Hey Everyone,

This week I actually couldn’t wait to get this blog posted!

So on Thursday I took what we call the PEB. It was my 1^st physical exercise test for this year and the results were better than I had hoped thanks in no small part to the work I have done for this blog series.

My max effort bench came in at 178 lbs, more than 13 lbs better than my previous personal record when I was in the best shape of my life, and 28 lbs more than my previous test in 2008. My time in the mile and ½ run was 12:50, which beat my previous record best by 32 seconds (not too bad for a fat boy like me). As I had feared I didn’t improve much in my agility run, but my sit-and-reach topped out at 22 inches which to me was amazing as well.

Now I cant mention something so good, without mentioning the “ugly” as well.  After that performance I did indeed have a moment of weakness, and was more than tempted to celebrate with a piece of my personal kryptonite, cheesecake. Fortunately my INCREDIBLE fiancé kept me in line and showed me the error of my ways. Without her I honestly think I might have buckled.

This week I am hoping to stay the course and on track. I have to spend a few days at a training center which I know from personal experience has a world class cafeteria and workout center, and being away from some of the distractions of normal life at work should allow me to focus even more on the areas I want to work on in my life. And, with no TV at this center, I should get caught up on the “FITCASTS” I have backing up on my iPod.
Thanks to all for your support and see you next week.

Thanks for reading.

DW

Larry:

Mea culpa – MIDPOINT EVALUATION – Fitter YES, Fatter, About the Same. The storm that hit the country this last week did particular bad damage to the area I live in. Not quite as bad as when a tornado came through (Stamford, CT) four years ago and a large tree fell and sliced my wife’s Honda Pilot in half, but close. No power for over five days, no internet, phone or cable, and a large oak tree came down perfectly across the only road leading out of the complex I live in, so no car movement to leave the affected area. Kevin kindly gave me a pass on my blog for last week, but the stress of the storm and some other marital issues led me to test Tom Venuto’s tenets on “Emotional Eating”. Also, although we were car bound, we could walk to a convenient IHOP that was quick to solve our fridge cleanout issue due to lack of refrigeration.

The distraction of the storm put my eating plan on hold, and if I had a stronger constitution probably could have stuck closer to plan, but after a while, I was not strong enough and rolled over, especially with the offer of all you could eat pancakes. My weight held pretty steady, without any improvement, and I did discover I could work out by Coleman lantern light but my treadmill was not cooperative. I did some outside walking and got to know all the neighbors better, because all of us could not exit the area due to the tree issue. The storm receded and the clean-up crews returned to get rid of downed wires and transformers, and on Friday cable and internet access was resumed.

The only other thing to report is my third cortisone shoulder injection. The day I get the large dose, my shoulder “pings” somewhat and I experience what might be described as a roid rush. But it seems to allow me to workout within limits that minimize pain and discomfort and put off the inevitable surgery that will take me over six months to recover from . . . buying some time.

Batty:

This was one hell of a week for me. It started out with my beloved 6 year old ferret, Kane, unexpectedly taking a turn for the worse and I had to put him to sleep. That pretty much made my week suck eggs. So, it kinda passed by in a haze and I just kinda was on auto pilot this week.

Life is finally getting back to normal, and by normal, I mean traveling all the time, and being really busy even when I’m at home.  This week, I’m in Boston.  That means yet another week of marginal (at best) diet, stressful meetings, and no real place to work out.  At least I have my new runners!  I’m seriously hoping it’s not raining when I get up so I can go move a little.  Last week was pretty good on the other hand.  I completed three of four workouts and I feel they were very productive.  Having the lat tower attachment to my power rack really makes for a fuller workout following the programs in New Rules.  Rows and lat pull downs (with sets of more than 5 or so reps, otherwise I’d just use the pull up bar) feel really good.

Here are some more half naked pictures.  No real change, but that’s not the end of the world I suppose.  I’m just looking forward to getting home and staying there for a while so I have access to the equipment I need.

Thanks!

Hey Everyone,

This week when I was looking at my photos and I was actually a little bit disappointed. I don’t think that the photos tell the story, at least not this week.

