Getting in shape

Mike

Mike

New member
Jun 27, 2006
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On the firing line
Ladies and gents, I have had enough of being the fat kid. Enough! So, about a month ago, I enrolled in a gym, got a trainer and have been getting my ass kicked into shape twice a week (until last week, now it's 3 times a week). I started out at 368 pounds. I plan on being half that in twelve months or less.

What's the point?

Other than being sore, I feel fucking great! Weight-wise I have not lost much, about 4 pounds, but I have lost an inch off of my waist, gained almost an inch in the arms and I'm not winded walking up and down stairs anymore.

What amazes me the most is the progression. Week one was fairly light weights, but they felt 10x heavier than what they were. For example: lat pulldowns was set around the 40 - 50# mark, now I start out around 110#. One short month later and the weight is almost back to my high school days (I graduated 18 years ago). My trainer is a body builder and I made the mistake of telling him I wanted that sort of build. He took me seriously, and has been pushing me hard. 10 sets of 10 reps for most exercises with increasing weight. Did 10 sets of 10 on the hip sled on Monday starting at 225# for the first 3 sets, then up to 315# for 2 more sets and finished the last five at 405#. I'm not sure if that's a lot of weight to you young bucks, but to me that seemed like a lot and it felt great knowing that I could do it without giving up. Friday was triceps, chest and upper back. 4 different machines, 10 sets of 10, total of 400 reps. OMG. I'm hurting, but loving it.

This may sound like a completely self serving post, and if so, I apologize. What I want to get across to anyone thinking about getting in shape is this...just fucking do it! Invest in yourself, not just monetarily, but physically and emotionally. It will only help you in the long run.

(tomorrow begins "total body workouts". little nervous, but I've got faith in myself and my trainer)
 


Hey mate,

Keep at it! You'll feel better then you ever have in your life at the end of it. Nice work and great progression! Seriously, your motivation is great and I think you'll do really good.

- Johnny.
 
Totally with you on this one Mike. I've been starting small, doing 45m on the elliptical each evening. The eye candy at my gym is fucking incredible, so it's easy to do longer stretches!
 
Fix your diet too Mike. If you start to care about what you eat, everything gets easier and better.
 
Awesome job! I was a trainer before getting into AM full-time so I know exactly from the trainer's perspective what you're going through. It was extremely rewarding to see my clients change both physically and emotionally. Glad to hear you're loving it and going balls out, clients that complained and slacked off were always a pain in the ass.
 
Mike, that's pretty awesome. The whole ordeal with losing weight is not just physical but you can expect a ton of mental benefits. Stick with it and remind yourself that you only want to go through this process once and do it right the first time.

Keep your mind focused on what you want, as soon as you think of what you don't want you inadvertently feed your subconscious with these thoughts. If you're solely focused on the future, that's where you'll end up.
 
Mike, that's pretty awesome! The whole ordeal with losing weight is not just physical but you can expect a ton of mental benefits. Stick with it and remind yourself that you only want to go through this process once and do it right the first time.

Keep your mind focused on what you want, as soon as you think of what you don't want you inadvertently feed your subconscious with these thoughts. If you're solely focused on the future, that's where you'll end up.
 
guerilla said:
Fix your diet too Mike. If you start to care about what you eat, everything gets easier and better.
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On that too, just not as hard core as I should be. Haven't had any burgers and fries since I started. Today was my first real day cheating, had pizza. Otherwise it's been mostly boneless / skinless chicken breasts, salads, eggs and wraps.

zimok said:
The whole ordeal with losing weight is not just physical but you can expect a ton of mental benefits.
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Totally agree! I've already noticed some of the mental aspect, starting with just "feeling better". My wife is also going to the gym and she's loving it to. Together, we're arguing less and just enjoying things more.

dreamache said:
2010 WickedFire.com Body Transformation Competition should have entered! ;)
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LOL! I saw that, but I'm doing this for selfish reasons and don't care about prizes. My prize will be a smaller waist and bigger arms :D

bb_wolfe said:
The eye candy at my gym is fucking incredible, so it's easy to do longer stretches!
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OMG, you are not kidding! Some of those tight, young 20 somethings walking around in painted on outfits...wow.
 
SEO_Mike said:
LOL! I saw that, but I'm doing this for selfish reasons and don't care about prizes. My prize will be a smaller waist and bigger arms :D
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Ohhh c'mon, not fair to lump everyone who participated as being selfish. Nothing wrong with a friendly competition.
 
Good job mike! You've got every right to be afraid of a total body workout. I remember when I had a personal trainer he put me through a week of those and it fucking sucked...until about an hour after I got out of the gym, then I felt un-fucking-touchable.

As a once really really fat person (instead of just fat now), I can agree that when you go from not doing shit about your weight to busting ass, it is awesome! The weight fly's off, inches are lost by the week, muscles groups tighten. You seem to be transforming overnight...but then it slows...a lot. That is when you really need to mental strength to say to yourself "Hey, it may not show, but I am getting better."

