Mr Brittas's Journal - ****NEW PICS on PG-32****

Right, time to start cutting again!!!
 
I'll start off with some "before" pics.  I know these aren't drastically different to my finished cutting pics, but trust me I've put some size back on... and some fat.  I look a lot bigger than I did when I finished cutting.  The low BF just gives the illusion I was bigger then.
 
This morning I weighed 13st 1lb so I've gained 16lbs in the last 3 months.  I reckon I'm about 15% BF.  I'm definitely bigger and fill out all my clothes at the minute.
 

 

 

 
I'm going to dive straight back into to 50 - 60 mins cardio, 4 - 5 mornings a week.  But guess what?  I missed my first session this morning!  Crap I know, but our little boy was awake from 2am - 4am crying and I just couldn't get out of bed at 5.30am when the alarm went off.  I'll hit the remaining 4 days.
 
The diet for the first week or two will look like this.
 
7am - Black strong coffee - SSCV 55 mins (burns 500 cals on the X trainer)
 
8am - 50g whey in water with tblspoon peanut butter
 
11.30am - Tuna or chicken with some mayo in a wholegrain pitta    (the only direct carbs I will have)
 
12.30pm - Train
 
1.30pm - 25g whey in water, 5g creatine
 
2.30pm - Quark, flaxseed oil blended into a shake with water (some angel delight stuff to flavour but it's only about 3g of carbs)
 
4pm - Need a snack here and haven't come up with anything yet.
 
6.30pm - Evening meal.  Basically just meat, fat and some veg
 
9.30pm - 200g cottage cheese with tblspoon peanut butter
 
I need something in there at 4pm, but other than that, I'll run with it for a week or 2, then maybe drop the pitta bread and go keto for the last 2 weeks.  I'm not dropping milk and sugar out of my tea and coffee yet.  I only see the point in doing that to get into ketosis.
 
I will try and limit cheats to Sunday, but not an all out cheat day until I go keto.
 
There you go.  I'm going to give this everything I've got, but I'm not too worried if nothing much changes in the 4 weeks.  It's just to feel better about myself really.
 
 
 
 

I'm working on a 5 day split this week (fingers crossed), so it was just back today.
 
Latpulldown            3 x 8            65kg, 72.5kg, 80kg
Hammer strength    3 x 8            50kg, 60kg, 70kg
Wide grip BB rows   4 x 8            50kg, 55kg, 60kg (too heavy), 55kg
BB shrugs                3 x 8            70kg, 80kg, 90kg
 
 
You'll notice I didn't deadlift.  I've said in the past, I'm never sure if deadlifting benefits me and I certainly don't enjoy it.  So I'm going to leave it out during this cut.  I'll put even less effort in when I've got no energy.  It may return when I bulk again in January..... it may not!
 
I felt strong today, but came out of the gym feeling as if I'd not done much.  I don't know if it was the lack of deadlifts, or the fact that I was freezing going into the place so didn't really break a sweat at all.  Still, I'm happy with the lifts which is the main thing.  Latpulldown was a big one.
 

Got up for 45 mins cardio this morning!  Woop woop.  I will increase this to 55 mins by next week.  55 mins = 500 cals on the X trainer (so it says), so that will do for me.  And it doesn't sound as bad as an hour!
 
Chest day
 
Flat BB bench            3 x 8            80kg, 85kg, 90kg
Incline DB bench       3 x 8            30kg (db in each hand), 38kg, 38kg         (couldn't find 34kg DBs!)
Dips                           3 x 8            BW, BW + 10kg, BW + 12kg
Decline flies               3 x 10          14kg, 14kg, 14kg
 
I felt alarmingly strong today.  I'm not expecting any strength gains during this next 4 weeks.  If I can maintain my current lifts I'll be more than happy, then increase them in January.  If I'm feeling strong one day I might go for it, but I doubt I'll be feeling strong!
 
Diet went like this yesterday......
 
8am whey in water with PB
11am chicken + mayo in pitta
12.30pm train
1.30pm whey + creatine in water
2.30pm quark + flaxseed oil
6.30pm Bollagnaise
9.45pm 3 egg omlette with cheese
 
I still haven't come up with anthing for the 4pm snack, but i managed with the hunger yesterday and my evening meal was quite big (plate full of mince) so I'm not too worried.  I'd get some nuts but I fear I might eat them all!
 
I may invest in some cottage cheese instead of cooking the omlette every night, but I'd rather not as there's carbs in CC.  If my evening meal is big I may not even bother with a pre bed meal or just have some whey and PB.

