Week 11 Recap

Countdown: 7 days

I still can't believe I'm seven days away from completing my 12 week challenge.  Let's start with my measurements.  I weighed in Sunday morning preworkout at 245 and my belly was down 1/4", that's another 2 lbs this week.  11 weeks complete with a total scale weight loss of 20 lbs and 6 3/4" lost on my belly.  I originally was thinking I was going to take a few weeks off, but now I am thinking I will continue on my quest as I still have more to go and don't want to lose momentum.  Hussman talks about how many of the original BFL champions took longer than 12 weeks for their transformation (http://hussmanfitness.org/html/TPBodyforLife.html).  More time will be needed especially if you start above 20% body fat for men, I was at 35%.  The contest back then was a minimum of 12 weeks.  If I do decide to continue on the first four weeks will be BFL by the book, so I can concentrate on building more lean mass to help increase my fat burning.  The 2nd 4 weeks will be BFL with a slight cardio tweak and the last 4 weeks will be a max cardio tweak to finish out.  I haven't made my decision, but have the remainder of the week to think about it :)

I saw my parents Sunday and had not seen them since Christmas.  Normally we see them every weekend, but our schedules have just clashed with vacation and such.  I was surprised at the reaction of when they saw me walk in the door.  They asked how much weight I had lost and I told them the numbers from above.  They even returned my 2XL gift to get a XL, because my sister in law had informed them it would be too big.  I felt like I was putting on a special coat and then their faces and comments when I zipped it up and it was really loose on me was priceless lol.  I think I was blushing to be honest.  Here is about what they saw, see any differences?  I measure at my belly and in both these pictures it was 46.25".  This is why you need to take pics so you can see the difference!  Granted in the first pic I was at 252 and the current pic was Saturday at 245.  Don't ever forget it's about progress, not perfection!

 
Starting week 10, I have focued on adding more cardio per Hussman Fitness max tweak recommendation and it seems to be paying off.  I have lost about 2 lbs a week since this tweak but I tell you, it has made me feel TIRED, but accomplished as well.  Both strength and aerobically I'm in the best shape I have been in since the last time I did BFL over 10 yrs ago, but I'm still not where I want to be at physically. After reading one of  Bryan's blog posts (http://thisisbryanok.blogspot.com/), I calculated out that I have now run over 70 miles!  Crazy thought lol... here are my faithful.  I never thought a pair of running shoes would ever be on my feet and me thanking them!  Pricey, but worth every penny.

Workouts went well this week, with the exception of my sciatica issue, which is pretty much gone now, and I was able complete all my workouts both lifting and cardio.  I made one huge mistake Friday night and I don't suggest to anyone, but I didn't go to bed until 5am.  The good thing is I wasn't on a binge drinking, it wasn't my kids, it was self inflicted.  I discovered a show on Comcast's On Demand called Game of Thrones and it hoooked me.  Bad for me as I was running Saturday on 4 hrs sleep and was lucky to get that as if you have kids you know what I mean.  I ended up working out late Saturday night and then did my additional cardio early Sunday morning.  I dedicated my Saturday workout to a good friends mother who passed away.  RIP Dangerous Diane, you will never be forgotten.  I had some anger and frustration from the news along with my father in laws passing in May of last year adding more fuel to my thoughts, but the workout helped clear my head.

This week, I started eating turkey and chicken again, I was a little burned out from them and needed a break.  I found myself eating more omelettes, shrimp, and fish the last few weeks to help me get through my foods. My wife makes fun of my sandwiches because of the amount of turkey I have on my sandwiches.  This is a mutilgrain flat bread I was trying out.  I normally only use one slice of bread and cheese and then cut it in half.  Warm foods just seem to taste better to me at times.

Cheat day was Sunday and didn't really have a taste for anything in particular.  I drank my normal shake and had a protein bar later, ended up eating some pork and pasta with vegetables for lunch visiting my family at my brothers.  Dessert was warm apple pie with vanilla ice cream, yummy!  On the way home it was getting late and we needed to eat something so we stopped at a local hot dog joint and picked up a few with ketchup and relish only.  The fries were so greasy, yet I didn't seem to have a problem eating it lol... I finsihed up with one of my strawberry bananna cottage cheese yogurt and milk smoothies with protein before bed.  I am amazed how I want to eat every 2-3 hours and how it now helps me not want to binge, but just get enough for that craving of something.

Late night, but made it through

Countdown: 11 days

First off, I fixed my blog layout.  I found a table in a post that threw everything off and then I continued to make some changes (thanks VillageJen), hope y'all like it.

