2008 Transformation Contest

Pictures will come later tonight but I wanted to post that I am down to 353.5 this morning.  That is 13 down from the 366.5 at the beginning of this contest and 23 down from November 1st.  Most importantly my first milestone is about to be overtaken…breaking 350!

Week 4 Progress Pics

Pics from Dec. 26.

This is the second half of the workout I posted last week.  No excuses here but I was feeling a bit under the weather here.

I am taking a number of supplements and they all have a place in my nutritional regime.  If I had to pick only one to keep taking it would be simple fish oil.  There are many manufacturers and brands available.  My preference is for liquid fish oil as opposed to capsules and I avoid Cod liver oil.  Currently I am taking 1 tsp of Acsenta’s Nutrasea with 4 of my feedings.

Why would I choose fish oil over all the other great supplements I am taking?  There is a proven correlation between Omega-3 consumption and good mental health and good joint health.  Fish oil has been shown to keep the heart clean and the metabolism moving.  Most importantly getting good amounts of DHA and EPA from my typical ‘real’ food is difficult even when eating a great deal of fish unlike my other vitamin and mineral needs.

Why would I choose a liquid fish oil over capsules?  The lemon flavored oil makes a great salad dressing for one and it is easier to take a tsp of the liquid than 6-12 capsules.  I thought the liquid would be hard to get down but find that the taste is not bad at all, even taking it straight from the bottle.

I am a tall beefy guy even when I am at my proper weight.  It is harder for tall guys to build physique than shorter guys for a myriad of reasons.  So I will never see what I consider the ultimate physique on my body.  The grass is always greener I guess.  

What is your body type ideal?

Achievable?

Great body that is not in the cards.

Better late than never….

Down to 356.5 but the photos do not show much progress.  

I mentioned the 10 rules or habits of good nutrition that I follow.  If you would like to read about these in detail you can find them on my personal blogspace.  These rules are simple. but when put in practice they offer great results.

What I have learned over these past 6 months:

   1. The truth is simple.
   2. No one wants to face the simple truth.
   3. It is difficult to sell the simple truth.
   4. A ton of knowledge goes into the simple truth.
   5. There are many ways to apply the simple truth.
   6. Things that violate the simple truth will fail.
   7. While the truth is simple it has great depth.

That is my take on things in life. I am a guy that over-thinks things and tends to buy into very complex regimes and workouts. The fact is that it is all so much more simple than that. Simplicity is what PN is about. 10 basic habits.

Here is my simple truth. I am fat because I ate crap to excess over a long period of time. Even when I was eating good food I failed to include the nutrients that my body needed.

Here is my simple truth. I will get thin and healthy by following the 10 habits.

Here is my simple truth. Fishoil and flaxseed is good for me.

Here is my simple truth. Real whole food is good and good for me.

Want to know what the 10 PN habits are?

Watching the physique competitor gain and drop weight, often to great extremes, makes me wonder about my own mental toughness.  My issue is not with cravings or eating poorly, but it is time.  Is it because I am so far out of shape, chemistry out of whack, and simply have so much to lose that weight-loss moves so slow?

I have been solid on my diet.  The biggest problem has been making sure I get a meal in every 3 hours and that has improved to better than 95% compliance.  The scale now reads 359 which is down from 376.  Really I have been dropping a solid 2 pounds a week since November.  Not bad you say?  I should be happy?  

I guess I am happy, but it seems to be moving so slow and I want to be fit today.   Yep, Dave is having a problem focusing on the now.  After doing good stuff for my body for 2 months I don’t see any physical differences when looking at pictures of myself.  Yep, Dave is forgetting about overall health improvements and focusing simply on body image.

How do you physique competitors and strength competitors stay focussed and happy with incremental change?  How do you not compare yourself to the stud next to you that is getting stronger or bigger by leaps and bounds while you fail to improve for weeks?

It is a mind game and my mind let’s me down far too often.  Heck, my mind let me down enough to lead to a 150 pound mountain of fat.   No, I am not slipping and I am not giving up, but dang I would like to claim some great progress…..no, I want to SEE some great progress.

Diet change for 2008
Everything will remain the same, but I am eating COD 4-5 days out of the week.  I prepare a cod meal 3 nights out of the week and eat leftovers the next day.  This will reduce daily caloric intake and increase all the good things eating fish does for you.

I will add a few progress shots when I get home from work but wanted to post my scale numbers.  The scale showed 359.5 down 6.5 pounds from last Wednesday’s official weigh-in. We will round that up to 360 so I did not break the 60’s yet.

You would think that I would be happy with 6.5 pounds lost but I am not.  I am so big that water retention alone could fluctuate my weight by as much as 4 pounds.  So this weigh-in is fairly meaningless in the grand scheme of things.  Yesterday they were showing The Biggest Loser 2 marathon and watching those contestants lose weight made a 6.5 pound drop seem like nothing at all. So the only numbers that will really matter are the numbers at the end of the 12/13 weeks.

Short term goals for accomplishment:
Breaking past
350
325
300

Robert Frost (1874–1963).  Mountain Interval.  1920.

1. The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;         

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,       

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.         

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

The quality of the image will be improved tomorrow.

The Walk Part 1

The Walk Part 2

Tonight I say goodbye to 2007.  2007 was a great year.  It was the year that I began to live again.  It was the year that I decided to take back control of my life.  So I bid adieu to 2007 and welcome in 2008.

2008 will see the birth of my first grandchild.  It will be the year that I ride 500 miles across Iowa on a bicycle.  It will be the year that brings me back to my fighting weight.  While I won’t be finished with my transformation, I  will be well on my way.

Don’t bother making resolutions.  Just set goals and achieve them by doing.  

May God bless and keep you all next year and every year in your future.

This was my first go at the new workout and I under-estimated the rigor of it.  I mean no weights, fairly low reps.  I knew the squats were going to kick my butt and I would do counter push-ups, but by the end of the leg swings I was crying for mommy.  

It is one thing to have a ‘manly’ workout kick your butt, but this was humiliating.   I did not complete the set but know that I will have a full circuit Friday.  Originally I actually asked Coach if I could do more cardio or something because this seems  Coach replied that, done with the proper intensity and form, that this circuit would test my mettle and I should not feel like doing more.  He was right.

I remember a coach back in high school bringing in one of the 1980’s aerobic workout tapes and all of the guys laughing their asses off.  That laughter turned into whining  shortly after the session began.  This was exactly the way I felt about this workout.  

Thanks Coach….I think I hate you.

This is my workout plan for the next 4 weeks.  it will be performed every other day with swimming taking place on the off days.   Due to my weight I will be wrapping my knees and might even use some heat prior to the workout.  You can’t get fit if you are injured.

If you are cutting, or simply losing weight we would like to hear from you.  Do you have a great tip to help us?   Let us know.