Guest Dr. John Berardi joins us for another epically long episode about leptin, if dairy is evil, fasting, accountability, perfecting pull ups, and much more!

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Mailbag

• Any tips on minimizing swinging when doing pullups. -Juraj
• What up Kev, Doctor, and Leigh! I have a question for Kevin about his client Kim. I have been following Kim’s progress on the blog and I was wondering if you could talk about what you have been doing with her for training and nutrition to get her to where she it. And by the way, Kim, if you are listening, you are kicking butt girl! You are going to make all of the women at your wedding sooo jealous! Thanks so much for the podcast. P.S. you guys need to talk about music more! I am hooked on Stars now! -Jenn
• Ive suddenly been getting plantar faciiatis in my left heel. Ive been feeling as though i have excessivly tight calf muscles in my left leg as well. Ive done mobility work, foam rolling, stretching, even rest and ice. all seem to bring mild relief but as soon as i go for a walk with the dog i notice the pain in my heel acting up shortly upon returning. It hurts most after getting out of bed in the morning. I strength train regularly with a full body workout and train with kettlebells in between strength days and always allow one to two full rest days. Ive gone through the assessments as per cresseys neanderthal no more article series. upon studying pics of myself and starting to pay attention to walking, squating, and other biomechanical habits, i seem to have internal rotation in my left femor. Can this lead to problems such as plantar faciatis? What can i incorporate into my program to correct internal rotation, regardless of whether or not its the cause of my plantar faciatis, i know if not corrected it will give me issues down the line. Thanks! -Katie
• (great show i love counting how many times leeh says “you know” try it its great.
  Dan uk
• Hey crew-
  I’ve been helping my fiancee with her diet and workout regimen as she attempts to lose some bodyfat in preparation for our December wedding (and for general health, of course).  I have her reading and following the programs in The Female Body Breakthrough and I myself am reading The Fat Loss Troubleshoot to help plan meals as I do most of the cooking.
  She is about 5’2″ and while I don’t know her weight, she has always been on the heavy side but I would describe her as having above average muscle mass for a female.  Her mother is also undergoing a medically supervised weight loss routine, and during her evaluations, she was told that she has nearly double the lean body mass of the average female (not sure where those numbers came from, though).
  My fiancee is following a 3 day a week strength program (still in the first phase of Female Body Breakthrough) and supplements this with occasional Zumba classes and lunchtime low intensity cardio sessions in the fitness center of the resort where she works.  I know that, fat loss goals aside, she is concerned about her overall muscularity as well.  Is there a safe healthy way for a female in this situation to intentionally cut down on muscle mass and fat, or should she simply focus on fat loss?
  Thanks,
  Matt from Round Lake, IL
• Hey guys,This question is for Jonathan. Im a second year kinesiology student and want to go into physical therapy. I was wondering if you could recommend a few good physical therapy books, perhaps a few that really influenced how you practice. Any advice would be great.

  Thanks,
  Troy.

Q&A with John Berardi

• Also, I have a question about caloric intake. I haven’t tested body fat lately since I’m not sure how to get an accurate read, but I am 5’9 and 135 pounds. I’ve spent my life at about the same weight and have always looked thin, but I was definitely low on muscle until the last year or so when I started lifting consistently. My diet is high in protein and healthy fats, and I limit non-veggie carbs to breakfast and post-workout. I am trying to steadily change my body composition to get leaner and stronger without building much muscle mass. I lift 3-4 times per week and try to do cardio 2-3 times. Lately I have been trying to just listen to my body and eat whenever I feel hungry rather than counting calories, but I am someone who feels starved after just 2 hours without food so I end up eating fairly constantly, especially on lifting days. (my co-workers think I’m insane) Do you think this strategy of just eating whenever I feel like I need food is a bad idea? I’m loving the freedom of not counting calories, but I do want to continue to make progress.
  Thanks so much!
  best,

  Sarah

• If you could only give our audience one piece of advice to help them reach their fitness goals, what would it be?
• What are your thoughts on Peri-workout nutrition, and what guidelines would you recommend for someone who is 180 and looking to build muscle and increase strength. Same question for someone who’s goal is fat loss.
• As a personal trainer, I get several e-mails every day and am approached several times each month about selling my clients something called “structured water”, which has some kind of special, secret “energy”. Have you heard of it, and what is your opinion on it?Ben

• What is your opinion/position on ‘Leptin resistance’?  I have just recently heard of it and was hoping you could explain more. -Jimi
• What are your thoughts on periodic 24-hour fasts?  There is so much conflicting information out there on fasting.  Will occasional 24-hour fasts cause muscle loss or slow metabolism?  I’ve read that fasting can also give a boost of energy since the body isn’t using energy for digestion.  Thanks and I look forward to your input!
  Karen
  New Jersey
• JB: I understand that you recently gave a presentation on keys to body transformation. Any chance that this will be available for purchase on DVD? What is your general advice on best practices for body transformation and what are some of the biggest mistakes you see day in and day out when it comes to long term body comp changes?  -Bob
• John,Many states have rules and laws about what types of diet and nutrition advice we can give our clients. I’m interested in becoming Precision Nutrition Certified, but I’m worried that I’ll learn what to do, but then be severely restricted in how I can use what I’ve learned and still keep it legal.

  Does your program help with this and other business aspects of being a nutrition coach?  Do you have any general or specific guidelines that could help?  I realize there are 50 States, so feel free to narrow it to California, since it’s all about me and MY question. Let Michigan type it’s own question!

  Thanks,

  Roland

Kim has always kicked ass with the training. The nutrition has been the sticking point. She was inspired by the FitCast Accountability Bloggers and with what Leigh and I are doing with Destination Abs. So…She wanted to do it as well.

I sat down with her and told her this was going to be tough, even suck. Dieting sucks, I don’t care if you are doing a detox diet or the 1 lb a week diet. It still sucks. I modified the Destination Abs program for Kim to guarantee success if we can keep the train on the tracks. Kim will also be journaling her progress on this site each week with pictures and a blog.

Kim will be training three days a week with a strength training program I developed in conjunction with the calorie deficit. There will also be some metabolic training mixed in to accelerate things without too much extra volume.

Now the floor is Kim’s. Come on FitCast Community, please give her some support! I know she will really appreciate it!

___________________________________________________________________________________

February 21, 2010

I started training with Kevin a year ago.  I chose him because he is simply miles better than anyone else around.  His knowledge is incredible, and for someone who is going to have such an impact on my health and well being, I wanted nothing sort of the best.  If I were going to get surgery, would I want a doctor who just does it as a fall back career, or would I want someone who lives and breathes surgery?  Because that’s what some “trainers” are, people who failed at some other career and this was a fall back. For a trainer I wanted someone who’s life was his work.  That is Kevin.  He has been thoroughly educated in learning how the body works, and he continues to study and learn more every week.  I ask, “Kevin, what are you up to this weekend?” and he tells me he’s reading up on training. He has earned my complete trust.

As you can see from my pictures, I have not accomplished all of my goals.  When I first started with Kevin a year ago I started to see great results, but then I lost my focus.  Quite simply, life got in the way.  Work ramped up, family members with health issues, and then I got engaged, which really shifted my focus with all of the planning that needed to be done.  I was eating what was convenient, and giving in to treats that crossed my path.  Being a teacher, I see pizza being sold every Friday, cupcakes for every birthday and I have a weakness for macaroni and cheese.  It’s tough to say “no” every time, but, alas, here we are.  Look at where it got me.  My drawers are filled with clothes that no longer fit, and I have a wedding in just under 4 months!

So what are my goals? Lets start with where I am now.  At my physical last month I clocked in at 5 foot, 3 inches, and 157 pounds!  (My doctor even told me to loose weight.) So between the doctor, and my upcoming wedding, I am very motivated to get this going.  I need to trim down and get buff!

