robmckim2’s BodyBlog

I was just reading my previous blog and realized that I hadn’t been on BB.com in a LONG time; too long.  Moreover, I haven’t been myself in a long time so let me get up-to-date…

I got home from Afghanistan on March 14th 2008 and got into a terrible, dull, hermit-like state of being a "home-body".  I didn’t want to go anywhere, do anything or see anyone but I did want to eat…all the wonderful stuff I did without for so long overseas I ate and ate and ate and…well you get the idea.  So I didn’t do any physical activity or get any exercise for nearly 3 months or so because I got so damn lazy.  Now I am struggling with motivation and getting into the "habit" of it all.  I have started my cardio back, I am lifting and other things on top of working (civilian jobs) 6 or 7 days a week but haven’t been making it "regular" or the "habit" that it needs to be.

So I’m seeking motivation and thanks to "Jules" I am starting to realize I’ve let myself go for too long and I have to get to work to catch up to her hot body!

Wish me luck, push me hard, motivate me and help me!!!!!!

LOL

I’ve not been blogging in a long time and there are several factors leading to my recent lack of motivation that have led me to this current post.

We switched to the "Midnight" shift on 1 OCT which seriously affected my sleep pattern for a long time; thus I didn’t do the cardio I must do to maintain a lower BF percentage.  Then, in November I went on vacation for most of the month and when I say that I was lazy…well, that’s an understatement.  Not to mention that I was back stateside and I ate, ate and ate some more.  I enjoyed ALL the wonderful tastes and smells that I’ve missed for the last year + and on top of it; I believe they were even better since I enjoyed them for the first time since I QUIT smoking…it all just seemed better.  Sex, food, family, my kids all seemed better but that wonderful vacation has led me back down to where I started out; practically.

When I returned back to my Platoon I immediately hopped on the scale and had a tape test performed to solidify what my gut was telling me; that I was again a Fatty!  What’s worse, is I also became a LAZY Fatty!  My weight (and fat) is back up to its original status…well mostly.

So I have started back, hitting the weights and the cardio as of the last 2 days.  But it’s like starting all over again, quite literally, but it did feel good to pound some iron again and as far as the cardio…well it sucks wind ALOT right now but I’m bound and determined to get back on track as quickly as possible.  The hardest part is my diet; it’s not like we have wonderful cuisine to dine on or any 4 star establishments BUT when we do have something that’s good, it’s just my luck that it’s something that I really shouldn’t eat. 

SO…while I am confident that I’m back in the gym doing the necessary things to get my weight back in check, it is my diet that I am going to have to work the hardest with!  I do enjoy food but have to readjust so that I am not enjoying it nearly as much.

I’ve not posted anything new in about a month and thought it was about time.  Besides I got the day off today and have to fill my entire day with "stuff" so that I don’t go to sleep!  I am changing shifts (yet again) as of today for the 3rd time in the last 10 days.  I went from midnights to days (for a class) back to midnights, now they want those of us that got certified to be on a completely different, albeit better shift from 0630 to 1830.  I WILL NOT complain about being on these hours at all but just need to get normalized so that my sleep pattern can be once again-a pattern!

On to my workouts…I mentioned previously that I was going to bulk since being on midnights and would be doing very little to no cardio…well it has shown a little.  I’m up about 11 lbs and all of my lifting has increased as well as measurements, including my waistline a bit but I’m bound and determined to fix that now.  Since I’m back on days I’ll be doing my cardio again daily and working on getting that BF% down to where I want it before November!  I did a 30 min. session this a.m., and although I was sweating seriously…it felt great to be running and I actually ran at a better pace than I was previously; part of that is contributed to my continued dedication of quitting smoking.  In 8 days it will be 2 months smoke free!!!  I feel pretty darn good and want to start looking as good as I feel, so here comes me on the damn "dreadmill"! 

I’m going to be lifting as hard as I can while increasing my cardio daily from 30 min. to an hour every day; of course allowing myself at least one rest day a week.  I’m also trying to fine tune my diet much better.  The last month(+) I’ve been eating just about anything and everything I wanted, keep in mind that my choices are very limited BUT I WILL BE BETTER!  I also ordered some basic supps from my fav and yours-BB.com, you know, BCAA’s and the like, just to tune in my diet, cardio and lifting for a good balance. 

I have about 3.5 months to reach my goal and I am going to start hitting it hard so that I AM at under 10% BF, looking good and cut, strong and healthy.  I don’t want to disappoint myself now do I!?!

Question: Is it possible to drop 8-9% BF in 3.5-4 months? 

I’m sure as hell gonna try!

I feel better today than I have in the last few days; I actually got some sleep yesterday.  Not like 8 hours of deep, REM sleep but at least I DID sleep for a few hours!
Then this morning (last night) when I got up, before I went to work I decided to check my BF% at the advice of someone on BB.com.  Well, my waist line has actually gone down a couple of inches, dropping my overall BF% down with it!  I know it’s not much to most, but any sign of improvement is important to my motivation.
So only 5 more hours till I get off shift and then it to the gym, shower and off to bed to TRY to sleep even more!  Wish me luck and best of luck to all of you with your goals!

As if the days in Afghanistan aren’t long enough.  Today/tonight we are making the transition from working the day shift to working the night shift.  It means that we all work an 18 hr shift, take 12 hrs off and then begin working from midnight to noon.  No big deal really; it just makes my schedule goes BONKERS and throws off everything from the sleep pattern to the workout and cardio times.

So I tried to stay up all night last night to sleep SOME during the day today; funny how that never really works the way I want it to.  I managed to stay up till about 0500hrs discovering that the suns starts to rise a 0410 here right now.  Went to sleep and woke up again at 0800 (bathroom calling) layed back down but only slept till around 1200hrs when I started to toss-n-turn till almost 1300hrs.  Finally gave up, got out of bed and went to the cardio room. 

Wanted to do an hour of low intensity, fat-burning cardio when I HAD to go to the latrine 30 minutes into it.  So when I got back I just started over at 0…did an hour, then off to work the abs for about 20 minutes, multiple angles and exercises before I finished up with an easy 20 minute jog on the DREADMILL! 

Did I do too much cardio, maybe but it felt good I didn’t feel like I "over did it".  Anyway, I’m now…4.5 hrs into this looong night in Afghanistan and wondering how many more times I’ll sleep not sleep and train; just to get through the long shift.

Yeah for me…today makes 7 full days of being smoke-free!  I plan to make this a life-long change to benefit the fact that I’m working out so hard AND that I’m running so much…it all helps and I feel TONS better for not smoking!