Phase I, Day 24

Hello! I know, I've been slacking with posting. The good news is, I haven't been slacking where it counts the most....diet & exercise. I'm very happy to report that after my workout yesterday, I weighed in at 204. That's a whopping 12 lb. loss since I started phase I! I feel like I've been on the Biggest Loser or something. It's quite miraculous what happens when you do everything right and workout hard with some consistency. Aside from getting sick twice, I can say that I feel better than I have felt in a very long time.

In order for phase I to be a success, I need to drop below 200 by this Monday (3/16/09). I think I can do this even by the end of the week. I've got 2 intense workouts planned for today and tomorrow & if the weather is decent I can squeeze in some outside runs this weekend.

It's been a very challenging 4 weeks. Let's review:

1. Jess got sick the day before I started & neither one of us got any sleep that night
2. I got a 24 hour flu bug 1 week in.
3. I got an upper respiratory infection in week 2 & am still battling a cold
4. Ty got sick over this last weekend & none of us got any decent sleep over a 48 hour period
5. Oh yeah, the economy sucks ;-)

All complaining aside, I'm so excited to start phase II (achieve a 6-pack). Since this will be uncharted waters for me, I am admittedly nervous and somewhat skeptical as to whether or not I can actually do this. All I can do is continue what I'm doing and follow Tom Venuto's (Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle) advice & make any necessary changes if things aren't working. Since putting everything together (written goal, nutrition, weights & cardio), I'm achieving faster results than I ever have before in my life. I know that if I just keep it up, I will see my abs. See you tomorrow!

Phase I, Day 19

Oops! I slacked off yesterday! Sorry guys. This week has been a challenging one. I've been fighting off this nasty cold (still have a lingering cough) and my workouts have definitely suffered because of it. I've pushed myself as hard as I could, considering the circumstances, but definitely need to get back on the high-intensity track. On a positive note, my weight is creeping closer & closer to the 200 lb. hurdle. Just as a reminder, before I started this challenge, my weight had crept up close to 220. In fact, in January I remember stepping on the scale one morning and seeing the needle touch the "220" indicator and I almost cried. Yesterday after my workout the gym scale said 206. 14 pounds dropped since January! 10 pounds dropped just the past 18 days alone. More importantly, I've got only 10 days to lose at least 7 more pounds. Remember, my weight needs to drop "below 200" in order for Phase I to be a success. Tough but not impossible. I need to do cardio for the next 10 days. It must be done!

Do you like the pic? Thought I'd throw in a flex just to enhance the progress I've made to date. I can't wait to see my abs. I'm convinced I've got a pretty gnarley set underneath all that fat. May 25, 2009 will be the big unveiling! See you tomorrow....

Phase I, Day 17

Hello! Well, I'm feeling better, not 100%, but better. So, I'm posed with the challenge of whether or not to push myself & workout or take it easy until I'm back to 100%. On the one hand, I know I could risk being sick for a lot longer (and making myself even worse off) if I rush back too soon. On the other hand, I haven't had a real challenging cardio session since LAST WEDNESDAY, and I skipped yesterday's workout completely, so the guilt factor is really building. As you can see, I'm faced with quite a pickle. I think I'm going to hit the gym today & budget my intensity until I really feel like I can kick it into high gear. I'll let you know tomorrow how it goes. See you then!

Phase I, Day 16

Still Sick. No need to dwell on it. See you tomorrow....

Phase I, Day 15

Hello! First off, I'M SICK AGAIN! I don't know what it is, but whenever I start a new eating/lifting/cardio regimen, I always get sick early on in the process. Last week, I had like a 24-hour flu-like bug that I thankfully worked out by Tuesday. This time, it's a chest cold. I've got congestion, a very painful cough, body aches & chills. I have to believe that I'm just not eating enough calories day in and day out to fuel this transformation. I'm putting more stress on my body than ever before, so my calorie requirements have to be higher. this should be an easy fix.

As far as this cold goes, I expect to be fully recovered tomorrow after drinking tons of fluids & getting to bed early tonight.

