joey44’s BodyBlog

Is it wrong for me to add a "friend" and then if I’m not accepted as a mutual after 3-4 days, to just remove it?  lol I mean, do I REALLY CARE? No, not really, but if I come across a profile that I think that person has done a great job, or looks interesting, I may add them.  I don’t just go adding as many people as I can just to build my number up.  I’ve been on here for years now, and over that time I’ve got quite a few "friends".  But like most, I only keep up with a handful at most.  I just don’t like having people in my "Stalking" category! haha  Nor do I like having people in my "Fan Club".  I guess I just like to add whoever asks.  I don’t judge

Thoughts?

I was doing 105’s in each hand last night, incline press.  Got up to put them away and as I turned to walk toward the rack, I somehow pulled or twisted SOMETHING in my back.  Now, I’m dying in pain.  Lower back, kinda on the left side of the spine, right were my butt meets my lower back. 

 I don’t feel a "shooting pain" going anywhere.  The pain is pretty much local in that area, but of course, I can’t bend down, or really lift my leg.  I’m hoping that is just a muscle pull and not a disc or something.  Anyone have experience?

 My wife had to put my socks on me this morning is hurt so bad and of course I go no sleep last night.  We’ll see how it goes today and if it doesn’t start to get better by tomorrow, I’ll go see the Dr.

Well, I go through this about once a year.  That is where I fall completely off the band wagon and just let myself go a little.  My bodyfat as of this morning was 11.5%.  So, I’m up 4% from the 7.5% I was at late last year.  I don’t feel bad about it.  I’m just ready to get it going again.  After all, it’s summer time and I can’t have my fat hangin’ over my swim suit. 

 So, just to reasure myself, I’m going to go back to my eating habit of 250-300 grams a day of protien, 100-150 grams of carbs a day, and low fat.  I’ll post a pic in the next day or two of where I’m at now, so I can see my progress.

I’m in a bit of a slump.  After my last photo shoot, I started eating kind bad, not horrible, but just so so.  Really half assed if you know what I mean.  Additionally, I’ve been training a little different which includes Running about 4 times a week.  (p.s. I know this is not optimal for fat loss/ muscle preservation, just go with me on this)  Any who,  I’ve been convincing myself that it’s okat to eat a cheat meal just about every day and eat more carbs because I’ve been running.  Well guess what - ABS - GONE.  The thing is, I just haven’t really cared that much.  Someone needs to come kick my ass a little bit and get me back on track.  I’ve just become complacent.  I think partly it’s because I’ve got extra stress in my life right now…

I’ve had some folks ask me about what I eat so here it is.  The simple answer is that I eat 6-7 meals per day and try to take in about 250-300 grams of protein a day and my carbs vary between 150-300 grams per day.  I try to keep fat minimal, only eating "good fats".

6:30 am  50 grams protein shake/ 2 pieces of wheat bread

9:30 am  6 oz tuna / 24 grams whey/ 1/2 cup oatmeal

12 pm   Chicken breast/ brown rice/ 24 grams whey
3 pm   6 oz tuna/ 24 grams whey/ oatmeal

6 pm 24 grams whey/ 3 pieces of white bread/ 8 oz juice (pre workout meal)

8:30 pm  50 grams whey/ 40 grams of fast carbs (post workout)

10 pm whole grain cereal / 24 grams whey or more chicken (most people say not to eat carbs before bed, but since i work out late at night, i think its ok

So there it is… a sample of a day in the life of Joey

I’m not below 10 % bodyfat yet, but I did get down to 11.4!  I’m happy with my progress.  I am going at a pretty slow pace, because I don’t want to lose any muscle. 

Okay, I know that most of you don’t really agree with the whole "low carb" thing.  And I’m not really sure that I do either, but I’m gonna try it for a couple of weeks.  I just want to get better results in losing body fat.  I plan on taking no more than 30 - 50 carbs a day, and I’m increasing my protein to 300+ a day.  Last night I measured my BF and I was 17.2% on the scale you stand on, which was a slight increase, but the one you hold in you hand was 13.9% which was a decrease.  Who the heck knows!  Anyway, I feel like I have conflicting goals - Get bigger….lose body fat….. So, I’m gonna try something different.  And why?   Because the definition of INSANITY is:  doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.

Maybe I’m being relying on the body fat scale too much.  I’m down to 17% from 17.9% over the last 3 weeks.  That is on the scale that you step on.  The other one you that you hold in your hand says that I’m 14.5% BF.  So who really knows what I am.  One of the nutrition specialist that I buy supplements from said that those scales are not the most accurate.  I feel better and when I look in the mirror, it appears that my midsection is getting leaner.  I guess we will see over the next couple of weeks what happens.  Honestly, the first couple of weeks, I wasn’t as strict as I could be in my diet.  I was still use to my "bulking" ways, but now I have finally settled into a cleaner diet.  I’m not frustrated,  but I would like to see a bit better results over the next couple of weeks.

So, It has been one week into my cutting.  Not the greatest.  I did manage to lose 0.5% body fat.  I went from 17.9 to 17.4%.  I am happy that I lost some, but I am not satisfied.  But, I really can’t be too suprised - superbowl weekend was a little too tempting with all the chips and dip, and the fried chicken on thursday, and the birthday cake on Saturday, and the pork ribs…. haha, I guess I wasn’t as strict as I wanted to be.  Oh well, this is a new week!  Last week I ran for 20 min 3 mornings before breakfast, and did 20 min of the eliptical 3 days right after weights.  I expect to lose at least 1 - 1.5% this week as I am determined not to eat all the crap I ate last week!  I want that 6 pack baby!

Okay, I’m ashamed to admit it, but I haven’t been taking multi-vitamins until about 2 weeks ago!  But, wow, what a difference it makes!  I realize now that I was depriving myself of one of the most important factors in my diet.  I just got one made by Bluebonnet.  I don’t know if it is a national brand or not, I didn’t see it in the bodybuilding.com store.  But the thing I like about it is that you take 3 a day, so it breaks it up into amounts that you body can absorb easier.  I have noticed good improvement in my skin as well.  I used to break out a lot on my back (not using steroids), but as soon as I add multivitamins, it started to clear up right away.  I always thought I was getting enough vitamins and minerals from my diet and all the freakin’ protein shakes.  I seem to be feeling better over all and I’m excited to start learning more!  I’ve been concentrating on my protein, carb, and fat intake so much, I didn’t even realize what I was missing!  Sometimes, its easy to overlook the details.  Good lifting everyone!