Curt's Bod

Yesterday morning I was browsing Fitness TV On-Demand and came across some videos by Tom Morely. My trouble spot has always been my abs. My arms, legs and chest have been pretty much self-maintaining, and as far as an ass, I have none and I suspect there is genetic code to cause any attempt to build them to fail. I do not enjoy crunches at all, and sometimes they can be very painful for me. Tom Morely takes a different approach to abs using yoga. I found his technique to be rather interesting, and is something that when I look at him doing it, I don’t feel “ouch, I can’t do that” or “Umm… thats way too hard”. I actually feel interested by his poses and feel compelled to join in. My plan for today is to return to those videos and follow along with him. I think it will be fun.

Upon the recommendation (direct order) of a friend, I am reactivating this blog, and will soon begin making posts about my progress again. I am not happy with the way I let things go last year and I realize that I did not have enough of a plan to make things work last year. I focused too much on nutrition and not enough on physical activity. Moving towards a healthy way of life will require a focus on both. I have a nutrition class this semester as part of my academic schedule, so I will have nutrition flying out my ass, so that only leaves the physical to work on.

I miss being able to blog on this blog and spending time with my body being a focus of my daily life.

24 Ghetto Workout

I don't really like the approach taken to this video, but it has a very good and simple idea. I don't think of gyms as a productive place to workout unless you have friends there. The sense of community creates a reason to workout more than just going to the gym alone and looking at all of the buff guys, wondering how you can get that way... or how you can get a date with one of them. I think being out in fresh air, and around real people is a more beneficial environment. I would love to see what guys could do in the woods for working out... I envision something like "Survivor", but with a lot of workout-addicted buff jocks who have to fulfill the need for having their muscles worked.

This blog will no longer be only about my personal progress. My personal updates will be posted, but I will now be focusing this blog on health and exercise in general. I wish to become part of the fitness community and as such, I can no longer be self-focused on this blog. I feel that moving to a more communal feel will allow me to be more motivated.

I'm still working on the whole body improvement thing, but not as insanely as at first. I am still eating better than before, but not as insanely as at first. I am actually allowing some sweets in my diet now and I am in general teaching myself how to eat healthy. This process will take longer than 90 days, but I will reach my ideal body. I am dedicated to it. (Also now armed with a new book: "Mind Over Muscle").

After over a month of wanting gloves for my bar, I finally got some. I went to Sports Authority looking for some, but didn't find any (literally, there were no gloves like I was looking for there at all). These are almost perfect, judging by the description, but I guess I won't really know until they show up next week.

I am about 3 weeks into my personal fitness plan and I have lost about 7 lbs. I am on track at losing about 2.5 lbs per week, and considering that the maximum safe amount to loose per week is 3 lbs, I feel like I am doing well. Since my last measurement 1 week ago, I lost 2.2 lbs. I am still having a hard time balancing carbs and proteins, but I seem to be doing ok. I am building some muscle and I am slimming down where it counts. The most important thing for me in all of this, is the progress is occurring and I still don't feel like I have given anything up or like I am having to do any excessive work to achieve it. 

As expected, whey protein supplements don't taste good, especially not in water, and not in whole milk. Today I tried mixing it in almond milk, and that was awesome. It still isn't a taste to be craved, but it isn't as bitter as the taste of the protein in water and not as overpowering as the taste in regular milk. Almond milk is low in calories, carbohydrates and unfortunately, also protein. It contains 40 calories, 3 grams of fat, 2 grams of carbs, and 1 gram of protein. Once I finish off the almond milk, I am going to give soy milk a try. It contains 80 calories, 4 grams of fat, 4 grams of carbohydrates and 7 grams of protein. It is a little heavier than the almond milk, but I believe that the addition of the soy protein may be beneficial. Now that I have had time to adjust to taking in less calories per day, I am no longer having any issues staying under my limits for the day, so the excess 40 calories would hardly be noticed, if anything, they would be welcomed muscle fuel. 

I have been trying to get through my plan without any type of supplements, but I am finding that with my eating habits, it simply cannot be done. I am having difficulty keeping my protein up and my carbohydrates down, but somehow, my fats are right on target, their daily percent of my diet usually matches the recommended percentage. The one day I managed to keep my protein almost at its goal and my carbs right where I wanted them, I had my fats low and only consumed about 60% of my required daily calories. Due to my genetic pre-disposition to having a high percentage of my body weight be fat (either that or there is pecan pie and german chocolate cake between the strands of my Deoxyribonucleic acid), it is essential that I keep my calorie consumption on target (not above or below) as well as keep enough protein in my body to protect my muscles. The human body has a hard time consuming more than 1000 calories per day from its stored fat supply, after that, it begins eating at muscle.

To summarize what I am babbling about.... I have decided that I need more protein in my diet, but a lower amount of carbohydrates, so I have purchased a whey protein powder. It has enough calories to help me meet my daily need there, and will provide me with 20grams of protein in each serving, which is like 12% of my daily requirement.

The container pictured above is what I obtained, it is 5Lbs of whey protein, in vanilla flavor, somehow I doubt it will actually taste anything like vanilla, but it can't be worse than pureed seaweed.

Today was the first day I really tracked the details of the calories I consume. I don't seem to be doing that bad with things in the areas of carbohydrates and fats, they are staying below the acceptable range. The protein isn't going so well. I am overall consuming very low amounts of protein, which isn't good for muscle formation. I am starting to understand the need for protein bars and shakes, although, I would prefer to get my protein from more natural sources. I am going to work with the information I have recorded about my foods and try to come up with a balanced plan.