Troy’s BodyBlog

So, the guy on the 12-week transformation videos said to go, right now, and take your picture with your shirt off.  I thought "yeah, that will serve as a mild motivator."  I had no idea that I looked like that!  It literally made me sick to my stomach, which makes it easier to be satisfied with meal 4 of 6 (actually, it’s only SlimFast).  I’m not even going to post it up right now - I would lose so many friends!  I’m not sure how often to take pictures, but I bet that I’ll see some change within weeks.  Seriously, it was Biggest Loser Before Pictures sick!

I’m just about to start a 12-week transformation.  I’ve actually completed a pretty good transformation in the past, but it was really more about losing lbs. than it was about changing my bodyfat/muscle ratio.  I had dropped some 40 lbs. last year, but a lot of it was muscle - I still looked like a smaller fat person.  Since then, I have gained back 26 of the lbs.  I became very sick and required surgery.  It took a long time to get a clearance to go back to the gym, but I was so weak that I got discouraged and really became quite lazy.  Now, I have never been so committed.  I am about to start a new school year AND a new lifestyle - one that incorporates all aspects of a healthy lifestyle so that I can have THE healthy life.  I will be watching the bodyfat percentage more than I will be watching the scale; that will allow me, in my mind, to lift hard, eat the calories that I need, and to drink the water that I need.  Before, I would starve myself before a weigh day which, as we all know, would lead me to binge the following meal.  I know, I know; that’s so unhealthy.

I slept in a bit this morning, and didn’t go to the gym until 7:30.  It was nice to have those three extra hours (spoonin’, snugglin’, etc.n’), but it just wasn’t the same.  The 7:00 - 9:00 crowd is nice enough, but I was really missing the energy that the 4:30 - 6:30 a.m. period offers.  It’s kind of sick/twisted since school’s now out and I could sleep as late as I want but we STILL got up at 3:45 yesterday (my first day off).  I’m planning on doing the same thing again tomorrow.  I just really like seeing those faces/bodies, and I kind of fantasize that they’ll notice if I’m not there and they’ll think that I’m slacking off so I’d BETTER get my butt out of bed and be there at 4:20 (he he). 

Today’s my 100 carb day.  This is something that I’ve never done before (hence, possibly the reason that I haven’t hit all my goals yet), keeping track of calories and all macronutrients.  Reading in the forums and articles, it looks like a lot of people are having success with carb cycling.  I believe that I had done pretty good by switching to only good carbs, but I was still probably getting too much.   So, one article suggested that I have a 5 day cycle of 150 (day 1), 100, 50, 125, 200, then back down to 150.  Physiologically, it will keep my body guessing (just like adjusting workouts and poundages) and psychologically - especially on that 50 carb day (tomorrow) -  I’ll know that I get 125 and 200 the next couple of days.  So, this Friday won’t be a "cheat day," which I usually turn into a "cheat weekend," because I’ll still have to count all of my macronutrients, spread them out over 6 meals (or the first 4 when considering carbs), and stick to the plan.

"Stick to the plan."  Hmm, I guess that’s kind of a new concept for me.  I knew that I had a goal, and that the way of getting there was to eat less and exercise more.  But, just how much less should I eat and how much more should I exercise?  I still feel like a smaller fat person because I didn’t really have a plan.  I did cardio a lot, but not much on weights because I wanted that end result so badly.  I saw on JJanet’s page the other day (oh my gods, do we have some beautiful people on this site, or what?) that her goal was to hit herevery workout day, hit every meal cleanly during the month of May.  How perfect is that?  She has a plan that she knows will work; she sticks to it; it works.  I would have 4-6 meals, most of them good, and possibly do some arms if I felt like it.  Whenever I saw a sample workout or diet in M&F or Flex, I would think "yeah, that’s for someone who’s in shape.  I’ll get there someday.  Until then, I’ll just do what I’ve been doing ’till I get there."  Well, this last weekend I decided to start thinking like someone in shape, someone with a beautiful body.  So, I did the arm workout on Monday (yesterday) which really kicked my butt.  I’ve never been this tired and I’ve never felt this right.  I planned out every single meal, right down to the fish oil and creatine, and I stuck to it.  Today, I did HIIT after legs, just like the plan said; and tomorrow I’m going to be doing abs, calves, and 2 hours on the treadmill at 60% of max HR, just like the plan said.  How dare I take this gift that was handed me - 12 weeks off, knowledge of 1000’s of bodybuilders, and a kick-fanny gym that I love - and not make the absolute most of it?  How dare I?  BTW, I didn’t weigh myself yesterday, and I’m not going to tomorrow.  I’m going to let the plan do all the work.

