Mike7900’s BodyBlog

Operation 35

December 13, 2009 is the last day of class for my MBA.  After this date, I will thankfully get a lot of my personal time back.  For the last two years I have been giving up my lunch breaks and my evenings to focus on my school work.  During that time, my weight had gotten as high as into the 280’s.  Although, regrettably, that is still nowhere near my personal highest, it’s much, much higher than it should be.  
I have rejoined the gym close to where I work, and will resume my routine of using my lunch hour for weight training.  Since I work in an office setting, I have the flexibility of eating whenever I need/want to.  I have a treadmill at home, so my plan is to perform my cardio at home.  Ideally, I will begin to wake up at 5am to hit cardio first thing in the morning, but I have had success in the past with performing cardio in the evenings after the kids go to bed.
My overall goal, however, is that on December 14, 2009; I will be less than two months away from my 34th birthday.  Simple math dictates that upon completion of my degree I will be less than fourteen month away from my thirty-fifth birthday.  My goal is to focus like never before and get into the absolute best shape of my life by my 35th.
I have never, ever been in “good” shape.  I have always been heavy.  I discovered football when I was 9, and was revered for my size and athleticism.  I played all the way through college.  Along the way, I was a heavyweight wrestler, and a super-heavyweight power lifter.  Until I graduated college, my entire identity hinged on how big and strong I was.  
After I graduated college though, I was just a big, fat guy.  As jovial as I was, there was no good reason to be that large anymore.  I was able to lose a good deal of weight at one point, going from the 345ish from college, down into the 240’s, but that is more or less where I stopped.  I maintained that weight, plus or minus 40 pounds for several years until now.  Where I’m ready to commence operation 35, and continue driving that number down.
My plan is to focus on weight, body fat, and measurements equally, and not be obsessed with just the scale as I have been in the past.  I’m going to use the remaining time from mid-December until February 6, 2010 to knock off all the rust.  By my estimation, one year of hard work and true determination, I should see what I’m made of underneath all these layers of well aged fluff.  I will be more diligent about blogging, tracking workouts, meals, and posting progress pics throughout.  Mostly for my own sake, just to be able to look back and see what I did, or did not accomplish.
The true launch date for the project is 02/06/2010.  

When I begin my transformation in a few weeks, I need to be very careful that I am doing ti for all the right reasons.  Ultimately, I am doing it for myself.  And I know that sounds like the politically correct thing to say.  And what I’m about to say is going to sound extremely bitter, but its how I feel, so, sorry…

I originally came to Bodybuilding.com seeking a source of knowledge, support and a way to reinforce my quest for fitness.  In some cases, I found what I was looking for.  There is no question that the site is filled with thousands of terrific articles, work-outs, diet plans, and more advice from plenty of well qualified and well meaning sources.

From a support stand point, I came up short.  And to a large part, it is my own fault.  I fell victim to using this site in the wrong ways.  I quickly added hundreds of "friends" because of how great they looked in their pics without knowing their stories, and in many cases, even caring.  Basically, Bodyspace was little more than a soft-core porn site.  This mind set is entirely my shortcoming.

I am truly thankful to the handful of people that I have found that check in on me without me having to check in on them first.  That read my blogs, or mointor my progress without seeking anything in return.  For them, I am grateful.  Going forward, I will be content if no one reads my posts, looks at any of my pics, of tracks my progress, because it truly is for me.  I am the one that has to deal with my faults, and live with everything I do, good and bad.

So, while the people that look they already belong on the pages of fitness magizines continue to get tons of support, and God bless them, I will begin my journey my way.   

 I have decided to start back on my diet plan December 1, 2009. 

The end of school draws near.  For the past two years plus I have been pursuing my MBA and I will complete it on December 13, 2009.  In order to devote as much time as possible to my studies, I abandoned the gym.  Prior to me beginning classes, I was dilligent about going to the gym during my lunch breaks.  I started to use those lunch breaks to get in additional class time so as to not fall behind.  All of that will be changing in less than a month.

