This Time It’s For Real!

Somehow I find myself almost right back where I started. I got down to 180 last October and then after a vacation my weight slowly started to creep back up. Then I hurt my wrist and wasn’t able to lift for two months. Couple that with a few more trips and here I am.

I’m going to consider this day one again and start over. The one small blessing is that my fitness level hasn’t really dropped off significantly so I should be able to get back into the swing of things pretty quickly. My best case scenario is that I will be able to lose about 2 lbs a week but I will be happy if I can set a pace of one pound a week. Hopefully I can be in the 170s by the time I move back to Canada in July!

Edited to add: I managed to start the week off right this morning with a 30 minute run before work!

After a month off I finally started hitting the gym again on January 5th.

My last workout was on December 5th and I had to cut that one short because I got really sick in the middle of it. Even before that my routine was definitely off. After returning from a one week trip to Bordeaux at the end of October my eating habits and workout ethic were less than stellar and I totally blew my goal of being 170 lbs for my Christmas Cruise in the Caribbean. By the time I got back from the cruise I felt bloated, weighed 187 lbs and my sleeping patterns were totally messed up. It didn’t help that I was traveling back from a 7 hour time difference or that I had another week off at home before going back to work.

The first week back was a tough one. My sleeping patterns were still not great so I was a bit tired for my workouts. I played it smart though (for once) and eased my way back into it so I only had minor muscle soreness. In a way the month I took off was a blessing in disguise because my shoulders feel much better now. They aren’t 100% yet but I am still doing rehab exercises for them every time I workout and they feel like they are getting stronger every week.

This is my second week back and and I am feeling much better now. My sleeping patterns seem to be falling back into place and I have great energy for my workouts. I’m also back on track with my diet and that alone makes me feel much better. I’m back down to 182 lbs, and while I’m sure some of that was water weight it’s still encouraging. Pretty soon I should be back under 180 lbs and I can pick up where I left off before my trip to Bordeaux.

I can’t wait to hit the 170 lb mark. After that I can set my sights on my ultimate goal of getting down to 10% body fat or better. I really think that next summer will see me with my best beach body ever!

I got back from a week in the South of France on October 26th and have to admit I have been pretty slack with my training and diet since then. The week I spent in France wasn’t as damaging to me as I thought it would be and I only gained about a pound despite really indulging myself in wine and foie gras.

The real problem is that since getting back I have carried over these indulgences to a lesser degree and have not worked out as much as I should have been. My diet has been less than stellar as well. I’ve been lucking though because I am still hovering around 180 which is far better than the 193 I weighed at end of August. It still kind of sucks though because I can’t help but wonder where I would be now if I hadn’t slacked off these last few weeks. In fact if I hadn’t gone to France at all this last month I could have seen some major improvements.

I guess the important thing now is that I focus on getting back into a good routine and not let this be my excuse to fail. When everything is said and done this will only have been a small speed bump on the road to getting fit and won’t stop me from reaching my final destination.

Time to get back to work!

This Saturday is not only my 37th birthday, but it’s also the day I leave for a one week trip to the south of France. This trip has been planned for some time now and while I’m looking forward to it a part of me almost doesn’t want to go now. 

For the last two months I have been doing really well with my training and diet. I have been so good that I haven’t even had any booze in that time which is probably a record for me because I love my beer and wine. I’m feeling very reluctant to break up this routine because I am seeing the results of my new-found discipline. I’m worried that a week in wine country will leave me having to make up a lot of ground when I get home.

I set a personal goal to be 170 lbs by the time Christmas rolls around. I’ll be going on a Caribbean cruise at that time and I want to look at least halfway decent when I’m lounging around by the pool. I’m worried my trip could adversely affect this goal. I know there is only so much damage a week of indulging yourself can do but it’s taken a lot of effort to get below 180 lbs and I really don’t want to go back above it again.

