The Best Shape of My Life!

Okay, so thanks to those who posted nice comments. Made me realize how much progress I really do make, and sometimes don’t realize it. So after re-examining my posts, my logs, and my workouts for the past I don’t know how long, here’s what I’ve come up with.

1. I went from about 20% bf to 10%. Dropped half of it! That’s progress indeed. (The farthest I go on my bb.com page is about 15% or so, but I measured at 20% bf before I started to update my page.)

2. I have been eating MUCH BETTER lately, as a huge result of keeping an exact log. I think that will have positive benefits later. But since I’ve only been really logging for the past few weeks, I won’t be able to tell. The log has definitely made me more aware of what I eat, and how it impacts my body. So yeah, I think it’s worth it, and I think I’ll keep doing it.

3. I have gained over 10% in muscular strength in the past 6 months. For some reason, it just takes me a while to gain in strength, but looking back through my workout logs, I’ve made some great progress.

4. Along with strength, I now have the ability to move like I have not been able to in the past. I’ve taken yoga, pilates, and intense cardio classes, along with redeveloped my strength program so that it focuses on endurance, coordination, and balance, and I know I’m seeing and feeling the benefits.

5. I have received a lot of compliments from people just within the past couple of months (not just on bb.com, but everywhere) about how I look. Though I don’t think I look much different, apparently I do. And, to some people, I’m a pretty "bulky" guy. Hmmmm. Anyway, it’s nice to hear the compliments, especially when I put in so much work. But of course, I know there’s so much more to do.

In short, I know that I’m blessed, both genetically (okay, so I’m not an elite athlete or anything) and mentally. I’ve motivated myself to get to the point I’m at, and I know I can at least maintain it. So if anyone learns anything from my journey, learn this: you will face times when you feel disappointment, discouragement, and even a little depression. You’ll think you haven’t accomplished anything. My advice to you: talk to people about it….don’t bottle it up inside. Get your feelings out. Most likely, there are friends right around the corner who will be quick to lift you up again.

Thanks again to everyone! I appreciate your support. Keep working, and good luck. Now it’s time for rest and packing for a vacation.

Yesterday I wrote because I was upset, frustrated, and slightly depressed that I can’t get my diet where I know it should be, nor where I want it. And, it doesn’t seem what I eat or how or when, I still don’t get dramatic results. Well, today I got to see some results, but they weren’t positive. In fact, pretty much all my body measurements were DOWN, at least by a quarter of an inch. Arms, chest, hips, calves, just about everything. Seems like if I’m successful at lowering my waist/hip measurements, everything else goes down with it. For some reason, I cannot gain on upper body development and lose waist fat at the same time.

Short disclaimer: My waist measurement will show that it has increased. It actually hasn’t. I was measuring at a different spot (the place the personal trainers measure for waist is above the navel). Bodybuilding.com says to measure the waist at the navel, which for trainers, is the abdomen measurement. So my waist is a 33.5 according to bb.com, but that still has gone down from a 34.5 "abdomen" measurement I took a month ago.

So maybe I’ll go swim some more, and play more tennis and racquetball, since it seems like I can’t pack on any hard muscle. At least I’ll lose the fat while I decrease my numbers.

Does anyone else yo-yo like I do? Gain a little, lose a little, gain more, lose more. I sometimes wish I could find a good spot and stay there! I had a 42" chest a while back, was pretty happy with that. Had to buy large-sized t-shirts and they actually fit. But now I’m back down to a medium frame.

As with my nutritional plan yesterday, sometimes I wonder why I even bother. Why even lift weights? I’m not going to make any dramatic gains. In fact, it seems the more I lift, the heavier I lift, the better I lift…….the more weight and body structure I LOSE. As with my diet, I’ve tried all kinds of training programs. There’s nothing out there that’s going to give me great results, so I’ll settle for what I got.

I guess the good thing is…..at least I have only 10% bf to carry around. Besides, size is way overrated, right? RIGHT.

