Time to get serious about dropping the fat belly!

I knew when I started exercising, that I would at some point have to get serious about my diet.  I love pizza, pasta, steak, and all yummy things to eat; especially ice cream.  Well, after three years, it's time.

After talking with a Jon at Max Muscle in Placerville, I took an inventory of my daily food intake to analyze how much sugar I was taking in each day.  Know what, I was eating a LOT of sugar every day.  Oh my!  It freaked me out how much I was eating.  From the brown sugar in my morning oatmeal, to the 5g to 20g in each item I ate like low fat yogurt, to Grape Juice, to my evening ice cream fetish; I was a sugar zombie.

So last Monday, I cut my sugar intake by 75% which wasn't hard to do.  I stopped the brown sugar in my oatmeal, stopped the mid-day cookies, and the evening ice cream.  I replaced the brown sugar in my oatmeal  with Agava Nectar along with high protein supplements.  I also started eating about every 3-4 hours so my stomach always has something in it and I never feel hungry.  Actually, the mid morning and afternoon snacks are basically high protein shakes which keep my stomach feeling full while providing fuel for my muscles.  Lastly, I cut the size of my lunch and dinner portions; this was the challenge for me.

I have to travel a few times a week for business and eating while traveling is always a challenge.  Chipotle is a favorite stop, but their meals are at least 800 calories which is way too big for one sitting.  So I have to drop the flour tortilla and eat just the contents, but that is still 500 calories.

I was always told that you shouldn't fill up just before bed, but this is wrong.  Lean meat and the proper protein (no sugar) for dinner and a late night snack are OK; just not too much.  Oh yeah, drastically reduce the pizza and pasta intake as it will convert to sugar while resting.  That's how God created our bodies, store up for a time of famine which we never experience here in the US.

It's assumed that I'm exercising at least five times a week.  Cardio walking is key, but I switched it around too.  More about that next time.

Knowing when to take it easy

It's 102 degrees outside in the shade and my workout was in the middle of it (starting at 1pm).  I walked my normal 2.6 miles in the heat to get me started, but in the process I must have downed a gallon of liquids over the 45 minute walk.

When I started my weigh lifting routine, today being chest and arms, I knew to not push the limit.  Although I had a fan blowing through the garage workout room, it was still cooking in there.  By the time I got to my military standing reps (4th routine in my circuit set), I started to see stars and decided to slow down.  It took me two and a half hours to complete my entire workout today, but I feel much better.  By slowing down, meaning longer break intervals between routines, I didn't see stars for the rest of the day.  Instead of my normal 30 second pause between lifts, I allowed myself up to 5 minutes.  I cleaned up the garage during the breaks.  Overall, I was able to complete two things at once.

My point is this, know your body and use some common sense.  If it's hot out, tone the routine down a notch.  It's better to have a light workout today and be able to work out the next day than to end up in the hospital from an injury.  Take it easy and enjoy the workout, don't kill yourself in the process.

Don't give up

My work requires a great deal of research, study, writing, and design building.  All of this means I spend a lot of time sitting on my rear in front of a computer.  I love my job and the company, both are great, but I have to adapt to the work load and my heath.

So, I change the way in which I do things.  A few months back, we dropped access to TV altogether.  I found I spent too much time in front of the TV vegging out.  What we did in its place is use Netflix which hones our choices and limits the amount of time we spend in front of the TV.  Another item was more involvement with my kids in their sports.  I hated baseball growing up, but I love spending time with my boys throwing the ball around.  Last, working in the garden is a great way to spend a couple of hours bending over and using muscles that rarely get used.

Overall, in addition to the change in my workout routine noted in my April blog, the summer activities help in the progress of health.  When I have to travel for business, I park a little farther away and use the stairs to get my blood pumping.  It's not much, but every little bit helps.  Remember that the overarching goal is better health.

Change routine at times

I found that I was gaining too much weight with my routine of pumping huge amounts of weight and low reps.  Granted the size was good, but I was getting concerned.  So, I switched up my routine by lowering the weight a bit and upping my reps.  For example, free weight bench press is now holding at 230lbs with 10 reps and seated machine press is at 200lbs with 15 reps. 
One thing I have changed big time is curls.  I have added a fourth dumbbell curl routine for my biceps.  So I now have two dumbbell routines at 45lbs and another with 55lbs both are at 15 reps each.  Add this to my isolated 90lbs curl and the free standing bar curl of 110lbs and we are talking about some serious skin stretching. (and soreness to boot) 
Interesting enough, I now get cramps in places I never thought; recently in the right forearm and right calf.  Time to eat more bananas.

Track Your Routine

When I'm working out, I track what I'm doing on a post-it note.  It's easy and helps me to remember what to do.  After I'm done with my cardio, I pull one off and stick it to the wall of the garage cabinet.  With a pencil I put down the exercises that I'm supposed to do that day.  Below is an example.

