Scrawny to Sculpted

All my life I have been the tall, lanky kid.  I went through a period of time during college where I worked out consistently and ate healthy, but even then I just kind of toned the skinny limbs I already had.  I did however have a flat stomach, no six pack definition unfortunately...but flat nonetheless, which was the thing I was most proud of.  Even though at the time I would have told you I was doing all I could do to get the body I wanted, I never took the time then to research what I was doing wrong.  Why wasn't I gaining muscle or getting that six pack I felt I deserved?

This (or something close to it) was the goal but...

Well as boring as it sounds, that is what I hope will be the difference between the results I got back then and the results I hope to get now.  Research!  I've done my homework.  The internet really is useful for more than just youtube videos and facebook.  Who'd of thought right?  Back then I was doing all the wrong things with my diet and my exercise.  Yes I was eating healthier, but I wasn't eating the things that would help me gain lean fat that could be turned into muscle.  Protein is key.  So I plan to increase my protein intake as well as supplement with some protein powder.  Yum huh?  I know you're jealous.  Also, the workouts I was doing was mainly consisting of exercise machines where I'd do many reps and cardio.  Both of these are how you tone up and/or lose weight; neither of which I was trying to do.  But I didn't know any better at the time.  Ignorance...not really that blissful in this case.  Now my goal is to still use my at-home gym, but to also start using free weights.  In doing both, the key will be fewer reps but pushing my body with more weight/resistance. Along the way I'll have to either increase the number of reps or the amount of weight I am lifting or my muscles will become complacent just like I have become over the past 6 years.  I'd like to believe that at least the first year and a half of this 6 years was not fully my fault.  I took a job as a manager of a retail store where I began working 12+ hour days sometimes 7 days a week and either missed a lot of meals or ate from the junk food section of the store because it was all I had available to me.  I lost around 30 lbs in the first month or so that I worked there because I was always on my feet running around the store, wasn't eating properly or at all, and wasn't getting the sleep I needed.  All my hard work I had done working out was lost.  I didn't have the time to go to the gym anymore, and after that I just kind of gave up on myself.  I kept telling myself that it wasn't worth trying to get healthy again because it was lost too quickly and I didn't get the results I really wanted in the first place.  Boy was I wrong because...

...this is what I've become.  At least in my head.

Now I think I have realistic expectations from all this.  I don't want to be a bodybuilder.  All the veins popping out and my muscles having muscles is just as bad as being a "fat boy" in my opinion.

I just want to look something like this below...
Is that too much to ask?

Hawaii Five-Oh Yea...I look good!!!

Now I know guys aren't supposed to care about "swimsuit season," how unmanly of us to even think about it right?  But this guy wouldn't mind turning some heads come June when he hits the lake with friends.  I'd like to not be embarrassed when I take my shirt off.  Now while I know my six pack dream is probably not attainable by June, a flat stomach should be.  So that is the goal for this summer.  The picture to the right is the goal for summer 2012...watch out world.  I'm not expecting to be a Greek Adonis or anything, but just a stronger version of myself.  I know it's not going to be easy.  The hard work it is going to take scares me to death.  But I'm finally ready in my life to put forth the effort needed to attain my goals.  I know I might have to adjust my diet even more so along the way or even my workouts as I see
what works and what doesn't, but I'm going to
get as close as possible to this as I can.

My Motivator -- Megan

My best friend, Megan, is the reason for this blog and the inspiration for me to stick with my resolutions, and she doesn't even know it.  She is my biggest motivator and encourager.  It all started so innocently.  She had made her own resolutions to lose weight and get in shape for her upcoming wedding.  While telling me about her plans to make her resolutions a reality I commented that I was tired of the way I looked and needed to get back in shape. She simply said, "You know if you stopped drinking so much Dr. Pepper and drank diet instead that would help a lot."  Now this alone was not a challenge, a dare, or a threat, but for the first time hearing this (and I've heard this suggestion many times before), it sounded so simple.  It was like a light bulb went off over my head like Zach Morris had so often in Saved By The Bell.

