Last week was a fail. I worked out on Day 1 - the rest of the week I did OK with my food but did zero exercise. The weekend was a nutritional disaster. I must be better.
Bad night's sleep because of a late afternoon nap I took. It's fine, I was up with the cats and worked out. It felt good.
3:50 Up
4:20-5:00am workout
Followed it up with a protein shake.
I'm going lower carb but not keto or anything. If I can, I'll do some cardio later.
So, after yesterday's light introductory workout, I figured I would be sore today. Interestingly enough, I am not sore today. Last night, my legs were aching something terrible. I tossed and turned all night long. I eventually had to get up and take two ibuprofen. It was more like restless leg syndrome than it was a post exercise soreness. I have plenty of experience with post-workout soreness and this was something else. I know I didn't over do it because I barely did anything! That just goes to show how far I've fallen out of shape in 2 years.
I was going to walk this morning, but I chose to sleep for another hour. Right or wrong, I made the decision and I am owning it.
Considering I cleaned out my shithole of a basement, I was able to get right back to it. I seem to have a sneezing fit each and every time I try to work out in the morning, but I got through it. Today was light - I don't want to get injured - I mean, lets get real, I'm almost 46 and have fallen out of my optimal fitness zone.
Weight: 224.5 5'7"
Treadmill: 3mph 3% incline - 15 min (warmup)
Body squats, below parallel (as much as possible):
3x10 +2 (Started to feel a cramp brewing so I stopped)
Bench Press: Bar only (45lbs)
3x10
Overhead Press: Bar Only (45lbs)
3x8
Hammer Curls (20 lbs dumbbells)
5x10
I have a message for the resolution shamers: Screw You. To hell with you and your flat abs and smug demeanor. Just because fitness has been an obsession for you and not me, doesn't give you license to shit on my goals. Not that I care, but for the love, try and be supportive of people. Imagine a country where more people were exercising and eating right. Health insurance premiums would go down as the rate of obesity went down.
I am going to do my best to maintain my schedule, but I realize that life happens. I might catch a cold or have a bad night's sleep. I will adjust and continue without falling completely off the wagon. I plan on going 12 weeks and then taking a 2 week rest. I will gradually up my weights (progressive loading) and I will slowly increase my cardio. My body needs to adjust to this new lifestyle and I will not force it. My nutrition will gradually shift to whole foods and 85-90% clean. I will probably go for a 40/40/20 macro ratio, but I am not going to be insanely obsessed with it as I once was. I am going to be smart, determined and cautious. I will post my progress daily. I will also post when I have set backs. I don't want to have them, but I am going to be realistic and accept that it may happen. Here's to 2019, I hope you can follow in my journey.
HOLY CRAP!!!!
Totally the heaviest I've ever been. Considering at my lightest in my adult life I was about 178lbs. I've been unable to sustain any level of good fitness and nutrition because of my brain. It has more to do with my battles with depression and self-loathing than any kind of "I can't give up cake" situation. I quickly returned to daily alcohol consumption after I lost the last batch of weight, because I was not happy with myself in just about every aspect of my life. So, I self-medicated and that lead to bad decisions across the board.
FROM FATZ to FITZ...again.
This morning. 12/3/18 I got up at 3:30am. I had it in my mind that I was going to have my coffee and water, then hit the treadmill and start the day off right. Well, my body knew what kind of subterfuge I was up to and it told me, "OH HELL NO!"
After MULTIPLE visits to the commode, I then got into a sneezing fit that lasted at least 25 minutes. These were the kind of sneezes that made my entire body hurt.
I finally got on the dreadmill and after about 1 minute of a slow to moderate walk, my body decided that I needed to make another trip to the bathroom. It was truly annoying, but I decided that I wasn't going to worry about it.
Another sneezing fit lead me to abandon the dreadmill and instead I meditated on the couch while listening to Isao Tomita.
