The First 7 Weeks With The Trainer

To bring folks up to speed I am going to post what I saved and documented the first 7 or 8 weeks into this journey. At this point I was working with a personal trainer 5 days a week!

Week 1
Ok well I started on the Biggest Looser Training Routine at the YMCA. This will include Watching and controlling my Calorie intake, drinking right now 1 1/2 Gallons of Water a day, and working out 5 days a week with my personal trainer.

Well after day 1 i decided i have to quit smoking. After doing 5 circuits of exercising and feeling like i was going to have an asthma attack i figured this needs to happen anyway. So Smoking is done. 1 1/2 gallons water a day is a lot to drink. i keep a gallon jug around me so i can easily track it. Calories were decided to be no lower than 2600 and no higher than 3000. This is some days actually hard than i thought.
So we started and i have been drenched in sweat every day. i have never been so tired after a workout but she knows what she is doing. Food wise i know portion control is a big issue and i have done extremely well on this. My lungs feel better and i can now make it through a complete workout without a problem. We started to ad cardio stuff and biking. Saturday is going to be ALL CARDIO. I am excited about all of this. This is a huge opportunity for me and i think i have a huge chance to loose a lot of weight! I am being dedicated 110%. i push to failure every day. anyhow. this Monday is first weigh in since the start and i am very excited and nervous to see how we are doing. i will keep posting these every week.

Week 2

Well After our Weigh-in on Monday we found we I gained 4 pounds. This was VERY disheartening!! I am working out 5 days a week with cardio and weights! I am watching and counting my calories closely. I have quit smoking! I am drinking a gallon and 1/2 of water a day. I am pushing to failure every day. I am being dedicated to this. Just don’t know what’s going on though. Then Friday we decided that we would change the weigh in days to Friday. I gained ANOTHER 4 pounds. I have gained 8 pounds and it doesn't make sense. I am eating 100 times better than i ever did. I watch my portion control i count calories and fat i jog, walk, lift, burn and sweat 5 days a week!
Ok. I'll take it and push harder than. I am increasing my vegetable and fruits. Cutting out as much fat out of foods as i can! Cut back on the cheese. Those very upset about the weight i have noticed so much improvement. the no smoking has helped my lungs so much! We went to the track Saturday because i was so nice and walked and jogged around the track about 2 miles i think. We then ran stairs up and down in the bleachers, I think we did 4 or 5 of those. The big issue is my lower back. I strained it one day during working and it made the workout an issue. We will work around that though.
I got some new jogging shoes yesterday and a headband, sweat in my eye's etc. we set an exercise goal. i want to be able to do a 5k. for me that would be AMAZING and i am going to do all i can to reach that goal.
I will be honest here, I am heavy, I am weighing in at 368 now. I watch a special on tv the other day about the 700 pound man. at 31 he was 500lbs. i am 30 and lets be real, not far from that! i cant let that ever happen and will continue on with this full force so that i don’t reach that! I want to shop at regular clothing stores. I want to wear a nice shirt and tie! I can do this!!!!!!!

Week 3

Well finally after much hard work I saw some results. to lay it out the first 2 week i gained 4 pounds each. so total of 8 pounds. finally I weighed in Friday and lost 7 pounds in a week. So almost back to where we started. Seeing that I can lose 7 pounds in a week is awesome. The trick has been the food. We adjusted my food to include so many more vegetables at every meal. it paid off. we also added 2 more days of single cardio besides the normal workouts. I went from barely able to walk 5 min on a treadmill at 3.0 to doing 10 min @ 3.8 up and down inclines bikes, and my favorite the stair machine. i could barely do 35 stairs a min. now I’m doing 75 stair a min for at least a min a time. we are doing pushups sit jumping jacks and the worst of all was the Spinning session Saturday. For those who don’t know Spinning is like an intense Nike ride from hell. the world’s smallest seat. we did 45 min of spinning up and down. standing up and spinning etc. i was about dead by the end. my but hurts soooo much as well.
I did my metabolic test on Friday. we were pretty darn close calorie wise. the cool thing was she said the my heart rate at rest is that of a runners. very low and controlled. I’m getting into the whole running and walking thing more and more! gives me plenty of time to think about things. Also no smoking going on week 4 so that’s a bonus. my breathing is so much better!

So if your following any of this, well I’m doing good i think. i did a blood pressure test and wow I’m am almost normal now! I’m pushing and going to reach my goal! Well its rest day so I need a nap and to soak my feet and butt ohhh so sore lol.

Week 4

Well here we are one week left and i will have been doing this for a month, as well as not smoking for same.
Weigh-in...no loss but no gain. It's been a little discouraging to see no actual dramatic weight loss. But with that said i have notice changes in my body..and no not puberty..jeeze. My waist line as gone down my stomach has gotten a little smaller. my biceps are starting to show more and my chest is getting much better. I have gotten a lot of positive reinforcements and i want to personally thank EVERYONE! this hasn't been easy and I think I’m at one of my first obstacles so time to go over the first hill and get moving. treadmill has gotten too easy. I am no at a 4.0 which is burning my legs more than anything else. My breathing is so much better though. i am at 85 stairs a min on the stair machine. I am doing Jumping Jacks without to much trouble and low and behold push-ups are getting easier! I won’t lie, i am sore and tired like 90% of the time. but I LOVE it! I am working toward a 5k in June! this will be the first 5k i will have ever done let alone thought about! My trainer has had a couple meetings and a training so i was left to complete it myself. I don’t push as hard as when she's in my ear pushing me, but i did better than i thought i could do! She has been doing so much for me and I don’t want to fail her because she puts a lot of effort into this for me, at least i can do the same! so i upped my cardio so roughly I’m at the gym 8 different times a week! that’s a lot, but i need it!
I believe that my calories are what are not letting me loose. I have had trouble meeting my calorie take so i got focused again and time to add spinach to my smoothies as she sugg and i pre-made healthy breakfast burritos that I can just heat and eat on the way to work or gym whatever. It's time for me to take this up a notch and get more focused.

