Reverse Dieting and the process of adding muscle

Ive always been one to set goals for myself, for me it just works and I love the satisfaction of seeing my hard work pay off and goals being reached. In 2015 I have a few goals for myself on this journey. For one, I want to add a solid 15 pounds of muscle. In the process of reverse dieting and transitioning into a lean bulk should enable me to gain a good bit of muscle without adding a lot of fat. So I would love to get to 185-190 lbs at 10-12%BF. Knowing if that is even attainable for me? I don’t know but I’m sure as hell aiming for it. Having abs is awesome. Having abs with little muscle…not THAT awesome. It’s like a fat chick with huge boobs, direct effect. Gaining that muscle will make my next cut very simple in regards to getting those abs that I love. More muscle = higher fat burning capabilities.

Now my other MAIN goal in 2015 is to deadlift 405 (4 plates). I absolutely love deadlifts and when I first started I was doing 365-385 range but I hurt my back lifting like an idiot. My form is spot on so now I’m headed to 405! Most of my workouts are centered around hypertrophy more than strength (higher reps, less weight basically tearing the muscle fibers so that they can build back up) so it will take a me a little while to get there. Ultimate goal would be the 1000 pound club consisting of deadlift max, squat max, and bench max. I’m so fare away from that though so I’ll focus on these two goals in 2015.

Macros as of 1/11/15:

workout days- 187/285/50= 2338 cals

rest days- 200/140/75= 2035 cals

2014- The year of fat loss

On January 6, 2014 I joined an online group fitness program through John Romaniello and Mike Vacanti. At that time i was the fattest that I had ever been, weighing in at 214 and probably 25% body fat. I had been eating fast food and drinking A LOT, not for any particular reason but I had completely gotten out of the lifestyle of working out, eating healthy, etc. I have been through 3 rounds of P90X, 1 round of insanity (worst experience of my life), and some strength training but I kept throwing away any progress I ever made with a bad diet or just falling off the wagon completely.

So on Janury 6th I set a goal to get into the best shape of my life and fully commit to getting shredded, lean, ripped, whatever you want to call it. The group fitness program lasted 4 months and during that time I was 100% all in. I followed the Intermittent Fasting protocol (16/8) with my diet and ate the macros provided to me. In those 4 months I lost 23 lbs and got down to 15% or so, but I wasn’t satisfied. I was 191 lbs and 15% BF (dexa scan) on April 28th and that’s when I reached out to Mike Vacanti to see if I could get into his online personal training. Spoiler alert: I did.

From April 28th to November 16th I busted my ass and followed his expert advice and the results followed. I reached a goal of mine that I didn’t think was hardly possible….single digit bodyfat! I had a scan done on 11/16 and weighed in at 168 lbs and 9.7% BF. One of my most proud moments of my life for real, I couldn’t believe it. All of the weight lifting, extra cardio, two-a-days, and being hungry all the time paid off and I had gotten down to where I could see my abs. That is 2014 in a nutshell for me.

This blog is now about my transformation to getting bigger, stronger, and leaner in 2015 and on. I hope you enjoy and maybe this will motivate some to get on the path to a better lifestyle.