Ripped, Cut, Shredded....

I finally reached my original target! Back in January of 2005 when I fully committed myself to getting the body I want I set a mental goal of building muscle and getting my weight under control.

I'm pleased to say that I've finally reached my goal of getting down to 160 lbs.

During the past 45 weeks I've burned about 55 pounds of fat off my body and gained about 20 pounds of hard earned muscle.

As you know, I've since set more goals though. I do want to get down to at least 10% body fat and I want to see my abs. I do expect that to be a challenge but it's certainly one that I can meet.

Let's be clear about one thing. I 100% believed I had a genetic predisposition to being overweight. It never occured to me until I started working out that I may actually also have the capability to be muscular and fit.

I feel better than I've ever felt and I look better than I ever thought I would.

I don't think I'm ripped, cut and shredded yet but I'm a work in progress. If you don't check my blog often come back in another 45 weeks (October 8th, 2006) and see where I am! In the meantime I'll keep posting my progress.

A quick timeout for a little "Unintentional Porn"

Can't find anything to give that special lady friend of yours this year?

May I suggest "Bowes and Cocks"

The Muscle Behind The Machine

I woke up this morning to the sound of the neighbours plowing their driveways with their motorized snow throwers.

I knew right then and there that I was in for one of those mornings that I never really like...when I have to get up early to shovel snow.

I got dressed, found my winter jacket and scarf, pulled on my tuque (hyperlinked for my non-Canadian friends who have no idea what a tuque is) and dawned my winter gloves for the trek into the snow to shovel my walkway and driveway.

I have to say I was surprised!! Not only was it significanly easier to do this year than last year (I huffed and puffed last year) but I didn't even break a sweat!

To be direct, my driveway is average or larger than most driveways in my area so I was also very happy to see that I was able to get my driveway done faster than my neighbours who were using their snowthrowers.

Humans 1 - Machines 0

Over 89 Billion Fattened Up

I drove past a McDonald's burger joint yesterday and I noticed that very familiar tag line "Over 89 Billion Served".

I immediately leaned over to my wife and said "I know what my next post is going to be about. I'm going to estimate how many pounds everyone in the world has gained by eating at McDonald's 89 Billion times."

The meal that I chose to base my number on consists of the following:
-1 hamburger (not a Big Mac..just those paper thin burgers and squished bun)
-1 medium french fry
-1 medium coke

I'd say that's a pretty conservative meal at McDonalds. No cheese, no bacon and 1 small burger.

If 89 Billion orders of this meal were served that translates to a total of
20, 597, 142, 857 (that's 20.6 billion) pounds of fat that people all over the world have purchased and injested from the McDonald's corporation.

Now doing some quick researched I learned that the "Average American Male" (I'll say North American male) weighs between 150-180 lbs. So let's compare against a 165 lbs man.

The amount of FAT that people have added to their body's by eating McDonald's food is comparable to 124, 831, 168 adult males (assuming they weigh 165 lbs). That's almost 4 times (3.8 to be exact) the entire population of Canada being carried around in excess weight.

Now, I understand in the past McDonald's has taken a lot of heat about the quality of their food. In their defence they are making this information available on their web site because consumers are demanding it. There's no more excuse!

Oh, and don't show me your healthy McDonald's salads. In my quick review of the nutrion contents I confirmed my suspicion that those "Lighter Choice" salads are worse to eat then the hamburger.

Eat Right, Exercise Right and Sleep Right...that's all you need to do.

Sometimes being wrong helps

I was using my fat callipers to measure my body fay % when I realized I had been reading it incorrectly the entire time I've use it. Although my numbers remain in the same range I've officially gotten past the 20% mark and now sit at 19.6% body fat (rather than 22 as I had reported the other day).

Still haven't figured out how to earn a living off of this yet. I was flattered the other day when a friend asked "Does your wife mind that you post sexy pictures on the Internet?"

SEXY PICTURES??? I thought to myself and I responded "Maybe sweaty pictures..."

I hadn't thought of them as sexy pictures but thank you!!

Probably one of the moments I felt most inspiring since I've been working out was one day this summer. I saw an attractive lady whom I had never met holding hands with a man obviously a boyfriend or partner. As she walked past me she looked directly at me making eye contact and said "Hi" with great big smile. Her male companion looked mortified and as they past I herd him ask "Do you know him?"

That made my day.

Third Week

I'm mid-week into the 3rd week of the Action Hero Body (Stage 2) plan.

