Been thinking about exploring some alternate lines of work in the next few months to a year.  Possibly going back into photography full time.  It’s more of a passion, and my confidence levels are high now. 

Crazy tough workout with my trainer last night.  Sore today.  Nailed legs last night somehow.  Squats were at 300 lbs … did single leg squats (killer for me) … lunges and all that good stuff.  Matt’s been trying to hit my triceps hard, because they’ve really been holding back my bench.  Feeling stronger, though.  The next few months will see some very solid gains.

I’ve just had to finally increase my calories some.  Hunger was getting noticeably stronger, and I’ve been waking up in the middle of the night hungry.  End up grabbing some cottage cheese/peanut butter at about 2 am.  Ha.  This morning I woke up at 6, hungry as I could be … ate a good breakfast and was starving again by 10, so had my mid-morning meal.  By noon I was like … this is nuts, I could eat a horse.  So I’m just listening to the body and giving it good stuff.  We’ll see what happens I guess.

Down another pound this morning on the scale.  Total: 78 pounds gone forever.

So last week, something terrible happened.  A fellow I knew (from belonging to a forum of weather enthusiasts together) was tragically killed in a car accident.  Apparently he hit a deer.  The last post he made in our forum happened to be in a thread I had started about taking care of yourself and getting healthier.  His post is so positive and forward-thinking that I wanted to share it in here:

———————-

Congratulations to all of you who have decided to get on the the path to good health. I’ll briefly share my story. I am 41 years old and married with 2 children. I was one of those people who ate like a maniac and never gained a pound. I ate more junk food then you could imagine. I was actually very skinny the first 25 years of my life but when I hit thirty my metabolism caught up with me and I became very much overweight. This year on March 10th I weighed in at 323 pounds (I am 6′3). The reason that date stands out is because that night I attended the wake of a co-worker who died of a heart attack at the age of 34. He was also married with two children and to see him lying in the coffin really affected me. His six year old daughter (the same age as my son) had drew some pictures that were in his coffin that said how much she really missed him and how sad she was. Besides feeling extremely sad for her and her family it woke me up in a big way. I realized that I was a prime candidate for a heart attack among other serious health illnesses. That night after I got home from the wake I decided that I was going to change my eating habits and begin to excercise more. I didn’t go on a crash diet or anything but decided that I was going make smart choices and educate myself on how best to lose the weight over time in a healthy way.

The first thing I did was to set a goal. My goal is to lose 100 lbs in one years time, or about 2 pounds per week on average. So far I’m ahead of schedule and have lost 35 pounds. I am at 288 lbs currently. I think my ideal weight will be somewhere around 200-210 pounds. Like I said I am not on a diet but these are some of the things I have been doing the last couple months.

* I cut out all fast food with exception to Subway. No McD’s, Wendy’s Taco Bell, etc. When I do go to Subway I don’t overdo it on the fatty
meats, don’t put on Mayo or oils and use only wheat bread.
* I eat oatmeal and a banana for breakfast every morning and then I eat every 3 hours of the day to keep my metabolism going.
* I cut down on my portions and I do not eat late at night at all. If I get a late night hunger crave I will allow myself to have some baby carrots.
* I am drinkiing at least a gallon of water every day.
* I am walking at least a mile a day (I think this has helped me tremendously). I have began to be more active again playing golf, tennis, basketball and riding my bike.
* I have cut down on sugar, caffeine, alcohol and carbs.

Sometimes it’s not easy and there have been a coulpe times where I probably ate more than I needed to but I don’t beat myself up about it. I just stay focused on my goals and the reasons I am doing this. I have a long way to go but this isn’t just a year long thing for me, this is a change in the way I want to live the rest of my life. Soon I will begin working out 3-4 days a week concentrating on cardio and toning up.

I will look forward to visiting this thread again and reading about all of your success stories to help inspire me and hopefully I will be able to continue to share my own progress.

Best,
Fabian

————————-

So this whole thing has hit me pretty hard, as you might well imagine.  First, it’s just a sad irony that he had reversed his thinking on health because of a situation in which a man left behind two children.  And now, he’s left his own behind.  But at the same time, his post made me happy that we had all been encouraging each other and that he was making positive changes for all the right reasons.  It made me realize just how short and precious life really is for all of us.  There are no guarantees of living a long life, that’s for sure.  We need to take advantage of the time we have and make it worthwhile, that’s all I know.

