Today marks my 12 weeks of the Transformation Challenge.

When it started I knew I could do it, but I had no idea how hard it would be. I am a very dedicated hard working person, and definitely not a quitter; However, I lacked the knowledge in this field.

Motivation:

My number one motivation are my babies. I have two beautiful daughters that I love with all my heart and there is nothing I would not do for them. They are my inspiration and motivation, they are my life. I have never really cared about anything, I was the type of person that thought whats going to happen will no matter what, so why worry. But now I know that if I'm going to make it I have to work hard, that I shape my future not luck. At my age I would get tired after just walking a block at a fast pace, or going up the stairs, although rather skinny I had a belly that was no issue, after all I don't walk around without a shirt right? I was wrong, This is not the father I want for my babies to know. When I read about the challenge I knew I wanted to do it, not just for the 12 weeks but for the rest of my life, I want to be in shape and healthy when my babies are older so that we can spend more quality time, visit places, play sports. I don't want to be the fat dad sitting outside the porch eating a burger while they play, I want to be an active part of their life. I want them to be proud of their dad as much as they make me proud and happy.

Learning:

The learning process was probably the most time consuming of all. At the beginning of the challenge I had no idea which exercises worked best for which areas. I knew which foods were healthy to eat but I did not know which ones were best if you're focusing on body building. Bodybuilding.com is a great resource, so good that I did not feel the need to look elsewhere for information, if you take the time you can find about anything related to bodybuilding here. At the beginning, I spent in average 2 to 4 hours reading the different articles and learning proper form of exercises in the video section. As time went by I spent less time reading and more times focusing on developing the right workout routing for my specific goals and proper nutrition.

Nutrition

Nutrition does not take as long but it is the most expensive part, and the one that you work on 24 hours a day. Focusing on gaining lean muscle I avoided all fast food chains. The sugars I consumed were never just for the sake of it, every gram I consumed was carefully planed to avoid negative results. Calories and Carbohydrates although at first were all about counting them as day went by eventually became easy to manage. I have a high metabolism so avoiding a meal was not an option. A usual day of meals is as follows:

10AM : 1st Meal (as soon as I wake up) Meal Replacement Bar (25g Protein) + 1cup of oats w/Milk
1PM : 2nd Meal: 1/2lb lean red meat + 1 cup of brown rice + 2 Tortillas
4PM: 3rd Meal: 1/2lb extra lean ground meat (with Tomato+Onion+Green Peppers) + 2 Tortillas
The rest of the meals usually vary since this is the time when Im at work. My usual lunch includes brown rice, 1/2 boiled sweet potato + 2 slices of wholewheat bread. During my breaks I usually have a meal replacement bars, mixed nuts that i buy at whole foods markets.
I get off work at 1 am so I'm usually at the gym by 1:30am. I drink my protein shake before leaving work.
Pre Workout Shake: "On Gold Standard Whey Protein + L-Glutamine
Post Workout Shake: "ON" Gold Standard Whey Protein + ON Micronized Creatine
On my way home I eat two turkey ham sandwiches on wholewheat bread.
I usually rested 6 to 7 hours.

Supplements:

"ON" Gold Standard Whey Protein.
"ON" Micronized Creatine powder.
Micronized L-Glutamine
Multi-vitamin
Omega 3,6,9
Vitamin C

Probably the hardest thing is eating right.. Today, I went by the Doughnut shop and that chocolate glazed doughnut sure looked tasty, but I had to stop myself from getting it. I instead got a mini with coconut!. Its about the tenth of a full doughnut and has coconut what can be better? It didn't taste as good as the chocolate one would have but I'm doing this for myself and most important, My Family, and there is no way I will cheat them out of this one, not in a thousand years. I will do everything I can and everything I can't to win this one, for a better, brighter, healthier future! I have faith in GOD that this is the beginning of it! 

Five weeks into the Challenge and starting Phase Two of my Transformation.
I've lost 4 pounds in the first 4 weeks. Best of all my belly was reduced by about a third. I can't see my six pack yet but I know its hiding behind those layers of fat. I'm proud to say that I can do sets of 6 sit ups now, in its proper form, when at the beginning I could not do a single one. As I bulk I will focus on muscle, and reducing fat a bit further.
GOAL FOR THIS MINI-BULK-UP +12 Pounds of Mostly Lean Muscle
To Average Close to 1.5lbs per week.
For this 5th week, I have already gained close to 2 pounds in the last 7 days (second half of 4th wk). I Plan on adding mostly muscle, I know its possible. I have now implemented my diet with Gold Standard Whey Protein, L-Glutamine, and Micronized Creatine. I also added some carb-high foods such as sweet potatoes, healthy pasta choices, Brown rice and wheat bread.

