I set up a workout routine last week with a friend and yesterday was our first day. It felt AWESOME! It had been over a year since I last followed a regular workout routine and I was missing it.
A little background
I wrestled in high school as a 152 pounder. Not bad… definitely the best shape I have ever been in. There were a lot of sacrifices to keeping the weight, especially during the few days leading up to wrestling matches. Without going into details, I did a lot of unsafe and extremely detrimental things (I remember losing 12 pounds from 7am to 4pm once). Needless to say, this was not good for my body.
As soon as I graduated from high school, I paid the price for what I had done. See, I went from working out 7 hours a day to absolutely zero because I started working and going to college. I went from 152 to 200, 210, 215, 220, 240, and in mid ’04 I hit my highest weight ever — 259.5 pounds.
Solution
I started on glyconutrients and dropped to 240 within a month and a half. This doesn’t happen to everyone, but it did with me. I plateaued but I noticed I had a ton of energy so I got into some sports I had previously done. I began to play tennis, golf, and jiu jitsu once again (things I hadn’t done in well over 10 years). I dropped another 10 pounds, and once again plateaued. No matter what I did or what I ate (even when in excess), I stayed at the same weight.
Then I stopped doing the exercise, I climbed back up to 240 by about a year later. And that’s where I stayed until August of 2008 when I took a new whey protein supplement which was backed by a few clinical studies (double-blind placebo and open label studies). I purposely didn’t change anything in my diet or exercise routine. I wanted to see what this product, on its own did.
But instead of caring about the weight, I focused on the measurements around certain body parts once a week (day to day weighing was prohibited). The results for the first 8 weeks were amazing. I was wearing pants that were 4 inches smaller! But then I plateaued. The body is an amazing thing! I began to work out and once again I began to drop in sizes and weight. But this only lasted a month. I stopped taking the supplement and eliminated the exercise.
For the past year, I’ve been fairly lax on my food intake with very little activity. Sure I’ve gotten up once in a while for a hike or walk or lift weight in the backyard, but nothing serious… no commitment. That is, until now.
Exercise Routine
Weight lifting is CRUCIAL for eliminating fat. This is probably the biggest thing I needed to consider since that’s my main goal. I need to reduce another 4 inches from my pant sizes. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays after biochemistry are the days we will lift.
Mondays is upper body, pushing muscles. Chest, shoulders, and triceps (in that order). Wednesdays are upper body, pulling muscles. Back (upper and lower), biceps, and forearms. Fridays are legs. We are already thinking we may have to accelerate the workout rotation as we get more and more used to the workouts.
Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings will be for walking. I don’t run because I feel it damages the body more than it helps. Benefits of aerobic exercise are to help with mobility, circulation, and stretch the muscles. It is very, very, VERY hard to lose weight by doing aerobic exercise.
Diet
There are a lot of miracle diets. I don’t believe in any of them. The key is a lifestyle change. For the moment, I know I have to eat a lot less than I was before if I truly want to lose weight. But I do not want to eliminate food. How do I do it? I don’t concentrate on calories. Concentrating on calories in vs. calories out leads to nothing but hunger, frustration, and ultimately failure.
Instead I concentrate on healthy food choices. Low glycemic index is the name of the game. Here’s an example of what I eat yesterday and today:
Breakfast: Meal replacement drink because I was in a real hurry and couldn’t cook (tastes great and carries me through to lunch time).
Lunch: Sandwich (toast, mayo, two slices of turkey breast, spinach, and a jalapeño) with a small bag of baked pretzels.
Dinner: Sandwich as described in lunch.
Breakfast: Two egg omelette w/ cheese, small glass of soy milk
Lunch: Sandwich as described for above.
Dinner: Three fish tacos
I do not eat after 8pm. I do not drink any liquids during my meals (if I get thirsty, it’s because I’m not chewing well enough), I drink a lot of water (at least a gallon per day) with advanced glyconutrients.
So, as most of you know, I am on a fat-loss program that follows a healthy way of eating (I am following a strict glycemic-index based eating plan), daily exercise (weights some days, walking in others). I also take high quality supplements, including a whey protein blend that helps me accelerate my fat burning abilities and a meal replacement drink that I sometimes use to make breakfast shakes, snacks, flavor yogurt with, and so many other things.