I forced myself to do an arm & cardio workout today. I'm getting my strength back with the weight training, but I didn't want to push it during cardio because of my chest cold. I kept coughing while running so I cut my workout to 20 minutes. I felt miserable the entire time. Like I said before, I'm not going to let anything get in the way of completing my transformation, so this cold just better go away ASAP. Time for bed. See you tomorrow.

Phase I, Day 14

Hello! I am happy to report that I am 2 weeks into Phase 1 of my physique transformation challenge and I am right on track to hit my goal. As of this morning, I am still hovering around the 206-207 lb. range, which was where I was earlier in the week. I believe the temporary plateau is more like a stabilization from having the flu last Sunday. I had a dramatic loss in the first week, followed by an additional 3 pounds from being sick.

I expect to be closer to 200 at the end of this week. When I started this phase, I was 216 pounds on Valentine's Day. I was completely dissatisfied with my body & self image and was ready to do something about. Well, I have done something about it. But I'm not even close to my ultimate goal: a 6-pack by my 32nd birthday, 5/25/09. Jess took this picture of me this morning and I really can start to picture what I will look like in almost 3 months.

After finishing the book Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (by Tom Venuto), I have more knowledge than I have ever had before in my life when it comes to permanent fat-loss. The idea behind total fat-loss (and not just "weight-loss", which most of the time is just water weight) is combining weight-training, cardio, nutrition and motivation at the same time. Sounds simple enough, which it is, but I can't even begin to tell you how many times in the past that I've been in a weight-training or running phase, only to have my nutrition be at its worst. I'd make the excuse, "well, I'm working out, so I'll just burn this pizza, beer, wings, chocolate chip cookies, etc, off anyways". WRONG! While it may be true that my metabolism had increased with the increased exercise, I would usually fill the newly needed calorie void with "anything" I could get my hands on. Which 100% of the time would be something high in fat or sugar.

Anyway, enough talk. I'm ready for the start of week 3. See you tomrrow!

Phase I, Day13

Hello! Today is Saturday, another Dad Day. Ty & I went to Harvestime yesterday to get all the good foods for a healthy weekly menu. I soaked 3 bags of beans overnight and made 2 dishes: 1)chili & 2)bean soup. It was the first time for bean soup and it actually turned out better than I thought. I found a recipe online (where else?) and added some of my own twists & turned it into a pretty tasty & healthy meal. The chili is always good, mainly because of the good chili powder that I buy at Harvestime. My dad taught me a long time ago that the biggest secret to making excellent chili or Mexican food is buying the high quality chili powder with the large granules. There is a difference! Anyway, nothing much to report on the workout front, except that I am sore today. I love being sore.....

Still around the 206-207 lb. area, so I didn't seem to lose much weight since being sick earlier in the week, which is what I expected. I expect to get close to 200 pounds by the end of next week, week 3.

See you tomorrow!

Phase I, Day 12

Hello! Day 12, Friday, another Dad day! I had a great workout yesterday. I tried to replicate my leg workout from last week that Justin put me through. Got the same intense sweat going, so that was good. The only thing is, I tried to do the same ab workout but my body wasn't having it. I worked the abs to failure, but that was only 2 solid sets of bicycles on the half-ball (whatever it's called). Then Justin had me do this crazy ab workout on a blood-pressure gague (don't ask me to describe it, just know that it kicked my a$$).

I did a pretty good job eating yesterday. Only slip-up I had was at the networking event I went to last night. I was at Pinstripes again, this time in S. Barrington, and they make this amazing flat bread with veggies & stuff. It's the friggin bomb. I stayed away from drinking alcohol completely, but I had a few pieces of veggie flat bread. I figured since I'm actually having a hard time enough calories throughout the day, I could afford a few pieces of "C" list food. Jess had a healthy dinner of skinless chicken tenders & zucchini ready for me when I got home, so that ended a relatively good day of eating.

Well, time to go be a dad. I think I may squeeze in a home upper body workout today while watching the little man since I missed Monday's workout. See you tomorrow!

