Ponyboy76’s BodyBlog

Sometimes, I think we are still living in the stone age. Its 2008, and I’d say the majority of people still have these old school, preconceived notions that muscles on anyone else but a guy is unnatural and strays away from femininity. I just don’t get the backwards thinking. Case in point, the receptionist at my job has recently joined a gym because she would like to lose weight. She’s not really overweight or anything but I think she would like to just tone her body up and wants to look and feel more healthy. That`s not a bad thing to aspire for, if you ask me. She had been doing alot of cardio but she hadn’t really noticed any changes so, she knows that I workout regularly and asked me for a few tips.  I asked her about her diet and it sounded like she was mostly doing the right things My next question was if she did any weight training. She said no, because she "didn’t want to get big". I tried to explain to her that the notion of her getting big from doing a little weight training was silly and that in order to really change your body shape, you need to incorporate some weight training. I had come across this great article in BB.com writtine by BuffMother that really explained why weight training was essential. I figured hearing it from another woman who obviously knows her stuff would help. I sent her the link and as she began to read the first thing she said was," Yuck, she looks like a man! I don’t want to look like that!" Now, I know most of you have seen BuffMother’s profile and she obviously looks nothing like a man. It was solely the fact that she had a body that was defined with visible muscle that caused that comment. I tried to explain to the receptionist that that is what an athletic, healthy body looks like. She wasn’t buying it so I pretty much gave up, but that is not the first time I have heard such ludicrous statements coming out of people’s mouths. It seems people have been so indoctrinated with the notion that men are supposed to have muscles and woman are supposed to be soft and delicate. I had thought that perhaps because woman have shown to be just as capable and in some cases better than men at doing many things that maybe the notion would evolve but it hasn’t. I wonder if it ever will change or will woman that strive to get the absolute best out of their bodies forever be looked upon as un-feminine.

Sometimes programs work and sometimes they don’t. I`ve found that working out and general fitness tends to be a lot of trial and error. I’ve been on this program for 3 weeks which isn’t too long but I realize that I am not getting the results I want. The program was basically to build muscle and lower my bodyfat. I am building muscle but I’ve not really lost much if any bodyfat. I’ve actually gained almost 9lbs, which at first sounds bad, but looking in the mirror, it seems to be mostly muscle. The thing is, it is Summer time and I don’t really think that this program ,while good for building muscle, is not right for losing the bodyfat I want in order to throw the shirt off.  Again I know that 3 weeks into a 12 week program might not be enough to gauge its effectiveness but if I wait for the full 12 weeks, the Summer will pretty much be over and who knows how much weight I’ll put on. I think that I will put this program down and use it in the Winter when I’m not under such a tight schedule to burn fat.
 I am going to start a program that is a little shorter and more focused on burning bodyfat while still making decent gains in lean muscle. I also need to start doing 2 a days again to boost the fat burning process. I tanked a little but I can still realize my dream of a shirtless Summer beach day before its too late. Any suggestions that would help the process would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

I am sort of like an alcoholic or at least a recovering one, because like them I have what some would consider an addiction. Not to drinking but to foods that I know aren`t doing me any favors. Potato chips, candy, cakes, ice creams and pies are screwing with my diet, which in turn are screwing with my goals of a shirtless summer.  Some alcoholics after a few weeks of not having a drink and doing well, feels so good that they think, to themselves, "Its been months since I`ve had a drink, one won`t hurt" One turns into 2, which turns in 6 and they have just ruined all the progress they have made. Like them, I thought that a cookie once in a while or that bag of hula hoop chips would be fine. I even started buying them to put in the house as a way of saying that my will power was strong enough to handle it. Like leaving a bottle of Jack Daniels around for an alcoholic. But, that thinking was wrong. I`ve had a terrible few weeks of eating junk food and now I`m paying for it with a 6.6lb gain in weight. Some of it may be muscle but I`m sure most of it is fat. I realize now, just like that recovering alcoholic, I need to keep all that junk away from me. My will power will get to to the point of me being able to have junk in the house and not eat it, but I am not there yet. I know that if I just cut out the bits of crap that I eat, I will make some serious progress. My diet is pretty damn good besides that stuff. I eat 5 to 6 small meals a day including my protein. I don`t drink anything but water and tea. My discipline as far as social drinking is at an all time high. My workouts kick ass. This is the only thing from stopping me attaining what I`ve been wanting for so long. Its the last and largest hurdle. So, I am starting from today to clean up my diet, and going cold turkey, taking it a month at a time. The only snacks I will have are almonds with the occasional raisins, but restrict myself to a handful (luckily I have pretty hands) a day. Its almost summer and even though I have hit a snag, I am not out of the race. I didn’t get it before and its time to stop half assing it. In a month, I`ll post again and not hopefully, but definitely, I`ll have some great results to report.

