I'll explain later. lol

I didn't make the time to write my post this weekend but hopefully I'll explain more this week.   Until then, I'll let these pics say a few words....   

Surprise pizza party for me at work on Friday night, celebrating my last day in that shift, just hours before Saturday morning's weigh-in.  It would of been rude not to partake...

Lost about a pound, even after the late night pizza party....

On Saturday, my daughter's 9 year old birthday party food of her choice, more pizza.

Some birthday cake and ice cream...

Treat meal gone wrong, turned into a splurge day...

Overall, my body fat this morning...

Progress

Dropped another 1.6 pounds this week.  I actually thought it would have been more, but a loss is a loss and I'll take it.  Once again I was able to progress with the weight training this week.  

So I did attempt my fastest mile yesterday.  Again I thought I would have done better, but I did crush my 7 minute goal that I set back on Father's Day.  I was able to maintain a 10mph pace for 4 minutes.   Then I wasn't expecting my mind to persuade me that I couldn't break 6 minutes.   I ended up walking for a minute and then an all out sprint to finish the mile in 6:30.   I forgot just how much your mind has to be locked and set for breakthrough to happen, where falling short is not an option.   I have six more weeks to train my mind and body to break through a 6 minute mile.  It's not an option.  

That was yesterday's treat meal.  Eggplant parmigiana, a meatball, spaghetti and a Greek salad.   Delicious.  The hardest part was not going back for seconds and thirds.  

These last 6 weeks is where the fit2fat2fit program really kicks it in overdrive.  The workouts are intense and range from 40-60 minutes each.  I actually enjoy pushing myself in the workouts.  It's the weekends that scare me.  By the time Saturday comes, my body is exhausted from the intense workouts and working a full time job.  With that amount of stress it can be easy to reward myself with treat meals and splurges.  That's where I must rely on God's grace for help.  He's always faithful.  Always.  

Updated Stats

I just realized this weekend I didn't update my current body fat percentage and time for my fastest mile.  Here's my updated body fat percentage of 16.8%.   With that percentage and my current weight, not only did I drop fat weight, I also gained close to another pound of muscle during the process.  I'll take it!   

Here's the comparison:

Starting Weight:  224

Body Fat Percentage:  25%

Lean Muscle Mass:  168 pounds

Last Month's Weight:  214

Body Fat Percentage:  21.1%

Lean Muscle Mass:  168.85 pounds

Current Weight:  204.2

Body Fat Percentage:  16.8%

Lean Muscle Mass:  169.8 pounds

So even though I'm losing scale weight slowly, I'm still losing fat while gaining muscle at the same time.  Of course it's going to be slower, but in the end, it's worth it.  

As for my fastest mile, there's only one day per week that I can do that with my current schedule.  For the past two weeks, when those days came, I was not able to complete the challenge.  The first time I was 3/4 of a mile in and the treadmill I was on died.  I was so bummed.  I put forth so much effort into the 3/4 of a mile that if I tried again my time would not be accurate.   The 2nd day I planned to run it my body was weak and fighting sickness.   Hopefully sometime this week I can complete it.  

Before It Gets Busy! lol

So down close to half a pound after last weekend's splurge.   Bittersweet.  

This past week was hard.  Very hard.   It finally hit me how much work it takes to work off splurges.   It's extra work in the workouts, either higher intensity or longer duration.   It also meant prolonging the time to reach my goal because I had to dedicate this entire week just to do slightly better than breaking even on the scale. But the biggest struggle was staying positive and not beating myself up for making horrible food choices last weekend.  

The mental and emotional battle was very exhausting, much harder than an intense workout.   Most times after completing a great workout, you feel great, knowing your progressing towards your goals.  But this week all the hard work in the very intense workouts was dedicated just to try and break even, all because I wanted to stuff my face. Well those food choices turned into a week-long emotional and mental war.  Thank God for His grace to help me press on and fight the good fight.   

You really can't compete with what you eat.  I can down a meal like this in 10 minutes but it would take hours to work it off.   Sad thing is on one of my typical splurge days (splurge day, not treat meal) it would include a few meals like this.  A few meals like this can really set me back.   For a foodie, a splurge meal can very easily turn into an entire splurge day or weekend because once you feed an addict, it's hard to apply the breaks.  