Phase I, Day 11

Hello! Well, 10 days down, 9 pounds off! Yesterday after my workout I (as always) weighed myself and the scale said just a shade over 206. I don't really think you can tell I've lost 9 pounds just by looking at my picture, but it's true. So I'm starting to think that mabye I've been a lot fatter than even I thought! Maybe I really was over 23% bodyfat. I'm guessing that I've reduced it to around 16 or 17% by this point, but I've got a ways to go before you can see my abs.

Anyway, yesterday was chest & back, followed by a pretty intense tread session. For my weight session I did tri-sets of dumbell presses, bent over rows & jump-rope, sprinkled in with some ab exercises, all done at high intensity with little to no rest. Then I did incline dumbell presses followed by seated rows & jump-rope & abs. I got a really great sweat going & my heart was really racing, especially after the jumping rope. Jump-rope is a great excercise & I now know why all boxers do it. It really gets your heart pumping, the sweat pouring and you notice an almost immediate improvement in foot quickness & agility.

On the tread I ran a solid 35 minutes and burned about 500 calories doing intervals. I fluctuated the incline from 2.0 to 10.0 and kept the speed between 4.5 & 8.0 (except following a sprint, at which point I walked for 30 seconds). Still not at the intensity level I need to be but I know my endurance & strength are still coming back. I reach a really good intensity level during my weight training sessions and I can't seem to keep the same intensity during the cardio sessions. I know that in order to really be lean I need to be intense during both. I'm really going to start pushing myself during cardio, especially starting next week, since I will have had 2 solid weeks back in training. NO MORE EXCUSES!

Alright, off to day 11 & I'll see you tomorrow!

Phase I, Day 10

Hello! Welcome to day 10. Yesterday was a great day back from the 24 hour flu bug. My workout was decent intensity-wise and overall I felt 100% again. I didn't expect a super intense day in the gym, mainly because I knew my glycogen stores (to get all scientific) were pretty low due to the relatively few calories I had eaten Sunday afternoon & all day Monday. However, I'd say I was able to put up an overall effort of "7". I did 8 tri-sets of arms & abs (split up between 2 different rotations) & then put in a solid 35 minutes on the treadmill. According to the gym scale, I'm down to somewhere between 207 & 208.

I did slip up a little last night though. I went to a networking event and had a couple glasses of wine. Not enough to write home about, but when I got home it was a different story. I had 3 more glasses and didn't really eat a solid dinner. There were appetizers at the event that I indulged in, mainly asparagus wrapped in capacola & this amazing chicken, apple, peanut sauce gizmo wrapped in a lettuce leaf. I probably had about 5 of these. Overall, I probably didn't have enough calories throughout the day and I definitely drank too much alcohol. Gotta do better if I want to really do this. Alright, see you tomorrow!

Phase I, Day 9

Hello! I'll keep today's entry short & sweet. After writing yesterday's post, I was thinking I could just rally & get through my day, but my body said otherwise. Suffice to say, yesterday I stayed under the covers for pretty much the entire day. One good thing about having the flu is additional weight loss. As of this morning, I weigh 207. Another pound! I am very thankful for a fast recovery system, though. Illnesses usually don't get me down for much more than 24 hours, and this time was not different. I'm feeling 100% again and ready for more training & eating right. Alright, it's off to day 9. See you tomorrow!

Phase I, Day 8

(Note: weight loss in week 1: 7 pounds)
Hello! Well, it seems as though I'm truly being challenged as to how bad I want this transformation to happen. Yesterday, after a solid 30 minute run outside (in the 25 degree Chicago air) I came back home to eat a small meal, take a shower & spend some family time with Jess & Ty. After getting dressed, I started to feel a little "off". Thinking I just needed more calories I went to the fridge for some carrot sticks & a glass of water. But this didn't seem to do the trick & by the time we met up with grampy at Outback, I had full-fledged flu symptoms.

