Jumbo Rider’s BodyBlog

Well, I need to post another exercise video tomorrow for the transformation competition.  Compared to the other studs in the contest I have a fairly boring workout set.  Complying with the video portion of the contest is my least favorite part.  So I will be spending my my evening trying to think up something fairly clever to do that will cover for my face made for blogging.

if the number of bodyblog posts are counted.  I would need to write three blogs to her one to catch up.  Another mark of her great dedication.

Another stupid party at work today.  I am making an excuse to sit out of this one.  It isn’t that I am afraid I would break down and eat the junk but that I hate hearing, "You sure didn’t eat much." over and over again.  It is worse than a crack house.   Then you add in the fact that it messes with my meal timing and my impetus is to duck the party.

Do you guys and gals get tired of going to functions that have enough food to feed Zimbabwe for a year and have nothing to eat?  At the very best there will be the old raw vegetable tray with baby carrots, celery, and cherry tomatoes.  Nope, I will sit here and eat a magnificent spinach salad with Mexican beef, salsa, and a bit of sour cream.   Compare that to 2 cookies.   The choice is easy.

This morning I made a 4 egg omelet with carrots, celery and spinach on the side.  My normal morning feeding is a cup of cottage cheese with half a cup of blueberries and 1 oz of walnuts.  I simply love that mix, but I am out of cottage cheese so I had to ’suffer’.

I am going on 6 weeks without eating any grains.  No wheat, corn, oats, rice, or any other grain.  I have not had corn syrup, corn oil, corn meal, or corn starch.  After all this time without grains I feel super.  I don’t miss any of the grains except maybe popcorn and I am not tempted to eat them because I feel so good without them.  Try it, you might like it.

Coming from a binge life of junk food, pasta, pizza and lots of it all I find my nutritional change was only hard in two ways.

1. Convenience - You simply can not eat a healthy nutritional meal in America without putting some thought and effort into it.  Actually it is the thought part that is the hardest on me.  In my previous life I could eat anything that I saw on the way into work or home from work.  Nothing I saw was good for me.
2. Cost - Junk food is so very abundant and cheep in comparison to real whole food.  The cost is deceiving though.  First, the junk food never satisfied me and I would tend to binge.  When I eat a good amount of veggies I am full.  Second, my weight has directly led to taking a bunch of medications.  Even with good insurance the copays are enough to double my grocery buying of nothing but organic food.  Add to that the cost of buying clothes from specialty stores and you can see that junk food is not really cheap.  But those are all ‘hidden’ costs and when you look at a burrito el grande for $1 and a pound of organic beef at $5 the cost seems to favor the junk food.

My first office party has just ended.  I stayed with fresh veggies and a couple of pieces of pineapple.  Unfortunately we played gift bingo using M&M’s.  I just couldn’t put the candy back and felt guilty about dumping it so I ate about 9 M&M’s.   Not bad really for a Christmas party.

I see many of my competition are getting their plan of attack together for the 2008 Transformation.  Here is my basic plan.

Until December 26th I will simply continue doing what I have been doing.  I won’t change anything up until then.  The Blood Type Diet lists foods by blood type as either ‘avoid’, ‘neutral’, ‘Beneficial’, and ‘Superbeneficial’ for diabetes or cancer.  My diet today consists of neutral and beneficial foods with protein and vegetable every 3 hours.  I have not had any grains for 5 weeks and do not plan to eat grains until after I have lost all my weight.  Even after losing all of my weight i will eat grains rarely.  The reason?  I just feel so much better without the grains.

Beginning the 26th I will eat the majority of my foods from the beneficial list. I do not know how much of a difference it will make in my weight loss, but it can not hurt.  I will also begin a new supplementation protocol that I will list on the 26th.  I am not hiding what I will be doing, but I need to leave some mystery.

My current training is swimming 3x a week for 30 minutes and actively working around the house.  Starting the 26th I will be incorporating many bodyweight exercises and band training.  I will also walk a few steps more every day.  Yes, I will be using a simple pedometer and if it does not beat the day before at the end of a day I will walk.

I look at the work Stonecoldtruth and Daretosoar are writing up and I feel far outclassed. The simple truth is that I am competing to achieve a transformation and need to do what is best for my body, not theirs.

