Transplanting to New Ponds

When I was in my other town, I got comfortable at my local gym after a while.  I knew that when I went in there was not going to be many people there, and I would probably be one of the youngest people there.  When you live in a small town and belong to a gym that wants Everybody to come there, you will see every-body.  Except younger people, because they still like to go to the bigger gyms in the next town where there are more options for exercise.  I thrived there though.  I knew I could go in and use the same machines over and over and vary the exercises I did on them by just a little to keep the workout interesting.

I started my membership at my new gym today.  I knew the gym was much bigger, as I had done quite a bit of research on Youtube and Google.  The membership fees were about the same, so I wasn't worried about the cost and this gym came with a few more benefits, so I was even eager to go.  I knew things were going to be different when I walked on the weightlifting floor and one of the first people to greet me looked like this:

There was a guy right in the middle of the floor doing arm curls, and making the Angry John Mccain face (AJMF).  He was really into it and I'm sure that he wasn't aware that he was making the AJMF, and I know that he didn't have any idea how much he caught me off guard.  The other part I had trouble with was realizing that other than the guy working the desk, I was one of the oldest people there.  I'm only 25.

Needless to say, I left and went upstairs to walk on the treadmill for a while.  The treadmills were nice, the ellipticals were set up differently and didn't feel as natural to walk on as my old gym's ellipticals.  The bikes were about the same, but they have a stair climber at my new gym!

I finally walked back downstairs and tried out the weightlifting floor again.  AJMF guy was there, but this time he was on a cable-cross system and was looking away from me.  I started off by trying out some bench presses.  It was the first time I had tried bench presses without a Smith Machine or any other kind of machine.  It really was different to use free weights to lift with and I really enjoyed it.  I used stabilizer muscles that I didn't even know existed, but I had to trade off by using less weight.  Most of the rest of my routine was the same, but just on different brands of machines.  

The thing I look forward to at this gym the most is the classes they offer and the new machines and free weights they offer.  They have a class on Monday evenings that is similar to Crossfit, and I can't wait to join it.  

I'll be sure to update you on how I'm doing at the new gym and if I have any more encounters with AJMF guys.

Back from the Great Beyond

I have finally returned from my vacation.  Madix and I decided to take a trip to Hilton Head, SC with some great friends.  We had a wonderful time and Madix really enjoyed his first time at the beach and seeing the ocean.  

While I was there, I have to admit that I didn't eat a very healthy diet.  In fact, the only thing that I did eat that was close to healthy was some delicious grouper with steamed green beans.  Other than that, my diet consisted of mostly junk food, hot dogs, and hamburgers.  I also didn't take any of my vitamins or drink any protein shakes.

Another confession?  Other than all the walking to and from and at the beach, I didn't get any exercise.  Granted, there was a lot of walking, so I definitely got in my 3-5 hours of low level cardio, but nothing else.  

Am I happy about the results?  No.  Am I surprised?  No.  Would I have changed a thing?  Probably not.  Relaxation and fun were the key elements for this trip.

For the future, I'm going to start returning to the gym and working out on a regular basis, but it's going to take a couple of weeks to get myself back on track.  I'm moving to a different town in Kentucky and I'll be keeping myself busy when I'm not working on my health with finding a new employer, finding a new gym, and getting myself back into school.  I'm going to start working on becoming an RN (Registered Nurse) which will help me with my medical knowledge in relation to my health.  

I expect great things from myself for the future, and I don't plan on letting myself down.  It may be a little while before I post an update picture of myself or start posting my weekly stats again.  Just bare with me while I go through these changes and I promise that I will have the blog and my health back up to where we last left off.

I want to leave by saying that I love you guys and all of the support that you've given me through this most difficult time in my life as well and Madix's.  I don't know how I could have made it through these past few weeks without the love and support of all of my friends and family.

-Andy

Do It For The Ones You Love

Amber Allen Fields

October 11th, 1984 - June 25th, 2011

On Saturday, the 25th of June, my world was turned upside down destroyed from the inside out.  I lost the most wonderful person in the world; my wife.  She was killed in a car wreck while traveling home from work. I, myself, was getting ready for work at home with my son, Madix.  For us, it was a normal day of playing together, having a good time, and waiting for Mommy to come home.

Except Mommy didn't come home this time.