So I'm entering into this weekend with much prayer and dependence upon Him. I need His grace.  It's a must.     

Another pound gone.  This was Saturday September 12th's weigh-in.  

As much as I would like to dedicate more time to this blog, with the little free time I do have, I value my devotions, my family time and my workouts more.  We make time for those things that are important to us and apparently this blog was down on the bottom of things to do. Our family had another busy weekend and the little quiet time I did have I chose to just relax with a cup of coffee and take a breath.  That is all. 

Saturday's treat meal...

The busy weekend did include a much needed date with my wife.  That doesn't happen too often with 3 kids.  I chose a bacon cheeseburger with fried peppers and onions and a side of fries that we shared.    Delish. 

I've still been hitting the program hard, except with the diet.  My treat meal was planned on Saturday, but I also splurged on Sunday.   It wasn't planned.  Had a very busy Sunday and ended it by showing up to a party very hungry.   I ate every dessert there.  Homemade apple pie, blueberry pie, pumpkin pie, and pound cake.  Showing up hungry to a party is never a good idea.  Hopefully there's not too much damage on next week's weigh-in. Until then, I'm gonna keep moving.  

It Wasn't Pretty

This pic was actually taken Saturday morning.  I know I'm late updating this blog, just had a busy weekend. 

Down 2.2 pounds this week.  Wish I could say that it was a picture perfect pretty week, but it was far from that.   I was actually very surprised that I lost that much considering the amount of calories that I ate last week, including a splurge day.  Say what?   Yes.  A.  Splurge.  Day. Not meal.  Day.   

This was my first splurge day since starting 70 days ago.  That was my longest streak ever.  The splurge day wasn't planned.  We were celebrating our youngest daughter's birthday.  It was in that environment that little spur of the moment decisions snowballed into trying to satisfy 70 days of cravings and eating several pieces of pizza and a few servings of cake and ice cream.   I convinced myself that I would just be strict the remainder of the week so I could enjoy this treat day.  Well I did.  All 5000+ calories.  

Then came Monday.  I had a great workout and a great day with my diet... That is until it was bedtime.   I came home from work and found myself with a spoon digging into some left over ice cream from yesterday's birthday party.  What happened to the self control?   What happened to the discipline?   What happened to the power to stay strong focused and committed to my goals.  What happened to the grace that I had for the previous 70 days.  I felt absutely powerless.  Zero self control and zero will power to take control over my health.  I was just shoveling spoonfuls of ice cream into my mouth, not caring anymore.  

It really freaked me out.  I cried out to God asking for His help.   I needed it.  Thank God He answered with a wake up call that instantly convinced me that it was by His grace that I made it 70 days of pure, effortless dedication.  

I heard God whisper in my heart..."when you are saying yes to splurge and try to satisfy every craving by eating whatever, whenever and as much as you want, you are also saying no to My grace that I am providing you.  When you are saying no to My grace, you are ultimately deciding that you don't need My help,  deceiving yourself that you got this and that you can do it without Me."  That my friends is pure pride and God makes it clear that pride comes before a fall.  

Well fall I did, and the only place I could go from there is to look up to God for help.  Thank God for His tender mercies are new every morning and His grace is sufficient and more than enough.  I asked and He answered.  He restored my heart and gave me a fresh dose of His grace.  

Not only did he give me the power to excel in my workouts, but I was more aware of how much I  am dependant upon his grace.  So even with a splurge day, when I turned back to Him for help, he gave me supernatural results.   

There's no way I should of lost 2 pounds this week.  My calorie deficit was nowhere near the 2 pound mark.  This past week I had 5 higher calorie lifting days. I decided to go with my original plan of still eating higher calories on lifting days instead of cutting calories just to make a certain goal weight by the end of the week.  That's why it surprised me so much to see a 2 pound loss.   I thought for sure I would just break even and maintain my weight, especially with the splurge day.  But somehow, someway, the pounds melted off and once again my strength increased this week.  Crazy.  

Another yay God in the books.  :)

Decisions, Decisions

Had another great week with the weights and the scale.   Once again I made continuous progress in all of my exercises.   I've been getting stronger and faster every week and the scale weight has been continuously dropping.  

