Now to provide some details into the end of training program! By cosplay day (March 10th) I had been tracking my meals and exercising for 103 days (with MyFitnessPal). Training 5-6 days a week with 2 push days, 2 pull days, and 2 core/cardio days. I tried to eat at least 2,200 calories a day and reduced my sodium the last month as well as carb cycling. Which I would not recommend to anyone for any longer than 4 weeks.I had one cheat day, which was recommend to me by my trainer, to reset my body in a sense, there is an importance around cheat meals which I do not understand, and they depend on your overall goals. But I'm not a doctor. I can see how it can at least help the mental strain of eating clean for so long. With all of my dietary restrictions I found it difficult to grab any easy cheat meals, which works to my advantage in a way.
My body fat went from 19% on December 21st, 2016 to 9% on March 8th, 2017 (measured with a skin-fold caliper). I think a 10% cut in 3 months is pretty great! My weight started at 157 and ended up at 144. I managed to lose body fat while gaining muscle overall. Which, from what I've read and have heard, is one of the hardest things to do! It was a struggle the last month to maintain weight, my trainer and I were worried that if I lost any more weight I would lose muscle, which would make me look scrawny and unhealthy.I hope to take my cosplay to DreamHack Austin (end of April 2017) as well as Colossalcon (June 2017). I'll see how well it can happen, if anything I think I could kick up my training for a month to tone up before each event. It was quite the mental and social drain, which I feel I can do but will need some time to recuperate before I subject myself to that again.
Overall PAX East was a great experience. I think I will attend another in the future, I'm not sure that I would cosplay for the event again, anime conventions are definitely more geared to the cosplay crowd.