Now, my three year-old only has me left.  He'll be turning four this month, and his mommy isn't going to be there to see it and celebrate it with him.  He's certainly not going to have an easy life because of it.  I am only thankful that he is too young to truly understand what a difficult hand that has been dealt to him this early in his life.

It is things like this that make us think really hard about what we're doing with ourselves.  My son has been left with an overweight father who is at risk for too many medical emergencies including hyperglycemia (blood sugar too high), hypoglycemia (blood sugar too low), myocardial infarction (heart attack, along with many other heart risks), cerebrovascular attack (stroke), hypoxia (short of air), and so on and so forth.  

Is that the way I want my son to see me?  Is that the way I want him to know that I lived?  If I die, who will take care of him after me?  Who will take him for his first day of school?  Who will watch him play his first sport?  Who will teach him how to drive?  Who will talk to him about girls?  Who will help him get ready for his prom or watch him graduate?  Who will watch as he gets married?

His options have been cut in half by something that nobody had any control over.  Is it fair to him for me to live like this now?

I, most certainly, do not think it is.  And that is why I have to work harder than ever.  I have to be the best that I can be at all times, and teach my son to be that way as well.  

And I hope that this message serves as a wake-up call for all of you.  I pray that none of you will ever have to go through what my family has in the past few days, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't live like it couldn't.  Don't give God -or fate- a chance to take you for some reason that you could have prevented.  Get yourself healthy, and keep yourself that way.  I beg that of you.

As for me and mine now, we have things to do.  We're going to get out of the world for a few days and try to relax a little.  When I get back, I'll update you more on what we're doing, how we're doing, and what our plans are.  In the meantime, take care of yourselves.  Do it for the ones you love, because tomorrow might not be the same.

Andy - Week of 6/16/11 Stats - Biggest Loser Week 5

Week Starting Weight: 347.6 lbs

Week Ending Weight:  357.4 lbs

Lost Since Last Week:    0.0 lbs

Exercise

Thursday: 45 minutes of hiking, 1 hour of swimming
Friday: None

Saturday: 3 minutes of Treadmill Warm-up, 160 lbs, x 25 Lateral Pulls and Rows, 100 lbs x 60 Double Bell Squats*, 160 lbs x 25 Shoulder Presses, 45 seconds x 4 sets of Planks, 110 lbs x 25 Bench Presses; 25 minutes of Walking
Sunday: None

Monday: 4 minutes of Elliptical Warm-up, 160 lbs x 25 Shoulder Presses, 45 seconds x 4 sets of Planks, 110 lbs x 25 Bench Presses, 100 lbs x 17 Double Bell Squats**; 20 minutes of Treadmill Cardio; 20 minutes of Walking

Tuesday: None
Wednesday: 3.25 minutes of Elliptical Warm-up, 110 lbs x 25 Bench Presses, 50 lbs x 60 Double Bell Squats, 160 lbs, x 25 Lateral Pulls and Rows, 45 seconds x 4 sets of Planks, 160 lbs x 25 Shoulder Presses

*This was the point where I proceeded to put too much strain on my right trapezius muscle in my neck near the base of my skull.  This was probably due to poor alignment of the neck and trying to do too many repetitions in one set.
**This was the point where I was a little too forgetful about my previous injury and tried to go back and do it over.  This time, the resulting pain caused me to stop my strength training all together for the day.

Reflections

I would love to say, "I give up on trying to understand my body" but I understand it all too well by this point.  The foods we eat act as ghosts, coming to haunt us days after eating them (see my post on Carbs).

The stats from this week are a combination of many things.  The first being a terrible sleep and work schedule.  This is what happens when you work way more than you should are used to and on varying shifts.  The second factor was poor eating choices when in a hungry pinch.  The third being fatigue from loss of sleep and injury combined.

In other news, I did get to find a great little nature trail that I got to go out and walk earlier in the week.  It took me about 45 minutes with my son, but I'm sure I could sprint/jog it in about 25 minutes (3 year-olds need to make periodic stops to check things out).  It has a relatively level terrain and it's really beautiful to look at.  I expect to go back a lot.

Goals for Next Week

I've got three more weeks of scheduled madness at work.  There is a small chance that it may get cut short if the new-hires being trained finish up sooner than expected and start working regularly scheduled shifts.  I'm not going to get my hopes up or anything, but the relief will be nice.  The bottom line is that I would rather them be ready for the job than to come out half-cocked and not last.  That's three more weeks of doing my best to cope with 4-5 long days of madness.

