namtrag’s BodyBlog

I have been frustrated for the last 2-3 weeks.  I finally started eating right again, and actually gained weight, plus my shoulder aches a lot.  I almost said screw it, and just quit caring, but after talking with my chiro who I train with twice a week, and also talking with a good friend from bbing.com, I am recommited to getting there.  I am going to really get down to it like I did in Jan-Mar, working out with weights 5 times a week, and walking at least 3 times a week.  Today I worked on chest a little, and it marked the first time in probably 6-8 weeks that I have lifted weights for a 3rd day in a given week.  Tomorrow I am going to get up early and go do legs at Gold’s Gym.  I haven’t killed my legs in a while, and I really get some sort of weird masochistic good feeling from leg day.  I know…I am sick!

Anyway, I couldn’t keep it up without the support from the friends on here, so I thank you for checking in on me, and I am really going to go for it now!  Keep watching for new pics and stuff as I get this last 30lbs of fat off!

I don’t have any excuses really…but stopped weighing and measuring at my chiro/training parter’s office every Tuesday.  Started eating like crap again, kept lifting, but not as often.  Stopped cardio entirely.  Basically, just about threw in the towel, and was hanging on by a thread.  Something in me finally said "ENOUGH, YOU A**HOLE!"

So today, I told my chiro I had had enough, and to please start measuring me again.  I am back to 203lbs, and I am back on the wagon!

I know a lot of people have wondered about where I have been, and I would like to thank you all for caring.  I think a lot of the reason I didn’t entirely quit was because of you guys!  I also hope those of you who were looking at me as a model to follow will be gentle on me.  I am just like everyone else, struggling to get in shape, and although my intentions are good, I am definitely not taking the straightest path, that’s for sure.

Anyway, I look forward to getting the ship righted, and welcome any and all encouragement and comments.  I really value and appreciate the people here.

I posted this in a thread, but it is really better as a blog entry:

Looking back at my newest pics, I realize how far I have come, but how far I still have left to go.

I used to think I had a "big" bone structure because I carried my extra weight pretty well. People were always surprised when I told them I weighed 235 lbs.

Now looking at my pics, I realize I am not a large framed person, more like medium

I had been overweight since 10-11 years of age, so this is the first real glimpse of my adult body as God intended it to look that I have ever had.

To be honest, I don’t even recognize the person in the pic.  It looks so different than what I used to look like.

And I still have 15-20lbs of fat to lose, can’t wait to see what I look like then.

Went in Saturday and did my leg workout as laid out by Todd P, my awesome trainer.  I have been having toruble with my SI joint the last few weeks, and Todd advised me to maybe try hacksquats instead of regular squats.  I did so a week ago, and I did not enjoy the hacksquats at all.  If I used a lot of weight it hurt my knees.  If I used less weight, I didn’t feel like I was doing anything.

So anyway, this week I talked to my chiro, and he assured me I was not damaging anything by doing regular squats, it was just aggravating the SI joint.  He said if I were a football player, I probably wouldnt even notice it, because it would just be one of many nagging aches I would be suffering.

So I did squats again this week.  I concentrated on form, kept the weight light, and just did high reps.  5 sets of 15 was my aim.  I managed to do 4 sets of 15 and 1 set of 11.

Miraculously, I have not a single ache in my SI joint, so I feel awesome.

On the other hand, my ass hurts a lot.  hahahahahaha!

My total cholesterol has dropped to 129, but my HDL has remained low, at only 32.  At least the ratio is a lot better than before.  At one time, I had total of 234 and HDL of 38.

As I looked at HDL on the web, I noticed that I do a lot of the things they say help to raise it.  Mainly exercise.  I am doing exercise of some sort every single day.

Genetics truly suck .  I am getting ready to start taking niacin, it seems it is the only one that has some scientific basis that it actually raises hdl.

Wish me luck!

Well, it’s been another week.  I brought my card in from my friend TJ who weighs and measures me every Tuesday morning, input it all in my Bodyspace, and sat back and looked.  Since Labor Day, I have lost 15% of my weight, and many many inches off of my body.  I am not normally a self-promoter, but I am damn proud of myself for once.  This is hard and it sucks sometimes to not eat whatever I want, but the results make it worth it.  Even my calves, which I had no idea were even fat, lost 2" since Labor Day.

The good thing about losing fat is, even though I am smaller, I actually look bigger!