I was dizzy, felt super weak, had all out body chills & soreness and I even completely lost my appetite. I was able to put down a couple cheese fries (after all it was my cheat meal) & a Newcastle, but by the time my salmon came around, I couldn't touch it. I really felt like I was going to get nauseous. I was able to tough it out long enough for everyone else to finish their meals but I couldn't wait to get home. Feeling a little better in the car & having a bit of an appetite coming back, I stopped at Mickey-D's for a Shamrock Shake :-) Still, I was only able to finish about half of it.

We got home around 6:30 and I spent the rest of the evening on the couch under the covers, in hopes of feeling better today. Fortunately, my appetite has returned, but I still have some of the flu symptoms from yesterday. Weakness, body aches, a little dizziness & a headache. I'm going to take it easy this AM but will head downtown later to put some work in at the office & then hopefully the gym. I will see you tomorrow!

Phase I, Day 7

Hello! Well, 7 days down, 23 more to go for phase I. So far, I'm happy to report that I am down below 210 pounds! According to our bathroom scale, I weighed in at 208 this morning. That's good for a 7 pound loss over 7 days! I've lost 5-8 pounds in just 1 day before but it's almost always been from water reduction or just not eating. I've eaten more, drank more water & worked out harder than ever before in the past 7 days than I have over any other 7 day period. That tells me that I'm doing something right. I plan on hitting it even harder in the weeks to come. Today I get to have a cheat meal and we have plans with grampy to have a steak at Outback. What a reward for a week of great work! See you tomorrow.

Phase I, Day 6

Hello there! Yesterday was my first day of rest from the gym. I woke up a little sore, but not much. I thought as the day progressed I would become more sore but the exact opposite happened. I felt better and better each hour and I had so much energy all day I felt like I was 20 again! I stepped on the bathroom scale and it said I'm 210. If it's accurate, then that means I'm down 5 pounds since Monday and 6 pounds since last week before I started the challenge.

After Tyler's first nap I packed up my diaper dad bag & we headed to Pinstripes in Northbrook to officially say goodbye to Mike Scovel & hang out with other NYL peeps. I stayed disciplined as I drank 3 glasses of water, had some salad & 2 small slices of flatbread with veggie toppings (which was fantastic, btw). I said no to cocktails & cake, which really wasn't difficult at all. I had packed some cantaloupe & shredded chicken breast, but I didn't whip them out since I felt that would have been totally awkward, bringing my own food to a restaurant & all!

On our way back from the party, Ty & I stopped at Harvestime to pick up some healthy foods. On the grocery list was spinach, bell peppers, blueberries, ground turkey breast, yellow onion, sweet potatoes, kale & kidney beans. I made a healthy version of my chili with turkey & I'm still deciding if it's totally diet-friendly. It's WAY low-fat (1.5g fat in the turkey & minimal fat in the kidneys), tastes great, and the worst thing about it is the sodium content. I still haven't found out how much I need per day to stay on track.

I had a few small bowls throughout the evening and quit eating right at 9PM. In total, throughout the day I had oatmeal & cottage cheese for breakfast, cottage cheese & fruit for a mid-morning snack, the salad & flatbread @ Pinstripes and then turkey chili for my last 2 meals of the day. I also sliced up a sweet potato in chip & fry shapes & baked them in a drizzle of olive oil & a sprinkle of salt. They were awesome! Even Jess liked them and I think we found a nice healthy side dish for the future. In all, a great day off! See you tomorrow!

Phase I, Day 5

Happy Friday! Today's my stay-at-home-dad day with Ty and I couldn't be more excited. So far this week I've had 4 amazing workouts & I've stayed consistent with my diet. From what I'm learning about eating, I need to make sure I'm eating every 3 hours for a total of 6 small meals. At first, I was worried that I may eat too much--considering my appetitite--but it turns out I may need to add a meal to get the required calories for proper fat-burning metabolism. Kinda backwards, right? It's real, it's science ;-)

Anyway, yesterday was shoulder day & it's safe to say it was my least intense weight day. I just have a hard time really getting a good sweat doing shoulders. My left shoulder is still unstable from the dislocation, so I'm starting super light. I did lateral raises, front raises & shrugs. After 4 sets, I moved on to rotator cuff isolation exercises where Justin gave me a few pointers. Since I did abs for 3 days straight, and since they were still sore, I stayed away from extra ab work yesterday.

