M-A-S’s BodyBlog

30 days until I step off that airplane.

30 days until I see my wife and daughter’s beautiful faces again.

30 days to toil under the weight I’ve been pushing for the past 164 days.

30 days to give everything I have to give.

30 days to lose those last ten pounds.

For the past 164 days, I have resoluted to change my life. Change my habits. Change myself for what I believe will be for the better. Now I sit here with 30 days left and know that it’s time to finish strong, stay disciplined in my lifting and diet.  The discipline to say that I will only eat that 6oz piece of chicken and not all this other food that everyone else is eating.  The discipline to push out those last couple reps. The discipline to do my cardio. The discipline to be the person the two loves of my life deserve.

To know where I am going I have to see where I have been:

From May 15, 2009 to October 18,2009

As my weight slowly dwindles down here in this desert inferno, those around me have started to take notice. They ask me what I’ve done. I tell them it’s a simple equation for me, 20% lifting weights, 20% cardio and 60% diet. Without a proper diet and only doing the first two is like trying to take down a brick wall with a tennis ball. I now hear things such as, “I’m starting my diet tomorrow”, but tomorrow never comes.  They come up with ideas such as no eggs, only waffles, only pancakes, only this or only that, not as much of this and not that much that…but in the end the little of this and the little of that usually end up getting smothered in some kind of condiment other than mustard.

So here it is, my deployed lifestyle. The lifestyle I’ve used to melt off 22 pounds of fat and 2 inches off my waist. The life style that has gotten me so much attention. The lifestyle that will help me melt off another 25 pounds of fat. I say lifestyle because that’s what it takes, a diet is just a fad or trend that will ultimately make you fail and fall back into your old habits. But a change in lifestyle, well that is a whole new concept. Why just change the way we eat? Why not change things in our lives that ultimately made us want to eat these so called comfort foods.

I wake every morning at 0350, trudge down to the bathroom at the end of the dorms, take care of business, and mix three scoops of N.O. Xplode in 5-6 ML of water. I go back to my room take my Leukic Hardcore…let me stop for a minute, before you start thinking that I’m here to sell supplements, I’m not. I’m telling you what I take. I then make the 2 minute trek over to the gym, weigh in, and start to lift.

The way I lift is also unique I guess. I do giant sets. I pick four exercises and do all four exercises right in a row using a medium amount of weight, this is my first set. I rest for about 1-2 minutes and then do all four of the exercises again. I do this about five times. Giant sets cut down on rest time and totally kick your butt. My workouts usually last no longer than 50 minutes.

I then go back to my room consume one scoop of BSN Syntha 6 Vanilla mixed with one scoop of BSN Cellmass arctic berry. The chow hall is my next stop (6am). I order 5 egg whites and sprinkle a little cheese of top for a little flavor. I usually also get a bowl of cottage cheese and mix apple sauce into it. At 830 I eat a can of tuna. At 1030 I have a protein shake. Lunch is at 1130 and I have a chicken breast (or fish) with some broccoli, kidney beans, and some apple sauce for desert. At 1430 I have another protein shake. 1630 is more or less my dinner and I’ll have another chicken breast or can of tuna (in olive oil with some garlic salt). I try to minimize my carb intake after 4pm.

I do my cardio when I get back to the dorms; my favorite so far has been a 30 minute incline walk on the treadmill. For every minute that passes I increase the incline by .5, while maintaining a speed of 3.5. I also mix in some high intensity interval training (HIIT) on some days with sprint intervals on an elliptical or treadmill.

When I’m done with cardio, I’ll have one scoop of Syntha 6, just to give my body something to snack on and help it restore my energy levels. I usually have about 1 hour before I need to go to sleep so I’m not too worried about the 13 carbs and 200 calories, since I usually burn around 480-600 calories during my cardio. Most nights I go to bed at 8-830pm, I choose not to hang out with people here after work.  I see these people all day at work so it’s not really high on my list of things to do. Going to bed early also allows me to get enough sleep so my body can heal and it makes the days fly by. The best part of my day is when I can finally go to bed and dream about my wife and my little girl back home. I’m excited to show my beautiful wife the body I’m building here.

