Joe’s BodyBlog

I thought I would try lipo 6.  I started taking Lipo 6 a few days ago. All of the caffeine in it gave me energy, however, I couldnt understand why I was becoming anxious and depressed. A heavy depression that lasted throughout the day that I could not understand.   I didnt suspect the Lipo 6 at first because I would wake up fine in the mornings but about an hour after taking it I noticed that the depression and anxiety would set in. I decided to look into the ingredients in this fat burner. The active ingredient in it is yohimbine HCL. I was surprised at what I found.

Yohimbine Hcl has significant side effects, such as anxiety reactions. Symptoms of a yohimbine HCL include increased blood pressure ( headache, blurred vision, flushing); a fast heart rate; numbness or tingling; runny nose; tremor; anxiety; poor coordination; and confusion or abnormal behavior. You can not eat cheese, red wine, or liver while taking yohimbine HCL as this may increase blood pressure to unsafe levels.

I also had been taking valerian root befor going to sleep at night and think that the combination of the two could have caused this.

I am going to hold off taking Lipo 6 and the valerian root for a while and see how things go. They may not effect everyone the same way that it did to me but it is not worth the aggravation that taking it has brought me

Woke up at 4 am to a snowstorm

 
Couldn’t go back to sleep so I cooked a few meals. Baked chicken breast, stuffed peppers with Portobello mushrooms and made fresh clams casino stuffed with green bell pepper. Froze everything.

It sounds crazy to say this but my first 93 pounds were a lot easier to lose then the last 7 pounds that have been stuck to me like glue. I have worked harder than I have ever worked and am still stuck with these last 7.  It would be easy to get pissed off and discouraged about this but decided to attack it instead  Every problem has a solution..

 
Today I started taking my zero carb Isopure.  The 7.5-pound tub should last me for a while.  I have put the Cytosport muscle milk and Cytosport cytogainer on hold and will use the Isopure instead. Also started taking lipo 6 fat burner and got a really big jolt from that.  I was reluctant to take or try any kind of fat burner but it was recommended to me by one of the trainers at my gym who still has his pro card. He told me that lipo 6 was the best fat burner he used.  Will continue taking BCAA’s, multi-vitamin and my flaxseed oil.

 
I am no longer going to rely on the scale at the gym.  This week I learned that the one and only scale at the gym has been giving false readings for over a week. I didn’t like the idea of having a scale at home but bought one that also measures body fat, bone density and hydration. From now on that is the scale that I will rely on. It also has a cool feature that stores and tracks my progress.

 
This week I am going to switch out my entire routine.  Will return to the South Beach diet and will continue to eat 6-7 times each day. I decided to do cardio every other day instead of every day. Going to give my body and system a shock to induce change, fat loss and muscle growth. Will alternate lifting days but will still work abs each day.

 
 
I am looking forward to the switch out and it should be interesting to see how everything goes. 

 “If it’s going to be- then it is up to me”.

Ballys total fitness corporate contacted me and wanted to use me and my transformation as part of their 2009 ad campaign.  The contract that they wanted me to sign was ridiculous.   The contract stated that I must be 100% honest and that is fine with me. Honesty is ALWAYS THE BEST POLICY.  However as I read on, Ballys didn’t want to be honest whatsoever. They wanted me to give them permission to DISTORT and ALTER MY PHOTOS, permission to be able to use my LIKENESS, and permission to use a REPLACEMENT of my IMAGE and VOICE if needed in their campaign.  I know that there are a lot of people out there who would have gone along with all of this but it is against my principles. Needless to say, I turned them down and have no regrets. 

I still have the remnants of the stomach flu that is going around.  Missed a few workouts this week but the rest did me good.  Haven’t been eating as often but have kept my nutrition and diet in good form.  My shoulder is about 85% better and most of the aches and pains in it have subsided.

Going down to 6 degrees tonight and then 4 degrees for tomorrow night.  The cold breath of winter is definitely upon us. Made a big pot of homemade chicken soup with fresh low carb vegetables to take the chill off.  It turned out great- want some?  I made 3 gallons of it.

It will be great when I hit my goal weight of 170 pounds and I am not that far away.  I stopped being obsessed with losing weight when I got down to 180 pounds.  I will drop the remaining 8 pounds in time and it will happen when it happens.  When someone loses a lot of weight the entire body changes and has to adapt and that takes time. Once I reach my goal weight of 170, then it will be great to bulk up.  When I reach that point, I decided that I am going to switch over to a new supplement.  Will begin taking low carb Isopure with 230 calories per serving and 50 grams protein.  Should be good for putting on muscle.

I am taking things one day at a time and staying focused on my goals.

 
Woke up at 4:30 am and had a big bowl of plain oatmeal and my coffee.

Feeling better and I think that my stomach has finally settled down. My back muscles and ribs are still sore and a good soak in the hot tub will take care of that.  24°F outside this morning, clear and cold.  My knee is still a little sore so tonight I may skip the 90-minute HIT cycling and work on core and abs.

Grabbed myself by the scruff of the neck and headed out to the gym.  Was in the pool at 6 am. Got in an hour swim and a good soak in the hot tub. My stomach felt a little queasy but otherwise ok.

 
Midmorning meal- 2 boiled egg whites.

 
Lunch- Cytosport Muscle Milk shake in 12ounces of water.  40 additional ounces of water.

 
Afternoon snack- homemade cabbage soup, 2 boiled egg whites 40 ounces of water.

 
Dinner- Chicken breast with Brussels sprouts and green beans.  40 ounces of water.

 
Still didn’t feel well, - didn’t want to push it so I took tonight off from the gym.  Was glad that I got in a good swim this morning and cardio in for the day.

 
Tomorrow is another day.

