Over the last few months I have been measuring my body weight and my body-fat percentage. I started out in August at 157 pounds and a guess of about 13-15% body fat (I did not have a body-fat measuring tool). I then started my 1 liter (or a little more) of milk a day diet. Meanwhile, eating as much as I could. My only goals were: weigh in at 165 pounds with a 315lb deadlift, 275lb squat and 95lb overhead press by the end of the year. I reached all of my goals. I then took thought to my bodyfat and older goals of becoming a faster sprinter and having the strength of a gymnast. I then bought and began a program that buildingthegymnasticbody.com built. The program focused on the basics and the first 1/4 of the program is more endurance based.
At the beginning of the year, I reduced my calorie intake. Mainly by not drinking a ton of whole milk. I also cut back on my "cheat" days (I was eating a lot of junk food 1-3 days a week, thinking more calories=more strength gains). Now I have only been having one cheat day a week. On this day, I ate whatever I want... no thought as to how good it was for me. The other 6 days of the week I just ate pretty clean: somewhat high protein and fat intake, reduced carbohydrates. I felt a lot better having this diet over my "eat big, get big" diet. I was not bloated half of the day and I felt like I had more energy!
In short, I went from a high calorie+not healthy diet with only heavy weight training to a moderate/high calorie+healthy diet with heavy and high rep training.
Anyway, here are the facts of my body improvement.
Over the past 4 months, I did have a body-fat measuring tool. Here are my results:
11/4: 168lb @ 16.5% bf (still on the "eat big, get big" diet)
12/3: 167lb @ 16.0% bf (still on the "eat big, get big" diet)
1/9: 163lb @ 12.5% bf (less calories+healthier eating)
2/9: 158lb @ 10.0% bf (less calories+healthier eating)
That's about 11 pounds of fat loss in 3 months! Was my goal to lose body fat? No. My goal was to improve my bodyweight strength and feel healthier. Granted, losing 11 pounds of fat is nice!
I will not post pictures of myself, but needless to say, I looked leaner too. I went from "Is that a 4 pack?" To "Yeah, I got a 6 pack now. Sweet."
Now, the average person would say I was dumb to eat that much food and milk to gain weight. I will disagree with that opinion. Why? Because I increased my deadlift by about 100 pounds and my squat by 85 pounds in 3 to 4 months. I got a ton stronger. My lifts have gone down 5 to 10 pounds since the end of last semester (that's when I tested my maxes)... but my bodyweight has also gone down about 10 pounds. My lifts are on the rise again, and I hope to raise my bodyweight a few pounds (while maintaining 8-12% bodyfat.).
All that change happened to by body... what was the biggest factor? I changed my diet. You diet matters a lot to your health and fitness. Control it. Own it. Use it to change your body for the better.
