I suppose I am being presumptuous but my blood work says I am in a pretty good spot.
I am maintaining in-range numbers for hematocrit, hemoglobin and rbc counts. Hematocrit is 49.7, hemoglobin is 17 and rbc count is 5.48. HDL was slightly low at 35 but this isn't a huge concern. I can bring that up and as long as I am 40 or higher I am not concerned.
Everything was in order and I couldn't be happier. Even those of you that have followed my blood issues for the last two years really don't understand how concerning this has been for me. Now that I know I can run TRT dosing of testosterone (prescribed) I am excited about continuing to move forward with my plans for 2016 which include the filming of the DVD which will likely be sub-titled: TRTbodybuilding. I am not competing anymore but I am still bodybuilding.
I also stepped up my plan of attack in reference to my goal for conditioning and body weight with a deadline of about 2 weeks. We leave on Thanksgiving for vacation so I still have 2 more weeks to get tighter. After continuing to drop body weight last week to a new low, I realized that I still need more work to get this done. I have said all along that I didn't want to do "contest prep" cardio because this isn't a prep but with my diet already low in calories and my workouts already taking a bit of a hit in the strength department, I decided to bump the cardio up.
Now, it still isn't prep mode cardio but I did double it from 4 sessions per week to 8 - basically doing the cardio all on the same days but doing double sessions. First session is done after I get my coffee time in the morning and then I do it again after I train in the evening. If I don't train that evening then I do it early evening. It has been quite easy to get done and with the sessions only being 30 minutes, it is tolerable.
Last week's baseline weight was 209 and I weighed in this morning at 210. I am confident that I will drop below baseline by the time I Skipload this weekend but how much below, I don't really know.
With the addition of the cardio this week I also added an extra meal of carbs to my plan to help with training and recovering after training. I now have carbs pre-workout, post-workout and the meal following the post-workout meal. On non-training days I have no carbs. I am SLIGHTLY fuller from this but nothing major visually. I do feel the added calories as I don't feel as run down.
I anticipate not being done when I leave for vacation and then regrouping while I am gone and coming back to more calories. I will explain that more in my next log and why I am making this change.
