Lentil Spaghetti

When I started my "physical transformation" I started two blogs. The first was called The Fleet Vegan. On it I was looking to develop alternative recipes to common favorites that could be made quickly and easily for busy people. I got rid of the blog because everyone started associating me only with vegan food (and I'm not a vegan). Plus, I wanted to be inclusive of other things besides just recipes. I was changing my exercise life and my way of thinking (I've become Mr. Life Affirming since those out of prime shape days). The Fleet Vegan format just was complementary to work out posting. It was too food concentrated.

When I started the blog, I made a few silly little cooking demonstration videos. This guy is one of them:

Photo Update

So, I stopped posting an update pic because I honestly didn't think many changes were happening in the old body for a while. But, I decided to post one on here because I was wrong. The obliques are starting to show pretty well. Less than 2 months to go! I think the cardio kickboxing is going to be a big help.

Massage/.com

I got a full, one hour massage yesterday.  It was amazing.

Something that I've neglected while on this fitness path is relaxation. I'm not good at relaxing. I have a hard time sitting through an entire movie because I feel the need to work on something. I have this overwhelming desire to create whether it is a blog post, an article, my skateboard magazine (Luchaskate), music (I have a band called Lucha and the Flatspots), or to create skateboarding.  I believe the act of skateboarding is like dance, you create something that lives, in an original state, only in that moment. You can video the action, but it is never the same as the moment it is created.

So, laying down for a massage was a very new, eye opening experience. It was amazing. I learned that I NEED to slow down sometimes. I've not been doing my yoga/stretching. I've been so busy, and this is THE BEST time of the year to be a skateboarder. While it is hot, it doesn't rain much and if it does rain, it dries very quickly. I've been skating four or five times a week and continuing to work out.

In my desire to create, I've been thinking of creating a static website based on the blog. Rather than detailing my day to day experiences, I'm thinking of writing articles based on what I'm seeing and learning.  I'll let you know more as I get the website planned and started.

Old Video #1

I had a conversation on facebook with an old friend (she isn't old, we've just been friends for years) about cooking. She brought up vegan curry with tomatoes and chickpeas. I love a quick, easy chickpea curry. Here is a video I made last year of exactly that dish. Now, I wasn't in the shape I am now during this time so don't think I'm trying to pass this off as current (I'm not even sporting a beard these days).

I want to start eating more things like this. I've lost fat cutting out sugar, but I've stopped eating veggie meals like this and I need to pick that back up. It has been so easy cutting fat without the sugar that I've allowed myself to eat some bad stuff as long as it doesn't include sugar.

Week 12?

I've been so busy that I've missed some posts. I had the new issue of Luchaskate (my magazine) to put out (plus the website to work on). I had an article to write for an upcoming issue of Memphis Health and Fitness. I had a two day volunteer project going on. I have the best kid in the world to spend time with...

...things got busy for a minute and I missed posting the last picture. So, without further ado, here is the 12 weeks of exercise/low sugar dieting picture:

The physical changes have slowed down, but I continue to notice some slight changes. I've not done well on my diet, however, and I really need to readjust how I'm eating. Sugar, I'm staying away from, but that doesn't mean that I'm eating my healthiest. I've been giving in to a lot of un-heart healthy foods lately and this blog isn't about how much of my abs I'll see. It is about being my fittest when I turn 40 in a few months. I'm looking to add some vegan meals back into my diet to start consuming more beans and fresh veggies.

I'm also looking forward to posting some more soul fitness blogs in the near future, and I've been thinking about men and body image lately. I may pursue that line of thought more in the future.

Week 11: Breakfast Cereal

Okay, I'm sick of eggs and oatmeal every morning. I mean SICK of it. I wanted to find a sugar free breakfast cereal so I started reading labels on the breakfast aisle.

Wow!

There is sugar added to EVERYTHING! Even the "healthy" cereals are full of sugar.  Finally, I found a couple. The first is Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain Cereal. I want to try this one, but it was over 6 bucks for a tiny box, and I can live with eggs and oatmeal before I spend that much on a cereal.

The second I found is Uncle Sam. Ding ding ding! We have a winner. This stuff is affordable (just a few bucks for a box) and it is full of great for your body ingredients!

New breakfast delimma is solved! Bring on week 11!

Btw, I currently weigh 162 pounds, about 13 pounds under where I started. I continue to see thinning in my face. The last bit of belly seems to be going away. I'm skating so much that I'm only doing sprints once a week. I'm not jogging. I lift weights three times each week. Day one is for arms and chest. Day two is legs. Day three is back and shoulders. The workouts take about 40 minutes.

