Training Complete : PAX East

I made it to PAX East! Training is complete, I didn't get both costumes sorted out before the weekend, but I'm happy with how Knockout Lee Sin turned out! Thanks to GrrzMoore for sending the outfit, and my friend Lydia for some last moment alterations to get everything to fit!

So I'm still collecting photos of the the weekend. Personally I didn't take very many pictures. With the massive quantity of people, it felt like PAX was more about walking around and gaming rather than stopping people for pictures. I did get a few compliments which was encouraging.

I've posted the photos I have so far, but I hope to get some from my friend Dave who went to the event with me. He has been very supportive and provided much encouragement and insight while I was training. If you are interested in my pre-PAX mindset and goals [Check This Link Out], it was very much a challenge but I'm happy with the results. I intend on keeping up with the gym, just not 6 days a week. I'm hoping I retain my shape for a least a few months!

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.

Cosplay Challenge

Hello! I have decided a few things. First that I'll be attending quite a few gaming related events this year, its possible I'll be attending more gaming than dancing in 2017 the first event being Penny-Arcade Expo: East (PAX East). The last time I went was 2012! So its been about five years. The photo is from the free "Curse Gaming" party, which was hilarious. Open bar, hamburger sliders, french fries, and music with a bunch of nerds that couldn't dance. I was big into ballroom and swing at the time, so I was trying to unsuccessfully show off some moves.

This year however I'm heading back and I am getting myself ready to cosplay a couple characters!

1. Knockout Lee Sin (League of Legends)
2. Adult Aang (The Legend of Korra)

Initially I thought I would make myself a costume, but I sorted out rather quickly that I have no idea what I'm doing and would most likely end up with a few cardboard boxes on my head. So I've commissioned someone else to do it for me! GrrzMoore Cosplay has agreed to make the costumes to my measurements! So with that in place I'm focusing on getting the body for the event, I'm trying to get cosplay fit!

The primary reasons I decided on these characters, I enjoy the material they are in, they are bald, and have facial hair! All good things for me and the look I go for in my day to day life.

My journey started December 6th, I've been tracking calories on MyFitnessPal, tracking my body fat percentage using a skin-fold caliper and calculations from ScoobysWorkshop, and just started working with a personal trainer from EFS Personal Training (if you try them out tell them Moses sent you). I've been rather serious about getting fit! I decided to jump on personal training because I was getting to a plateau in my training and my employer offers a discount with this company, so it seemed like a great time to jump on!

This next section is a lot of numbers ... which has been the focus of the last month for me, I hope it isn't too painful to read through!

My first measurement of body fat on 12/21/2016 put me around 19.8%, in order to see abs (which is one of my goals) I need to get my body fat somewhere between 6-12%. It is a pretty wide range that depends on body type and the muscles underneath. However anything ab related comes down to diet and cardio. If I did the skin-fold caliper calculations correctly my body fat percentage is at 14%. The next month should be good since I'll be starting a stricter diet for my macros and more weighted exercises.

The diet and exercise I have prior to working with a personal trainer is 50% carbs, 20% fat, 30% protein.  I've been able to keep things fairly close. I'm also at a 25% calorie reduction (as calculated by Scoobys Calorie Counter), I'm trying to make sure I get enough food day to day. Five days a week I've been doing 45 minutes of cardio (with a 150-155 heart rate), 40 push ups, two sets of Scooby's Rotisseries, and then twice a week I do 40 pull-ups. Its been good and I can feel progress, so that has been rewarding.

On December 6th I weighed 160 lbs and today January 17th I'm at 152 lbs. So over a month I've lost 8 lbs and have gained about 2.7 lbs of muscle. I'm guessing I'll need to increase my calories if I'm going to be gaining any more muscle mass. I don't have a weight in mind, just a visual goal, so I'm OK with the numbers fluctuating.

That was the number dump portion! I'll have some before and after photos at the end of my training, I don't have great lighting but hopefully the transformation is obvious!

Thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to sharing the end result!

*Update 1/18/2017* My body-fat measurement came out to 14% this morning! Some progress!

Here is a picture to show 2010 compared to today :)