Being deployed here in Iraq I have realized just how lazy and counterproductive I was back home. I have been here for 33 days and have lost 15 pounds. In the past week and a half I lost 6 pounds. I see many people here on Body Space with excuses like, I work long hours, I don’t have time to eat right, I’m trying to eat right, I don’t have time, and of course my all time favorite, I’m bulking.
My daily routine is consistent. I get up early before work at 4am lift for an hour, do some cardio and then go to work for 12 hours a day 6 days a week. My diet is very simple and doesn’t require much though. Usually it’s two chicken breast, ¼ cup raw broccoli, ¼ cup carrots, and a ¼ cup raw kidney beans. The only thing that varies is every other day I’ll have some apple sauce and if they aren’t serving chicken that day then I get fish or another healthy protein source.
Trust me, just force yourself for one week and you’ll suddenly be waking up before the alarm goes off. You’ll be running to the scale in excitement to see if you lost any weight. All it takes is a plan to simplify your life and de-clutter.  I like to live by the rule; if it doesn’t matter in five minutes then I’m not going waste time on it. Fitness and your overall well being well that does matter in five minutes and beyond. So next time you tell yourself some excuse, ask yourself, is that really the reason or am I just being lazy.

It has been 21 days since I had my knee surgery. The stiffness in the joint is all but gone, and I’ve decided to restart cardio, mostly just consisting of walking. Since I’ve hurt my knee I haven’t been able to take the dog for really any walks what so ever. When she was younger I used to run with her and she was energetic for the rest of the day. She now lays around the house and sleeps. So daily walks, with each day going a little further will do both of us some good, and once I feel very comfortable on how my knee has heeled I’ll start to do HIIT training on an elliptical trainer again. From what I’ve learned so far on losing weight, especially fat, Weight lifting and Diet will not do it, there has to be cardio of some sort thrown in. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end of me being over weight.

So this weeks Transformation of the Week really got me thinking (http://bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/Totalmeltdown/more.php?section=progresspics) . If this guy can lose 40 pounds over a span of 6 months, I’m pretty sure I can lose 20. My wife wants to go home for Christmas next year. I’m kind squeamish about going home. When I left home to join the Air Force I was a average framed 180 pound guy. So I get the looks from family and friends, I want those looks but for a different reason. Looks that indicate…holly crap, look at him, he looks awesome. My ultimate goal I suppose should not be weight and it really isn’t. My ultimate goal is to have a waist smaller than 32, I’ve done the math and logic would say that at my height the correct weight for me would be in between 180-185. Currently sitting at 204 I have a little ways to go.

So two days removed from knee surgery I will be heading back into the gym. I’ve convinced my wife to come with me to help me switch out the weight plates. Maybe I can get her to lift a little too even though she doesn’t need it she looks awesome already. I’ll be hitting chest tomorrow.

So my surgery went great. I threw up a couple of times and lost like 2 pounds. Any started my diet today it’s good so far. I should able to get back into the gym by maybe Mondya or Tuesday.

It’s bound to happen when you go to the gym. It’s a fact of life, there is always someone who is or wants to be better than anyone else. What do you do though when this assbag comes around and is f’n up your universe, getting in the way, stealing the mirror, being loud as crap? 

Last night I was at the Gym and I was having a really awesome arms workout. I had the best pump I ever had. In between a set of barbell curls I notice out of the corner of my eye, a guy I know. We don’t talk anymore since his wife took his three kids and left. He insists it was all their friends that convinced her to leave…so story short…guy is an assbag. 

I move on to do Hammer Curls. Having a really good set when this guy steps like right in front of me and starts doing hammer curls…I rep 30’s when I do hammer curls. This dude, attempting to out due me grabs some 45’s, by the look on his face he was either going to crap himself or his head was going to explode. It was the first time I actually wished harm on someone. The rest of my night was pretty much the same, I still had a good workout, I was just annoyed. But in the end I think I lifted heavier than usual.

Anyway Friday is my Knee Surgery to get my meniscus fixed. I’ll have to rely soley on nutrition for like 3-6 days.

Second day of training was a little dissapointing, I was doing cable rows and when i pushed off on the foot plate my knee popped, my knee joint locks up because I have a torn meniscuse. On Friday I go under the knife to get a torn meniscuse fixed. I’ve had the injury for a while but, have had issues and haven’t really been able to get in a good leg workout without hurting myself. I’ll have to focus on clean eating the next two weeks while i’m recovering. -MAS