For cardio, I had my best day for distance (3.05 mi), time (37 mins) & calories burned (502). I wouldn't say it was my best day intensity-wise since I was really pushing through some cramps & soreness from the prior 3 days. But I wanted to achieve a new "best" so I pushed for calories & time. I'm really incorporating incline on the treadmill, especially between higher speed intervals & when I really want to burn. According to the scale at the gym, I'm down to 211! 5 pounds lost in 4 days. Gotta keep at it....

I won't be back in the gym until Monday, so my goal is to run at least once before then. I will do abs @ home twice until then as well. Well, time to enjoy my little boy, see you tomorrow!

Phase I, Day 4

Hello! Well, it's day 4--the last day of my workouts for the week. I am planning on running once or twice this weekend, but my weight sessions end today until next Monday. I do have one word to say about yesterday's workout though, and that is.....OUCH! Justin put me through one of the toughest workouts I've ever had in my life. We did 3 tri-sets of hip abductors, one legged step-up squats (weighted), & one legged box squats (unweighted & then 25 lbs, held out in front). Then we did one tri-set of lunges. To end the session, he put me through the toughest ab workout of my life & my abs literally started locking up. I was doubled over from fatigue & my abs locked me into the slouched position for a few seconds. Creepy feeling! Obviously I need to up my water intake. Justin said he was impressed with my work ethic & believes if I keep this intensity up I should definitely be at my goal of 200 lbs by Mar. 16.

I then finished my workout with 20 minutes on the treadmill. I kept the incline set between 5 & 10 and mostly walked, but the sweat was pouring and I finished at 1.37 miles & 280 calories burned. According to the gym scale, I've already dropped 3 pounds this week! I'm loving my progress so far and looking forward to today! See you tomorrow.

Phase I, Day 3

Hello! Day 2 was another successful day. At the gym I had a very intense chest & back workout supplemented by abs & skipping rope. For the first sequence I did light dumbell presses followed by dumbell rows followed by bicycles, all performed at a high intensity. I did 4 sets and then moved on to the next sequence, which was dumbell flyes followed by assisted wide-grip pullups. I supplemented these sets with 30 seconds of skipping rope. I performed 3 sets of these and I was super sweaty & my heart was definitely pumping hard. I then moved on to the treadmill where I ran for 30 minutes. It started out a little choppy as I was experiencing cramping in my left calf, but I got off the tread, ran over to the water fountain and drank for about 30 seconds straight. This seemed to cure my problem as I was able to get back onto the tread & finish my workout. I will say that yesterday's tread workout wasn't as intense as Monday's, so I will have to step it up next time.

Justin has a leg workout planned for me today, so I'm really looking forward to it. I just need to remember to eat enough protein & stretch sufficiently so I'm not super sore for days to come.

Last night was yet another challenging night. While I am happy to report that Jess is feeling almost 100% (I think she had food poisoning Sunday night), Tyler was up from midnight until he finally fell asleep on my chest at 3AM. I am a little tired today but I'm not going to let it affect me in the gym or in front of my clients. Im off to Day 3 & I'll see you tomorrow!

Phase I, Day 2

Wow! Yesterday was a great start to the challenge. With the exception of learning that my body fat % was somewhere in the neighborhood of 23%, I couldn't be happier with the start I'm off to. After bringing Tyler to Grandma's house in the burbs, I rushed back home, grabbed my pre-packed lunch & started the day. I put in a few solid hours at the office & headed to the gym at 2PM. Nikki (gym recruiter & friend) had set up a free consultation with Justin, one of the trainers, so that I could get my body measured. He weighed me at 215 and my body-fat % was 23.3, according to the skin-fold test. He said it was accurate within 4%, but what really matters to me is that I slice that number in half by the end of Phase I.

