The Prep Diaries – Episode 7

What is up fellow dieters! I come baring BIG NEWS! Be it positive or negative yet I do not know for the short term, but long term I know this will be for the best! But before we get into what news I have to share with you all, I wish to give you some little updates on where I am at with the prep!!!

My total weight loss is now at 2 whole stone!!! I am very happy with this as it matches the lowest weight I have been without bodybuilding, and the same weight I was when I married our dear leader Sophie! Lucky girl I know! I am sat at a very healthy 14 stone and 7lbs! the current diet looks like this:

Cardio

7 x 40-minute fasted cardio

30 mins post workout cardio

Meal plan

TRAINING DAY

Meal 1

2 x whole eggs

1 x scoop whey protein mixed with 300ml liquid egg whites

100g oats

Meal 2

50g oats

2 x scoop whey protein

Meal 3

125g rice

200g chicken breast

200g 0% fat Greek yoghurt

Peas

Nando’s sauce

Meal 4

4 x whole eggs

Meal 5

200g extra lean steak mince

200g potato

Any veg

Pre-training

1 x banana

Post workout

50g oats

2 x scoop whey protein

NON-TRAINING DAY

Meal 1

1 x New York bagel

2 whole eggs

1 x scoop whey protein with 300ml liquid egg whites

Meal 2

2 x scoop whey protein

Meal 3

125g rice

200g Chicken breast

200g 0% fat Greek yoghurt

Peas

Nando’s sauce

Meal 4

4 x whole eggs

Meal 5

200g extra lean steak mince

200g potato

Any veg

Meal 6

1 x scoop whey protein

300ml liquid egg whites

Now for the big news, I’m always one for giving advice, I’m not always the best at taking it, and in one of my latest blogs “life after weight loss”, I talk about finding a balance and not trying to live life to the extreme, well bodybuilding is exactly that! In the blog I talk about pushing myself to the limits to achieve a dream physique at any cost, after which I rebound up to an unhealthy weight only to repeat the process again. I hold my hands up because this makes me a walking contradiction. I’m almost 33 years old now, and its time I did what I tell all you lot to do and find some balance in my life and just get to where I’m happy! This unfortunately means there will be no bodybuilding shows from me this year (I can still buy a golden thong if anyone is worried).

It wasn’t an easy decision but its sensible, I don’t have anything to prove, and besides, what’s a better example to set to all you guys then getting to a place I’m happy with and just staying there. I genuinely believe how I look right now is the best I have looked my whole life, so instead of trying to get more out of it, I need to take the win and be happy with what I have achieved, which is going to be the theme of today’s Prep Diary.

Sophie spoke of an example in a voice note recently that I’m going to use again here, and its one that helped me to come to this decision. Imagine you’re an author, and your big dream all your life was to be a published author, you work for years on a book and you finally achieve this! You should be over the moon by achieving a life long goal and your life should be complete. But what happens next is the sales of the book come in and it only does average. You can’t help but look at this and feel disappointed, after all your only human (and hypothetical might I add). This person now feels disappointed with achieving their dream when in reality they have achieved something amazing. I’ll put this in more relatable terms, you lose 5 stone and you still don’t like the way you look, are you going to feel disappointed? Or are you going to be elated you’ve reached such a milestone? I’ve lost 2 stone (4 stone if you take me at my heaviest), and I feel the best I’ve ever felt, do I then ruin that by making myself feel miserable pushing to go onstage when I’m not guaranteed anything at the end? Bodybuilding is very subjective, I could go on stage feeling amazing, only to be judged as not being good enough, something I would very strongly advise against for any of you guys. So, with this in mind, I am going to take my victory and walk away from bodybuilding. The challenge however, does not end there! Now I must find the balance in my life that I preach so widely about, I must find a lifestyle that allows me to keep me on the straight and narrow, and for this, I will be following the train & track method of 80/20, eventually! I still enjoy the foods I’m eating, and I will very carefully transition over as to not cause any damage. Running full force into a change of diet and lifestyle will only repeat the mistakes of the past, so I will go cautiously, as should any of you!

I will keep the diaries running for now, because as I said in previous blogs, this could be the most important part, but luckily, I have this massive support network of Ginger Girls, Bald Boys and I’m married to the greatest lady in the world (I really do have her to thank for everything I achieved).

See you next time

Aaron “feeling shredded” Lowe