Well I got up for cardio again.  I got to about 30 mins and I felt shocking.  Light headed and dizzy.  At about 35 minutes I had to stop.  I was ok once I had a shower and my shake.  I'm guessing it's just my body getting used to the lack of carbs.
 
The pitta bread an hour before training seems to do the trick because I felt fine in the gym at lunch time.
 
Legs day
 
Squats                    3 x 10            50kg, 60kg, 70kg
Close leg press       3 x 10            65kg, 72.5kg, 80kg
Hamstring curl         3 x 10            55kg, 60kg, 65kg
Seated calf raises    4 x 10            40kg, 50kg, 60kg, 70kg
 
 
An average legs day.  I'm wasn't very confident when I was squatting 70kg.  I don't exepct to progess on my legs on low carbs and doing cardio every morning.  As long as the lifts stay where they are I'll be fine.  I think I'll Leg Press next week instead of squatting.
 
Diet
 
My diet will always be spot on while I'm at work as it's pre prepared.  Last nights evening meal was beef stew.   This was fine, I just had to fish the meat out and avoid the potatoes.  I had a cheese omlette again before bed.  I've not got any cottage cheese in and I'm enjoy the omlettes as I'm quite hungry by 9.30pm.  So all good.
 
BUT.... as I left work I was extremely hungry.  I needed some petrol on my way home and got a bag of cashew nuts.  I had about half of this!  Next week I'll plan my meals a bit better and eat at about 4pm.

Hey Dude!

Try this for your 4pm snack. I made it and as its a quiche, you can eat either hot or cold; really tasty!!! and low carb

Crustless Spinach & Cheese Quiche

Ingredients:
1 medim onion, peeled and roughly chopped
250g frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry or fresh (3mins in microwave as I did; still needs squeezing out the lipquid though)
2 whole eggs + 6 egg whites beaten
225g half fat cheddar, grated
100g 3% fat hard cheese, grated

Method
1. Mix the cheeses together and set to one side
2. in a large bowl combine the eggs, cheeses, onion and salt and pepper to taste and stir well
3. pour mixture into a liquid tight 9" springform pan and put in a prehated oven at 180C for 30-
40 mins or until it sets
4. leave to cool for at least 20 mins before serving

Serves 4

Nutritional Content per serving:
Energy (kcal) 291.5
Carb (g) 5.6
Fat (g) 13.5
Protein (g) 37
FIBRE (g) 1.7

Thanks mate, that sounds amazing.  I'll give that a go if I get chance this weekend.
 
Is there any reason for the different types of cheese?  Or is that just to make it taste nicer?

I am guessing its just a taste thing reall but better ask TheIopener. It is truly amazing and so easy to make; all in one bowl, mix and pour.

Looking forward to making more this weekend as even wifey thinks they are sweet and without the base= no carbs!

I'll give that a go.  It sounds stunning.  And I can stick it in my cool bag and eat whenever.

"you know it makes sense..................

Any idea as to why cardio went sour the othr morning; sounds strange
 
So whats the countdown till the "big day"?

I think it was just my body getting used to running with no carbs.  I've been eating quite a lot while I was bulking so it was a bit of a come down.  I didn't feel great yesterday evening, then did cardio this morning and it knocked me up!
 
I'm feeling ok today so I'm hoping I get used to it.  I felt a bit like this during the 1st week of cutting in the summer.
 
3 weeks on Saturday to the big day!  It's my stag do this weekend too...... which won't do they diet any good but what the hell!

"low carb beer"?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?! LOL

Go for it mate; hopefully you will only ever have one stag do; I wish you all the best man!!!

Another cardio nightmare!!  My alarm went off at 5.35am, I was just about to get up and my 11 month old son, who was already in our bed after a bad night, threw up allover.  He was screaming his head off so we had to sort him out.  We changed him and calmed him down, then he did it again.
 
At this stage I was 30 mins late and didn't have time to do any cardio.  I saw the snow outside and thought I'd better set off early to work.  Gutted!!!
 
Just make sure I hit tomorrow and thats 3 sessions at least.
 
Shoulders day
 
Seated DB press                3 x 8            30kg, 30kg, 30kg
Standing military press      3 x 8            40kg, 45kg, 45kg
Seated lat raises               3 x 10           8kg, 10kg, 10kg
 
 
Short and intense.  This is why I love the 5 day split!!
 
I normal have the bench set just off 90 degs for DB pressing but i'm not sure I should be doing it at that angle, so I set the bench totally upright today.  This made the exercise harder so I didn't use the 34kg DBs as previous.  I'll get used to it and move up hopefully. 
 