Week 5

Ok well at this point I completely forgot what week I was in lol. Well I did hit sort of a Milestone for me. Couple things happened. 1. No smoking for a Month! This is the longest I have ever gone not smoking. I feel great though and wished I never started. Don’t get me wrong I am around smokers a fair amount of the time…but I hope they see that if I can do it, anyone can do it! 2. I broke 360lbs. Now I have done this before but this time was all diet and exercise. No pills or gimmicks.
I am sooooo tired though this week but I’m recovering faster then I think I did in beginning. I increased my treadmill to 4.0 which is bloody good as Chef Gordon Ramsey would say. Psychologically I am doing great. My mind is clear I can troubleshoot issues that are coming up much easier. The fine line for me here is trying to get my wife involved and not push her away. Hopefully she can see my success and get the same bug bite I have for it all. I noticed my clothes fit better and I am looking better in my face and my shoulders and my stomach. What a great feeling. Now I am not seeing HUGE weight losses but I know the weight will come. I am doing so much more exercise than I ever did before. I hurt a lot lol. Thursday night I sat in my recliner after my workout and had ice on my shoulder and ice on my knee. But really I thought “I FEEL GREAT” I feel alive and I love it.
For me I hate it when I’m doing it and it kills me sometimes but its all good at the end.
Saturday we did more spinning. And honestly it kills me I feel like my quads are going to snap! But its great. I’m not hurting as much afterwards! And I’m close to finishing a full class workout! Who would have thought that! Any how someone told me about a website called transformation.com. Believe its faith based so I will check that out!

Week 6

Ok well I have been a little late on this update. Let’s start with the Weight!! 2 pounds loss again. I’m from 364 to 357. That’s honestly really good! I know this and i try to keep telling myself at least I’m losing weight right! It was hard this week though. more than a month and very small amount of actual weight loss. I am a huge fan of the Biggest loser. I understand that is the OLYMPICS of weight loss. but still would be nice to see maybe one or two double digit losses come up for me.

After all this thought i had to look back at the whole perspective for a bit. When i did i thought...Wow i am doing amazing!
1. Quit smoking- after 15 yrs.cold turkey..BAM
2. Regained my lung strength
3. I’m freaking jogging on the treadmill for my warm-ups
4. I’m doing 90 steps a min on a stair master
5. I'm doing a freaking spinning class with my trainer
6. I’m eating great and never go to FAST FOOD
7. I am addicted to water. that’s all I drink now. Except for a cup of coffee now and then. I look like a little kid with my bottle always by my side!
8. I did a mile of partial walking and jogging by myself no trainer. would have done 2 if it didn't rain
9. Planning and looking for a 5k and going to complete it!
all this stuff...and i am looking so much better and feeling better. Clothes are falling off me...my wedding ring is really loose on me now which isn't a good thing but cool. My wife does the Hug Test which I love. She hugs me and judges how close her hands can lock around me. she can hug me fully now and that’s a nice feeling! anyhow. I am back to being motivated. I upped my jogging speed today to a 4.7 and close to a getting a 5.0 that’s huge since i hated running before and never did it. anyway. Hope some of this stuff helps someone out there. its tough but keep focused!

Week 7

So here I am Week…7? I forget. They all kind of bleed in together now! The weight loss keeps coming but still slow. 2 pounds each week! At least I can say my bodies consistent. So thought I would talk about a couple things about being a large man and exercising. Thighs! Ok when you’re a big guy and you start doing a lot of cardio and jogging you don’t think about the fact that they are rubbing up against each other to your body and that causes pain after a while. The first month or so I had to use Vaseline before each workout on my inner thighs. Cheep but affective. Luckily that all kind of went away after I lost some weight my body got use to it I guess. Food! Food isn’t he enemy as much as what the foods about. Cooking in a vat of grease or heavy oils…not so good. Colorful vegetables great for you. I have gotten my morning protein shake down now. I use one banana, 1 cup of milk, a handful of ice and 1 scoop of vanilla protein mix. Blend It in a blend it well and boom awesome…tasty and about 300 calories for breakfast! I have gotten to where I know what and how to eat and what I need each day so I don’t have to send my foods into my trainer. This is so much easier for me lol. It’s interesting how people DON’T eat well. The dept I work in the bring in so much Donuts and fatty foods. They brought in all this brisket and baked beans and potatoes salad and pop. Then they wonder why they have hypertension, high blood sugar and are tired all the time, as well as being overweight! Luckily I have stuck hard at this! This has to be a life style change and not just a for the time being change like so many people do. I thought the other day…Ok so say I lose weight, get strong and look good. Then what!??? What do I have to do after that! Well I thought maintaining that is all the hardest part. I’m not saying I’ll have a six pack, but I’m sure going to try. Ill stay on this for as long as it takes to get me to shop for regular sized clothes!!!! It feels good to hear folks say “Wow you are thinning down aren’t you” I joke but my pants sometimes fall off…that’s good and bad!

The Other thing I have to think about it the Trainer. Hard to believe but 1 month left in this Biggest Looser thing. Do I decide this is awesome (Which it is!) and pay to keep the training coming, or do I take what I have learned and try to go at it alone and just keep up keeping up? Tough decisions. I can tell you 100% I won’t be able to push as hard as she does! I guess we’ll see how my weight Is closer to the end and decide!