In the meantime, I'm going to have to do my best to utilize the time I have to get adequate rest.  This should help with the fatigue I'm experiencing and not cause the foods I eat to affect me so badly.

Of course, making better eating choices is going to be key.  I've did a lot better over the past week than I have in the past few, but improvements still can be made in many areas.  I want to make a return to intermittent fasting.

I'm happy with my cardio time and the number of times I'm making it into the gym for strength training.  The only thing I have to work on now is practicing good form when I do my lifts.  Without proper form, I am setting myself up for a needless injury.

Creatine in Your Routine

Normally, when words like Creatine are mentioned in a discussion about fitness, one of the first images that people think of looks something like this:

I suppose that it is possible for somebody to look like that after taking creatine.  The question we have to ask ourselves is, "What else were they taking?"  Could you imagine somebody who takes creatine looking any different?  Could you imagine them looking like... me?

Yes, I have been using creatine.  For the past six weeks I've been "juicing it up"; and you know what?  I feel fine.

Here's the rub on the taboo supplement that makes people shudder:

Creatine is the most popular and commonly used sports supplement available today. There are numerous studies backed by anecdotal evidence that support the efficacy of creatine supplementation. For the majority of the population, including both elite athletes and untrained individuals, creatine supplementation increases fat free mass and improves anaerobic and possibly aerobic performance.

- Bodybuilding.com 

Creatine is, and always has been, a natural component of skeletal muscle. The only reason that creatine may seem like something new is a recent boom in scientific research in the area since the early 1990s. In a sense, creatine was rediscovered when world-class athletes became wise to the option of utilizing it to enhance their physical performance.

In truth, however, creatine was identified as an indispensable part of skeletal muscle some time ago. Nearly two centuries ago (1835) a French scientist and philosopher named Michel-Eugène Chevreul isolated a component from skeletal muscle that he gave the name Creatine after the Greek word for flesh, or Kreas. A few years later (1847) a German scientist named Justus von Liebig proposed that creatine is necessary to support muscular activity when he observed that wild (active) foxes contain more intramuscular creatine than foxes kept in captivity. Liebig later went as far as lending his name to a commercial extract of meat that he asserted would help the body perform extra “work“. Indeed, Liebig’s “Fleisch Extrakt ” could reasonably be considered the original creatine supplement – complete with marketing strategy.

In fact, meat and fish are the richest natural sources of creatine. Carnivores therefore, receive their creatine directly via dietary channels. Conversely, herbivores (and strict vegetarians), since they abstain from consuming these sources of creatine, are solely reliant on their body’s natural ability to synthesis creatine from basic components. Omnivores, on the other hand, have at their disposal both avenues from which to fulfill their daily creatine requirement.

 - CreatineMonohydrate.net

So, now that we've got it out of the way that our bodies naturally produce creatine, and that we also obtain it from meat that we eat, let's talk about how I've been using it and what it has done for me.

First off, I started using creatine on a six week cycle.  For the past six weeks, any time I have did any kind of strength training, I have had 5mg of Creatine Monohydrate mixed into a water bottle.  I normally started drinking this water right before I went to the gym and usually finished it right before my last station.  Other than that, my routine has stayed the same, including my regular multi-vitamins and drinking a protein shake right after my workout.

I did not go through a "Loading" phase with it like a lot of people do.  I started out with 5mg every time, and only on the days that I did strength training.  Now that my six weeks of using creatine are over, I will go without using it for four to six weeks.

As far as my strength training is concerned, these are the results after six weeks of using creatine monohydrate:

• Lateral Pulls and Rows:  Started at 140 lbs x 20 reps, Ended at 160 lbs x 25 reps, Equals 20 lbs increase in weight and 5 repetitions increase.
• Double Bell Squats: Started at 90 lbs x 40 reps, Ended at 100 lbs x 60 reps, Equals 10 lbs increase in weight and 20 repetitions increase.
• Bench Presses: Started at 105 lbs x 25 reps, Ended at 110 lbs x 25 reps, Equals 5 lbs increase in weight and no repetitions increase.
• Shoulder Presses: Started at 130 lbs x 25 reps, Ended at 160 lbs x 25 reps, Equals 30 lbs increase in weight and no repetitions increase.
• Planks: Started at 30 seconds x 3 sets, Ended at 45 seconds x 4 sets, Equals 15 seconds increase in time each set and 1 extra set -or- 90 seconds increase in total time.
• In addition, I can see more definition of muscle in my calves, thighs, stomach, chest, shoulders, and upper arms from six weeks ago.

