This week flew by for some reason! The only thing different I did this week was a had a Maint day on Saturday where I ate 3,000 Calories. My increase came in the form of a Not so lean hamburger! My last 4 meals each spread out 2 hrs and 45 mins apart contained 2 plain hamburgers each which was about 8 ounces of 15% Fat. My usual is only 4% Fat, but I was grilling out at a friends and ended up getting a large Bulk pack of Burger cheap. The outcome was a Monday weigh in of 213.2 Lbs which is .6 Lbs lighter then last week. Also, I have to mention that I drank 4 cans of Diet pepsi with Caf! I might at most drink a diet pepsi a week, and sometimes end up going 2-3 weeks without drinking one, but I went diet soda wild Saturday. No more soda for at least a week now!

It was progression no matter how you look at it, but its not where I wanted to be for my May 14th goal of 200 Lbs. I am very confident that Next weeks weigh in I will see great results when I consider the average of the 2 weeks combined. My mind set right now is that I want to do this Weight loss right at all costs! I do have goals I have set up that are quite ambitious and they keep me on my toes and keep me working hard. No matter where I am on my goal dates, I look at it as nothing more then feedback as to How I am going to persue my next goal. I have accepted that I very likely will not be at 9% BF by July 18th on my birthday, but I do know that 180 Lbs is attainable. No matter where I am , I know deep down that I can achieve any goal that I set my mind too. It may not happen on the exact dates I am shooting for but it will happen!

I now have a great faith in my ability to achieve things in life. I do have set backs, and there was a time that I would of totally lost it and been off the bandwagon in the blink of an eye but with time, you learn to manage these feelings and you end up conquering them with your new habits and your list of goals that you have knocked out through your journey. Looking back through your achievements you realize that you have alot of great victories and that you are now in total control and you have a deep down habitual feeling that you can and will succeed in anything you set your mind too.

The only differences I am doing this week is that in my Chicken Marinade on Sunday I put 1/2 TB of Sea salt along with 1/2 TB of (No Salt). I do 5 Lbs of chicken breasts on Sunday and usually again on Wed to last for an entire week. I generally use only a Potasium based salt but this week I just want to try it a little different. My marinade recipe this week uses 2 cups of dark vinegar, 1/2 cup Olive Oil, 1/4 Cup Lime juice, 1/4 Cup lemon juice, Garlic, Red Pepper, Sea Salt, Potasium salt, Pepper, Parsely, Lemon pepper, Ground mustard and Ginger. I always Grill outdoors year round and 20 months later on my Fat loss I Still Love my chicken! I sometimes go with a different vinegar and on occation I substitue the Lemon/Lime juice for a Red Wine or a Beer. The great thing about the lemon/lime juice is that they are for the most part calorie free, but the wine/beer option only adds minute amounts of calories to the overall marinade. Have fun with your marinades and be creative. There is no such thing as an illegal Spice! The only thing I really watch is my Sodium so I choose spice combinations that have none or very limited amounts of sodium.

*Today was an Upper Body workout day! I have to mention also that its great to do a Maint calorie day when its a generally clean food increase in calories, because being in a calorie surplus within an energy balance throughout the day is going to build some muscle so even tho you do have little or no gain on the scale you have to remember that you could of very easily added a tenth of a pound or more of lean muscle tissue. Just another mind Teaser! Today was a great workout and as I am typing this I don't really hurt that bad like I did last week! It was a Tri/Shoulder day for the most part. Took about 75 mins to complete my workout today because I ended up adding a Trap burnout at the end of my workout. I love my traps!




*UPPER BODY DAY
-Lying Tri Press with DB's - 8 sets of 8
-Uni-lateral Sitting Traps with DB (90 deg) - 8 sets of 8 (O yea! Pain on final set)
-Front lat raise with DB - 2 sets of 10 and a Burnout set
-Single arm DB Ro's - 2 Sets x 10 and a Burnout set
- Shrugs with DB's - 35 x10, 30x10,25x10 for 3 sets

It was time for some extreme changes in the cardio field. I am incorporating a series of changes but first and foremost I am adding in Step climbing to the mix with a progressive intensity in the upcoming weeks. I am having fun with this already and tonight was my first initial workout with this new split. Alright here is how things are looking so far.