Right now I feel stronger that I have in a long time. My workouts have been awesome, and I have been getting in the gym and not skipping any workouts. My exercise battery is this week on Thursday, and I don’t really feel a lot of stress about it like I have in the past. I probably have not worked as hard on my cardio as I should have, but I feel that at least my bench is going to be as good or better than it has before. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

My diet is what shot me in the foot this week, just like last. I haven’t been tracking my food as diligently as I was before, more estimating my amounts, and that has really hurt me. I am feeling more full and “blown up” than I had been when I was tracking online, and I think that showed some in the photos. I HAVE to get back to the livestrong tracking system. It shocks me to realize how just missing one day of tracking has caused me to slack off on it overall.

I do think my diet is going to improve this week though, as the weather here has broken and is getting better. I also finally got a grill for the house, so I will be cooking out more lean meats out there instead of eating as many “heavier” meals. I have already made up some extra chicken breasts for quick snacks , and am thinking about veggie kabobs later this week. If anyone has any great grilling recipes please feel free to shoot them this way.

Thanks for all the support and keep up the hard work everyone.

Thanks for reading.

DW

Batty:

Happy spring forward, y’all! I say “y’all” and yet I was born and raised in Ohio. Go figure.

Michelle asked me what my tabatas were, so I decided to just share with the rest of the class. My list is here. I pick 3 of these sets, repeat them 4 times [so you're doing 16 minutes for each one], for a total of around 45 minutes when i’m done. My favorite is set 2. I also like to do this for upper body, adding regular pushups on the end.

This is another 4am shot, so I look like I’m about to eat your babies and take your lunch money. Comparing the left thigh with the right, you can totally see the effects of having to wear the leg brace.  I’m seeing the beginnings of the tiniest hint of background between the thighs. I’ll take that.

This week’s goals are to hit my protein requirement, keep my carb limit, and make sure most of my fats are healthy. And not beat myself up so much.

Last week was a deload week for me, so I’ll try to keep this short.  It was a very good week, and I had very little problems with my diet or training.  I’m definitely forming some great habits.  The only “problem” I had was not wanting to slow down on my training for my deload week, but I definitely needed it.  Here is the rundown…

I really had my hands full this last week. I was in Washington DC for work Thur to Sunday and put in a 12 hour day Wednesday preparing for my trip.  Each day in DC consisted of 13 hours of hellaciously boring meetings, broken up only by 25 minutes breaks for terrible buffet food. The hotel was nowhere near anything resembling a decent restaurant, with the best and closest (it rained everyday) option being 5 Guys Burgers and Fries. In 4 days I ate there 6 times. I had never been to a 5 Guys before, as there are nowhere in the midwest, and I must say that they are amazing.

The strangest thing was weighing myself today put me at 171lbs, or 1 pound lighter than last week. I fully expect the other bloggers to hate my guts. I apologize. I really cannot explain it, I thought for sure i’d be up 2-4 pounds. Such is the curse of my ectomorphic disposition. I did manage to get into the hotel fitness center one night, and went through a couple of kevin’s core excercises as an ab workout another night.

That wraps it up this week, I will be back to normal after I have a chance to catch up on sleep, eating and the pile of work I came back to… It’s fun to complain sometimes. Next week I want to talk about what a catastrophe my posture is and how I can improve it before I get a hump. Also zombies.

Last week was pretty mediocre but I did come to a realization when I remembered my three month goal. WTF I shouldn’t suddenly need to remember my goals! I know I’m not going as hard as I can in the gym and it’s time to solve that. I started to train in the morning, which is such a bad idea for me. It’s a pain in my ass to make it to the gym and be super confined because I have to make it home in time to go to work. It’s time to go back to late afternoon training on my way home from work where I don’t even have to think about not going since I’m already on the road.

I reread Girth Control and  I came up withhhh 2500-2750 calories (with non-linear variation):

242g Protein
90g Fat
225g Carb

And I know I’ve said this before but the 225g carb scares me. I’ve always dieted down low carb, for whatever reason, wish I knew. Well no matter, it’ll work if I just do it for a few weeks!
Ive also to basically track my compliance with a training % and nutrition %. At 90% and above I’m golden (training 100% of course)

I thought I had more, but not really. I have only so much willpower and I need to make it as easy on myself as possible. At the same time I don’t want to sound like a broken record; actions speak louder than words. Time to confront the brutal facts and not give a shit what others think.

P.S. Sorry for crappy cell phone pic, no camera available to me this week.

