.4
Protein: 140 g (22 g over target)
Calories: 2,799

If this project is about vanity, the biggest concern I have is having a gut. (Not guts. Gut.)

I’ve always had a small pot belly, which doesn’t jump out when the first thing people notice is how skinny I am.

So besides looking foolish, my bigger concern is coming away from all of this with nothing more than a giant gut. That little nagging voice in the back of my mind may be my built-in appetite suppressant. And for me, it’s always worked.

Having never counted calories in my life, I started checking today. To maintain current weight (given my height and gender) requires roughly 1,700 to 2,100 calories a day.

“The 4-Hour Body” [Amazon | iTunes aff. links] assures the reader that one won’t transform from average human to muscle-bound freak overnight. It is implied that one won’t also explode around the waistline either. But the fear lingers.

The obvious answer for my workout Saturday: Bake.

I’ve made Nestlé Toll House chocolate chip cookies all my life. They’re easy, and I rarely vary the recipe. I’m always trying to get the perfect finish, chewy and moist.

I don’t have that many out-and-out sweets in the house, so baking some fresh temptations should make it easier to indulge. Each standard cookie has 110 calories and 2 g protein.

I had four with my protein shake for breakfast dessert, if that’s what you want to call it.

I never imagined 2 weeks in that I’d be struggling with putting on the pounds. The tiny voice is laughing.

•

Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. package) semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes 5 dozen cookies

Note: 1 cookie has 110 calories, 2 g protein.

Day 14: Down for the count

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day 14 front

Weight: 122.6 lbs.
No workout today
Total inches: 117.6
Protein: 172 g (54 g over target)

I apparently have a superpower.

Like Peter Parker waking up to stick to walls and shoot webbing, I now know I have a gift. I am immune to calories.

Ta da.

At heart, this isn’t true. While I’ve focused on protein consumption, I’m pretty sure my overall food/caloric intake has been roughly the same. I haven’t stayed at 120 pounds for decades without becoming steady in my habits.

I don’t eat a lot. The few hours of exercise I’ve done these past 14 days haven’t radically increased my appetite.

The next step is to count calories. As much as I love numbers, it’s a minor inconvenience to calculate protein in every bite. And now, I gotta add up the calories, too.

I’ll get used to it. I know this is the standard operating procedure for dieters, so it’s new to me.

In addition to counting those calories, I will continue to eat more. I might burst.

Probably not. But we’re going to find out.

Maybe that can be my superpower.

day 14 siade

Day 13: Memos to myself

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day 13

Weight: 124.0 lbs.
No workout today
Total inches: 117.8
Protein: 195 g (77 g over target)

As obsessive as I am about getting my numbers and daily topless photo, I’ve been remiss in a few other details chronicling Project Bulk.

• I tried to capture video of my most recent workout, but discovered at the end that the camera had frozen. First time that’s happened: I had to pull the battery just to get it to shut off.

• I haven’t taken any food shots, but I can work on that. So you haven’t seen my Balance Bars, barbecue chicken and baked potatoes, barbecue chicken and oven fries, bratwursts (that I didn’t make), veggie pizza (that I didn’t make), protein shakes and so on.

• Also, I meant to take a side profile photo once a week, but have not done so since Day 1. I don’t think we’ll see much change there, but it can’t hurt.

• Somehow, I’ve managed to remember my workout days in my head. I do have them in my calendar, but I know without checking that Saturday is the next session and that it will be Workout A, another chance to redeem myself.

The one thing that I’ve been rock solid on is turning out these posts. Body by blogging!

Day 12: Drink or shrink

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day 12

Weight: 123.0 lbs.
No workout today
Total inches: 116.1
Protein: 165 g (47 g over target)

Most days, I start out with a simple protein shake, featuring my old nemesis, milk. (shakes fist)

It has gotten a little easier to digest it each day, and it certainly has made it much easier to hit the protein goals.