I've also been aware of God's grace that has been helping me through it all.  Many times this week before going into a workout, my physical body just felt weak and I was dreading the workouts.  I did not want the momentum of continuous strength gains to hit a wall and I thought for sure I wasn't making any progress this week because of how my body felt.   So before and during each workout I had to completely rely on God's grace to give me the strength needed for further breakthrough.   I can say from experience He helped me increase my intensity, lift more, run faster and even subdued my cravings.   His grace is very real and thrusts me from surviving to thriving.  Another big yay God.  

Now comes some serious decisions I need to make over these next two weeks.   I totally forgot about some changes that are occurring in my workouts.  In the fit2fat2fit program, week 17 and 18 have five lifting days instead of three to shock your muscles and metabolism.  I've been following very strict caloric guidelines for weight lifting, cardio and rest days in order to make muscular gains while losing fat at the same time.   If I continue with my same diet routine, I am going to have 5 high calorie days per week instead of 3.   So for the next two weeks, I would expect to either maintain or even slightly gain some scale weight.   

Now I have to ask myself am I ok with that?   Am I ok with not being a certain scale weight or body fat percentage by my birthday?   Or is my main goal establishing a lifestyle and continuing on with my current caloric guidelines.    These are the questions I will be asking myself this weekend.  These are the questions I have to completely surrender to God and ask for His wisdom and grace to help me through it.  I will not make any progress and will be miserable if I waver and don't make a solid decision and follow through with it.  So I must be content with whatever decision I choose.  

As long as I acknowledge Him, He promises to direct my path.  With that I have peace and that's all that matters.  

Oh My Speedo!

Had to post this as a memorial.   Today I maxed out the speed on the treadmill while doing sprint intervals at the gym.  I was maintaining a speed of 12mph at 1% incline for one minute during my sprints.  It was a bittersweet moment.   I was ecstatic of my progress but was saddened that I wouldn't be able to push myself any further in the nice air conditioned gym.  Haha.   Looks like the only thing I can do at this time is increase the incline during my sprints to continue making progress towards my goal to break a 5 minute mile.   Sounds crazy but all things are possible.  What an awesome way to break through the mental struggles I was having over the past few days.  Yay God!   

The Struggle is Real

Down almost 2 pounds!   I'll take it.  :)  

Even though I had a good week on the scale, it's been a real struggle to keep my mind in a breakthrough mentality.   It started on Wednesday night when I only had 3 hours of sleep.   I decided to take a rest day on Thursday because with the lack of sleep I knew I couldn't put forth the intensity that my workouts demand and I did not want to put additional stress on an exhausted body.  I had a decent workout on Friday but then struggled again during this morning's cardio session. I truly had to rely on Him.  I had to dig deep and trust for His grace to manifest when I needed it most.  Sure enough, His grace is more than enough. Once again, He helped me press on when I just wanted to call it quits for the day.  

I thank God for His grace because it's been very evident that He has been carrying me through these last few days. 

It's His grace that gives me the ability to maintain a breakthrough mentality.  It's His grace that gives me the supernatural strength to believe that all things are possible.  It's His grace that says I can help you do another rep, increase the incline, sprint faster, push harder.  And He never fails me.  Not once.  Well His grace has been very real, carrying me when I personally wanted to call it quits.  It's His grace that always believes the best of me, that I'm a true champion even when I don't feel like it.... and in some way, somehow He convinces me that I am.     Priceless.  Oh I thank God for His grace.  

I'm officially 11 weeks out from my birthday.  Time is going by quick.  I've made great progress over the past couple months.  My greatest victory has been 62 continuous days without a splurge day.  That has NEVER happened in my entire life.  That alone is breakthrough.  That alone leaves me in awe.   That alone convinces me that He is more than able to accomplish more than we could ever ask or dream.  Yay God.  :)

Ups And Downs

So I'm down close to half a pound this week after completing week 14 of the fit2fat2fit program.  It may not seem like much, but I'm actually satisfied with it because I progressed and grew stronger AGAIN in all of my muscle groups by either increasing the weight or increasing the amount of reps.    Push-ups, pull-ups, squats, lunges, military press, curls and dips, all seeing increase.  My speed has also increased in distance and sprint running. Week after week I have been continually dropping weight and increasing in strength.  How can I not be happy with that?   

