Un-fat That Ass!

September and I'm back to cutting

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:17:00 +0000

Back down to 1800ish calories. I put on 26 pounds in August. Maybe... oh... half or less of that was muscle. Time to cut again and get that fat down. Fun fun. Bye bye food.

August Picture Is Up

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 12:52:00 +0000

It looks slighty better than July. Not much progress. In my defense, only half the month involved workouts, and hardly any of it involved diet. September's picture should be better.

Ahh.. .freaking out a bit

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:16:00 +0000

I completed my first week of "power lifting" and I feel like I've been worked over with a baseball bat. That's the good news. Sore muscles means growing muscles.

Here's the bad news:
This new plan has me scared shitless. I went from eating 1800 calories a day to eating 3000. The idea is, I haven't lost a pound in over a year, and the fitness guru guy I'm working with says it's because my body has finally adapted to 1800 calories, and that is now my "normal" calorie intake. It's no longer considered a "deficit" by my body. So his plan is to jack my calories up, and have me start power lifting. The idea is to pack on a bunch of muscle (and some fat), and then switch back to the deficit and start cutting fat again.

So far? All I notice is I'm fatter. I'm freaking out. I've gained 6 pounds or so in the last two weeks. I'm supposed to think it was at least half muscle, but it looks a lot like fat in my face and gut.

We'll see. I will try to stick with it for at least the first 8 week cycle.

I feel so much better about this new approach

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:15:00 +0000

Alright. Here's a reality check.

Why am I doing this?

Fact:
Before when I was 250 and quite a bit fatter, I had zero health problems. No high blood pressure. No high cholesterol. Nothing.

So to get right down to it. I'm doing this purely for two reasons:
1) Physical Appearance
2) Physical Ability

That's it! So why would I weigh myself? I don't care what I weigh. I only care about looks and abilities. So abilities is an easy one. Can I run further and lift heavier things than I could the month before? Easy to check. Looks are a little tougher. I'm taking monthly photos, and we'll see if there's a difference.

This makes much more sense. Weight be damned. Muscle bound football players who have amazing physical abilities and amazing bodies are all 250+ pounds and "obses" according to BMI.

If I end this journey as a muscled up guy who can run a marathon, then I win.

And for some motivation, here's me at my buddy's wedding a few weeks back. I actually think I look pretty decent!

Doing things differently for a bit

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:31:00 +0000

I'm trying to manage burn-out, so I'm going to stop with the daily weighings and stop with the log tracking.

I'm doing a test run of my new plan this week and getting all my lifting weights figured out. I'm doing a lot of lifts I've never done, and so I'm establishing a baseline.

I'll be doing monthly pictures for now instead of weights and charts. I'm worrying FAR too much about what the scale says, and not nearly enough about what really matters. I gain 5 pounds of muscle and lose 3 pounds of fat, the scale says I gained two pounds, and then I feel like a failure. That is a crappy way to do things. So screw the scale for now. Screw the log. I know if I'm eating right and hitting my workouts. For now, I don't need the accountability, and don't want the overhead of messing with the chart.

I'll most that picture in my post down to a permanent spot, and then post up monthly pictures and we'll see if there's a change.

I think I have my muscles ready to go

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:58:00 +0000

I hope to start my new plan on Monday. I spent this week getting my body used to being pushed again. I think I'm ready to go. This new plan makes SOOO much more sense to me. I hope I get results out of it.

I've sucked so much ass in the last month it makes me cry

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:08:00 +0000

194 bitches. That's right. 194. I was 194 this morning. I'm damn near back to last year's weight. It's freaking AMAZING how quick it goes. In about 6 weeks I put on 10 pounds, can't run for shit, can't lift for shit, and look like this:

That's some bullshit. I mean, that ain't a BAD body, but it is WAY worse than it was 6 weeks ago.

So I start a new plan today. I have this week to re-aclimate myself to strenuous workouts and dietting, and then next week it's ON! I wasn't going to post this horrible picture, but I have to be honest with everyone. You can't get anywhere if you're in denial about where you're starting from. I mean, even at my current state I'm 56 pounds down from where I started. I'll get this. It just takes more dedication.

The two-week void

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:19:00 +0000

Alright I'm not even going to attempt to fill the chart in for these last two weeks. I was on vacation. I was eating crap most of the time, but sometimes I ate really well. I did a bunch of hiking some days, and other days sat on my ass all day. So I can't even say it was just two solid weeks of red days. I'll just leave it blank and start tracking again on Sunday.

I'm freaking 10 pounds heavier than I was a month ago. This blows so bad.

Ahh..