But I may still be lagging on calories and volume.

weight Sept. 9, 2012

Weight chart, through Sept. 12

My weight seems to be stuck at 123 pounds, so I’m going to slowly build my caloric intake. In other words, eat more each day.

The kitchen is loaded with protein-rich foods, so now it’s up to me. I think I’ll celebrate with some ice cream and trail mix and granola and pork and …

•

Protein Shake
“The 4-Hour Body” [Amazon | iTunes aff. links], page 207

3 cups milk (2 percent or whole organic)
30 g whey protein isolate (chocolate recommended)
1 banana
3 heaping tbsp. almond butter (no added sugar, maltodextrin or syrups)
5 ice cubes

Blend.

Notes: 970 calories, 75 g protein.

I use 2 percent milk, Isopure dutch chocolate whey protein isolate [aff. link] (lucky for me, on sale last month) and boring peanut butter (cheaper).

Day 11: I. Am. Smarticus.

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day 11

Weight: 123.0 lbs.
Workout B: 18 min., 36 sec.
Total inches: 116.6
Protein: 132 g (14 g over target)

I completed my first full workout today! I feel strong.

As the dudes at my gym would say, “I totally crushed it, dude!” Wait a minute, the only dude at my gym is me, and I’d never say that.

In my brief workout, I completed seven reps at 30 pounds of the slight incline bench press, 10 reps at 55 pounds of the dumbbell squat and 50 reps at 20 pounds of the kettlebell swing. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it.

(I made it through 1 minute 50 seconds of the optional bicycle exercise, instead of 3 minutes. I’m still counting it.)

My hope is that I can get through every workout from now on, as unrealistic as that may be. I don’t want to keep increasing the recovery time between workouts, but I will if I must.

Part of it was simply attitude. At the start, I realized I’d rather push as hard as I can for the brief time today rather than have to do it all over again in a week. That motivation was good incentive to get through the last reps.

I like feeling strong, and I love feeling like I’m progressing as I should.

Momentum!

Day 10: Be stiller, my beating heart

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day 10

Weight: 123.0 lbs.
No workout today
Total inches: 116.6
Protein: 123 g (5 g over target)

My heart is slowing down. Apparently, that’s OK.

Every 8 weeks, I donate blood. (Coincidentally, I started shortly after Sept. 11, 2001.) As part of the clearance ritual, the Red Cross staff member checks my pulse rate. I expect it to be around 80 or 90 beats per minute, the usual.

I clocked in at 62. Whoa. I looked surprised. I was surprised.

Jamie, who had moved on to taking my blood pressure, asked, “Have you been working out?”

“Yes.”

“Exercise lowers your pulse. It’s normal. With some athletes with a pulse under 50, we have to get a doctor to OK their donation.”

I had no idea, even after exercising on and off again over the years.

I’m not planning on measuring this daily, but it’s perhaps another sign that this program is moving in the right direction.

Day 9: Temptations

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Day 9

Weight: 123.0 lbs.
No workout today
Total inches: 116.6
Protein: 145 g (27 g over target)

I wouldn’t begin to know the temptations that dieters face every day.

The only temptations I face are working out more and eating more. Just to see if I can move the numbers a little faster.

With blogging, more can often be better. More posts, more topics, more SEO traction, more traffic.

With adding muscles, I’m taking the steady route. For me, that means sticking to a strict exercise schedule, though it feels infrequent.

And that also means eating more than I normally do. “Eat like it’s your job,” advises “The 4-Hour Body” [Amazon | iTunes aff. links]. It hasn’t reached gut-busting proportions yet, but anything more than normal feels like a lot to a light eater such as myself.

The temptations I have aren’t huge, but they are present. I wonder if they’ll deepen as this experiment goes further.

Day 8: A week’s worth of progress

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Day 8

Weight: 123.6 lbs.
No workout today
Total inches: 116.3
Protein: 119 g (1 g over target)

I can’t detect patterns over a day. But over a week, maybe.