Stay Gold!

I swear some people are still living there. The other day I was my cousin’s house watching the Hopkins fight and just conversing. His girlfriend, who is a great girl makes a comment about me living a comment on this woman`s facebook page. The woman was a figure/bodybuilder with a really great physique. So I complimented her on it, espcially her abs. They were obviously really well toned and defined. So, she asks me in a really sort of condescending way, "If I like that sort of thing" like it was some crazy freakish thing. Then she commenting on how it was such a masculine thing to appreciate, like because I think the woman had a great set of abs and I was attracted to that, it somehow said that I liked guys. I just don`t get that whole way of thinking. Like somehow a woman with a great set of abs is less of a woman, where as if a guy has a great set of abs, he’s just being a guy and he works out.  Yeah, I don’t get it. To me there is not many things sexier than a fit woman with a beautiful set of abs. It says she`s obviously healthy. She works out and takes care of herself and more so it shows that she`s confident. I`ve heard guys say similar things and it sounds pretty stupid to me, but I guess to each their own.

I was talking about how I have seemed to hit a plateau but I’m trying to push through. Now, I have messed up my lower back and I actually don`t know how it happened. The right side of my lower back has been soar for awhile but this week, its gotten a lot worse where I haven`t been able to run and it even hurts when I sleep. Its really annoying because I was doing really well, with the double cardio for the passed 2 weeks. Now, I`ve only run once since Saturday. It probably doesn’t sound like a big deal but for some reason I get it into my head that even if I work out, but don`t do cardio, I`m going to get fat. I know its not logical but try telling my brain that, so I end up feeling bad that I haven`t done any cardio. Its pretty frustrating. I`m not sure if I should give the gym a rest entirely today and see if I`m better tomorrow or should I just ignore the pain and run through it and maybe risk it getting worse.

I seemed to have hit a plateau in the last month or so. I’m changing up my workouts regularly and really trying with the diet but I don`t seem to be getting the type of gains that I’d like to. Maybe  its all in my head, but I don’t feel like I’m going anywhere and its a bit frustrating.

After reading a bunch of articles, finally doing some calculations and some other research, I have realized that I am not getting enough protein per day for health, let alone promote muscle growth. At my current bodyweight of 238lbs ,I am only taking in approximately 201 grams of protein a day with my current diet. According to the protein calculator I should be taking in at least 1 gram per 1 lb of bodyweight, so even at that level I`m short 37 grams. If I want to actually build muscle which is my goal I need to take in from 298 to 357 grams a day. I guess I`m going to have to add a few more protein shakes to my diet and more protein filled whole foods. I`m just not sure what more I can eat. I have an egg white peanut butter sandwich on linseed bread for breakfast, a 45 gram protein shake with oatmeal, then my next 2 meals consist of chicken and pasta. I head to the gym and after around 9:30pm have a 60 gram protein shake with some more oatmeal. Maybe if I add another 45 gram of protein before bed. I only have room to pack one shake during the day for work. Any suggestions?

Money is a little tight right now so I can`t go out and buy the really good stuff like I ususally do. Right now I am using Labrada V60 which is pretty good but still not all that cost effective, since I only get about 3.5lbs for $30. Does anyone have any recommendations on good, effective but cheap Protein blends? I`d like to stay with the blends instead of just Whey because it seems to work for me.

I am just ending my fourth week  on this 12 week body transformation program and weighed myself today. I still weigh the exact same as I did 2 weeks ago! I have been doing my cardio for an hour 4 to 5 days a week with my weight training at night and my results are less than stellar. I think I know what I am doing wrong and it has to do with my diet. I`ve been eating pasta, broccoli,tuna w chicken for my 3 and 4th meals for the day. I think the pasta maybe too high in carbs. Right now I`m kind of strapped for cash, so it was the cheapest way to eat semi healthy, but I think its screwing me up instead of helping me. I think that for the next 8 weeks of the program I am going to cut out the pasta and replace it with added broccoli and linseed bread which only has about 9 grams a slice. I really hope that works because I don`t really know what else to do. I`m not eating crap. I eat about 5 or 6 small meals a day. I`m taking protein with water instead of milk and I cut down on the oatmeal that I put in it. This is just really frustrating!! I`ll weigh  myself again in 2 weeks and see what happens. I`m trying not to get down about it, but working this hardand not show any positive results really sucks.

I usually weight myself in the morning about every 2 weeks. I know that muscle grows when you are resting and not when you are working out. Is it the same for actually losing weight? So, for instance when you workout all week, hit the cardio hard and all that, does the loss show at that point , or is it a gradual thing?