Lifestyle

Mine has officially changed. When I go to buy food, I'm not tempted to buy high sugar foods. I'm in a routine of healthy eating. Even when I'm going for fast food, I opt to go to Wendy's where I can grab a baked potato. I still eat burgers, but I have quit eating the bun (sugar), ketchup (sugar), and mayo (yep, it usually has sugar added to it too). I haven't even been tempted to get fries. Strangely enough, I don't even crave them. Rather than having a candy bar, I'll eat a Carbmaster yogurt (3 grams sugar per container) or a Pure Protein bar. I look forward to my workouts. I really do enjoy lifting weights. Hmmm...I have been skipping the occasional run, but I've been skating so much that I don't mind missing a run. I mean, I've been skating A LOT. The sun is up later, and there is more opportunity to shred. So, shred I have been.

My First Injury

You'd have to paid a lot of attention to remember this, but I once mentioned that my hamstrings are prone to injury.  Well, my left hamstring is injured. I felt it pop as I was doing sprints (exactly what I was worried would happen if I did sprints).

Hamstring injuries are nothing new to me. In fact, that popping that I felt is a very familiar feeling. I've felt it many times before. So, where does that leave me? For the two days it will be R.I.C.E. (rest, ice, compression, elevation) and after that I'll just have to take it easy. I suppose it also means that my sprinting days really are over. As much as I'd like to do sprints I know that they end up injuring me, and I should (as an almost 40 year old man) let them slide.

In truth, I'm looking for a new method of cardio. Jumping rope, as it turns out, bores me. Running is great, but the optimal time to run is also my ideal skate session and I'd rather spend the "golden hour" skateboarding. Hmmm...should I take up "Dancing to the Oldies?" LOL

Excited About Week 9

I took a few days off from working out at the end of week 8. My body was tired during week 8 and I was afraid of overtraining.

Well, here is the first day of week 9 and I'm well rested and ready to hit the weights! I woke up before my alarm this morning ready to start a new week! This week starts my "bodybuilding" style workouts. Tonight will be chest and arms. Wednesday will be legs. Friday will be shoulders and back. I've been working my entire upper body twice each week, but I think one time for each muscle group will be better for my muscles (so they don't get overtrained) in the long run. You have to remember that I'm upping my skating this time of the year. That means I'll be skating four to five times a week in addition to weights and cardio.

I'm excited to get started!

Week 8 complete

Well, it has been two months of fitness. While some of it has gone the way I thought it might, it has taken a couple different directions from how I first thought.  For instance, I thought it would be all vegetarian food. I also thought that "cardio" would be a primary objective.

Instead, I've gone on an anti-sugar campaign, and I've found that weightlifting is more important to me than running. I am running, but as the weather gets nicer (and as we've had a bit of a rainless streak) I've turned more and more back to my original sporting love: skateboarding. When I do run, I'm doing much shorter sprint workouts rather than spending a long time jogging.  From what I understand, sprinting (more physical effort) helps boost the metabolism for a longer period thus helping to burn more calories.

So, how about the end of the second month physical changes?

original inspiration...belly fat and lack of muscular definition 

 End of month one:

end of four weeks

End of month 2:

end of 8 weeks

The physical changes have slowed down, but they started so fast they'd have to, I suppose. I continue to notice a little more fat disappearing, and a little more ab and obliques appearing. My hip bones have made an appearance again, and I've gotten much much stronger than I was two months ago.

What is next? Well, I'm taking an extra day off from working out this week. I have felt a little tired this week, and I think my body needs a little more rest. Plus, I've been skating so much that I'm a little banged up from falling.

Starting next week, rather than doing two full upper body workouts and one lower I'm going to do things a bit more like a body builder. I'm going to have a chest and arm day, a back and shoulder day, and a leg day. I'm going to continue doing sprints on my running day (about 20 minutes twice each week) and I'm going to keep skating as long as my body will let me.

Sugar is still off the menu, but I've not eaten quite as well as I should this week. I'm looking to add more high fiber foods next week, and less sugar alcohol protein bars. I want to eat ingredients more and products less.

Two Stops!

There are two "stops" that I need to mention.

