Minimalist Fitness: Week 4 Progress
Yo yo! I’m back with another update. It’s now been a little over 4 weeks since my hernia repair and things are continuing to improve. Physically I pretty much feel back to normal. No pain or discomfort; just a little tenderness around the surgical site. I am still following doctor’s orders to refrain from lifting any more than 20 pounds until March 13 so my strength training continues to be on pause. Though I do miss my normal regimen, I continue to control the controllables of my cut and progress is solid. As a reminder, I’ve simply adjusted my diet for the calorie deficit necessary for fat loss, and limited physical activity to casual walking. Nothing fancy. Let’s take a quick review.
After week 4 my body weight is down from a high of 192.0lbs to a low of 188.2lbs. That makes an absolute total after 4 weeks of roughly 17lbs. I absolutely don’t expect this rate of weight loss to continue, and, in fact, it is already showing signs of slowing. One of the major things that I have noticed is a loss of muscle definition. Since I have generally reduced carbs and have removed creatine from my nutrition regimen, my muscles are a lot less full; and a lot less aesthetically pleasing if you ask me. This is why I ALWAYS encourage strength training while cutting. Without strength training, you may not end up with the body shape you may be seeking. People who neglect their muscles for the sake of just losing as much “weight” as possible basically end up being a slightly smaller version of what they already were rather than seeing the improvements that are expected to come along with the weight loss.
That said, I’m happy with progress so far. Since any muscle and strength lost during this process will be regained fairly quickly, it’s nothing I’m concerned about. I appreciate the break and the time my joints have been afforded to heal. I can’t wait to get back under the weight and finish my cut strong.
Here are the basic details for my regimen over the past week expressed in averages:
1) Average daily calories during week 1- 1,770 calories
2) Average daily step count during week 1- 8,525 steps
Once again, I don’t want you to miss out on the most important thing about pursuing a similar goal or one of your own. You MUST KNOW YOUR NUMBERS. You have to know where you stand so that you can set appropriate targets and measure your progress. Let me say it a different way: if you target 2,000 calories but your calorie count is off then you are operating off bad information and won’t get results. If you want to make sure you get off on the right foot just click “know your numbers”, and we can make sure you have the correct setup in place for your goals and circumstances.
4 weeks down and 2 to go and it looks like I’ll be on track to lose about 20lbs or so by the end. If you want more exact details about anything that I am doing, feel free to comment here or hit me up on facebook, Instagram, or comment here and I’ll be sure to respond. You can also fill out this information request form if you want to stay in the loop and get direct responses. Until next time. Be well!
- Chris