- 10 Warm up Laps at 3.5 Mph around my indoor Track (Laps are 22 sec to complete)
- 10 Combo laps of stair climbing and power Walking. (Basically I do a lap upstairs and then go down 2 flight of stairs and do a Lap on the Lower level of the building and then come back up stairs to complete my lap which takes me about 1 min and 8 seconds for a decent lap.
- 10 Laps at 4.5 Mph
- 1 Stair Step Lap
- 12 Laps at 4.5 Mph
- 1 Stair Step Lap
- 13 Laps at 4.5 Mph
- 1 Stair Step Lap
- 14 Laps at 4.5 Mph
- 1 Stair Step Lap
- 15 Laps at 4.5 Mph
- 1 Stair Step Lap
- 16 Laps at 4.5 Mph
- 1 Stair step lap
- 17 Laps at 4.5 Mph
- 1 Stair Step lap
- 18 Laps at 4.5 Mph
- 3 Cool down laps 3.5 Mph

*This cycle tonight was awesome feeling tonight because I have moved up another intensity level in my trip to destination lean. Looking at my Pedometer I went a distance of 4.2 Miles, 9167 Steps, and burned 559 Calories. This combo has endless progressive posibilities as well as adding in other alternatives that I am considering. I am thinking about adding in Jump rope station where I might jump rope X amount of times each set of laps or add in a Sprint round thats all out. I am going to give this some thought and come up with some routines that will keep this exciting. The toughest thing for me now is remembering to not overdue the cardio. Right now I am pushing 75 Mins some nights and I could literally go 2 hours and not even think about it, but I don't want to risk losing any muscle mass and having to toy with my calories too much right now. Once I start cutting for competition it will be a different story im sure but for now I am trying to keep things fun and manageable. i think thats whats helped so much for this fat loss the last 20 months!


That about sums up my week and I am really looking forward to blasting through my next goal which is 200 Lbs by Monday, May 14th!


*211.8 Lbs of death put to rest and 33.2 Lbs to go!
Initial weight July 2005 was 425 lbs
Current weight Mar 26, 2007 is 213.2 Lbs
Goal for July 18, 2007 is 180 Lbs and 9% Body fat

Howdy ,

Checking in with some great results, after a slower previous 2 weeks. Seems rather odd how I can weigh myself for a week and be the same weight on the scale then all the sudden the next day I am 2 Lbs lighter. Our bodies are amazing in this aspect because once I drop weight I stick at that weight. My scale weighs in .2 tenth increments and I can sit at 215.6 for a week then all the sudden im at 213.8 and hold that steady. Could also be in the programming of the scale on how it calculates weight.

The main thing here that I have noticed the last 20 months is the lighter I have become the less radical the variations are on the scale. I don't see shifts of 2-3 Lbs each day if I weigh in at the same time like I did in the past. I guess my water weight and body weight in general has stabilized for the most part. As previously stated my body according to the scale doesnt drop gradually over a weeks period but seems to drop all at once in a 24 hour period. I think people need to realize that if you do not see results daily or even for the week that its SO Missleading. Think averages when it comes to your weight. If your looking to lose 2 Lbs a week and you have quite a bit of weight to lose then don't get down if your showing no weight loss after a weeks weigh in. Likely you will make up for the loss the following weeks weigh in, and then for the month you will see that you averaged 2 Lbs a week even tho you had a horrible few weigh ins. It's so easy to think your not getting results because your not Seeing these results on the scale.

This week I wanted to Give a menu of what my diet is looking like at my 213.8 Lb current weight. I have moderate carbs and fat with a very high protein intake and its served me well the last few months. I am one of those people who has no problem eating the same foods all the time day in and day out which I guess is a blessing.

03:00 PM - Oatmeal-Chicken Breast
05:45 PM - Yam-Chicken Breast-Green Beans
08:30 PM - Green Beans-Lean Cut steak-1/3 scoop whey protein
11:15 PM - Green Beans-96% Lean Burger-Almonds-1/3 scoop whey protein
02:00 AM - Green Beans-Salmon-Almonds-1/3 scoop whey protein
04:45 AM - Chicken-1/3 Scoop whey protein

*Throughout the day I will mix 1/3 scoop of whey protein in a shaker with water. I drink about 6 of these throughout the day. It makes my water taste great and always keeps protein in my system. On my 3 workout days for the week My calories are right at 2400 for the day and my off days im at 2000-2100 Calories. My workouts fall between my 2nd and 3rd Meal so on workout days I do add another Starch into my 3rd Meal. In fact my extra 400 calories on work out days are before/during and after lifting. I will never drop lower than 2000 Calories for a day. Once I get to the point where I am seeing unsatisfactory results with my fat loss, I will increase my Cardio and Calories. I am guessing I will see this point as I approach 12-15% Body fat. I know things will be more challenging at this point but the reward will be sweet!


*211.2 Lbs of death put to rest and 33.8 Lbs to go!
Initial weight July 2005 was 425 lbs
Current weight Mar 18, 2007 is 213.8 Lbs
Goal for July 18, 2007 is 180 Lbs and 9% Body fat

Hey Folks,

Thought I would do a follow up on how things are going.  I am right on Track with where I want to be.  I have made a pretty drastic change in my resistance training which I basiclaly have modified off of Gironda's 8x8.  I am easing into more sets but I am not going to risk any injury at this point so moderation is the key.