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:28:00 +0000

Back from vacation, and I brought a few things back with me.
1) A nice calm mind.
2) A renewed sense of purpose for getting in shape
3) About 10 extra pounds :)

So, as with all things, the first day weighing in after eating like a mad man is super super heavy. This morning I was 195.1. So... I'd guess my actual weight right now is around 188-189 or so. I will be a good boy from now on and get some serious work done before Kalahari and Myrtle Beach.

I've changed a little bit of my direction as well. I now desire strength over running. I know that I will never be a super fast runner, and will never be a race winner. I'm quite happy being able to comfortably cover the distance. I need to get up to full marathon, but I don't see a need in shaving 10 seconds off my 5k time. I competed for the first time at my last 3k. What I mean by this is, I never knew anyone running who was similar in ability to myself, so I was only ever competing against my own personal records. At the 3k, a friend was running who was right around my same ability. I edged him out to beat him by like 20 or 30 seconds, and really took no joy in it. I've always known that I'm not a competitive person, but I was a little shocked that I didn't care about beating him. I guess that just goes to show myself that getting faster and winning races wouldn't really matter to me. I'm happy to get out and run. I really don't care how fast I do it.

Now strength on the other hand, I could use. I would REALLY like to be extremely strong. I think my body is better built for strength than speed anyway. Running has been a constant pain inducer for me. I have more troubles with running pain than anyone else I know. I have some friends that are already up to running half marathons after less than a year of running, and are pain free. It took me years to get up to that, and I still have sore legs after simple 4 mile runs. I still can't run back to back days. It's really rather annoying. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to drop running. I'm just shifting my focus a little. Lifting has always been something I did on my off days because I couldn't run two days in a row. Now I want to have the mindset that running is the cardio I get on my off days because you're not supposed to lift two days in a row. I found myself going through the motions on my lift days, and not working as hard as I could. I want to change that for now.

So... look for me to get a lot stronger, and talk about lifting more than running. That's all.

Stay tuned!

Just throwing a post up

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:54:00 +0000

Just letting everyone know I'm still here. I'm not posting as much, but I still fill out my chart at the bottom of the blog every day.

I did a 3K the other day. I turned a better time than I expected. 13:34. It was only good enough for 8th in my age group, but I'm sure I can get faster. I was 20 seconds off 5th place and a medal.

Cathy ran it as well. It was her first race ever. He best training time was 24:00. She turned a 21:15 at the race! I couldn't be prouder.

Half done

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:03:00 +0000

I finished another half marathon yesterday. My goal was to complete it in under 2 hours. My last half was 2:14, so 2:00 was a ton of improvement. I hit the last mile at like 1:53. That didn't leave me much time so I sucked it up and damn near came to a full-out sprint for that last mile. I crossed the finish line at 1:59:11. Goal attained!

Now on to the long-standing goal of getting in shape. Cathy and I are going to try to hit hard starting this week. Wish us luck.

12 Miles done, no problem for the half

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Did 12 miles on Sunday. Expect that I was coughing my lungs out the whole time because I'm still sick, it was a pretty decent run. I figure if I can turn 12 miles in 2 hours while hacking up a lung, I should be able to finish the half marathon in about the same amount of time. So, I'm shooting for 2 hours on the nose. That would shave 14 mins off my last half. I'll have to hold a 9:09 pace. Which, with walk breaks at water stops, needs to be more like a 9 flat. That shouldn't be a problem, but we'll see. Unfortunately with this race being so early in the summer, I haven't had a chance to acclimate to the heat. If it's all of a sudden in the 80's, it may slow me down quite a bit. Of course the race is quite early in the morning, so hopefully it will be fine. I like to run at 50-60 degrees.

On the lifting front, I'm almost back to 100%. My elbow is still a little sore, but it's not bad. I've started my once a week heavy lift. Not to sound like I'm bragging, but I'm way stronger than I thought I was. I normally was curling 20's. So for my heavy day I started with 25's, no problem. On to 30's, no problem. On to 35's, there I was feeling it. 35's? That's almost double what I was curling on my light days. I had no idea I could curl 35's. So now yesterday I went back to my light day, and 20 all of a sudden felt really light. I can already see how this 1 heavy day a week is going to increase my overall lifting weight. I still can't bench to save my butt, but I'm working on it.

April Results

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:02:00 +0000

Well... the bad news is I ended the month at 186 average. The good news is my daily weight today was 184.

My grade ends up being:
Lunch: 45% F
Dinner: 35% F
Exercise: 67% D

Total: 49% F

Hoorah! F!

May has to be better.

Last week

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:30:00 +0000

Was better than the week before, but it still needs to get better.

The good news is I did 10 very comfortable miles on Sunday. I should be just fine for the half marathon in 3 weeks.

OK. . It's on like Tron

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:17:00 +0000

IT'S ON!