I did not make it to the gym this morning, didn't even try to make an attempt.  I stretched like crazy and googled even more stretches.  Helped a little but I just wanted to see if I could get this pinched nerve relaxed before I even attempted to hit the lower body workout today.  The day dragged on and the pain was still there.  I had to move or stand a certain way for my back to hurt like it did the last few days, but it seems to moved to my left hip area, leg, and foot.  Honestly I was pretty bummed and just worried that this could be the thing that keeps me out of the gym for a few days.  Before I knew it dinner was done, kids were in bed, and I started getting my things together.  Wife didn't seem to happy with me, I think she was a little nervous that I would aggravate this more and make it worse for me.  Believe it or not even as I was stretching I didn't think I would have a good workout.  As I was doing some lower back stretches, I seemed to relax myself  to the point where I didn't feel the pain anymore.  Weird, so weird...I even had a normal workout and had a few highs as well!  The pain had zero effect on my workout.  Doing abs, I decided that on my superset on the machine torso machine, I went ligher than normal as this motion seems to aggravate the area.  I may drop this exercise and replace with another.  I completed my 20 min low/moderate intensity cardio, supplemented with my protein and apple juice, waited my 60 minutes for my shake and now I'm beyond exhausted.  HIIT and additional cardio in the morning, good night.

Fluctuating weight...

Countdown: 12 days

First off, I broke my blog :(  I can't figure out how to fix it and although the layout template has it the way it should be, it's just not displaying that way.   All my picture and link widgets are down at the bottom now, major frustration!  I was pretty upset last night about my tweaked back and was so exhausted reading some of my new blogger BFL friends posts that I forgot to post something that was on my mind.  I have seen my weight fluctuate a few times during this challenge, but before we go there, I'll give you a quick recap of my day.  When I originally heard my alarm this monring, I snoozed it because I had been tossing and turning all night and I could still feel my pinched nerve.  Today was HIIT with the additonal 20 minutes cardio and I thought, no way it's happening.  So I went back to sleep.  A few hours later my son was doing his routine morning pouncing on daddy to wake up when I realized that I should at least give it a try.  I made it to the gym hopped on the treadmill and away I went.  I'm not going to lie, it was miserable and continued for the first six minutes, but then I crossed into that area of being in a zone.  Focused, determined, seeing my reflection in the monitor and reminding myself of why I was here.  HIIT complete and onto another 20 minutes of low/ moderate intensity.  Before I knew it, I was done, felt good and accomplished.  It's still bothering me and the weight lifting belt is on super tight again for support.  I will be careful, but hope to make it the rest of the week without making it worse.  I see the light at the end of the tunnel, can't stop now.

Twice in this challenge my Sunday morning weigh in varied from my Monday weigh in and both times was after my cheat day.  The first time I was five pounds off... surely the scale was wrong, no way I had gained that in one day.  I was horrified, but I do remember over indulging in many foods and was heavy on the carbohydrate side.  That cheat day night, I drank so much water hoping that somehow it would magically help make the cheat day disappear.  Tuesday weigh in same story not much change and the guilt began to sink in.  I really sabotaged my hard work.  Wednesday I couldn't even get on the scale, but Thursday I did.  To my surprise, I was back down to my weigh in weight from the previous Sunday.  Matter of fact, by the following week weigh in, I lost an additional few pounds.  I remember just shaking my head and just being happy, but I couldn't stop thinking what if I had just had a good cheat day, would I have lost more weight?  I guess I will never know...  but that leads me to Monday of this week.  I hopped on the scale and too my surprise it read 250, really, 250?  3 lbs in one day?  Come on, here we go again!   I indulged in a huge flour tortilla burrito filled with rice, cheese, sour cream and then had some chocolate covered popcorn, some chocolate cake, appetizers at dinner, oh my... I did it again, I sabotaged my great progress.  So the last few days I've tried not to worry as much about it as I did last time.  Since the first time of fluctuating weight, I remember reading on Hussman Fitness website about how it's not uncommon for this to happen, especially if you indulge on too many carbs on cheat day.  Apparently your body tends to hold my water during this time.  Eventually, everything returns to normal.  I kept thinking about that article and sure enough this morning, there was the happy number of 247 pre-workout, sweet, back on track.  Just need to get through this back pain now and continue to move forward.

Thorn in my side... well back actually, AGAIN.

Countdown: 13 days

I made the trek to the gym this morning and was having a good workout.  I was on my 6 rep set of dumbell bench press (yes, my first exercise) and went to grab the 80 lb set.  I grabbed on, twisted and bent my knees to grab the other and just as I grabbed it everything came to a halt.  Seriously, I am SO TIRED of tweaking my back!  I didn't even tweak it lifting and I was being careful, as I have tweaked it ironing a shirt (please don't laugh at me... but you are welcome to laugh with me lol).  Being the macho type now, you know since I "work out" I sucked it up got on the bench and managed to push out 5 of 6 before my muscles were screaming and went backwards back at me instead of up where I was pushing.  I picked them up (No, I didn't drop them and let out a loud grunt) and re-racked them and immediately did every lower back stretch I could think of.  I took the knuckles of my fist and dug them deep to where the pain was.  I'm sure I was grimmacing from the pain pretty bad... but in all the disgust, I managed to catch a quick glimpse of this good looking guy in the mirror checking me out with some pretty nice looking arms... wow, I haven't even started my triceps or biceps and I'm looking all buff and stuff ;)  Realizing I was gawking at myself, I stopped before anyone realized I was checking myself out lol... back to the pain.  I cranked out the rest of my sets and reps and had a pretty good work out, but had to deal with the sharp pain in my lower back the whole time.  It's been following me around all day and only feeling worse.  I was limping around with a slight hesitation, it's a pinched nerve alright.  When I got home I threw on my weight lifting belt and put in on soo tight that I can barely breathe, but it puts pressure right where I need it to make it not bother me so much.  One good note, is that I no longer have fat pouring over the side of my belt anymore, I actually look decent with it on now lol.  I have HIIT cardio with my extended 20 min low/ moderate intesity cardio and yes, I am worried that I'm going to be running with pain.  This better not put a damper on my workout in the morning, I refuse.  I may just bring my belt just in case I need to have it for support.  Wish me luck!

