Day 21

Body for Life has Ruined Junk Food for Me

Not that I'm all upset, of course.

Yesterday there was a big meeting at work and, as usual with such get-togethers, there was lotsa cookies and donuts spread out for everybody. I thought I would cheat a bit and snagged a muffin. I knew it wasn't on my diet that morning but figured it wouldn't kill me to eat one little muffin.

It was like biting into a lump of Crisco. I literally couldn't swallow the thing. My whole mouth convulsed with revulsion.

This challenge is changing more than just things on the outside.

It's a Large World After All

I'm finding out that though everybody seems to think it's a great idea to eat healthy and be physically fit, few really embrace that idea into their lives. Fewer still are truly supportive if you try to change the way you feed and care for your body.

I suppose some of it is cultural. We are a nation of consumption. Fast food, supersized. Pizza, don't just get one...buy one get another free, both loaded with a pound of cheese. Restaurant portions that are equivalent to a half dozen meals and loaded with more fat than a bucket of lard. Cookies. Candy. Snacks of every type. My local grocery has an entire aisle, both sides, devoted to chips. Ditto with soda pop.

It ain't easy eating healthy....and friends don't help. One is almost considered a freak for not indulging at the trough with the rest of the herd.

"A protein shake? That's it? That's all you're eating for lunch?"

"C'mon, one piece of cake won't kill you."

"What? You didn't stay up and what that TV show last night? Gawd! You go to the gym at five in the morning?"

It's easy to be fat. It's easy to eat whatever comes across your field of vision. It's easy to be a spectator in life. Wanting results is easy; getting them is another matter. The reason the Body for Life Challenge is called a challenge is because...well.....because it is a challenge. It requires changing things in your life to achieve some changes in your life. It's hard, no doubt.

But the hardest part is sometimes just getting others to hold their tongues while you do something positive for yourself.

End of the First Week

And I had some doubts as to whether I could make it. Last Sunday, I began getting that tickle in the back of the throat and a tinge of a sinus headache. I hoped it would pass but, alas, come the next day I had a full blown cold....and it lasted all friggin week. I did my best to eat according to plan but have to admit I skipped a few of the meals because I felt so lousy.

I did exercise every day. I sure didn't want to and the intensity was pretty low...but I did it anyway.

Here's the results:
weight --- 210 lbs
bodyfat --- 33.5%

A loss of 8 pounds in one week! Actually, it's not all that impressive or unexpected. I lead a pretty sedentary lifestyle and am way too high with my bodyfat. Any time somebody likes me starts a diet or begins exercising, the initial response is a fast drop of several pounds. This is what all the fad diets and magic fat-burner pill makers don't really tell you........just reducing the number of calories and moving around a bit will burn off several pounds very quickly. The trick is to keep an eye on the intake of the right types of foods and continue to build muscle to replace the fat.

I figure that my weight losses will slow considerably and might even increase every now and then when I start developing muscle, which has considerably more mass than fat. Still....eight pounds is eight pounds. According to my bodyfat percent, I'm now walking around with about 12 pounds less blubber than I had last week.

And that is very cool!

Feeling a Bit Out of Sorts

I've been trying all week to shake off a cold...so I haven't felt much like writing and certainly not like making a video. Sneezing, coughing, fever, and so stopped-up that my normal drawling speech sounds more like Mr. Ed on Quaaludes.

Still on the challenge, though. Still going to the gym. Still eating healthy.

Just not having very much fun doing it this first week.

Measurements

You can't get to where you want to go if you don't know where you are. So, I've got a bunch of measurements for the start of my 12-week challenge.

weight --- 218 lbs
bodyfat --- 38.0%

That means I'm carrying around more than 82 pounds of pure-dee blubber. No wonder I'm so tired most of the time.

neck --- 16 inches
chest --- 46 inches
biceps --- 15 inches
forearms --- 12 inches
hips --- 44 inches
waist --- 48 inches
thighs --- 24 inches
calves --- 15.5 inches

As you can see, I've got the perfect proportions....for a pear. Scrawny arms and legs, big gut, wide ass.

I'll take measurements every week to see where I'm going with all of this.

Free Day

One aspect about the Body for Life program that I think is absolute genius is the concept of a "free day". This is one day of the week where you don't worry about doing any type of exercise or pay attention to your diet. Do whatever you want. It's a freebee.

Now, of course, for the past several years everyday has been a free day for me. That's what got my body into the mess it is today. For example, the bratwurst patties that are pictured above. I love these things but they are bad, bad, baaaaaaaaad for you. Loaded with fat...and not the good kind either.

But they are damn good!

And, along with a lot of other foods that are not exactly healthy, I don't want to give them up. What's the point of doing a program if it entails quitting what I consider one of life's pleasures? I quit smoking because I don't enjoy it. I quit using drugs long ago because I no longer enjoyed the pain it was causing people who loved me. But eating? Heck man, I LOVE eating! If I started a program that required me to give up stuff like BBQ, pizza, or ice cream for the rest of my life; I would fail, just like so many others fail.

One day a week, I can have the foods I want, as much as I want. I give up nothing. It's a plan that literally lets you have your cake and eat it too.