I’ve never been one to exercise and watch what I eat when on vacation but I think I’m just going to have to suck it up this time and watch myself. The time share I’m staying at has a full kitchen and a gym so I’m going to go shopping as soon as I get there to try and limit the number of times I eat out. When I do eat out I’m going to try to go for the healthy choices. The only concession I am going to make is wine. I simply cannot go to the south of France and not take advantage of all that good wine! I’ll try to make up for it by using the gym as much as possible.

I’ve also decided that when I get back from France I am going to introduce morning cardio to my routine in an effort to hit that 170 lb marker I have set for myself. 170 lbs is my goal but in the back of my mind I am hoping to power past that mark and break into the 160s.

Wish me luck!

I bought several pairs of jeans and cargo pants when I was on vacation in Ottawa this past July and finally brought them in to be hemmed last week. I picked them up on Saturday and decided to wear a pair of my newly altered jeans to work on Monday and WOW, were they ever loose!

I intentionally bought the pants a little snug knowing I needed to lose some weight so I was still mentally prepared for them to be a little tight.  Still, I was a little taken aback at how loose they were since I’ve only lost about 10 pounds so far. I can’t imagine what they’ll be like when I reach my goal of 10% bodyfat. I suspect I’ll need to go shopping again which I have to admit I am kind of looking forward. I’m very eager to wear more form fitting clothing.

Despite these kind of encouraging results I still have days where I see myself in the mirror and feel like nothing has changed. I guess I’m just feeling a little impatient because I want those abs now! I know I need to remain patient though as it’s been less than two months since I started getting back into shape. I’m sure that if I keep this up I’ll have the dramatic transformation I am seeking.

The waiting is still hard though!

So last week wasn’t as great as it could have been. I only made it to the gym Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. For some reason I couldn’t get to sleep last Wednesday and was so tired the next day I just couldn’t face doing HIIT on Thursday. To make matters worse I also manged to injured my left shoulder somehow so now it hurts to do a shoulder workout. In the end I wrote off the week and hoped a little rest over the weekend would help.

I started this week off right and I managed a chest and arm workout on Monday without too much discomfort in my shoulder. I also worked my abs and managed to get in three sets instead of two like last time. Tuesday I did the second part of my ab routine (three sets again) and some HIIT.

Yesterday was the day I had been dreading since the discovery of my shoulder injury last week. Normally I do back and shoulders on Wednesdays and usually start with shoulders but this time I decided to start with my back. To my surprise I got a very solid workout in. My strength was really good, probably because I hadn’t tuckered myself out with a shoulder workout yet, so I think I’ll start with back again next week and up my weights.

Shoulders, however, were not so good.

I tried to start off with some lighter weights than usual to do a superset of lateral raises, front raises and dumbbell presses but after the first two reps of lateral raises I knew my shoulder was in no shape to take it so I moved to plan B.

After doing a little research the day before I determined that I most likely have a problem with my rotator cuff. I also found some exercises which are supposed to help with the rehabilitation and strengthening of it, and this is where plan B came into play. Instead of my usual shoulder routine I did three sets of 15 of side-lying external rotations, propped external rotations and lateral raises with internal rotation at the very low weight of 5.5 lbs. I also did some light dumbbell presses with 11 lb dumbbells.

Doing theses exercises didn’t hurt my shoulder except for the slight burn you would normally expect to get from doing a lot of reps so that was promising. I’m going to keep doing this shoulder routine for the next couple of weeks until I go on vacation and hope that these less stressful exercises combined with a week off from lifting will help my shoulder get better.

The good news is that I’m still loosing weight and am closing in on the 170s. With any luck I’ll be under 180 by the time I go on vacation!

It’s been just over a month now since I implemented my new regime at the gym and in the kitchen with the result being over 8 pounds lost so far. My strength has also been increasing steadily at the gym.