Week 10 Recap 01/23/12

Edit: 1/26/12 I had to remove my table as this was the cause of my blog format issues. I will add it back in tomorrow once corrected.

Countdown: 14 days

Sunday's numbers day was a success!  Originally I was bummed because I thought that even adding more cardio per BFL supporter Hussman Fitness only amounted to a 1 lb loss, but when I got home to log my measurements in my spreadsheet, I realized that I actually had lost 2 lbs!!  Another positive was that none of my body measurements went up, but many went down, including chest, calves, hips, thighs, forearms.  Another loss was my belly, it had been stuck the last few weeks and FINALLY dropped a 1/2".  Does this mean that my body will finally start taking from the spots I really want gone?  Let's hope so!!  So 10 weeks complete, weigh in of 247 making total scale weight loss officially 18lbs and have lost 6.5" around the belly :)  I was happy to tell the wife my progress and she reminded me that I'm about where I was when I met her eight years ago right now.  I kept thinking I was at about 230 when I met her, but thinking back I was about 200 lbs when I did BFL last time and I had put on some weight by the time I met her, so I guess she is right.  She'll be married to a stranger soon lol.  I'm glad to be in the 240's, watch out 230's here I come!  At this point, I have had much success, changed my habits, eating healthy, established a good fitness routine, but have come to terms, that I need more time to hit my additional goals.  I see how much I have changed now, but will need more time to build more muscle and burn more fat.  Let's see how I can finish out this challenge and will make my decision how I plan the next challenge.

Lifting this week has not suffered even with the addtional cardio.  I need to make sure it doesn't effect my intensity, because if it does I will most likely scale back the cardio.  Putting on my running shoes in the locker room this week I got a shot of my calf muscle and honestly was surprised at what popped out!  I haven't seen that muscle and defined as it was since probably the last time I did BFL over 10yrs ago.

After adding the additional low/ modersate intensity cardio  I can tell you that I feel it in my legs!  My cardio schedule this week has been 20 minutes HIIT on cardio days and adding 20 minutes of low/ moderate intensity cardio immediately afterwards.  Measuring my BPM, I have been sticking between 120-130, but would peak at 140 at times and would slow down to a walk instead of my jog at 4mph to maintain my intensity where it should be.  On lifting days, I am trying to get cardio in the morning, but isn't always working, so I am completing it mostly after lifting is complete.  Again this is 20 minutes of low to moderate intensity and this time I was keeping the heart rate about 110-120 on the bike.  One day I had to use the treadmill because all the bikes were taken, but I really didn't want to run, just didn't want to aggravate my knees.  So I walked on the treadmill and found that if I inclined between 3-4 it would let me hit my target BPM.  Sunday was to be a rest day, but I have added an addtional 40 minute run.  I kept it at 4 mph and BPM ranged from 120-140.  I slept like a baby last night, I could tell my body wanted to sleep more and more lol... Hussman said to make sure to get plenty of rest with the maximum tweak and I think he is right.

Nutrition went well this week stuck to the normal routine for the most part but have escalated one ingredient to a major staple.  1% cottage cheese has become a big part of my diet this week, I went through 4 large containers this week!  I'm mixing it with flavored yogurt and it's delicious!  It was so delicious that I attempted a smoothie with it for my son, naturally I added more protein to mine, but he loved it!  Nothing like a blueberry banana cottage cheese smoothie.  He enjoyed it so much he has asked me to make sure I put cottage cheese going forward lol.  Going forward I would like to replace my last Myoplex Orginal shake with a smoothie, it's just more filling to me when adding the fruit, yogurt, skim milk, cottage cheese, but since I need a higher protein intake, I will just throw a scoopof protein in to boost it with another 20g.  Heck I'm making them everynight for the family anyway, so why not join the crowd!  All I do is change the fruits around and they love them.