1. Stop exercising when your body tells you. I have to learn to not over-train and listen to my body better.

As I have mentioned before, I love skateboarding. Tuesday afternoon I went to a local skate spot and skated (sessioned we call it) for about two hours. It was a blast. I got a good sweat going and had a great time. When I left, I went running. I did a half hour run, and it was also great. I was loose from skating and didn't need any warm up time. In fact, I ran my first mile in a new record time, and felt great the entire rest of the run.

Wednesday, I took the day off from work to skate. Thrasher Magazine had a Skate Rock Tour in town, and I wanted to skate the entire day away with the skaters in town.  So, I did. I skated for hours in 80 degree/humid Memphis weather. I didn't drink nearly enough water, got sunburned, and even felt dizzy at one point. To recover, I drank a bottle of water and had a banana. It made me feel better. I skated some more, but finally had to call it a day. I was beat.

Later Wednesday night, I did my leg workout. I knocked it out quickly, took a shower and went to bed.

I woke up Thursday feeling great, but my muscles were sore from all the hours of skating and working out. Plus, I was thirsty. I knew I was still dehydrated from the day before.  So, what did I do? I tried to run.

It didn't go well at all. My body was aching. I felt flat footed. I had to walk just five or six minutes in to the run. It honestly, felt like it did my first week running. For the rest of the evening, I've felt a little off. I'm drinking water, eating some salty foods and trying to hydrate back to normal. In fact, I think I need to hold off on some running if I get to have good long skate sessions. Too much cardio will hurt muscle growth, and growing muscle is the best way to lose fat.

Lesson Learned: Listen to my body!

Stop #2: I want to reiterate my happiness in stopping sugar from my diet. I'm becoming an anti sugar activist.  I won't say too much about it, but  keep looking for more information from others who have given up sugar. All seem to feel better overall, and most mention serious weight loss (fat loss it should read). Again, I don't mean all sugar. I mean give up foods with the ingredients "high fructose corn syrup" "evaporated cane juice" and "sugar." Fruits are perfectly fine! I have a few links to share:

http://www.steppingstoneacu.com/blog/2012/03/22/A-Year-Without-Sugar.aspx

http://www.photomint.com/photography-business/my-life-without-sugar-and-a-challenge-for-you/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rick-foster/no-sugar-diet_b_1397439.html

Sacrifice

I spoke with my father on the phone last night. I told him that I didn't feel like I was denying myself anything with my fitness lifestyle.  It wasn't until after we got off the phone, and I was scouring the nearest grocery store for s sugar free dessert that I realized that I was totally wrong.

I have sacrificed much over the last 7 weeks. I've given up the quick hunger fix, grease filled fast food I used to eat. I've given up sugar in total. Let me repeat that, I Have Given Up Sugar! I have denied myself every candy treat I still let the kiddo have. I've denied myself nights of relaxation. I don't just lay down on the couch when I get off of work these days. EVER! There is a run that happens first, or I lift weights when the t.v. gets turned on.

I denied myself some skateboarding for a while, but I'm done with that. After scouring my brain for MORE exercise I realized I just needed to skate more. So, I skated three times last week. It was perfect. I love skateboarding. I wonder how in the heck I could have skated so little over the previous month. Yesterday, I went skating. It was a fun session trying to keep up with guys that were born when I was in college. I can't say that I can keep up with them anymore, but I give it a shot. When that was done, I went running for a half an hour. Normally, I'd have gone home, showered and crashed out on the couch.  Adding a run on top of a big session? That was a blast!!!

So, yeah. I have denied myself a lot of things. I've sacrificed time. I've denied myself unhealthy behavior, and I've rid myself of a little more laziness. But I have gained so much. I like what I'm seeing in the mirror. And I like it because I've worked so hard for it, not because I 'look better.' I really like how I feel. I've not had this much energy and drive for life in a long time. What does this mean?

Sacrifice is good.

Week 6 Round Up

My physical changes seem to be slowing down. I lost a lot of fat over the first month, but the last little bit looks like it is going to be tough to get rid of. My muscles are definitely more toned and a little bigger. I'm stronger than I was 6 weeks ago too, but those changes are slowing down. I'm starting to get a little afraid that I'm going to look the same in the next end of the month picture. I see that the fat around my belly is slowly but surely leaving, but it is very slow going now. I was happy to see my hip bones appear again though. Oh, and it looks like I have to buy a new belt. And I see a strong change in my face/neck. My adam's apple is back.  So, positive things are still happening. They're just not quite as dramatic as the first month.