Diet
 
I desperatley need to sort this 4pm meal out.  I got home last night and we didn't eat until 7.30pm so I was starving.  And it can't be good for preserving muscle.  Still haven't got anything for today either!  I'll have it sorted next week. 
 
Everything else was ok.  I didn't bother with a pre bed meal as I ate loads at 7.30.  Left over beef stew!!!

I managed to get up again and do 45 mins cardio.  I really need to get this upto 55 mins next week.
 
Arms
 
EZ bar curls            3 x 10            25kg (not inc bar), 30kg, 35kg
Seated DB curls      3 x 10            14kg, 14kg, 14kg
 
Machine dips          3 x 10             65kg, 72.5kg, 80kg
Skull crusher          2 x 10             20kg, 25kg            (my elbow kills on this lately)
Tri Pushdown         2 x 10             65kg, 65kg
 
 
A good arms day.  My energy levels in the gym are fine, so I'm hoping the carbs at 11am are helping.  If I'm losing weight I'll keep this in.  If not, ketosis here I come!
 
 
Diet
 
Last night was a nightmare.  Not only did I have nothing for the 4pm meal, I didn't eat until 9pm!!!  Our little boy is ill and he kept us busy, plus we needed to nip to the supermarket as we'd run out of nearly everything.  I did have a shake and some PB about 6pm so I suppose that helped.
 
At 9pm I had a 4 egg omlette with some left over bolagnaise and cheese in the middle.  Stunning and plenty of protein.  Hopefully that sorted me out!
 
Another week over and the diets not going too bad.  It's my stag do tomorrow so I'll no doubt eat crap all weekend.  But to be honest, I eat rubbish most weekends lately so it won't be much different.  Hopefully, I'll still have lost a bit of fat this week.

Well I had my stag do in London at the weekend.  What a waste!  I was ill with a stomach bug I caught off the little one!  I still went and had the afternoon out but couldn't eat or drink and didn't even make it out at night!  I was in bed for 6pm!  My mates enjoyed it though!
 
I barely ate all day Saturday and only had a bit to eat yesterday.  Good for weight loss I suppose.... bad for muscle loss.
 
Cardio this week isn't going to be great.  I missed this morning due to being ill all weekend, I'm driving down south for work this afternoon and I'm there allday tomorrow.  I could do some Wednesday morning but it depends how late I get back Tuesday night and how tired I am.
 
I chose to do shoulders today, just because I felt a bit weak from the lack of food and it's a fairly short session.
 
Shoulders
 
Machine shoulder press            3 x 8            70kg, 80kg, 90kg
Military press                             3 x 8            40kg, 40kg, 40kg
Side raises                                3 x 10          8kg, 8kg, 8kg            (10kg DBs were busy so did them super strict)
BB shrugs                                  3 x 8            80kg, 90kg, 100kg
 
Oddly enough I was really strong.  I got a new PB on the machine press and the shrugs.  Maybe it's because I usually leave shoulders til later in the week.
 
Diet
 
As I said, I barely ate all weekend.  I had some oats in my morning shake just to give me a boost for the workout.  I'm in a crappy travel lodge tonight with no real eating facilities.  But.... there is a Nandos next to it, so I'm good for a high protein/low carb meal tonight.  Breakfast will be a problem as there's nothing but a McDonalds there.  I might order a couple of Sausage and egg McMuffins and ditch the muffins.  Either that or find a Tescos cafe to get a decent breakfast.
 
I'll get my lunch bought I'm guessing, so I'll have to just have a sandwich, but hopefully this will be my only carbs for the day.  I'll try and get some chicken in the services on the way home and have an omlette when i get home depending on the time.
 
I'm going to try and do an ab workout in the hotel room tonight as I've missed one by skipping the cardio.
Damn work!!!!

Dude; being ill for stag do!??!?! Not good my friend!! but as you say, bet the mates drank on your behalf. Hope you are feeling much better.

I was in Birmingham today with home so most liquid meals as well.

Speaking of morning cardio, I have decided to opt for the grass as the pavement is just too slipery!

Catch you soon dude!

No cardio this week so far.  Just too tired to do it. 
 
Back and Bi's today
 
Wide grip chins                    3 x 8            BW, BW, BW
Under hand Latpulldown     2 x 8            80kg, 87.5kg
BB row                                 3 x 8            50kg, 50kg, 55kg
 
Straight bar curls                 3 x 10          30kg, 35kg, 40kg
Seated DB hammer curls     3 x 10          10kg, 12kg, 14kg
 
 
Decent session, although I'm not really into it this week.  I'm very tired from being ill and the little one being ill and up in the night.  Then being away with work yesterday and all the driving.... it's a killer.  It's going to be hard to movitvate myself to do any cardio at all this week, but I really must try and get 2 sessions in.
 