The first indicator of progress is gaining weight. “The 4-Hour Body” [Amazon | iTunes aff. links] suggests shooting for an increase of 2.5 pounds a week, and I’ve gained 1.8 pounds in the first week.

I trust my digital scale for accuracy and consistency. I weigh myself each morning right after waking up. I can increase my poundage with some minor adjustments to my daily menu. No need to track calories yet, just eat more protein and food in general.

Who knew the easiest part would be gaining weight? But this indicator shows that I don’t have any physiological defect such as the so-called “leaky gut syndrome,” which would make it far more difficult to gain weight, even with bigger meals.

The second indicator is murky: total inches, my combined measurements for my arms, legs, waist and hips. It has increased from 113.6 inches to 116.3 inches, jumping 2.7 inches.

I’m not putting as much faith in this number yet, because my tape measuring skills are so-so, and the individual measures have jumped back and forth daily. In theory, more muscle will mean a higher total inch count by the end of the month.

Let’s hope it’s not simply a giant increase in my waistline. No Cartman “beefcake” results, please.

Eric Cartman, Weight Gain 4000

Beefcake?

The third indicator is my collection of workout data. But at this early stage, I’ve completed Workouts A and B only once each, and failed to complete reps on Workout A once. Not much to go on at this point.

The telling sign will be a steady increase in lifting weights and completion of target reps. I’m guessing it may take an entire month — eight workouts in all — to gather enough data.

A pattern is emerging. These three indicators will help determine its shape.

Day 7: Half a rep

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Day 7

Weight: 123.6 lbs.
Workout A: 18 min., 52 sec.
Total inches: 116.9
Protein: 139 g (23 g over target)

I was just a half rep away from glory. But it was not meant to be.

The workout regimen is to do 14 to 17 reps with weights. That’s it. Really.

And, you are expected to fail. As in work out to failure.

In today’s Workout A, I had a target of 65 pounds for seven reps of Yates row. Because I completed all seven, I increase to 75 pounds for the next Workout A.

I had another target of 40 pounds for seven reps of the barbell overhead press. As long as I complete six, I can consider the goal met and can increase to the next level for the next Workout A.

But at five-and-a-half reps, I had to stop.

And “The 4-Hour Body” [Amazon | iTunes aff. links] says stop completely. No more reps, no drop-down (doing the set over with a lower weight), no wait and start over. Pack up and go home (I’m already home!).

In addition, add 1 extra day between all future workouts (which was scheduled to go up from 2 to 3 days anyway). Workout B will now be in 3 days rather than 2 days. The reason is to ensure proper time for rest (muscle development) and feeding.

I debated for a minute on whether to do the optional abs exercises. I did them, since they’re part of a different muscle group than the standard lifts.

So the first standard workout ended just a half rep short of completion. If only I could’ve kept that barbell above my head just a moment longer …

Day 6: A question of body image

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day 6

Weight: 123.0 lbs.
No workout today
Total inches: 116.0
Protein: 118 g (2 g over target)

Ginny has always given it to me straight.

“Your blog is about body image and girly shit,” she said.

Indeed.

This is new territory for me. While I’ve relied on my friend’s good taste for help with clothes, hair and fashion in general, I’ve never discussed those topics at length on this or any other site.

Vanity is a factor in Project Bulk. I want to look more muscular and remove some of the gut.

After checking my body fat percentage, I realized that better health is also a factor. Having a score of 23.5 percent puts me closer to Poor than Average for men in my age range. Consider that Good is 18.1 to 19.6 percent, and Excellent is 13.6 to 16.3 percent.

So adding muscle and trimming some fat would put me a few steps closer to an ideal percentage.

The “Can I do it?” challenge is a big factor. I certainly have a curiosity to see if any of this will work, if I can pull it off. Just because a book says so doesn’t mean I buy it.

Men may not always discuss body image among peers or in public, but that doesn’t mean some of us don’t think about it. And it definitely doesn’t mean we don’t want to improve it.

Maybe better abs will get this girly label off me …