I know A LOT about nutrition. You'd not know it by looking at me, but if you go back into this blog you will see that I've researched and tested just about every dogmatic approach to nutrition you can think of:
I know what works for me in the short term and I know what is sustainable in the long term. I've always wanted to lose the fat fast and then regroup and jump on a sustainable regimen. The problem has always been my own depression and mental issues that talked me out of the good habits and back into the destructive. NO MORE...
Here's my plan and I will keep you informed along the way. (It's mostly for me, but you are welcome to join me for the ride.)
About 22 Days of Extremely low carb eating. Along with that I will drink buttloads of water. I will not consume anything with artificial sweeteners because they trick your body into releasing cortisol and that leads to fat storing.
I will not worry about Christmas, but I will be mindful to not go crazy.
Lifting 3x per week and walking 4x per week. I am starting slow and light and will work my way up. I recognize the reality that I am not in my 30's anymore and I am terribly out of shape, so I don't want to risk an injury. Not only would that be bad for me physically - mentally it would be way worse.
After my keto phase I will go to a clean regimen, hitting these macros: 40% Protein / 40% carbs / 20% fat. While a keto high fat diet is definitely more fun, it is not sustainable for me. My body is not carb sensitive and I can do fine on the right carbs. Once I start getting processed crap into my diet, that's when I go pear-shaped.
Once I get to my sustainable regimen, I will most likely adjust my daily calorie intake based on my lifting and muscle-building goals.
So that's what I am doing. This blog will be my journal and I will write in it each day (as best as I can).
41 Years
5'7"
196lbs
18.5% Body Fat (90% of which is my belly and love handles)
I started getting into fitness and nutrition in 2008. I have had a roller coaster of health since then, but not due to any factor other than my own brain.
March 2008
Pics from my first journey - I actually stopped my fitness routine when I was laid off from work in Dec of 2010. That is when I began my decline.
Nov 2008
Starting drinking more, eating crap. I was losing faith in everything - things were bad. I managed some ups but remained mostly down until Spring of 2013. That is when I first started listening to Podcasts from the Primal/Paleo community. It inspired me to get back to it. Thanks Abel James, Mark Sisson, Dave Asprey, Robb Wolf and Jimmy Moore.
I did some radical things and lost about 30 lbs. Started lifting again and maybe had a relapse of the bad stuff during the holidays.
So I started up again:
May 19, 2014
This is Monday, May 19, 2014.
197lbs
18.5% body fat. (I used an acu-measure and did the 7 point skin fold test)
Now - I am trying the 30 day Steak and Eggs keto-ish diet (I added kale and sometimes mushrooms)
I lift 2x week - heavy back squats/ bench / over head press / reads (basically Stronglifts 5x5, which is a modified 'Starting Strength' program)
I sprint now, twice per week. I still do some jogging (or yogging with the soft J) but mostly intervals.
I also do this little 7 minute body weight workout that is on an iPhone app. It's a pretty good workout.
I will post my progress here. Body measurements weekly and photos too (sorry :).
Once the 30 days is done. I will continue an 80-85% primal eating strategy.
I WANT MY LOVE HANDLES GONE. I HAVE HAD THEM SINCE I WAS 10 years old!!!!!!
Weighed in at 194 this morning. (Started at 220/approx.) Last week I folded and ate Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I was feeling depressed, plus we went to a festival and I had some less than optimal food. No alcohol, but I am sure I set myself back a few days. It was a necessary mental break.
Now, Energy is good, not hungry most of the days. I ran out of Kerrygold Butter this morning so my coffee wasn't as Bulletproof®. Too much salt in the water gives me disaster pants, though I have been able to mitigate the disaster before it happens, timing is everything.
No problem with strength either, I am lifting 3x per week.
Goal weight 180, should not be too difficult if things progress consistently.
I am looking forward to the refeed. I have found that a two day refeed keeps me balanced mentally. Breaking the addiction to the act of eating is an important factor in my opinion. I don't find that I am hungry as much as I just want the sensation of eating.
Fitz
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