The Shrinking Man

So I did my first “heavy” workout on Sunday, and my legs still haven’t fully recovered. They’re still pretty sore. But they’re better today than yesterday or Monday.

In fact, they were so sore that I didn’t even work out — period! — yesterday. I really felt like I needed a rest, so I took it. I feel that this is a long-term process, and I shouldn’t sabotage myself by just up and quitting at the first sign on trouble (like I’ve done in the past).

So I took my day off like a man, and got right back on that horse this morning, with 25 minutes of cardio. It went pretty well, actually, and I physically feel really good. Legs are still sore, of course, but feelin’ good otherwise.

It took me a long time to get all the way up to 325 lbs., and it took me awhile to get to my present 258, so it’s going to take more time to get back down to my goal weight. Now that that little point is implanted firmly in my thick skull, I’ll definitely succeed at this. Which is a good thing.

Today’s the first day of the rest of my life. Well, not really that long. Just for the next 12 weeks.

That’s because I’m starting the Transformation Contest today. For the next 12 weeks, I’m going to be working very hard to lose as much fat as possible, while getting into the best shape possible.

I cannot encourage you enough to join this contest. Besides having a chance to win lots of prizes (first prize, if memory serves, is $2,000!), it’s a way to really give a healthy kick in the ass to your fat-/weight-loss efforts.

The help and accountability at the Turbulence Training member area (via the membership there) is amazing. And Craig (the guy who came up with the whole TT plan and runs the site) is truly an inspiration and really helpful.

Here’s the deal, in terms of how I’m going to work this contest and this blog: I’ll post my overall progress here. But if you want to see my specifics (all of the specific figures, what exercises I’m doing, what I’m doing specifically with nutrition), you’re going to have to go on this journey with me. Yep, that means joining TT, becoming a member, following my specific posts in the forums there, and (hopefully) getting in the contest with me.

You don’t need to be in the contest to read this info, but I really hope you at least get started with TT’s “Turbulence Training for Fat Loss” program. The Introductory level workout is not difficult to do, yet it’ll get you started on the way (or should I say, “weigh” - I know, lame) to fitness and health.

You can do it; I know you can. That’s because I’m in the process of doing it. I got off of my lard ass last December and started losing weight with Smart for Life, and have already lost almost 70 lbs. with that, and now I’m entering the next phase of my Shrinking Man transformation with TC.

Wish me luck!

Well, weighed in at Smart for Life today. I came in at 258, which is a 4 lb. loss. Pretty good. What’s more, my morning weigh-in (the number I really keep track of) was at 257.

Weight, what a funny thing. A constantly moving target. You never truly know what your weight is, which is why you need to do your “keep track” weight at the same time when charting it/remembering it/whatever. Usually that’s first thing in the morning, after you’ve done any bathroom business you need to do.

This week was week 1 of the multi-layered week, in terms of what I’m doing exercise wise and nutrition-wise. To sum up:

• Exercise: Turbulence Training Introduction program for bodyweight/resistance and Pace Fitness for interval training 3x a week; slow-go cardio for 30 minutes the other 3 days
• Nutrition: Smart for Life w/1 extra protein shake daily; Eat Stop Eat 24 hour fasting for 2 periods; Thintuition to know when I’m hungry and how much to eat

I’ll keep this up (while switching the TT program to the Beginner’s program probably the week after next) for … well … for as long as it works for me. Hopefully, that’ll be for a really long time, as I really like doing all of this.

Another bit ‘ good news. When I weighed in, the S4L doc (a great lady, BTW) weighed me on the extremely high-falutin’ Tanita professional scale (that could help you hack into the Pentagon). While I don’t remember the percentages, my body fat was down from a month ago, but my muscle mass was up! This means I’ve lost even more fat than what the overall “scale” number indicates — which is why I hate our society’s over-dependence on the “scale” number. It’s extremely inadequate.

