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.