Progress Update – 25 November

So, it has been 1 week since I shared my 3 month progress picture on Facebook and announced my goal of competing in natural physique bodybuilding to a wider audience. This has always been a personal journey of focus and competition so I initially felt as though sharing my progress wasn’t important. However, given the responses that came back, I am glad I did it. Yes, the positive feedback has reinforced in me the belief that this goal is possible, and I am more certain about it than ever before. However, it was the side conversations about motivation, and how other people had tried before but not quite got the results they wanted that were really interesting. We are all on a journey of trying to be our best selves, and sharing the pic allowed others to open up about their goals and struggles which led to some inspirational and positive conversations.

Wins for the week:

Isey Baked Apple Skyr

Check out my list of 7 foods to get ripped here. I spoke at an event in London and popped into the supermarket to get a tub of my favourite skyr yoghurt for breakfast. I also brought a tub home with me, so guess what one of my snacks will be today.

MyFitnessPal

I needed to start tracking my calorie intake more thoroughly and a few people recommended the MyFitnessPal app. I’m amazed how helpful this is, and the accountability of tracking my food intake has lead me to measure my food more and really be a lot more focused on what and how much I eat. It has actually encouraged me to eat MORE based on my daily calorie allowance. My username is @danstoreyphysique if you are on the app too and want to connect.

Personal Training Session

If your goals don’t require other people for you to be successful, your goals aren’t big enough. I know having a group of people with me on this journey is essential, both from an emotional support and encouragement perspective, as well as a technical perspective when it comes to the physical side of things. This week i had my first personal training session with Lee Powell, formerly one of the top 10 professional bodybuilders in the world, and owner of Severnside Gym where I train. Lee critiqued my physique and took me through the technical side of posing and routines which was a lot harder than expected. Check out this article if you want to know more about my first PT session with Lee – Personal Training Session 1.

Opportunities for learning:

Meal prep for day away from home

I did prepare my food for the night before (sausage and lentils), breakfast (skyr yoghurt) and a snack for during the day (feta omelette) but I ended up getting really hungry in a place that charges a crazy amount for even the smallest amount of food, and finding a healthy option anywhere is almost impossible. Luckily I had a couple of sample sachets from MyProtein in my laptop bag, so bought a bottle of water and had those, and hopefully people a laugh as they watched me try and pour protein powder through the tiny opening to the water bottle. However I did end up having to get a meal deal sandwich and snack on the way home.

Lesson learned – prepare more food in advance!

Challenge – find a laptop bag that can carry both laptop and food without looking like I am moving home.




Weight Loss Hiccup

Despite measuring all my food for the week, my weight is up 0.2kg. Obviously it would be nice to see the weight going down every week based on the effort I put in, but sometimes these things happen. If I look at what I can do differently, I need to drink more water to avoid my body holding onto water unnecessarily, keep me regular and help me metabolise fat (check out this article on why bodybuilders need more water). I also drink a lot of coffee so this is certainly an area I can improve on in my daily nutrition.

Progress Pics

Here are a few pics I took this morning after my chest workout. Starting to get better with the camera, lighting and body angles, as well as obviously putting in the work. Starting to see some good progress which reinforces the need to keep putting in the effort every day.