It's January 31, Do You Know Where YOUR Gut Is?

Weigh In: 330.5
Work Out - Freeweights

Circuit One
Squats - 3 sets, 15 reps. 115 pounds
Flat Bench Press - 3 sets, 10 reps, 110 pounds (no spotter)
Hammer Horizontal Row - 3 sets, 15 reps, 140 pounds

Circuit Two
Lunges - 2 sets, 10 reps.
Barbell Curl - 2 sets, 10 reps. 65 pounds
Tricep Extention - 2 sets, 15 reps, full stack (150 pounds).

Abs & Lower Back
Medicine Ball Crunches - 2 sets, 25 reps (these things are NO joke)
Quadruped (Yoga Stretch) - 2 sets, 20 seconds each
Child's Post (Yoga Stretch) - 2 sets, 20 seconds each

The first step of my 3 step program to get "Under 300 by 30" is complete, as January is over. So, how did I do?

I wanted to reach 330 by the end of January. My five day average as of today is 331.3. So, I came up a tiny bit short. But, I'm ok with that, because as the top of the blog states, I weighed in at 330.5 today. If you use your high level mathematics abacus, you'll see that 330.5 is damn close to 330. So, I'm pretty proud of myself. When January started, everyone (including myself) thought that 15 pounds lost in a month was too accelerated, and there's not much closer than 330.5. My average will come. I'm just glad to see the scale lean in.

So, I believe the score is:

Rob 1, Scale 0

The goal for February is to do it again. 15 pounds by the end of February. There's only one problem. If January's goal was accelerated, February will be tougher, if only for the fact that we're going from 31 days in January to only 28 in February. So, it's a challenge that I've never faced before. But, you know something?

I love a good challenge.

See you at the bottom.

Full House Beats Squat

So, I went to the gym today with my heavy weights sheet in hand, and I walk to the back of the gym where all the free-weights are.

Have you ever seen Grand Central Station during rush hour? Bally's at the same time of day.. more people, and it stinks just a bit worse.

I couldn't get a spot on a machine. I hated it. I waited my turn for 10 minutes, and these two dope muscleheads wouldn't get off the machine. Do your weights, kiss your biceps, get the hell out of the way. I'll never understand they these guys think that they're the ONLY ones in the gym.

So, I got frustrated, and just ended up doing 40 minutes of cardio and called it a day. Usually I would have went more, but I went from the gym straight to volleyball, so it was a good almost two hours of straight movement, so all in all, a good night.

Oh, and one other thing. For those of you who read this blog, do me a big favor. Spread the word. I'd love to get a bigger and bigger following on this, and also promote "FatManDo", my blog over on Shifthf.com. This is a big adventure for me and the guys (and girls), and we'd love to have a ton of response. Josh the Destroyer is even there offering free advice, so you can't beat it. I'm shamelessly plugging the sites here:

My "FatManDo" Blog

Shift Health and Fitness Forums (I'm FatManDo)

So, do me a favor and spread the word. Coworkers, friends, family.. anybody that could use a little motivation. The more, the merrier.

More tomorrow!

The Good News - I'm Fat

So, remember that blood work that I had done a few days ago? The doc called me this morning with my results, and here's what I've got:

Fasting Blood Sugar: 95
HGAIC (Diabetes Test): 5.7
Total Cholesterol: 178
Triglycerides: 179
LDL Cholesterol: 94
HDH Cholesterol: 48

From what the doc told me, my fasting blood sugar was good, and the HGIAC "good" range is between 4 and 6, so I'm on the high side of good, and that'll only get better as the weight comes down. "Good" Total Cholesterol should be below 200 (good!), and anything below 130 on the LDL is favorable. Also, the HDH should be ABOVE 40, and I hit that mark. The only one I'd really like to improve is the Triglycerides, which should ideally be lower than 150, but from I understand, that's weight related too.. so fixable.

So, as the title suggests.. the good news is, I'm fat. I don't have any other issues in terms of blood pressure (108/80, as reported a week or so ago), cholesterol, or these other issues that come up with overweight guys. Doc said that I'm "surprising healthy" for someone my size.

I'll take that as a compliment.

I was talking to my dad this morning, and we were talking about how I've gotten through the tough part, which is learning how to do this. I'm starting to see the *IMPORTANT* results, the blood pressure, the cholesterol, the clothes are fitting.. so it's easier to continue with something that you're seeing changes in. It's a pretty good feeling.

That being said, I haven't been to the gym today. I felt a bit lazy, so I came to work early to get some stuff done that has been sitting on my desk for a week. I get out of work at 6, and then it's to volleyball. And then, the gym.

Edit: The newest installment of "FatManDo" is now available.

Monday Weigh In - Something's "Fishy"

Weigh In: 332
Five Day Average: 332.8

It's weigh-in day, and it's a pretty decent week. Not where I wanted to be (330), but not where I was either, so I'm headed in the right direction.

The last five: 334, 334, 332, 332, 332. Slowly, but steady.

The bad news is, in order to get the average at 330(.4) by the 31st, I'd need to pull the next two days in at 328, which I know isn't going to happen, so I fell short. The good news is, if January ended today, I'd have lost 12.2 pounds in January. That would put me at my target goal of 100 pounds lost in 8 months and 1 week - early September. I can accept that.