Age is a funny thing.  You never notice that you are ‘old’ unless you are comparing yourself to someone younger.  I am the old man of the transformation group.  I am 6 years older than the next oldest competitor.  It will be interesting to see how my body handles the stress compared to my fellow contestants.

Music

Please send me the titles of your best workout music and why you like it.  I have a few songs that I like, but I need some more.

This probably has little place here but I must mention the loss of Dan Fogelberg.  He was a balladeer that touched many with his music.  Run for the Roses and Leader of the Band are a couple of his most noteworthy songs.  This is a sad day for his fans, his friends, and most of all his family.

I do not know how many even know about bodybuilding.com’s 2008 Transformation contest, but it begins December 26, 2007.  Over the past few weeks several people fulfilled requirements set by  bodybuilding.com to be one of the 5 contestants chosen.  They chose the  contestants  Saturday  the 15th.  This particular transformation focused on weight loss.
Many people were anxiously waiting online watching the 2008 Transformation sign-up thread and hitting the refresh button on their browser every few seconds.  In the end 5 were chosen.  It was an online version of American Idol but instead of selected contestants screaming, "I’m going to Hollywood.", they typed, "I’m going to the weight room".  It was a rather exhausting night.

I was lucky and selected as a contestant with only 2 slots left to fill.  My fellow official contestants are:

• Daretosoar
• Stonecoldtruth
• Maddi
• Fussioncom

There are many more unofficial contestants that will be giving the official 5 a  run for their money.  It must have been tough selecting 5 because there were so many with great stories as to why they should be selected.  Read the 2008 sign-up thread to read the many great entries.

There will be an official 2008 Transformation blog where the official contestants will be posting and we are required to post a weekly workout video of ourselves as well.  I hope you all will stop by and give encouragement to the official 5 and the unofficial many.

Yesterday was tough.  A critical family issue transpired that left me very, very down.  In the past it would have been enough to start me binging and eating crap.  Today I am just fine.  My nutrition remains solid and I never really considered jumping off the wagon and into a cliff.  BB.COM has a bit to do with my changed attitude, but I also don’t want to stop feeling the good feeling I have today.  Eating right makes you feel right.

If I could pass one piece of wisdom to people wanting to be healthy it would be this; eat your vegetables.  I am not talking about the slice of lettuce on your burger or even that Iceburg lettuce salad you had for lunch.   At every meal eat 2-3 servings of a variety of vegetables.  Try it, you will feel better.

Why am I so excited about the possibility to enter BB.COM’s 2008 Transformation contest?  It is more than a whim.  Until I put a short video of a chopping wood workout up on YouTube the possibility of actually being chosen a contestant was not very real to me.  Now I am dying from anticipation as I wait for the contest selection to be made.   What is the big deal?

There are many reasons to be excited but here are some of mine:

• Pressure to achieve beyond the norm
• Recognition to be earned lending credibility to me down the line
• Plain old fun of competition
• Impressed by all of those seeking selection

I will do well if I am selected or not, but I think I would do better if I felt that I had to perform for others.  I don’t know if that is lame or not, but it is the truth.  To all that are trying to be selected I wish you great luck!

Last week was interrupted by an intestinal issue.  Workouts suffered and I did not get in enough veggies.  This week is new and fresh.  Time to get back into 100% compliance.

This was my 4th week of 2 pound losses.  As I have said before, 2 pounds may not sound like a lot but it adds up.  So I am 8 pounds down.  Those pounds were mostly butter and not meat.  I still feel no cravings and have never been hungry.

Here is to another 2 pounds down this week.  God bless us one and all.

Yesterday my intestinal fortitude was flushed away.  The hamburger that I fixed from the night before must have been bad.  Thinking I was going to die for the better part of the morning and afternoon I finally started to feel better around 6 pm.  If have ever had a bad bout with food you know that it takes courage to eat the same food again LOL.

I started this turnaround back in June of this year.  It was like turning a speeding freight train…..it took time to progress in the opposite direction.  I have been losing 2 pounds a week for the past 3 weeks.  This is a good consistent pace, but like all people trying to lose weight I want it off now.  I want big 30-50 pound chunks gone, not a lousy 6 pounds.  If I would have lost 2 pounds a week since June I would be weighing in at 310 pounds instead of the 366 pounds I am at now.

This is a thought that I keep in my head through out the day.  2 pounds a week adds up and the weeks fly by.   Never give up.