I think that it is his attitude here and the way this has impacted me this week that will finally drive me to make this a permanent shift in my habits and thinking.  I’ve been doing this for nearly nine months now … why not make it permanent?  Fabian’s example shows me that I’m not just taking care of myself for my own sake, but for the sake of all the people around me … all the ones that my life has an impact on.  I’d like to thank him for that and wish I could.  I think the best way to show my gratitude at this point would be to look after my life from now on and refuse to ever look back.

Last week was a bust as far as the gym is concerned. I came down with bronchitis and did something to a rib as I was having a coughing fit one evening. Went to the doctor the next day … took x-rays and was close to getting pneumonia. Went on azythromyacin, prednazone and xopex, along with a cough syrup. Noticed the difference in my breathing right away. The rib seemed to heal up over the weekend. It’s still sore when I cough and sometimes if I’m laying on it wrong, but it actually feels pretty much fine at this point.

Yesterday I hit the elliptical at the gym for 40 mins and actually felt better than I did the last time I did it over a week ago. Have to wonder if it is just because I was finally getting oxygen into my lungs.

I didn’t gain an ounce with all of the laying around, which totally rocks. Took a cheat night on Friday night and had tuna casserole (love that stuff) and some whiskey for the cough (lol). I plan to try working with the trainer tonight. If not, will keep doing cardio till I can hit up the CrossFit again. Wearing a shirt today that I bought six months ago … it had been mismarked on the rack and was way too small. Thought I’d never fit in it, but here it is … with a little room to spare even.

I’ll be closing down the Jan. 1-April 1 contest at 22 pounds down, looks like. Not bad. The AllStar contest, running from 4/1 to 7/1 should take me to goal and then some. Suhweeet … I am officially 60 pounds down total since last September.  Groovy!

I knew that I was the ONLY one who could make a difference in this situation.  No one was going to start caring about me if I didn’t step up to the plate and start doing it myself.  So here I am, going on six months into the transformation process, and already realizing that I am a NEW MAN, inside and out.  I’m catching my reflection in the glass as I walk by and thinking, ‘who is that guy?’ … looking trim and feeling just incredible. 

I reached the 50 pound milestone this week.  50 pounds.  It’s a ridiculous amount of weight when you think about it.  When I told our Wellness Coordinator at work the news, this was her response:

Congratulations on your results!!!!  You are AWESOME!!!  Your dedication and hard work is paying off!  I am so proud of you!  You are such an amazing example to everyone around you of how positive lifestyle changes can not only have positive physical outcomes but also energy and mind.  I have noticed that you are so full of energy all of the time!!!

Great Job!!

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=113415211

Stop by for amusement purposes.  Things going GREAT here.  Continue to lose (kind of in jumps and starts).  I plateau for a while each week and then suddenly one day toward the end of the week I’ll drop some poundage.  Fine with me.  I’m down 44 pounds as of this morning.  Workouts continue to come along nicely and I’m making progress in the gym.

Along with Dave’s (ski23man) suggestions, I’m going to be altering the cardio a bit starting next week.  Going to get my hiney out from under the covers by 6:00 am on the cardio days, and hit the treadmills/ellipticals/stairmasters for a good 40 minutes three times next week.  I bet I’ll have something to show for it by the end of the week!!!  Dave has made outstanding progress over the past several months doing it that way - - no more slacking for me - - hitting this full force.

As of this weekend I’ve lost a total of 40 pounds.  Can’t believe I’ve hit that mark.  It’s crazy.  I met up with a bunch of people over the weekend who I haven’t seen in four months.  And it just happens that I’ve been transforming during those entire four months, so seeing their reactions was AWESOME.  I don’t know how many comments I got from different people, coming up to tell me how great I looked.  What a great boost!

Starting the fat loss competition on the first, being carried on in the fat loss forum.  On Team 1, which is a power team.  Can’t wait to get underway and continue watching my body change between now and April 1st.  The next six months are going to be amazing, that’s all I know.

