fatdaddy67’s BodyBlog

I have lost 77 pounds.

77 pounds is the average weight of a 11-year old boy.

How Much Fuel Is That?

To lose that amount of fat would mean to burn 269,500 calories or 1,127,588 KiloJoules! That is the equivalent of 8.73 gallons of gasoline. Humans, however, are far more efficient than cars, getting about 912 "miles to the gallon". If you could dump this many calories into the tank of a Honda Civic, you would be able to drive it about 296 miles before running out of gas!

Let’s see how your goal would convert to other forms of fuel. 269,500 calories is equivalent to:

* 8.73 gallons of gasoline, or
* 96.34 pounds of coal, or
* 133.75 pounds of oven-dried wood, or
* 11.84 gallons of propane

This amount of energy would …

* Brew about 752 pots of coffee, or
* Light a 60-watt light bulb for 5,220 hours ( 218 days = 0.63 years)

Cutting 269,500 calories is the same as saying "no" to:

* 3,369 apples, or
* 2,695 bananas, or
* 15,853 cups of cabbage (whew!), or
* 1,859 baked potatoes, or
* 3,369 large eggs, or
* 2,246 cups of 2% milk, or
* 194 pounds of ground beef, or
* 3,098 glasses of wine, or
* 834 Snickers bars, or
* 1,123 Clif Bars ( 1,497 Luna Bars), or
* 1,939 cans of Coke, or
* 1,585 pints of Guinness beer, or
* 548 Big Macs, or
* 523 Quarter Pounders with Cheese, or
* 385 Whoppers, or
* 817 Subway 6" Oven Roasted Chicken Breast sandwiches, or
* 1,585 Taco Bell crunchy tacos, or
* 1,147 slices of pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut

What it Takes to Burn 269,500 Calories

To burn 269,500 calories, a 190 pound male would have to:

* Backpack for 446 hours (19 days) nonstop, or
* Walk for 1,033 hours (43 days) at 3 mph straight, or
* Walk 3,098 miles (1,936 kilometers), or
* Bike for 781 hours (33 days) at 10 mph, or
* Bike 7,812 miles (4,882 kilometers), or
* Play basketball nonstop for 430 hours 18 days), or
* Play billiards for 1,248 hours (52 days), or
* Go bowling for 1,041 hours (43 days), or
* Stay on the golf course for 781 hours (33 days), or
* Spend 347 hours (14 days) playing competitive football, or
* Jump rope for 328 hours (14 days) straight!

You would have to walk the length of England about 5.23 times to burn 269,500 calories.

I found this article on bicep tendinitus very helpful:

Many lifters experience pain on the medial portion of their elbow           joints. Often bodybuilders aggravate the pain by performing biceps curls           with a straight barbell or by doing the eccentric, or lowering, phase of           dumbbell curls with their forearm in a supinated position. If you           understand the anatomy and biomechanics of the elbow joint, you can see           why this stress occurs.

To determine how you should perform an exercise to avoid undue stress           and injury to joints and to focus the work on the correct muscle, you           must observe how your body functions naturally. For example, when your           arm hangs naturally at your side, your palm faces your thigh. When you           raise your hand to touch your shoulder-that is, perform elbow flexion,           or a biceps curl-your palm rotates to face your shoulder during the           upward motion. This is supination. As you lower your arm to the starting           position, your forearm rotates back, or pronates, so that your palm once           again faces your thigh. This natural rotation places the work on your           biceps and relieves the stress on the joints.

When you perform biceps curls with a straight bar, your forearms are in           a fully supinated position at the bottom of the exercise, not the           natural pronated position. This exposes the medial regions of your elbow           joints to excess stress. It stands to reason, then, that if you do your           biceps curls with dumbbells, you will place less stress on your elbow           joints and reduce the likelihood of injury.

Part of the fun of transforming your body is the process of discovery. When you begin exercising, or whatever level, you have no clue what awaits you on the other side. You might find that you’ve become a mountain biking fanatic, or that you are in love with weight training, or that your body was secretly a genetically gifted runner or swimmer.

You might also find that your new love is unconditional. Regardless of your success at the new fitness regimen you love, it is something you enjoy doing, and spend hours a day thinking about.

Lifting heavy weights does this for me.

As the fat peels off, and my muscles and strength grow, I have no clue whether it will lead me to serious bodybuilding or powerlifting, or if it will simply live to a healthier, more fulfilling life. But what I do know is this: I can’t wait for my next workout. I eat for it. I sleep for it. I dream of it.

So, where this blog once started as a journey to find myself, it has now become another entity. This is now a blog of a man who has found himself. In the last 80 days I have recovered my health, but moreso than that, I have discovered a part of me that I had forgotten about. Under my fat and behind my poor eating habits was a man who loved weightlifting. And one day at a time, this man was revealed.

What’s under your skin? What will you find at the end of your journey?

Today’s calories = 2,800

Muscle memory.

Those of you that have achieved a great degree of muscle gains, only to lose them, and once again regain them know what muscle memory is. For those of you that have never heard of the term, I’ll try to explain it the best I can.

Let’s say you hit the weights hard and heavy (or for that matter you are a speed skater with thick legs) in your early 20’s. But, somewhere along the line life happened. Your biceps shrunk from 19 inch monsters to 15 inch pistols as your children rolled through their daycare years. Your 400 pound plus squat sessions are now replaced by legs that struggle to lift your children out of their car seats.

So, time passes, life moves on, and you return to a season in your life in which you once again have the time and will to lift weights. Lo and behold, your muscles grow back to their former glory in record time, and you are once again squatting mammoth weights.

What’s going on? Your co-workers think you’re on the juice; all they’ve ever viewed you as was a pot-bellied goofball.  Muscle memory is what’s going on.

From this site, here is a good description of what is going on:

In order to further explain muscle memory it would behoove us to briefly review what exactly this connective tissue is( for a greater explanation read my article, the anatomy of a muscle fiber.  It goes in great depth in what I am about to cover.  So if it seems a bit confusing, you definitely need to consult this article. ).  Simply put every muscle is made up of 1, 000s of muscle fibers.  These muscle fibers are all individually wrapped with a connective tissue wrapping, or a sheath.  This is called the endomysium.  These individual muscle fibers are then organized in bundles( called fascicles ) which are covered by another connective tissue sheathe called the perimysium.  These bundles or fascicles are then placed together in an orderly arrangement( which determines the shape and functionality of the muscle ) and held in place by a layer of connective tissue known as the epimysium.  Finally each of these layers is held together by the deep fascia( a courser material ).  The connective tissue of every muscle fiber acts like a girdle of sorts.  Which means that it binds a muscle group together, and to its neighboring muscle in many cases.  It also protects, organizes and allows the force of contraction generated by the thousands of muscle fibers in a particular group, to be harnessed with great efficiency!     

The important thing to understand is this: Connective tissue is not only a tuff material but also hugs tight to its surrounding area, almost constricting it!  What does this have to do with muscle growth you say?  Ahh, that my friend, is where muscle memory comes in!  Think about it for a moment.  In order for a muscle to hypertrophy, what needs to take place if it is restricted by this tight binding girdle?  The tissue must stretch and become more pliable right?!  If this did not occur, then muscle growth would be hindered( you cannot grow unless there is enough room to do so)!