change4good’s BodyBlog

Well last wednesday my wagon hit a rock in the road and I fell off. I missed my workouts on Thursday and Friday and since Valentines day my diet took a nose dive into a soda pop and sugar filled hell. I am dedicated to climbing back on the wagon and continuing my journey. So far this has been a hard week. I have been working 12 hour days since friday and that leaves me little time to acomplish anything other than work and sleep and running kids to school. I feel like crap and my energy is low. I am tired and just want to sleep for about 9 hours (at once instead of over 3 days). I ordered some egg whites and protein bars to give myself some better choices when I am not able to get a meal in rather then relying on fast food.

At my job usually several times a week I will get assigned to be the food runner for everyone. People order food (mostly from McD’s or BK) and I will have to go pick it up for them. Everyone takes turns so I need to take my turn to. I usually don’t order anything but have eaten it twice since friday. This is a big challenge for me because I have to smell the food in the car all the way back. I love a good burger and fries and washing it down with a soda, so it is very tempting to order food also. I look at like sending an alcoholic to the liquor store to pick up alcohol for your party.

I have promised myself that this time I would not beat myself up over stumbling on my mission. It is going to happen sometimes. I will focus again on the goal at hand and keep my progress moving. So I now pick myself up from the road, brush myself off and climb back onto that wagon. I am going to install a seatbelt on it but if I stumble again I will pick myself up again. With each stumble you have to look at why it happened and how can i fix it in the future. my fix for this stumble is to drink a myoplex on my way to the restaurant when I have to pick up the food. That way I won’t arrive hungary and be tempted to go for instant gratification. 

Other then that I’ll hit a couple good workouts to end the week and that will get the juices flowing again.

Today ended my workouts for week 5. I started working out 4 days this week. Monday Chest & shoulders, Tuesday back & traps, Thursday Legs and Friday Arms. I switched it up since I seem to wear myself out on chest and back day and then didn’t feel like I was giving my arms the attention they need. I think I need to up my cardio to every day that my schedule allows time for it. I have only gotten in 2 sessions of cardio this week. I will do cardio tomorrow morning and then take sunday off and start hitting it again monday. Last Monday I did my weight and measurments and hit my 3 inch of waist goal so now I am going to go for 6 inches in the 12 weeks and see where that takes me.

Well today starts week 4. I took my measurments today and was actually a little surprised that I dropped 2 pounds this week. On last monday I started using CEll-Tech hardcore. so I loaded for 5 days. 2 servings a day. I know with creatine you usually gain some weight. I felt so bloated all week from consuming it I did not think I would lose any thing for the week. I watched the 5-6 week episode of the transformation on BB.com and Tito was stating they are having Brian do cardio twice a day every day. I am going to crank up my cardio this week and try to get in a 30 minute session every day instead of every other day (except sunday that is my rest day). I am also going to cut the carbs from my last 2 or 3 meals every day. We will see if it makes a difference next monday.

I got in a pretty good workout this morning even though I was pressed for time. Have to get this body fat down so I can start putting more into gaining muscle. I will write again friday and we will see if the cardio holds up all week (working 12 hour days all week so I will be pressed for time) BUT I WILL MAKE THE TIME. 

Well I made it through week 2. I didn’t miss any workouts and kept my diet pretty good (did have a cheat meal on saturday). Today starts week 3. I took measurments today and I am down another 3 lbs and another inch of my waist. Today I did a chest and tri workout which felt about 75% intensity. my wife and youngest son came downstairs and brought the 2 dogs with them so alot of distractions and it was hard to focus. First thing this morning I did 30 minutes of cardio on the treadmill at a heart rate of 120-130. I have been told that it is better for me to be in that range then in the 140-150 range I was using last week. I guess that range will burn fat better and I need to build up my VO2 before I ramp it up. Any way I’m glad to be seeing some results after only 2 weeks. I didn’t really expect to be dropping that fast. Hopefully it keeps on pace.

Well over the weekend I went out with the wife. She wanted to go out to eat and to a movie. It is hard to eat good at a resaurant. you feel like you should finish what you payed for but the portions are definatly to BIG. I didn’t have a cheat day though just the one dinner and I made sure to order a well rounded meal of protein carbs and vegies. Monday I had a good workout, did chest and triceps. Today I did 30 minutes on the treadmill keeping my heart rate between 140-155. I definatly don’t feeel bloated like I did on the soda and fast food. I am charting my workouts in a BodyMinder Fitness journal. I wasn’t going to weigh myself everyweek but it has a spot for your measurments every week so I weighed myself on Monday. I lost 2.5 pounds and about 3/4 inch on my waist. I don’t believe it is acurate until I get a good base line over a month or so but it was good to know I think I am on the right path. This rest of this week will be hard since I have a brutal work schedule coming up. I will only be able to get about 5 hours sleep in order to have time to get in a work out but I will fit it in. Thanks to everyone on here I have been in contact with it is really keeping me motivated.

Today I completed my 3rd workout which ends my first week of workouts. I raised most of my weights on each exercise today and could feel myself working harder on each set. I feel like my intensity level was alot better today. I think I have found the weights I should be lifting at for now. I told myself starting today this was the last one for the fisrt week so make it count. I have an extra day to be sore since I won’t be working out again until Monday so I pushed a little harder. Now that I have a good weight on the exercises I plan on trying to raise them every Friday, even if its not by much. I feel really good that I have stuck to my diet (no soda or fast food and no sweets) all week and I can definitely feel the difference in my energy levels. So here’s to a good week and a better one next week (change4good toasts with a protein shake).

Yesterday I did my second workout and completed the entire workout as planned. On Tuesday I did 30 minutes on the treadmill at a low pace (3.5 mph). When I completed my workout yesterday It felt great to have enough energy to complete it. This morning I did 22 minutes on the treadmill at 4-6 mph pace. It might seem early on but I am already feeling more energy. I have not had a soda since Saturday 1/5. I knew that would be one of my biggest hurdles, I was drinking between 2 and 4 20 oz bottles of Pepsi a day. Yesterday and today I have not even had a caffeine headache (yea). Along with the Pepsi I would eat fast food about 5 times a week. I have not had fast food once this week. I have been planning my meals and sticking to them (still a work in progress on the planning end). The laws of physics say that cutting all the soda and fast food junk would have to make a differece. The more I look through this web site and read about other peoples successes I am so inspired to complete my own. I am positive that joining this site was a great idea to helping me succeed. I hope to be able to have contact with more people as time goes on. Since I work out at home I don’t have the gym comradery and the visual of seeing other people in shape working out which keeps me on track to my goal, but this web site makes up for it and then some.

Well Monday was day 1. I am doing a total body workout with 1 warm up set and 1 working set per body part for the first couple of weeks since I have not worked out in so long. I didn’t have enough stamina to get through the whole workout but felt good about what I covered. I plan to work out again on wednesday and friday and do cardio on tuesday and thursday. My goal is to cover the whole workout on friday. I think part of why I have failed in the past is jumping in to fast. I would do an advanced routine for 2 body parts and then be so sore I couldn’t do anything for a week. by the time I could workout again I would tend to loose interest. This time I am going to stay dedicated and get the workouts in. I plan to post updated progress pics every 30 days.