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.

Welcome To Temptation Week

A quick recap of the week so far would go something like this:

Monday: Chili, one of my favorite dishes. I was tempted, very much so, but I did not partake of the evil dish.

Tuesday: Tacos. The ONE. If I was ever forced to select one single dish as my absolute favorite, this is it. But I simply turned from the kitchen, quickly dressed and went to the gym, never touching the villainous, enticing dinner.

Today? Fajitas. (The gentleman featured in today's video presentation is one who ate too many tacos and fajitas -- and no, this is NOT me)

Now in all honestly, the temptation posed by fajitas doesn't quit measure up to chili or tacos. Still, it is a favored dish to my palate, particularly when the fajita mixture is spread over a tortilla, coated in melted butter, then rolled inside that tortilla.

Of course, being the fitness and nutrition buff that I am striving to become, I knew full well the butter was out, but I could easily spread the fajita mixture on a couple of whole-wheat tortillas and enjoy. I even took a tiny little piece of the chicken, along with a small strip of pepper and onion, as a sample of what awaited me after my workout, and I have to tell you these fajitas had an especially enticing flavor.

Upon returning home from the gym I learned the full, vile truth: These fajitas were made with a homemade mixture. This meant they tasted so much better than using a store-bought mix, but it also meant about a gabillion tablespoons of olive oil, sesame oil, and soy sauce were used to create such a full-bodied, piquant taste.

That translates to a gabillion calories.

So, with head hung low, feeling a little bit like Charlie Brown after having the ball yanked away once again as he goes into his kicking motion, I trudged to the fridge, pulled out some lean pork chops, and made those for dinner. Don't get me wrong, I like pork chops. I really, really do. But those fajitas still call to me, a silent, fattening temptress adorned in Tupperware, sitting in the fridge, waiting...waiting...waiting...

But I am strong. I sit with my comforting pork chop, dining away from temptation's sight, knowing that one day...one day 80 pounds from now...I will enjoy those fajitas. Well, maybe not THOSE fajitas...

Exercise for the day:
Weight training for chest, shoulders, triceps.

Chest
Flat bench barbell bench press
135 pounds, 1 set, 10 reps
195 pounds, 2 sets, 8 reps each
185 pounds, 2 set, 9 reps each

Incline barbell bench press
115 pounds, 2 sets, 8 reps each.

Dumbbell bench flyes
40 pound dumbbells, 1 set, 8 reps
25 pounds, 1 sex, 8 reps

Shoulders
Seated dumbbell press
50 pounds, 2 sets, 8 reps

Seated backflyes
125 pounds, 2 sets, 10 reps

Triceps
Triceps pressdown
140 pounds, 2 sets, 10 reps

Seated Machine Tricep Press
240 pounds, 1 set, 12 reps

Abs
Seated Machine Crunches
110 pounds, 1 set, 15 reps

Food for the day

Breakfast
Coffee
Eggs -- 1 whole, 2 whites
Mushrooms -- 1/2 cup chopped

Lunch
2 4-ounce lean turkey burgers
1/2 can low-fat pork-n-beans (had to do something with the leftovers from last night)

Snack
Salad, with lettuce, mushrooms, 2 ounces of lean ham. NO dressing.

Dinner
Lean pork chop -- 8 ounces

Snack
Raisin Bran -- 1 cup
Almond Milk -- 1 cup

Totals
1,345 calories
44 grams fat
151 grams protein

Drinks for the day
Water 80 ounces
Diet soda 32 ounces

Well, that's it for today, Day 3 of TEMPTATION WEEK. Thanks for stopping by!

P.S. I'm trying to see how many folks I can get to read my blog, so please feel free to share this with your friends on FB, via Twitter, and elsewhere. And leave any questions or comments you have in the comment section -- I try to respond to each one!

Day 4: Irish Batboys, Food and Workout Report

In keeping with the upcoming St. Patrick's Day, I'll describe how I woke up today by saying for just the briefest moment my arms felt like a thousand little Leprechauns had spent the night beating my arms with tiny little Irish baseball bats.

Both biceps and triceps, along with my forearms, where quite sore. I had expected my legs to be sore from doing that set of squats last night, but I guess the weight was so light that really didn't bother me, but man, my arms were stiff and sore.

Most of the soreness went away pretty quickly once I got up and moved around, and especially after I went to the gym for some cardio. They're still a little stiff right now, but nothing too bad. Ah, the joys of starting an exercise program. I suspect I've gotten by the worst of the soreness, though I'll have a little more over the next week or so I'm sure.

Not a lot to report, though. Like I said in my post this morning, weekends can be tough on weight loss efforts because the routine is so different. I ended up way light on my eating through most of the day, which let me eat a little more than I would have otherwise at night. Anyway, here's the details for the day.

Workout -- Cardio

Stationary Bike, 30 minutes at levels 4-5 (mostly 4)
10.5 miles
325 calories

Eating for the day

Breakfast
Cappuccino

Snack
Protein Drink

Lunch
BBQ Chicken -- 5 ounces
Noodles -- 3/4-cups

Snack
Fat Free Greek Yogurt

Dinner
Chili Verde on Cornmeal tortillas

Late Snack
More Chili Verde, without the tortillas

Water -- 40 ounces
Diet soda -- 24 ounces

Total for the day (so far, I'll update later if I have a snack tonight)
Calories -- 1,636
Fat -- 37 grams
Protein -- 158 grams


I'll be back to update later, but for now...ACC Basketball Championship -- Go Hoos!