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!!!
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