Perspective & Carbs

It is SO important to keep perspective.
In my last post I complained that I had gained a few pounds over Christmas taking me back up to 165lbs. I was pretty disappointed about this.

Then, it occurred to me that I was making a mistake. Yes, I had gained some weight on the scale but, as I normally do, I hadn't compared against my body fat % using my highly technical "Fat Grab-O-Meter"

This makes a huge difference and I'm shocked that I forgot to compare.

So the reality is quite amazing to me. Let's put this in context.
back in September I weighed in at 170 lbs with at 25% body fat. This meant I needed to lose 30 lbs of fat to reach my target.

Today, I weigh in at 165 lbs at 19% body fat (yup it's up slightly from before xmas) but this means I still only need to lose 16.6 lbs to reach my target.

Even though I'm only a net 5 lbs different from September I'm still about 50% closer to my target.

That is a much more optimistic way of looking at things. And that's enough complaining from me.

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Another topic is carbs.

Unlike the "Atkins bunch" I eat carbs. I believe carbs are super essencial in giving my body the energy it needs for my intense workouts and also (probably more important for my over all life) for brain function.

I eat a larger amount of carbs in the morning and gradually ease off carbs into the evening. I try not to eat carbs after 7:00 PM.

This is my way....I know not everyone agrees with it. The general thinking that I've heard otherwise suggests that you need consistent carbs over the course of a day.

My argument to the contrary is pretty straight forward. In the evening, after my workouts, I'm not going to be burning the carbs. A late night carb snack will turn directly into sugar and then be stored as fat while I sleep (the amount of course depends on your metabolic rate).

A late night protein snack will turn into unused energy as well but (as I understand it) is stored in the muscle, ready for the next workout, not as fat.

Now I don't pretend to know everything there is to know. But I can say that this works pretty well for me.

A disservice

So I screwed up....
I gave myself permission to eat whatever I wanted over Christmas and now I'm pissed off about it.

I guess 1 week on business, 1 week on holidays followed by 5 days of eating holiday treats and more alcohol then I could ever want has left me with a Christmas gift I didn't need...5 extra pounds.

I know it's not a huge deal to lose it again but I feel very down about it. Because I was with family I didn't have access to any fitness equipment either. This is the first time since after my daughter passed away that I haven't worked out.

I can also tell that the lack of activity is having a very negative impact on my mood. I feel sad and depressed and sluggish.

Tonight, back to the iron and cardio...

What a difference a year makes

This photo was taken approximately 50 weeks ago.
I used to have a webcast called "Live Inside Daemon Cain's Brain" where I would take questions from the blogosphere.

You can clearly see there is no fitness equipment behind the chesterfield. No Bowflex, no free weights.

Know what you can see? A Fat Daemon Cain! Sadly I don't even need to have my shirt off in the picture below to see the McBelly and the arms as weak as weak as Burget King French Fries. Only muscle in this picture is Molson Muscle.

How do you like them apples (or donuts...as the case may be)?



I'd put some "after" pictures but I post after pictures all the time. Scroll down a bit if you wanna see some after pictures.

Hotel Gyms

I'm generally a bit more apprehensive about using hotel gyms. First off because of bacteria and the thought of laying on the same equipment that someone else just sweated on grosses me out a bit. But also because I still don't quite feel all that comfortable in my new skin yet.

I was relieved to see that when I started working out in the gym that a few people seemed to be looking at what I was doing. For example, I started with triceps and supersetted with biceps. Did chest, then back, then chest fly (you get the picture). One guy who arrived with his wife just as I was starting even seemed to be copying my workout station by station. He didn't look very experienced so I was pleased that I must have looked like I knew what I was doing.

Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery as they say.

It is really great to be back at home using my own equipment too. Hard to get motivated after work last night but it was worth it. I feel so much better.

Back From The Beach

Back from a wonderful week of excess. Lots of sun, lots of fun lots of waves and beer.

Got crispy, red and greesy so like bacon I'm done!

