Fell off the wagon... Almost

Today hasn't been great on the health front. I should have gone to the gym but had a friend stop by work and ask if I wanted to go out, so I did. Luckily I shaved and trimmed my beard and shaved my head before work today, so I was looking hot. Then I couldn't resist putting on an extremely tight shirt to show off how much weight I've lost to my friend who hadn't seen me since I dropped the last 30lbs. The compliments came and the ego was stroked, that's always a good thing.

Being on the low carb I allow myself one piece of candy a day, but only if I'm really craving it, provided that it has peanut butter or nuts in it. I'm not allowed more than about 25g of carbs from it though. I resisted the temptation to get a candy bar on the way to work,


My current favorite candy bar. 2 squares, 24 grams of carbs.

but then at work I had a couple carbs here and a couple there. After work I went to the bar and had Diet Coke the whole time, but then one of my friends asked if I wanted to go to Charlie's for something to eat... I decided sure. Well I nearly fell off the wagon and went full blast and got a deep fried Monte Cristo Sandwich, but instead got their low carb plate and some coconut prawns. Yeah the prawns were way over my budget for carbs, but now that I look back, I probably didn't do too much damage.

Over all not a great day for the diet and workout fail, but some days are gonna be like that. Tomorrow my friend Becca and I will be going to a Belly Dancing Core training class at the gym. I'm excited, I hope I enjoy the class because I could really use something once a week to focus hard on my abs.

Considering where I was at, compared to where I now am, I'm doing really well, to be honest there is nothing wrong with my gut and it is not my main concern. I actually have a pretty strong core which i attribute to singing. You have to have some kinda muscle in there to hold notes or belt out a song. But still it would be nice to flatten a little more and minimize the overhang. Oh well, it all takes time.

Reboot

It's day 1 of my low carb reboot. I was sick with one thing or another for most of April. I didn't get a lot of work out in and my diet was horrible but it's time to get back on the horse. Because that's what you have to do, "When real people fall down in life they get right back up and keep walking" (Sex and the City)

Today was legs. I went and did my first Zumba dance class. I walked out of there jelly legged and unable to breathe. I did have a lot of fun though and I plan to be back. Tomorrow I'll add a little more leg work to my arm work out. I'm excited to start back on this journey and I hope you enjoy taking it with me.

I talked with the manager at 24 hr fitness, the one I interviewed with a month ago. He is now the General Manager. As I figured it's getting into their slow season and they've cut way back on hours. He reaffirmed he's still got me in mind, so for now I've got to be patient. I really think this is what I want to get into as a long term career, so right now it's worth the wait.

Day 3: Lazy day off

Well I've literally done nothing today except eat. LOL. I'm starting the low carb today and it's going ok. It's been fish and hot dogs all day long. Sadly that's all I have til friday when I get payed.

I'm feeling a bit sick. I really hope I don't get a cold. The cycle I always have with working out, is I have high ambitions and start working out hard, and then I don't get enough sleep and I get sick, so I take a few days off working out, which turns into a few weeks and suddenly I'm like, what a Gym? Oh well, not this time. I have a lot of things motivating me right now.

That's the perfect segue into my next topic. I may have the job at 24hr fitness!!! I talked to the manager today and he said if I'd be willing to start at the front desk and then transfer over to sales when they have an opening he'd like to get me in there. I said yes I'd love to. So he's checking with the other manager and he's supposed to call me back. I'm so excited. I've been thinking about this for a couple of years, and I never thought it would happen.

So for today, I will do 50 crunches before bed and then get some good sleep. Tomorrow I work my back.

Day 2: Shoulders

Hey hey It's day 2.

I got out late this morning today so couldn't work out before work, so it was a very long workout after work, and I still forgot to do crunches.

I forgot to eat at work right before I went to the gym so I was afraid I may run out of energy before my workout was over. It's happened before. But the HUGE dinner I had apparently was enough. I started with shoulders because I figured it was the more important to me. It's been a couple weeks since I did them so I didn't see much improvement on weight. It wasn't as good of a workout as yesterday, but can feel the workout from yesterday a little and I think that was part of it. I may think about switching and putting Shoulders first and arms second every once in a while.

