Weight Wars Episode IV - A New Hope

I wanted to post this one..because it took a long..long time to get down to the weight I really wanted to; which was the weight I was my sophomore year in college. That was the year that I lost 100 lbs using Nutri-system and was at 220lbs.  The picture I kept looking at for my motivation was me sitting on the beach in Daytona.


 I loved this picture of myself and wanted to get back there!  But all along this journey, it started to seem impossible to actually do it.  If you look through the blog posts of the past, you will see that I have went hardcore on the exercise portion and tried to do the same with my food consumption.  It seemed HOPELESS.  That is why I titled this post Weight Wars I - A New Hope! The problem wasn't the amount of food I was eating, but WHAT I was eating.  I had to realize that Carbs and Sugar are my Kryptonite.  Those two things will completely destroy my weight loss plans. 


Looking back, my last entry was around 5 years ago:  April 30, 2012.  During this time I continued to go to the gym 4-5 times a week.  I was taking Spin Classes 2 times a week, Body Pump, and Kickboxing/Turbo Sport and running on the other days.  I also was monitoring my caloric intake.  At one point I was only eating 1700 calories and my weight still didn’t budge. So I continued pushing on...but still felt hopeless that I would drop the weight.  That is why I hadn't really posted anything.  I felt defeated in this aspect of my life.  I couldn't drop the weight like I could when I was younger.


Then around February of last year I looked at a picture of myself and realized I didn’t really like the way I looked.  I know that whenever I looked in the mirror, (I don’t know if it’s just a guy thing or what) I thought I looked pretty good.  The mirror was lying to me!  It was only when I saw a picture of myself that I realized I needed to DECIDE to lose the weight. I had to decide to do it and not wait to see if it would just happen.  So I pulled out that picture of myself when I was a sophomore in college and was determined to get back to that weight again. One day I remembered that I had done a low carb diet at one point and lost 30 pounds.  I knew that carbs and sugar were the biggest challenge for my personal weight loss.  I realized that everybody has to figure out what works for their body type and for me it was the carbs. So I decided that since I had been eating and loved Atkins products, that I would go ALL IN on the Atkins program.  I started in February and I had my 20^th Anniversary trip that following May.  I decided that I was going to go all in with no cheating, all the way up to my Anniversary trip, and if it didn’t work it would have not been on me.  If it didn’t work I was just going to continue going to the gym and just “pay attention” to my eating and I was going to stop trying to lose weight.  I set that end date and stuck with the program all the way down to the minutest details.  By the time my anniversary had arrived, I had lost 35 lbs, so I decided to keep going until I hit my goal weight.  I now weigh about the same that I did in my sophomore year of college.  I am excited! I now have lost 60 lbs.
 

Left side: Me a couple of months ago

Top Right:  Me last year (I am in the burgundy shirt)

Bottom Right: My Senior Year in High School

Me now!

Insanity Workout Plus: Day 38 Questioning???

Questions, questions, questions!

I have been doing the Insanity workout plus my normal workout routines plus changed my eating habits to that of the Insanity program AND NOTHING HAS SIGNIFICANTLY CHANGED concerning my weight and measurements!  It has me beginning to wonder if I should worry about what I eat so much.  I will continue working out as I always do and will probably continue the Insanity Workout...but I am starting to think it doesn't matter what I eat because not much has changed since that 1st week.  I mean I am eating a better choice of food...my net calories are around 1500-1700 calories..my calorie consumption is around 2100-2300..I've downplayed the calories burned during my workouts (meaning that although the calculators say I've burned 800 calories..I set it at about 550-600 calories burned) and none of it seems to matter concerning my numbers.  The one thing that has changed a little is my body fat percentage (I've lost about 4%  body fat)  but it still doesn't show up in much of anything else.  So I'm starting to think, why should I worry about what I eat when it doesn't really matter.  I am more fit concerning what I can do exercise-wise, but its not showing up anywhere else... I don't know...when I get on the scale and it has actually gone up instead of down and I'm doing all of this...I begin to question and think.."What's the point?"  Why don't I enjoy all the foods and not worry and just continue to exercise, since its not making a difference anyway.

I don't know...just the way I'm feeling today.

Bigger, Stronger, Faster...

Well, I am finally off of the IR (Injured Reserve for those not familiar with football).  I started back with my Core and More/Cardio class today.  I found that I had a lot more strength and muscle endurance than I realized.  Since I didn't do any workouts last week..at all.  My muscles were fully recovered, so I found that I could go the whole time the instructor said.  For example, she had us do push-ups for a full 30 secs; I found that I could go full out for the whole 30 seconds.  Whereas a couple of weeks ago, that would have been difficult because my muscles would have been so fatigued.  I realize that my muscles were constantly fatigued.  So I couldn't do as many as I could today.  Hmmm.  I think I will be incorporating taking a week off during the month, so my muscles can fully recover. 

