Troy’s BodyBlog

Since hitting my goal with my students, I’ve been able to really enjoy hitting the gym and trail.  It’s been so nice not climbing onto that scale twice a day - I was a little neurotic - and just work out for the sake of working out.  It seems like, now, I’m eating much better than before and my training is more intense.  I think that’s because I’m not focused on those numbers on the scale, which could fluctuate 3 lbs. from morning to morning, and paying attention to the image in the mirror, the percentage on the Body Fat Analyzer, and the man that I’m becoming inside.  This just feels right. 

My gym usually opens at 4:20 a.m. (and I’m expecting that there aren’t any stoners on this blog to get that irony), but I knew that it opened later today because of the holiday.  I thought it was 7:00, which is when I showed up, but it didn’t open until 8:00.  I was loaded up on caffeine - ready to hit the cardio hard - and I didn’t want to lose that jolt, so I went to the park close to my house that has a track going around it.  I knew that there was a difference between running inside and out, but I didn’t expect it to be so drastic.  I could immediately feel the pounding in my shins and knees, so I just did some fast walking - 4.1 mph for two hours.  The time really seemed to fly, though; it was probably because of the change of scenery.  I’m thinking that, next week when school gets out, I’ll get the the gym at 4:20 (he he) to hit the weights when no one is there, do 30 minutes of HIITof the treadmill, and then come home and go around the park for another hour at 55 to 60% of my max. 

A lot of my students have commented that they’re coming back to visit next year to see if I made my next 12 week goal, but I’m really not sure how much bodyfat percentage loss can be expected.  I’ll research it right now, right after I change the laundry.

Kick out the jams, Motherf-!  I did it!  Today’s the day!  Finally, after months of busting my fat butt, climbing on that stupid scale day after day, I am at 100% of the goal that I set with my students.  55 lbs. lost!  A weight of 215 - a number I haven’t seen since I was in 8th grade - the same age as the students that I teach.  They don’t know yet; I’ve kept my bulletin board at 90% for several weeks now with a note that I wasn’t going to change it until I hit 100.  We’re going to be having a gradewide celebration on Wednesday morning, and I can show the picture that I took of the scale. 

I know that this is a big accomplishment, but I do feel a little let down.  To be honest, it’s because I kind of went about this whole thing the wrong way.  I made the goal with them based on lbs., when I should have really been focusing on bodyfat percentage.  A lot of really helpful people on BB.com suggested that I come up with alternative ways to show them about the BF%, but these kids were really only interested in the lbs.  So, as you can imagine, I spent way more time on cardio than I did with weights, and cut my calories to the point where I might have messed up my metabolism for a while.  I know that I look a lot better, I just feel like I’m a smaller fat person.  Does that make sense?  The great news is that, now that I’m done, my wife and I are putting the scale out in the shed and buying a BF% monitor that doesn’t even equate lbs.  So, for the next 12 weeks (starting at 4:15 this morning), I can dose the creatine, the extra protein, and hit the weights (which I’ve really missed), and watch the bf% drop.  How fast could I expect it to fall?  I’m at 215 lbs. with 25% bf. 

Sadly, I won’t be running the 5K’s over these next 6 weeks.  I’m still not able to take much, er, "bouncing" even with the adequate "support."  I’m still glad to be a guy and not go through what our women go through every month.  They’re the REAL bad Mo-Fo’s.

 Yay Me!!

Well, I am back, but it’s been a really tough month.  The great news is that my goal date is 10 days away, and there is no question that I’m going to make it.  It will be a great schoolwide goal celebration. 

There were some complications, meaning that I really shouldn’t be doing much heavy lifting or extreme cardio, so I’ve had to drastically change my diet.  On top of that, my little girl had to go back into the hospital - which really took a lot out of my wife and me, mentally and emotionally.  But, it really looks like great things are ahead of us  - the weather is turning great and we’ve been walking outside at a park nearby.  I’ve been waiting for this for so long, and it’s right here.  Life really is good, isn’t it?