Happy New Year!

(Note:  For the New Year, we’re posting progress pictures!)

Alissa: Happy New Year everyone!  We thought it would be nice to post a blog about our progress over the last year and to tell you a bit about what we plan to accomplish in 2012.

The year 2011 was a challenging year in many ways for me, but one of those was in my pursuit to lose weight/fat.  I started the year at 153 pounds, I had just started to recover from hernia repair surgery.  I was barely starting get back into any type of fitness routine since before the surgery in October.

Around April Gabe and I decided to really hunker down and get the bodies we wanted.  My goal was to get down to 138 and Gabe wanted to bulk muscle (not sure how much, but I think he will tell you!).

The first few months went by pretty well, but then I hit a plateau (which was an ever recurring theme this year.)  Over the next 4 months I managed to get down to 142 and I was extremely happy with my progress. However, since October I have hit another plateau, which brings me to this years goals.

I have had some people ask me in the past few months why I even bother to lose more, since they think I already look great.  I still don’t look how I want to.  I also set a goal for myself and I won’t stop till I get there.  So I still have 4 pounds to lose and about 2-3% body fat.

I have chosen to be really excited about starting a new nutrition plan for the new year instead of getting discouraged.  I have faith that all of our research will yield results!

Gabriel:  Greetings, and Happy New Year!  I definitely agree with Alissa in that 2011 was a challenging year for us and our goals.  While I was decently happy with my body at a very slender 167 lbs. and about 8% body fat, I knew something was wrong, and decided to get into natural bodybuilding.  In that time, I’ve gained about 14 pounds of muscle, and in addition to all of that muscle, I’ve got between 8 and 9 pounds of fat, too.  When I started, I was going about it. . .  Let’s just say, it wasn’t the best way possible.  My carb intake was through the roof, and I wasn’t eating enough protein.  I then did a quick cutting cycle that was marred by a case of sciatica.

When all is said and done, I didn’t start seeing incredible results (That is, muscle gain with very minimal fat gain) until the end of my bulk.  It’s okay, though. . .  In that time, I worked my way up to a 315 lb. dead lift, 235 lb. bench press, 365 lb. squat, and gained the aforementioned 14 lbs. of muscle.

Since then, I’ve been working on a cutting cycle to get rid of the fat I gained, but it hasn’t been as effective as I’d like.  That is why, starting in the new year, my immediate goal is to get down to 7% body fat, and I will achieve this with a “CKD–”  That stands for a “Cyclical Ketogenic Diet,” more commonly referred to as “Carb Cycling.”  In addition to that, I plan on gaining minimum of 5 more pounds of muscle, and plan to work toward a 405 pound dead lift.

Do you have any New Year Goals?  Let us know in the comments!