Skinny with aspirations

[macmanchad]

Been lurking here for a while now, figured I should say something about myself.

I'm currently working the Body for Life program to get myself in the gym every day, see some progress, motivate myself, get used to dieting, etc. So far (day 50) so good... but I can't help to feel that I'm not tracking my info correctly.

On 5/1/06, I was carrying 40.802 lbs of fat and had 136.598 lbs of lean body mass, for a total weight of 177.4 lbs. On 7/24/06, I weighed in at 169 lbs even, carrying 34.645 lbs of fat and 134.355 lbs of lean body mass. I took all these measurements with my Tanita body fat monitoring scale each morning right after going to the bathroom and not having consumed anything.

I took some measurements (most likely highly inaccurate) just to try and see how I'm doing in the size department...

5/31/06
Biceps: 13.25"
Chest: 40.25"
Waist: 38.75" (funny, since I was wearing a 34" waist pants)
Quads: 22.5"

7/24/06
Biceps: 13.5"
Chest: 40.5"
Waist: 37.5"
Quads: 23"

The change in weight and body composition is quite exciting, and I'm now getting too skinny for some of the "fat pants" I bought. It's all a huge motivator. However, I'm a little confused on the rest of my measurements. I figured for sure that I would've put on more than 0.25"-0.5" in those three areas. Maybe it's the creatine that's giving me a false sense of size.

After the Body for Life plan is completed (34 more days) I'll change up my workouts and diet to start gaining mass. I figure if I change to having 4 days/week of lifting and 2 days/week of cardio that I should start packing on the pounds and see some real gains.

Any further suggestions would be greatly appreciated :-)

[arpeejay]

Much as I hate to say it (because I'm a stats fetishist), forget the stats! At least for now, that is. Use the scale and the mirror and wait a few more months (like, end of November) before measuring again.

In the meantime, keep in mind that you lost 8-9 lbs. and yet still managed to had 1/4 to 1/2 inches on each bodypart. That's really quite good -- it's to shrink weight and increase your measurements at the same time.

Also:

Why are you doing the creatine? I thought (others will correct me, I'm sure) that it was most effective for bulking, and you're trying to cut down. My guess is that the creatine is you'd lose more lbs. and more inches around the middle if you gave that a rest.

All the best...

Richard

[macmanchad]

Why do I use creatine?

#1) The bigger, the better.
#2) It's highly effective to decrease recovery time. If I can bounce back faster from a hard workout, then I'm more likely to get back in the gym and push myself again. Only thing that sucks about it is that you're supposed to cycle off of it, so while I'm not taking it it'll be harder to keep myself motivated and push myself.
#3) See #1 :-)

[brent]

You should feel good that you've made measurable gains in just a short period. This is a long-term game, and measuring too regularly can be frustrating.


BTW. Enjoy Stump-Town as I wish I still lived there (Las Vegas sucks!)

[hulkmuscle]

Originally Posted by brent

You should feel good that you've made measurable gains in just a short period. This is a long-term game, and measuring too regularly can be frustrating.

Frustrating and self-defeating. Talking with some of the competitive guys at my gym, I've found out that most of them could care less about their actual measurements, but rather how the muscle looks. If you're losing bodyfat in the process of building, you'll probably see the ruler go down, but that doesn't mean that your muscles are getting smaller...you're simply shedding the layer of fat that's concealing them.

The ruler's fine (once every month or every other month is plenty), but your true barometer should be your mirror. It doesn't lie.

Keep up the good work.

[macmanchad]

Originally Posted by hulkmuscle

If you're losing bodyfat in the process of building, you'll probably see the ruler go down, but that doesn't mean that your muscles are getting smaller...you're simply shedding the layer of fat that's concealing them.

Good point, I hadn't thought of that...