Meeting up with trainer tonight … I’m starting to wonder if I might actually get addicted to doing the Olympic lifting stuff.  I really honestly love it.  I think I’ll make quick progress too.  My body seems like it’s totally made for it …

We worked with just four of the core lifts tonight … deadlifts, squats, bench press and standing military press.  Feel like I came away with some great information and inspiration to make this happen.  The military press was pretty substantial, and the squats ended up hitting my legs hard enough that I’m feeling it now.  I’ll be able to go heavier on the deadlifts I’m sure.  Actually kind of enjoyed doing them.

Lots to look forward to over the coming weeks.  Each little step is movement in the right direction and one step closer to reaching another goal.

Started the new split routine last night with chest/triceps.  Being that several motions were new to me, it ended up being a light session.  My triceps feel it this morning, but it just seems like it takes an act of God to make my chest tighten up.  The trainer should be able to help get me where I need to be that way. 

I cannot wait for summer, 2009!

Monday - Chest/Tri 

Chest 

Bench press 4×8-10

Incline DB press 4×8-10, superset with Incline DB flies 3×10

Cable crossovers 3×10 

Triceps 

Skull crushers 3×10

Rope pushdowns 3×10 

Lying DB extensions (dropset) 

Tuesday - Cardio only 

Wednesday - Legs 

Squats 4×12, 10, 8, 6 

Stiff leg dead lifts 3×6 

DB Lunges 3×12 

Seated calf raises 4×12 

Single leg DB calf raises 4×8 

Thursday - Shoulders/Cardio 

Machine shoulder press - 4×10 

DB front raises – 3×10 

DB rear lateral raises - 3×10 

Shrugs - 3×10 

Friday - Back/Biceps 

Back 

Deadlifts – 4×6 

Bent over DB rows - 4×10 

Seated cable rows - 4×10 

Cable front pulldown - 4×10 

Biceps 

Preacher curls - 3×8-10 

Hammer curls - 3×10 

Concentration curls - (dropset) 

Saturday - cardio only 

Sunday - rest

For legs Friday night, I did four sets of squats, followed by four sets of leg press, then four of leg extensions, seated ham curls, lunges, machine calf raises and single leg calf raises.  Yesterday was 30 mins. of HIIT on an elliptical, which put the final nail in my legs’ coffin, I think.  They should be fairly well recovered by tomorrow, but I’m definitely planning on doing this again this week.  I’ve seriously been considering a split routine now.  Even though I’ve only been back on for three months this time, I really think I need to start concentrating on body parts individually to achieve the best results.  So tonight I might work on putting something together to start next week.  The 15th marks the official 12 week end.  Will get BF tested and take shots … hopefully see some progress.  We’ll see.  No weight loss scale-wise so far this week, but I’m not really disappointed.  I’m seeing a lot of good changes, so I’m assuming the muscle building is at work.  Plus, the supps are no doubt having an effect as well.  Speaking of supps, yesterday I was pretty out of it before cardio, so I decided to try some White Flood for the first time.  Ummm … WOW.  Had no idea it would kick start me the way it did.  Within 20 mins, my face and skin were tingling, it was the strangest feeling.  Then I had the urge to get up and run around the planet a time or two.  The workout kicked butt big time.  I had a much different response than I do with the SP250.  Once my SP250 runs out, I’m definitely doing a cycle on WF.

This morning I got up and had a 5 egg omelet … 3 whites and two whole.  Smothered in my favorite salsa (Italian Rose … MMM).  Such a good breakfast.  I am so not hungry right now, but need a shake in about 20 mins anyway.  To do list today includes getting a haircut and hitting up the supermarket.  Catching up on the laundry and dishes.  Dishes are totally a way of life these days.  Cooking all your own stuff has a way of piling them up in the sink much faster than the previous eating out days did.  It’s a small price to pay … but I still hate dishes.

OK, here’s the part where I reaffirm to myself that the week ahead is going to perfect in the workout department, and I will give myself all the nutrition I need to keep making gains while simultaneously spurring fat burnage.  It’s going to happen.  I feel another great week coming on.