Kevin will get me there!  I want to see those abs again and fit into that bathing suit that I use to wear when my fiancé and I first started dating.  I will do it! I’m excited to start seeing those muscles that I know are under there from our strength training.

• David: It is great to have that support of your fiancé. And don’t stress out about a meal every few weeks where you go over. Just don’t go nuts and order everything from the dollar menu (something that I have witnessed someone do before).
• Craig: I heard about that Kevin Smith story on This Week in Tech. Messed up story. Hopefully Southwest will do something to address that.
• Luke: Great call with Body By Eats. As you can see I did a little write up below.
• Carrie: It is bull shit that BSC won’t let you do medball slams. BULL SHIT. Also, you are looking great, get back on track after the night out and kick some ass.
• Courtney: Stay strong! Your support is here! Other don’t want to see people close to them get leaner. It is jealousy.

Two weeks down. This past Monday I rejoined the world of accountability with Destination Abs Finale. I will be posting the blog for that on Thursday. One thing that I think everyone should have when on a diet is a good resource for healthy recipes. I have seen and heard it all too often when people eat the same thing day in and day out. Eventually they become fed up and decided to order a pizza or open a bag of Oreos. I am a big fan of Leigh’s Body By Eats. It is a huge cookbook of healthy and great tasting recipes  as well as a diet book. Two thing you should have in one nice package. The best part, you can download it right now and use it to make dinner tonight. Check it at BodyByEats.com

Now to the blogs…

Ken:

Has anyone read the book The Other Shulman by Alan Zweibel? If you already have, please bear with me.  It’s a story of a sad sap type of guy, Shulman, that has gained and lost the same 40 pounds so many times that if added up, the weight could equal a 200 pound clone of him.  Amongst a failing marriage and a stumbling business he signs up for the New York City Marathon and decides he is going to lose the forty pounds for good and rid himself of the physical and psychological burden it has caused him over the years. While trying to save his marriage, revive his business and train for the marathon, the sinister, ghostly spirit of weight loss past appears, real or imagined, and tries to foil his progress toward his ultimate goal. The spirit goes by the name T.O. Shulman or The Other Shulman.  Far fetched or not, it’s a funny book.

Now I’m not going to claim that I’ve played the yo yo game with my weight quite as extreme as Shulman and I’ve certainly never had a doppelgänger follow me around and foil my effort to improve my life, but I do think extra weight can become a psychologically living thing that a person can look at as a separate entity from themselves and form a strong hatred.  And by looking at it as a separate entity someone might claim they have no control over it.  I accuse myself of this.

I only got to the gym two times this week and also did three HIIT workouts on the treadmill.  One day I went cross country skiing.  My eating plan went good and I did reward myself with some spicy chicken wings and a slice of pizza last night.  I’m finding more and more that prior planning is the key.  I’ve only read that a hundred times, I don’t know why I’m so surprised.

I weighed in at 205 this morning, that is a 3lb loss.  The body fat percentage dropped by 1% to 24 and the measurement around my waist shrink about a half and inch to 38 inches.

David:

Hey Everyone,

Well, week 2 did not go quite as well as week 1. This is going to be harder than I thought.

My diet was the biggest struggle for me this week. I’m not sure how it happened…it’s too early into all this to have felt like I needed a “cheat” meal, but I did. My fiancé and I went out a couple of times actually, and it’s only thanks to her that I didn’t totally blow it. Both times I ordered calorie conscious meals, steak of some kind and veggies, but I still was way over where I wanted to be. Oh well. Being out and about sightseeing with the kids didn’t help. My schedule ended up being off too, not eating every few hours and eating more at the 3 big meals I did have.

Now that the bad stuff is out of the way, I can tell you the good stuff. At the end of week 2 I was down 6 lbs, and at least a few inches off my waist. I hadn’t noticed any big change in my pics, however my pants and even shirts are fitting better, and my fiancé says my face in definitely thinner. I haven’t been craving any “bad” foods, and I am feeling a lot better. I also added 10 more lbs to my bench press. I am really starting to get excited about my next fitness test at work (last week of March).

This week I am going to concentrate on making sure I get my cardio workouts in and not just my lifting, and making sure I am adequately hydrated. I don’t think I have been getting nearly enough water (which I can tell in how I feel). Leigh’s Water Manual is great, a must read for anyone. I also get to up my ice hockey time to 2 hours a week for the next couple of weeks, and that should be a great addition to my workout.

Thanks so much to all of you for your support and to my fellow bloggers, keep up the good work.

Any recipes you guys have found to make things easier? I have been stir frying peppers, squash, and zucchini and really enjoying it.

Thanks again.

DW

Craig:

I am currently reading The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. It was very popular in the early 2000s and so far it’s a great book. This year I do have a goal to read at least 30 books, but I am striving for 50. If you look at the rest of this blog you will see Aaron is reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and for him I recommend First Things First a few months later as a great followup by Covey. I use www.shelfari.com to track all my reading and it’s a great tool. I used to use a spreadsheet, but forget that; use the intertubes.

This year is my year of action and increased education. I bought a stereo for my Civic so I can finally use my mp3 player with it for podcasts/audiobooks. I just need to learn to install the damn this. Here is an interesting blog post that puts into words what I have learned over the years about what I know and what others know: http://jangosteve.com/post/380926251/no-one-knows-what-theyre-doing

My nutrition this week overall was wishy washy. Livestrong has updated their Dailyplate and I plan to take full advantage of their new application. Anyone who is looking for something more useful than Fitday needs to try Dailyplate/Livestrong because their webapp is incredibly easy to use and 99% of the foods you eat are ALREADY in the database. You never have to enter foods and fill out their caloric/nutritional breakdowns. I can guarantee that a fortnight of regular eating does wonders for energy and sleep regularity. I used to be dead tired by 11pm and asleep by 11:10pm, but lately I have been all over the place with my sleep.

It snowed this week and closed down my school and I couldn’t even make it up my driveway due to the ice. It is strange when 49 states are covered with snow in some form (except Hawaii those bastards).

Also another thing that is interesting from the web is that Kevin Smith (writer of Clerks/Clerks 2) was kicked off a Southwestern Airlines flight for being too heavy. He exploded on twitter and you can read a summary of the drama here: http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/02/14/director-kevin-smith-too-wide-for-the-sky. While I like Kevin Smith is incredibly funny, I hope that he faces facts soon, like the rest of us here in this accountability blog (myself mostly), and he gets onto the right path. He has all the resources available to him, but no one can force change onto anyone else. I’ve learned that the hard way.

Oh also this is just a new accountability thing I learned from Dan John. I am going to eat THIS can of dog food if I don’t hit my goal; yes im serious: http://imgur.com/xsqBH.jpg

Michelle:

Hi everyone. Here we are heading into week three and I have to say that week two was a bit of a disaster. I had a complete crap week at work; suffice to say I think I’ll be leaving that job shortly. I’m beginning to realize that you spend too much time at actual work to be miserable, so it’s time to move on. I also work at a restaurant on Monday nights, which I’m not sure I mentioned before; this week someone needed Tuesday night covered so I worked two nights. I did make it to the gym on Monday morning – a first for me – getting up at 5 am to get a workout in when I’m not getting home until 11 is usually more than I want to take on. Tuesday however I didn’t make it. And I only made my training on Wednesday and Thursday this week. So I didn’t make my 5 day gym commitment this week. Total fail. It’s pretty amazing how you feel like complete ass when you make a commitment to do something and you don’t follow through with it.. Normally not making the gym five times wouldn’t bother me in the least, I’d justify it with the fact that I trained three days and that would have been good enough.  Anyways this a new week and I have to go into it with a positive attitude. I’ll be back to training tomorrow morning with a brand new program that is sure to kill me, but I’m really looking forward to it. Hope everyone had a better week than me and keep up the good work.

