That hurts... is that supposed to hurt?

Every now and then I'll work out a little harder than I probably should, go home, shower, and go to bed... thus resulting in almost crippling body aches the next morning for not properly stretching out my muscles before sleep...

So... yeah. This morning I'm moving around like an octogenarian... I need to remember to take my time at the end of my workouts and properly stretch out before bed or else I'll be unable to go to the gym all together. And that would be bad. 

Until Next Time - Stretch out!

Do you want to be thin? Or healthy?

SO... My name is FatMan Do...

Not too long ago I had 265 lbs of fat hanging over my belt, and I was huffing and puffing for air as I climbed the 2 steps into my house.

I decided that I'd had enough and I wanted to lose some weight...  I became fixated on LOSING WEIGHT!
I HAD TO LOSE WEIGHT! 
DEAR GOD WHY IS THE SCALE NOT MOVING FAST ENOUGH!!!!

It was like that... and I went out to my garage every most mornings for 6-9 weeks and I jumped and squatted and lifted little dumbbells. I ate salads and starved myself and I lost weight. That scale moved from 265 to 240... Then to 235... 230... all the way down to 225.

Holy. Shit. I was awesome. I thought that was some pretty cool stuff right there... BUT... tadaa... it all (Not all, but most) came back.

Why did it come back?

Because I wasn't smart about it. Using the bathroom scale to measure of how "healthy" I am is dumb. I didn't change my habits. I didn't add muscle to replace the fat I was losing... I simply worked the fat, and some of the muscle, out of my body in an ever maddening struggle to become lighter... and then I thought that weight would magically stay away because I was naive and didn't want to work out in the garage anymore.

I'd like to now draw your attention to WEIGHT... This is Kelsey Wells of Instagram fame...

Kelsey learned the difference between "thin" and "healthy"

She shows that you can actually replace fat with muscle and be thinner... while weighing the same. Fat weighs more than muscle. 5 lbs of FAT is easily twice as big as 5 lbs of muscle. So if you wait for it... if you bide your time at the gym or in your garage - while eating right at home - you can replace your fat with muscle and be AWESOME.

You don't have to just lose weight. Yes, losing weight feels awesome... but replacing your fat with muscle is even better. Teach yourself how to eat well, exercise right, and be good to your body... it takes time. 

Until Next Time - Muscles are good. Use them. 

Getting off of you A** and doing something...

Yesterday was Sunday - which is the first night of my weekly gym trips, and I... didn't want to go. True story.

I spent all afternoon on Sunday playing with my kids on the floor building Lego castles, space ships, and boats... and I was having fun. Then I spent some quality time with my wife - and I, to put it simply, just lacked the motivation to leave all of that and go to the gym. I was too comfortable. And that, like any excuse, isn't a good one.

But - my wife is an excellent supporter in this endeavor of mine and urged me on towards the door and the awesome pain of Chest Day awaiting me at the YMCA.  I also have a good workout partner who keeps me accountable - even on dreaded LEG DAY!!!

And the thing is - much like my normal, social anxiety - Once I was there and doing it, I was happy. It's the getting up and going that is my stumbling point.

And that's the problem with a lot of things in life - finding the deep down, innate desire to get up, out of our comfort-zone or routine and try new things or do something difficult. It's absolutely easier to stay home, take "fat-burners", eat pizza and dream about being healthy than it is to get up, get dressed, go to the gym when it's 17 degrees out, and work hard for 90 minutes with various heavy objects.

Don't get discouraged. I know many people are just like me - impatient. Didn't see any results in 12 days? Might as well stop going to the gym!  - That's not how this works. That's not how ANY of this works. It takes 3 weeks before you might even feel a change in any aspect of your personal health or behavior, let along see one. It takes 21 days (I'm told) to form a habit. And to make a habit you need a routine. And that's why Sunday sucks so much for me. Friday and Saturday are rest days and Sunday comes and I am still resting. But that'll change - and having good reminders from family and friends helps - as does the reward of how good I feel after the gym. Well, except on the days when I go and I'm really dehydrated and I cramp up really bad in my sleep - but that's more of a personal problem LOL.

SO - go out there, form a routine, make a habit - AND BECOME THE BEST VERSION OF YOURSELF!!!!  Even if it takes 6 months, 6 years, 20 years, or 40 years!

Weight Loss and other factors...

Getting healthy - changing your lifestyle for the better - isn't just about losing weight. Anyone can lose weight if they just starve themselves or burn more calories than you take in... and that's not healthy or a good change for you to go through. In many of those cases, the lost weight comes back with a vengeance shortly thereafter. It's good for a short-fix, but not long-term.

I was one of those people concerned only with the scale and what it said for a long time. I just want to lose weight I just want to lose weight I just want to lose weight... 

But it's not about weight. It is about body make-up and composition. What I really wanted was to lose fat, build some muscle, and learn how to treat my body better. Don't get me wrong - if they came out with a pill tomorrow that would allow me to lose all of this weight in a week - I'd really consider it. I'm lazy. 

Fat loss is better than weight loss. 

So - 3 weeks ago, or so, on January 14th I decided to take some measurements along with my weigh-in and track that as well. 

My first measurements looked like this:

Neck: 17.25"

Hips: 43.5"

Waist: 44.5"

Not exactly the picture of fit - even though I was "losing weight" I wasn't losing size. In all reality I was probably losing muscle do to an insufficient diet. Muscle, as you might know, weighs MORE than fat... 

Here we see 5 lbs of fat next to 5 lbs of muscle... note the MASS of each....

For the past 3 weeks - I've been really working on eating the right foods - high in protein, low in carbs, healthy fats that my body can process... And my weight-loss has slowed.  I felt I should be down to 225 by now easily. But that's not the case - I'm still hanging around 228/230... but...

BUT...

I measured again today... 3 weeks to the day.

Neck: 16.5" (down .75")

Hips: 40.75" (down 2.75")

Waist: 42.5" (down 2")

And that's pretty damn great!!

So - I am pleased... and I am going to go another 3 weeks and re-measure. Maybe I'll be down another couple of inches and another couple of lbs... Who knows. 

Wish me luck, kids!