Project Ripped

I need to start off mentioning that I am a bit sore today after the ride yesterday. My knees are sore and I have a few pains in the legs that I can’t identify. I had thought about going for a run but I think that any exercise is out of the question today. I went swimming with my oldest daughter but that is as far as it goes.

Twelve weeks ago I never imagined that I would still be going strong today. It is normal to start out with good intentions only for life to get in the way. This blog and the community of like-minded people trying to transform their physiques has kept me going.

So, what have I managed to achieve over 12 weeks. Here are the key statistics:

• I am 5′ 6.5″ tall
• Weight: 12 st. 1.5 lbs. (169.5 lbs.) – 23.5 lbs. loss in 12 weeks
  
• Body fat abdomen pinch reduction of 33mm (52mm down to 29mm)
• Body fat chest pinch reduction of 18mm (32mm down to 14mm)
• Body fat thigh pinch reduction of 28mm (42mm down to 14mm)
• Body fat reduction of 17% (35% down to 18%)
• Fat reduction (by calculation) of 37 lbs. (67lbs down to 30lbs)

I am really pleased with my progress and that I have managed to halve my body fat. I feel like a different person. My clothes are loose again and I love the feeling of a relatively flat stomach free of swelling. I still have a lot of fat, especially around my mid-section, but this will go too given time.

Let’s take a look at what has happened over the last 12 weeks.

My weight has reduced nearly every week. On average I have lost 2lbs of weight a week. I had heard that it isn’t good to lose more than that as it can be from lean muscle and not fat. Overall I managed to lose 23.5 lbs of weight (nearly 2 stone).

My initial body fat % was quite high at 34.9% and in 12 weeks I have managed to halve that amount down to 18%. At first I thought this reduction can’t be correct but measuring my skin fat pinches they have all reduced significantly so the fat must be going.

Thankfully I was losing fat and not lean muscle mass as I was calculating my lean body mass and for the first 10 weeks I managed to increase my lean muscle mass. At the end I started to level off and even lost a tiny amount at the end. This levelling could be down to doing more aerobic exercise and not so much resistance training during the end of the phase to prepare for my mountain bike challenge. In the 12 weeks I managed to put on 14 lbs of lean mass.

This leaves the fat – the one thing that must be lost in order to become ripped and regain health. So, how much fat did I lose. Even though I lost 23.5 lbs of weight the body fat percentage calculations tell me that I had lost even more than that of fat. Overall, I have lost 37lbs of fat.

I feel a lot healthier than I was 12 weeks ago but I am not yet free from ailment. I will write more about my health over the next week but for now I will say that there a lot of things improved and the absence of swelling around my abdomen has caused me to enjoy life a lot more.

Eating raw food has been a great revelation to me. Even though I don’t eat entirely raw food I have eaten a large enough proportion to know that I feel a lot better eating it than not. It definitely has a positive effect on my physique and my mind. With autumn and winter approaching I just hope I can keep eating a lot of raw food through the colder months.

My photos tell the full story of my transformation.

Looking at my progress from the side shows the true extent of my transformation over 12 weeks. Every part of my torso has reduced in swelling. I can understand the lower abdomen reducing but even my chest has seen a reduction in swelling. My neck and face have also changed as they have become leaner. I think that my posture looks much better now.

From the front I can now see a huge difference. The photos almost look as if they are a different size but they are not. Each part of my physique lines up exactly. My face is a lot leaner, my shoulders look more defined and athletic and my lower abdomen is clearly a lot less swollen now. I still have fat rolls around my waist but they are greatly reduced (4″ waist reduction around my navel).

At the back the thick fat coating seems to be gone. I didn’t realise just how much fat I must have been carrying on my upper back but I am so much leaner in that area now. The bulge around my waist, although still annoyingly there, has reduced significantly. The part that pleases me most though is that the creases that were in my back at the beginning, and for quite a few weeks after, have now faded to the extent that it virtually vanished on the right and not far from gone on the left. Seeing those ‘folds’ for the first time in Week 1 made me sick. I will never let that happen to me again!

What is next? I am going to have a week ‘off’ before I start my next phase. Phase 2 is going to take me from 18% body fat to a single figure body fat percentage. I will still exercise and eat clean over the next week but I need a little time now to recharge the blogging battery and establish my next set of goals and methods to take me there. What has happened so far has worked. It has been succesful at helping me lose fat and I haven’t been hungry either.

I need to remind myself that it is difficult to build muscle while losing fat. The best I can expect is to maintain my lean mass and that is what my resistance training is for. It is difficult to have a good resistance workout on a raw food/low energy diet.

Knowing this lets me be content with building muscle during Phase 3. Phase 3 will begin in January 2009 and, providing I have hit 9% body fat, I will increase my food intake and resistance training in order to build some muscle.

Thanks to all of the shredders for your support over the last 12 weeks. I have been reading most of your blogs on a regular basis and it has inspired me to carry on.

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