  

My cheat day was Sunday and although I didn't really have a taste for anything in particular I did have a craving for Chipotle.  Normally you can still pull off a healty burrito type meal with a wheat tortilla you just can't use sour cream, cheese, and the white rice with cilantro, but it's just not the same without it.  My 3 year old came with me for the ride and asked what is this place.  I had to explain to him it was a restaurant that he had never been too.  I ordered up a steak burrito with the works, chips and guacamole, and a large diet coke.  For the youngin I picked up a taco, but I had to make him happy and called it a mini-burrito lol.  We both enjoyed our lunch at home and I think we found a new lover of their lime salt chips, my son!  As I have learned, I did continue with eating meals every 2-3 hrs and did stick with a shake in the morning after running and one in the afternoon.  I filled in the dinner meal by going out to eat with some friends to celebrate both my wife's and I birthday.  I kept it simple, NY strip steak with a double baked potatoe crust, garlic mashed potatoes, and creamy spinach.  I shocked myself that I was full half way through.  Doggy bag to go, but not sure which doggie will get it lol.  My wife had frozen my Portillos chocolate cake from last week and I had a half a slice.  I stayed up a little later than usual last night to do some work and midnight came around fast, so I ran to the kitchen for some cottage cheese and put in a scoop of protein and some strawberry yougurt.  A yummy before bed protein packed snack.  Just the cottage cheese an protein was a massive 46g's, this didn't include the yogurt.

Post-exercise Protein

Countdown: 18 days


On John Hussman Fitness page (supporter of BFL) there was great information on a study about post-exercise protein and how a study has shown that taking immediately after work out can help with my goals of fat loss and maintaining muscle mass.  I won't pretend to be the expert, but you can read more about it here: http://www.hussmanfitness.org/html/TFPostProtein.html

I ended up picking up a 4 gallon tub of strawberry protein yesterday at the gym as I was leaving and have figured based on the nutritional information that half a scoop will cover the appropriate amount This should be good for like 140 workouts lol.  On the way to the gym this morning I picked up an apple juice to mix it all in my little shaker.  Didn't know how apple juice and strawberry protein would taste like and was not looking forward to it.  I mixed it all up after my workout using 1 oz of juice, about 9 oz water, and my protein.  Shake, shake, shake, and WOW, it was like an orgasmic feeling in my mouth!  POW!  Then I went off to the bike to do 20 minutes of low intensity cardio and kept my BPM to no more than 120.

Good workout, good day.  Back in tomorrow morning for my next HIIT on the treadmill and hope to do another 20 minutes of low intensity cardio following that, wish me luck!  I'll be supplementing with my protein post workout, but will only be using water and no apple juice on cardio days.

Holy Grail --> Hussman Fitness - BFL Support - Why the Body for Life Program Works

Countdown: 19 days

It's funny how things work, up one day and down another.  I have made great progress but over the last few days it seemed like I was unorganized with my nutrition and I was flying more by the seat of my pants.  Was this it?  Was I breaking?  Could this be the end?  Is this how others went down?  Looking in the mirror, it's obvious to me that my body fat percentage goal is not attainable in the amount of time I have left for this challenge(or is it? lol), but will require some more time to get to.  With less than three weeks left, I really need to be spot on with what I eat and how I workout.  I need to up the cardio, but don't want to overtrain either.  So yesterday I was able to find a website By John P. Hussman, Ph.D who completed BFL and also did some research into past winners routines and many aspects of how nutrition and fitness and BFL all fit together.  Thank you http://www.google.com/.  This is a great resource if you want to know more about BFL like I did and how you can tweak certain aspects.  What got me was his explanation of fat and fat loss, how the body works during this process.  Just great information and I encourage you to at least read this.  I have now read most of the information posted on his website, all great information.

So this morning, I decided to up the cardio and focus on fat loss the next three weeks.  Knowing I have much fat to burn, I based my decision on his suggestion of the max tweak for cardio.  This will most likely prevent additional muscle gain at this point, but will help with my fat loss.  I've already told myself that I will do another challenge, so I can continue with increasing muscle mass then.  I completed my HIIT on the treadmill this morning and added another 20 minutes on top of that per his suggestion.  I originally thought I would be able to run at 5mph to maintain a 6-7 level intensity, but as I checked my BPM, it was apparent that it was too much and realized it was more of a 8-9.  I ended up settling in at 4 mph and tracked it every few minutes to try to stay at 65%-70% of my BPM.  So today was a wonderful 40 minutes of cardio!  I will be adding an additional cardio day on Sunday's with low to moderate intensity and will not add any more HIIT as per his recommendations.  I need to be careful to not offset any fat loss with this additional cardio with additional food calories.

http://www.hussmanfitness.org/html/TPBodyforLife.html

Week 9 Recap 01/16/12

Countdown: 21 days

My measurements didn't change much this week, but I did drop one pound on the scale.  My body fat dropped a little bit as well.  To date that is 16 pounds lost on the scale woohoo and although I had seen 249 post workout last week, I am officially in the 240's at 249 this week pre work out.  Post workout was 247.5, so I had to replenish that water lost.  Saturday I even worked out in one of my XL t shirts, that was a major accomplishment for me.  It no longer felt uncomfortable, self conscious, tight, and made me feel that I am on the right path.  I even dug up an old but nice XL shirt that collected dust just to wear to dinner lol...  it fit wonderful and the salmon, spinach, and mashed taters were good to go with it :)