As promised, I worked out almost every day. Either did 30-40 minutes of cardio (either on the Resort treadmill or by running around the grounds) or I did weights.

Came back without gaining a single pound. Not too shabby!!

A few pics from this morning's workout

It's blurry but for some reason it looked really cool to me.


More slender each week. More definition appears.


Weight: 160lbs
Body Fat Percentage: 18.1%
Lean Body Mass: 131.04 lbs

Body Fat Target: 10%
Still need to lose to reach target: 14.4 lbs of fat

Food Challenges

I've been finding it way more difficult sticking to the 1500 calories a day this past week.

This is the first time since starting the Action Hery Body plan that I've been on a business trip to the US.

When you don't have a fridge and stove to cook yourself you're stuck ordering out and the very limited supply of restaurants in downtown Wilmington Delaware makes it challenging to find a nutritious meal (especially if you don't eat until after 6:00 when the whole downtown is basically a ghost town).

So after a dinner of pizza I basically moved into the hotel gym and ran. While in the States I focus mostly on cardio because I know I'm not eating homecooked meals and restaurant food isn't designed with health in mind.

I'm going away on vacation today! Flying to the caribbean for a week in the sun. Oh, and make no mistake about it. I WILL be working out while I'm there. Skipping a workout just because I'm on vacation is silly. Why would I want to risk losing even an ounce of muscle?

That being said I don't intend to be sticking to any caloric restrictions and I do plan on drinking myself silly when appropriate :-)

Answering the Google Searches

Like most blogs I get a lot of hits from people's google searches. So I thought I'd answer some of the things that people have come to my site for but probably not found the answer to.

A lot of people find my site looking for how to perform exercises.
I get a lot of hits for tricep extensions, various pull down exercises etc...

When I see the name of an exercise I don't know I go to the ExRx Muscle and Exercise Directory. The explain the exercise and show you how to do it with an animated GIF.

Lately I've gotten a lot of hits on nutrition and how to get cut.

In my very humble opinion the only way to do it is by taking in less fat and buring your energy so that it doesn't turn into fat. I've been following the "Action Hero Body" for a few weeks and the results are nothing short of impressive to me. I don't really lose fat or gain muscle very easily but the changes are visible and the definition in my body is much more visible now than before I started.

That's it for today. Take care.

Motivation and Commitment

Settings goals is no small piece of the puzzle when it comes to building a healthy body.
Keeping motivated by those goals is another. Your goals are so critical because they not only keep you motivated for your workouts but also help you when you're standing with the refrigerator door open wondering what to feed you body.

If your goals are not enough to keep you motivated to keep working out and to eat right then the goals you are aiming for are:
1) To broad
2) Too difficult to achieve in the near term (and therefore you give up)
3) or not what you really want

I began working out during my wife's pregnancy. My ambition was to be in good shape when my daughter was born so that the stage would already be set and I'd be in the habit of exercising regularly (because children imitate what they see). I wanted to ensure that I'm the best role model possible. It was a promise I made to my unborn daughter.

Unfortunately, many of you know, that my daughter passed away just hours after her birth. But my promise to her still stands. Here or not I have to set a good example for her.

My goals have been small ones over time though. For the first the first 4 months it was to get in the habit of working out. I had no fat loss or muscle gain expectation. I just wanted to get into the habit.

Once my daughter passed away my goal was to keep my promise (again no real fat loss or muscle gain expectations). I also used working out as a way of relieving stress. Living through the loss of a child is no small feat let me assure you. I was fortunate enough that I didn't fall into bad habits as crutches like smoking, drinking or drugs as a way to cope. Instead I used weight-lifting as a crutch and let myself get fully addicted to it.

Today I stand here 55 pounds lighter and significantly more muscular but that is a by-product only. Don't get me wrong, I love it but it was NOT my intent.

I have no doubt if I had set out to watch the scale every day then I would have stopped. Instead I choose to exercise each day because I know it is the right thing to do. I let me body decide how to react. I just stand back and watch in amazement and begin setting new goals every so often.