What an amazing week. I finished up the quarter (and actually did pretty darn well) so I now have two weeks of relative calm before it’s time to go back to class. I picked up Leigh Peel’s Body By Eats and have been enjoying reading it and trying out some of the recipes. My eating was pretty much spot on this week except for a couple of beers on Friday night when I went out with the girls. I only worked out three times last week but am starting to notice that I’m building up strength and am needing to ramp up my cardio to get the same effect.

Mainly this week was good for me mentally. I left the 190s and will never see that number on my scale again. I reached my 10 lb mark and am ready for 20. To celebrate one of my more fashionable friends came over to help me with my wardrobe. People had been getting on me for a while (my coworkers even nominated me for What Not to Wear) about my clothes. I was a big fan of wearing as much cloth as possible to cover my body from neck to feet because I had always been told that my body was unacceptable unless it was thin. My friend had me try on every piece of clothing in my closet and get rid of everything that was remotely unflattering (about 3/4 of it), taught me how to put some nice outfits together, got me to try on my clothes that had gotten too small and found some that now fit (!) and then took me shopping. I also found that my body just can’t eat unhealthy food anymore. I bought myself a soda and some gummy bears on Sunday and 15 min after consuming them I had a horrible headache and felt terrible. That makes it even easier to stick to my baked tofu and clementines since the thought of that much sugar now makes me ill.

Even though I only lost 2 lbs this week and didn’t work out a ton I feel better than I have in years because of the mental milestones. I’m writing this on Monday evening and felt so good today that on top of my hour session with my personal trainer I biked to and from work (30 min each way). Now… I just need those darn pictures to start reflecting the work I’m doing. Grrrr.

What a crap week.  I drove from Cincinnati to Atlanta on Sunday, worked there until Friday, then drove to Charlotte Friday night.  The next morning, off to South Carolina and back the same day, then in the car again from Charlotte to Cincinnati yesterday.  It has been an incredible challenge keeping any kind of diet/workout this past week.

Now I know why Jonathan Fass never updates his blog; It’s tough to write something every week.  For me this week sucked just as bad as last week.  I’m still struggling with time and energy.  I’m not eating terribly, but I’m not disciplined either; I’m not sitting around doing nothing, but I’m not on a strict training schedule.  So I’m left right in the middle, not gaining or losing any fat.  I have gained some strength which is good, but I need to get more interval training in and dial in my diet. My next quarter starts in a few weeks and my schedule won’t be quite as ridiculous (although I do have 9 hours of Air Force classes a week).  We just had daylight savings time too so the days will get a little longer and I’ll be able to train outside a little more.  I figure I’m like a disney movie where the underdog sports team gets a rough start and gets discouraged, but then there’s the montage where they train hard to some inspiring music and win the playoff game…  I just have to find someone to give me an inspiring talk and buy me matching uniforms.

I digress, it’s not that I don’t care or that I’m not taking this amazing opportunity seriously.  It’s just that I’m having a hard enough time just waking up every day and meeting all the assignments and responsibilities I have on a daily basis.  This week I’m going to try to use some sandbags I have at home to get some metabolic work in.  This way I can’t use time as an excuse.  I also want to try to plan and portion my meals better, down to the calorie to eliminate the times of weakness or rationalization.  Thanks again to everybody who reads these blogs.  Even though I feel like crap, I know it’ll be that much better when I’m able to get buckled down.

Hello once again ladies and gentlemen… not a whole lot to report this week. I’m up to 173lbs consistently each morning making for a 7lb total gain so far in 1 month.  On the surface that does not seem all that great given the effort I feel like I’ve put forth in the gym and in the kitchen over the last 30 days; in the past this rather underwhelming result would have really bothered me. This time is different. This time I feel like I am laying the right ground work, something sustainable.

Quick trip down memory lane:  A few summers ago I finished college and wrapped up an internship that actually paid me. I decided to take 6 months and do whatever I wanted; I was about to start working for the rest of my life so while i had the chance I took some “me-time” and went on a nice vacation with the money that I had saved. Shortly after the vaca I was bored out of my mind… so I threw myself into the gym full-time, going twice a day and eating everything in sight – alot of the wrong things like fast food, weight gainer shakes, and as much leftovers as my parents and grandparents dropped off. Long story short I got stronger than I ever had been, weighed 200lbs and had atleast 2 chins. I felt like a bloat tub of goo, I was tired all the time and I had literally eaten away my savings. Luckily my metabolism was so jacked up from al lthe activity and having to fight off all the calories I was consuming that it did take me long to get back to 175lbs once I stopped inhaling garbage.