-michelle

Luke:

Hello again, everybody. This was a much needed deload week for me, so my activity level was a little lower. To compensate for moving less, I cut down on how much I ate each day a little bit.  I weighed 216.5 this Monday morning for a loss of 2 pounds for this week and a total of 4.5 pounds since this accountability blog started.  Not great, but not bad.  It’s pretty much right where I want to be.  Here is the rundown for last week:

Training:
Monday – Rest Day
Tuesday – Infamous TRX Workout A – Phase 2 Week 2
Wednesday – Deload 5/3/1 Lift – Front Squat & DB Row
Thursday – Infamous TRX Workout B – Phase 2 Week 2
Friday – Deload 5/3/1/ Lift – Deadlift & High Incline DB Bench
Saturday – 57 mile gravel road bike ride
Sunday – Rest Day

Nutrition:
I tried some of the recipes from Body by Eats, and they are superb!  Seriously, it feels like I’m not even trying to lose weight when I eat this stuff.  My favorite was the “White Chicken Chili”, and the “Shrimp and Broccoli with a Twist” and the “Pineapple Pork Chops” were also simply delicious.  And I feel like kind of like a real chef when I make these recipes.

I’ve started preparing bigger batches of healthy food all at once so that I have tasty, nutritous food on hand at all times.  This is a key factor in staying on track for me.  If I have healthy options that I’ve already prepared, then I am much less likely to eat the bad stuff.  You see, I have kids in the house with all of their tempting goodies lurking in the cabinets belting out their siren song every time I walk through the kitchen, trying to lure me in.

“No!” I say.  “I won’t eat you sweet, sweet Oatmeal Pies.  No!  I won’t succomb to the temptation of your creamy, gooey deliciousness.  I am stronger than you!”  Every time this happens, the temptation dwindles a little, and my will power grows.

I did eat “badly” once this week.  After my long bike ride on Sunday, I ate a “cheat meal”.  This one was actually planned (unlike last week’s cheat meal) for immediately following my bike ride so that the “damage” would be kept in check.

So, there you have it.  Another good week, and I’m feeling a lot better.  My wife says she can see a difference in how I look, but she kind of has to say that since she’s my wife and all.  I mean, it’s not like she’s going to say, “Wow, you still look like a fat slob.”  But hey, I’ll take all the compliments I can get (Thanks, Honey!).

Take care everyone!  Until next time, Buh-Bye.

Aaron:

Let’s lay out this nutrition plan in a easy to digest (Pun!) fashion…

Nutrition Breakdown: 170 to 195lb Project

Goals

1.   Be consistent with caloric intake

2.   Spend the time to prep food

3.   Be cognizant of timing macro intake (notably peri-workout nutrition)

4.   Explore new foods in order to avoid boredom

5.   100 ounces of water/day – 1liter =~34 ounces

Macronutrient Intake

WO Day – 3,000 Calories = 50 (c) / 30 (p) / 20 (f) %’s

o   Carbs:  375g

o   Protein: 225g

o   Fat: 67g

Rest Day – 2,500 Calories = 40 (c) / 40 (p) / 20 (f) %’s

o   Carbs: 300g

o   Protein: 300g

o   Fat: 67g

As you can see I’m doing some cycling here between days. I have no justifiable scientific reason for this, it’s simply my way of avoiding eating monotonously which has gotten me into trouble in the past.

Struggles

1. Lunch is by far and away the most difficult meal of the day for me to manage. Due to the development of a mild allergy to chicken (temperature rise, tingling skin on face) I am at a loss on what to bring (re-heatable, easily portable, smell non-offensive to others in the office), as chicken breasts have been my go-to forever. I picked up a few recipes from Dr. Clay Hyght’s (of TMuscle fame) free e-book Set Your Metabolism on Fire: http://www.drclay.com/ I’m hoping a few of these will help.

2. Holy crap this is a lot of food. I mean… wow. Eating in a major surplus “cleanly” is really a challenge at times.  Though the more I think about it, it’s not really the food – it’s the grind of preparing it all, getting it ready to bring to work and just simply spending the time to eat all of it. Hopefully as I make these things a habit as opposed to a “chore” this gets easier.

The no-fat, organic, cage-free, low sodium Wrap up

While I have never been overweight, I can certainly empathize with my fellow participants from a mental standpoint. It is such a crazy thing to basically do battle with your own mind. Deep-seeded habits have such powerful control over your day-to-day actions that it really takes a monumental effort to overcome them. While the other bloggers might be tempted to grab an unnecessary snack, I might skip a meal. In either case our minds are justifying the action internally – even though we know damn well that our action is counter-productive… that’s where the power of Accountability comes in handy.

Carrie:

This week didn’t go so well for me. I felt low on energy, which carried over to my workouts, I just wasn’t into it. I did make it four times, but not as much as I would have liked or with much enthusiasm. Though I did a lot of food prep, and weighed and measured everything for lunches, etc. I’d gotten out of the habit of making my fitday entries regularly. When I finally did catch up, I realized I’d gone over my allotted calories a couple of days. One day being a salad that did me in. I got pretty down on myself, and instead of thinking positively and getting back on track, I had a margarita. We’re being honest here, right? Believe me, I felt guilty. I feel guilty writing this right now! I had some plans for dinners out (they were made before starting this thing) but I tried to make smarter choices and control my portions. Anyways, I’m hoping this week will prove to be better. I’m focusing on the fact that within the first week some said they saw a slight difference in my pictures – a little less chub around my middle – and remember how good I was feeling after that first week. If my original numbers were anywhere near correct, I may have actually lost a couple lbs already. Like I said, it had been some time since I’d actually weighed myself. I’ll try to be more diligent. Here’s hoping everyone has a good week!

Courtney:

Well, I have to say that I’m pretty happy with how my first week of this challenge went. I stayed on track with my nutrition except for one day and worked out hard and was rewarded with a 4.2lb weight loss. My personal trainer is still backed up from the new year resolution people so I haven’t gotten to meet with him yet, but have been working on eating good, healthy, whole foods and continuing with my running program until he and I can get a real plan formulated. I’m really getting addicted to veggie “stir-fry” (almost no oil, just sauce) over brown rice. It’s become my go-to meal when I really need to spend my evenings writing.

During the week I went running 3 days and moved into week 2 of my couch to 5k program, took a long lunch one day and spent it running up
and down the stairs at the office and then Saturday I went snow tubing with some friends. Instead of taking the lift up I trecked my butt up that hill, in the snow, dragging my tube behind me which, funny enough, isn’t something they have on fitday in their exercise categories. Saturday was a bit of a wash calorically since we ate at the lodge and the food choices there were terrible. I ended up eating a chicken caesar salad and having to stop the girl at one scoop of dressing. We also went out for drinks after tubing which made me break even for the day instead of keeping with my 5-900 calorie defect.

I’ve been disappointed at how many people in my life are really unsupportive of me doing this challenge. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m part of a community of people who are generally fairly unhealthy. Fortunately the most important people in my life are taking my side on this and are helping in every way that they can. My boyfriend will be coming into town from Biloxi next weekend and we are already planing out our food and workouts. Good job everyone, reading your blog posts keeps me motivated just as much as knowing that my pictures are out there for everyone to see.

Robert:

This was the week that being accountable really paid off.  This was the week that everything clicked and every time I thought about eating something I shouldn’t, I thought “crap, I’m going to be the ONLY one that has the same picture week after week”.  That being said, I’m honestly not sure if I was 90% compliant, but I did better than previous weeks.  I’m noticing small changes in my body that normally would not be possible in the middle of a school quarter (plus, what we call winter here in southern california).  I feel like I look the same, but my wife said, “You feel skinnier, if Kevin came and hugged you, he’d feel the difference”.  I know these changes would not be there had I not signed up for this challenge and that makes me feel good about the possibilities.  The moment I read that I was accepted into this contest I experienced a mixture of excitement and terror.  I thought “Oh no, what have I done. Not only am I burning the candle at both ends, but now I’ve just taken a blowtorch to the damn thing.”  I didn’t make a drastic life change the first day, as I would have hoped, but I’m taking steps every day to make better habits and do the things I know I’m supposed to do.