I'll say this again and again.  My goal is not to reach a certain goal weight.  My goal is to reach a certain body fat percentage.  When I'm continually dropping weight while I'm increasing my strength it is a clear indication that my body fat percentage is dropping.  

I've dieted countless times before when my goal was strictly based on a certain scale weight.  I sacrificed a lot of muscle in the process just because I was in a rush to be at a certain weight.  Yes weight would drop quickly, but with the wrong diet and exercise program I found myself losing a lot of strength and endurance because I was losing a lot of muscle along with the fat.  So after I would reach a certain scale weight I would then have to train differently to put on the muscle that I lost.   So why not just be healthy and happy and do it right the first time.  I'm learning to be patient and trust the process.  

I'll also say this again and again... there is no way I could do this without God's grace.  He continues to give me supernatural discipline, strength, will power and wisdom and its producing supernatural results.  To God be all of the glory.  It's Christ in me, living through me. Yay God. 

Bittersweet

Down 2.6 pounds this week!    I'm grateful for the loss. God's grace has definitely been helping me.   I've been committing each day, each workout, each meal to Him and the results are coming.  

I'm just being real now... 2.6 pounds is a good loss, but with that loss came feelings of weakness, prolonged soreness throughout the week and one of the days I was just hungry all day... even while eating 2500 calories.    

Every 2 weeks the exercises change with the fit2fat2fit program I'm doing.  This week was week one of a new routine.  So basically I was setting a baseline for next week.  My body was just really sore from the new exercises and my recovery time has been slow.  I really like pushing myself, going all out in my exercises, and it was hard doing that while feeling weak.  

So for this coming week, I'm probably going to increase my calories by about  300 cals on workout days for more energy, faster recovery time and to make sure I'm not losing muscle mass and strength.  I'm looking forward to this coming week and seeing how my body responds to the additional calories.  I'm continually thanking God for His grace, it's more than enough.  

Speeding Up!

So another one of my goals that I set back in June was to break a 7 minute mile by my 40th birthday in November.   My baseline mile back in June was 8:08.  I decided once a month I would run "my fastest mile" to check my progress and make adjustments if necessary.

Well after today's run, I'm excited and nervous at the same time.  Today I ran a 7:11 mile.  That's almost one minute faster in just 5 weeks time.  I'm nervous because I know I need to set my goal higher... so here goes... I'm aiming to be under a 6 minute mile by my birthday in November.  

I've actually been there before.  Last November my fastest mile was in the 5:45 range.  But after not running for 6 months, from January through June, my fastest mile slowed down almost 2 1/2 minutes.

 I wouldn't set the goal that high if I didn't think it was attainable.  With God all things are possible.  I've seen great results so far, so I'm believing for supernatural results to continue.  Why not?  God gave us the invitation to dream with Him and I accept.  I have a supernatural helper who's with me 24/7 and He's never failed me.  He's always faithful and I believe He's faithful to complete every work He began in me.  

Confirmation

Got my body fat percentage and it confirmed that most of my weight loss this past month was from fat and not muscle.  My goal was to be at 21% but I'll take 21.1%.  

I started monitoring my body fat when I was at 224 pounds.  I was at 25% body fat with a lean body mass of 168 pounds.   Today my body fat was tested at 214 pounds and came in at 21.1% with a lean body mass of 168.85.  That means not only did I lose 10 pounds of scale weight, I gained close to one pound of muscle at the same time.  

I thank God for His help in guiding me and giving me the strength to follow through with the nutrition and workout plan.  It really is working.  I'm not in a rush.  Slowly but surely I'm making progress in the right direction.  I couldn't ask for better results.  Yay God.  

Breaking Through

Yay another goal met!   My goal this week was to be at 215 and I weighed in at 214 yesterday morning (August 1st).  Our family had a busy day yesterday and I wasn't able to post my weigh-in.

Looking back over the past 5 weeks, I think my biggest struggle has been to take this journey slow.  There have been times in the past when I've been so focused on reaching a target goal weight that I would often sacrifice muscle loss because I would cut too many calories to drop weight fast.  When I was on low calorie diets, I would often find myself splurging every couple of weeks with a crazy 10000 calorie day all because I was denying myself food instead of training myself in living a balanced lifestyle.  After splurging, I would often feel horrible and cut even more calories to try and make up for the splurge.  This is a horrible recipe for fat loss and often results in muscle loss.  I can testify to this because I never progressed in my workouts and would often lose strength and endurance along my journey.  So I'm glad I'm taking things slow this time around and I'm focused on a lifestyle change, living a balanced life.