So, blog changes, but attitude stays the same. I just wrote my last blog late last night, so make sure to read and comment on that one as well.

And, for what it' s worth, that fish in the picture weighs 18 pounds. It's a good comparison of what I've lost so far.

So, welcome to Fourth and 82!

Proud Of Myself Today

So, today's one of those days where you don't have ten minutes to yourself.

From the minute I woke up, I was busy. Church, lunch, shopping, clean the house, have family over for dinner, entertain.. it was a fun day, but one thing was missing.

My workout.

So, I'm proud of myself. Everyone left the house around 9:15, and after doing a metric ton of dishes, at 9:45, I took care of that.

I got my running gear on, and ran 2 miles in the cold. My first mile was somewhere around 15 minutes, and my second mile was somewhere in the 13's.

Here's my concern.. and this just happened as I was typing the first part of this blog. Is it normal.. and maybe the weather has something to do with it.. for my adam's apple in the back of my throat to be KILLING me right now? I'm guessing I was sucking wind instead of breathing through my nose.. but it's really, really hurting right now. It didn't hurt ten minutes ago when I came into the house, but it's got me now. And - not to be graphic, but I just had to get up and well.. vomit, twice.

I need to push my limits, but I'm thinking that this isn't good. I've been pampered by being able to work out in the climate controlled gym in good temperatures, but I need to be able to do workouts OUTDOOR as well.

Overdoing it? I guess it's one of the things I'm going to have to figure out. As Beck says..

.. NO excuses.

Oh, and one other self-promotion. Shifthf.com forums are open. Come check out my first blog, that you can find by clicking this link.

Until next time.

Keep On Going

Weigh In: 332 (lowest yet!)

Yesterday gave me enough of a boost to get into the gym today and do my 30 minutes of Elyptical at a good pace. I was POURING down sweat, thanks to the Rocky movies.

I don't have a lot of time for a long blog, but you'll notice one thing at the top. Weighed in 2 pounds less than I ever have. I'm not getting excited, but I'm getting there. I've only got a few days to hit my 330 goal, so mathematically, I probably won't hit the average. But, if I can at least see 330 on the scale before February, I'm still on schedule.

Also, the Shift blog is up and running, but I haven't posted anything yet. Stay tuned for that as well!

Dedication

Weigh In: 334
Work Out - Freeweights

Circuit One
Squats - 3 sets, 15 reps. 85 pounds
Flat Bench Press - 3 sets, 10 reps, 130 pounds (with spotter)
Hammer Horizontal Row - 3 sets, 15 reps, 140 pounds

Circuit Two
Lunges - 2 sets, 10 reps.
Barbell Curl - 2 sets, 10 reps. 65 pounds
Tricep Extention - 2 sets, 15 reps, full stack (150 pounds).

Abs & Lower Back
Medicine Ball Crunches - 2 sets, 25 reps (these things are NO joke)
Quadruped (Yoga Stretch) - 2 sets, 20 seconds each
Child's Post (Yoga Stretch) - 2 sets, 20 seconds each

I've got to say one thing first.

Josh, you are the man. Oh, and I hope you don't kill me for posting that picture. Myspace is free game, and I just couldn't help myself LOL

Now, that's off my shoulders, let me get into this. The last few days, I've been down and out. Been doing the workouts, eating right.. but the motivation wasn't there, and I was starting to drag. As of my last post, I was running on fumes. So, I wake up this morning, and see that Josh left me a message on my last post.. and long story made short, trained me for free today. The guy's a professional, and he goes out of his way to make sure I'm getting where I need to be.

A TRUE class act.

My motivation is back. It's strange how your body treats you mentally. It's such a roller coaster. You're feeling great, ready to take on the world.. and then you blink your eyes, and all of a sudden everything is a challenge that you just don't seem ready for. I'm starting to learn that this is how the rest of my life is going to be when it comes to my health. You have to stay on it, even when you don't want to. It's not easy.. especially for me for some reason, but I've got a long term goal of a long life with my wife, and I need to be ready to make those sacrifices. Josh.. thanks for making one of those sacrifices for me.

In other news, my weight went back down to 334, so my last five days are: 334, 334, 336, 336, 334 for an average of 334.8. A bit of a plateau, but that's ok. I'm headed in the right direction.

----------

I've discovered lately that I've got a theme song. The Rocky music's been working well for me, but I've really started to relate to "Lose Yourself", by Eminem. It may or may not be your type of music, and if you're adverse to profanity in your music, it may not be for you.. but there's some quotes in the song.. it speaks to me. Basically, the whole tune is about his determination to make it in the rap game, and he knows that he's got ONE shot to do it right.

"If you had one shot.. one opportunity, to seize everything you every wanted... one moment, would you capture it? Or just let it slip?"

About 2/3rd the way through, it's just one line, but it rings. Doesn't matter if it's music, life, school, work, weight loss.. anything. It's the truth:

"Success is my only option, failure's NOT."

So yeah, as Beck says, "no excuses". The roller coaster continues, but as long as it never stops, I'm ok with that.