I want to say thanks to everybody who signed up with me, the people who follow our stories with words of support, and Kevin and the fitcast crew for all the time they put into making an awesome show.  No matter our motives for joining this contest, I’m sure I’ll end up with a few more friends by the end and that makes it worth it…and a video camera.

Tim:

This week felt much better than my first.  Here are the workouts:

Thursday
1. Squat 95×15, 115×12
2a. Static lunge 45×15, 45×15
2b. DB Row (elbow out) 30×15, 30×15
3a. Push-up 15, 15
3b. Swissball crunch 20, 20

Sunday
1. BB DL 135×15, 135×15
2a. Step-up 40×15, 40×15
2b. DB single arm overhead press 20×15, 20×15
3a. Chin up 7, 5
3b. Reverse crunch 20, 20

These are still pretty challenging workouts for me, and I still have trouble keeping my back from rounding, especially in the DB row.  Good news is I had no trouble sticking to the program and I didn’t feel like poop after! =D  The New Rules of Lifting calls for 2 more weeks of the break in program, but I’m already anxious for the next step.

Nutrition has been about the same as week 1: OK but not great.  Week days are always really tough (unless I work from home) because it’s just not so easy taking meal breaks every 2-3 hours.  I need to read through the Precision Nutrition handbook again…I know there have to be some good tips in there.

Sorry for the picture quality this week.  I have to use the webcam in my iMac and the sun’s blocked out by the snow, so lighting is horrible.  Can’t wait to see the progress everyone else has made!

Thanks,
Tim

Batty:

Sugar, I hate you all over your tasty addictive face. I thought we had a good thing going here – you would try had hard as you could to get my attention, and I would flip you the bird and walk away.  I do stop by once in a while to see how you’ve been, but all you end up doing is cling to my butt and beg me to take you back. This is not a good relationship we have, sugar. It’s not me, its you. Sugary little sugar filled bastard.

Ok, so. that bloaty feeling I had last week subsided and I am chalking it up to the residuals of that time of the month. I do not think the camera flash is effectively showing the progress I have made, although, I am hoping it soon will. However, observe the photo I took of myself the day after last week’s progress pictures:

SEE? There’s something going on there. (ok, ok, this was post workout, but still) 90% of my cleavage is now pecs. I am seeing definition in my upper abs that comes and goes depending on the time of the day and my REALLY BIG RIBCAGE. I am kinda barrel chested and I hate it because it makes me look like I’m “sucking it in” when I’m really not, and it does weird crap to my abs. I was kind of worried this week about calorie intake and whether or not I should reduce. I decided not to. I dont want to deprive the bod of what it needs. I make most of the food we eat around here from scratch, and the only real prepackaged/processed food I consume is a daily protein bar and a scoop and a half of whey protein powder post workout.

I kept my calorie goals but my fat intake was a little higher this past week due to my increase of peanut butter, almonds, and some walnuts. I thought this might help but I was *incredibly*  sluggish. My brain slightly shut down. It was not pretty. Friday, I was so dazed that I found myself not being able to make decisions at work, and I was so tapped for energy that I did not work out.  The bum knee didn’t really help, either.

I was still concerned about losing or not continuing my progress, but in the weight room, my pulldowns and presses all increased by about 10 lbs. I can actually pull down really close to my body weight now! Really attempting to push myself with the upper body stuff helped me achieve workouts almost comparable to what I was doing pre-brace.

This week’s weigh in had me at 153.2 and 16.33% body fat. The calcs say that is 2lbs muscle lost and 5 lbs fat. I’m staring at that BF% in disbelief. I don’t *feel* 16% body fat. My fat distribution is rather unkind to my lower regions. While I’m actually seeing my ribcage through my chest [which is kinda scaring me] and my arms are awesome, my butt still makes that BLUH BLOO BLUH BLUH noise when the wind is right. There’s a lot of storage on my lower abdomen and all down the backs of my legs. I’m like an upside down toothpaste tube of fat, where someone is squeezing it out starting with my head and working their way down. This is why I am focusing on my abs right now because its the current squeezing out point.

Here’s my other confession: I made cookies Saturday. In my defense, they were made with oat flour and 60% cacao chips and walnuts. Saturdays I *do* reserve for a carb load and minor refeed but I think I overdid it. Now, with a 15 year old and a 4 year old in the house, cookies don’t last too long here. However, Sunday morning there were a few left, and I ate them.

4 of them, to be exact. 4 awesome, nutty, chocolate filled cookies that actually left me feeling a little ill. This is by far the most processed sugar I have consumed in the past 6 weeks.

Dammit.

To get back on track, I am putting my food intake blog up for public consumption. I track over at livestrong, and it is here: http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/diary/who/msbatty/ . I will echo Courtney’s sentiment about crying a little bit over putting this in front of everyone, but I gotta do what I gotta do.

This week’s goals: keep up the UB workouts. Start on that pullup goal – that’s been problematic because our doorway pullup bar won’t fit in *any* of the doorways in this old house. However, the SO is ccurrently in the basement constructing a combination squat rack/pullup setup for us. Thank god for his support.

Food wise, get back on track with my macros. These next two days will absolutely suck coming down from the sugar consumption, but I know I can do it. I am going to ditch cheese. I’ll usually have 2 servings a day at most but I dont think it’s doing me any good right now. Yes, internet, I have publicly announced that I am going to cut the cheese.

I was going to go back to the bandana with this week’s photo, but decided instead to include a jaunty hat. The world needs more jaunty hats.

Larry:

Nutrition –

I use calorie-count.com to log my food as I consume it on a daily basis and watch the ongoing analysis to keep my carb/pro/fat levels at about 50/30/20 while keeping my sodium, sugar, sat fats, fiber and cholesterol within a somewhat normal range. My goal is to consume between 1800-2000 calories daily with a three day low carb routine followed by a one day slightly higher carb day (with a cheat meal)  taking me up to 2000-2200 calories. Truthfully, this last week had two days when I over consumed on my workout days with the feeling that it was real hunger and me wanting me to chew my arm off in response. As my workout schedule is now established and in place, I believe this will be less of an issue going forward.

Fitness –

After a month and change layoff from wrecking my left shoulder and having a cortisone shot, I returned last Monday to full week of a two day split workout with fairly light weights and two days of getting back on the treadmill for two 36 minute hill routines at a modest pace. I ended up missing one day on the treadmill after my first lower body workout, because the squats and lunges left my quads in a state of disrepair and much DOMS. But, I’m back, feeling good and looking forward to working out at a good pace to recover my fitness.

Misc.-

I was down a pound on the scale with a 1% drop in body fat for the week. Would like to lose two pounds a week and believe with my full workout in place and 3-4 days of cardio can make it happen. I am using my Tanita scale for my weekly reported body fat measurement, having had a caliper measurement by a personal trainer a couple of weeks ago at a body fat level almost 10% less, go figure. I have not mastered my own Accu-measure Caliper and for the moment have more faith and will record the electronic measurement.

Now, for the blogs…

Ken:

I used to listen to Howard Stern all the time when he was on free radio. Once, while interviewing the famous movie maker Michael Moore, one of Howard’s callers told Michael he was fat. Michael Moore’s response has stuck in my head ever since. He said “Listen buddy, I live in the Midwest and in the Midwest, I am not considered that fat.” The sad part is, he was right. Should I settle for being overweight just because it is the norm where I live?

I think the first week overall went very well. I was able to get to the gym four times and had really good sessions. I plan on starting the New Rules Of Lifting program this week. I’ve been winging it in the weight room and if I want different results then I need to do things differently than before.  I also did incline sprints on the treadmill in my basement on two days. Hopefully to weather will warm up so I can move my cardio outdoors.