Injury Timeout

Well, I had to put my Insanity Workout on hold this week.  I was playing tag football with my younger cousins..putting the moves on them.  Juking and cutting...then when I was walking back after a play I felt this shooting pain near my groin area (high inner thigh).  And then it hurt to walk.  Later that night I couldn't lift my legs up when I was laying down and I knew that I had pulled/strained my groin muscle.  There was no way I could do the Insanity Workout now.  I tried to see if I could jog in place Sunday night but had to stop after a while.  Then I looked online for treatments.  The main one was rest, ice and heat.  Well.  I was dissapointed to say the least, but I am still following my meal plan. 

Insanity Workout Day 24

Well, today makes 24 days straight that I have been doing the Insanity Program (workouts plus nutrition program).  It can be a little discouraging if I look at the scale alone, because whenever I tried to lose weight in the past, the weight just fell off.  I mean whenever I really tried...like I am now, it didn't take me long to see results. I must say that I have lost about 7 lbs..but that has been the same for the past couple of weeks.  I am actually eating better than I have during those other times and I am exercising more..so part of me thinks..."What gives?"  But as I think about it.  I am older now and also I am seeing the results in other areas, such as the measuring tape.  The tape doesn't lie.  I have lost about 1.5 inches off my waist, 1.5 inches off my chest and 1 inch off my thighs.  So I am seeing improvement.  I have also noticed that I have had to tighten my belt some more too.  So, all in all its not bad.  I just thought that I would have seen more by now.  Either way I will continue this journey to the 60 days and probably will repeat it until I reach my goals.

Insanity Workout Plus: Day 17

Well, I have completed 17 days of the Insanity Workout, plus my 4 days a week of exercise classes, and the nutrition program by Insanity.  I have been slightly dissapointed with my results so far.  I have done all the workouts faithfully.  I am also eating the best I have eaten in years...but alas not much movement on the scales.  Part of me wants to forget looking at the scale all together...but its hard not to peek every now and then.  I have been averaging 1500 Net calories and 2300 calories consumed daily.  The recommended number for me was 3200 calories, but I had scaled that down to 2700 calories and I still can barely eat any more food.  I feel full most of the times and find it hard to get all my calories in....good calories that is.  I have lost a total of about 5 lbs now.  It seemed I lost 8 lbs before, but now it says about 5 lbs.  Its hard to understand since I am exercising more than before and eating better.  The good thing is that it seems I have lost about 1/2 inch off of my chest, stomach and hips.  But I think to myself sarcastically,"Wow! A whole 1/2 inch and 5 lbs after 17 days"...Strange times indeed. 

Day 10 - Insanity Workout (a break through)

This picture that I have up here describes my feelings about how things are going.  I am elated and excited...and also this is the type of stuff that you do in the Insanity Workout too.

I got on the scale this morning and it said 262 lbs.  That means I am down 8 lbs, since I started Insanity + My regular weekly workouts.  That is cool stuff.  One thing I do notice while doing Insanity:  I sweat like crazy.  I mean, I sweat when I work out at the gym.  Especially during Tae Bo classes...BUT I haven't sweat this much since I was on the wrestling team in high school.  Crazy.  My little girls will say stuff like, "Wow Dad..that's a lot of sweat!"  and try to help by toweling off my face, arms and legs..lol.

One cool thing though, my 9 year old daughter has been doing the Insanity workouts with me..from day one.  She loves exercising. I call her my gymnast and fitness instructor, because I have come home from work sometimes and found her working out with a fitness DVD.  And by the time I see her, she had already done an hour worth of exercise.  Even still she hits the floor in exhaustion when doing these workouts with me.  Although she could probably go right along with me if she would eat more than she does.  I try to tell her that I can go as long as I can, because I have the fuel/food to give me the energy.  So I can continue on while she needs to take a break.  Which leads me into the next part of this entry...The amount of food.

I haven't eaten as much food as I have been eating, in a long time.  I have to look around for food (in Tier 1 from Michi's Ladder /healthy foods) in order to have enough good calories and eat more food.  I am rarely hungry and I am eating way more calories than I have in a while...plus I'm losing weight and getting more toned.  Exciting!

That is all that is on my mind right now...Anyway..as you do this workout..just do what Shaun T says and
Dig Deeper!  You can do it!