I am very pleased with the results of this first round.  I had hoped that I would be able to increase my weight more in my bench presses than what is shown, but I'm okay with that.  My maximum effort lift is just short of half my body weight right now, which is where I hope to get it and then maintain it at that level, if not go above it.

In my next cycle of creatine usage, I plan to up the dosage just a little bit.  I am going to try a small "loading" phase, and also use it on a daily basis.  I hope this will aid in my road to a healthier me in the future.

After all, isn't that what we're all trying for here?

Take a Picture, It Will Last Longer

Have you noticed the About Andy section of the blog yet?  If not, let me bring you up to speed as to what is going on over there.  Yes, there is a short biography about me, but there are also a bunch of pictures.  I'll tell you why they are there.

A piece of advice that I received a long time ago was that weight loss doesn't always go according to our plans.  We hit those wonderful things called "plateaus" and we can't seem to get our weight any lower that what it's been for the past - say, for instance - three months.  It can get discouraging to step up on the scales when you aren't visually seeing those results you want.

The best thing to combat those plateaus is to track your weight loss by other means.  Some people choose clothing sizes, which works just fine.  It can even be very motivating for some if they're trying to get down to the next size.  I choose to go another, less expensive route.

I take pictures.  Every month, within the same five-day period, I take a picture of myself.  Most of the time, my wife takes it for me and we try to take it in the same place or at least with the same pose every time.  The first picture shown was one of me where I wasn't actually posing because of my weight.  It was a picture of me on my birthday, while I was out with my wife and son on a geocaching trip.

The next photo was taken three months later, just as a starter picture for this blog.  I didn't know until a month later what a favor I had done for myself.  In a month's time, I hadn't lost the weight that I had planned on losing, and I was telling a friend about it.  They said, "Why not take a photo of yourself and track it again in a month?  That way you can still see the fat coming off of you."  I went out and took a picture that moment, and that was how it all began.

After doing that for a few months, I thought it would be a good idea to share my progress with everyone, not just with my weekly stats updates.  I didn't want the blog to just be pictures of me though, so I started adding them to my "About Andy" page.  That's where I've been putting them ever since.

The bottom line is that you don't have to be like me and put your pictures up on the internet.  But if you want a cool way to track your personal fitness goals, then try taking a picture of yourself every month.  If you want to see more drastic changes, try taking one every six months, but be warned that you may miss something that you would want to correct by not taking pics on a more regular basis.

If you don't want to put your pictures up on the internet, that's fine.  Something you can try since the photos you take will be more private is taking pictures of yourself either in your underwear or naked.  It sounds perverted and gross; I know.

But isn't this one of the main reasons we're doing this?  Don't we all want to look good naked?

(If you do take those pictures in your birthday suit, I might suggest hiding them well.)

No Sweets? No Sweat! 30 Day Challenge - Day 30 (THE END)

With a lot of people like me who are trying to lose weight, one of the biggest obstacles we have to overcome is giving up sweets. For the next thirty days I want you to take this challenge with me.  Eat nothing sweet!  Let's cut out all the indulgences we take for granted, and prove to our bodies, our minds, and everyone else that we don't need sugar to survive!  I'll be posting periodically about my progress.  I want you to leave comments about your progress as well.  Let us inspire one another!  

Day 30

So how did you do?  Be honest.  Was it hard?  

For me, it certainly was a hard challenge.  I slipped up a few times.  I blatantly disregarded the challenge a couple of times.  But that wasn't the point.

The point of this whole thing was to prove to ourselves and others that we don't need sweets to get through our days.  We proved that we didn't need sweets to keep our blood glucose levels maintained at a reasonable level.  Most importantly, I hope we all found alternatives to sweets foods that satisfy our needs and cravings.

One thing that has surprised me over the past few weeks is how much gum I chewed gum.  My wife asked me at least four or five different times if I needed more chewing gum.  I finally asked her, "Do I really go through that much that often?"  I guess the answer was, "Yes."

I know that I'm able to walk by the candy and gum isle at the grocery store now and not give it a second look.  I can also see a gallon of sweet tea or lemonade and not be thirsty for it, because nothing beats my bottle of ice-cold water.

Did anyone else learn anything about themselves through this challenge?  If so, please leave a comment with your experiences.