I’ve made some changes to my nutrition that align with my goal to lose fat. I have moved most of my carbohydrate intake to first thing in the morning and also pre and post workout. The other meals I am focusing on protein and vegtables.  I’ve got to make a better effort to eat more fruit. Looking over my weekly total I only ate a total of two cups of fruit.

The scale read 208 when I stepped on this morning which is a 4lb loss from last Sunday. The body fat percentage stayed the same at 25% which I don’t like but I did have to tighten my belt a notch late this week.  I decided to measure around my stomach at the belly button- 38.5 inches.

I wonder if after his appearance on Howard Stern’s show Michael Moore measured his waist?  It might motivate him to make a movie about a different contoversial subject. Fat loss.  That would be a movie I might actually pay to go see.

Craig:

This week so far was semi successful. I got into the gym, but my nutrition wasn’t 100% on. Despite this I did lose 0.5″ off my waist. Also today is Superbowl Sunday, but I am going to lay low and cook my meals for the week and do some food prep. This part seems integral for me so I HAVE TO GET IT DONE. I finished reading Never Let Go by Dan John and I recommend it for anyone who strives to be healthier or stronger. He is a great teacher and a funny guy with a lot of wisdom to share. In the same vein of trying to improve myself, I bought a car stereo so I can finally listen to some audiobooks in my car for my 2 hour round trip drives to and from school.

Michelle:

I’m going to start this blog post off by saying I did make it to the gym five days this past week. I am going to follow that up with saying this was the week from hell. The first week of every month is a terrible week at work. Its crazy busy and I typically don’t move from my desk. In the past I’ve just eaten anything that’s been within arms distance to grabbing, so it’s usually been junk. This was a terrible week to start any kind of dieting… but is there ever a good time to start dieting?? So as far as the diet went, I guess it was fine. I ate roughly every 2-3ish hours, mostly small meals/snacks. Like I said, Brian set the diet up for me and a “normal carb” day consisted of the following: Breakfast – 2 whole omega-3 eggs, ½ cup egg whites, 1 cup green peppers, 1tbsp shredded mozzarella, 2 tbsp salsa, green tea. Snack – 1 scoop protein powder, ½ small McIntosh apple, 12 almonds, green tea. Lunch – 7oz extra lean ground turkey, 2 cups broccoli, 1 tbsp evoo, sea salt and pepper to taste, green tea. Snack – 2 pieces low fat string cheese, 9 baby carrots, green tea.

During training – ¾ scoop protein powder. Dinner – 1 cup fat free Greek yogurt, ¼ cup frozen blueberries, 2 tbsp walnuts. That’s my meals four days a week. There are two high carb days and a no carb day, which I usually do on Mondays. Again, not ideal to start my busy week with no carbs. I noticed I got a lot of headaches this week and spoke to Brian about it but I couldn’t really say if it was diet related or work stress related. I think it was both, Brian thinks I’m crazy. Training was great this week; my strength seemed to be fine though I did have spike on my training days. I start a new program on Thursday that is going to be written for fat loss purposes, that means a lot of 10 minutes drills. They suck. I’ll write more about that next week. Keep up the good work everyone!

Larry:

Perhaps the motto that sums up what I have to do here is  . . . “I AIN’T NO ECTOMORPH!” Although I would have a hard time putting an exact percentage of how much I look or function like a endomorph or mesomorph, I know full well that taking off fat and putting on muscle mass, is not much of a challenge for me once I put my mind to it and stick to a program.

Because I was not sure we had to produce a blog for this Monday, I waited until I heard yesterday’s Tom Venuto interview. When he talked about the three things that are critical in making it through a fat burning and muscle building challenge – having goals (perhaps big scary realistic ones), having emotional reasons to succeed, and finally accountability, I realized that Kevin has really forced me to truly focus on those things that will get me to finally reach the levels of health and fitness that I have always wanted to get to. Having an almost, five year old son that wants his Dad to be around for a long time seems to drive me emotionally more than any personal desire to look better at the beach or in a suit (that I must wear daily), than to be able to see my abs. My start photos were just taken two days ago, so instead of repeating my current look,  I have attached a photo from the summer of 2009 when I was half way towards my current final goal of 150 pounds, and a dream photo that my daughter did using Kris Gethin’s body (something Tom Venuto suggested previously) for my own personal inspiration and a laugh.  I truly wish all of us good luck and a desire for all to succeed beyond our wildest wishes. Thanks Kevin!

Lucas:

Hey everybody!  I weighed 218.5 as of this morning, so that is a loss of 2.5 more pounds from last week (even after a “cheat” meal).  My lifts are still going up, and my conditioning is definitely improving.  Here’s a quick recap of last week:

Training:

Here we go. Meet the brave souls who are going to be posting shirtless pictures of themselves each week on this website. I have to give huge props to everyone who submitted their blogs and pictures so far. It takes a lot of courage to post your pictures and story for the whole world to see. As you know I had great success with it using Leigh Peele’s Fat Loss Troubleshoot and Body by Eats. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THEM if you need to lose weight, especially if you need to do it fast!

PLEASE post comments about the stories and blogs you read and give support to those that may be in a similar situation as you are currently or in the past. I know, this is a lot, but these blogs are important.

Now here is the starting lineup for the 2010 FitCast Accountability Blog!!!!!

Aaron:

First off, a quick Thank You! to Kevin and the FitCast crew for putting this together. I am tremendously excited by this opportunity, and I think this is exactly the kick in @ss I need. I have spent 26 years developing a nasty habit of procrastination/not following through and it’s going to take more than I can muster alone to defeat it.
History & Background Info: I am a 6’2″ 168lbs. 26 year old male currently freezing my non-hypertrophied butt off in Minnesota, where I work in sales/marketing for a small software company. I grew up in a small town and played a number of sports throughout school, primarily basketball which I still play on occasion. I am engaged (Sept. 5th is the Day of Reckoning)to my beautiful girlfriend who I have dated since high school.

I got my start in weightlifting in college about 4 years ago when my roommate and I purchased a bench and some weights at a garage sale. I stuck with it despite having no clue what I was doing, and over the next two years advanced my exercise knowledge slowly but surely but my nutrition was still a disaster. I hit the books on the nutrition side after a chat with a well-built guy at the YMCA who congratulated me on being the only other person he’s ever seen squatting at the club. Again, I slowly pieced it together and now feel like i have a pretty good idea of WHAT to do. I just can seem to get myself to DO IT.

Goal: As you may have guessed by looking at my stats, I’m in desperate need of some additional mass. My goal is to go through a well-organized bulk until Mid-July and transition to a cut in time for the wedding/honeymoon/endless photos…

Nutrition: For the bulking phase I will be going with a 50 carb/30 prot/20 fat breakout, shooting for 3,000 total cals. That may be a bit above what I need and I will be tweaking that if needed. Mass for the sake of mass is not what I’m after. My supps are very basic: whey protein, multi, fish oil, vitamin d and i will be adding creatine after the first month. I respond well to creatine, so I want to make sure the diet is right first.

Training Program: I will be going through a handful of the programs outlined in Chad Waterbury’s Muscle Revolution series, starting with the Big Boy Basics (BBB) program: http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/big_boy_basics&cr=

If you have questions let me know in the comments.

Batty:

About Me:

The (nick)name is batty. I am a 36 year old woman living in the exotic locale of Cleveland, Ohio. Creative Director by trade, single mom, and lover of the outdoors.

