It is so weird, but I love getting these Accountability Blogs on Sunday night and Monday morning. Each and every week I am seeing some tremendous progress from everyone. No, not everyone is dropping 5 pounds or a belt notch each week, but there is at lease some growth in their ability to reach their goals.  For some it is just winning the battle against pizza at work. For others it was just the fact that they made it to the gym three days that week. For some it might not sound like a huge accomplishment, but to me it is the roots of something bigger going on in their growth as a person, even if it just in regards to personal health.

Now, I won’t babble for much longer, I just want to remind everyone that Leigh’s Body by Eats is growing every few weeks and she just released a new cookbook, “Around the World in 30 Recipes.” You get it as part of Body by Eats, as well as all other cookbooks she has released with it previously and in the future. Check it at BodyByEats.com

Now for the blogs:

Craig:

This week was even better than last week. I got a new program from Tony and hit it hard. My energy is much higher than it was the previous week. I spent 8 hours at school and Saturday without wanting to kill myself and still got my lifting in later on in the day.

Today I am down another 5 pounds and lost 3/4 inch off my waist. I still have a long way to go though, but you can feel when the momentum has started to build. The first week you start to count the days you are doing well. “OK one day down!” but after a few weeks you don’t even bother and its part of the routine and it’s exactly what I have been trying to get back to. This week I baked up some catfish and made some meatloaf. At Sam’s Club they only have farmed fish which I know Brain St.Pierre frowns upon, and thus it will be the last time I buy any seafood there!

To end this blog post, Tony and I have come up with a goal for me to lose 30 pounds in 3 months starting tomorrow (March 1st) and I am ready to crush it! To help I will also try using the website http://loseitorloseit.com/. It is a website that helps you stay motivated and accountable. You pay them some amount of money and over the course of 10 weeks you can earn your money back. How you earn it back though it by losing the weight and hitting your goals. You can choose friends who receive emails about your progress and you get SMS and email reminds to post. If you don’t lose the weight your money is gone. Money is a very strong factor and after I finish my taxes today I fully plan on putting up some cash and betting on myself. -Craig

Ken:

I felt pretty good about my eating during my first week out of town.  I stuck basically to this simple plan.

Breakfast:

2 hard boiled eggs
apple or banana

Snack:

Fiber one bar

Lunch:

Grilled chicken salad (no dressing)

Preworkout:

Protein Shake
apple or banana

Postworkout:

Protein shake
banana

Dinner:

For dinner I usually ate at a restaurant.  One night I had calamari at Bravo and two glasses of Cabernet.  One night I had some buffalo chicken strips and two beers. One night I had sushi and then met a friend for two rum and diet Cokes. Are you starting to see a pattern?  Yes, I had a few drinks this week.  A few too many considering I’m trying to lose fat.  I didn’t over do the drinking on any particular night and that’s important because I tend to lose will power after drinking too many.

My workouts for the week were very good.  I used a free trial at a large chain gym three days and I did outdoor cardio twice.  One of my cardio sessions consisted of running stairs at an old college football stadium.  When I say old I mean none of the seats had any paint left on them.  It was a tough workout in a different and interesting place.

My weight stayed exactly the same as last Sunday. 204. The measurement around my stomach also stayed exactly the same 38″.  I do feel a little better and my belt and clothes feel a tad more loose.  I am heading back out of town this afternoon.  I plan to eat the same and workout the same.  I just need to steer clear of the social two or three drinks each night.  Maybe I’ll go see a movie instead.  It’s been a long time since I went to a movie during one of my trips away.  Do they serve beer at the theaters now a days?  Just wondering.

Larry:

This was a zero progress week for me as the weather, death of an old friend, and competing in the Smith & Wesson Winter Indoor National Championship in Springfield, MA, took me away from my routine and to a match hotel that was connected to a Pizzeria UNO.  I will get right back on the horse and know that this was a “one off” in terms of my fitness goals, but allowed me to travel around the worse of the weather and get to a IDPA Pistol Match that I have been shooting since 2005. If I have one primary reason to work on my fitness besides looking better and staying alive, it is to be a better competitor in the pistol shooting disciplines that I love, IDPA, USPSA, and steel. The very best shooters have extraordinary plyometic skills and tend to be very fit, move very quickly and smoothly, and are able to withstand the demands of a long shooting day (think of golf with guns over 8 hours). If you don’t like guns, that’s fine, one of the things we do is compete against local law enforcement, SWAT teams, Army, and TSA agents to help keep them “frosty”.

If you’re curious, check out:  http://www.uspsa.org/USPSA_Videos/index.html

If you’re still reading, you might notice in the photo submitted this week, my left bicep looks a little funky. About two years ago, while trying to move my treadmill from the motor end, once lifted, saw stars, felt a snap and my bicep was torn in half. Strangely, looks bad but my shoulder is a bigger hindrance to my lifting than the bicep. Neither this past week nor any injury is going to stop me in this Accountability challenge.

