wolfcubbz’s BodyBlog

Well Operation Andre’…(pause for effect)…ManCandy is still an ongoing adventure.  I am sorry to say that I didn’t hit my first goal of 100lb weightloss by the 31^st of March 2008.  In fact my total weightloss has only been 70lbs.  I went from 310lbs to 230lbs that was 80lbs but then my weight went back up to 240lbs.  I don’t know what to think about this gain in weight because I actually can feel the muscle taking shape under the layers of fat.

I look better than I used to and I am feeling stronger with less aches and pains, so I am counting everything in the plus column not the negative column.  I will continue to life weights with the help of all the great advice I am receiving from this site.  Being a part of BodySpace has truly helped me continue on when I would normally have given up.  And for me to take photos of myself and post them for the world to see is unbelievable…I have come a long way.  Thanks to all my friends.

All my major lifts have improved, my shirts are fitting better and my pants are all baggy.  That is a great feeling.  I didn’t hit my mark, but I am really excited to see how far I can get throughout this coming year.

This next year, I will continue to lift and learn to eat healthier without feeling deprived of life’s goodness.  I will take myself closer to my goals of being 200lbs at 9% bodyfat.  I will go from scrap heap to sculpted physique.  It will not be easy as I have learned through the last 12 months of my life but it is worth the journey.  I should say that “I” am worth the journey.  Everyone pray with me…OOMM-LOC-LOC-OOMM!!!HA HA HA!!!

Is there a pill I can take to make me not hat working abs!!!  I need help in this area, any secrets other than just get to it.  I have to force myself to work abs, I just hate the cramping feeling.  I know, I know, I am just sniveling.  I will just gut it out and continue the journey, so please, I don’t need a snivel-ectomy!!!  HA HA HA!!!

Thanks for always having my back, cause this is definitely an uphill battle for me!!!

“Always Forwards, Never Quit”!!!

Thanks Andre’

I love to lift light weights but I don’t lift extremely heavy because of my injuries, and I am constantly told that I’ll never reach the much sought after beefcake status. Is this true?  Do I need to come to some sort of realization that my goal is unattainable?  I really don’t want to be huge, just sculpted and defined.  I am trying to reach 190lbs – 210lbs @ a single digit bodyfat percent.  I am happy with my gains (or should I say losses…Yeah me!!!) thus far, but all this negativity about the amount I am lifting has me worried.  I know after surviving 3 helicopter crashes, 5 major combat deployments, several airborne jumps, falls, shot, stabbed and 1,000’s of forced marches I should be happy that I am physically capable to make it to a gym.  But I am not the type to just accept things that I have the power to change.  I want what I want, and I am going to get it!!!  I don’t care what these youngsters in the gym say.  I means heck, I’ve jumped out of more aircraft that they have climbed into!!!

During my workouts, I pick a weight that my injured joints can handle, and push until I cannot push anymore.  I focus on form and function of the involved muscle group, not just heaving up some heavy weights.  I cannot afford to re-injure myself.  I am in it for the longevity and health of it.  Healthy living has been my goal and dream for as long as I can remember.  Spending the last 25 years of my life in the military wasn’t conducive to that goal.  They used to feed us a diet rich in carbs and fat, which recently has changed for the better.  This war on terrorism is the exception, not the rule.  The average soldier “GAINS” 15lbs while deployed, back in the day (I guess I am that old grumpy guy now) the average soldier lost 15lbs.  This war is being catered, a person can eat as much as they want as often as they would like to.  Fast food establishments like Burger King, Popeyes, and Cinnabon are also offered on many base camps.

Discipline played a major role in my losing the initial 80lbs of fat.  Learning to keep a written log of my intake was most difficult for me, now as it turns out, it is my saving grace.  I know exactly how much I am eating and in what proportions. (Fat/Carbs/Protein/Fiber).  I created an excel spreadsheet that allows me to punch in the item and it’s proportions and the spreadsheet adds it up for me.  It also calculates daily, weekly, and monthly averages.

This has been most helpful during my current CKD cycle.  If I consume more than 60 grams of carbs one day I will cut back the next.  By the end of the week it all averages out to less than 50 grams.  I eat basically the same things so once I put them into the spreadsheet, I use a master list to cut and paste foods to the daily intake page.  It is quite simple and very convenient for me.