What a good week, it was good to be back home and I really missed my gym.  Now that I see the light at the end of the tunnel in this challenge, I've been giving a lot of thought to "active rest" and look likes I will be taking 2 weeks off to get myself together and healed once complete with week 12.  I do worry that this is going to open Pandora's box, but I know my body will need it.  I ended this week with my birthday on Sunday and my cheat day and it was very rewarding spending the time with my family.  It was also good to hear many of them say, "you can even see it in your face","you look good", "where is your other half", "your arms are getting defined", and "whatever you are doing, it's working".  Some were even probing into what they needed to do or talked about how they want to start working out and asking me what I recommend.  It's humbling, very humbling, and one hell of a motivator to keep going baby!!

What's interesting in my measurements this week is that my chest went up and my shoulders went down. I actually told my wife how I noticed when I was stretching and in between sets, that I can see my delts more in my shoulders now, my guess is that the fat is coming off showing them a little more in my shoulders.  I can still pinch an inch and then some on my chest. so I still have a way to go to what I want to be at.  I've noticed more vasularity in my forearms and arms, which is great to see.  During my dumbell curls, I saw a vein starting to surface in my left arm right on the bicep, how exciting!!  My spare tire is still there, but I did notice that it seems under my rib area, but above the belly button is starting to reduce slowly.  Let's hope there is enough time to burn more fat in the next three weeks to help me hit my goals.

Again this week I was hit with a cold.  I tried my Netti pot, with some failure, I had some major blockage.  I was able to clear it up with some Afrin followed by the Netti pot.  I still have some reminance of the cold, but it's on the tail end.  I still forced myself to workout with the cold and actually had some of the best work outs.  Now knowing that colds won't hold me back, I was able to hit new highs with weights  and pushed higher on cardio.  I think my mind was taking over and I was mentally winning the battle this week and it continued into this morning HIIT Treadmill session.  I was able to not only have a peak of 6.5 mph for my final peak minute, but also eiliminated the 3mph's from my intervals.  Major success there for me!  Wednesday I plan on opening up the first two minutes on 4mph instead of the current 3.

My cheat day was yesterday and Happy Birthday to me!  I started my day with a shake, followed by late breakfast made by the wife, including ham and eggs and a few quesadillas.  She made some bacon, but believe it or not, the grease got to me after a few pieces and started to upset my stomach so I stopped.  Amazing, considering I could clear a plate before and still scrounge my family's leftovers lol.  Lunch then proceed at Buffalo Wild Wings, I've been craving them for a few weeks, but due to vacation and timing wasn't able to eat them until yesterday.  Last time I was there I ordered 18 and demolished them.  This time, I only ordered 12, knowing we were visiting my brother and sister in law for dinner, and belive it or not, I could only eat 6.  That is a new record for me lol... The evening continued with spaghetti and meatballs, a kid favorite of mine, in how my mother made them.  My sister in law nailed the flavors, oh delicious and so wonderful.  A few weeks ago I was introduced to Portillos Chocolate cake and between my wife and 3yr old we fought over the one slice I bought for my cheat day, but was plenty for all of us.  So naturally, we picked up a whole cake for everyone to enjoy.  I finished the day with one last shake and hit the sack for the night.

Here is my chart, it's back!  This time I loaded it into my phone, so I don't have any excuses not to post it weekly.

Week	Date	Weight	Chest	Arms	Waist	Calves	Hips
START	11/14/11	265			53.00
1	11/21/11	262
2	11/28/11	262			50.25
3	12/05/11	260			49.50
4	12/11/11	255	47.5	15.75	48.25	17.00	43.50
5	12/18/11	252	47.25	14.75	46.25	17.50	41.00
6	12/25/11	253.5	47	15.00	48.25	17.50	44.00
7	01/01/12	251.5	46.75	15.25	47.75	17.50	43.25
8	01/08/12	250	46.5	15.50	47.00	17.50	43.50
9	01/15/12	249	47.25	15.50	47.00	17.50	44.00

Week	Shoulders	Neck	Thighs	Forearms	BF% Omron Monitor	Lean Mass	Fat
START					35.00%	172.25	92.75
1					NA	NA	NA
2					NA	NA	NA
3					NA	NA	NA
4	52.00	18.50	25.00	12.00	NA	NA	NA
5	52.50	17.00	25.25	12.25	29.50%	177.66	74.34
6	54.00	17.75	24.75	12.50	29.60%	178.464	75.036
7	52.50	17.75	25.50	12.25	29.30%	177.8105	73.6895
8	52.00	17.50	25.75	12.25	28.70%	178.25	71.75
9	51.00	17.50	25.75	12.25	28.40%	178.284	70.716

