Getting Back At It

Gotta keep this short, as I’m typing this from my iPhone before work. I appreciate anyone who decides to read, but please understand that I am typing this for me. This post is an affirmation of my goal, and I am stating the facts:

Fact 1- I started going hard at it 6 months ago. I was also going hard at it a year ago. I went hard at it 3 years ago. I did even better, than those other times, 5 years ago. My continual issue has been discipline and consistency. There are huge gaps, between each attempt at fitness, where I have gotten more out of shape, more gross, more overweight, unhealthier, more unfocused, lazier, and more depressed.

Fact 2- I am the heaviest I have ever been at this point in my life. I weighed myself in at 268 lbs.

Fact 3- I have a long ways to go and I can’t trust every number I see. My scale is basically telling me, “yeah, you’re overweight but look at your body fat %. Only 20%.” The problem is that my scale is wrong and I shouldn’t believe that number. I have since taken body measurements with tape and a caliper and my body fat % is typically close to 30% when I average between my 3 results. Even that may be a low ball number.

Let’s place these facts together, shall we?

I’ve gotten out of shape because I find myself wanting to believe I don’t have a problem. I have trusted obviously faulty numbers regarding my body fat %. I’ve believed “that Three Musketeers won’t be that bad”. I’ve been living day to day without a routine and have had little to no discipline. I’ve made a victim of myself and spiraled out of control.

Today, I tell myself…. I am taking control of my life back. I will develop more discipline. Over the past week, I’ve begun by developing a routine. I now have a bed time, and a time to wake up. When I wake up, I eat breakfast and work out. Then I get ready and often have time to relax before work since I work second shift.

This is going very well so far and I am feeling like I have a lot more energy. I will strive to do more, and I will succeed. I want to, no…. I will be the best version of myself.

Disgusted that I’ve let it get this far out of control, but again… I will take control. I can do it, and I will do it.

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September 9th Update

It’s week 3, and I might actually be showing some results this time around.

As I’ll share below, I’ve lost about a half a pound which is under my goal.  I’m hoping to lose about 2 lbs a week.  However, in the photos I am going to share with you, I feel I am looking considerably thinner this week than I was last week.

That being said, I can tell you I did a couple things different this week that may have contributed to my results for this week’s progress update.  First of all, I had absolutely no alcohol.  I didn’t drink beer, wine, or liquor and I did absolutely no partying.  That cut off between 1,000 and 2,000 calories this weekend easily.  Also, I worked out much more consistently.  As opposed to going to the gym twice this week, I went five times and did a mixture of Athlean X inferno shred workouts and a 5×5 regimen for heavier lifts on my days off on the inferno program.

With all of that being said, I feel I really did put in the work this week and should be seeing some results.  Now, with those results being less than my goal, there are a couple possible reasons for that.

First, I had Denny’s twice this week!  That is an easy 1,000 calories extra per each day I went.  I had Denny’s last week too, so I still have done better this week in net calories I’m sure.  I also, maybe because the body doesn’t want to burn calories or maybe because I was stressed, ate some McDonald’s on my first break at work before lunch each day.  That is a tremendous amount of money when you do it every day and it also isn’t good for the waist line.

Finally, there is an off chance that I have also built muscle as I have burned some fat.  Athlean X YouTuber Jeff Cavalier seems to think it’s very possible to burn fat and build muscle at the same time.  Despite some of my poor dietary choices this week, the pictures I am about to show you have me believing that might be what I’ve done.

I truly think I look slightly leaner in these photos than I did in my August 26th or September 2nd updates.  I am noticing a small difference on my lower back where I was holding a lot of stubborn fat.  While there is still fat there, it looks smaller to me.  Also, my stomach doesn’t seem to protrude so much.  I know I am holding the camera at a different angle for that one than the others but it seemed like I couldn’t even show my stomach doing the same angle this time because my arm was too much in the way.

Here I will also begin showing you a screen shot of my RENPHO scale, that is supposed to record my weight and body fat % measurements.  I’m not entirely sure the body fat parts are accurate, so I may need to buy a tape measure soon so I can get reliable measurements and better recording to be sure about whether I’m losing fat despite what the scale says.

Weighing in at roughly a half a pound less, my results weren’t major but my pictures seem to show improvement.

September 2nd Update

One week since my first update last Sunday.  No progress whatsoever.

I started the week headstrong and motivated.  I even cooked Sunday.  Nothing EXTREMELY healthy, just some spaghetti with meat sauce…but it’s a step in the right direction.  For once, I am eating the majority of my meals home cooked, and much less fast food.  So!! WHY NO RESULTS?

Here is why I believe I had no results:

1) While I started the week strong, and I even switched my workout program to Athlean X inferno shred, I did not finish the week strong.  I did two inferno shred workouts and then, after my rest day, did not work out the rest of the week.  So life can happen, I can be tired, etc. but I have to master consistency.

2) My diet was MUCH better this week.  I had that spaghetti for most of the week, and followed up with the cooking trend and made fish tacos on Thursday.  However, Friday night I went out and got SMASHED.  Ab-so-lute-ly shit faced.  My friend was throwing a party and I really wanted to go, so I did and I drank 11 beers and 6 jell-o shots.  Following that up, I wanted to soak up the alcohol so I had Denny’s.  Then, yesterday, I wanted Pizza so I ordered a small Domino’s pizza to myself to nurse the hangover.

SUMMING IT UP, I could have lost some weight this week and looked better but I did not consistently train and I also ruined my caloric deficit by getting hammered Friday night and overeating this weekend.  The key to progress for me will be to continue to start those Mondays off strong but I’ll need to begin to follow through to the end of each week.

Progress pic (or lack thereof) below:

Weighing in at the same 261 lbs as last week, I have succeeded at being mundane and average.  No bonus points for me this week.  On to week 3, where I MUST commit to doing this right! I apologize as I should have added a picture from the back to show those love handles that I need to work on.  I’ll include the third set of pics in the next weekly collage.

 

August 26th Update

Day 1. August 26, 2018.

I begun training again in May and I am almost as strong as I used to be in 2015. I did not follow a proper diet this week and I am only working out twice a week. I will need to improve my diet and exercise frequency.

August 26, 2018

Weight loss Day 1

In this image I am 261 lbs. I am unsure of my body fat %, but it’s probably high. August 26th.