Get Fit or Overdose Tryin'

That'll be the title to my next rap album.

The gym was good today, although I'm on a 3 day streak which is more good than bad: therefore tomorrow will be a 100% rest day. Although I may do a few pushups/crunches just to remind my body of what it's trying to accomplish.

I'm not sure if I went over my short term goals, I think so. Regardless, I'm back up to 55lbs, and this is with multiple sets/reps, meaning I'm pretty solid with moving onto the 65lbs+ region. My goal is 70lbs each dumbell, then to 95lbs, and maybe capping it at 105lbs as to not look wholly ridiculous.

As far as today, I did 4 sets of incline benching on 45lbs and 4 sets of decline benching on 45lbs, therefore working my upper and lower chest. I did my middle Sunday AND Monday so I think it's ok to take a break one day for something else.

Now my focus in the gym is my chest, probably the most underdeveloped part of ny body, so I figure, let's OVERdevelop it so that it can catch up to everything else. Now even though it's the focus, I didn't JUST bench press today, between each bench set, I often throw in side exercises to compliment it. In this case, it consisted of: lat bar pull down (underhand close and overhand wide), cable rope pull down, pull ups, dumbell chest lifts, machine chest flys, elevated pushups, and one or two sets of dumbell curls. OH! I also used the medicine ball. All in all good inbetween stuff, yet I need new exercises I have yet to try. Remember the name of the game here is RANDOM. Doing the same ol usual will not help me break plateaus.

Ideas anyone? Ugh. I wish I had a workout partner in cases like this. Someone who was obviously more in shape than I, so that I can learn from him and not just end up training some skinny bitch who's real goal is to attack me in the locker room. Ch.

Regardless, here are a few pics taken from today after the workout:









If anyone wanna take pics of me too, that would be great. I'm tired of blocking my body when I hold the camera in the mirror. So currently looking for a nysc workout partner and photographer.

P.S. I mentioned a belt to help you lose (water) weight in my last post right? Well it's official! That shit works and is amazing!! To be clear, I never sweat... Ever. Unless I'm a hot room for eternity... Or dancing with ppl of color. But this belt, it causes me to sweat while I lift!! Not cardio, just simple weight lifting. In fact, today it made me sweat so much that the excess sweat come from the btm of the belt and soaked the front of my pants and the bottom of my wifebeater!! Dude, it looked like a total "I had an accident" moment, which tells me that this product means business, and it was a simple $15 purchase at Modells!! Who knew!!!

Everyone looking to lose weight should go get one!!

That's all for now. Lata. Next time I'll mention the 23 supplements I'm taking. Lol which inspired the title of this post. Lol. Ttally missed the real topic. Oh well! till next time!!

Update for the Summer.

To be clear, I did not run away again. I had finals for the past 3 weeks and was not able to post here or workout. I was trying to pass here. Lol. But I am back in the gym now and ready to get back to my goal of a hot body in December. I'm pretty ok with the level my body is that for Miami, but in general I have a WAYS TO GO.

I also bought a few things to help my workouts. For example, I bought a elastic belt to help me sweat in ny midsection as I workout. The thing is u use it and you'll lose water weight as y work out through sweating, which isn't an instant weight loss remedy but on the right track. I used it today and sweat like a slave after only an hour of lifting, not even light or heavy cardio. Score!

Would it be weird to wear it all day? You know, for like.. Severe weight loss and waist size reduction from it sucking out my fluids (teehee... Gross humor).

I also got some resistance bands with it, and decided to go back to trying protein again. This is the most intense I ever been at the gym, so I figure this may be the best time to try n really be consistant with it.

I'll keep u posted on how it goes... with pics, of course.

Q&A

Good day. As a side note I wanted to state that the "Day by Day" blog titling routine I used to commit to will obviously no longer be used, since I effectively went from Day 9 to Day 251. Lol *shrug* Thanx Graduate School.

I wanted to answer a few questions I figured old/new readers may have about me and this mini endeavor of a blog. If I think of any more or if someone who isn't myself actually asks a question (ooo, the chance of actual social interaction), I will try my hardest to add it into this post. I may also just forget completely and go fly kites and eat a French toast stick instead, but let's hope for the former over the latter. =D

Q: What pushed you to go back to writing on ya blog?
A: At its core, I needed to vent. The topic this blog discusses is not only a very sensitive issue for me but a topic that when discussed with others can go south veeeeery easily. I suppose the lesson is that it's hard to continuously discuss the issue of your body with friends/associates without eventually coming across as self-indulgent, narcissistic, conceited, fishing for compliments, etc. Itll be either that or just those people will go tired talking over a topic that doesn't wholly involve them. Mix that with the fact that compared to the extremes of body size/shape, I'm not that bad in comparison.
I've never been one to hide or discuss my illogical self-image issues, but issues like that (like phobias and etc) don't often need to carry ration in its pocket. So I came to the blog to be able to say how I feel about things involving my physical being, to keep track of progress, exercises, and overall just have an avenue to hopefully tell me little story of the lil black boy that could and hope to inspire others.