Carrie:

Michelle:

Hi all – I wanted to do something a little different this week and write my blog everyday so I wouldn’t forget anything or be at a loss as to what to write come Sunday, but then the days got away from me and I didn’t do that… I’d like to start doing that this week but it’s my crazy week at work so I’m not sure if that will work this week either. So two things, I actually feel great. I think my pictures look a little better than in the past weeks but more importantly my clothes feel better, and that’s how I really judge things. I can’t really “see” a difference in myself but I have these pair of jeans that I base my weight on. And they’re fitting. I mean, they’re not fitting how I want them to but they’re better than they were a month ago. But the second thing is that my energy is really down. I didn’t leave my couch after training (really after training and after bridal shower #1) yesterday for a solid four hours. Tuesday afternoon when I was training at scla, I actually had to sit down between sets because I actually felt deeply exhausted. One thing to note is that tony has me doing these sets of exercises back to back and resting for 90 seconds then repeating them for four times. For example, I am doing goblet squats x10, push up eccentrics x8, chest supported row x10 straight through and then resting 90 seconds  for four times. I then have another set of different exercises next. Same concept but three times through with 60 seconds rest. They’re kicking my ass. and this week seemed to kick it even harder. Not sure why. Nutrition? Just tired in general? I don’t know. Anyways, hopefully this week will be better but it’s my week three of the program topped with my crazy week at work, by Thursday I’ll probably be ready to call it quits. I did get to the gym five days this week so that makes me feel good. I’m not sure if I mentioned this in my last blog but one thing that I am loving about this accountability blog is really having Carrie to push me to get to the gym. I think Luke mentioned last week that he was jealous that Carrie and I train at CP and train together and it’s really key to have someone that can immediately get back to you and push you on things. If I want pizza she tells me not to eat pizza. If I know that I want to go to the gym in the morning, she will text me at 5:30 am to make sure I’m up, and I think – or hope – I’m doing the same for her. Having someone backing you up, especially it’s an immediate response, I think is really key in what we’re doing. Keep up the good work everyone.

David:

Batty:

The SO and I were down in the basement working out one evening and I saw him checking out his lower abs. He was all “what are these weird muscles?” and I looked and said “dude, those aren’t muscles.” Fortunately he had to go see his doc later that week, and it turns out he has suffered a DOUBLE HERNIA. I suspect it was from lifting, because, like me, he is the go-getter overachiever and likes to push himself almost beyond human limitations and next thing you know your organs aren’t where they’re supposed to be. It’s actually not bad, he’s not in a lot of pain, and will require minor surgery. But, I would like to nominate us for the “most active couple that can’t do shit because our bodies are all jacked up” award. Can we get right on that? Great.

A friend of mine told me “making body changes solves some issues and unlocks entirely new ones” and I gotta say I agree. Flaws that were once covered by fat are becoming more pronounced. Who knew I had stretch marks? I sure as hell didn’t until I lost weight. The fat stores, although shrinking, are looking kind of silly and awkward. And its sometimes hard to remain positive when you look in the mirror and see these things staring back at you.

I’ve come a long way. I like to pull out this photo when I’m getting frustrated with my current progress so I don’t get too down on myself. And it gives me the strength to keep going.

My stomach is getting flatter and that little pooch of fat on my lower abs is decreasing. I am noticing minor definition in my obliques now, too, that I didn’t expect. I also am beginning to see a hint of definition in my thighs which is also something not expected.

you’ll also have to scuse these photos because they were taken at 4 am, so my usual sunny disposition isn’t shining through. Also, camera flash kills muscle detail.

Lucas:

Pretty standard week.  Workouts felt good.  Nutrition wasn’t awful (but wasn’t perfect).

The Workouts:

2/25

1. Squat, 135×12, 135×10

2a. Static lunge, 85×12, 85×7

2b. DB single arm row, 40×15, 40×15

3a. Push up, 20, 15

3b. Swissball crunch, 20, 20

2/28

1. BB deadlift, 155×15, 155×11

2a. Step up, 60×15, 60×15

2b. DB single arm press, 30×15, 30×15

3a. Chinup, 5, 5, 5, 5

3b. Reverse crunch, 15, 15, 15, 15

This was my last week of these 2×15 rep sets and the last of working out two days per week.  For the next 4 weeks, I’m hitting the basement gym four times a week.

I know I promised a nutrition plan for myself by today, but I just haven’t been able to pull it off.  I’ve done some thought, and I think I need to do this in a phased approach.  The first step is just pure calorie intake.  I’m not one to eat absolute crap to begin with, but I also am probably not hitting the 3k-3.5k calories I need to make any substantial gains on muscle mass.  I need to start measuring what I am taking in.  Does anyone have any iPhone app recommendations?  My phone is the only thing that’s with me all the time, and it seems like that’d be the best way to track intake.  I’m going to keep working on a formal plan, but for now I want to figure out a decent way to track intake.  What good is setting intake goals if I can’t measure progress against them anyway?

Attached are the same pics I’ve been sending for the past 3 weeks!  Enjoy.