50 Pounds

I finally lost 50 pounds, 52 to be exact! I had been hovering around 42-46 for the last few weeks and I guess they call this a "plateau". I talked in an earlier post about how important a person's diet is in regards to getting healthy. I could spend every day in the gym with no success as long as I ate like I was 16 years old, so it's now a two front war; Exercise & Diet. So I  found this out on the 11th, 3 months in, which still puts me on pace for 200 in 12 months. I AM GONNA DO THIS!

**** UPDATE ****
I weighed in on the 25th and after staying at the same weight the previous week (18th), and I lost 5 more pounds, that puts me a little above 411 lbs. That's around 57 pounds that I'm not carrying around anymore! I am finally starting to notice a difference in how I feel and how I move.

So I am caught-up as far as my posts are concerned with this whole getting healthy-thing. I will start updating at least once-a-week. I think my posts will start being a little more detailed since I am not writing from memory. I really appreciate whoever takes the time to read this as I move forward towards my goal.

My vice

So since this blog was started 3 months into my workout regimen, I have to write my posts from memory until I get up to date. I keep a notebook that Paul uses to record all my lifts and the amount of weight I am training with, I also record my weekly weigh-ins that I do on Saturday mornings. Paul is the one that recommended the notebook to track my progress completely. So...

My weight has plateaued recently. Back in November I dropped a crazy 22 pounds in the first two weeks, which made my jaw hit the floor. I kept on losing weight steadily until I hit about 40, then it just sort of stopped. My weight would fluctuate up and down 5 to 7 pounds, and was getting frustrated! Trying to isolate the problem was easy; my cardio was consistent and my workouts with Paul were going strong. The only thing that could be throwing everything off was my diet. From the first day I starting going to Paul, he got on me to start watching my diet and not to eat any heavily-processed foods and to cut out carbs and sugar. I never really drank sodas and for my size I really don't do as much junk food as you would imagine. I have to admit though... I am a foodie! I love really good food. I spend a significant amount of my income and time going to nice restaurants, reading cookbooks and watching/reading with Anthony Bourdain, Eric Ripert, and David Chang. Food is my hobby, cooking is my therapy, and I think there is nothing better than trying out new places or cuisines. I am a food snob/dork and this is my problem. I can't let 5 days of hard work in the gym and with my diet be undone by two days of not watching what I eat. I had this idea that I deserved a cheat day once a week, but the fact is I don't. I was talking about this with Paul when he said something that really hit home, "You've had 25 years of cheat days". It took three months of training to figure out, that at our age, diet is 80% of it. I can't expect any dramatic results without changing my diet as well.

   

Protein Powders

Paul has been telling me for a few weeks to start taking protein powders to supplement my training. I really didn't know where to start cause there are literally thousands of brands and formulas. Paul recommended truenutrition.com, a website that he uses where you can order 100% custom blends. He suggested two different blends: one a "anytime" powder that I could have anytime during the day as a snack or in place of a meal, the other was a "post workout" powder. The anytime powder is a slow absorbing protein, and the post workout powder absorbs quickly and is intended to be taken immediately after my workouts. They have a ton of flavors options, even all-natural ones sweetened with Stevia. I went with a their Premium Flavors; Orange Creamsicle for my anytime mix and Tropical Hawaiian Punch for my post workout mix. This company is incredible! I was worried it was gonna be expensive when I went to the site and I have to say it wasn't. You should check it out!

Post Workout Blend

 Anytime Blend

True Nutrition Website

405 Trap Bar Lift

I went into the gym sort of bummed out this day. It was a lower body day so I was into my 2nd set of trap bar deadlifts when I mentioned to Paul that I needed to be pumped about something, so maybe I should see what my max is. We started out at 315 I believe then we kept adding. I hit 365, but it was sloppy cause of my foot placement. Paul said I could do 385 or 405, but if I missed 405 we would stop and the 365 I hit earlier would be my max, but on the other hand, hitting 385 could fatigue me before attempting 405. I decided to shoot for the 405 right out. Paul seemed amped about my attempt, he asked what I wanted to hear over the speakers to pump me up, then he said, "I got something for you!" and he went to his bag and grabbed his iPod. Next thing I knew this was playing over the speakers...

It worked obviously! I hit 405 pretty easily, no slowing down. Paul thought I should shut it down after cause I did a lot of work that day. I think I had at least 50 more pounds in me. 500 is right around the corner! I was excited afterwards, Paul even more so! We were filming it, so here it is. Paul likes to be fancy and combined all my lifts into one edited video with commentary. It's nice to have a record of something I haven't been able to do since high school.

Here is Paul's edited version:

Before Pics

So we thought we should get some "Before" pics, but it took us about 3 weeks to actually do it. I hate these cause I've always thought "before" pics to be kind of dorky. So here they are, these are the first time these are being seen by anybody other than Paul and I... by this point I was down about 22 pounds.

My Decision

So a few days after my 30th birthday I started seeing pictures of me from my party on Facebook. I DIDN'T LIKE WHAT I SAW. I thought I looked like crap. I was huge, and I looked soft and weak. Despite my size I've always been athletic and I'm super confident almost to the point of cockiness. What I saw on the screen really shook my ego. I needed to make a change before it was too late, I was weighing in at a scary 468 pounds!

I knew I needed an actual professional trainer to help put me in a program, mostly I needed someone to hold me accountable. I knew an old high school friend that was one year ahead of me was a personal trainer, and I figured who better to get me started than a guy that knew me during my fittest years and who was a great athlete himself. His name is Paul Hedrick of Hedrick Fitness, I called Paul and told him I needed to start a routine ASAP. We went over some things that night and we agreed to meet the next day to see where I was mobility-wise.

11/2/2011
The first day was really an assessment of what I could and couldn't do. He knew I had a couple of knee surgeries from my days of playing H.S. football, so he decided we would start slow as far as lower body stuff was concerned.

A side note about Paul:

The guy is a total badass! He stresses that he teaches you how to train and not to just workout. The guy is on top of his craft, from nutrition to methods. The one thing I like the most is if you have a question you will get a solid, straight-forward answer. The guy just flat out knows his profession.

Hedrick Training Website
Hedrick Training Facebook Page 

After the workout I was glad to hear from Paul that I was a whole lot more mobile than he thought I was gonna be. This was not just from my weight, but from not really being as active as I thought I had been. We agreed on me training with him 3 times a week would be the most effective at the beginning. The one thing that impressed me the most was when I told him my goal was to lose 200 pounds, he didn't blink, he just said ok.

   

Welcome!

Hello! My name is Zeke, and on my 30th birthday I decided I was gonna completely transform myself by losing 200 pounds. I am starting this blog 3 months in to chronicle my day-to-day routine. Thanks for checking this out!