Finished my leg workout last night. I don't have a bar so I'm doing my squats with dumbells and I have to admit my legs are a lot stronger than my arms. I think I may just need to invest in the actual bar soon. I find the squats are more for my shoulders than my legs.



Found out that a guy at work seems to be as into working out as I am. He's in way better shape than me but we've been trading training secrets (ie: workout schedule, suppliments) anyway. Generally I don't talk about fitness too much at work except for with people who are trying to lose weight. I'm more than happy to show my before and after pictures with them.

Have a great day everyone and keep movin'

Quick update

Happy to report that I'm still at 165 lbs however my body fat % is down to 22%.
That means since eating heathier over the past 3 weeks I've lost about 8 to 9 pounds in fat and gained about 3 to 4 pounds in lean muscle.

I knew I was seeing pretty dramatic changes but I'm pretty impressed. My goal of 10% body fat so I look really cut is still about 22 pounds of fat away though. I'm guessing when all is said and done I'll probably weight around 155 to 160.

Candid Shots - Nov 13, 2005

Normally I'm posing in the mirror when I post my pics. I decided to try something different. I recorded my workout and I'm posting "live action" pics. Well and a few posing just for fun because that's a normal part of my workout too. Note the mirror behind the Bowflex so I can watch my form. These pics aren't nearly as polished as my regular ones and are much more natural.

Oh thanks to both ~d~ and Julia for the kind suggestion on becoming a trainer however I'm certainly not in good enough shape yet for anyone to take me seriously as a trainer. Maybe down the road.

Bench Press


Keep lots of water handy


Warming up the biceps


Putting on some gloves


Catching my breath while I record my numbers


Finishing up with good ol' cardio




Getting there....still need to lose fat to get more definition but as always it's a work in progress.

Eating Out

Had a big challenge this week. I had a client in town and I needed to take him out for lunch twice.

On day 1 we went to East Side Mario's for lunch. I ended up eating Chicken Parm on a bun with a Ginger Ale. It came with fries but I only ate a few. Not really a healthy lunch at all.

I did better yesterday though. We went to Jack Astor's where I had a grilled chicken (asked them to hold the mayo & bacon). It came with salad and dressing on the side which I didn't use and I ordered water instead of pop. I feel a lot better about that.

Most days I'm sticking to the 1500 calorie a day plan but it has been difficult this week with my client in town. I'm still sticking with the good supplimentation though and eating a healthy breakfast and dinner so I'm mostly on track.

It's finally Friday and I'm looking forward to a wonderful weekend. I have a workout tonight and the big one on Sunday. Sunday will be the start of my third week on the Action Hero plan.

Oh, my wife said to me the other day "Wow you're looking good. I see you every day so it's not always easy to see the changes but lately the change has been pretty noticable". Obviously something is working!!

Have a good one folks.

Addiction

I'm completely addicted to working out now. I often times which I could call in sick to work so I could work out instead. I'd rather work on my my triceps then on deal with a client.

I'm trying to figure out what happens next. How can I start earning a living off of something I've grown so passionate about? I don't know that yet but I hope to figure it out.

Status update

Weight:
I don't know about you but my morning and evening weight used to vary drastically. Some mornings I would weight more than in the evening (depending on what I ate for dinner the night before). Sometimes I would weigh up to 5 pounds less in the morning than in the evening.

I've noticed that since eliminating virtually all refined carbs (choosing whole wheat and whole grain instead) my weight does seem to yoyo throughout the day anymore. It seems to fluctuate by a pound or two at most. I figure it's either the refined carbs or the low sodium since I'm not eating foods nearly as salty as before.

Body:
I'm having a stressful week at work and my sleep isn't as good as normal. My body hurts pretty much everywhere too. I'm looking forward to getting past the "first week" of workouts.

Suppliments:
I'm taking a good multivitamin and, as suggested in "The Action Hero Body" book I'm also taking L Arginine which is supposed to speed recovery and prevent damage from overtraining.
However if you google it you'll see many people are using it for other purposes. I haven't noticed anything like that yet but I'll let you know if I do.

Intense

I did the first day "Stage 2" workout from my new book "Action Hero Body" on Sunday. Although completely doable it was a longer workout and it was intense. I felt very drained yesterday. I made sure to get a good full night's sleep.

Today I'm going to be doing the "Day 2" workout which focuses on legs.

Since I was Halloween yesterday I ate more than normal. I made sure to choose healthier choices though and instead of chips I ate wholegrain & brown rice Crispie Minis. Instead of my regular 1,500 calories I ate a total of 1,751. Not too bad considering I felt totally satisfied.