Archive for April, 2011


April Update

Filed Under: Inspiration by Danny Jattan — Leave a comment
April 21, 2011

So another month and for the first time in a while I have a negative update. I know this is not the way I should start off considering how positive I am usually but I guess a little frustration has set in since there is no one to blame but myself for my weight. So as for my update I gained 1 LB this month and by my own personal BF% Device gained .04% BF, I know some of you are probably like what is he upset about it is only a pound but when you are as heavy as I am and you have been this way what seems like all your life it can drive you NUTS!!!!!! knowing the for a whole month ou do not lose a pound but gained one. So I ended up showing this gain due to the fact that I drank about 60 oz of water a few hours before my weigh in I was trying to make sure that I was hydrated so the DR could read my BF% but AGAIN we were unable to get a reading this makes it 2 times now in a row with no reading and what do I have to show for it an extra pound, of course since my DR visit I have lost that pound but my BF is still not under 38% this is due in part to some very unhealthy eating in the month of April.

So this month on the 8th I celebrated my Birthday I turned 29, my ultimate goal and dream is to lose the rest of my weight before I am 30 and not just the weight but also have my surgery to tighten up my skin. I want to be able to go to the beach and take my shirt off with confidence, it has been something I have wanted to do for a long time I am always the guy in my group that had a shirt on at the beach because I was to embarrased to take it off. So the fustration comes from gaining 1 pound and knowing for me to reach my goal I have to drop about 90 LBS by December and then have sugery and recover before 4/8/2012. It is going to be tough and  I am going to have to step up my weight loss but it will be worth it in the end. I have a good group of friends that help keep me on track, as well as anyone who reads this, I want to always have positive post on this site in hopes that it helps out my readers. As you can see from my last update to now it has been over 4 weeks this was do to me having to process the negative impact I had this month. All in all it could have been worse. So here is my chart as of 4/11

Beginning of Month   End of Month   Gain/Loss
Item Measurement Item Measurement
Weight 288 LBS Weight 289 LBS + 1 LBS
Body Fat % (DR) N/A% Body Fat % (DR) N/A% N/A%
Body Fat % (ME) 38.0% Body Fat % (ME) 38.4% + 0.4%
Right Bicep 18.5 in Right Bicep 18.75 in + 0.25 in
Left Bicep 17.5 in Left Bicep 17.75 in + 0.25 in
Right Thigh 28.75 in Right Thigh 29.0 in + 0.25 in
Left Thigh 28.75 in Left Thigh 28.75 in 0 in
Chest 52.75 in Chest 52.0 in - 0.75 in
Waist 53.25 in Waist 53.0 in - 0.25 in
Hips 52.5 in Hips 53 in + 0.5 in

As you can see there were gains in a few areas where there are usually losses and lossess where there are normally gains. Like I said an off month, I am noticing a trend my I am gaining less muscle each month I went from an increase of 2in in some areas to now an increase of a .25in, I know I am not going to see dramitic increases every month espically if I do not stick to the diet 100% but to workout as hard as I do it is just disappointing.  The workout I do is tough even thought you get a 3 min break in between excercises it is a total body workout so it is killer on the whole body. I work out with a close friend of mine who I have known for over 11 years, he was a tiny guy when met hime what I mean by that is he was 6ft tall and had the width of a string bean. Fast forward to now still 6ft tall but 180 LBS of muscle with a BF% of 15. so when we workout I have someone that helps push me to my limit since I am always trying to keep up with him and even trying to surpass him but he is like Bruce Willis in the movie Unbreakable, evey week when we are working out he seems to increase his lift in at least one excercise by 10 LBS. I have increased my lift is a few excercises but considering we started out lifting the same weight and now he is 50 LBS ahead of me when it comes to rows, one of the machines we use can only hold a max of 200 LBS and I finally move to 160 in my dead lift after 2 months but my friend has been on 200 LBS for the past 3 weeks, like I said Unbreakable, and for anyone who has not seen this movie, there is a scene where no matter how much weight was put on to the weight Bruce Willis was able to pick it up, so now you can understand the reference as well :) . OK I have to go but I am going to try and make this my final negative post. I hate being negative espacially when it comes to talking about myself so I will make an improvements allowing me to stay motivated. Until May, keep up the good work and if you have not strated yet, start today at lunch do some air squats before you eat, just for 1 minute that still leaves you a minimun of 29 minutes for lunch or 59 if you get an hour and if you can’t spare that one minute then spare 30 seconds.

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Be Accountable With Lose It!

Filed Under: Inspiration by Shannon Lowder — 3 Comments
April 15, 2011

I’d like to thank Jen McCown (of MidnightDBA fame) for starting the new hashtag #GetHawt (Get Hawt Friday) on twitter. You can check out the official startup post on her personal blog here. The idea was to come together and hold a weekly blog party focusing on our fitness and weight loss goals.  Sounds familiar, right?  Yeah, without realizing it, I had let me blogging here slip.

Even worse, after stepping on the scales for the first time in more than a few weeks I realized I had slipped in my weight loss too!  I’d put 15 pounds back on my body.  I refuse to let it take a doctor noting in my records that I’m morbidly obese before doing something about the extra weight.

I’m getting back on the wagon!

Jen suggested the topic of “be accountable.”  I like it.  I wanted to share the technology I‘ve used in the past to be accountable.  I’m using Lose It again to track the food I eat and the exercise I do every day to be healthy.

The reason I started using Lose It was they had an iPhone app.  With that app I had no reason I couldn’t record what I was eating, and as a result being faced with the decisions I was making during the day.  When I would cheat, I had to enter it.  Then, I’d see how that affected how much fat I’d eaten during the day, or how much sugar I’d eaten that day.

By entering my exercise I could easily see the days I had done something, anything, to burn calories, and more importantly, those days I had made something else a higher priority than my health.

But there were positives too, I could see my weight loss on a curve.  Every day I could see on that line where I was, even when I couldn’t see the results in the mirror.

And since I‘ve been slack on using the app, I’ve found that they’ve opened it up to the web.  So as long as you have a web browser with you, you could join in on the action (android users).  You can keep track from your desk. 

They’ve even integrated some social ideas into the system.  You can now join with your friends to see their progress.  You can help cheer them on when they make it to a milestone.  You can help them stay honest on their diet (if they share the details with you).  Once you set up who your friends are online, you can work with them to stay on track. 

I’m inviting every one of you to join.  It’s free!

I can be there to cheer you on…so long as you’re there to cheer me on when I need it!

And now for my S.M.A.R.T goals.

I’m going to make it a priority to go to the gym two days per week.  I’m going to put in 20 minutes of Cardio, and I’ll finish with some weights.  I would like to maintain the muscle gains I made the last time I was going.

My primary goal is fat loss, I have been able to get to 20.7% body fat.  My long term goal is 15%.  Over the next month I’m going to drop 8 lbs, with an additional 8 the following month, that should put me back to where I was when I stopped being so strict on myself.

I plan to hold myself accountable through Lose It!  I’ll share my data with anyone who reads this blog and joins me on the journey.  That’s accountability!

Hrm, 2 months to take off 8 months of being slack.  Maybe that wasn’t so horrible after all!

So…what are your goals?  How are you going to hold yourself accountable?

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