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.