I think I am close to returning to the mindspace that allowed me to write in this blog before.
I am still here, plugging away at the weights and keeping the weight off. I am eating quite a bit more calories, and slowly losing more fat while gaining muscle and strength. It really feels great!
I need to think of a good topic for my official return post, so stay tuned!
Every morning, I wake up because of the pain. Every workout decision is made based on what is hurting or not hurting (as much). I have to use certain massage techniques which are very painful in order to help manage the pain and to help me move better. I have to do extensive warm ups in order to optimize my range of motion for strength training...every workout.
Like every other blogger on the face of the planet, I'm going to write about resolutions. New Year's Resolutions. Yeah, those things that you know you'll never actually follow through on because you've been there every year, and every year you look back and see a year littered with failure. This has led some people to vow that they will never make another New Year's Resolution as long as they live.
Hello readers,
I know it has been a long time since my last post, and I sincerely apologize for that!
I will be writing an article soon that may help some people achieve their upcoming weight loss resolutions.
In the meantime, jut wanted to let you know that I have been using the time since my last post to build strength, and therefore have upped my caloric intake quite a bit. I am holding steady around 223-225 pounds, but I know that my body fat percentage is still coming down, but much more slowly than before. This has tested my psyche, as I am used to a much more rapid weight loss. To be honest, it freaked me out a little. I am finally coming to terms with the fact that I don’t have to be quite as obsessive as I was in the past regarding my caloric intake, and this has come as a relief (especially during the holidays!).
I am still practicing IF, and still cycling my carbohydrates depending on whether or not it is a training day or not, but the calories have increased quite a bit.
Anyway, I will be back soon with a new article. See you soon!
(Correction appended Sept. 26, 2012.)
Time was, the solar system was raining rocks. You only need to look at the cratered face of airless bodies like Mercury and the moon to get a sense of the cosmic crossfire that took place back when the local worlds were just forming and much of the debris that helped make them up was still flying free.
People with diets short on omega-3 fatty acids – the kind found in fish oil – were more likely to experience accelerated brain aging, a new study found.
“People with lower levels of omega-3 fatty acids had lower brain volumes that were equivalent to about two years of brain aging,” said Dr. Zaldy S. Tan, a member of the UCLA Easton Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research in the Department of Neurology.
OK, this took me a bit longer to get back to than I realized it would!
I am so very close to my 100 lb. mark, but I just keeping losing a bit at a time. I think it is because I am adding muscle at the same time that I am losing fat. This is a good thing.
In this installment, I want to talk about another aspect of my journey to become lean: exercise.
I have alluded to this before, and this part of my plan is just as important as diet in getting the weight off and keeping it off. Don’t get me wrong, diet is EXTREMELY important! If you don’t eat right you won’t lose weight, and you won’t be able to power yourself through a workout.
I also mentioned before that you have to find an exercise that you enjoy, otherwise you might not stick with it. This is important, but I don’t think you should box yourself in! I know many people who LOVE running, but hate lifting. I also know many who are the opposite, myself included.
For the first part of my weight loss plan, I started walking on a treadmill and using weight machines. This started the ball rolling for me, but it wasn’t really giving me much noticeable change.
In what I will call my second phase, I stuck with the weight machines and switched to a stationary bike. Once again, I was still losing weight, but not at the rate that I really wanted. I could tell i was getting in better shape, but my body wasn’t changing too much.
In the third phase, which I began in November of last year, I actually completely (*gasp!*) quit doing cardio almost completely (besides walking to and from the bus and a little here and there)! I switched to lifting with free weights (not machines), doing the “Big Three” (Squat, Deadlift and Bench Press) along with the Overhead Press. I think that this moment was the best move of my fitness journey. Since that time, I have added a LOT of strength and muscle mass. I think that this lifting has boosted my metabolism so much that the weight began to fall off.
Here is an illustration of what that shift has accomplished for me:
From March of 2011 when I weighed my heaviest at 334.5 pounds, until November 4 of 2011 I lost a total of 31.9 pounds. That means I was losing roughly 1 pound per week. Pretty slow loss, huh? Of course, any loss is good!
Now let me examine the most current period from November of 2011 until the present. During this period (which is just about 10 months) I went from 302.6 pounds down to my current weight which is 235 pounds. That is a total loss of 67.6 pounds. that is a rate of about 1.69 pounds per week. Pretty good progress!
Of course, as time has progressed, so have my diet and eating techniques. I cannot discount those changes as well. All I know now is that I have lost 10 inches in my waist since I started, and I can now wear a men’s Large shirt, but I still weigh over 230 pounds. I am pretty sure that I have gained a LOT of muscle during this period as well.
Now, I am not discounting cardio completely. In fact, I will most likely start to run when I feel like it won’t damage my joints or interfere with my lifting/weight loss. I believe that both are an important part of a healthy lifestyle, but I also believe in slowly making changes.
I actually consider most of my lifting sessions to be cardio, because of the elevation in heart rate and breathing. You try doing 11 sets of squats or deadlifts without sweating and your heart beating super fast 
In my next installment, I will outline some of the dietary changes that have evolved over this weight loss journey as well. They might assist you with some ideas on what to eat and what not to eat. Specifically, I will discuss my current strategy of Leangains-style Intermittent Fasting.
Stay tuned, and feel free to contact me if you want to ask a question!