Q: What inspires you to get in shape and work out?
A: Ahh. The age old reason that's evolved over the years since HS but at it's core revolves under one word: acknowledgement. This base then spilts into 2 types of inspiration: positive and negative.

• Positive: Obviously I wanted a better body for having a better body.. I wanted to look better than "sloppy," I wanted to gain the energy to dance and do all that I used to do back in college, and just generally have a healthier body essentially since I'm getting older. I'm 24, which is tech mid-20s... it's sad to say but it really seems like your body goes on the decline from once you leave the age range of 18-22.
• Negative: ...Sigh. Honestly, it goes past acknowledgement and into recognition. One example would be a friend of my best friend who once made me feel like shit for my chubby stomach (mind you it was right after we ALL ate dinner) by pointing it out and messing with it.. When I said I just ate he felt the need to raise his shirt and show off his flat stomach to completely shut me up. *rolleyes* People like him, I wanted to shut up. Outside of "coming out on top," I wanted to be viewed as powerful... you know when you see a dude and youre like "Damn, that's a maaaaan." or "Geez, he looks like he'd kill with one punch.." or the very simply "*droooooooool*" <--- That's what I want. I (very superficially) wanna get a hot body, join the "Beautiful People Club" and get into parties free and hang with people and celebrities and get ahead in life due to having a hot body to add onto my stellar personality. *shrug* You can judge but everyone has thoughts similar to this.. I'm just more aware and more able to own up to it.

Q: Um, WTF, dude! Your body is fuckin' hot! WHY are you so hard on yourself?

A: Honestly, as much as I say I work out to be hawt and look good in comparison to OTHER people's views, I'm often not pleased solely because of how I see myself. I wont lie, I've had many people tell me that I look fine as is, I dont need to change, etc. And for some reason, I gracefully accept the compliment and giggle as I watch said compliment land gracefully on my deaf-ass ear (Editors Note: "to have your words 'fall on deaf ears' means to essentially not to wholly listened to, or to be ignored/written off).

I dont plan on going in depth into the cause of these body image issues... to save YOU the time, but know that I'm well aware of the mental strife I deal with, but just know I'm positively working towards something to help fight these "demons." ...it's not like it's BAD to work out, and I KNOW I do NOT wanna be one of those juicehead-muscle body (but actually fat) boy. just wanna be fit and lean with tight muscles/cuts and a prominent upper body.

Q: So you cut out so much food, what DO you eat?

A: ...Nothing. I'd be lying if I said I always get 3 meals per day. Shit, there HAVE been moments where I only ate ONE meal in a day. But my "nutrition" is a slow work in progress. I also dont eat 100% healthy like I need to, just due to a lack of time to cook lunch/dinner. I will say this... I eat fast food, but I try to find things on the menu that are healthy.. ie. Salads, Simple Snacks (Apples, etc.), Light fried treats (nuggets, etc), and other things. I don't drink soda as much anymore.. I've reduced it effectively by 90%... although I'm trying HARD to slowly but surely reduce my juice intake (I love my my juices.. =[ ...Fruit Punch, Orangeade, Tropical Punch, Grapeade.. *licks lips* God..) Don't think that you need to cut out all foods you love. Just REDUCE it, eat in MODERATION, and be VERY aware of the TIMING of your meals!

I will add more as they come to me....

<insert witty line to represent rebirth and new beginnings here>

I think the title says not only how I feel about writing in this blog, but how CLICHE those feelings are. I couldve titled it something like "Rebirth" or "A Fresh Start" or some shit, but I feel in doing so plays up the cheesy cliche of: *flashes cape and smiles like a superhero* "Sorry to keep you waiting, but I'm back with a new resolve! Let's fight evil again!" and so on... *blech* So I left the title for you to name: "Another Try," "Hit The Reset Button," "The Adventures of Captain Blueberry Pancakes!" (my personal favorite), whatever you choose. We already know the meaning behind it, which is more important.