I must give credit to where it's due. I've been doing my best to commit each day, each workout, each meal, each desire and thought to God, to bring transformation from the inside out.  It's making a huge difference in helping to renew my mind for a lifestyle change versus a seasonal diet.  It's also helping me see the big picture, enjoying each day to the fullest, and not be so concerned about rushing to meet goals.  I also noticed that when I dedicate each workout to Him, it gives me faith to reach for supernatural breakthrough in my workouts.  I'm definitely achieving the best results I ever have in my nutrition and my workouts and for me that's breakthrough.   Yay God!  :)

First Time This Year!

Slowly, but Surely

Breath Nick Breath.  Haha.   I was hoping all of the water weight would have been gone by weigh-in day.   But half a pound is still a loss and I'll take it.  I'm just a little surprised because I know my body and a half pound loss at the weight I'm currently at is pretty low.  I'd expect this when I'm about 10-15 pounds from my goal weight, not 30 pounds.  

Like I said in my previous post, I'm still not going to change my plan to try and make up for these treat meals.  That's all part of making these changes into a lifestyle and not a season of dieting.  Remember my blog title is "forever" fit by 40.  I'm slowly making changes that I plan on keeping for the rest of my life.  

So let's talk about how some of the other things are going, like my workouts and devotionals.   Well, the workouts are going great.  This past week, my wife and I completed week 10 of the "fit2fat2fit"  program.  It seems like every day a part of my body is sore.  That's actually a good thing.  It means my muscles are always being "shocked" and not getting familiar with the exercises.  It's an environment for growth.... And once again, I was able to progress even further than last week in my exercises.  That's really exciting to me that I'm getting stronger physically while still continuing to drop scale weight.  That's a pretty clear indication that I'm losing fat weight and not muscle.  

One thing I did notice was that I did not find myself dedicating each day this week to God, asking and depending on Him for His help in my journey. To me, that's a clear indication of pride slowly creeping in.  The kind of pride that if not dealt with, will eventually lead me to "back sliding" into some old habits of splurges and gaining all the weight back.  So I had to repent and recognize that apart from Him I can do nothing.  For me, to be forever fit requires total dependency upon Him.  I've traveled down this road many times in my life before and have veered off course EVERY time I've tried to do it in my own strength.  I must depend upon Him. Every.  Day.  He gives us the invitation to come to Him and so I will.   

A Tasty Treat

So this was my treat meal this week.  A very tasty steak burrito from Chipotle.  It was a whopping 970 calories in the pic above.  It included a flour tortilla, steak, brown rice, black beans, cheese, fajita veggies, lettuce and hot chili salsa.  

This burrito will make my body retain close to 3 pounds of water weight for a couple days from the amount of sodium and carbohydrates. That's why it's real important I do not to base my  results strictly on scale weight  and to know how my body responds to certain foods, sodium and carbohydrates.   If I didn't have knowledge of this and based my results strictly on scale weight, my natural instinct would be to drastically restrict my calories the remainder of the week to try and "make up" for the extra scale weight, which I strongly don't recommend for maximum fat loss.   

So how do I respond after a 3 pound weight gain from a treat meal?   I return to my plan is if the scale didn't change.  As long as I stayed within my caloric boundaries on treat meal day, I really didn't "gain" weight (at least not fat weight), it's only water weight.  As long as I return to my normal workout routine and the foods I normally eat, the extra water weight will disappear within a few days.  I will not restrict my calories to make up for it, especially on weight lifting days.  If I did, it would have a very real negative impact on my metabolism and possible muscle loss, which that is a big no-no in my book.  Muscle is my friend.  It is the furnace that burns my fat.  My goal is to retain as much muscle as I can, while dropping fat weight.  

And so the journey continues...