I coudnt sustain what it took to gain muslce that way.  As I thought about those “measly” 7lbs i’ve gained I realized it isn’t so much about the weight gain, it’s about building the foundation (or other cheesy metaphor of your choice) of sustainable improvement; things like pre-preparing foods, planning out your excercise routine and following through.

Wow, now that i read that back it’s a little sappy. Please bear with me, it’s late on sunday evening and i’m running on fumes. This week will be a struggle, I have to travel for work on Wednesday and won’t be home until sunday late. I will do my best to hit the fitness center at the hotel and atlest get some high rep sessions in. Only upside is I’m eating for bulk on the company credit card for 5 days, BONUS!!

Hello all – another week done, and what a crap week it was. I knew going into this week it was going to be tough to get my five days in at the gym, and it didn’t happen. Three days this week I don’t even remember shutting the alarm off in the morning, nor resetting it. Wednesday night I came home from work at went directly to bed and laid there for four hours until I got up to eat dinner, which consisted of a beer. Work just kicks my ass the first week of the month and I suppose I have to cut myself some slack but it’s easier to beat up on myself I guess. I was away this weekend too. Actually, I just got home from new york. I have found myself (for lack of a better term) in a long distance relationship, where I only see my boyfriend about every three or so weeks. I usually meet him in upstate NY. I say this not because I think you all want to hear about my relationship status but because I have a hard time being on the road – or in a hotel – and not eating like shit and drinking like a fish. Shockingly, I didn’t drink my face off this weekend. I actually barely drank. I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t drink at all but compared to some weekends when I meet him, this was a vast improvement. The eating is a different story. While I don’t think I made horrible choices this weekend in regards to food, I can say that it wasn’t great. Does anyone have any suggestions when traveling/staying in a hotel on better food choices that can be made? Keep in mind I don’t stay at a place with a kitchen. I did get out and enjoyed the weather today and walked for two hours through NYC today, I love the idea of New York, just not sure it’s ever a place I can see myself living. I’d eat pizza every day! So this week I’m back on getting myself to the gym five days and back on the diet. Oh, and not sure if everyone read kevin’s blog about the good eat sweet and spicy tea; but it’s phenomenal. Brian is the one that actually told me about it and said he drinks it either before training or on his way to CP (I can’t remember) and he feels great. So I’ve been making it before I leave for work in the morning and before I go to training and I love it! It has a weird sweetness to it that took me a few tries to get used to but it’s the spiciness that I love. And it smells just like big red. Brings me back to high school for some reason… well it’s been a long day and I’m gonna crash at any minute. Keep up the good work everyone.

This past week was just all kinds of messed up for me. I had the MRI for my knee, the corresponding followup and started my PT, which I’ll be doing for 6 weeks. Long story short, my knee will be able to be completely rehabbed without fear of any long term effects. To say I am peeing my pants with happiness about this would be an understatement, and hot damn am I headed to the bike shop to get fitted for my new bike that’s just been sitting there for the past 3 weeks.

I hate the treadmill. Hate it hate it hate it and the only reason why I’ve been using it is because of my injury. I am glad I can kick that to the curb and focus on my love, tabata intervals. I now have 3 full body sets that when all is said and done takes 45 minutes to do and leave me in a big heap of mess on the floor. I actually got my SO and his son [who is 15] turned onto them as well, and now we do them together on non lifting days. Family bonding, we has it.

nutrition goals is to tread food just as a fuel source. I cannot do this. I love food, I love eating, cooking, and celebrating food in a healthy way. I am constantly looking for healthy recipes online so we can avoid the ‘grilled chicken and steamed vegetables’ syndrome that so many people seem to fall into when watching their nutrition, myself included.

Last week was a challenge.  There was a lot going on at work.  I was stressed out.  I managed to get two of four planned workouts in (both very productive none the less).  Then Sunday night it was on the road to Atlanta….for….work….  I forgot my workout log at home, so I can’t report on what I did, but I can say I’m on upper/lower splits.