I'm still have yet to really max on Shoulder shrugs. I got up to 12 reps of 70lbs today and after going from 50 up by 5 each time at 70 I was barely able to do that last shrug. We'll see what happens next time when I try for 75 and maybe 80.

Then I did a half hour cardio trying to be in the 140bpm range. It was good. The last time I did heart strengthening cardio was in December, so it's been a while.

I wasn't so good on food today, I got free food at work because I was training, so I went for the chicken fried steak and potatoes. Yum, but not on the low carb diet at all. Oh well, my post workout dinner was fish and lima beans. Tomorrow starts the low carb so I expect to be pretty grouchy.

100 lbs lost, New Goals, New Me

So, I have now officially lost 100 lbs. It was actually Feb 4 2011, I believe. I've been off the low carb for 2 months now and have been trying to focus on building muscle. I've still had the goal of working out 5 days a week but because of work and how little sleep I get on the weekends I have decided it's best to do a 4 day split. I've yo-yo'd between 223 and 229 so I feel I'm doing well. Today I was back at 223.

I've decided, I want to see what my body looks like at 200. Tomorrow I'm going back on the Low Carb and I'm putting myself on a tough workout regimen for the next 2 months or until I hit 200 lbs whichever comes first.

5 days a week before I go to work 30 mins of hard cardio.

4 days of heavy lifting

40-100 grams of carbs a day/high protien

6 small meals a day

Today was my first day. I did Legs and arms. It felt really good. I pushed myself harder than I have by myself in a long time, so we will see how stiff I am tomorrow.

I love doing squats on the Smith machine because it kills me in all the right places, but today I decided to shake it up and I used the machine instead. I'm not focusing on legs, because my Calves are HUGE and have become very defined. and my upper legs are getting there too from all the hills here in Seattle. But my inner thighs (Adductors) and my butt is where my focus is. So I do a short routine to hit those and then move on to Arms.

I can't believe how big my arms are getting. The right one is definitely more defined than the left of course because I'm right handed. I'm gonna have to take some time to work my left arm more to define that.

Well, I'm gonna try to blog each day about this so I can take you guys on this journey too. Thanks Cubs.

Update

Well it's been a year since I've posted. I'm sorry to anyone who has been waiting. It's been a rough year for me. I've had a lot of ups and downs, and I went way down. I've picked myself back up and am doing well.

I weighed myself at the Gym yesterday and I am officially 232 lbs, which means I'm 12 lbs away from having lost 100 lbs. I am currently on the low carb diet until my birthday, January 13th, just to drop those last few pounds. I have decided my goal weight is anywhere between 210 to 240 depending on how much muscle mass I have.

2011 is set to be a good year. I'm starting it at the healthiest I've ever been, I'm lighter now than I have been since I was in my early 20's. My goal is to start working out 5 days a week, which hasn't happened yet, but Today I'm commiting to that. My goal right now is by fall, I want to have a physique that I would feel comfortable walking into 24 hr fitness and applying for a job as a Personal Trainer.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me. I love you all.

Lets start at the very beginning...

Ok, Maybe not the very beginning, but there are things you need to know about my past to understand my present.

In November of 2004 I was living in Southern California. One night, I recieved a call from my Father. My mother had colapsed at home and had been rushed to the hospital. She had been diagnosed with diabetes. Now to a normal person that's a life changing thing, but my mother had not been a healthy woman in many many years. In my lifetime I could never say I truly new her as healthy. On top of the diabetes she now had pancreatitis, and had only one leg (due to a car accident 10 years previously). She was on both depressants and antidepressants to combat a chemical imbalance in her brain. This kept her out of the black hole of depression she was in most of my early life.

I had moved to California 2 years previous, and even though it now felt like home, I had always had a guilt for leaving my mother, that crept into my dreams. It was always a different thing happening flood or fire or whatnot, but I would always wake up with that same horrible feeling of my mother dying and I wasn't able to get to her.

So as Father described her current condition, and how he felt she needed round the clock care, it didn't take me much to decide to drop everything and move back to Utah to help her out. Little did I know that this would become my most healthy time in my 20's which would lead to my biggest weight gain rolling into my 30's.

Stay tuned... CM