D.Alan’s BodyBlog

Monthly measurements are up a bit for the first time in quite a while!  Not a lot, mind you, it was a quarter inch here, and an eighth inch there, but it’s enough to kick the motivation up a notch.  It might be because I started taking Omega 3 fish oil a few weeks ago.  They say you need that to build muscle and I start taking it and a couple of weeks later the measurements are up, could be a connection.  Whatever, I am very pleased to finally have a little progress.

I was glad to see the growth because I was beginning to get concerned about my weight, which has been up a bit for the last week or so and I was originally attributing it to some water bloat but it wasn’t going back down like it normally would with water retention.  So, perhaps it is up because I actually have added a little muscle.  Time will tell, of course, but I am telling myself at the moment that that is what it is.

I want to keep this growth going so I will keep liftin’.

BF% pinch total is down about a half mm this week.  The slow-but-sure progress continues.  The BF pinch total is down between 4-5 mm since the beginning of the year, and down 50 mm — yes, that’s correct, 50 big ones — since I started lifting seriously in October ‘07.  Couldn’t believe that number just now when I looked it up!  Talk about small bits of progress adding up to a big change.  There’s weeks when there is very little change in the pinch total, or worse yet it goes up a bit from the previous week and it can be discouraging.  Gotta keep the big picture in sight.

And here I was mad that I have been somewhat bloated the last few days.  The weight got down to 166.5 on Thursday and we went out to eat Thursday evening and I admit to having french fries and other stuff not good for you and Friday morning the weight was 170!!  Had to have been mostly retained water because of the salt in the stuff I ate.  Arrgh.  Oh, well, in the next day or so I’ll suddenly be peeing like crazy and all that water will leave and I’ll be back to the current normal.

However, I want to keep at that lowering BF pinch total, so I’ll keep liftin’.

OK, so what happened to bb.com yesterday?  I couldn’t get onto the site all day, and even "ping" attempts came back with nothing.  Checked the "news" page today and of course nothing is mentioned… just like the picture counters that apparently are broken for any newly posted pix.

Had a wild week at work which previous to my lifting and diet minding would have meant a lot of extra eating, but I managed to avoid that.  The lifting also helps to keep the frustration in check, too.  I did have a "screaming hissy fit" one morning about yet another snafu that developed, but that’s the only one I have had in a year or more.  Without the lifting it might be a daily occurrence.

There was a big event at work Friday night and I saw some folks that I hadn’t seen in a while and there were a lot of compliments in my direction about my appearance.  "You’ve lost weight!"  "Wow, you look great!" "What’s your secret?"  When I replied that my "secret" is to eat right and exercise, I got a groan in return, "Oh, I don’t know about the exercise part, that’s what I have trouble with."  Everyone seems to want a quick fix to weight loss and fitness, no one wants to put out the effort to actually do what you have to do.  It was an ego booster anyway to get the compliments.

BF pinches this week were undetermined, I guess you could say.  The cheap plastic calipers have me down a bit from last week, the digital one has me up a bit.  I guess we split the difference and say there was "no change.  The tape measure didn’t say it a couple of weeks ago, but I think the shape of my arms is improving… at least that is what I think I am seeing in the mirror!  The pecs seem to be doing well with the routine I am doing, I am trying to hit the bis and delts a little differently, so we’ll see how that goes in the next few weeks.

Work is still screwed up and I have to keep an even head with the stuff that comes up, so I’ll keep liftin’.

Continuing with the routine here.  BF pinch total is up a mm from last week, but that is possibly because I hit the chocolate a little too hard this week,   Work has been crazy the last two weeks and while I have been very good in not attacking the chocolate like I used to in similar circumstances, I did hit it some.

Took my monthly progress pix tonight, a week late since I should have done it last week, and did some comparing with some of my earliest pix.  I made up a comparison shot between 2006 and tonight and it is quite striking, I think.  I was a little down the last day or so as I was "feeling fat" and then the BF pinch was up a bit sort of confirming the "feeling fat" and then I looked at these pix!  Not feeling fat any more!  Keep taking those pix for checking your progress, they’re the biggest ego booster out there!

Had what I thought was my best arm pump ever tonight.  After I was done I was thinking that the guns were the biggest/best looking they had ever been, so I tried to get a pic right away.  And, as always, it doesn’t lookanything in the photo like I think it does… I hate when that happens.

I want to look good all the time, not just with a good pump, so I’ll keep liftin’.

Continuing with the routine here.  BF pinch total is up a mm from last week, but that is possibly because I hit the chocolate a little too hard this week,   Work has been crazy the last two weeks and while I have been very good in not attacking the chocolate like I used to in similar circumstances, I did hit it some.

Took my monthly progress pix tonight, a week late since I should have done it last week, and did some comparing with some of my earliest pix.  I made up a comparison shot between 2006 and tonight and it is quite striking, I think.  I was a little down the last day or so as I was "feeling fat" and then the BF pinch was up a bit sort of confirming the "feeling fat" and then I looked at these pix!  Not feeling fat any more!  Keep taking those pix for checking your progress, they’re the biggest ego booster out there!

Had what I thought was my best arm pump ever tonight.  After I was done I was thinking that the guns were the biggest/best looking they had ever been, so I tried to get a pic right away.  And, as always, it doesn’t lookanything in the photo like I think it does… I hate when that happens.

I want to look good all the time, not just with a good pump, so I’ll keep liftin’.