 Today was a complete write off.  Last night I was sick as a dog. Threw up at least 5 times throughout the night to the point where my ribs and back got sore. Think it was from the turkey I had at dinner. Spent the entire day in bed and slept. Got absolutely nothing done.
Didn’t eat anything today but drank a lot of water and took my vitamins.
 
I beat myself up good this week with a lot of cardio Hit cycling and swimming. My shoulder is feeling better and I think that all of the morning swimming I’ve done on it this past week is really helping. I will continue rehabbing it and then take it slowly on it.
 

Woke up at 5 am with a swollen and sore left knee- no doubt from all of the HIT cycling that I have done all week- got in 6 sessions. Will swim on it instead this morning and soak it in the hot tub. Sometimes getting ready to go to the gym seems like a chore but once I get going I’m ok.  I drive myself crazy thinking about going watching the clock as time passes by.  The heavy guilty feeling of NOT GOING TO THE GYM IS MUCH WORSE. - That’s my motivation. After my coffee I’m fine and I know I will get there.

 
I’m gonna give my knee a rest today. Decided not to do HIT cycle training. Noticed my arms and they are growing- starting to feel more like a jock than a science geek and that’s always nice. Legs starting to get more cut and defined getting long cut lines on my stomach but still need to get the body fat down. Diet will take care of that.  Losing the weight over the past year was easy as compared to this. Cutting the body fat is tough and these last 8 pounds are holding onto me like glue. But it’s ok because as long as I keep going I will get the results that I want.  Weather forecast has a Snowstorm on the way for tomorrow.  I can walk to the gym if I need to.

 
Breakfast- coffee with sweet and low and fat free half and half, 4 boiled egg whites and my ½ cup of plain oatmeal.

 
Pre swim supplements- BSN Cell Mass in 12 ounces of water to give my system a jump-start.  BCAA’s and a multivitamin.

 
Swam for over an hour and soaked my sore bones and muscles in the hot tub. Definitely decided no HIT cycling today. 

 
I decided that I am going to make today my cheat day.  I haven’t done a Friday cheat day in several months and I know that the diet will go out the window anyway because I have a date with a very nice lady at an Italian restaurant. There is no way that I can go to a place like that and eat boiled chicken breast and plain salad and tomorrow I will go back to my regular routine as I have always done.

Up at 5 am and had my Muscle Milk shake chased with 20 ounces of water.  Made it to the gym early to the pool and swam for an hour and then had a good soak in the hot tub.

 
Mid morning snack- 4 egg whites, BCAA’s and a multi vitamin

 
Lunch- Chicken breast with broccoli and green beans, 12 ounces of diet iced tea and 20 ounces water.

 
Afternoon snack- Muscle milk shake chased with 20 ounces of water.

 
Dinner- green stuffed bell pepper in light tomato sauce with part skim mozzarella cheese. 5 whole-wheat crackers.

 
Pre Hit training drink- BSN  N.O. Explode in 12 ounces of water.  20 additional ounces of water.

 
Hit cycling for 45 minutes (it was intense) drank 40 ounces of water.  Then I hit the weights and worked abs and legs to failure. I lost count of the reps that I did.

 
Evening snack- low fat mozzarella cheese stick, 3 boiled egg whites.

 
Tonites Hit cycling instructor approached me and commented that I am getting toned and that she noticed that I lost more weight- a real boost to my ego.

 
The gym has been completely packed all week with New Years resolutions. I have stayed in the zone during my training and have done a good job blocking out the distractions at the gym.

 
I am tired and sore, have done a lot of cardio all week-may skip my Friday morning swim but will make it to Hit cycle class in the evening.

 
Shoulder feels better today than it did yesterday so that’s a good sign.  

 
Another day- another step closer to my goal.

At 5 am, the alarm clock blasted me wide-awake.  I. looked out the window to see a winter wonderland. Cold and all of the trees and roads are covered in ice and everything looks like glass with freezing rain falling. Power lines bowing down with the weight of the ice. Not going to venture out in that mess to the gym for swimming. Many schools open 2 hours late.  Got a great mental lift at hit Cardio class last night when the cycling instructor commented on my arms and gave me a high five for putting on muscle. That was a great thought to start my day with.

 
Ate ½ cup oatmeal and took my multivitamin and BCAA’S.   I like to get my big calories in early so after munching my plain oatmeal (I love oatmeal) I had a 570-calorie, 54-gram Cytosport cytogainer shake. The cytogainer has slow metabolizing proteins. As for the calories in it, the HIT cycle class tonight will burn that off.  Have been working my abs and legs doing lots of calf raises at 300, 400 and 500 pounds along with 300-500 ab crunches hitting all angles. I worked my way up to doing 15-20 reps on the entire rack on the leg abduction and leg extension machines.

I will eat clean for the remainder of the day and should be fine. Shoulder not as sore as it was yesterday, so that tells me that the swimming and hot tub are helping. The jets in the hot tub hitting my sore shoulder feels good and loosens up my muscles. I refuse to take a pain killer of any kind and my shoulder trouble will heal with time.

Lunch- 20 cashews and 5 boiled egg whites.

Mid afternoon snack- 20 cashews and 4 hard-boiled egg whites.  Muscle milk shake and 40 ounces of water.

Dinner- Stuffed bell pepper with 90% lean beef that I had made and frozen previously. Steamed broccoli.  Big salad with teaspoon fat free dressing and a plain baked potato.

Pre HIT cardio drink- BSN N.O. Explode in 12 ounces of water.  Drank 40 additional ounces of water.

Went to the gym for 45 minute HIT cycle class. Drank 40 ounces of water. Worked abs hard and did hundreds of crunches hitting all angles.  Did a lot of stretching on my shoulder and did a lot of calf raises.

Returned home and had another 40 ounces of water and took my BCAA’s.

Another day- another victory and another step closer to my goal.