I plan on taking photos at the end of this cycle, which ends at the end of February.  I am very nervous about taking photos.  Pictures don’t lie………WISH ME LUCK!!!

Ok so here is the deal: I was recently released from imprisonment (not really but it sure felt like a prison) in an Army outpost in the middle of Baghdad.  I was confined to a 20’ by 20’ room for three months straight.  Food was prepared and served from an Army Field Kitchen. If you have never experienced the finer dining of the military, I suggest you don’t!!!  Choices are very simple, either you eat what they have made or you go without.  Plus they only cooked breakfast and evening meals.  Lunch came from a Meal Ready to Eat (MRE in military jargon).  If we got attacked at anytime during the day, then the military chefs couldn’t prepare a meal, so back to the MRE’s.  I remember going a week straight without a hot meal, and we won’t even talk about nutritious meals!!! HA HA HA!!! So much for six small meals a day.  I lived off of packets of tuna and chicken.

My physical training was limited to push-ups, sit-ups and running from explosions.  However bleak I am making this sound, I actually lost about 20lbs of fat during this training hiatus.  I thought I had lost 35lbs but the scale at the first base camp I went to must have been broken or something because when I returned to my room (my sanctuary) and weighed myself on the scale I’ve been using to chart my progress, or lack thereof, showed only a 20lb weight loss; Which means I have only lost a total of 80lbs during the first phase of my total body transformation…..”Operation Andre…Man Candy”!  This sent me into a spiral of self doubt and thoughts of failure.

This is just very discouraging to me, but I know that I am on a long and healthy road to recovery.  Why, Why, Why did that scale have to lie to me and get my hopes up?  Don’t get me wrong, I will never quit and I will always push forward!!!  I just need a mad minute to vent, clear the mind and recharge my spirit.

Well, I’ve made it back to a decent gym and have started lifting weights and walking on the treadmill.  I only have three months to reach my first hurdle to lose 100lbs.  I think I can still achieve my goals.  The best part, well the thing that is keeping me on track is that I have had to buy all new pants.  OH YEAH, I went from a size 44 pants to a loose fitting 38.  I am stoked about that.  I will probably be adding some new update pictures to my gallery, but you all know how difficult that is for me.  I just changed all the numbers to reflect my true weight and girth!!! Now I am working on adding quality muscle while continuing to chisel away at the fat.  If that is even possible.

Thanks for letting me vent, all better now!!! HA HA HA!!!

…Andre’

I recently came back to Iraq as a civilian contractor. Hey "Life" happens and we do what we gotta do to get where we need to be, right!!!  This was three months into my body transformation.  I was nervous that my eating habit would once again go askew!!  I had already lost 30lbs and cut my bodyfat from 43% to 33%.  I had to get my mind right and stay focused, I was bound and determined to make the George Bush War on Terrorism diet work "for" me this time around.
I was amazed at the quantity and quality of food that the soldiers are getting over here, trust me they deserve every last morsel.  The dining facilities are actually catered and the dessert tray (Cherry cheesecake) is to die for.  What ever you could possibly want, they have, to include an ice cream bar from Baskin Robbins.  Major temptations, but I stick to my guns and  only treat myself once a week, did I say the cherry cheesecake is to die for!!! They also have a fitness bar, yep grilled chicken or fish, a sandwich bar (that would rival any subway) and a salad bar, every single day of the week.

I exercise when I can and the only cardio I get in is running from rockets and mortars, HA HA HA!!!  It all seems to be working as I have shed another 40lbs.  I am sure my overall strength is down, cause I cannot lift on a regular basis. I am always out and about seeing the sights and such!! HA HA HA!!!

So, the George Bush War On Terrorism Diet gets 4 stars in my book.  Its an easy to follow, like your life depends on it, diet. Well cause it does depend on it!!!  HA HA HA!!!  I don’t recommend this diet plan for everybody, but it is working great for me!!!  I have another 30lbs to loose to reach my goals.  I am completely confident that George’s Diet won’t let me down!!!

