A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words (Or At Least 30 Pounds)

For tonight's blog, I'm going to share a couple of pictures -- one of me shot a couple of weeks before I started this little fitness pursuit, and another shot today.

The first picture, on the left (the one that looks like I have a basketball hidden in my shirt where my stomach should be), was shot on Feb. 28, when I was probably around 276 or so pounds. Ten days later, when I decided something had to change, I was actually 279 pounds.

The second picture, on the right, was shot this morning (April 27), and while I didn't weigh this morning, I'm somewhere between 247 and 249 (249 was my weight two days ago). I'm trying to stand as much in this picture as I can like I did in the first one for a good comparison.

For those of you who have been reading my blog a while, please note the lack of a belt in photo No. 1, and the use of one in photo No. 2 -- on hole No. 4! (If that means nothing to you, you'll need to go back and check out some of my older blogs.)

I get that I'm still a FAT boy -- I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 pounds yet to lose. These are definitely not before and after pictures; they're more like before and in-progress pics But, I believe I can actually see a difference. What do you think?

I know I've been writing about all the ways I've measured my progress -- weight loss on the scale, inches melting away, clothes fitting that I couldn't wear before (and the good old belt as well), but seeing the pictures, actually seeing what I look like from a different perspective, shows there is a noticeable difference.

And I'll tell you something: I'm far from the most disciplined guy in the world; I'm far, far from the hardest working guy in the gym; and I certainly don't have the best genetics in the world for this type of stuff (not to mention that, as much as I hate to admit it, I have a few years on me). I say all this to lead into my next statement: if I can do this, anyone can.

I had two main reasons for writing this blog -- not just tonight's installment, but the whole thing.

First, to help keep myself accountable and motivated. People I know in every day life read this, as well as others who have commented here or on my Facebook account or on my Twitter account (look me up, send me a friend request, follow me and I'll follow back). I did not want to go on a blog, tell everyone what I was doing, talk about big weight loss plans, and then fail! Knowing I'm going to blog about how well, or how badly, I did is quite a bit of motivation to stick with it.

Second, I'm hoping that other people might see this -- folks who have gained weight over the years and can't seem to get healthy; people who need to take control over their lives again but don't know how; people who have tried one fad diet after another; or maybe folks who are doing okay but simply want to get a little fitter, in a little better shape. If you read my blog, if you see my progress -- especially knowing where I started, hopefully you'll take a few steps in the right direction in weight management and fitness.

I can tell you it really does feel great to be setting a goal -- what I think has been an ambitious goal -- and then start to see definitive, measurable progress. And even if I weren't after some major weight loss, exercising and eating as I have been certainly has me feeling much, much better on a daily basis.

Want to get started for yourself? Read through some of my blogs, back from the beginning, for some ideas on eating and working out. Drop me a comment or question here, or look me up on Facebook or Twitter -- I'll be glad to give a few pointers, or at the least show you some resources you can check out to see how you can make changes in your own life.

Now, for my day today.

Workout
Weight training for back and biceps

Back
Seated Row
130 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
200 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each

Wide-grip seated row
160 pounds -- 2 sets, 8 reps each

Nautilus Lat Pulldowns (as opposed to the regular wide-grip bar, which puts too much stress on my forearm).
140 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps
140 pounds -- 1 set, 8 reps

Bent-over dumbbell row
65 pounds -- 1 set, 10 reps

Biceps
Curl-bar curls
50 pounds -- 2 sets, 10 reps each
I'm still taking it easy here, not stressing the forearms, but this was a slit increase in weight and sets/reps, and if I do them really slowly. toward the end I actually started to feel the burn a little in the biceps. That felt good! I'm still limited on these, though. For now, anyway.

Seated weighted machine ab crunch
125 pounds -- 2 sets, 15 reps each.

That's it for the day. Pretty good back workout, but I still can't do a lot with the curls, and no cardio today.

Eating for the day


Breakfast
Coffee
Eggs -- 1 whole, 2 white

Lunch
Lean pork -- 5 ounces
Brown Rice -- 1/2 cup cook
Mixed veggies -- 2/3 cup

Snack
Protein bar

Snack 2
Fat Free Greek yogurt

Snack 3
Powerbar Triple Threat
Note: I ended up messed up on my meals today, resulting in three snacks instead of one snack, an early dinner and a later dinner)

Dinner
Lean pork -- 5 ounces
Southwestern hashed brown potatoes

Totals for the day
Calories 1,440
Fat -- 42 grams
Protein -- 158 grams

Water -- 90 ounces
Diet soda -- 24 ounces

Thanks for stopping by.