That's What I'm Talking About

All smiles for me!!!    Not only did I lose 3 pounds this week (after a couple treat meals last weekend), I also made a huge gain.  Gain???   Yes, GAIN!  I was able to increase the weight of resistance on a couple of my exercises.  These are the kind of gains that put smilies on my face. That's a clear indication that I'm not only losing fat, I'm gaining muscle at the same time.  Woohoo!   

So how am I doing this?   Well on days that I work out with weights, I eat more calories in the form of complex carbs and lean proteins to support muscle growth.   It will range from 2800-3200 calories depending on how active I am during the day apart from my workout.  On these days my biggest meals are breakfast and lunch. My workout is usually 11am, just before lunch.  Then I usually eat 3-4 other small meals throughout the day afterwards.  

On cardio days and rest days, I cut my calories in the form of carbs.  On these days I will generally eat 2200-2400 calories.  I usually allow myself one rest day per week.  This day is also my treat meal day.  This is where discipline is needed because not only am I treating myself to a meal, I'm also not burning as many calories this day because of not working out.  

Zigzagging calories and carbs, along with short spurts of high intensity cardio and core workouts really do keep the metabolism revved on the fast track for targeting fat loss.  It's been working for me and I highly recommend it.  

Obviously I'm not gonna recommend this same calorie count for everyone, but the plan works for fat loss.  My wife Amy did it last year and she had amazing results.  She only lost about 10 pounds of scale weight but gained close to 5 pounds of muscle at the same time.   Her body transformed from a skinny fat person (skinny but high body fat percentage) to a very toned, low body fat percentage with a six pack physique.  Her calorie range was 1800-2000 on weight lifting days and about 1200-1400 on cardio days.  

Much thanks to God for His grace and wisdom.  Apart from Him I can do nothing, but He gives me the assurance that all things are possible to do exceedingly, abundantly more than I could ever ask or think.  Yay God.  

Oh My Treat Meals

Every celebration seems to revolve around food!  LOL  Well this weekend was no exception. For me it involved the obvious July 4th bbq/sweet sixteen birthday party and a church pot luck dinner, which by the way I was asked to make my famous bbq ribs.  All of which are usually high fat, high sugar, and high calorie foods.   Not a good combination for fat loss.  Haha

I praise God for making it through this weekend with self-control and staying within my caloric boundaries that I set beforehand. So how did I do?   Well here's some pics of my food choices and 

portion sizes that I chose this weekend.  The calories shown above each picture display my total calories for the day, including all meals, not just the treat meals pictured.  

Saturday's treat meal...

 I started off with a salad with Ken's lite dressing.  Then I had one Popeyes fried chicken thigh.  Normally I would have chosen a chicken breast but there was none left.  I also had a slice of honey baked ham.  Yummy!   There was other carb choices available like baked beans, macaroni and cheese, and potato salad but they did not look that appetizing so I chose to go with fresh fruit.  Then comes dessert.  I was actually looking forward to the cake and ice cream but I actually didn't like the cake that much.  I took 2 small bites and then instead of finishing it, I chose to have more fresh fruit with cool whip.  This was not my typical high calorie treat meal.  It was actually pretty healthy besides the fried chicken.  Overall, I was very happy with the amount of self-control I had and not continually grazing and snacking on food which I normally would have done at parties in the past.  But this is a new day, a new season to be forever fit.  :)

And this is today's (Sunday) treat meal...

I started the day with a 28 minute, high intensity, chest and back circuit training because I thought today I would enjoy a larger variety of foods since we were going to a church pot luck.  I'm glad I did!   I had some yummy bbq ribs, bbq pulled pork, a couple Swedish meatballs, some lasagna and to make it a little healthy, a side salad.  lol. NOT PICTURED, that I also ate was a small 2" sliced Cuban sandwich, half of a fried chicken breast and half of a chocolate chip cookie.  Those foods were spur of the moment, "dad you want to share with me" decisions.  Since yesterday's treat meal was fairly healthy, I chose to say yes and limit my calories for the remainder of the day. 

Overall I am very, very happy with the self control I had.  I recognize it truly is a gift from God.  I went into this weekend with prayer beforehand because I knew I needed His help.  He didn't fail me.  His grace was strong and I am thankful for it. You may not understand this, but I know me and I know my past.  Last year on holidays or treat meal days I would very easily slip out of control and have 7000 calorie days.  There was definitely a difference today and I am thankful for transformation within me. Yay God. :)

Ahead of the Plan.