Todays thoughts and my goals

Countdown: 24 Days
Wednesday night I felt a little groggy and I knew what that meant... another cold was on it's way.  When I woke up Thursday morning I did not have any energy and felt the effects of a cold.  I decided to liquid up and rest and complete at night my lower body work out and HIIT cycle cardio afterwards.  As the day dragged, so did I, not to mention we received about 6" of snow making roadways a mess and the commute home just horrendous.  It's are really first big snow fall of the year and so not like this area to just be getting it now in January.  When it came time to put my son to sleep, I changed into my workout clothes, but I still had no energy.  In the past I would have just gone to bed and blew off working out, but I had a similar experience early in this challenge and was able to workout very well even though I had a cold, so I had no excuse not to go.  All my symptoms are above the neck, no fever, nothing in the lungs, so I must go.  My wife even gave me a glance with her eyes, that said stay home, but she knew that I wouldn't, that I couldn't, not after coming this far.  Needless to say, it never ceases to amaze me, but I had one of my best workouts with new highs in weights and HIIT.  I just seem to push harder and I'm not sure how this is, but I think it may have to do with mind over matter, what we talk about focusing on what our goals are and how we can really push to levels of effort that we normally don't reach.  Although my body said no... my mind put me in a trance and said yes, you can do this, and I did.

Today I still feel the effects of the cold and I did not make the gym this morning, but I will make the trek again tonight to complete my HIIT treadmill cardio session.  I still can't believe week 9 is almost over, I'm in the last stretch and with the exception of this cold, I really do feel great.

I started this challenge with no set concrete goals, it was spur of the moment for me.  I didn't even have to purchase any supplements as they have been sitting in my house as I was always trying to find the right moment to start, but that's when I realized over eight weeks ago that NOW was the time.  My main goals were to just get into the gym, just to start eating right.  I mean, my normal breakfast had conssisted of Burger King's ciniminis, sometimes two orders, and a extra large diet coke.  Lunch would be followed up with a Wendy's double or triple baconator with large fries and a large diet coke.  Dinner, if I wasn't travelling for work, was probably the healthiest as my wife would always prepare for the most part something healthy, but lately, the carbs would be overloaded and two to three servings was not uncommon.  Then throw the weekends in and I could have 18 wings and the fattening sides and MANY extremely large mugs of Blue Moon from Buffalo Wild wings.  Looking back no, it's no wonder I felt and looked like crap.

That being said, I can consider success in both my intial goals already even before finishing the challenge and that is wonderful.  After about a month in I decided that I should really think of what would my goals truely be for the remainder of the challenge.  In the book, I remember Bill mentioning that it's pretty common for a person to lose 25 lbs on the scale, so I thought that was a good number to reach for.  Starting at 265, my goal would be to hit 240 lbs in 12 weeks and maintain my lean mass with burning as much fat as possible.  One thing I know, is that I do not want to lose any of my muscle, only add to it.  My second goal would be to reduce my waist back to a 38" size pants.  I've reached this goal already, but would like the belly to match :)  Week 8 my belly was at 47", let's see how far I can get it down, I really just want my spare tire to go away.  Last, my goal was to reduce my body fat percentage in half.  I started at 35%, so that would put my goal at 17.5%. 

My ultimate goals are to maintain this lifestyle and utilize my cheat days going forward as my day to eat what I want or drink what I want one day a week.  I believe this has given me the opportunity to enjoy these things in moderation and enough to sustain my urges.  My last ultimate goal is to be at 230 lbs, with no more than 15% body fat.  That should put me somewhere in the range of 200lbs lean mass.

So time to head home now after my shake and get psyched up for tonight's workout, remember it's all about progress, not perfection, stay focused!!!

Vacation, working out, and my challenges...

Countdown: 26 days
It's good to be home! I missed my home, my gym, and well, not work lol... I still can't believe that I am already in the middle of week 9 of 12 of this challenge.

I was able to "eat out" succesfully on vacation and supplemented with both protein bars and my Myoplex shakes for the on the move meals. I would highly suggest for anyone travelling to bring some protein bars. There were times I thought I would have time to mix a shake and didn't, but since I had the bars I chomped away and kept to my eating times. Good example would be on the actual flight or in flight, I just opened one up and ate up. I think the hardest part was drinking my normal water intake. We spent a few days at Disney World and it was hard to drink that much water and then be in a line or on a ride and have to use the bathroom lol... I did bring my own Camelbak water bottle that holds over 24 ozs and bought a clip for my back pack to hold it when I wasn't using it. We also bought gallons of water, whether one single gallon or the 2.5-3.5 gal water spouts. This was good for the whole family.

