Day 46 – Part 2

Good day today. Work was awesome. Adhered 100% to my nutrition plan. And got my H1N1 shot. I’ll keep this short

Day 46

Today was a really good day training. I had a lot of fun down there in the gym

I have to admit, I always feel refreshed after my weekends… I think it’s a good thing to let go a little bit and indulge. I think it helps the body to recover from the stress and strain of the previous week.

Right now I’m back on my nutrition plan – don’t plan to diverge from it this week. And – I can hardly believe it – but as of Friday, I’ll’ve been doing this routine for 8 weeks. Another results! I don’t think I will have lost too much in the past 4 weeks… all I know is that I’m fitting into my pants a lot better than I have since – well – far earlier this year! So it’s all good.

I’m excited. And I’m definitely noticing some huge differences! Just please – when can I see my abs Pretty please before Costa Rica

Days 44 and 45

This weekend has been – well – interesting. I had my little brownie on Fri, then went out on Sat and had a beautiful tenderloin with a glass of wine and a HUGE slice of chocolate fudge cake. I downed that cake in minutes. Well, probably seconds. It was a HUGE slice. I was the only person at the table who was able to finish it. It was kinda funny! Then today nutrition was good… but sneaked another brownie in there. Not as bad as the previous weekend with all the wine and pizza… but got that coming up again next weekend. Hmmm…

But I have to admit something… yesterday and today I was walking around town and I felt fantastic. I felt healthy and fit. Sure, it helped that my size 32″ pants were falling off me… OK that was embarrassing. But – I’m feeling better and better about myself… physique wise, I’ve still got a lot of work to do… but when clothed, I look really good. I look toned and back on track. And fitness and health wise, I’m feeling absolutely fantastic!

But this is also where I have to watch myself. Now I feel that I’m close to being on top of the world, I have to be careful not to get too taken with it all, and think that I can lose my concentration. Sometimes when you feel like superman, you think you can take on the world, abuse yourself and you’ll be fine. That’s not true. This is now the test.

Same with money… when I get to that $0 place… it’ll be tempting to go celebrate… but that’s where the hard work starts… letting down some of the guards that have been put up and trying to ensure the whole damn isn’t going to come down with it. It’s like a game of Jenga (I think that’s the one). You want to try and remove some blocks, but ensure the whole structure doesn’t fall down.

That’s where I am right now… I’m happy, content and satisfied with progress… come on – 20lbs in less than 10 weeks, that’s pretty awesome But there’s more work… however having my holiday 3.5 weeks away from now is hugely motivating and exciting… it’s 3.5 weeks more training and then I’m away, which’ll act as a refresher, then I can come back and be more focussed than ever

Week 7 Results

First up – just did my cardio. Didn’t push too hard – end of the week and all. But it went well! Very good indeed.

So onto results:

• Weight: 176.7lbs to 177.6lbs = +0.9lbs
• Bodyfat: 37.2lbs to 37.5lbs = +0.3lbs
• Bodyfat: 21.0% to 21.1% = +0.1%

So these are REALLY interesting results… increased on every scale… but apparently put on 0.6lbs of muscle this week. Interesting. Not sure where the whole 0.3lbs of fat came from??? Well, probably the pizza and cupcakes from last weekend – it was a bit of a splurge

The good thing is that while I’ve gone up an entire 1lb of weight, I’m only up 0.1% bf. That’s good!!! Very good indeed. It means that I don’t need to be too skinny in the near future

I’m a tad upset that I didn’t proceed going down, but I guess the body needs to adjust back to accommodate for all the crazy that happened last week with the fat burner. The body’s getting back its jive… and I’m happy to support it. In my opinion, this is all good. Next week – therefore – will be another test for the nutrition plan. I just want one week where I can tell if it’s working… first week was confused with the fat burner, this week was confused by the non-existance of the fat burner. Hopefully next week there won’t be anything to interfere – but I know with saying that, that something’ll now happen to fuck it all up!

I know I’m not in the weekend yet… but I have high hopes for maintaining good nutrition over the weekend… apart from the brownie I have staring at me right now Muhahahaha. And going out for dinner tomorrow night… will probably try to be reasonably good – only a glass of wine. Perhaps. We’ll see. Life still has to happen…

Slim

Slim’s an old favorite of mine. I downloaded pics of him probably a good 2-3 years ago now. I was thinking about him last night for some reason – in conjunction with this site – so thought it was about time to load up pics.

Lean, toned… a construction worker (d’uh). Love his snakebites too. A bit too edgy skater for me to take on most of the time, but I can admire without a doubt

More pics after the break!