Photos Coming Soon

Sincerely ..

GregIsmael
Future Transformation Challenge Winner Recipient.
Hey why not Can't I Dream? Dreams Come True For Those Who Persevere.

Just like the title says, I've completed 4 weeks of training towards the bodybuilding $100k 2011 Transformation Challenge. I feel better physically and mentally. I feel that my body is starting to get used to the training, so I have to step it up a notch. I have since, lost a bit over 4 pounds, which seems healthy. Do to time restrictions, bulking up will be hard in 8 weeks but just like I lost 4 pounds of fat I can put on some muscle weight on me in the next weeks. I don't believe that things can't be done, I know everything is possible if you try very hard. Now at just under 137 pounds and half my belly fat gone, I plan on adding a good 8 pounds of mostly lean muscle, I know some fat gains will come with it, but It wont be in the wrong places no more. If I can get to 145 and look lean and muscular I will have accomplished my goal, 150 though harder Is not discarded, I will work twice as hard as I have been doing, which seems way to hard but, only then will I know I can accomplish all my body building goals! My pecs are crying for size my arms need to be toned and so do my legs, my stomach needs to be flat and show the six pack thats under the fat. I wont stop till I reach my goals. I have spent long hours researching the right exercises, diets, supplements and other factors that determine the results. I am spending more time learning, preparing meals, and planing my workouts well, than at the gym. My average workout program last approximately 2 hours a day, which is way more than I am used to doing a month!. I am determined and I will make it to the end, with amazing results because I am not a quitter and I wont be one now, I will make my family proud to when they see the transformation I accomplished; from there I will focus my time to getting to bigger goals, and I will not give up on transforming my body until I get to a competition level. I will make of this my new passion and hobby.. Good luck to all, and lets not stop at the 12 weeks lets keep going for more with the same motivation we've been doing this!

It's been hard keeping my workout schedule and even harder to keep up with the diet. I've lost a total of 3 pounds the healthy way and in places where I intended to. I understand I cant just slim down on a specific part of my body because fat is distributed but still shows most in places that worried me. I realize on my first week I could no longer do sit ups, it had been a while since I did some. Second week into the challenge I still had trouble doing a single sit up the right way, and it got a tad better on the third week but still extremely hard, so I had to work out on crunches only which still works. Pull ups were very hard, so I tried it on gym equipment at 60lbs less than my actual weight. My short term goal within this 2011 challenge I would like to be able to do a full set of 10 on both exercises. I would like to start bulking up on my sixth week after I've lost my excess of fat around the mid section which does not look good on a person my weight, it shows to much. Packing muscle on my chest and arms is very hard for my body type but I know it can be done and that is my full time goal for this $100k 2011 challenge!

Info was clear but images were misleading. Good thing I took a bunch of pics that day, I've worked so hard and will work harder that I will not get disqualified because of the pics so here they are.Taken the same day, i took a bunch, full front, knee up, and abs up pics, so they are as good as new. I'm on this one for the long run , not giving up now, pics wont slow me down

Cardio for today. I've pushed myself for the past 4 days to my max when working out. I hope to see the results soon, and make it just one more reason to stay motivated, Going for it all!

Yup I'm Here To Win!!

Well as you can see my first three pics I've uploaded are the most current. I have not trained long enough I stoped for a long time and just started again 3 months ago. I've focused on gaining weight and not so much on training. Now that I've gained 18 pounds I'd like to go for 15 more before I start hard core training. As of right now I'm focusing on short amount of exercise with heavy weight. Basically working the pecs, triceps, and abs. Very little workout on everything else. And this is only two to three times a wk at most. Like I said I am not focusing much on the actual workouts till the six months of weigh gains stopped. The first 18 took tons of eating since I'm used to eating very little. I know most of my gains are fat but that is ok for now. I included protein intake in my diet, approx 18g xtra per day plus way more carbs.

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