 

*UPPER BODY (Monday)
-A1 - Standing Hammer Curl 4 sets x 8 Reps - 35 Lbs
-A2 - Standing Palms up Curl 4 sets x 8 Reps - 35 Lbs
Rest 10 secs
-A3 - Standing Hammer Curl 4 sets x 8 Reps - 30 Lbs
-A4 - Standing Palms up Curl 4 sets x 8 Reps - 30 Lbs
Rest 10 secs
-A5 - Standing Hammer Curl 4 sets x 8 Reps - 25 Lbs
-A6 - Standing Palms up Curl 4 sets x 8 Reps - 25 Lbs
Rest 2 mins Then repeat
-------
-A1 - DB Lying Tri ext - 4 sets x 8 Reps
-A2 - DB Sitting Tri ext - 4 sets x 8 Reps
Rest 10
-A1 - DB Lying Tri ext - 4 sets x 8 Reps
-A2 - DB Sitting Tri ext - 4 sets x 8 Reps
Rest 10
-A1 - DB Lying Tri ext - 4 sets x 8 Reps
-A2 - DB Sitting Tri ext - 4 sets x 8 Reps
Rest 10
-A1 - DB Lying Tri ext - 4 sets x 8 Reps
-A2 - DB Sitting Tri ext - 4 sets x 8 Reps

 

 

* LOWER BODY (Wed)
DB Dead Lifts
DB Squats
Calf Raises
Abs (Progressive degree and duration per week)
Leg Curls Front
leg Curls Back
Ab Vacuum

 

 

*UPPER BODY (Fri)
-A1 - Lying DB Chest fly -  4 sets x 8 Reps
-A2 - Lying DB Chest press -  4 sets x 8 Reps
Rest 10
-A1 - Lying DB Chest fly -  4 sets x 8 Reps
-A2 - Lying DB Chest press -  4 sets x 8 Reps
Rest 10
-A1 - Lying DB Chest fly -  4 sets x 8 Reps
-A2 - Lying DB Chest press -  4 sets x 8 Reps
Rest 10
-A1 - Lying DB Chest fly -  4 sets x 8 Reps
-A2 - Lying DB Chest press -  4 sets x 8 Reps
-------
-DB 1 arm Ros 3 x 10, then a Burn out Set -10 Lb
------
-Shrugs 3 x 10, then a Burn out Set -10 Lb
------
-Front Lateral raises 3 x 10, then a Burn out Set -5 Lb
------

 

 

*LOWER BODY (Mon)
DB Dead Lifts
DB Squats
Calf Raises
Abs (Progressive degree and duration per week)
Leg Curls Front
leg Curls Back
Ab Vacuum

 

***Rince and repeat the entire Process with some tweaks with Grip, duration, frequency etc..

 

 

I have introduced more Red meat back into my diet in the form of Very lean steak cuts This week.  After no red meat for 4 months other then 96% lean burger on occation, I notice that my energy levels drop low and I get fatigued and just flat out tired.  Red meat also makes me break out due to the acid in it.  Egg Yolks and Beans both have a similiar effect and I just try to avoid them as best as possible.  I also have to watch eating any raw vegetables, Nuts or seeds because they all will upset my stomach and put it in Knots.  As long as I steam my vegetables then I can digest them fine. Roasted Nuts and seeds digest fine for me as well. 

 

I learned quite some time back that if I use olive oil to marinate my red meat it will pull most the acid out of it which causes me problems, so thats always an idea.  I have learned to work around just about all my food allergies by preparing foods differently.  Allergies cause inflamation and basically you just need to balance it with anti-inflamation foods.

 

 

On occation I eat an all natural Peanut Butter made by Smuckers.  Looking at the ingredient label it contains only P-nuts and Salt.  After eating P-nut butter (1 TBs), I generally get a little spike which I am guessing has to do with my insulin.  It makes me kind of feel on a mild Buz which is odd because 1 TBs only has 1g Sugar, 6g Carb, 8g Protein, 2g Fiber, 120 mg salt and 105 Calories.  My post workout drink has 32g Simple sugars in it and I feel fine after drinking it, Go figure.

 

 

Mike
Its all about Synergy.........
"Chance favors the prepared mind"

*208 Lbs of death put to rest and 37 Lbs to go!
Initial weight July 2005 was 425 lbs
Current weight Mar 2, 2007  is 217 Lbs
Goal for July 18, 2007 is 180 Lbs and 9% Body fat