8 Miles yesterday. It wasn't fun. Of course, I was running in a decent downpour of rain the whole time.

I'm back to ???.?? for 10-day average weight. I only have like 3 weigh-ins in the last 10 days so I can't take an average. I'll started weighing daily again this morning. I'll have a new 10-day just in time for my May 1 milestone. At this point, I don't assume I'll even make it back to my April 1 weight, but we'll see.

I really am going to try to get back to it

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:29:00 +0000

I really am.

How about I start this Sunday. Fresh week. Fresh effort.

Changing up my lifting

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:32:00 +0000

I had a long talk with a VERY strong friend of mine at the gym. He was benchpressing 335 just before we started talking.

So I asked him "How the hell do I get that strong?????" After he was done laughing, we starting talking. He had remembered that I was doing this whole light weight/perfect form thing. He said that doing that was great for sculpting my body and building sizeable muscles. He had noticed that in the last 3 months I was noticeably more cut and had much larger arms. He said strength, however, requires going heavy. So we put together a little different routine. It's not too different as far as what lifts I do, but the weight and reps are quite different.

Now I will have 2 routines.
Routine 1:
Heavy weight, 4-6 reps, 3 sets.

Routine 2:
Light weight, reps to failure, 4-5 sets.

I'll do Routine 1 once a week, and Routine 2 twice a week. This way I should have best of both worlds. We both agreed that looking and feeling good is more important, but I want to be strong as well.

My goal is to someday press 315. That magical 315. 6 plates on the bar. I'm a LOOOONG way off.

Alright. Time to get back to it.

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:02:00 +0000

Fun time's over. Motivation or not, it's time to get serious again.

I did good on exercising last week, but still pooched the diet. Gotta be better this week.

I've lost motivation

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:09:00 +0000

It happens. I'm completely unmotivated to keep going. It's low tide for me. When this happens, I just try to hang on until the motivation returns. No need to encourage me, it won't help. I will try my damndest to get the spark back this month, but we'll see. I'm doing the workout stuff, but the diet is just not there. At some point, you get sick of eating bird food for too many months in a row.

Blah... depressed.

First days back SUCK

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:20:00 +0000

First days back suck.

First day back to running: 4 miles and ankle pain.
First day back to lifting: HA! suck.

Hopefully second day back will be better.

A bad week

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:42:00 +0000

In more ways than one. I'm sure most anyone who knows me is aware of what happened last week, so I'm not going to talk about it here. Needless to say, I had a solid red week. I've paid for it on the scale as well. I was 186.3 this morning, which is 3+ pounds over my 10-day average from April 1. I have a solid week of missed weights, so I'm going to wait the 10 days until I have a new 10-day average to report. I'm back on the wagon now. I think April's A grade is shot, but I'll try for a B.

Woooo look at all that Red!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:07:00 +0000

That's pretty. I like red. Red is both tasty, and doesn't wear me out. I can't say the same for green. Green makes me hungry and tired. I like Red better.

So I'm 182.79 this morning. I am confident I'll stay under 183.0 and beat my April 1 goal.

I'm back on the wagon now with a renewed sense of dedication. I enjoyed my hiatus, but now it's time to get back to work. I have a half marathon in 7 weeks or so. I'm also T-minus 26 weeks until Myrtle Beach. Half a year. I expect to be in damned good shape by then. I'm not sure about weight, so I think I'm going to let the weight goals go. When I was 230ish I set a goal of 170. Now that I'm closing in on 180, I can say for sure that I have more than 10 pounds to lose, so 170 isn't low enough. Maybe 160? Looking at my body now, I would think 22.79 pounds off is probably about right. It may be a little low though. 165 might be right. Basically, I don't know. I've never been in shape, so I have no idea.

So... I think for April I'm going to start a new goal program. Instead of weight loss goals, I'm going to go with green consistency. March is completely shot. Assuming I'm good today and tomorrow, it's looking like I'll have:
Lunch: 77
Dinner: 74
Workouts: 65
Total: 72, so a C for the month.

Since I'll have no other goal, I'd like to get an A for April.

Stay Tuned!

March can kiss my ass

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:51:00 +0000

Yep... kiss it. Screw it, I don't care LOL! I'm hitting my weight goal for April, so I really don't care about March's grade.

I'll be back on the wagon in April.

Took a last red day yesterday

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:43:00 +0000

Took one more red day yesterday. I think I'm up to working out again, but Cathy is sick now and I decided to spend the evening with her.

The good news is, I hit my goal 10-day average of 183.0 today. Now... I have to hold it for 6 days :)

Two more days of red

noreply@blogger.com (Rob) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:17:00 +0000

I was sick as a dog though, so it's not my fault. I'm pretty sure I had food poisoning. It was kinda fun though. According to the scale, I lost just over 5 pounds in 1 day!! Yes I know, that's not even close to real, but it was still kinda neat to see :) I've had two days in a row at 181. We'll see what my weight is after a couple days of eating again.