Diet
 
Monday went ok.  I travelled down to London at 2pm, had a full chicken at Nandos (lovely).  Tuesday wasn't so good.....  there was no breakfast facilities so I opted for a McDonalds breakfast.  Intended to throw the bread away but ate it all in the end.  Then someone at our London site bought me a sandwich, then I didn't eat again until about 9pm when I got home.
 
Some poor choices and generally not enough food.  Ah well, it's done now and I'm back to normal today.
 
After the weekend of not eating I feel like I've really lost some size but no fat.  I'm sure it's all in my head and after a good week of training I'll pump back up.
 
I'm not worrying too much about the outcome of this little cut.  I've picked a bad time of the year to do it.  Any fat loss is welcome.  My suit arrives on Saturday, so if it's on the tight side I'll up the diet.  If it's slack I may even consider stopping the cut and eating normal again.  We'll see.

No cardio again.  Might aswell write this week off.  This cut isn't going too well.  Good job it's nothing too serious.
 
Chest and Tri's
 
Decline BB bench                3 x 8                 95kg, 100kg, 100kg
Incline BB bench                 3 x 8                 65kg, 70kg, 75kg
Dips                                    3 x 8                 BW + 6kg, BW + 10kg, BW + 12kg
 
Pushdowns                        3 x 10                65kg, 65kg, 65kg
 
 
Worst chest session in ages.  I still used the same weight but reps were down.  I'm just not into it at all this week.  Feel washed out after the illness.  I suppose being on a low carb diet doesn't help.
Diet
 
GF cooked some cod last night which was lovely.  I had a few potatoe wedges which I shouldnt have had, but I was starving and they looked so nice.  Had an omlette later.
 
Whether it's due to my diet and cardio (the odd bit LOL), or the illness and not eating at the weekend, my waist has definitely dropped.  I don't look any leaner, but my trousers are looser.  So..... my suit arrives at the weekend.  If the trousers are loose I might just stop the diet and resume with the bulking.  Well.... it'd be just a normal diet seen as there's only 2 weeks til xmas.

Another crazy week at work.  3 day split this week.  And I'd be amazed if I get any cardio in.
 
Back and Bi's
Latpulldown            3 x 8            80kg, 87.5kg, 80kg
CG Chins                 3 x 8            BW, BW, BW
Machine Row           3 x 8            35kg, 40kg, 45kg, 45kg
BB Shrugs                3 x 8            90kg, 95kg, 100kg
 
Straight bar curls    3 x 10            30kg, 35kg, 40kg
 
Bit of a rushed session but it got the job done.  I've got a contracter working with me so I didn't expect to get out to train.  I found a 45 minute break so I dove out and trained quickly.  It just means I have the dreaded Chest/Shoulders/Tri's monster session later in the week.
 
Diet
 
My suit came on Saturday and the trousers fit just right.  I've decided not to continue a ruthless cut and just watch my diet and "attempt" to do some cardio.  Remember, I train when I'm at work..... I'm in London 2 days this week and only work 2 days next week then I'm done for xmas.  So not much is going to change now.
 
I've added a few oats into my morning shake to help with the hunger and energy and I may eat a small amount of carbs at night depending on the meal.  So I'm just really coasting until I break up for xmas now, and I'll start bulking again in January.
 
I have dropped some fat already, and I might even drop a bit more these next 2 weeks, but I'm not worrying about it.  I must get back into the habit of doing cardio next year as it's a killer getting out of bed at the minute.  I just can't seem to do it.

Chest/Shoulders/Tri's
 
Incline BB bench                3 x 8            70kg, 75kg, 80kg
Machine shoulder press    3 x 8             60kg, 70kg, 70kg
Dips                                    3 x 8            BW, BW + 8kg, BW + 8kg
Skull crushers                    3 x 10           25kg, 30kg, 30kg
 
And threw some abs in at the end, as I'm missing them when I keep missing cardio.
 
Diet
 
Diet is pretty much back to normal.  I'm kinda on reduced carbs at work, but eating a normal meal at night.  I look much fuller now carbs are back in my diet and I felt strong again today.
 
As i've said, just going steady away until xmas now.  Not going crazy and eating rubbish, but not being super strict either.

Looking good mate!

Keep it up; you must be counting days now!!!!!!