On Monday when I was at the gym a woman who hasn’t worked out for a while was there and commented on my weight loss and asked me what my secret was. It really struck me then what a silly question that was. I’ve always known what I needed to do to get in shape but have never been willing to fully commit myself to the task. It was only recently that something just seemed to switch on inside me and made me want to dedicate myself to a body transformation. I told her there wasn’t anything mysterious about it and that I was just eating right and going to the gym regularly. It’s amazing what just those two things will do for you!

I’m still not where I want to be but the progress has been steady so I can’t wait to see what I look like 6 months from now. This time I won’t be looking back saying "if only I’d kept on working out and eating right for last six months I’d look great right now." Instead I’ll be saying "Wow! I look great now that I’ve been working out and eating right for the last six months!"

These are the first six month of the rest of my life!

Even though I didn’t feel like working out a few times last week I plugged away and made it to the gym six times. I lifted on Mon, Wed and Fri and did HIIT on the treadmill Tue, Thu and Sun. I’m particularly pleased with getting in some HIIT on Sunday because I did a heavy leg workout on Friday and it is the first time since I started doing legs again that they weren’t sore in the days following. They were bit tired but I felt good enough to go for a run. I also went for a brisk walk with my wife on Saturday for almost an hour and a half so I actually managed to get in some physical activity every day last week!

This week I’m shooting for the same frequency at the gym and I’m also going to try to do my full ab routine which means I’ll be doing abs on Mon, Tue, Thu and Fri. As mentioned in a previous entry, this is the routine I’m doing right now. I was able to get in three sets of Workout 2 last time so I guess my abs are getting stronger. In fact my abs weren’t even sore the next day.

On a side note, even though I have managed to lose 8 pounds in the last month I felt a little discouraged when I saw myself in the mirror last night. I have noticeably lost some weight in my face but my midsection still looks like a lump of clay which hasn’t been molded yet. I know I need to have some patience, but damn it’s hard sometimes! At least I have BB.com and all its amazing members to keep me motivated. I’m looking forward to posting an after picture!

I had a pretty good workout last night. I tried a new shoulder routine consisting of supersetting side raises, front raise and dumbbell press. Even though I only used 11 lb dumbbells for all three exercises my shoulders were burning by the end of each superset. I will definitely keep using this one.

As for back,  I added bent over rows to my routine and removed seated cable rows which seems to have been a good move because my lats are actually a bit sore today and that hasn’t happened in quite some time.

I think starting next week I’m going to add a fourth set to most of my exercises because my endurance and recovery seem to have improved even though I take one minute or less rest between sets.

Tonight it’s more HIIT and I think that’ll be it. I had been thinking about doing abs too but I didn’t sleep well last night so I will incorporate abs into my leg and arm routine tomorrow. I think it’s just as well because my abs still haven’t fully recovered from those side bends I did last week. I look forward to being able to get a full 4 sets in on my ab routine. I guess I just need to have some patience.

On a final note, I have officially lost 8 pounds in one month! I weighed 191 on August 18 and this morning I weighed 183. I’m only 13 lbs away from my December 20th goal weight of 170. After I make it to 170 my next goal will be to get down to 10% bodyfat. I hope I can do it!

I guess I was a little overoptimistic yesterday when I thought I’d be able to get in 4 ab workouts this week. When I went to do the first exercise last night it was pretty clear my abs still haven’t recovered from the first routine last Thursday. I tried to do some side bends with the dumbbells held overhead and I had almost no strength in them. I think I’ll try again tomorrow but I was definitely rushing things. Oh well, there’s still too much flab on my gut to see my abs anyway!

HIIT was good last night. I added a three degree incline to my sprints and that made the difference. I felt like I was properly winded by the end of my intervals. I’ll do the same thing again tomorrow and decide whether I need to up the intensity or not next week.

Tonight is a shoulder and back workout and I’m going to try a new super-set of lateral dumbbell raises, front dumbbell raises and dumbbell shoulder presses. It’s supposed to be killer on your shoulders.