It just clicked.  It really is that easy.  Just give up the one thing I love most in the world (sad I know...but don't judge) in order to get the one thing I want most in the world.  I'll tell you more about that first big step later, but for now just know that such a simple conversation and statement has started this journey for me.  I didn't want to not do something so simple when I knew she was making so many strides and sacrifices to meet her goals.  I could do this one thing.  I went out the next day and bought zero calorie sodas and haven't looked back yet.  A few days later, Megan emailed me at work and told me one of her coworkers was telling her about a 5k coming up in April and she thought we should do it together so we could motivate each other.  Running is possibly my least favorite thing to do in the world, but thinking back to my bucket list I knew this was the opportunity I needed to push me toward accomplishing that goal, and on top of that and more importantly I didn't want to let her down.  Megan has done nothing but encourage me and be with me along the way of this struggle to become a better/healthier person.  Like I said, she is even the reason I am writing this blog.  She started her own blog about trying to lose weight before her wedding.  I attempted writing a completely different blog than this a few months back, but my willpower (code for laziness in this case) never got me past creating a title and a concept.  Megan is a go-getter and a doer.  She gets an idea in her head and you better believe it's getting done and getting done as soon as possible.  No time to waste.  It's one of the things I love most about her.  I have not told her I am writing this blog yet because she is so excited about her own blog and her own journey that I don't want to steal her thunder.  This is her time to shine.  Her moment in the spotlight.  

My journey wouldn't have even begun without her.  I'll let her know later on how she's inspired me to start this venture of healthy living and blogging after a while. But in the meantime I think you should check out her blog.  She's amazing, inspirational, and funny and it all shows on her blog.  Take a look: http://www.myjigglythighs.blogspot.com/.
I know she'd appreciate your encouragement too.

Resolutions and Willpower

30 -- in and of itself there is nothing scary about this number.  However now that it has become my rapidly approaching age it has got me to thinking that I've allowed myself to give up or give in during my life for far too long.  Now while I know 30 is not old, though I used to have nightmares to the contrary, I don't want to turn 30 and never have followed through with anything...EVER.

So as a result of this realization, I have decided to make New Year's resolutions and actually...*GASP*...keep them.  I don't know if it's ok to say that most people probably know where I'm coming from or if that's just me wanting to not feel alone in my lack of accomplishments, but I think most people understand good intentions that never come to fruition.

Wikipedia says that a New Year's resolution is "a commitment that an individual makes to one or more personal goals, projects, or the reforming of habits."  Well I've got some personal goals in need of accomplishing and some bad habits in desperate need of reforming.

My resolutions are as follows:
1. Work out more often -- 3-4 times a week (This is as opposed to the 3-4 times a year I did it before.)
2. Lose the gut (Unfortunately over the past 6 years I've let myself go and now have quite the gut for a skinny-framed person.)
3. Gain muscle (With no meat on my bones it's always been a struggle to gain any muscle mass, and it is because of this that I am going to do whatever it takes to change this.)
4. Run a 5k (I made a bucket list for the first time this past year and one of the items I put on there is to run a half marathon.  This is my baby step to see if I can realize that item on my bucket list.)
5. Eat healthier (In order to accomplish #3 I have to adjust my eating habits.  Not just eliminating the convenient fast food and tasty sweet snacks, but also increase my protein intake and healthy fats while decreasing the amount of saturated fats and fried foods in my diet.)
6. And most importantly...

Most of these things are the same resolutions I'm sure you have made for yourself before too, so I'm hoping you can relate to my struggle.  In order to complete these things and follow through I have to access something I've never really had...willpower.  Willpower is defined as the ability to control one's impulses and actions; self control.

If he can do it surely I can too.

It is because of my lack of willpower that I've never accomplished these resolutions all the other years I have tried.  I allow myself the easy way out.  But there has to be a starting point for change, and that point for me is now.  I have begun making small changes already, and plan in the next week to make the other changes necessary to succeed.  They say it takes 28 days to make a habit.  Well here goes nothing.  I hope to make several new habits.  Great habits.  Not like my habit of biting my nails or yelling at all the other drivers on the road because it's obviously them who's at fault and doesn't know how to drive.  This blog is mainly to keep me accountable to myself.  I no longer want any reason to fail.  If I require myself to track my progress and put it out there for anyone/everyone to see, I know I'm more likely to follow through.  So hopefully along the way I can encourage you and maybe you can encourage me too.  Welcome to my battle of fat vs. fit.