There’s no gym that I have free access to here in Atlanta, so I thought I’d try something completely crazy: running.  I haven’t run in 3-4 years, and I remember the last time I started running, my legs seized up like an engine with a quart of water in it.  I was really interested to see how well I’d do this time around.  The break-in program I followed from new rules of lifting felt like a cardio program with weights.  Lots of heavy breathing and sweating throughout the workouts.  So this morning I put on the running gear and heat out into the 40F morning on a 2 mile track outside my hotel.  To my astonishment, I made it at least half way through before having to stop for a break, and even then it was more my uncomfortable shoes than anything else.  I ended up making it through two miles, and even got so into it I actually ran right past my hotel and got half way down the block before I realized the run was over.  My legs are tired now, but I’m happy I can run nearly 2 miles after not having run for years, and do it without seizing up like I used to.  I feel like quitting smoking has really paid off.

Photos this week are lame…  I don’t have my posh bedroom to snap them in!  Here’s me from my Atlanta hotel room:

Man is it hard to take a side shot with an iPhone in a cramped space.  Anyway next week’s pics should be much better.  I brought my blast straps with me, so I’ll be playing with ways to use those as an alternative to the weights.  I don’t really know how to use them, so I have a feeling I’m going to have to be really creative to get any value out of them.  In either case, this week is not going to be a great lifting week.  Can’t wait to get home and work with iron instead of running shoes and nylon bands.

I finally started using fitday…then my two year old son spent a night throwing up on me, I had a midterm, I had to edit a movie/slideshow for my nursing research class, and we had our grand opening this weekend at the gym.  So my week was shot and I was left with three quarters of a day recorded on fitday.  I’ve never counted calories so I’m looking forward to being more accountable in that way; it’s just such a pain to enter in all my homemade foods.  I’m a bit of a creature of habit, so I’m hoping once I get it all entered in, it’ll be a lot less time consuming.  At this point, I’m pretty sure I’m gaining body fat. I’m still struggling to get more than 4-5 hours of sleep at night (as I write this at 11:25 pm and have to train at 5:00 am) and the combination of school, work, family and ROTC may give me a heart attack.  I’m sure my cortisol levels are off the chart and my body is begging for every bit of comfort food I come across.  I really picked a horrible, horrible time to do this accountability blog, but I guess in that way, I picked the best time.  I’m really fighting to get things more organized and manage my time, but I’m lacking the will power and energy.  I only have a few weeks left in this quarter.  During spring break I’m going to do an overnight hiking trip to regroup and try to start the next quarter strong, with a plan.  Finals are coming up so I’m gonna need a lot of prayers and positive thoughts out there.  At this point I’m giving the four areas in my life 30 %.  I’m no math major, but I’m pretty sure those numbers don’t work out.

I can’t believe it’s been a month! I guess it’s a good thing it feels like it’s gone by quickly. I started a new program Saturday that so far doesn’t seem TOO bad, but you may hear otherwise come next week. However, I did manage to jam the ring finger of my right hand doing rollover medball stomps in my warm-ups. It swelled up pretty good, but I can bend it more today and am hoping my training sessions won’t suffer too much. Also, I’m not sure if I tweaked something or what, but my hip and lower back were causing me some pain and I’m back at the sports therapist/chiropractor. It’s something I should keep up regularly and had been meaning to get back to anyhow, so it can only be a good thing. Not sure if it will be at all visible in this week’s pictures, but the giant bruise on the back part of my thigh most likely is a result of that. Unless it’s from some other ridiculousness I did in the weight room. Geez! I’m a mess!

But let me tell you, I was HUNGRY this week. I also think this was the first week I really clicked in with my nutrition numbers. Sleepytime green tea has been a life saver for me at night. You know, when you really want that something after dinner or before bed? That damn bear in his nightie got me through, and I love him. I found myself watching the same episode of Best Thing I Ever Ate Michelle mentioned last week this past weekend – I swear, the two of us just love food too much, and now I know why she’d kill for that cookie – I’m not even a huge chocolate lover but this episode made me want chocolate in the worst way. I satisfied the craving with a cup of cocoa. I think in the grand scheme of things, that’s not all that bad. Seeing how Pete handed me two boxes of GS cookies – thin mints to be exact – when I walked through the door at CP Saturday (I know, weird. Believe me, this is not normal behavior there.) I tucked them away for a later date. Not even opening the package.

Oh, and has anyone seen this?

