Hello Canada! I have no idea why I've had a spike in my Canadian readership. Maybe you like me. I like you for your English, Canadian English is my favorite, your physical beauty - yes I know you have other fine provinces besides B.C. - and your refusal to be us.
Yesterday I had a hydrostatic body fat test, and I can say with almost complete certainty that I am at 8.1% body fat. The error will be based on how much air I couldn't force out of my lungs, the specific gravity of my fecal matter, and not much else. In other words, my body fat percentage is 7-9.
This is sort of important. Right or wrong, there is a common belief that for men fat loss awesomeness begins below 10%. I can say now that I know how to get there.
This is sort of meaningless. There's something comforting about having a number, but there's something approaching orgasmic about having a woman I find insanely attractive telling me I look good, and hearing the same, "you look good," from a CrossFit Games competitor I admire that I hadn't seen for a couple years.
I'd have to read through my blogs to remember how I've rationalized my motivation for leaning out, but I remember the truth now. Just over two years ago I was CrossFitting heavily and seriously, and I realized I legitimately looked good; I didn't notice it happening, but one day I just wasn't the fat kid anymore.
Life happened. I never quit CrossFitting, but I didn't do it heavily or seriously. In one of the worst episodes of my life, I had to work overnight for three months, and halfway through that nightmare my body demanded to be fed a high-sugar diet which lead to me gaining 24 pounds of pure fat in 12 weeks.
I found myself telling people about the "old days" when I had rippling abs. Probably some people believed me and some didn't. I get tired of people talking about the old days, and in a remarkable display of consistency I got tired of my own talking about the old days.
I decided to get ripped again.
I did.
I'd argue that quantification often isn't important. Look good, feel good, perform well, have insanely attractive women tell you that you look good. But it was good for me to figure out almost exactly where I'm at. I know that my lean body mass is 165.5 pounds.
It's no longer ambitious or even stupid for me to try to weigh 165 and be a light weight rower; it's downright deranged. I get to live inside my head and understand how I think. I know full well why that idea was so appealing to me, but I also know I can have a perfectly happy life as a nightmare 181 pound power lifter and a recreational 'holy shit that guy tries really hard" rower.
That then is what I'm doing. There is some unfinished business with the fat-loss contest at work and the Colorado CrossFit Masters' Open. I'm going to coast to the fat loss finish without trying to drop more, and I'll be CrossFitting hard another two weeks.
My next lifting cycle will start next week, and I'm going to enjoy the hell out of it. I screwed up my lifting training in terms of being able to peak for any of the remaining 2011 meets, and I'm not sure how to handle that. I might compete to get more experience on the platform and with the understanding that I won't hit the numbers I'm capable of, or if I decide that's too much of an ego-killer I might go as a coach only.
Here's some stuff I know on Friday, September 30, 2011:
I won't always CrossFit as seriously as I do now.
I will never not CrossFit.
I will not always be as lean as I am now.
I will never really be fat.
I deserve to be paid for all I now know about how to eat.
I like to help people, so here is the important part of what I know for free:
eat as much high-quality food as you want
high quality means among other things, you'll have protein, carbohydrate, and fat
don't be scared of any of these
eating is - yes amazingly - pretty natural and hard to do wrong
skipping breakfast doesn't do a damn thing except make you have a later breakfast
eating carbs after 6 pm doesn't do a damn thing except make you eat carbs after 6 pm
thinking about what to eat when is icing on the cake stuff
I never ate exactly what I thought I should when I thought - that got me to 8.1% body fat
more than worth repeating, do not fear carbs, fat, or protein
grain does not make you defecate
fat probably does make you defecate
enjoy the process
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