1/18 Cardio 2.64 miles
Press Seat 210/10/10
   Lying 245/8/8  Incline 185/10/10
Curls Standing Bar 110/10/10  DB 55/8/8
   ISO 100/8/8  DB 55/10/10
Military Standing Bar 110/10/10
   Seated 135/10/10
Flys 135/10/10
Ab Blaster 25M/15M

This is a short way of tracking what I'm doing when I workout in a circuit format.  Normally, I find that after the first circuit, I'm so tired that I easily forget where I'm at and what needs to be completed.  In the example above, Press is Bench Press; Seat & Incline are on machine and Lying is Free Weight.  ISO is isolated bar and DB is using dumbbells.  The Ab Blaster ($40) is a killer on the stomach.  I like it as it doesn't hurt my back and it really works the stomach muscles like never before.  No amount of crunches or sit-ups can do what this dog does.  The M on the record is for "mixed" routine in which I focus on one side then the other.

All of this is placed into my excel report for long term tracking.  From there, I can see over the year what I have done, what patterns I develop, and what keeps me from not exercising.

Track Your Routine

One of the best things I have done for my exercise routine is tracking my results.  I created a spreadsheet to track everything exercise I do on a daily basis.  Below is a screen shot of the tracker.  If you want a copy of the spreadsheet, let me know and I will send you a copy in Excel format.

Muscle Soreness

I had a great workout yesterday and I'm really sore.  Being sore is part of exercise.  If you walk, your legs are going to hurt.  If you lift weights, the muscles you worked are going to be sore.  Soreness is from the microtears in the muscle and that is how muscle strength and growth are achieved.  So, don't let the soreness discourage you from exercise; just accept it as part of the plan. 

However, learn the difference between soreness and pain.  Pain is an indication that something is wrong.  Pain will be sharp, soreness is dull.  Listen to your body, it will tell you if whether what you are doing is right or wrong.  If needed, modify your exercise to remove pain.  When I first started walking, I would use the street I live on as a track.  In the beginning, I would get the normal legs aches from walking.  However, after six months, I noticed that my ankles would hurt much more during and after the walk. 

I theorized that the crown of the street was causing me to walk in an uneven manner causing my body to favor one side over the other and my ankles were paying the price.  So I switched up my routine and now walk two laps in one direction and two laps in the other direction and so on.  The pain has gone and I have an added benefits of not having to count my laps, just two this way and two that way. 

My suggestion is that if you are experiencing pain, try to understand what is causing the pain and seek to find a resolution to the pain.  Pain is your body yelling for help.  Soreness is your body saying that was good, but no more for today. 

Carbo Loading

If you sense in your workout that you feel drained, I suggest you test out carbo loading in your routine.  I mean Pasta! Oy!

I hit a wall some time ago and nothing was working for me.  In my routine, I do 35-45 minutes of cardio prior to lifting weights.  I just felt that I had to push through and keep going.  My weight lifting routine is circuit based and by the time I got to my second circuit, I was done.  I really had to push hard to finish my last circuit. 

My lovely wife happened to serve pasta the next night and when I went to workout the following day, Oh my, I had gusto again.  I put two & two together and found out that pasta does help the night before a hard work out.  Check it out and see if it works for you.  But don't over do it, make sure you only carbo load the night prior to a good workout.

Rest

Knowing when to rest is key to exercise.  Remember this, your muscles grow and gain strength only when you are resting.  The exercise time is when the muscles are tearing, so you must rest.

When I first started this adventure, I exercised six (6) days a week.  When Sunday came around, I was done, but come Monday, I got back into it.  I was a mad man, completely gonzo with my new found lack of pain in my hip.  As far as I was concerned, I was given a new lease on life without pain and by golly I was going for it. However, after six months I stopped seeing gains; I plateaued. 

I took a week off to just relax and go on vacation with my family, maybe it was more.  When I returned, the first couple of days were tough, but I noticed that I felt stronger and lighter on my feet.  That's when I started coming to the conclusion of the need for rest.  Now, my schedule is four days of rest from weight lifting each week, but I still work cardio five or six days a week.

Try getting some rest each week from weight training, but keep the cardio up.

Supplements

It’s time to discuss supplements. Are you taking a daily vitamin? You should, but please keep in mind they are only “supplements”, not replacements for proper eating.

Vitamins and other supplements are to provide your body the needed stuff that your body is not getting from what you eat. Let me be clear on something, you can not stuff your body with vitamins and then eat Oreo’s all day and expect to gain any ground on being healthy. There has to be a balance.

During the normal course of any exercise, your muscles will start to ache. A vitamin supplement will help your muscles during the change process. I personally take L-Glutamine to lessen the aching associated with exercise. In addition, you may experience “middle of the night” leg cramps. I was working on my stomach muscles so hard that I would get intense stomach muscle cramps in the middle of the day. Ouch! To overcome these cramps, I started eating two bananas a day and upped my dose of L-Glutamine on the days I work on my stomach. I also take Tonalin CLA which helps in removal of fat, especially around the belly. I’ve lost the top 2 inches of belly fat from my chest down. A small improvement for two years, but encouraging none the less.

In a previous blog, I mentioned my hip injury and associated pain. At the advice of a friend, I started taking Glucosamine/Chondroitin with MSM which is a cartilage rebuilder. What a life saver! After several weeks of taking this stuff, my hip pain disappeared and I was free to start exercising.

These are some of the things you need to consider as you start to make exercise a regular part of your life. Again, remember, you are not going to change overnight; even a year is unrealistic if you are obese. Give yourself time and keep yourself from injury so you can exercise the next day.