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?

I can’t WAIT to start feeling positive again, which will really start at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow morning.  After a 3 week suckfest, I’m expecting the Doc to give me the "all clear" to get back into the gym although, I have to admit, I’m kinda/kinda not looking forward to the exam - she’s not exactly ugly and that’s much more uncomfortable than the fact that she’s a woman (she really is a genius and the best doctor ever).  I do think that I’ll refrain from making stupid comments like the last time (her:"Well, it’s pretty obvious that you’re experiencing some major swelling."  Me: "Nope, it even looks like that after I go swimming").  I was wondering why I was even more down, mentally, than I thought I would be from an imposed 3 week rest and then I realized that I hadn’t been on BB.com for most of this time.  Thank-you all for the kind private messages (that wasn’t a pun) and comments on posts and the blog.  I haven’t been a really good friend to y’all, I’ll try to make up for it on my lunch hour and planning period.  I had some stalker/fans that I hadn’t even accepted for 2 weeks.   I suck - er- I USED to suck, but now I don’t.

So, my doctor has ordered me to stay on my butt for another week - not a great thing when I’ve got goals to reach.  Told me that I have chronic epidydimitis (Google it, but don’t look for pictures - you might see me there!) and that I can’t be up for a total of 2 weeks.  This used to happen to me at least twice, sometimes three times a year, but it’s been a full year since my last case.  I hate Lortab, when I used to love it.  Now, it’s just one more thing to slow my metabolism and keep me on my butt.  I’m really down.  I mean really, really down.  This is my Spring Break, so I don’t have to take time off from work, but we should be out playing with my family and I had planned on going balls out (pardon the expression) this week to make more gains and losses.  Did I mention that I’m really, really down? 

and a little hypocritical that I get so pumped after reading the ads and website from Animal Pak?  I like to consider myself a pretty cerebral guy - when people tell me that they hate baseball, I kind of smirk in a "that’s because you can’t understand the psychology and you can’t keep an attention span longer than….hey, I’m still talking to you" kind of way.  And I know that we ALL love Henry Rollins’ "The Iron;" in fact, I’ve given several copies to some of my students.  But, I really, really love reading the online "journals" on Animal Pak’s website.  Now, I get a lot of encouragement and celebrations of manhood here - guys like Lift247 and NinjaBill remind me that it’s perfectly o.k. to be hardcore and that it’s perfectly fine that I lift to Mudvayne, Static X and Fear Factory.  Plus, guys that blog here aren’t trying to sell me something.  I do find, though, that it’s starting to affect my own personal journaling - I find myself writing things like "Monday, March 17.  My girl asks me to stay home this morning but the b- just doesn’t get it.  She is not my number one priority right now.  She can’t fuel the pump that I need just to get through another piece of s- day.  She can’t fuel my brain with the fire that it takes to realize that I am better than any other pathetic piece of meat on this God-forsaken planet, where there are no heroes except the ones you create in your head and, of course, me.  She doesn’t even realize that I don’t think about her all f-in’ day, that it’s just the steel, the pump, the protein, the creatine, the blood, the sweat - but no tears because I ain’t no pansy."

By the way, "my girl," which I would never call her that because she neither belongs to me nor is she a "girl," is not a b- and, this morning, it was her that helped me stay for a 45 minute cardio session after lifting.  And I never have a "piece of s- day," there are plenty of heroes, and I am kind of a pansy.  It does feel good to be a bada$$ once in a while, though.

A great morning.  I ran 4 miles without stopping at my fastest time ever - but it was easier than I expected because I had Tonya to the right of me and AmyLK to the left (sorry, Amy, but I’m not going to apologize for your looking so good!).  Thus, the 4 mile sandwich.  If only I could get those two to run the 5k with me, but I’m guessing that Amy’s time would be half of mine. 

I know that the Circle is getting together this summer - far, far away from here - but could you imagine what I could get done with PixiG, Jjanet, Stormiorsini, Maddi, Missathena, PBolton, and TheNamesDonna in the hizzy?  Not to mention NinjaBill and VTdad (although they’d inspire me in a much more "guy" way and less of a "creepy stalker" way.  Well, I guess that I’ll just have to keep realizing that they are with me every morning, every workout, and in the smile of every child who’s delighted by a soap bubble or the first flittering butterfly of Spring.  Whoa, must need more Creatine - and maybe I should check into Andro.