I remember when I was hardcore about going into the military 6 or so years ago, I lost almost 60 pounds in 5 months...and then everything seemed to just stop. I hit a plateau hard. 2 weeks without a single pound lost, and yet I worked harder than I ever did. So I talked to a gym rat buddy of mine. He told me to switch my diet and routine completely. So I did, and the weight started coming off again, slower, but it happens. The beginners burst wears off eventually, then it's a grind.

I really need to get back into the gym. It was amazing how great I felt when I lost that 60 pounds. I was/am still a heavy guy, but I was a big lean heavy. At 6'3 I can still be fat and not look obese. I "wear it well" I'm told. When I was at my peak, I was pretty solid, filled out the sleeves in my shirt nice and tight, broad shoulders....fuck, I'm so gay for my old self. I would totally fuck me back then (come to think of it, I did...a lot!). Maybe I should really put this year old never used membership to work.

A trick that worked for me back in the day was taking pictures of myself. Every single day I would take a picture of myself. Same time, same distance, same positions, everything the same. Strip down to your boxers (or nothing). Take one of your front, back, and side. After about 3 months things will slow, you'll need motivation. All you'll have to do is look through those. That's it. You'll look at day one and then compare it to yesterdays and see so much difference that you'll instantly pump yourself up. It never failed for me. Even the subtle small changes week by week will show when you photograph yourself.

And one more thing. Keep one pair of pants that you currently wear tucked away in your sock drawer or somethings. On those days that you start to "ehhh, I don't feel like going to the gym" pull out those pants and put them on. Just seeing the difference in what you used to fit into will blow your mind enough to send you packing to the gym.

Good luck with everything. This is easily one of the toughest things to do in a persons life. You're pretty much changing xx amount of years in habit, no easy feat. But just find some uncompromisable motivation (mine was joining the military....then we had to invade Iraq...fuck), and you'll never have to worry about finding the strength to go on. Now that I'm married and have no desier to fight a war that we don't need to be fighting, I struggle to find the motivation. That's my hurdle.

Oh, and by the way, Rise Against is the best band you could ever listen to when working out. This is fact. Indisputable fact.
 
bb_wolfe said:
<hypocrite>As Wolfe just had a Dominos sandwich delivered...</hypocrite>
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Oh you ass, I love those and now I'm hungry...

Keep up the good work Mike, pretty easy to get out of shape with this type of job. I've recently had to make a few changes to my diet and start running.
 
What kind of cardio do you guys like? Stairs, tredmill/running/jogging, bike, something else?

Personally I'm a stairs kind of guy, nothing like seeing you just climbed 2 miles of stairs.
 
good call with the trainer. I highly recommend a trainer to anyone who has "iffy" motivation. A trainer gives you another good reason to get off your ass .

You are what you eat. Avoid starched carbs and you will see results 3x faster. I guarentee it. I was really big into the whole fitness stuff throughout college, and i cannot stress enough how important your diet is.
 
good luck bro, I'm going back on the low carb thing Wednesday, start of Lent. 40 days of self torture, because when I did the run in December I lost 15 lbs in 14 days, so I figure this is a good time to go back on. Going to hit it hardcore, 15g net carbs per day. Got the stock of bottled water and low carb bars ready. When I get a fast food craving I go to zaxby's and get a grilled chicken salad with their buffalo wing sauce and blue cheese dressing, which is 0 carbs. Lots of sugarfree jell-o and things like veggies + caesar dressing to snack on.

No alcohol. No bread. No fried food. No sugar. No fruit for 2 weeks (lots of veggies though and a multivitamin to compensate). Lots of protein. Lean meat.

Hard. Fucking. Core. but it works, so time to do it. At the same time I'm going to give Power90 (not P90X, jesus) a run.
 
That's great news.

About the weight, I wouldnt worry too much about not losing weight immediately. It might take a while to get your metabolism back.

Shit I swear I started gaining weight for a month or two when I started working out again.

Dont get too fascinated with weight and bicep size etc. Feel good for going when you should and taking it seriously.

You gotta work until it is part of your routine.
 
SEO_Mike said:
On that too, just not as hard core as I should be. Haven't had any burgers and fries since I started. Today was my first real day cheating, had pizza. Otherwise it's been mostly boneless / skinless chicken breasts, salads, eggs and wraps.
Click to expand...
That's a start, but what you really need to cut down is refined carbs. That means a lot less bread, even in the form of wraps. Processed food is the most difficult stuff for your body to process, and provides far less nutrition than eating raw stuff.

I was talking with another dude from WF the other day on AIM, and he said something about 10 pc of mcnuggets at MickyDs being at about 1300 calories.

That's around 17 cups of blueberries, or 25 cups of chopped carrots. You can eat a lot more of the right stuff, which helps deal with portion control, which is always a challenge.


@everyone saying it is a grind or whatever. I totally disagree. If you want to do it, it is easy to do. It is something you look forward to. The trick is to not make it a one off to lose weight, or to get into a smaller size. It's about wanting to improve your life, about changing your habits to habits that will make you happier. And as you do it, you get the positive feedback every step of the way, which makes it easier.

And if you have to fuckup every once in awhile and have some pizza or ice cream, that's cool. It's only a pause until you go back to your new habits. It's not cheating yourself, so don't get into negativity like guilt. We all know what guilt eating leads to.

Stay positive and a lot of good stuff can happen.
 
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