I was in bad shape. I had no energy, no drive and I was constantly coughing. I was sleepy, my mind seemed foggy, my back ached and my arms and legs would swell to the point where I couldn't bend my fingers or knees.
When I got laid off, I thought who would hire me. I look like I would die on the job.
I decided to do whey shakes and low carb and it worked. I first combined the approach with walking then went to Kmart and put a weight bench in layaway. I really started making some gains in muscle, fatloss and confidence.
RxBar Real Food Protein Bars Variety Pack, 5 Flavor, 1.83 Ounce Bars (Pack of 10)
Thanks to craigslist I stepped up to olympic weights and a squat rack. I haven't looked back.
I had lots of protein shakes but primarily used:
Vitaminshoppe BodyTech
Body Fortress Whey
Syntrax
Iron-Tek Essential
Dymatize Elite Iso
Dymatize Elite XT
Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard
Isopure Zero Carb
My typical day:
6 a.m. - shake (pre-workout)
8 a.m. - shake (post-workout)
10 a.m. - shake
12 p.m. - shake
solid food the rest of the day
Here's some of numbers from my journey.
6/22/2009
– weight 247lbs
Short
of breath, sleep, low sex drive, hip pain, muscle spasms, feet, ankles and
sometimes legs swelling, hands swelling, coughing, right shoulder and arm pain.
Cannot do push-ups. Painful shoulder.
Cannot
do pull-ups.
Started walking on treadmill.
10/1/2009 - Started
weight training.
Cannot do push-ups.
11/30/2009 – MAX: bench press 175lbs
Curl 91.5lbs
12/7/2009 - MAX: bench press 195lbs x 2
1/1/2010
- weight 229lbs
1/17/2010 – measurement – abdomen 48
1/17/2010 – past carbohydrate history
(weight loss per week)
22
grams per day lost 6lbs
95/day
lost 5lbs
110/day
lost 1lb
115/day
lost 3.5lbs (with exercise)
150/day
lost 1lb
2/22/2010 - measurements
Chest 46
Abdomen 46
Left Bicep 14.5
Right Bicep 15.5
Right Thigh 22
Left Thigh 21
2/23/2010 –
started working out left bicep and tricep on a second day to even out the size
with the right arm.
3/8/2010 –
started Muscle and Fitness 4-week Strength
Band Workout
Surprisingly, I was extremely sore
after these workouts.
3/22/2010 – measurements
Chest 41
Abdomen 46
Left Bicep 17
Right Bicep 17
Neck 17
4/1/2010 –
started TABATA HIIT workouts (4
minutes)
4/2/2010 – Able to do push-ups again!
5/17/2010 - First time using chains with ez-bar curls
5/18/2010 - MAX: chins 2
Note: negative-accentuated
technique [one second up/six seconds down]
Note: "After [a series of full-range reps] you'll find it
impossible to do a complete repetition. But that does not mean the biceps
muscle is completely exhausted. You'll find with some effort that you are still
able to get a few half repetitions...and when you can no longer do the half
movements, you'll find you can do a couple of quarter repetitions."
5/26/2010 - MAX: bench press 225lbs
6/1/2010 – Adopted new workout
philosophy. From books Muscle
Logic and Get Huge in a Hurry. Morning
cardio on empty stomach.
Example: 15 minutes circuit
Pull-ups/Bench
Press/Squat-Press
Treadmill
wearing weighted vest.
7/12/2010
– weight 213 lbs.
7/16/2010 – Did 20 push-ups and 5 pull-ups straight.
8/5/2010 – Did 7 pull-ups straight.
8/8/2010 – Did 25 push-ups straight.
8/15/2010 – measurements
Chest 46
Abdomen 41
Left Bicep 16
Right Bicep 16
Right Thigh 24
Left Thigh 24
9/20/2010
– weight 205 lbs.
I
am able to button my USAF BDU pants again.
11/13/2010 –
measurements
Chest 40
Abdomen 42
Left Bicep 17.5
Right Bicep 17
11/13/2010
– weight 195 lbs.
12/19/2010 - MAX: Curl 123 lbs x 1
12/25/2010 – Did 30 push-ups straight.
6/14/2011 – able to fit size 34 waist pants, down from 46 inch pants size.
Some of the numbers and dates don't seem to jive for me but I put them in here as logged them in my journal.
I stopped typing in my journal here. I need to update it so I can update you.