Eating out has it's bad side, I had quite the few mental battles with myself on what to eat. It's amazing that knowing what you should eat and what you shouldn't order, that you still have to fight the urge. A few times up until it was my turn to place my order I would want to order the bad food, I just can't believe the mental battle this was. I sometimes wasn't sure what was actually going to come out of my mouth when I ordered lol... but I did good and did the right thing. It's easy to order out, just stick to fish, chicken, and lean steaks. Have them prepared broiled or grilled, but ask for them dry if you don't want the seasoning or oils to be used. Almost every place has steam vegetables, I tended to stick to the brocolli and green beans, but loved the medley which included zucchini, summer squash, pea pods, etc. Carbs are easy, rice (brown if they have), potatoes, etc. Just watch your portion controls. Lucky for me my fist is pretty big, but there were times I didn't have enough protein and lucky for me the wife had leftover grilled chicken. At times I even scrounged my 3 yr olds leftover vegetables. Lucky for me, his fist is small lol :)

Workouts, I had it in my mind that I would find a gym and do what I needed to and I did. The only drawback I found was that they were not 24 hrs. I never realized how much the flexibility on hours helps me be successful at home. When everyone else is in there down time, I can sneak out and do work. Lucky for me, when I was at Disney, I only had to do cardio. I did 2 miles outside and tried HIIT. Of course with my luck it was 34 degrees, but I still did it, I wanted to quit so bad, but I kept talking myself into just doing it. It's the first time I have probably run outdoors since high school football and I was like this stinks! In reality it did not, I conquered. The hardest part for me was how do you pace your 5 or 6 mph like you do on a treadmill? You can't. What I did was walk one minute, jog a minute, run a minute, and run as hard as I could for a minute. It worked for me as I was pushing myself pretty good. I ran from my hotel to the guard gate and boy was I ever happy to see that gate. I touched and spun and repeated on my way back, only to realize, I still had another mile to go lol... running outside was a different experience and something I will eventually enjoy, but I definitely felt it more in my feet, knees, and lower back.

My vacation list recommendations:
- Look for a gym prior to your vacation, find out what your options are where you are staying, try for a 24 hr gym. I paid about $32 for a weekly membership at a local gym.
- Supplements, bring protein bars, shakes, and a shaker. These really helped keep me on track. Maybe do some research if there is a near by Vitamin Shop, FitRX, or other reasonable supplement shop that you can purchase your stuff at or just bring it with. I had to bring a carry on to bring all my supplements, but well worth it.
- Bring a water botttle and a clip to hang on your carry on. When you get to your destination, buy water in bulk with a spout so you can just refill as necessary and use for your shakes. I was also able to use at many water fountains!
- Don't forget your workout attire, mp3 player, gloves, shorts, shirts!
- Think ahead of what you will be doing eating out. Make sure you understand what you can and can't eat. Don't be scared to ask for other options for fried sides.
- Tell everyone your traveling with your goals!  Sad to say, but sometimes this helped me stay on track.  As I did, you also get the compliments of staying on track, which make you want to stay on track even more!!

Week 8 Recap 01/09/12 (Updated 1/11/12)

Countdown: 28 days
I hadn't updated my body fat percentage on this screen shot, as I did not bring my Omron monitor.  I brought my calipers and took a measurement of 38mm, which is approx. 28.7%.  Will update tomorrow night with more information once home.

<Update 1/11/12>

Eight weeks officially done and extremely happy that this one was a good week since I was on vacation away from home, away from my gym, away from my routine.  It was difficult to stick to the routine, but with determination it is possible for all of us.  My weigh in this week was 250 lbs. and my belly is at 47".  It is the first time I have actually seen 249 on the scale, but this was after my workout and because I hadn't replinshed my water from working out, but still a good feeling.  This brings my to date totals of 15 lbs scale weight lost, consisting of 21 lbs of fat lost and gain of 6 lbs of lean mass.  My waist is down about 6".  This is all exciting news for me!  I've been a little frustrated with the Omron monitor and it's readings, but trying to make sure that I am doing this correctly and consistently to get the most accurate reading.

The workout week started tough.  I did my HIIT running cardio early Monday morning, but as the day went by and we finished packing and getting organized for my trip it became more apparent that I may not have the energy to get up early and get my workout in and did not want to use my vacation as an excuse.  So at 1130pm, off to the gym I went to get my lower body workout in and then finish up with a bike HIIT.  By the time I finished up it was into the next day, so I completed what needed to be done  for Tues.  Had my shake, went off to bed and started the vacation.  A hard lesson to learn was doing legs before taking a trip to the airport with the family, good additional workout with the burn feeling through the whole thing lol.  By the time we checked in and got settled in at Disney it was about 10pm and off to bed we went.  I couldn't update any of my blog because I was sharing my bed with a nosey little 3 yr old that needed to go to sleep lol...  I did ask about a fitness center, which my hotel did not have, but was informed that from my hotel to the guard gate was 1 mile and there is a jogging path.  Figured this would work and it did, but I didn't expect it to be 34 degrees out on Wednesday morning!  Yup, it was chilly and I was dressed for it, but boy that wind hitting my face was killer, made my eyes water, and all I kept thinking about was you can do this.  I did it alright, I couldn't judge speed, but had an idea so I completed my HIIT on walk, jog, run, all out run for my intervals.  It was not an easy task since I have been a treadmill runner for years now.  At one point I kept up with a few runners who had a good pace going, which made me feel good considering that they definitely weren't amateurs!  I think the last time I ran outside like this was football in high school, so make that over 20 yrs!  It was a great accomplishment for me, but I felt it in my feet, knees, and lower back, but no different than anything else I got over it.  In addition, walking all day Wed. in Disney was another workout in itself, as I had stroller duty most of the time for my 4 month old and also threw my 3 yr old up on my shoulders for most of the day.  Easy way to keep track of him that way.  By Thursday we were making the trek to visit famly in a small town, but since our day started late and we decided to do a big family dinner, the time crunch was on.  I was upset with myself, but by the time we got settled back at the house, it was 945pm and the gym closed at 1000pm.  I took my son with me and at least went to find the gym and get there to pay for my week.  I ended up taking Thurs as my rest day and moved everything a day later to finish out the week on Sunday.  This made me feel much better and the guilt went away.