After charting my diet for about two weeks now, I’ve come to realize that if I’m going to make any real changes, it has to be with nutrition. And changing that is much harder than it looks. Now, I don’t plan on getting into my "preacher" position here and talk about how food choices suck, and how the government is not really our friend, and how companies use psychology to get people to buy their crap. Nope, I’m going to focus on me, because that’s what this bodyblog is about.

Right now I’m enjoying 10% bodyfat, which is the lowest it’s ever been. I’ve worked hard to try and get rid of all unecessary sugars, fats, and processed foods from my diet. That is a HUGE undertaking, and not one very easily accomplished. But I’ve tried. There are some things that I will not get rid of in my diet because I don’t think I should have to eat purely healthy all the time. I love cakes and cookies, and I will never quit eating them. I believe I do a pretty good job (and my log shows it) of controlling myself when it comes to these things.

I was thinking to myself the other day…………if I have 10% bf and I eat like a pig, then what would happen to me if I started to really control what I ate? I could probably have a 6 pack ab! But then I thought to myself………how can I control what I eat more than I already do? There comes a limit to things, and I think I’ve about reached them. Could I take out more crap in my diet? Sure. Am I willing to? Probably not. Could I time my meals better? Sure. Am I willing to? Probably not. Could I purchase more health-foods and not so many crappy processed foods? Sure. Am I willing to? Probably not.

I think sometimes…….WHAT’S THE POINT? Why bother? Why try to eat healthy? I haven’t noticed any major changes in the past four years, and my eating habits have become much better. I don’t get any bigger muscle-wise, I’m not getting a whole lot stronger, or faster, or more agile, or more flexible. Yes, I’m quite proud of the fact that I’m in the best shape of my life, but I don’t feel like I’m really progressing.

So what will I be like when I’m 30, or 35, 0r 40? Will I still be able to maintain 3000 calories/day? Will I still be at 10% bf? Will I still be able to lift as much as I can now. At 26, I already feel like I missed the opportunity of a lifetime to get my body where I want it to be. But then again, I think, why care that much? I don’t have to have a great looking body to do what I do. And I’m not getting paid millions of dollars every year to keep my body in top condition. So why spend so much time on it?

I feel confused sometimes. I know to eat healthy, and the research is out there that says all these wonderful things will happen if you do. Just like all the research out there that says all these wonderful things will happen with a consistent strength training program. Seems like I haven’t gotten a whole lot of dramatic results from either one. And when I don’t see dramatic results, I start questioning. Like why spend all the energy and time and money of food that supposedly going to help me and make me feel better and add to my training program…..and why spend all the energy to an intense training program, if it seems like nothing productive comes out of it?

Well, this week is a new start. Just like every week. Time to refocus, think about what’s important in my life (which fitness actually comes in lower on the priority list), and get in the workouts I can. Oh, and yeah, I’ll try to eat one or two less pieces of my daughter’s birthday cake than I normally would. But……..don’t count on it.

Logging my diet. Yep, that’s what has caused my eyes to bulge this past week. It’s AMAZING the amount of calories that I have consumed!!!!!!! As I wrote last week, I bought a DietMinder log book for nutrition. It has spaces to record everything I eat, when I eat it, the calorie content, and then it breaks the grams down into fat, protein, and carbs. So basically, I’m logging the nutritional label on every food/beverage I take in. My best friend this week has been Corinne T. Netzer’s Complete Book of Food Counts, 7th ed., 2006. It has pretty much any kind of food you can imagine in it, even fast foods, etc. For some things (home-made foods, dinners) I have to estimate based on the foods that are in the entrees, but overall, I think I’m getting a really close figure for the calories I’m getting.

