GGWoo

My weigh in

I'm at the end of my six-week Abs Diet program today. I did my final weigh-in (unofficial since I'm weighing myself and not for any non-judgmental, unbiased person) to see where I stand this morning...to see if this damn thing actually worked at all. Of course the irrational worry is that I'm doing all this work and nothing is happening which I know isn't true because I can actually get some fingers in my 34-inch Levi's without sucking in the gut (and I do love slipping some fingers in my pants every now and again). On the other side of the spectrum is the irrational frustration that I'm working my fucking ass off and only getting this far? I mean, WTF? I work extremely hard in a difficult, challenging, frustrating management position and am compensated accordingly so it's a little shocking that in six weeks, I'm not down to 138lbs with rippling abs. Unrealistic, I know but that's where my head is.

In the last six weeks, I've lost 10lbs bringing me down to 198lbs or 1/3 to 1/4 of where I want to be, depending on the day. I had been shooting for losing 2lbs a week to get me to 196 by now so I'm marginally disappointed in my end weight but on the plus side, losing any weight and getting fit is most important and I embrace it. Also, my diet needed very little tweaking which might account for the slower weight-loss I've had these past weeks. I was not starting from a 3-Cokes, 14 cookies, and a can of frosting-day diet. I had a pretty sensible diet with some fast-food issues around dinner time that needed attention as well as adding daily exercise. I'm looking now into reassessing the good carbs I'm taking in to possibly exchange and reduce them further, focusing on more protein.

My original goal of 170 was based around the BMI chart but my general opinion, based on what I'm seeing in the mirror, is that I need to seriously reassess at 180lbs before losing anything else. I like a little meat on a man and I have no interest in being ectomorphic for the sake of getting down to 170lbs. I still have a buddha belly but it seems incredible to me to think that I'm could still be carrying an extra 30lbs. Maybe I'm in denial or maybe I'd feel differently if I had quickly dropped 15lbs over the last six weeks but reassessment around 180 is pertinent, I think.

Additionally, I'm moving out of obsessing over the weight goals. They're good to have but I'm focused more now on what I generally look like. The waist and stomach are definitely disappearing and the muscles are growing. Jeff caught me several times flexing in the mirror to stare at the arms, shoulders, pecs that seem to be taking some definition right now. I do kinda get hard looking at myself so there is that.

So it's all good with me right now. I feel terrific, centered, focused, and healthful. We're six months out from the Big Gay Cruise and I'm heading into what is typically seen as a good growth period in terms of working out. I've always read that the first month or two using weights is really nothing more than waking up the muscles. I expect to see some visible growth and increased strength as well as increased cardiac capacity (God willing, I'm tired of feeling like I'm going to puke after 30 seconds of jumping jacks). I'm also just into my 8-week high-intensity interval training which is suppose to melt pounds like butter in a hot skillet so I'll be interested to see how that pans out as well as starting my escalating density training with weights which is suppose to produce some significant muscle gains over the course of the next eight weeks. Add in a modest decrease in carbs and I think my next goal date, April 27th, should show some significant progress. Even at an expected, steady 1.5 - 2lbs a week, I could potentially be almost to the low 180's and with time to reassess how much I want to molest myself on a daily basis. The test will be putting on a white t-shirt and seeing if I have a perky ridge of moobs with the arm-holes straining around the guns.