In addition to my body-fat measurement, Justin also measured my waist, hips, arm circumference as well as blood pressure, resting heart rate & calculated my target heart rate. He also had me do a treadmill test, pushup test & flexibility test. All my numbers were average (normal) to above average (pushups were actually exceptional!) and when compared to the same test I did almost 2 years ago when I joined the gym, I'm 12 pounds heavier, body-fat % is 7% higher, and I did 1 pushup less this time around. After the testing, I put in a solid 30 minute arm training session where I did 3 tri-sets, alternating between bi's, tri's & abs. Then I did 30 INTENSE minutes on the treadmill. I completed 2.9 miles & burned 485 calories. Great intensity with both sessions.

Anyway, it's time to get going on Day 2. Justin has set up a comp training session where he's going to design a workout for me and give me some training tips. Very exciting. See you tomorrow!

Phase I, Day 1

(Note: I started writing this post on Sunday the 15th, but I'm posting this on Monday the 16th)
Hello! Well, here's what I look like. Big bucket o yuck right? Well, say goodbye to this person because he "aint stayin around much longer". I am so excited to get this thing started I'm about to explode. I am currently 6'1", 214 pounds (according to gym scale) and will be getting my body fat % measured at the gym later today. For now, here's the canvas with which I have to work.

I've already had my first challenge before starting this journey. At about 11:30 last night, Jess woke up with some serious nausea. Every 2 hours after that she was running to the bathroom and it was obvious she has been hit hard with a flu bug. As I drove to CVS at 4 AM for some pepto--tired, worried about my wife, wanting sleep in a major way, thinking about the day ahead of me--I was thinking that God was already testing me to see how bad I want to change.

I've got news for ya'll...I'm ready to go & it's time to get started!

Day 0

Hello! Well, I've decided to make a change. A big change. I've decided I've officially "let myself go" and it's time to get back to where I need to be--physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I'm not going to use the words "rock bottom", although physically I haven't been this disappointed with my overall self-image in many years. Although I am currently at a point where I am extremely satisfied with important areas of my life such as my marriage, my family (Ty is the light of our lives), and my career, the big thing that's missing is overall health & well-being. Throw in spirituality & inner-peace and that pretty much sums up where I'm at right now. I've been having trouble sleeping for over a year & my energy level wanes at times. I just want to feel good again. So I'm going to feel good starting right now...

Yesterday was Valentine's day and as you can see by these pics with my sexy, hot & beautiful wife, we've become a bit of a mis-match (in my eyes). I'm not that skinny, cocky, can-do-it-all kid she knew 10 years ago. Call it "baby weight", I guess. Ever since I became a father, fitness has taken a back seat. I've begun to follow that familiar path a lot of new parents follow--letting fitness fall off the radar completely--and have begun down a road that usually leads to not-so-good outcomes. So, inspired by Adam Waters' Real Time Physique Transformation Blog, I've decided to be a copycat. I'm going to work harder than I ever have before in the gym & eat cleaner than I ever have in my life. And I'm going to do it publicly so everyone can hold me accountable.

I'm going to break it down into several Phases. First, in Phase I, I will lose 16 pounds in exactly 1 month from Feb. 16 to Mar. 16. Through daily weight & cardio training, along with a newly re-structured eating plan, I will reduce my body-fat percentage and maintain the muscle I have built over the past few years of on-and-off weight training. I am not striving for the "emaciated Hollywood look", I am setting out to look good. My focus will be short, intense weight training sessions followed by interval cardio training sessions. This will mark the first time in over 2 years that I will have weighed less than 200.

Then, in Phase II, I will achieve "6-pack abs" by my birthday, May 25th. I will have a 6-pack for the first time in my life at the age of 32 on 5/25/2009. I will do everything I can to achieve this goal.

Then, for the rest of my life, I will commit to challenging myself to other fitness-related goals like running a marathon, competing in a triathlon & other goals like the ever elusive 300 lb. bench press (the closest I've gotten is 290).

Starting tomorrow, I will begin Phase I by telling you my current weight, body-fat percentage and overall feelings while displaying (unfortunately for you) images of my current state. I will give daily updates & photos. I hope you find inspiration in this as I truly believe (in the words of KG) that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!! See you tomorrow...