Back on 1/22, I posted about my weight loss stalling out, and asked for advice regarding diet as well as embarking on the 3-day GPP Hypertrophy template. Here’s a link to the original post:
I just finished the Day 1 workout of Week 6 in the template. Last week’s average macros were 157p/151c/42f, which has been typical of every week.
The GOOD:
Doc, your suggestion of sleep disturbance was prescient. I started practicing much better sleep hygiene, and it has made a nice difference. Mental acuity has returned, and not only has my energy returned, it has actually surged. I think my much improved conditioning is also playing a big part in that, as to be expected from the template.
Also, I stuck with the 1,600 cal/day, and my plateauing on the weight loss has subsided - I’m now losing steadily, and I’m down to 210 lbs, or 11 more pounds lost since my earlier post (all told, 22 pounds since I started weight loss efforts the last week of November). My waist is down to 40", too. Doc, I think your recommendation to make sure to get 10,000 steps in every day was good…NEPA has a way of sneaking down while on a caloric deficit, doesn’t it?
Also good - my e1RM’s on the press, bench and DL have all held mostly steady since I started the template 6 weeks ago (albeit down from my all time 1RM PR’s noted in my earlier post). Frankly, with a caloric deficit, I didn’t expect to make impressive gains.
Finally, I just feel a whole lot better in general, mentally and physically. My clothes fit better, I look better, I have fewer general aches and pains, etc.
The BAD (Maybe):
Unfortunately, my libido has not made much of a comeback to pre-diet normalcy. Perhaps naively, I’m not terribly concerned about this because it has been my experience from other times in my life when I’ve been in an extended caloric deficit, this always happened. Could it be that this is part of some sort of human evolutionary adaptation - loss of primal urge to make more humans when body senses that food is scarce? I don’t know. Based in prior experience, I suspect that when I reach my goal and get up to a comparatively higher maintenance caloric intake, things will probably return to normal. I hope.
The UGLY (Maybe)
My e1RM on the squat has steadily suffered. In my attempted single @8 today (Week 6), I ended up grinding out 325…@RPE 10. Ugh. This is down 28 lbs. (or 8%) from my Week 1 estimated 1RM and 11% down from my previous 1RM PR from last fall. I actually was fired up for today’s workout, too…I felt a good one coming on. That grinding single with that piddly weight brought me back to earth with a crash.
QUESTIONS
1.) Should I be more concerned about the libido issue and any health concerns it might indicate? Or should I just wait and see what happens when I reach my goal and up my caloric intake accordingly?
2.) As you agreed in my earlier post, I’d planned on simply re-running the 3-Day GPP Hypertrophy template until I reached my body weight goals…but should I consider some sort of modification to the template to stop or at least slow the bleeding on the squat? Or am I making a mountain out of a molehill?
3.) Pending your answers to the above, should I consider upping my caloric intake slightly above 1,600/day? Since November, I’m losing body weight at a rate of about 1.7 lbs./wk, but this has accelerated a little in the last six weeks.
Thanks!!