I'm not sure how long I've been gone from this blog. I assume at least since September. I started Graduate school in Sept 09, which effecitively kidnapped me from this blog and proceeded to rape me, project after project. There was so lube, I know that much. Regardless, somehow, I've found a way to still be able to work out, do school, and work my part time job (see: Capricorn). A lot has changed since we last where here. If memory serves me I was slim yet sloppy with a severe pudgy tummy due to west Indian genes I cannot escape. (For those who don't know, it's a common battle for west Indians. We could be skinny as Kate Moss or T.I. and still have a round pudgy tummy.) That was certainly THEN. To keep us on the same page, here is a pic of how I look currently:


This is a picture of the person writing this blog: Me. ...Hi. Waddup! Anyway, I'm currently in pretty fuckin good shape although I'm nowhere near my set goals (which I'll get into). Even though I say much has changed since I last wrote here, most of this physical change started only some months ago, in Feb '10. To answer what I did to get in such a way, I'll break down my methods seperately:

• Wii-Fit did NOT save my life: Essentially this blog now has an invalid title. Wii-Fit did not give me this body. The gym did, simply put. In no way do I claim that Wii Fit doesn't work, although for those who are athletic to a certain degree, Nintendo's charming product will not help bare concrete results unless you play 24hours a day and add methods towards an effect of added resistance to the Wii workouts. I WILL say though: That Rhythm KungFu game is the business. =D

• My Million-Dollar Body Methods: I'm probably the only person to make names and routines and methods as often as I work out. Every week I have a no idea or plan or regiment. Brace yourself as you review my ridiculousness:

1. Total Random Layout (TRL): I often found myself plateauing easily when working out, mainly due to myself sticking with a same routine on safe weights (aka weights I can do. ie. 30-45lbs.) In efforts to fix this, I decide that in every session I'd hit random machines. Did cable cross on Monday? Then do the chest fly on Tuesday! Then pushups Wednesday. Etc. Now as time as passed, the bench is still a mainstay with each workout, but I will switch between incline, decline, norrmal, and champagnes. In addition by swithcing up not only exercises but the weights used, my body is always doing a new action so it won't get comfortable.

2. Doing The Least/Manorexia: I DO NOT ENDORSE REAL ANOREXIA. That being said, this started when I spent $12 on White Castle and only ate $8 dollars worth. I had made a habit of not only buying huge meals and forcing it on myself, but these meals were often Right before bed, aka a BIG no no. It's no wonder I had a pudgy stomach. So I essentially cute out night meals (if I missed eating before bed and was hungry, OH WELL) and made it so that I bought the LEAST AMOUNT possible when eating. I figured that if I wanted more, I'll just buy more and it'll help towards having more meals but in smaller portions. =D I will not lie, the first 3 weeks of this are the hardest and I had moments where I'd "cut ya head bald for some Reeses," But I thankfully made it through and now my ratings have greatly reduced compared to 2009.

<<OMG THERES A HORNET ON THIS L TRAIN!! RUN!!!!!!! AHH!! omg it's MOVING!!!! Omg, stay calm, stay calm, continue the blog... Shit I lost it. Where the fuck is it??? Omg I look like the only crackhead, jerking around in paranoia!!!! ...... Ok I'm out the train, safe. Where was I?>>>

3. National Body Embargo (NBE): this actually starts tomorrow and it's "national" cause invited others to join in with me. Essentially it's a restriction where you may NOT eat past 10pm nor can you have any juices, just water/tea/diet oxygen. The goal is to finalize the goal of no night eating and since juices = sugar = fat = Jesus won't love you, it has to GO too. Besides, I could use more water in my life.

Those are the current regimes in place as of now and I wanna say, that's it's been working. As proof here are some pics as of today, 4/25/10:

(Flexed, of course)

(Not Flexed.)

(side view, flexed)

(side view, unflexed)

(shaky camera trade-ish concave chest pic.... Thing)

If we compare the pictures of olde, the level of pudge currently went down. Especially when fewer from the side. You barely see any difference there :) for today in particular, Im moreso proud of myself because I worked up to 60lbs dumbells. Usually I dabble in 30-45lbs, but I won't get better by just doing what's comfortable. I have to push myself!! So I essentially did 4 sets of bench pressing. 45, 50, 50, 55... And 4 sets of incline benching. 45, 50, 50. After those. I did 2 sets of 60lbs on normal bench. Proud. Also to be clear. Sets were reps of 13-20 and in between each lift I did other shit: lat bar, cable cross, dumbell lifts, barbell curls, pullups, etc. =D #accomplished My short term bench goal is to get to 75lbs on dumbells, like the big boys do. As a reference, my goals for short term are:

1. Beach body for Miami trip
2. Bench 75lbs dumbells
3. Perform front and/or side splits
4. Learn to hip roll and make a video.

(See: )

Well that's all I can say for now. I hope I can still try to inspire though. Although last time only 4 people max knew of this blog. Lol... here's one more pic:


#welcomeback

Day 13: Picture

Hello all. Im still fond of the cable cross. Midterms are this week and next week then a presentation the next week after that!

