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

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.

So the important thing…I’ve reached an important goal of mine!  I benched 305 lbs last night for my 1RM!  My goal was to do that by Nov and I have!  It felt awesome and I hope to reach my new goal of 350# by Jan!

Hope all is well in your part of the world!

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!

Well, today I decided was the day to incorporate them into my leg workout.  I’ve been back at the gym now for a couple of months, done my leg work regularly with leg presses, extensions, curls, calf raises, ect…so I figured that I had decent strength.  I do not!  I’ll admit, I went easy on the squats today…more important to me to have a good, full range of motion and a quality, controlled lift.  So I started very light…95 lbs, and did 6 sets working up to 185 lbs for 8 reps.  Not much weight but a starting point!  Damn they sure kicked my butt…seriously, my glute are quite tight today, along with every other muscle in my legs…LOL!

It felt good to do squats again though; I’m glad to work them back into my routine!

This whole schedule/time change thing has got me so f@#^d up, I don’t know what else to do to get my body to sleep-good sleep-during the daylight hours!  It’s been a few days and I thought I would start getting into some type of sleep pattern.  That has NOT happened yet; hell I even worked out 3 times to try to make my body tired and wanting to sleep.  Still, I went to bed at 1345hrs and didn’t sleep but maybe 2-3 hours, very sporadically until I got out of bed at 2200hrs.  I tossed, turned, got up to pee, got up to investigate a couple explosions, got up to eat…I was up anyway an thought the protein would do me some good…all in all, I laid in bed trying to sleep and only managed to get a few hours of rest…not real sleep!  So here it is 0200hrs and I’m not tired or sleepy but I don’t have any real energy…but I’ll keep trying to make myself sleep when I go to bed, eventually I will get adjusted.

Has anyone ever used melatonin as a sleep aid?  I ordered some today in hopes that it will help…just don’t want it to be the type of thing that makes me feel like crap afterwards.

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.