Earlier this year I had done a great job of sticking to a clean diet and losing quite a few pounds despite not working out much.  Ultimately, the rigors of life caught up to me, and any semblence of a diet quickly fell to the wayside.  I am eagerly awaiting my return to the gym however.  I reactivated my bodyspace account so I can document my progress.  I have already re-joined the gym so that I can hit the ground running.

This time around, I will be doing some things differently.  The changes will be a lot less about diet and workouts, and more about what goes on in between my ears.  Since I still have a couple of more weeks before I really get started, I’ll take some time during that interim to explain my meaning.

Until then, train hard folks.

So far I am not taking advantage of the time I have.  Not really sticking to my diet, and not getting in any cardio time at work.  I’m not sure what its going to take to get myself out of this hole…

To my next class starting…No cardio last night….watched football and ate pizza instead….but, since i actually ingested water and ate clean during my workday, I am down a few pounds…I just hope I can get my head into it so I don’t squander this time…

Well, last night my "study group" and i posted our case study thereby signifying the end of the semester.  So now I have a three week break in between classes.  I had been telling myself that once this break arrived, I would really take advantage, clean up my diet, get back on the treadmill, etc.  My state of mind right htis minute however, is that I’m very tired, my back is sore, and I really could care less.  I have no motivation.  I just want to watch TV, or read, play video games, whatever would allow me to relax.  Sigh….it doesn’t really surprise me however, I didn’t get this way by acccident…

I haven’t written in quite some time, mostly because I have not had anything to write about.  And sadly, that has not changed.  But what the heck.  My diet is lackluster at best.  I’m still not working out.  As I have stated so many times before, I just keep holding on to the hope that once school is over for me, and have this damn masters degree, everything will just magically be ok.  Of course I know better.  But I will at least be able to work-out at lunchtime again, and the late evenings will be mine once again.  Here’s to thin lines of false hope!

So, I broke into the 220’s this morning.  I did the best I could to keep the diet clean yesterday.  Hit the treadmill really hard last night.  So now I’ve lost roughly 60 pounds since January.  So I’m happy with how far I’ve come, but I still feel like I’ve got quite a ways to go.  My problem areas when I was 288lbs are still my problem areas.  Yes they’re smaller, but they’re still rather unsightly.  So that’s frustrating.  But I digress, I know I just have to keep plowing forward.  Its disheartening that my next class starts Monday, which means I either need to give up my cardio sessions, or start getting up earlier to get them in.  Honestly, neither is very promising.

So yesterday diet was very tight.  I didn’t succumb to the carb monster.  I had a few "unauthorized" snacks after dinner, but nowhere near what I did to myself the night before.  I did really well on the treadmill.  I think I hit a personal best on my mile time, and I also think I went further in 30 minutes then I ever have.  Now, I certainly didn’t set any world records, but for me, they were pretty good.  When it comes to running, I still have the mental barriers of being 345lbs.  So I don’t go very fast.

My temptation of the day will be there is a company wide pot luck going on.  So far I have heard donuts, muffins, bana bread, cake, fried chicken potato salad, macaroni salad, etc etc.  So, I may just go into grumpy mode so people don’t even want me involved.  Otherwise I’ll have to hear a bunch of crap as to why I’m not jamming a lot of fried chicken down my throat.  Oh well. 

Always have.  Went camping this weekend with the family.  Had a good time.  Stayed well hydrated for the most part.  Got plenty of walking in.  Diet stayed pretty good for the most part.  Until Sunday.  Then the wheels came off.  I guess at this point I’m just happy I didn’t gain like 10 pounds.  So, as usual, I just have to pick myself up, dust myself off, and get back on course.  Words I’m painfully familiar with.  I’ve packed my usual foods today.  I have my water bottle.  I should hit cardio tonight.  So, It shouldn’t be too hard to get those couple of pounds back off.  I’ve already told myself I’m going to tweak my diet once I get under 230.  its just a matter of getting there.