I have also stumbled a couple of times recently on the food. I am trying to eat exactly what my trainer has told me to eat, but for some reason, when I go to my mom’s with my family, I tend to revert to another time, and eat junk food.  I ate 4 pieces of Dove chocolate last time I went on Sunday, and some tortilla chips as well.  I am back to the strict eating again, so at least I haven’t totally blown it.   I have to figure a way out to self govern my behavior at my mom’s.

I have also discovered that I am much much more hungry lately, say in the past week or so.  Before, I was so used to my strict diet, that I almost had to force myself to eat.  Now I am hungry a lot more often, I don’t really understand why.  I guess it’s just mental weakness…
I don’t want to blow it, and I refuse to, so it’s back to strict habits and obsession again.

This is such hard work that we tend to expect results very quickly.  I ate exactly as my diet guru laid me out to do last week, except for one meal on Sunday evening.  Sunday I ate about 2700 calories and felt like I was sinning against God.  I am so used to eating between 1600-1800 on most days.  Resultingly I only lost 1 lb in last week, all because I ate one bad meal.

It is very discouraging, especially when guys on here brag about having to eat 4-5,000 calories per day just to maintain or gain slowly.  If I ate that many calories I would be fat again in 2-3 weeks.   I am working my ass off and it seems for nothing sometimes.
But just as I feel discouraged, I also feel great, because I am really seeing some muscles and vascularity that I never saw before, even as a  teenager.  I am excited that I am getting there.  In certain light, I can even see those little horizontal lines across the flat spot between my pecs.

I just have to buckle down 100% on the diet and squeeze that fat off.  I figure 20-25lbs more and then I will be in great lean shape.

I am finding myself a little frustrated.  I am very happy I have lost a lot of fat, but it seems to have come off everywhere but my sides and lower back.

My chest and waist keep shrinking the same amount, leaving me 5" bigger in the chest than the waist.  I sure would like to get at least a 10" difference.

It’s hard not to compare myself to the 170lb, 5′9" guys on the forum who have 46" chests and 32" waists.  I outweight them by 25lbs and my chest is 4" smaller and my waist is 4" bigger.

Maybe they are measuring their chests flexed or something.

I need to look at the bright side, at least my fat is going away.  Maybe once the fat is down even further, I can start eating more and put on some muscle mass in my chest and back.

After posting for a long time in my training log in the Over 35 section, I thought I would start a blog for people who visit my bodyspace.  Welcome!

I have always had weight problem, lose and gain, lose and gain, over and over again.  I have been overweight since the age of 12 or so, and over 200lbs for about the last 15 years, with a couple of crash diets down into the 190’s.

My chiropractor, Dr TJ Morgan, who is a client of my CPA firm, a bodybuilder, and a close friend, told me in 2005 that I was the age where men just die of a heart attack.  I needed to do something about it that I could maintain, so I could be healthy well into old age, enjoy activities and do stuff with my kids and grandkids to come.

He also told me that I had a natural build for bodybuilding, and that I should strive to get ripped and compete someday.  At the time, I just laughed.

In June 2005 I went on a diet, and started lifting twice a week with TJ.  Starting at 237.5, I lost down to 210.5 by October 2005, but gained 15lbs between Thanksgiving and New Years.  By the time my tax season was over in April 2006, I had gained most of the weight back, even though I was still lifting twice a week.  So I was in better shape, but still…

On the Tuesday after Labor Day 2006, I went to work out and told TJ that I was totally pissed and the weight was coming off for good this time.  I weighed in at 234.5lbs that day.  I got back on the bobybuilding.com form, started my log back up, and started eating better.

I lost pretty steadily, but not as quickly as I hoped.  I tried to look at it as a long-term solution, though, and TJ told me to be patient.  I was still working out only twice a week until around Nov 1.  At that point I decided to get more serious about the exercising part of the equation. Started lifting an additonal two days a week and doing cardio at least 3 times a week.

Around December 1 or so, I met a Canadian ranked bodybuilder named Todd Payette through the Dave Draper.com forums, and hired him long distance to further help me with my goals of competing and getting in shape.  He prescribed pretty exact diet and exercises I was to do on the days that I wasn’t lifting with TJ.  I followed his program fairly well, but not exactly, through New Years. I was cheating on the diet some, and he said no cheating unless I tell you.

Finally, the day after New Years, I vowed to go exactly as Todd said to do.  I weighed in at 211.5 that day.  Since then I have only cheated the times he told me too and as of Feb 6, I am down to 198lbs.

I have a long way to go to compete, but I am a lot healthier than I have ever been.  I look forward to see where I am this Labor Day, after being serious for a whole year.

I am starting to see what TJ told me might be true, I do have a build for bodybuilding.