At some point in my life, I actually did a 180 on my personality, just to allow me to live the reality I've always desired. That may sound like a vague statement, but suffice it to say, it was an inward change that I implemented to better myself. It worked, (and whether people like it or not) I am the way I am because of what I've done. This was many years ago, in my early 20's. Fast forward to a couple of months ago and many other personal accomplishments tried, succeeded, and some failed, and I decided what my next conquest was going to be.
I've never cared much about working out or bettering my physique. A lot of this had to do with that for the better part of my 28 years, my metabolism allowed me to stay at a constant weight for the longest time, no matter what I ate/did not eat or if I exercised/did not exercise. However, in the last few years, this wonderful metabolism has slowly left me. Now, it would've never festered into a problem had gaining weight for me meant gaining weight evenly throughout my body; no, gaining weight for me meant ONLY my mid-section expanding.
Now once again, this isn't necessarily a terrible problem to be had, as it was not as if my mid-section was out of control that I couldn't see my belly button anymore, but after 28 years, any self-respecting man would've amassed a respectable gallery of clothes that he really wouldn't want to overhaul for anything other than the times changing. Overhauling for the sake of going a size up, well, that's akin to waving the white flag, admitting defeat. It's not cost-effective, and, well, I like my current wardrobe collection...
So, with those preceding realizations, my next personal project laid itself in front of me: It was time to buckle down to follow a specific diet and workout regimen.
For 90 days.
Starting November 1st of 2010.
Admittedly, I was still too much of a man to ask for directions, so no, I didn't get a personal trainer or consult with a nutritionist. Instead, I turned to the internet (like I do with everything else!), and found a diet and workout regimen that was realistic to my current eating habits (I love to eat!), with exercises that would be accessible. I found a high-protein diet consisting of six meals/snacks per day, with target workouts for specific muscle groups per night, four nights a week, topping it off with cardio for the next day or two, resting on the 7th day.
I'm now in my 9th week of about 12 weeks total scheduled, and here's my impression and findings so far:
- It's completely counter-intuitive, personally speaking, but eating more small meals per day vs. less larger meals really does make you lose weight!
- Working out doesn't seem like too much work when you split the muscle groups per day/night, and it also means you spend less time at the gym, which is always a plus.
- On average, once I got in the groove of my eating and workout regimen, I can lose a pound a half in a 24 hour period.
- I could've lost a lot more weight by now, if I dieted full-time instead of just the four days that I worked out. That changed about a week or so ago; no more cheat days or fasting day, just six small meals per day for 7 days.
- Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve dinners didn't crash my party so much, but they did set me back a good 2 pounds or so each night. People thought I was crazy for doing this during this time of the year, but I figured if I could do it now, I should b able to do it any time.
- It's so stupid of me, but I never realized how much you need running shoes for running. For the first month and a half I would run in basketball shoes, until I started feeling shooting pain in my left foot. A simple suggestion by a friend to switch to running shoes fixed it alright!
- I can't get enough running now! I started off just running once a day for two days like my workout regimen suggested, but now I cap off every workout night by running a mile at max heart rate as well.
- I find myself reading up on which foods are healthy, and how intense your workout needs to be for optimal payout. Thankfully, I haven't started calorie counting (yet?).
- I love eggs, but having to eat 6 egg whites and 1 egg yolk every morning got too cumbersome. Thank god for whey protein shakes.
- Speaking of food, I can still apparently eat the same thing over and over again, but I've found that there are certain foods that I need to deviate from every now and then. Such as chicken breast. That god-forsaken dry and soulless piece of meat.
- Speaking of soulless food, cottage cheese is torture, but Knudsen's Low-Fat Cottage Cheese has the best taste I've found so far I no longer need to mix in some crushed pineapple just to eat cottage cheese.
To be truthful, I'm not doing this for total weight loss or muscle-gaining. Obviously I want to lose the flab in the middle, but I also want to get my total body fat down overall, while retaining my existing muscle mass at least. Remember when I said I didn't want to overhaul my closet just because I've gained weight/mass? Well, I don't want to overhaul my closet either because I've lost too much weight/mass. In short, I'm really just trying to get my body as lean as I can possibly get it, to see what's the best I can make it look with what I was naturally given. I've never cared to even wonder before, so I figured now really is the better time to find out, when my body at its age could use all the help it can get from me in keeping it in shape.
I started off at 189 lbs. in November 1st, the heaviest I've been. I also measured my chest, shoulders, and arms while I was at it. By tomorrow morning, I'm pretty sure I'm going to clock in at 181 lbs., making it an average of nearly a pound lost per week since I started. As I already mentioned though, I'm jump-starting this last four weeks by following my diet 7 days a week; I got tired of seeing all the progress I'd make in four to five days, only to gain a few of it back because of the weekend.
Once my 90 days are up, I may relax on the diet, but I've found that I actually enjoy this type of workout regimen, and I am definitely enjoying all this running, that I may incorporate the latter two full-time into my lifestyle.
So in three and a half weeks today, we'll see what I've achieved overall in the 90 days I allotted, but like I just mentioned;
I could get into this for life. :)
