Completely Clueless
I have to laugh when I think back too how deliciously clueless I was when I first started training a few months ago. When I was trying to decide if I wanted to join a gym or not I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I had no idea it was a lifestyle you needed to adopt. I honestly thought I could walk into the gym a few times a week, work hard, and that would be it. The diet needed for success was something I never even thought about. Speaking for myself I’ve found that the diet is a billion times harder than the lifting has been. Lifting weights only lasts a few hours a week. The food issue is with you constantly every day. Before I started training I just simply didn’t eat much. If I ate breakfast at all it was just a small breakfast bar (probably with chocolate in it). I would eat a regular lunch (never a member of the clean plate club), a candy bar in the afternoon, a regular dinner, and maybe a midnight snack (which would always be something sweet, such as cookies). When I met my trainer and he told me he wanted me to eat at least five to six meals a day I remember thinking “There’s no way I could ever do that!” Sometimes when it’s been two or three hours since I’ve eaten I’m actually hungry and it’s no problem eating a snack. Other times, such as this morning, I just simply don’t want anything. If it had been up to me this morning I would have skipped breakfast but I’ve got a goal I’m trying to reach so that’s not going to work. A protein shake and banana for breakfast it is! When people used to ask me how much I weighed I would jokingly say 160 pounds because that number seemed so far above what I ever thought I would weigh. We would get a good laugh and that would it. Now it actually seems within my reach.
I cringe when I think about what I used to eat. I feel so much better now that I’m eating better (and a lot more often!). I’ve made some good newbie gains, so I’m obviously doing some things right, but I know I need to eat more. A little more each day. One bite more. Someday 160 pounds….
January 24, 2008 at 8:46 am
Amen brother. Just posted the same thing on my blog today! If you really think about it too hard you will get mad at the wasted time you spent as well.
Diet is SOOOOOOO tough. It is constant and I was talking with a trainer at my gym the other day, who also works as a waiter at a local restuarant and he told me he was amazed to see people who work out at the gym busted their tails then seeing them the next day eating a meal that basically was undoing all that had worked for the previous day.
It is a total lifestyle and I still learn more everyday, the more I learn the more I realize I did not know crap. The proff however is that you get better physically week by week, year by year.
January 24, 2008 at 8:59 am
No doubt. Funny how I can’t even imagine eating only 3 or 4 meals a day now…I average 7 or 8! LOL 160 is well within your grasp! Race ya to it bro……
January 24, 2008 at 9:04 am
diet is so tough I can’t stick with it! LOL!! Well, I could but I don’t like to. I know I will have to straighten myself out here soon though! The bash has me stocked! You’ve made some awesome progress bro! 160 here you come!
January 24, 2008 at 11:31 am
Luckily I did them separate. I lost the weight by eating right (but not right enough) then started working out. I never ate breakfast and the thought of eating six times a day made me fear gaining back the weight I lost. I still have cravings (like the desire to take push a little girl down and take her bag of cheese curls last night.) Like yours, my body signals me every 3-4 hours..FEED ME.
January 24, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Oh man that was another thing I thought. "If I eat that much I’ll get fat!"