Jay’s BodyBlog

This will be my last post.

I have chosen to no longer be a part of this community.

You may or may not be interested in why, but I’m gong to tell you anyway. There are some really nasty, mean-hearted, vindictive members here and I don’t need the aggravation.

About a week ago someone posted something absolutely stupid in one of the forums and I called him on it.  It was a string of pseudo-scientific gobledygook that he’d plagiarized from another web site. It said something about creatine being a  beta agonist androgenic subtance.

There was of course, no explanation of what that means, and it was taken directly from some other creatine page where it’s mentioned all the time and again never explained.

Well I don’t know about you, but I don’t have the slightest idea what it means either and I said so. And I’ll bet you dollars to donuts the guy writing the post didn’t either, but I guess by taking someone else’s work and using it as his own, he’d impress everyone with how smart he was.

Anyway, I responded by saying "A statement like that was about as helpful as ice cream on a diet," and the next day my reputation markers when from one little green box to nearly a dozen little red ones.

Someone obviously has serious self-confidence issues, and I really don’t need that sort of aggravation. So anyway, best of luck to the rest of the 99.99 percent of you, but I’m going back to Gold’s and have a good workout and not bother with being harassed by people with thin skins and small minds.

Peace,

j

Surgery on the 24th. I’m recovering quite fast, and will probably get back to work on Monday or Tuesday depending on what the doc says.

Stitches come out Monday, but not the pin, and still no weight bearing, so I still really have to watch my diet.

I’m thinking of writing a book, Weight Loss through Foot Surgery. I lost about 10 pounds in two days after my surgery Of course, I’ve gained most of it back, but it was fun to see 205 and 210 for a couple of days. I figure the combination of being somewhat dehydrated and not being at all hungry for about four days was what did it. If you don’t eat and don’t you lose weight.

Was at 217 this morning, and that is actually good, because try as I might, I couldn’t seen to break that 220 plateau. I did switch to LSD from HIIT, and that probably had something to do with it, but anyway, maybe now I can get back to moving toward the lower weight.

And speaking of lower weights. I wonder what sort of a wreck I’m going to be when I get back to the gym! Can’t drive, so can’t get to the gym, so can’t work out. Can’t maneuver stairs at all well, so can’t get to my basement where at least there I have a couple hundred pounds.

Peace,

j

Well, I got through my surgery just fine last Monday and am on the mend according to my doc.

My foot looks like it was the pivot point for the track team! I have great big, purple scars all over it, but at least my toes are straight. I was in some exquisite pain for two or three days, but that has ease off substantially and now I’m not even taking ibuprofin.

One scar runs from my ankle to the end of my big toe, and there’s another inch and a halfer between my big and second toe. My second toe has a scar all along the top and a great big railroad spike sticking out the end.

There are a couple of other slice marks in various places, but nothing as cool looking as those three main ones.

The doc said I’d be skiing before this season is over and even commented that a ski boot offers a lot of stability. That’s good news. Of course, after sitting on my keister for six weeks or more I’m going to lose a lot of strength and cardio fitness.

That’s going to take some time to bring back. The last thing I want to do on some run is to be so out of shape physically and aerobically that I either can’t make the hill or fall and get hurt.

j

I’ve got surgery scheduled for Monday morning. I’m having an already mangled foot further shredded to pull out and, I hope fix, some crap I’ve been toting around since I left Vietnam.

For the past couple of months it’s felt as if I were walking on sharp gravel, so I went in, had an x-ray and they spotted some small pieces of shrapnel still there after 40 years. They are going to take it out and while they are at it, fix some whacked out toes that are all crooked.

I will be on bed rest for at least a week, out of work for three and then on crutches with absolutely no weight bearing for a minimum of 12 weeks. That will put me out of it till at least the end of December. I may miss the entire ski season this year and that really sucks as I live to ski.

I hope I’ll be back in the gym in three or four weeks doing upper body stuff, but my cardio is going to go down the tubes. I sure hope I can keep my food intake to a minimum so I don’t put on all the fat I’ve worked so hard to lose this year. I’m up to 60 minutes of 4.5 - 5 mph jogging and can feel myself getting stronger by the day. Having to miss such a long stretch is going to have a bad effect.

I’ll keep you all posted…. that is if anyone cares

Peace,

j

I spent a while here and elsewhere reading the various comments on No-Explode. I happen to think it’s as worthless as Diet Coke in a CARE package, but I seem to be in the minority. I have a jug, so I take it once in a while and all it does is mess up my sleep.

I tried a weak concoction the other day, one scoop with some extra creatine tossed in and headed to the gym. Do NOT take this crap before a cardio session!

They really ought to market this crap as a purge, not a supplement. I think grain through a goose is the apt analogy. Save your money.

Things are going pretty well here. I seem to have moved off my weight loss plateau and am dropping weight again. Scale said 220 this morning, though I’m sure the gym monitor will be a few pounds higher at 5 p.m.

Lost another half inch from my waist, and seem to have a fair amount of energy for my workouts. I’m back on a fairly regular schedule and have realized that I need a bit more recovery time after a hard run or hard workout than I did when I was 20.