Where I’ve Been:

I wasn’t a particularly fit person growing up. Like many American kids, I developed a huge addiction to sugar and processed carbs. I carried this addiction throughout most of my life. After the birth of my son, I was probably the worst shape in my life. 5’6″, 191 lbs, and 41% body fat in 2006. At that point I told myself that was it, and I decided to change myself. I started with a simple pilates video that I found in the sale bin at Blockbuster. Over the next year and a half, I shed 50 lbs and 8 clothing sizes…the wrong way, pretty much. After that, I started researching proper fitness and nutrition, and fixed the way i worked out.  I rekindled my love of long distance cycling and cross country skiing, and the S.O. helped me cultivate a love of downhill skiing. This is important to remember, as it will become relevant in a few paragraphs.

I tackled my first century last year, am about to compete in my first cross country ski race, and thanks to The New Rules of Lifting for Women, have become a huge fan of lifting heavy.

Where I am Now:

I should give myself a little credit here, as i’ve come a long way. But, I have been banging my head against ye olde proverbial wall for the past year or so. No matter what I tried, I could not get my body comp to change. Ive been fluctuating between 150-160 and 18-20% BF. I just could not figure it out. Well, no, I know why – its that [surprise surprise] accountability thing. I would set these goals in my head and not tell anyone about them, and without anyone to check me, or my lack of ability to resist temptation, that time of the month [sorry guys!] would roll around and my self discipline would fly out the window. Gain weight, slack on the training, bloat up all to hell, and the vicious cycle repeats.

About a month ago I decided I really needed to Get Serious. No, Really Really Serious. I mean it this time. Don’t look at me like that.  I am eating 40/30-ish/30-ish p/c/f, following New Rules Of Lifting For Women, and doing a little extra cardio on the off days because I want to keep up my endurance for cycling. I am getting most of my carb intake from fruit and veggies and eating slightly below my calculated maintenance that I actually know now thanks to my Polar. I do carb it up a bit on Saturdays and eat at maintenance to keep the metabolism going. Really, I do that so I can enjoy French Toast in the morning. That’s my reward.

I don’t know what got into me, but this has actually been working for me over the past month. My last bit of bad-for-you chocolate was consumed 3 weeks ago. I have no desire nor inclination to consume the bad stuff. I’m proud of myself for that one. I started out this phase of Getting Serious at 160 lbs and 18% body fat. As of my measurements last week, I am down 5 lbs and 1% BF. So, that’s about 3 lbs of fat.

Something is working here.  What I’m seeing change visually has been a great motivator for me.

Remember way up there when I said that bit about downhill skiing was somewhat important? Yeah. Well, this past weekend was our little family’s ski trip in NY. I was doing splendidly until my last run yesterday, bit it pretty hard, and and suffered a minor tear on my MCL. I am now in a brace and on ice for the next couple of days. The brace has to be worn for the next 3 weeks. This is, like, a depth of hell I didn’t really want to experience. No bike. No treadmill. NO LIFTING. OH MY GOD WHAT AM I GONNA DO.

If there’s ever a time I’ve needed any accountability, it’s now. I might be laid up, but I can still follow my eating plan, and do what I can without risking further injury, because my knee is kinda important.

The Plan:

My 37th birthday is in April. For said birthday, I want a 6 pack and a cheesecake. No, not that kind of 6 pack, the good kind.  I could tell you that obtaining said 6 pack would be achieved by obtaining approximately 10.43674% body fat, but I don’t know that. I am just going to keep going til i see it.

Obviously, my accident has thrown a HUGE wrench into the works. I thought “how can I possibly compete in this now?” and considered bowing out. But, like I’ve said, if there’s *any* time I’ve needed that motivator to preserve my progress, it’s now. I still need this. i CAN keep going, just not hard right now. I can still do this right.

I can still work on upper body strength. I can find good, safe ways to get some exercise in – obviously, any suggestions would be welcome. So, that’s what I’m going to do. Another goal is to actually be able to do 5 pullups in a row. My legs are awesome, I was dead lifting 180 lbs. in the beginning stage of NROL4W, but my UB strength is horrid. I guess I have the time to work on that now.

Once I get the clear from the doc, I’ll slowly get back to business. At least, the business I was meaning before this mess. I got my work cut out for me.

Included: Current body pictures, with the bonus of my sex-ay brace. I am actually happy with how my upper body is progressing. Most of my fat storage is in my butt, thighs, and a bit in the abs. But, I’m starting to see definition in the upper abs and I am rather pleased.

Carrie:

Carrie

33

5’8/9″

roughly 155-158 (it’s been a while since I’ve weighed myself)

Ok, if I’m being completely honest here, I have to admit as soon as I got the email that I’d been chosen for this accountability thing, I immediately got a little nervous – it was just a mild panic attack – and wanted out (and may or may not have shoved two mini milkyways down my throat)… which is exactly WHY I need to be a part of it.

I’ve been active for the most part in my adult life. Whether it was running, working out with lighter weights, pilates, softball, or some form of miscellaneous exercise. About two years ago, I bought the New Rules of Lifting for Women, started following the programs and got more interested in weight training. Having dealt with a “bum” hip most of my life, a friend suggested I check out Cressey Performance here in MA, just so I could be sure I was lifting with proper form, and not potentially doing more harm than good. I’ve been training with those guys for about a year and half now, virtually pain free.

Recently I saw a picture of myself on vacation back in June when I was more focused on my training and nutrition. Then a friend posted some pictures from a Christmas party this December. This made me sad. It’s not necessarily that I didn’t know it was happening, but every picture tells a story, don’t it? I’ve tried getting back on track on my own, or have at least said I was going to, and have failed. Sometimes never even started. Kevin announcing this thing couldn’t have come at a better time!

So, no more excuses! I’ve got a program from Tony that has me strength training 4x per week, once with him at CP on Saturdays. I’ve got Kevin backing me on the nutrition end. I had a long, loving goodbye with my red wine last night (oh, how I will miss you) and I’m ready to regain the strength and confidence I felt like I had, or was starting to have last spring, and just to feel healthy again. My goal is to lose 12-15 lbs. and hopefully be able to see some definition. Knowing I have to check in here with you guys every week, and more importantly post pictures (EEK!) is sure to keep me in check. Wish me luck! [editor's note: Yes, I am writing Carrie's nutrition, and she will still be able to have red wine...]

Ken:

39 years old, 5 foot 10 inches tall, 212 lbs, 25% of which is fat. It’s hard to put them numbers on paper let alone a public blog, but listening to the fitcast and reading blogs I’ve come to realize that accountability is what I need.    I always considered myself to be athletic. I played team sports growing up and then the United States Marine Corps turned me into a runner. Not a very fast runner, but a runner none the less. I’ve done marathons and triathlons and felt a sense of great accomplishment crossing the finish line after months of hard work. During this period I lost weight and felt pretty good about myself. Only one problem- the weight I lost was mostly muscle and the spare tire remained.  After a foot injury a few years ago I changed my thinking away from such extreme endurance events and committed to getting in the gym. Over the last few years I’ve put on some muscle but also fat.

My plan is to follow Tom Venuto’s Body Fat Solution program. When you read Tom’s book and blogs you realize this dude knows how to lose fat. And not just for himself, he knows how to teach.  He understands that eating is emotional and gives techniques on dealing with that devil on your shoulder saying “You worked out today, you deserve four bowls of your kids fruit loops.” I’ll track my calories using the Livestrong App on my iPhone which I like since it’s portable.

My goal is to look like I go to the gym, to feel good in my clothes and look good for my wife.  I’m not concerned about scale weight although I will use it to track progress.

I guess this is the start of a new type of endurance event. Hopefully I can stay motivated and make some progress in the right direction. -Ken

Lucas:

Hello.  My name is Luke, and I’m a fat bastard.  Phew!  It feels good to get that off my chest.  I’ve been in denial for far too long.  I thought I was “bulking” when I had simply gotten fat and out of shape.  Then someone actually told me, “You look like you used to work out.”  Used to??? What the hell does that mean?!?

I wasn’t always this way.  I used to have abs.  Then I got married to my dream girl, and we had the four best kids in the world.  This led to me becoming the porker I am today… Okay, my wife and kids have never been the problem, although that was one of my many excuses and rationalizations.  The major problem for me is consistency.