So, workout-wise I'm looking to make one change over the next two weeks. I will up the intensity of my cardio. Medium pace distance running has gotten easy and everything I've read says that if you do high intensity cardio work you will burn more calories and lose more fat. I had mentioned sprints before, but I hadn't done them yet. Well, I guess it is time. So, I'm going to go with 2 sprint work outs and 1 distance run next week. I have a funny feeling that my legs are going to be sore next week.

Diet-wise, I haven't been that intense this week. I've not eaten anything with sugar as an ingredient and I haven't eaten any bread. Although I do allow myself 2 servings of bread each week, I just haven't had any.  I have been eating more rice than I should, but only because my son loves Chinese food and I ended up having a fridge full of rice. I'm not doing a low carb diet so rice isn't off limits. Usually, I wouldn't eat white rice (I would opt for brown).

All in all, everything seems so much easier. I guess I'm just getting used to the fitness lifestyle. I'd still love to get up early in the morning and get my exercising in, but I haven't miraculously become a morning person. Can't have it all, I guess.

The Truth About Protein?

Trying to figure out the truth about protein is getting confusing. Bodybuilding/bodybuilders often recommend a much higher daily protein amount compared to USDA recommendations. I read and read and read about protein...

 http://www.webmd.com/diet/protein-shakes
 
...hmmmm. Let me give you a little personal history on bodybuilding. I did a bit of bodybuilding a little over a decade ago. I was very active at the time. I was skating, bodybuilding, doing Brazilian Jujitsu, and taking some pro wrestling classes. I drank two protein shakes a day. And I gained weight fast. In fact, I put on 60 pounds in 6 months. However, all of it wasn't muscle. It was the first time I really had any body fat on my body and tons of water weight from creatine (it has been a downhill struggle ever since).

The thing is, as I think back about my body then, I always think that I didn't have big muscles, but that I carried some protein shakes around in my muscles. It was as if the muscles weren't my own. Now, the idea of having bigger muscles does interest me, but I want to feel like they're mine and I don't want them to be covered in fat. So...I'm not doing the protein shakes. I am eating a snack protein bar everyday though. Why? Because it is super easy way to get a sweet treat at work with a protein bar (that doesn't have sugar). It is also a great way to have a sweet snack when I let my son have a bit of candy.

Other than the protein bar exception, I'm going to stick with whole food protein sources. After all, I don't want to look like a bodybuilder. I want to be "in my best shape" and that means strong and flexible with great cardio. Overall fitness is certainly not just having big muscles.

Plus, I found these websites about protein:

http://weighttraining.about.com/od/nutritionforweights/qt/protein_howmuch.htm

http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/fitness/body-building/the-best-protein-foods-for-building-muscle.html

It seems that I get enough protein by eating right to maintain and even grow muscle. So, while the rest of the world is supplementing, I'm going to continue improving my physique and health without any bloating shakes. I've been eating three eggs and some plain (well, cinnamon on top) oatmeal for breakfast. That is 23 grams of protein first thing in the morning, and each meal and snack adds on to that protein count. By the days end I'm getting more than enough protein.

Sugar

I've become a label reader these days.  I look for a few select words:

high fructose corn syrup
sugar

I have given up sugar once before (for about a month), and this time around I was going to allow myself a sweet treat each week, but I'm not going to give myself that splurge day for sugar. I'm not going back this time either.  I'm going long-term sugar free.

British Article on Sugar

Now, keep in mind, this is not the naturally occurring sugar that you find in foods. I'm fine with fruit. I have, however, given up all those sweets that I so craved before. I have started eating some sugar free candy and I've started buying some protein bars that don't contain sugar.

Opposing position on sugar free candy

If you read that link you'll see the negatives on sugar free candy. I'll say this: CANDY IS CANDY.  It is meant to be eaten very sparingly as a treat. I'm talking about a small pack of Russell Stover Sugar Free candy over a week and not a pack everyday.  However, as the following link shows, some people who are trying to lose weight may not be able to eat sugar free candy at all:

Sugar Free Candy

Me? It seems that my body is cool with the sugar alcohols (although if you eat TOO much you will know...they're a laxative).  I'm not going to push the envelope. I will use sugar free candy as an occasional treat rather than a normal daily snack. I'm thinking, maybe, once a week like I would have used a "real" sugar treat.

In other news: I shaved my beard down to stubble today so I can better see the returning jawline. Still needs some work, but I'm on my way.

Next blog post:  Protein Supplements. I said I wouldn't, but will I?