The Shrinking Man

I visited my doctor on Friday, because some sebaceous cysts on my back were seeming to get bigger, and were definitely starting to bother me. Whenever I had to lay on my back for particular exercises, one would start to get sore. Ditto sleeping at night. And it is that one that was getting really big, too.

So I made an appointment, thinking I’d just go in and get the suckers drained, right? Nooooo. To really get rid of them (one of the two on my back was actually a returnee from my late teen years), I’ve got to go to a surgeon to get ‘em cut out. What’s more, he said the one is so big, that the surgeon will likely want to do it in the hospital (on an outpatient basis, I’m assuming — and knowing my cheap-ass insurance, will probably be).

So after that happens (I’m pushing to get it done ASAP), I’ll probably be out of fully working out for a couple of weeks, while I have stitches in two separate spots on my back. That won’t deter me in losing weight; I just won’t be able to exercise like I normally would. Hopefully I’ll still be able to do the elliptical, and maybe even kick up some of my interval training on that. Just won’t be able to do any resistance.

I don’t think I’ll be able to complete the Transformation Contest either, because of my situation. I just can’t see missing out a few weeks and still being competitive. I’ll definitely do the next one, though. And like I said, I’m still going to be on track for losing weight, so this thing truly isn’t going to get me down. I just won’t be able to be competitive this time ’round. No biggie.

If you’ve never heard of sebaceous cysts before, they’re pretty ucky things. Click the link to find out more. But in my particular situation, the doc said that they’re both getting more pronounced because I’ve lost so much weight (about 75 lbs. now and still going), and growing because I’ve spiked up my metabolism. This means my body is pumping even more gross stuff into them than before because my metabolism is up.

First more gout attacks because of my weight loss, then this … ? Weight loss can truly be a double-edged sword, my friends. But I still think it is worth it, and I’m still going to lose more. There’s just more challenges along the way.

Apologies for not posting as of late; we’re crunching at work, blah blah blah, punch and pie. The same ol’ story. But true!

… both figuratively and literally.

‘Memba the old saying, “Drink 8 glasses of water a day to stay healthy” … ?

Well, not so much, evidently.

If you already knew this, my apologies (it’s been out since early April). But this is the first I’ve heard of it, and I have to admit, I’m really surprised.

It won’t change my habits, mainly because I need to drink lots of water because of my gout condition. But there’s one comment that I’d like to call shenanigans on;

There are no studies that show that chugging H2O will curb your appetite.

As someone who fasts twice a week for 24 hour periods (via the Eat Stop Eat program), I can say that during fast time, I drink lots of water. I drink more when I’m feeling hungry. For me, at least, it takes the hunger more or less away, almost right away.

I think I’ll wait to see more evidence on this one, thank you very much!

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, I broke down and weighed myself this morning. After going off the weight-loss road last week, I’ve really been hitting it hard this week, in terms of both exercise and diet. And my work has paid off — I’m at 258 this morning, which (if memory serves) is only a pound more than is exactly the same as my last weigh-in two weeks ago. Believe me, after the emotional roller-coaster that was last week, this is a big’un accomplishment for me.

What’s more, I think I’m down even more in terms of pure fat loss. I put on a pair of jeans today I have never been able to wear (size 40s — I’m here, bitches!). And when I say I put them on, I mean I put them on to frakkin’ wear today; not just to see if they fit. So that is a major accomplishment.

I’ve also noticed a bit more definition in my arms, legs and even my abs today; that tells me I’ve probably gained even more muscle. Believe me, I’m very far away from getting a six-pack, devil ears, etc. in the ol’ abs/lower trunk area. But I am starting to actually see progress. So I got that goin’ for me. Which is nice.

Additionally, I’m in the middle of another Eat Stop Eat fasting interval today. So hopefully I’ll be down even more in time for my Smart for Life weigh-in tomorrow. But even if I don’t lose an ounce of weight between today and tomorrow, I don’t care. I’m a happy, happy camper.

All of that, plus some good news with my work/career-related stuff (that I can’t talk about right now), and I’m going into this weekend on really, really high notes. Life is (very) good.

Then on Sunday, it’s Day 1 of the Transformation Contest for me! My next post will come on Sunday, and it’ll have all of the titilating “start” stats for this next major phase of my fat-loss life. See ya then!

Well, you have all of these wonderful plans … and then life pops up.

We’re dealing with an out-of-town family emergency right now. Everything’s getting better, at least. But I’m probably going to be a bit “off” on the ol’ program (although I already had my 30 minutes of cardio this morning).

Oh well. When life throws you a curveball, you can still smash it out of the park. You just need to know how. Now that I know how to, this won’t be a big deal.

BTW - it will probably be early next week until I’m able to post again.

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!

Wanted to quickly update on my experience with my first fast, via the Eat Stop Eat program. And I’ve gotta say, wow!

I didn’t think I could make it. But with just 40 minutes left, I can say it was easy. The key to success is to time the 24 hour period so that you actually are eating every day of the week; you’re just fitting the 24 hour period in around it. So, for example, we started at 6 PM yesterday (and essentially skipped dinner), but we’re picking up today after 6 PM (and eating dinner). So we only truly fasted 16 hours, as we slept for 8 of them. And even though we “fasted” on Sunday and Monday, we ate on those days, too!

Another key is to eat normally (whatever that is for you); don’t gorge yourself before or after the fast period.

Brad explains it all (and explains it well) in his book. And it doesn’t cost a lot of scratch, either. I don’t want to give away too much here, because he’s a good guy and I want to see him succeed with this book. So if you’re interested, I suggest you go to his site and buy it. I get no money for referrals, either — I’m just happy to help. Seriously.

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”!