I’ve actually gotten in fairly good shape several times over the last four or five years.  However, every time I got close to my goal I would just completely fall off the wagon.  Well, never again!  I’m tired of feeling self-conscious about taking my shirt off.  I’m tired of feeling fat and disgusting.  I’m tired of not living up to my true potential.

Since I’m trying to become a CSCS before the end of the year, I HAVE to change.  There is no alternative.  Let’s be honest.  Nobody is going to take me seriously as a coach if I’m fat and out of shape.  Even if I could learn more than Mike Boyle, Eric Cressey, and Alwyn Cosgrove combined, I’m limiting myself as long as I stay fat.

I also love adventure racing and mt. biking, but it’s pretty hard to be fast when you’re fat.   At many races there is a separate category for guys like me (over 200 pounds) – the Clydesdale division.  Well, I refuse to be a Clydesdale anymore.

I’m 5’ 10”, and I weighed 230 pounds as of Jan 4^th.  I’m down to 221 right now which is a decent start.  Not mind-blowing, but not bad.  My goal is to get below 200 pounds while losing as little lean body mass as possible.  I want people to look at me and realize that I train hard (no more of this “Used-to” BS).  I want to look good and feel good.

To reach my goal, I’m using Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1 program combined with Coach Dos’s Cardio Strength Training.  For my diet, I’m using Dr. John Berardi’s Precision Nutrition.

Michelle:

Hi everyone, I’m michelle. Saying that makes me feel like I’m in an AA group, or maybe it’s an OE group, I guess that would make more sense seeing how I am here to lose weight.. A little bit about me and my past, I’m 33 about 5’7”, last time I weighed myself I believe I was 165 pounds. I’ve been training with Tony consistently for roughly the past two years. He kicks my ass every Saturday and writes my programs for the rest of the week as well. I train at sports club la in boston usually two other days in addition to training on Saturdays at cressey performance.

Training isn’t my issue, I love to train, I train hard. Eating is my issue. I don’t cook so the majority of my meals are eaten out. I do typically stay away from your mcdonalds and burger king fast food places but I do not eat well at restaurants. I love food, pizza probably being my biggest love/downfall. I’m on here basically to get on track with eating healthy and lose fat. Not sure that I have any specific number in mind for pounds to lose, but I would like to get back down to a size 8 in jeans. When I told Kevin why I wanted to do this contest, one of my main reasons was to get back into my jeans. He may have thought I was joking, but I take jeans very seriously (I have the serious business face on) and I want to get back into my jeans without fear of taking someone’s eye out with a popped button. Have you seen that commercial where everyone’s pants are popping open, it’s hysterical; it’s also become my life…

A while back Brian St. Pierre wrote me a diet to follow, he based it loosely on the warp speed diet that a bunch of people at CP were doing, I did it for a month or two and had some good results. I felt great about myself but I got bored so I went back to eating like crap. So I’m going to give that another go. I’m trying to learn how to cook so maybe I won’t become bored with the program. Oh and another goal of mine is to get to the gym at least five times a week. I’ll train three days and do cardio or intervals the other two. Now that I’ve put that out there I have to do it. Wish me luck!

Robert:

My name is Robert.  I am 27 years old, 5’9”, 200 lbs, and 19 % body fat. I’ve been listening to the Fitcast since the John Williams days.  I used to work in a medical lab so it would just be me with my ipod  listening to the FitCast for 8 hours until I caught up on all the episodes.  After I got over my paralysis by analysis, I bought “New Rules of Lifting”, ready to start my new life.  Then two weeks into the program, I was in a pretty serious motorcycle accident.  Long story short, I was dragged under a car for 30 feet on the freeway.  Needless to say, I wasn’t able to do much training after that.  My recovery was slow and I found myself getting busier and busier; I was accepted into nursing school and Air Force ROTC while trying to manage my family of a wife and three children.  I had no time to work out and I just kept gaining more fat with each child’s birth.

Fast forward two years and add two dogs; I now have my NASM-CPT and work as a trainer in a franchise gym.  I definitely feel like a hypocrite, not having the time to do what I tell my clients to do, but this is the busiest I’ve been in a long time. I’m here to prove to my clients and myself, that there is literally no excuse for not being fit.

My goals are to drop my body fat back down to 15%, where I’ve had it the last two summers (12% long term goal), improve my performance on the soccer field (I play in an adult league on Sundays), and score a 100% on the Air Force Physical Fitness Assessment (PFA).  The PFA consists of doing 62 pushups in 1 minute, 55 sit-ups in 1 min. and run 1.5 miles in 9:30.  I will be using turbulence training with a little kettlebell training added in, and precision nutrition.  I also do 1-2 days of calisthenics and running for my air force training and soccer on the weekends.

David:

My name is Dave W. and I am a 28 yr old from Central Illinois….that’s the part that ISNT Chicago. Yes there is Illinois outside Chicago, but I digress.

I am a divorced father of 2 small children, and have been a Police Officer for 5 years. Fitness has been a struggle for me my entire life, but no more. 2010 is my year!

I am committed to making this my year to start the life I always wanted. I am happily engaged to be married to the woman of my dreams this summer, and I have my kids with us 50% of the time. This year I get the privilege of starting several exciting things at work, including my first year on a SWAT type team, my first year being a national instructor for 2 classes, and my first year as a Physical Fitness program and gym coordinator.

I have had a love-hate relationship with fitness for years. Coming out of high school I was 286 lbs and could barely bench the bar. 5 years later coming out of the Police Academy I was down to 165 lbs and benching 200 lbs. 2008 was a rough year for me, with a tough divorce causing a lot of comfort eating and a loss of commitment to my fitness. I started 2009 back at 235 lbs. and with a sad bench once again.

The last few months I have made a strong attempt at getting back to the fit person I wanted to be, thanks in no small part to the weekly advice and encouragement I have gotten from the Fitcast.

My biggest current weaknesses are twofold: 1) Eating wrong and snacking; and 2) slacking off and skipping occasional workouts. I tend to “graze” at work, stopping at different offices for a piece of candy or an occasional doughnut (NO COPS AND DOUGHNUTS JOKES PLEASE). I also sometimes find myself in a workout slump, having skipped one, then two, then maybe even 3 workouts in a week only to be deeply disappointed in myself.

My plan is to use this experience to help me get back on track. I need the accountability this will provide to make sure I DON’T keep these habits up. I am committed to this and AM going to make it happen.

I am going to be basing my eating on Leigh Peele’s books and blog posts as well as using the Livestrong websits’s Daily Plate food tracking system. I will be using a fitness plan from my Police Academy involving alternating steady state and interval cardio, as well as lifting with a universal machine and kettlebells.

Wish me luck and I look forward to hearing from all of you. Keep me in line, just remember to be nice….

After all, I do have a lot of friends with radar guns…..

Tim:

First, thanks for the innovation.  Tons of content, work out videos, the new video/interactive podcast, this accountability contest, all for free.  There’s no one else I know of doing this and it’s really encouraging to see people with your energy and expertise willing to give so much to your audience.  Nice.

I’ve flirted with resistance training off and on for the past five years.  I didn’t grow up athletic, and that set me down a course of relying on a naturally high metabolism and not doing anything to improve my actual health.  It was when I bought Scrawny to Brawny that I was first exposed to real weight training.  I devoured that book, and I stuck to the program for a few weeks, but a combination of work constraints, poorly tuned diet, and lack of motivation tanked my results and I lost momentum far short of seeing any results.

I then picked up a program off precisionnutrition.com, and I followed it religiously for three or four months.  I actually started to see results, and so did my friends.  I picked up a workout partner who I was partially “training” with the same program, and things were good.  I was motivated.  My nutrition wasn’t awful.  I was seeing changes.  Then, my workout partner had a life change, I lost him, and motivation took a nose dive.  I’ve bounced in and out of training for the 2 years since that and nothing has ever stuck like it did when I had someone by my side to help motivate me, and for me to help motivate.

