RSobkowz’s BodyBlog

So it’s been tough goings lately in the fat loss category.  I’ve been working extra hard in the gym on the cardio and the diet remains on track but the fat is being stubborn.  Its frustrating seeing this plateau but it also lights a fire under my ass that says "no" to accepting this as the best I can do.  I keep hearing the "you look fine" or "you’re crazy" but those people really don’t get it.  This wasn’t and isn’t about what those people think.  It’s not about what anyone thinks.  This started out back in 2004 and has been about me becoming and staying healthier.  It progressed into my own drive to get into the best physical condition I could achieve.  It’s a lot of other things to me as well but they all relate to me.  No one else.  I wish more people would see that benefits that fitness affords those that work hard.  This idea has been prominent lately in that I’m looking at taking personal trainer certification and possible going back to school for a related major.  The idea of really getting out there and motivating people to get in shape and live healthy has become very appealing.  That’s another blog altogether.

So as it stands I’m 192, roughly 14-15% body fat by estimation.  The losses have all but ground to a halt as of late and it frustrates me to some extent but it also presents a new challenge I’m enjoying.  I’m looking at the diet, the workouts, and trying to figure out what I can change up to get this body fat melting off again.  The most immediate goal is to get under 10% body fat.  I estimate that I need to lose 8-10 more pounds to get to this point.  I’ve set the end of February as the deadline.  That gives me around 10 weeks to accomplish this and hat should be a reasonable amount of time.  I’ve been 5-day-a-weeking the cardio for about 5 months now so I plan to take a week off during the Christmas holiday and then nose to the grindstone the rest of the way.  Body fat be damned!  You’re not welcome here anymore!

In 2004 I was, well, a fat slob.  I was weighing in around 275 pounds, out of shape, inactive, lazy, unattractive, unmotivated, had no drive, the list goes on and on.  I drank a ton of booze, ate slop, and sat around.  Tends to make a guy put on weight.  One day in September of 2004 I got out of the shower and caught sight of myself in the mirror.  I stood there and just looked at myself and literally said aloud "You’re a fat piece of shit!".  I decided to change it right then and there.  I made the decision I was going to bust my ass and get in shape.

I spent the next couple weeks reading and researching the right ways to diet and exercise and decided rather than wait until New Year’s to make that cliche resolution I would just start on November 1st.  On that day I dumpstered a new 30 pack of beer, went to GNC to pick up some Whey, and grabbed some healthy groceries on the way home.  I also dusted off a Cardio Glide contraption at home that basically was used to dry laundry on.  The diet was on.

Over the next 7 months I worked my ass off.  I ate right and whether I felt like it or not I did the stinking cardio.  I began to subscribe to what I like to call the "STFU And Do It Diet".  By this I mean after work in the time previously spent whining and pissing and moaning about doing the cardio if I just shut up, and did the cardio, it would be over and done with.  That was how I looked at it.  Get home from work, shut up, do the cardio, done.  After a few weeks the weight started coming off and I could tell.  I could see and feel it.  Pants were fitting looser, I needed to cinch the belt down and extra hole, and people were noticing.  No longer was it really an issue to do the cardio or stick to the diet.  I was motivated as the results were showing, the fat was vacating, and the diet was working.

Fast forward to May of 2005.  My formerly 275 pound self now weighed 175.  From start to finish the ultimate result was 102 pounds of weight lost.  I wore a 44 waist pant and was now in a 36.  I’d gone from wearing XXL shirts to M or L.  I looked like an entirely different person.  I also shaved my head and changed the facial hair but it wouldn’t have mattered.  A lot of people didn’t recognize me until they heard me talk and upon doing so were shocked.

Happy right?  No!  At 175 I felt too skinny.  I decided to then take up lifting and try and put on some muscle.  I took a while to read up on this and within a couple months I had bought a decent Marcy bench set up from Dunhams and I was lifting 5 nights a week.  This I was enjoying.  It wasn’t an hour of huffing and puffing it was an hour of grunting and groaning and being able to get a release from stress and a good time overall.

Fast forward this to the January of 2008.  I had been lifting for a little over 2 years solid, eating to grow, and had grown.  I had also put some body fat on.  I probably put more fat on than I should have but chalk that up to a first timer going at it on his own.  At the beginning os the year I weighed 242 pounds and decided another diet was in order.  I decided I wanted to shoot for the best physical condition I was capable of reaching.  I’v reached that point, passed that point, and have a little ways to go yet before I start lifting again.  As it stands I am 192 pounds, noticebly leaner than when I weighed 175 pounds and possibly even a little thinner in the waist despite being about 20 pounds heavier.  I’m in the best shape of my life.  I look good, feel great, have more confidence, drive, determination, and focus than ever before.  Not stopping here either…