I may even have to add another protein shake in during the day, which would be cool. I think that it would spike my metabolism even more. I’ll give that a week or two, though.

She even said I’m “ahead of schedule” in my weight-loss efforts. Cool.

So all in all, a great week! Looking forward to another one this week, especially now that I’ll be working out in my home.

… I always hesitate using the word “big” in a blog about weight loss  ;)  .

Any-who, the big news is I’m going to join the Transformation Contest when it starts back up. Cash and prizes, plus the ultimate in accountability (a contest!) — you can’t go wrong. I’ll post details as I come across them. Click on the link to see the winners from the last contest. The winner is kinda hot, too.

Coming up tomorrow or Sunday … an update on my weigh-in this week — the first full week of Turbulence Training with some Pace Program tossed in, with side dishes of Smart for Life and Eat Stop Eat and a dash of Thintuition. Could I fit more things into my life right now? Eh, maybe. But for now, this’ll do, reader, this’ll do.

BTW - the weigh in? Let’s just say I have a really good feeling about it. After all, I’ve had a sneak peek at week-to-date results.

Thought I’d update quickly, especially because this marks the first time in 3 weeks it has been a Wednesdy and I haven’t been in the midst of a gout attack. Can’t tell you how happy that makes me.

Anyhow, I’ve exercised every day (Sunday and Tuesday “heavy days,” Monday and this morning “low-and-slow cardio), and am feeling fantastic. I’m down to 261, but if my lower-end Tanita scale is to be believed, I’ve lost more fat than the overall weight number indicates. Which is good — I’m about losing fat and clothing fitting even better more than watching one dumb ol’ number that doesn’t even directly relate to how I’m doing with losing fat. Yep, I feel pretty strongly about that.

To help us out with tracking more than just overall weight and fat loss, I bought a high-falutin’ Tanita scale — the Tanita Ironman BC554 (scroll down to see it). Let’s just say that this scale is so advanced, if you put jet engines on it? Yep, it’d fly.

We also took all of our tax refund (plus a little extra, but not a lot), and bought an elliptical for the house. With this, we’ll be able to dump our gym memberships and save money in the long term. Plus it’ll save us travel time in the morning, which, if you live in DC or have heard about our traffic, can be considerable.

We got this bad boy: the Octane Fitness Q47e. If you could exercise and sweat your you-know-what off and do it all in a Cadillac at the same time, this would be the machine that would do it. Oh. My. God. I’ll tell more about its virtues after we get it delivered. 

Quitting the gym isn’t a big deal, though. Since I’m doing Turbulence Training, it’s all bodyweight and dumbbells, and we have those already. Don’t need a gym for that. And when my wife’s knee gets better, she can either do TT or combine our old Bowflex with the Q47e.

Sweet!

By the way, we’re Eat Stop Eating again tonight. Wish us luck!

Just wanted to quickly alert y’all to a comment in the post immediately below this one (here’s the link to it, in case you’ve stumbled across this post and not the whole blog). It’s from Craig Ballantyne, the guy who came up with Turbulence Training. I’ll let the post explain it all. Enjoy!

UPDATE: Well, aren’t I becoming *the* magnet for health, workout and nutrition celebs! First, Craig comments at this blog. Then I get a comment from over at the ttmembers.com message board from Eat Stop Eat writer Brad Pilon. I’ve actually put that comment in the comments section from the above-referenced posting, since it directly relates there.

So, this blog post has been upgraded from “Niiiiiice” to “Very Niiiiiice”!

First, weigh in. I weighed in at Smart for Life at 262 - I’m essentially at 65 lbs. lost. Pretty snazzy. I’ve got to admit, though, the weight is getting tougher and tougher to drop. I’m wondering if this plan has run its course with me, in terms of effectiveness. My body really needs different stimuli to “shake things up,” and I think that 5 months on S4L may be the max for it. Believe me, I love S4L and would recommend it to anyone. But as you read so often, “No diet works 100% of the time,” and you need to do the ol’ “Shake things up” thing.