I just turned 30 this past November, and I’m ready for lifestyle changes.  Until 4 months ago, I was an off and on smoker for nearly half of my life.  I feel like in the past four months I’ve really turned the corner on my addiction, and I want to capitalize on that momentum to get on the road to making my 30s better than my 20s.  The times I had the healthiest habits were when I had someone there with me.  Today I don’t really have anyone to serve that role.  I’m hoping the FitCast crew and audience can help fill the gap and get me on the path to better health and staying committed to that path.

In New Rules of Lifting, Lou and Alwyn basically define me to a T on page 195 as “the guy who considers skinny an insult”.  On top of that, I love the straight forward no nonsense approach of this book, so I want to see what kind of results I can get with their program plus your support.  That means 4 weeks of break in,  6 weeks of hypertrophy, a week off, eight weeks of hypertrophy, two weeks off, then four weeks of strength work, and that’s just the first six months.

Ultimately, my goal is to develop a life-long habit.  Just like I want to turn my life as a smoker into a life as a non-smoker, I want to turn my life as an unhealthy 20-something into a life as a healthy and active 30-something and beyond.  I’m not interested in medals.  I do not want to win contests.  I just want to get far enough down the road of good health that it becomes integral to my life instead of just a passing interest.

Thanks for the consideration and keep up the good work!  The FitCast is an invaluable resource, and it keeps me laughing at a minimum.  I’m attaching some photos for the “before”.

Craig:

About Me:
Hi. My name is Craig and I am 26 years old and I am currently a student living in Georgia. Kevin didn’t get my first post that I sent so I am doing another!

I started training and trying to lose weight a couple of years ago and I’ve learned so much in that time period. I’ve done everything from fasted cardio, to working with a champion bodybuilder. The thing that I have learned the most is that all the amount of knowledge in the world doesn’t matter without application and consistency and here is where I am lacking the most. This accountability blog and community is where I hope to get that support because of the years I have always felt alone in my fat loss. My family doesn’t really understand it, and my friends certainly don’t either (none of them train).

Anyway my goal is to lose 45lb by July 4th. This is a pretty arbitrary goal, but specific none the less and something to shoot for. I am part of the Johnstonefitness Bodyshop BETA so I will tracking most of my stats there and will use Livestrong’s Dailyplate for tracking food. One thing I have learned is that keep copius amounts of tracking statistics helps a lot! I will be using a combination of Precision Nutrition and Alan Aragon’s Girth Control to get my nutrition in order.

My strength training programs are done by Tony Gentilcore and and I’m suprised he hasn’t given up on me yet “Success comes from good judgement, good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.” is a good quote to live by.

Larry:

My name is Larry  and I am 56 years old with a four year old son. My daughters from my first marriage are 24 and 26 years old.

Interestingly, during most of my youth and adult life, I was neither overweight nor unfit, in fact, weight training, playing tennis and skiing, running, and century biking in my thirties, Appalachian Trail hiking in my forties, always maintaining a fairly healthy and muscular body between 145-155 pounds.

After an amicable divorce in 1999, remarriage to a woman 11 years younger than me, Nancy, in 2002, and after the birth of my son, I found myself in the worst physical condition of my life, suffering from sleep apnea, sciatica, plantar fasciitis, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and depression. At 5’4” I weighed over 250 pounds and was napping for over two hours a day. When it finally dawned on me that I truly wanted to be around for my daughters and son for a long time, I was motivated to take some positive steps towards improving my physical and mental well-being. With great effort, I was able to take my weight down to about 175 pounds and virtually eliminate all of my previous health issues. However, I now find my weight creeping back up to about 200 pounds and want to arrest the process with this program. [2/5/2010 – 205 pounds at 36% bodyfat]

GOALS:

FITNESS & NUTRITION

To look and feel better every day. To develop explosive speed, low body-fat

composition, muscular strength, flexibility, low blood pressure, aerobic fitness, and

muscular endurance. To weigh under150 pounds at less than 10% body-fat, feel

great, and experience total well-being, by:

• l  Exercise daily, eat healthy and nutritious foods.
• l  Awake by 5:30 AM, dress & exercise.
• l  Have a small waist, broad shoulders, and dominating chest.
• l  Appear naturally lean, strong, and muscular.
• l  Control my body fat, gain muscle, and lose body fat easily.
• l  Be successful at strength, plyometric, and power sports.
• l  Drink water morning, afternoon, and evening.
• l  Stop eating by 9:00 PM.
• l  Maintain my weight under 150 pounds, with less than 10% body fat.
• l  Wear a 40 short suit and 30-32 inch pants.
• l  Maintain a “fit and trim” appearance with a happy, healthy, and grateful attitude.

Phase I: Regain control of my diet and exercise routine, go from my current weight down to 174 pounds, not miss a workout.

Phase II: Fine tune my diet and exercise routine, go from 174 pounds down to 145-150 pounds at 10% body fat, not miss a workout.

Phase III: Maintain a healthy eating routine (balanced meals of whole foods, 90% compliance) with my weight held between 145 – 150 at about 10% body fat.

PROGRAM:

Cardio: Treadmill – 48 minutes “Hills” at 4 MPH alternating with 45 minutes Cross-Train intervals at 4 MPH and 6 MPH, three days per week.

Weights: A two day split weight training routine (following a published BFFM routine) four days per week.

Make Sunday a “Fun Day” to spend with family and get some outdoor activity

My goals is to eat 1800-2000 calories per day and exercise either cardio or weight training six days per week with a “fun day” of some type on Sunday (one day would be a double, cardio & weights). My food plan in based on the BFFM and The Body Fat Solution, eating five meals per day, a protein and carbohydrate at each feeding, consuming whole foods, healthy oils, weighing and measuring, using the following supplements – Centrum, fish oil, BCAA’s, L-glutamine, ZMA, XTend, and creatine. The only medication I currently take is Zocor and Bayer aspirin. I take ibuprofen for muscle soreness.

PHOTOS: see attached, older, more recent, will email front & side on Monday

TRAINING HISTORY:

At a little over 250 pounds in October 2008, I started by just walking on a treadmill in my home for 36 minutes daily at a 3 mph pace. Gradually I increased that to “hills” for 48 minutes at a 4 mph pace. I also started a whole body weight training routine early in 2009, so would get on the treadmill three to four times per week and weight train three times per week.

About this time I bought the Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (BFFM) eBook by Tom Venuto and also purchased the P90X Program by Tony Horton. I read, then meticulously studied the BFFM book, and had the P90X videos playing on my TV while I did my weight training, thinking that eventually I would be able to do the P90X Program.

After about six months of doing my whole body workout, I changed to doing a 12-week transformation weight training routine by Kris Gethin on the Bodybuilding.com website and got amazing results. My wife Nancy could not believe the difference in my chest, back and arms. During this time, my weight had gone down from 250 to about 175 at its lowest, at the end of the summer of 2009

About this time, I was experiencing severe shoulder pain and was told surgery would be necessary to repair arthritis, a bone spur, and an AC tear. With my doctor’s permission, I continued to work out (and still do) modifying my movements to minimally stress the problem areas, but still work on building the muscle to aid in the post-surgical recovery process. I have had two cortisone shots into the joint with very good results and will probably have the shoulder operated on later this year.

ANYTHING ELSE:

My greatest weakness is not exercise nor my typical daily diet, but rather my consumption of additional food between the hours of 8 – 10 PM when after a hard, stressful day of work, exercise, and existence at a “calorie deficit”, I feel like chewing my arm off. Sometimes I attack pretzels, nuts or peanut butter, other times yogurt and cereal or protein bars. Regardless, I know this must stop and my hope is the ACCOUNTABILITY necessary to succeed here will help my process.