Day 43

Updated legs and shoulders workout completed. Somewhat tough! Probably had about 70-80% effort today. It’s the end of an intense week, so really couldn’t encourage more effort than that! But dedication is still there!

I’m excited but also nervous for todays weight in – I hope I’ve lost something. Fingers crossed.

On a sidenote… I’ve started to think about what should come after this cutting phase… and I think I’ll need to do 2-4 weeks of posture correction prior to moving into the mass gain cycle. I think this’ll be a good transition… because it’ll allow me to do a maintenance phase for 2-4 weeks, to make sure I can maintain my goal, and then once somewhat stable with a far improved posture, I can move into developing significant levels of muscle.

I have a book that provides guidance on some good posture exercises, but I’m thinking that that phase would be good supplemented with a trainer… because their insight into that – customized to exactly what I need, would be best. Also – I don’t really know the correct form for those exercises, so having a trainer walk me through them would be beneficial I think. Then, once posture is better… I’ll be able to move back alone for the mass gain – but may still be able to call on the trainer as required to inform the nutrition / training plan, because that’s where I could do with some help.

If I’m lucky, this’ll all happen at Extreme Fitness or the Rogers gym. I don’t think I’ll be ready to do this before I move into my loft… I just won’t lose weight that quickly But that’s fine.

I think this makes sense as a goal. Yes, it pushes the mass gain further away, but I’m good with that… posture will be massively more valuable than just jumping from cutting to gaining, with no maintenance in the middle.

Day 42 – Part 2

Just did my cardio… surprisingly, the outside door remained open for the entire time I was at the gym! That rarely happens… and was such a nice thing to have Beautiful!

Altogether, again, really good. I’m starting to question going too slim… but I’m wondering whether my body’s going to nab the easiest fat first – what I call the transitional stuff, and then go for the sluggish stuff around the gut and love handle area?! Perhaps I just need to see this through – and as much as I was over the top prior to now – ie. too heavy – perhaps I have to see myself being too slim for a period… and then, when I’m too slim, I can build up from there… rather than up down up down… down down down, up up up. Perhaps?

Maybe I’m looking at this the wrong way :s Not sure yet.

Day 42

Another great cardio at the gym… it was nice in there. Early morning cardio seems to be better for me I found this 30 mins a tad easier that last night, which was good.

Also – this morning I seemed to be in a reflective mood. I got a few insights into some stuff that I’ve been thinking / worried about. Not for discussion here, but valuable nonetheless.

I have to say this outloud – being truthful to myself – I now look in the mirror and see a slim person. One without a whole lot of definition, but still with the love handles – they really aren’t going anywhere. Boo. So I preparing myself to go to ‘too slim’ before I can jump back out of it and get a tad more buff again. Fortunately, I think the whole getting buff stage will be reasonably easy – and fun! It was last time, and the growth in the first couple of weeks was intense as the body adapts. If I can get my arms and chest / shoulders bigger / more defined, I’ll be happy. It’ll be a better looking physique – rather than everything squaring off.

But that’s a long way away yet

Greedy Practice

This week’s been a quiet one… and it’s seen me making notes on books I read a long while back.

Another quote that really got me interested was:

It’s what your practice is rather greedy that you become discouraged with it.

When you get too greedy, when you want to much, when your achievement is too great, you get discouraged. The experience – the current moment – is what needs to be focussed upon. Nothing more. Nothing less. That’s why – way back when – I wrote a post about ‘One Day At A Time.’ That’s what it’s about. It’s about today, not tomorrow or next week. It’s about the journey – feeling every moment… realizing the pressure, the effort, the goals, the achievement, and never forgetting that moment. Because if we forget, we think we can conquer the world – we think that the highlight of this particular moment will always be our highlight – yet forgetting all the strife and struggle that went into getting at that moment.

What I’m looking forward to is the ability to maintain as less that getting to this position in the first place. Maintenance is easier than struggle – no matter which way you look at it.

A Watchful Victory

I was just making notes on this magnificent book called ‘As A Man Thinketh’ by James Allen. It’s incredible… but one element stood out more than the rest:

Victories attained by right thought can only be maintained by watchfulness. Many give way when success is assured, and rapidly fall back into failure.

Victory is only a victory when it can be sustained. Victories don’t just happen – they take time, effort, and need to be maintained over the long term.

I think James Allen also talked about how change cannot be maintained without a change of thought pattern… that behaviour is resultant from thoughts. Our minds dictate who we are and what we do. And we choose – to an arguable extent – what we think about. So it’s all under our own control.

What I’m trying to get at here, is the fact that this gym experience isn’t over when it’s over. It only starts… or I should say – it starts afresh when it stops. A new experience begins – one that’s not as fun as gaining the victory, but just as important, if not more so.