This is what my sister sends to my phone. Whoever created this was solely put on this earth to torture us. But, I would like this mound of deliciousness to be a “reward”, so E.B. if you’re out there and paying attention, I would like one (or six) of these in my basket this year. Yes, I still get one, and don’t act like you’re not jealous.

I haven’t made drastic changes in terms of my appearance (or on the scale even) but I don’t hate myself every morning when I put on an outfit. This, for me, is huge. And I have all of you to thank for that. Things are looser, for sure. I’m not back in this pair of pants I’ve been trying to squeeze into, but at least it no longer looks like the Unsinkable Molly Brown would’ve stayed afloat if she’d just grabbed on to what stuck out above my waistband. (I’ll never let go, Jack.) Furthermore, I had a surprisingly pleasurable shopping experience this weekend. Of course no pants were involved (newsflash: I have an ass and thighs!) but I bought a dress for that wedding this weekend that I feel great in. Three, actually! Issues? Sure. No, I have no intentions of pulling off some crazy Cher costume change. I will make a decision and go with one, but I’m happy to have options. Now let’s just hope I don’t throw myself head first into the dessert table.

Hey Everyone,

So its Saturday and I am just NOW getting around to reading everybody’s blogs, listening to the FitCast podcast, and listening to Leigh’s podcast. I have had my head kinda buried in the sand all week due to personal life stuff and some crazy days at work.

A note after my work day on Wed, why don’t the idiots out there understand the basics about driving a car….?

If you don’t have a drivers license….don’t drive a car.

If you don’t have insurance….don’t drive a car.

If you have been drinking….don’t drive a car.

If you don’t have a license, or insurance, and you have been drinking, and you are fighting with your girlfriend, and you smoke pot, and your truck has pieces falling off, and you can’t read signs telling you where to go….don’t drive a car!!!!!

DUH!

Anyway, all that aside, listening to the podcasts and reading the blogs today has me way fired up. I had a great week in the gym, but struggled a little at times with me diet. That being said, on to the things that have me fired up.

I really heard a lot of the issues I have been struggling with and the tactics I have been using to fight with them when I listening to the folks from this challenge on the FitCast call. One thing that struck me specifically was when someone (I think Larry) mentioned having to deal with not just actual hunger, but the “desire to eat”. One thing I have been making sure to do when the “need” to snack seems to come up, is to get up and walk around for a while. That just so minor distraction has helped me immensely in keeping to my eating plans. It seems to work better at work where I can do that as part of my job, but not as well when I am at home. I have committed this week to whenever that little desire to snack comes up at home, I am going to take the dog out for a walk for a few and hope the same strategy will help me from diving into the cabinets looking for goodies.

Since I seem to be going a little long I will only mention one other thing this week. For anyone out there struggling with the desire to “serve two masters” and trying to build muscle while still wanting to loose some fat, please please please listen to Leigh’s podcast from this week. She does a great job answering an email question from someone about that, and made me feel a lot better about this process and how I am going about it.

Thanks so much for all the support this has brought. Keep up the great work everybody.

DW

So that evening was full of hernia jokes, because we’re like that. We were gathering up the garbage to take outside when he offered to grab the bag I was holding. He suddenly says “OH GOD” and doubles over, and from under the bottom of his shirt slid out the intestine-like package of pork loin planned for sunday’s crock pot dinner.

This is one of the many reasons why I love him.

Sunday I decided to go ahead and cut back 100 calories a day on the food intake, which is only 20 calories less a meal for me, which isn’t really bad at all, right? Right. Sunday night, I was really excited about it. I did well Monday and Tuesday, and I thought I had it made until Wednesday about a half an hour after lunch. All of a sudden I became ravenous and it took every fiber of my being to not attack the vending machine. I counted the minutes until my afternoon snack, and then dinner. Thursday morning I got up and just immediately consumed a homemade protein bar I had in the freezer, which pretty much threw off the usual food plans for the day, so I found myself scrambling. It was hell served with a side of hell topped off with hell flakes with hell for dessert. But, I did it. I made it through without cheating or going over my calorie goals. I drank an alarming amount of coffee during those couple of days, but goddammit, I did it.

So to keep myself in check and show you where I’ve been, I’m going to share a photo of myself taken 4 years ago. I sent this along to Kevin when I applied for the challenge:

you’ll have to scuse the mirror, my son was 7 months old at the time and liked to smear his little grubby paws all over it.