Second, Eat Stop Eat. My jaw almost dropped to the floor when my wife said, “yes,” she’d do it with me. So we’re doing the fasting thing as a trial. We’re starting today at 6 PM, and not eating again until Monday at 6. Wish us luck! I’m also hoping that combining this with S4L will be the “shake up” thing I need the next few months. I’ll update how it went tomorrow night.

Third, Turbulence Training. I’m back on it as of today. I’ll be going to work out this afternoon, marking my return to my original schedule of 2 heavy days (Sunday and probably Wednesday) and 4 light days each week. Don’t want to burn myself out! After a few weeks, it goes up to 3 heavy days a week. Can’t wait for that. Seriously!

Eat Stop Eat … ? I’m seriously thinking about it. Have to get it past the wife unit (who is also S4L’ing with me).

The bigger question is, can I fit all of these different philosophies into one way of life? Actually, I think I can!

Okay, so after a bunch of contemplation, research and just asking myself, “Can I really do this,” here’s my test plan for the next two weeks:

Eating

• Smart for Life: 6 cookies during the day (unless I’ve eaten one of the new yummy Eating Right soups from Safeway for lunch; it’ll be 5 for those days), then a dinner on their plan, except for 2-4 oz. more protein
• Nature’s Best Zero Carb Isopure, Creamy Vanilla flavor, mixed with already-prepared Crystal Light orange (the line that’s designed for mornings). Drink after exercise for 50g of protein over and above what’s provided for on S4L (which I still think is too little for people)

Exercise

• in the AM (ugh), Sunday through Friday
• “Hard days” on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday; “Easy days” Monday, Wednesday and Friday
  • Hard days: Turbulence Training for bodyweight exercises for muscle strength/building, and Pace Power for the interval training on the elliptical (40 mins. 10-15 mins. for TT bodyweight; 20 mins. of Pace Power)
  • Easy days: Turbulence Training’s interval training on the elliptical and/or recumbant (just 20 mins.)
• Saturdays off - S4L weigh-in day

As I said up top, I’m giving this two weeks, to see how my body reacts vis-a-vis the “scale.” I’m guessing my weight loss on the scale will slow, but at the same time I’ll be gaining muscle while losing fat. When I’m at S4L this weekend, I’ll get my weigh-in on the fancy-schmancy Tanita scale that does a good job at analyzing fat and muscle loss/gain, to see what’s happening.

I’ll make some kind of decision about what I’ll do going forward in two weeks. So, April 26th will likely be a big day in the Shrinking Man process. No matter what happens, I’ll still lose weight. This is just an experiment, as I try to pull together the best of everything I’ve found and put it to use. Wish me luck!

Well, when I’m right, I’m right. I weiged in yesterday at 265. Just about half-way there. Cool.

If you’ve been a fan of this site, you know I’ve had some physical problems that have kept me from exercising like I said I would. That all changed today. I did my first Turbulence Training beginners exercise, and combined it with Dr. Al Sears’ Pace Power. Basically, I’m using TT for the bodyweight training (no weights, just muscle building via bodyweight) and Pace for “aerobics.”

Let me quickly explain why aerobics is in quotes. Any more, I’ve been reading about how the old thinking about aerobic exercise is no good anymore, and that interval training is even better (I’ll add links for all of this later). Between TT and Pace, I find Pace to be more challenging. I have a high metabolism rate, so the challenge of Pace fits me better.

I also put aerobics in quotes because my idea of aerobics is keeping my heart rate up on an elliptical or exercise bike (or recumbant). I used to do the aerobic classes, but I’m gettin’ too old for that stuff. And get off my lawn, damn kids.

I’m doing all of this while still being committed to Smart for Life. This means I’m still doing 6 cookies a day, but I’ll be adding my protein power in as a 7th “meal” during the day. I’ll update my progress as I go along.