My cheat day was Sunday and after sleeping in, getting to the gym, and helping getting the family together we started with a very late breakfast.  A corn hash egg skillet and biscuits and gravy were on the menu for me, along with a small portion of a cinimini roll.  My mother in law decided to make some good baby back BBQ ribs with potatoes and a salad, yummy hit the spot!  I filled in the rest of my meals with my shakes.  I ate so well today I had to force the last shake down.  My nutrition was on point, but was challenging at times at the restaurants, but you can read about this in my other post.

Week 7 Recap 1/02/12 (Placeholder)

Countdown: 35 days

I forgot my Excel spreadsheet at home on my personal computer and actually brought my work computer, so here is a screen shot of my stats from my Android  based phone using JEFit application.  I will update more tomorrow.

Lifting in the morning just not working for me

I've been trying to have a split schedule with cardio in the morning and lifting at night when it's in my schedule, but in the last few Weeks due to the holidays and vacation I've done both in the morning when limited to time.  I always do weights then cardio, but when I get to my fifth our sixth sets in each exercise, I fall flat on energy.  Normally in the evening I have much more energy and this would be because of me fueling with food all day.
The last time I did BFL I did most of my workouts in the morning, this worked for me.  It's probably more of an expectation thing now then back then, not realizing that with more fuel, I could lift more, but sure made me feel bummed a little this time around.  Moral of story, food equals energy to help push harder through the reps, but my goal is fat burning so I need not worry about as much on strength in my morning workouts, just stick with the program and rest between sets :)

My temporary gym

I searched around for a gym prior to visiting my wife's grandfather.  Lucky for me, I found a very nice one a few minutes away.  I did my upper body and cycle hiit cardio this morning.

Social dinners, started to get to me...

Through all these weeks eating out has not been an issue for me.  I know what I need to order and how I need to order, but Thursday night I think I reached a breaking point, maybe even a milestone point for me.  As I sat for dinner staring at the menu all I could think about was everything I shouldn't be eating.  I was also confused with what do I eat, I still have to work out, so a salad with turkey would be good or do I go with fish and the healthy sides.  All this went out the window when they brought out the fresh rolls glazed with butter and the butter cups with sugar.  If someone would have taken my picture, I swear I must have been drooling.  My nieces ordered ribs, there was homemade chicken pot pies, pasta with Alfredo, Mac and cheese, diet Cokes... And then there was my salad.  I must have gotten quiet, as the wife asked me what was wrong and of course I responded with nothing.  After dinner out came the slices of pies with an array of flavors.  Hard gulp and deep breath here.  I will tell you, that I survived the night, but almost at my breaking point, i almost did not.  A salad has never taken me so in depth into it's flavors as I let it that night.  I savored the lettuce and tomatoes with the avocado, the turkey.  When it was time to leave, I said my goodbyes, and took my children to get strapped in the car.  My wife got in the car and again asked if I was okay and again  I said yes, but I will talk to her later about it.  This is when it dawned on me that my mood must have changed through dinner and she noticed, all because of the deep conflict I was having with myself and all the foods that I wanted but could not have.  I accepted that I have an issue with food tonight and that it is trying to control me.  I was also willing and able to talk about it to my best friend, my wife.  Her encouraging support of course made me feel good about what I am doing in this challenge and how this needs to be a life change as I do not want to go back to where I started.
In addition to this enlightenment, I didn't have the time to workout tonight.  By the time I got the family home and situated for unpacking, I only had time to take my son with me and pay for the week pass at the gym as they closed at 10 pm and I only had 15 minutes. I will adjust my schedule the remainder of this week to complete my workouts starting first thing in the morning.  :)

Even Disney World isn't stopping me!

It's been a little bit of a challenge here on vacation, but still holding firm and on middle of week seven.  2 mile run this morning attempted hiit somewhat, explain later when I have more time.  Getting on it's a small world after all now...just enjoying my family and my vanilla Myoplex original shake. :)