This past week’s body changes were pretty significant. I broke 100 lbs on the bench press, and Friday managed to do 6(!) pullups. I do not know where that came from and have not been able to redo it since.

My Saturday morning pancakes were made of flax and almond meal and a heck of a lot tastier than using processed grain bread.

I am now down to 151 with 7 lbs of fat lost. This is what I usually considered my ’summer weight’ – that is, when I’m biking 200+ miles a week and not really paying attention to what I’m eating, and nowhere near this level of ab definition. A smaller goal I mentally made was to also hit 145 by my birthday. That’s 6 lbs in 7 weeks. I think that’s doable.

My MRI is this week and hopefully I can begin rehab soon because I am going bonkers.

I think I can sort of understand how a lot of ectomorphs have a fear putting on any fat when they are trying to gain muscle.  I’ve never been, nor will I ever be, an ectomorph, so I can’t fully understand how they feel. However, we endomorphs have some fears of our own.

Just the other day, I put on one of my favorite shirts (it was a Revenge of the Nerds shirt my wife and kids got me for Father’s day one year), and I noticed it didn’t fit quite right.  Then I thought that it might just be in my head.  When my wife saw me, though, she confirmed it.  The shirt was not as snug in the chest and shoulders.  Now, some of you may be thinking, “Wow, he’s making progress.”  And yes, it is now clear that I am making progress.  I didn’t feel that way at first, though.  All I could think about was how much muscle I must be losing and how I must be eating too little and not lifting enough.

This is the kind of stuff I worry about, and I think a lot of us who have been on a continuous “bulking” diet (a.k.a. – eating like crap and lifting a lot) for several years worry about.  I’ve worked hard to put on some muscle, and I really, really don’t want to lose it.  The more I think about it, though, the more I realize that I am starting to look better.  I think Chris Shugart from tmuscle.com wrote about this once.  He wrote something about how when you get lean, you actually look bigger than when you’re soft, chubby, and “bulky.”  So that is what I’m going to focus on.  My lifts are still going up, and my weight is coming down.  I know I’m getting healthier, and I know I’ll look better in the long run.

I made a goal in my last post to do some sort of training every day this week.  On Wednesday, I almost didn’t do any training because I was so busy, but I managed to get a training session in from Coach Dos’s new book that took less than 11 minutes (literally).  Even though it was short, it really kicked my ass – I was sweating and breathing very heavily afterwards.  I’m sure I had what Alwyn Cosgrove calls the “Afterburn” effect going on afterwards.  It was great, and workouts like these leave little room for the “I don’t have time” excuse.  So here is the breakdown of the last week:

Monday – 5/3/1 – Front Squat & 1-Arm DB Row followed by a timed circuit. - Later that evening a 4 mile jog.

Tuesday – Infamous TRX Workout A Phase 3 #2 (Ouch.)

Wednesday – Coach Dos’ Kettlebell Complex form Cardio Strength Training (I loved this complex)

Thursday – 5/3/1 – Deadlift & High Incline DB Press with a timed circuit at the end

Friday – Infamous TRX Workout B Phase 3 #2 (Double Ouch.)

Saturday – Played football for 2 hours with friends – lots of fun and great “interval-like” training

Sunday – Steady State “recovery ride” on the stationary bike for 20 minutes (my legs were sore from football)

I also made a goal of eating according to plan all week with no cheat meals.  Mission accomplished.  The nutrition is getting easier every week.  I do find that sometimes right before bed I become ravenous.  I just have to remind myself that this is my body’s way of confirming that I am indeed in a caloric deficit.

My weight was at 212.5 as of this morning (Monday, March 1st).  That is a loss of 3.5 from last week (although I think I had a little bit of a “carb bloat” for my last weigh-in after a cheat day) and a total loss of 8.5 pounds since we started this accountability blog.  That’s roughly 2 pounds per week – pretty much exactly what I was shooting for.

So, that’s it for now.  Onward and upward, everybody!  And like always, buh-bye for now.

I chase the Man in the Mirror

Tim can probably back me up on this, but one of the best ways to torture yourself when trying to pack on some muscle is to parade around in front of the mirror after a good workout.  (Note: do NOT do this at the gym, or you risk being That Guy/Gal. ) I wonder if anyone has ever figured out lb. wise what the difference truly is, so if actual weight is 170lbs. – the pumped up version is what you would look like at 190lbs. At any rate, it’s maddening and the worst part is it will always be that way! Even if my hard work and good eating get me up to 190lbs., the pumped up version will look like 210lbs. I’m like a dog chasing my tail, haha.