I’ve been lifting weights off and on for about 30 years now.  I got started from being inspired by Mike Mentzer’s picture on the cover of muscle and fitness when I was about 13yrs old.  You see, I was that scrawny kid with a quick wit and sharper tongue.  I was always the smallest yet loudest person in the crowd, at 5′8" I only weighed 95 lbs, with a protruding belly.  I lifted weights in the basement of our house and put on a little muscle mass.  I figured I should make my chest bigger than my belly so I wont look so bad.  I hated being that skinny fat person!!!  By the time I Graduated high school and joined the Army, I was 115lbs of beefcake!!

During my military service I sustained many injuries and continued to lift for occupational therapy reasons.  In 1986 while stationed in Karlsruhe Germany, I ran into the biggest weight lifter I had ever seen, Staff Sergeant Turner.  Big-T (as I called him) was 6′4", 240lbs and 10% bodyfat.  By this time I was weighing 155lbs.  I used to pick his brain for information so I could learn to bulk up.  Big-T took me under his wing and taught me how to lift.  I learned about forced reps, drop sets, negatives, compound movements, isolation exercises…and the list goes on.  He also told me how to eat and what protein supplement to take.  Under his tutelage my weight increased to 200lbs within the two years I was fortunate to lift with him.  I also started reading everything I could get my hands on to keep informed with the latest fitness trend.  I would love to be a personal trainer.  I’ve been fortunate enough in my military career to always land in a place where there is outstanding training partners and great facilities.  This does not include the multiple deployments and field training exercises, where one must suck it up and make do.

I got deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom in February 2004, I had increased my weight to 220lbs @19% bodyfat.  I was the type of leader that I won’t send a soldier to do something I wasn’t willing to do.  So every time I had to send a soldier out I would go with them at first.  I got to see a lot of the country, it is quite beautiful in some areas.  Because of my expertise, I also got sent out on the most dangerous and important missions.  So I got to see a lot of action.  I also sustained more injuries, I’ve been blown off my feet from rocket or mortar attacks more time that I care to talk about.  During this deployment, being out on the front lines so to speak, my diet suffered.  You see, the military doesn’t make field rations with weight loss in mind.  In fact it is the complete opposite, MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat) are very high in carbs to provide energy for constant movement during battle.  Most soldiers lost weight during these times, but for some reason I gained weight, maybe it was the stress.

By the time I got back to the good ol’ U.S of A in March 2005, I had reached 260lbs @25% bodyfat.  Yikes!!!  But it gets worse.  I was so happy to be back in the states that I went off my diet.  Not that I ate a Spartan diet in the first place mind you.  Celebrations, all night parties, zero exercise and alcohol all took its toll on me.  I retired from the military in December 2005 at 280lbs@30% bodfat, gross I know.  I spent the next year trying fad diets and sporadically going to the gym.  To my amazement my progress went in the wrong direction.  I ballooned up to 310lbs@43% bodyfat.  That was the straw that broke the camels back!!!  I was no longer a beefcake, but a meatball!!!  That was 25 March 2007, 6 days before my 43rd birthday.  I vowed that I would loose 100lbs and be sexy by my 45th birthday.

Call it fate, but the very next day while answering emails and myspace comments, I received a friend request from Ava Cowan.  What can I say, I am a man she is a gorgeous woman of course I added her!!! HA HA HA!!!  Which means that all her comments loaded on my page as well.  I usually don’t read or respond to a comment unless I know you, but one of her comments caught my eye.  It was called My Bodyspace.com. It was something about if I want to find out how she lifts and what supplements she is currently on then join the site for free and receive a plethora of fitness information.  I viewed her bodyspace and a couple of the others.  I downloaded a guide to personal fitness from the bodyspace website and was totally enthralled.  It contained everything I every would want to know about loosing fat.  Along with samples of meals, workouts, supplements and fat tracking!!!  Just what I needed.  I didn’t actually become a registered member until 7 May 2007, so I could use their great support and tracking system.

Through my own perseverance, determination and the support of my bodyspace friends I have lost 70lbs thus far and continue to improve on a daily basis!!!  Stay focused and Get Fit!!!

Andre’