3 July
2255 Cal
111.5 g Fat
200.5 g Carbs
114.9 g Prot
12 g Fib
218 mgs Chol.

That was the first day I logged. Too low on Calories, too high on Fat, and not enough fiber. Overall, probably not too bad, especially since there have been other days in the week where I’ve taken in over 5,000 Calories! I can’t imagine anyone needing to take in that many calories. But a lot of people do, and don’t even realize it.

So now I’m going back through my diet and tweaking some things. Using the Food Counts book, I’m starting to plan my meals a little better, and starting to think about not only what I’m eating and the food content of what I’m eating, but also when I’m eating it, and most importantly, HOW MUCH I’m eating. It’s funny that I know the basic serving sizes of foods. But yet, when placed in front of me, I just keep on eating, way past the point of being full.

AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

6 July
2892 Cal
96.6 g Fat
325.2 g Carbs
126.8 g Prot
14.8 g Fib
386.5 mgs Chol

This was a good day, except the cholesterol. Calories intake was right where I want/need it to be. I’m aiming for 2500-3000 calories/day. Fat was a little high, but not over 30% of the total calories, so that even was good. Carbs were a little low, but again, not too far off from where I need them to be. I was very happy with my protein intake, right on target. Fiber still a little low (aiming for > 20 g/day).

Ok, this post is long enough. I’ll keep posting. Feel free to comment.

#1 reason why most people don’t see the fitness/health results they want: DIET!

I log my daily nutritional intake often, and I try to plan my meals/snacks. But during the summer months, as I’m not teaching at school, I tend to get somewhat lax, even while logging. Part of the problem, besides not having a strict schedule to depend on and plan meals/snacks around, was not having an effective logging system. I had created a basic log sheet that covered an entire week. Little boxes to write in what I ate, but no space to log calories and all the extra info that is necessary if one wants to achieve their goals. With the week-on-one-page system, I had no idea how many calories I was taking in during a day, nor did I really have a clue as to where those calories were coming from.

So a friend of mine showed me a nutritional log like I have never seen before. It’s a printed log, published by MemoryMinder Journals. It’s called DietMinder. The website is http://www.dietminder.com/”>www.dietminder.com</a> if you’re interested in looking at the journal or buying one. They’re very reasonably priced for what you get.

The DietMinder has one day split over two pages in a half-size spiral notebook. Lots of room to write in what I eat, when I eat, and also count calories, fat, prot, carbs, fiber, and two other items of my choice (I chose to look at cholesterol today). There’s boxes for totals after each meal/snack. The best part of the log is that each day is split into SIX MEALS/SNACKS, which is what everyone should be eating! Awesome! That’s just the daily log portion.

There’s a spot in the front for me to log my personal goals and write down measurements. Typically, the book lasts for 3-months, if you log daily. So the personal goal should last about three months, though there’s a place for further goals if you need them. Once your goals and targets are set, you can track your progress every day in the "Grand Totals" section of the log.

Added is a small section to add what physical activity I do every day. I’ve ordered the BodyMinder exercise log from them, and it will be arriving within a week or so. It looks really good, too. Better than what I’ve been using. But for now, I’m just logging what I do. For instance, I swam today for about 20 minutes, so that’s what I wrote in the log.

WOW! After just ONE DAY this has been such an eye opener for me!!!!!! I’m learning so much about my diet and overall nutrition. Now don’t get me wrong, as a personal trainer, I know about dieting, I know what proper nutrition is, and I’ve tried to practice it. But I’ll be honest, my system of logging was inadequate, and I had allowed myself to slide back into the "cheater" valley. This new log I think will really help me organize, plan, and execute a much better nutritional program than what I had.

I’m tired of eating poorly and not achieving the fitness/health goals that I want to achieve. I know this will take more time, but if I want to achieve my goals, and remain healthy, and be a model for others at the gym, I MUST DO THIS! So please, feel free to prod me along. Ask me how I’m doing, criticize my daily intake (I’ll log some of them on here), and feel free to provide me with suggestions/alternatives that you have/use.

Have a great day! And here’s to good health.
Nate