Right now, what seems to work for me is a long run on day 1, an HIIT run of about 20 minutes on day 2 and no run at all on day 3. I try to do a weight workout on all three days, and find I can lift my heaviest, obviously, on the day I only jog for a few minutes to get myself warmed up.

Day four is a complete rest. No run, no workout, and maybe an aspirin

A friend, who happens to be a physical therapist, told me with the weight I was lifting on the bench I should be sure to build my shoulders for support. I thought bench was good for deltoids, and I felt good that he thought what I was lifting was "heavy." It sure is to me, but as I’ve said before, "I workout at Gold’s," and there are a lot of really strong guys and girls there.

Anyway, I’ve added shoulders to my routine, doing dumbbell lat and front raises and then some machine that is supposed to hit that area.

I also added a whole slew of back exercises on day 3. Used to do biceps and back, but since adding deltoids, I now do them and biceps on one day and back on one day.

Anyway, feeling good, losing fat, gaining strength, have the day off next Monday and have the University of Southern California trying to recruit me. Who could ask for more? Too bad my publication record is so spotty.

Peace,

j

The good news is I’ve lost another half-inch from my waist and I’m getting stronger. My consistency has been spotty though. I did two weeks really hard then missed a week because of work and other fun stuff.

The bad news is that I have to get surgery in September. Not only will this really screw up my gym schedule, I’m really worried it will cause me to put fat back on, and I’ll lose everything I’ve been working toward so hard this past several months.

Apparently I still have some souvenirs of three years in Southeast Asia during the 60s floating around in me, and they are starting to move or something. Anyway, they are going to cut open one of my feet and take out a couple of chunks of shrapnel and while they are at it, fix a couple of really deformed toes.

I’ll be flat on my back doing drugs for at least a week, then eight to 10 weeks of absolutely no weight bearing. I guess I’ll still be able to do upper body weights, and I’ve found that seated dumbbell workouts are pretty hard.

The silver lining, I guess, is that for the week right after surgery, I probably won’t feel like eating a whole lot, so maybe I’ll lose a couple of pounds. After that, though, I also will miss most of the ski season, and that really upsets me. I love the snow and the mountains and spend every possible minute of winter on the slopes.

Peace,

j

Watched the guy at the gym the other day and tried to emulate him. A really good way to stay full is to whip up one of these before you go off to work.

Take eight ounces of OJ, four of water, toss in a half a small banana, too BIG scoops of protein (I use soy) and some shaved ice. Also, if I have some other fruit around I’ll toss that in; especially strawberries.

Whip it all together and enjoy. This concoction, depending on how much fruit and ice you add develops about 16 ounces of a really good drink. I drink half on the way to work and save the other half for just before workout.

It’s pretty high in carbs and calories,  300 calories, 40 g carbs, 26 g protein, but it tastes really good and when I drink the first one around 7 a.m., it keeps me full until about 2 p.m. In fact, I had to remember to eat my snacks and other meals.

The pre-workout swig gets me through a 50 minute run and a pretty strenuous weight workout, and I’m not all that hungry for dinner.

In about a week’s time I’ve lost about four pounds and half an inch off my waist. I have upped my run five minutes, but have slowed down to around 4.8 -  5.0 mph.

Anyway, give it a try.

My weight is all over the place, and I have been putting a bit on which is not what I want to do. I’m somewhat concerned about my weight, because I still have too much body fat, but as long as I keep losing girth I can live with it. My goal is to get below 200 and then go for 180. I’d be happy with 15 percent body fat.
On the other hand, my body fat is now at approximately 22.6 percent a point and a half from a month ago(24.1), and I’ve lost about  a half inch off my waist. I’m at 40.5 now. And my love handles are one heck of a lot smaller than they used to be.
I’m doing 50 minutes of cardio at 5.0 mph average and lifting as heavy as I can stand. It’s a little scary doing a bench press though, so when I really want to gorge myself I use the Hammer Strength machines. My gym has three Hammer chest machines and I overload on all three. I look like a fire plug when I’m done: red and pumped!

In fact, I do chest and triceps tonight. I’ll do a short, 20 minute, HIIT cardio workout

From January through March I started doing intervals on the treadmill and working out really regularly and so forth, and it really helped. I dropped about 20 pounds, took three inches off my waist and still managed to stay fairly strong.

Well… all good things must come to an end apparently.

For about a month, my workouts were somewhat erratic, but I got back on it in June, and in July I’ve been doing a two on, one off routine that includes a 45 minute run at about 5 mph and lifting five sets of around five reps with as much as I can handle safely (I don’t have a workout partner). I’m getting strong, and I’m starting to look a lot better, but my weight and fat loss seem to have stopped and my weight fluctuates radically.

I’ve tried lifting heavy, lifting light, doing more intervals at faster speed with less rest or doing a straight fun and nothing is working right now. My waist is up an inch and my base weight in the morning is higher.

Waking pulse is below 60 and my BP and other numbers are low, so I’m wondering… does anyone have any suggestions? I know changing up a workout is what you’re supposed to do, but if anyone has some specific suggestions, I’d sure like to hear them!

I’m limited to about two hours in the gym, and I workout in the afternoons.

Peace,

j