First the fact that I have been happily training for a week now on average 3 hours/day.
I knew it was within range but this confirms it for the third time.
These are biking uphill to get to the gym or to the forest track, fitness sessions, body pump, weight and machines training, forest track with exercises, swimming, yoga and stretching sessions, etc.
So far it works incredibly well.
My body seems to recover very fast and it is within the range of what is really fun and possible.
My body is the lightest it has been in a long time.
This means that not carrying an extra 4 to 8 pounds makes it very easy to go for endurance, jog, sprint, etc.
On a diet level, I am now at 99% raw.
No animal products for a long time now.
No eggs, no dairy, no supplements (just a multi vitamin tablet in my drink when I train but could do without it)
No extra protein.
What I notice on my body level:
First, it is the fact that I am high on energy. I feel high in my body but not extreme. I feel balanced! No struggle.
I go forward with my green smoothies and energy mixes (seeds, veges, fruit flour, oils, etc)
I still use a little dried fruit but go for energy mixes when I eat.
On a body level I notice as well that the little fat I had on the midsection is melting.
In a way, I am surprised that it's not melting faster and that's one of the key questions I have right now.
Through my intensity training, I probably added a good one hour training at least 3 times a week.
The intensity of my training sessions is higher as well.
Overall I would estimate this to a 30% increase in calories burned in training sessions during this last week period compared with the weeks before.
I feel that the amount of calories I eat is steady. I get the feeling that it's even slightly less than before.
So, in my estimates, I could be burning an extra 300-500 calories/day through this intensity training rhythm.
I get the feeling that this should show more clearly on my body and the visible small midsection fat parts that are left.
That's a question, something I still need to understand....
- After one week intensity training, the fat zones are not disappearing as fast as I thought - Why?
I want to say again, that I am talking about maybe 1 or 2 pounds of very small fat visible in the mid section. That's NOT much but simply wonder what holds that fat for longer than I thought.
I want as well to know if there is anything I can do nutrition or exercise wise that will take this away faster.
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Core question number 2:
I feel that my muscle mass is relatively small compared with the amount of time I spend training.
This means that this intensity training is NOT building much visible muscle mass right now.
Yes, muscles are leaner, my abs show better definition.
Again though, it doesn't show as much as I thought.
When I power trained for muscle mass building in the past over a 3 months extended period (some years ago) I could see a significant muscle mass increase. In fact, it was spectacular BUT it was a over a 3 month period, not a week.
That was over a 3 month period and I was focusing some long sessions EXCLUSIVELY on power training with weights.
I had at least 5 x 90 min power training sessions/week with 3 sessions on the upper body and 2 sessions for abs and lower back.
Didn't train specifically the legs as I used them already a lot for jogging + biking.
I was doing little aerobic in that period. Only some light 15 min jogs through the forest.
I was as well using a non raw diet with a combination of salads and cooked meals, morning muesli.
I was using as well protein shakes.
I get the feeling that my calorie intake at that time was as well maybe 20-30% higher than it is now but I am not sure.
Now, back to today:
My body feels great and my muscle mass is not increasing with this training format - It might even melt a tiny bit.
I believe that someone who sees me one month ago and today would see a leaner, thinner body.
I am not skinny.
I feel that I could carry on with this training rhythm easily and that very little further visible changes would take place.
In other terms, I certainly won't build more significant muscle mass with this routine and diet.
Now, muscle mass doesn't need to be a target.
I feel absolutely fantastic and super fit.
I feel as well that my diet is highly optimized.
Overall, I feel that I am now at 95% body optimization.
What I am discussing here is fine tuning.
So, concerning muscle mass, my questions are:
- Should I aim for higher muscle mass?
- Should I shift something in my diet?
- Eat more calories?
- Add protein shakes?
- Intensify weight lifting or power training sessions?
I must say that even though I have been training 3 hours/day I can maintain that rhythm relatively easily.
I don't feel stressed by it now.
It means that my routine and diet are STABLE..
I noticed as well that the flour I use does contain at least 10 grams of protein/100 grams.
My questions are:
- Is there anything I need to change or ad to my diet or training approach?
- Is higher muscle mass a target I should focus on?
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I want to say too that with body fat, calories intake, muscle mass, etc. all these elements are subjective and I have no SOLID way of measuring them.
I look at my body.
I look at the way I feel.
Estimate calories burned by estimating training time.
Etc.
All these are estimates and I agree that they can be imprecise and subjective as well.
So, that's another point where I could take this one step further.
- Are there any tools (besides scale, mirror and estimations) that I could use to measure my progress?
Something that is simple, direct, easy to use.
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Right now, my body looks like the one of a triathlete geared towards endurance.
I feel that my body recovers super fast from 3 hour intensity sessions.
I feel as well that all my body functions are super healthy. I feel that my body is clear from toxins.
I feel as well that EVERYTHING I am doing is stable and I could keep on doing it while increasing further my level of fitness and health.
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Another essential point is the fact that I am talking about just 1 week intensity training period so far.
This is a VERY short time for fitness targets.
It is an experiment and my questions before starting were:
- Can my raw diet take 3 hours/day training? - The answer is 100% YESSSSSSSSS!
second question
- What happens when I intensify my training the way I just did? - The answer is... Leaner muscles - Burned the last little mid section fat left - No significant muscle mass gain - Slight weight decrease but stable.
So far, it's a total success! I am stunned by my body's response. I love it!
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UPDATE - TOO MANY OILS? TOO MUCH HEALTHY FATS?
For the little mid section fat that was not burning fast enough, I might have an answer.
I could have been eating too much fat in the form of olive oil, sesame oil, walnut oil, avocados, coconut cream some cashews and maybe more.
These are the sources of healthy fat I can think off that I am using right now.
It could very well be that I am using too much of these, especially the oils twice a day in the salads and energy mixes.
I as well go through 4 avocados a week.
I have the feeling that this could be it.
Not sure though.
I need to test it and this is what I will do over this next week starting today: cut back the amount of healthy fats I take in.
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UPDATE - TOO MANY OILS? TOO MUCH HEALTHY FATS?
For the little mid section fat that was not burning fast enough, I might have an answer.
I could have been eating too much fat in the form of olive oil, sesame oil, walnut oil, avocados, coconut cream some cashews and maybe more.
These are the sources of healthy fat I can think off that I am using right now.
It could very well be that I am using too much of these, especially the oils twice a day in the salads and energy mixes.
I as well go through 4 avocados a week.
I have the feeling that this could be it.
Not sure though.
I need to test it and this is what I will do over this next week starting today: cut back the amount of healthy fats I take in.
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UPDATE - IT'S WORKING
After one week of testing, cutting down the fats is really working.
I probably take now only half the amount of fat I took the week before and it works.
I probably take now only half the amount of fat I took the week before and it works.
The midsection light fat that I still had is melting.
What I did is simple:
- Shifted from 4 avocados/week to 2/week.
- Instead of pouring oils directly from the bottle into the salad bowl, I now measure 1 table to 2 table spoons.
- I probably cut by half the amount of coconut cream in my smoothies.
- I cut a bit the amount of seed mix I put in the my salads.
These are HEALTHY fats and I believe it is important to keep them in my diet.
I simply did cut by half the amounts I take in.
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I have a couple more nutrition strategies I tested this week ass wll but will create new articles soon for these ones... Still testing...