Down 3.6 pounds!   So it looks like I'm already ahead of the plan to meet this month's goal.  I'm very happy about that considering its July 4th weekend and I have 2 treat meals planned, one today and another tomorrow.  

My goal this week is to lose 1-2 pounds. Even though I have 2 treat meals planned, I really don't want to cut a crazy amount of calories this week while I'm training hard with the weights.  I want to retain as much muscle and strength as I can.  Cutting too many calories will have a negative effect on my goals.

I did some reflecting this past week and I've noticed how much grace I've had to make the right decisions to reach my goals.  It truly is a gift from God of supernatural strength and discipline that almost makes things effortless.  Not only effortless, but there's even a joy in doing the things that I struggled with before.  Thank you God.  😊

Got a busy day ahead but I plan writing another post on Monday.  I'll try to take some pics of my treat meals and disclose how much I stayed on track with my caloric goals.  On these treat meal days, I do not restrict myself on food choices, but I try to limit the quantity of food I eat.  

His grace is all I need to be successful.  😊

A Little Taste of Legs

So here's a little, and I mean little taste of what a typical leg day consists of.  Dumbbell squats with a 3 second count on the way down.   Then use that same technique with multiple sets for more squats, lunges, military press, side raises, step ups and a lot of different variations of plank for core.  INTENSE and leaves me drenched with sweat and a whole lot of calories burned.

My typical caloric intake on a day like this is about 2800 calories.   My end goal is not a scale weight, it's a body fat percentage.  I could always eat less and drop weight quickly, but I would be sacrificing muscle mass at the same time and would not achieve the muscular physique I'm working for.  So I typically eat more on days that I lift weights and cut more calories on cardio and rest days.  It takes A LOT of discipline to do this.  I thank God for His grace giving me the strength each day.   

So cheers (recovery protein shake) to working hard and eating right. :)

First Weigh-in!

8.2 Pounds!   Down 8.2 pounds in week one!!!   Obviously I'm not gonna lose that much week after week, but it's a great start in the right direction.  I'm actually happy I passed my goal to be at 225 or less because there's one stat I wasn't so happy to see....

My current body fat percentage:  

Oy!!  25%!!!  That's quite depressing, but what else could I expect from not working out for months and shoveling spoonfuls of peanut butter and Nutella in my mouth, downing a jar per week.  That's the reality of a diet when over 50% of my daily calories was coming from fat and sugar.  That right there is a recipe for disaster for poor body composition while not exercising.  

So what are my go-to food choices while doing fit2fat2fit?   Glad you asked. :)  The majority of my food choices will be "clean" (unprocessed or not prepackaged).  Here's a list of foods that I will generally eat for 90% of my meals:

Carbs: fruits, veggies, oatmeal and a very limited amount of  breads (basically treat meals only).

Proteins:  eggs, tuna, lean ground turkey, chicken breast, whey protein.  I will stress that 90% of the meats I choose are plain, unseasoned, unprocessed that I cook myself (no hot dogs, breakfast sausage, lunch meats etc).

Fats:  almonds, olive oil, eggs, peanut butter.

From past experiences, I've noticed that when I choose to eat cleaner I have:

*greater energy for my workouts

*burn more fat while retaining muscle

*faster results

*most importantly, I feel much better. 

It's now time for me to go do some sprint intervals (fast paced walk for 1 minute, then immediately do an all out run as fast as you can for 30 seconds).  Repeat 12 times for a total of 18 minutes.  Finish with a 2 minute moderate paced walk cool down.  Then stretch.  Oh joy.   Haha.  

Oh My Soreness

Praise God we made it through the first week of working out (completed week 5 of fit2fat2fit).  Overall I'm feeling pretty good.  Even though I've done these workouts before, they were a lot harder than I thought they would be because I didn't realize just how out of shape I've become from just a few months of not working out.  And did I mention oh my soreness?   Haha

Tomorrow's my first weigh-in.  Even though I started this past Monday and it's only been 5 days, I wanted to get in the habit of weighing in on Saturday mornings.  Knowing my body and from past experience, I'd be surprised if I lost less than 5-6 pounds tomorrow, with most of it being loss of water weight from dropping my carbohydrate and sodium intake.  So my goal is to weigh 225 or less.   

