szrow’s BodyBlog

I have my sights on a new goal, which is to be a Bodybuilding.com Transformation of the Week http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/trans_m.htm.  I often visit this page of the Bodybuilding.com site as it provides a great deal of motivation for me.  I see regular guys who have made amazing transformations with their bodies, many of who started out in situation much like my own.  They were overweight and fed-up and decided to make a change for the better.  I would like to achieve the conditioning that many of them have, which is an excellent physique. 

It’s a great feeling when you see the scale move in the direction that you want it to!! I weighed in on Monday, April 27th after two wreckless weeks of eating and the scale read 269 lbs.  I started eating right again and began hitting the weights seriously on Monday, May 4th.  When I stepped on the scale on May 11th it read 261 lbs.  That’s a 2-week weight loss of 8 pounds.  If that’s not motivation to keep going I don’t know what is. I would like to get down to 250 by my birthday in a few weeks.  I know it’s abitious, but I’m going to try it anyhow. 

It’s Wednesday and I’m feeling much better.  I took the incentive sparked by that unfriendly comment and put it to good use.  I have been hitting the gym daily. In fact I have been putting in two cardio sessions per day.  I’m hoping to start lifting weights this evening.  I stepped on the scale on Monday morning and saw that I had gained 6 pounds since I fell off track back in February.  It was April of 2000 when I started my first fitness transformation, and lost about 35 pounds over 3 months.  I am recalling everything I did back then.  I believe one of the key factors was cardio twice a day, five days a week, and weights once a day five days a week.  I did cardio early in the day, and then again before bed.  Also, I’m getting my diet back in order, I have cut sugar and will be watching my simple carbohydrates.  My birthday is next month and there is no way I’m going into a new year with all this excess baggage. 

Yesterday I got all the encentive I needed to push forward with my workouts full-speed.  When leaving for church, I accidentally forgot my suit coat at home.  So I was without a coat all day long.  Before the morning service began one of the "old" deacons approached me with a grin on his face, and commented that I looked "good and fat".  With the coat on my belly is less noticable…but without it the whole world can see it.  I told him that was the last time he would be able to make that comment.  I know he meant it as a complement…because clergy men tend to be overweight…but that was not a complement in my eyes.  I thank him, for giving me the encentive that I needed to get my butt out of bed this morning and hit the gym…and seriously clean up my diet.  Good and fat…not for long.

Man I have to get this fat off my body now!! I’m getting back on track and feeling good about it.  I started back with the weights and cardio last week, now I’m trying to build back up to working out five days a week.  I’m using a push and pull workout routine to get things started.  I have had good results with this routine in the past.  Working my chest, biceps, and shoulders Monday and Thursday, legs on Wednesday and back, biceps, and abs on Tuesday and Thursday.  Also, I’m going to do cardio twice a day monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, once in the morning along with my weight routine and then again before bed.  It has been hard getting back on track, but it’s definitely worth it.

When you fall, it’s hard as hell to get back up again.  I have been trying and it’s VERY DIFFICULT.  After a month away from the gym it’s hard to force myself to get up at 4am to hit the gym, not to mention packing healthy food in my thermos to take to work everyday.  However, If I want the results, this is what I have to do.  Therefore, it’s time to stop complaining about how hard it is and just get started.  Tonight I will hit the gym and do a one-rep-max test to establish a benchmark for my weight training and get my ass in gear.  I guess that means that I have to throw out the bag of Chips Ahoy my wife bought last night huh?

February was a grueling month for me and my family.  I’m getting over a cold right now and I have battled cold and flu viruses three times within the last four weeks.  Just as I began to hit the weights I came down with the flu and it knocked me on my ass for over a week.  When I recovered I found out that my wife had to have surgery.  So after she nursed me back to health I began nursing her back to health.  Just when I thought the flu has passed, it came back and hit me again.  Subsequently, my diet has sucked for the past month because I either didn’t have an appetite (flu) or I was eating crappy.  I haven’t seriously worked out since February 6th.  That’s a whole month down the drain.  The plus side is that I’m getting myself back on track this week.  Monday I began eating better (cleaner eating), like I know I should and I will start working out tonight.  The major plus is that I didn’t gain any of the weight back….It sucks that I lost a whole month, I just have to pick myself up and get back to it. 

My name is Sean, I am 36 and I reside in the Inland Empire area of Southern California, which is about 50 miles east of Los Angeles.  I have a weight problem that I have been wrestling with for almost 20 years. 
 

As a child, I was extremely skinny; in fact, I could not keep weight on.  Unfortunately, when puberty hit I got fat almost overnight.  On my tenth birthday, I was skinny; a year later on my eleventh birthday I was fat (with man boobs).  I believe my sedentary lifestyle caused the problem.  I was not interested in sports; subsequently, I was not physically active.   
 

As a child a typical day involved me lounging on the family room sofa eating chips and cookies, while playing video games.  As a teenager, I began trying all kinds of diets; unfortunately, none of them worked for the long-term.   

For several years, I worked out off and on with meager progress.  One day I realized that I needed to learn more about what I was trying to accomplish and I began to research fitness and nutrition.  I read every bodybuilding article and book I could get my hand on.  The more I read the more intrigued I became with the whole concept of exercise, fitness, and wellness.  Slowly but surely I began to piece the puzzle together.  What I finally realized, was in order to achieve my dream body I had to get all of the components right, and working together in harmony. 
 

With everything working in harmony, I finally started to see some results.  In fact, in 2000 I managed to drop over 30-pounds in three months by watching my diet, and exercising 5-days a weeks.  I reduced my waist size down from a 42” to a size 34”.  I kept the weight off for about 4-years until I returned to college to complete my degree.  As a fulltime husband, father, employee, and student there was not much time for fitness, and gradually I regained the weight.  I completed my degree 2-years ago and now I am back in a size 42”.    
 

In addition to earning my degree, I also studied for a certificate in fitness and exercise physiology.  Now it is time to put all of that knowledge to use.  I have amassed a small arsenal of information.  More than I should ever need to reach my ultimate goal, which is to develop an awesome rock-hard body with a chiseled chest (no more man-boobs), defined back, abdominals, and sculpted arms, shoulders, and legs.  I want to see the muscular definition throughout my body.  In addition, I will blast this body fat off my body dropping it from thirty percent down to eight.  I have developed an “all or nothing” attitude. 
 

I plan to use this blog to journal my body transformation journey.