Things this week went very well. I continue to put on either weight or reps to almost every lift, I’m curious to see how long this continues and what effect it will have on me when progress start to taper off. I put such a great deal of emphasis on winning the minor battles (get one more rep, or added a bit more weight each time) that it can be a real downer when I can’t do it.  That’s usually when I’d call it quits, switch to a whole new program and basically scrap everything. NOT THIS TIME!

Body weight is up to 172 lbs consistently each morning for the past 3 days, up about 6lbs since this party started. I think so far it’s safe to say that my intake is about right, given that I’m adding body weight without too much fluctuation due to just water. I’m almost hesitant to add the creatine, as I really do suck up water when I’m on it – but I also see pretty good results in terms of strength and recovery. I may hold off for awhile longer than I thought just to keep an ace up my sleeve, so to speak.

I also bought an old dorm room-style mini-fridge that I’m going to put in my office. I’ve gotten a few glares at work when I try to cram in a huge lunch bag into the community fridge, and rightfully so. Try explaining why you want to gain weight to a group of middle-aged women and you are liable to get slapped. Better to stash my food like a secret-squirrel than feel their wrath, I guess.

Below is a link to my rudimentary workout Excel file I mentioned last week that I’m still tinkering with. It shows some of the set & rep undulations and frequency. It is probably more convoluted than necessary, but so far has proven to be very challenging and fun.  If there are questions please let me know in the comments and if there are a lot I’ll address them with my next post!

http://rapidshare.com/files/357652515/Acct_Blg_Training.xls.html (limit of 10 total DL’s)

The bad news is, I’m not losing any fat.  The good news is, I’m not gaining any fat and I’m gaining some muscle mass.  I joined this accountability blog to give me the motivation to get leaner than ever.  Instead I’m realizing that with as much mental and physical stress that I’m putting on my body right now, my body fat would be considerably higher had I not joined this blog.  At this point I’m working out once a week, running once a week and trying to keep my stress-related snacking in check.  I literally don’t have the time or energy to do any more.  My goal this week is to tighten my schedule and manage my time to try to allow more time for good rest and nutrition.  I’m pretty sure the energy and time to train will follow if I can buckle down.  It has been a huge morale booster to read everyone’s stories, comments and hearing the conversation on last weeks podcast.  Thanks to everyone following and everyone contributing.  Even when I’m having a hard week, I know things can get better with a little more discipline and everybody will be here to see my results.

Every week I take these pictures and every week they look exactly the same. It’s frustrating being so overweight because any loss I make is such a small drop in the bucket that I can’t see any different. This makes it hard to stay on program at times. I’m hungry, sore and tired and haven’t seen any visible results for my efforts yet. On top of this, its is the end of the quarter where I hardly have time to sleep, much less work out or cook. Oh well, I just have to make it through this and not give up since that’s what I’ve done every time before. I get three weeks into a diet and then my eating habits just fall apart. Going to grad school full time while holding down a 40 hour a week job is hard so adding this one extra thing on top of it really shouldn’t be that much worse.

I had my second workout with my personal trainer on Friday, and he is a monster. He did, however, send me home with a workout to do in
between our visits. It feels good to be working my shoulder again. Before my AC joint surgery one pushup would put me in horrible pain for the rest of the day. Now I’m slowly building up strength and the only pain is the burning of my muscles.

For this week my workout is:
Stair climber, arm bike and jogging for cardio: 30 min with intervals
of high intensity
Lateral Pull down: 2 sets of 15 at 40 lbs
Walking Lunges: 2 sets of 12 on each leg, body weight
Chest press: 2 sets of 15 at 15 lbs (I’m having to do this on the
machine to keep my arms stable since my shoulder still gives out a
bit)
Squat to press: 2 sets of 15 at 5 lbs (yea, yeah pink dumbbells, give
me time and I’ll be using some serious weights)
Planks: 2 sets of 30 seconds
Crunches: 3 sets of 15 EVERY DAY

Well, now it’s time for me to get to bed. 6 am is going to come nastily early but I am determined to get in a workout before I head into the office tomorrow so I can spend my evening writing like a mad woman without any regret.