As for the remainder of the plan, my goal is to lose 2-4 pounds per week or about 10-12 pounds per month.   Breaking it down even further here's the dates and my goal weight that I plan to achieve.  Remember, fail to plan, plan to fail.  My plan is to succeed.  

June 27--225, 25% body fat

August 1--215, 21% body fat

September 5--205, 18% body fat

October 3--195, 15% body fat

And hopefully happy 40th birthday to me with a goal weight of 185 and 12% body fat or less, on Friday November 6th.

One more thing I realized, this blog is titled "forever fit by 40."  So the thought came to me this week that I need to set more goals after my birthday.  Otherwise, I'd be failing to plan.  So I'll be keeping that in mind leading up to it.  

Well, that's about it for today.  So now we wait for tomorrow's weigh-in...

Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail.

First things first... Praise God I made it through Day One while staying on track with my diet and completing my work out.  YAY!

AND I just completed my baseline mile time... I actually did a lot better than I thought I would.  I was hoping to break 9 minutes and I blew it up.  8:08!!!  I was VERY SURPRISED!!!   More praise to God for that.  Even though it's 2 minutes slower than my fastest mile last November, I'm happy with it and I know I'll get there.

Now let's lay out the plan that I'm going to use during this fat cutting phase.  For the majority of it I will be following Drew Manning's fit2fat2fit workout plan.  He's a trainer that was in great shape all of his life... until he decided to do an experiment to better relate to his clients.  He stopped working out for 6 months and ate the typical american diet during that time.  He gained 76 pounds!  Crazy.  Then for the next 6 months he followed his own personal workout and meal plan to lose all the fat and return to his original weight and body fat percentage.  He made all of this info available free to the public.  Check it out at www.fit2fat2fit.com.   It includes meal plans, workout plans, how to videos of the workouts, and even his weekly weigh-ins where you can watch his body transform out of shape and then back to his original starting point.

If you did check out the website, you'll even see a testimonial.  Yep that's me, and yes it is very humbling to admit I gained a lot of weight back that I lost last year.  Quite embarrassing, but I'm believing this is the end of yoyo dieting for me.  I know his plan works, so I'm going to do it again.

So here's some of my weekly guidelines:

*Acknowledge God daily.  I need His strength and grace for transformation.

*Weight training 3 days per week

*Cardio 2-3 days per week

*Not to exceed 1000 calories over my caloric goal on myfitnesspal on treat days/holidays.

*Be true and honest in logging my food intake

*Become best friends with those who are already doing what I plan to do for accountability.

That's pretty much it, but it's a lot for someone who's not used to doing all of these things over the past few months.

Day One!

Ciao!   My name is Nick Riccio.  I'm turning 40 this coming November 2015 and I've decided to blog my health and fitness goals and the progress I make along the way to achieve those goals.  I promise to be honest with myself and to this blog, sharing my strengths and weaknesses, my victories and any challenges along the way.

I've been fit before (great health and 10% body fat), but for the past few months, I've really slacked off with my diet and exercise and the pounds came on quickly.  Originally, I was going to title this blog, "Fit by Forty," but my loving, supporting wife who wants the best for me, convinced me to question myself with "why end at 40" and challenged me to stop yo-yoing.  She's right about that.  I've pretty much yo-yoed my entire life with my weight while struggling with food addictions, splurging in secret etc.

So with a positive, victorious, champion mindset, I'm ready to run into battle and conquer these obstacles once and for all.  I will say, for this to happen, I'm fully depending on God's power for my mind to be renewed, to be set free once and for all from the bondage of food addiction, and for His grace to give me the strength needed to follow through with the lifestyle changes that are required for lasting results.

So here are my fitness goals to reach by November:

Reach a scale weight of 185 with a body fat percentage less than 12%.

Run a 7 minute mile.

Here's where I am now.

Today's starting weight, 232.6.

Sometime during this week I plan on running a mile as fast as I can to establish my base time. 

Just completed my first workout.  BRUTAL!!!

I plan on updating the blog weekly with my current weight, my weekly workout plan, and sharing my victories, struggles, etc.  Next weigh-in, Saturday, June 27th!