Ugh. In the meantime here's a pic of something other than me. The view from my job:

Day 9: Picture

The cable cross has become my new best friend. Here's a pic from the gym:

Day 8: Picture

Taken from my new door mirror. It's like there's a secret world on the other side:

Day 8: Food Update

It's getting a bit hard to keep my caloric intake on record. Mainly because I now eat lunch at the gourmet ish place which has a big buffet table. Now yes, buffets Are the devil to your stomach and wallet, but I still took a smaller container and got a few pickings, no heavy meals. Problem still is how to accurately measure in calories: 3 maduros, 4 slices if keilbasa, 3 tbsp of mashed potatoes, 2 tbsp of vegetable rice, and 3 tbsp of pasta in meat sauce. How do even begin to calculate?? Regardless, if I follow Wii Fit, what I eat is ok as long as my lifestyle is active, ne? Let's see how that goes.

Is it better to not eat from 1pm and go to bed starving?...or eat late and feel good and not fade away in your sleep yet packing the lbs on as you sleep?

Blah.

Day 7: My Apologies

Um... Thanx to grad school work and midterms, Day 3 turned into Day 7 before I knew it. I had promised to update daily so my apologies. The joys of being a Marketing Management major. To catch up on the past 4 days: I got back into fast food, sadly, but in an effort to eat earlier and have more "small meals." I've actually been good so far. I go for salads and smaller portions. I also got back into my gym schedule and I found a love for the cable cross. Let's see how that goes.

And then there's my eponyous masochistic lover, Wii Fit, who had the nerve to drop this bombshell:



I'm officially overweight by Nintendo's standards. They even made my mii into a gay lardshit. Sigh. I had decided at that point to NEVER eat ever again, but then Wii Fit dropped this on me:



Reading my mind much? Or did you get so many complaints from parents of kids with newly acquired eating disorders that you added that in for safe measure? Either or, I'll still be eating much less. I also will really look into a dance class.

Any NYers wanna go to a class with me? BDC most likely. Lastly before I go to sleep, I took a picture at the gym flexing. If only:

Day 2: Today's Meals

Breakfast

• Sausage, Egg, and Cheese on a roll
• One Raspberry Lemonade w/ a splash of Sprite

Lunch

• Chicken Bruschetta w/ mashed potatoes and jasmine rice

Dinner

• Caeser Salad w/ Thousand Island Dressing.
• Grapes

Total Caloric Intake: 2089 calories (143 calories over my MAX [1946])

I feel like a cow.. based on the numbers. Honestly, anorexia makes sense when you look at it from a statistical POV. You try so hard to meet a guideline and yet you still go over?? Dude, all I had for dinner was grapes and cereal... Whaat kinda crap is that?? lol..

Thankfully I'll be working out tonight after class (I'm in grad school.) so I can lose enough calories to bring me back under. *shrug* Over-reacting? Maybe.

Day 2: Water Diet + Helpful Links

Hello all. So it's Day 2, and I've decided to try and add another routine to the lineup you've seen so far. And it's a water-only diet. I know this is probably suicide to most, but I think one thing I've NEVER owned up to in life and the journey to a better body was my love for juice. Yes, juice.. beverage of Satan. I didn't mention before, but I gave up soda some months back (probably in the late winter of 2009). I still drink it, but in a level below moderation (ie. worst case scearios, last resorts, etc.) But NO ONE ever really tells you the dangers of juices and so on. If I ever find a health link for it, I'll let you know (EDIT: FOUND ONE! We're safe on 100% juice.. or are we?).. but in my eyes I see it as:

Juice = Sugars = Fat = INCORRECT!

.

Therefore, I'm trying to have a water only diet. I see nothing wrong with it since: water is like the purest of cleansers, it's calorie free, no sugars, etc. ...I ALMOST poured 2tbps of my newly purchased Torani Raspberry Syrup (Raspberry water!!!) and then realized that Syrup = 2x Sugar^2 = Fat^3 = SEVERLY INCORRECT! I'm not sure if it's 1 gallon a day or 1/2 a gallon day though, but I hope it's the latter because 1 Gallon is equivalent to 8 pints or 128 oz. or 32(ish) cups of water... aka ridiculous. Ugh.

Also, still recording my meals for the day.. and will get that to you in a later post. I will purchase Wii Fit+ today and have that to begin the start of my official workout. Also, if possible, God willing I will LEARN to deal with running for longer than 5 mins. I like to say I have an mild case ADD towards cardio. I cant do the action for too long or else I'll run off as a kite flies by or something.

Everyone interested in checking out how much they eat or how MUCH they really are doing or consuming should check out Lifehacker's post on 5 of the best free weight-management tools. I personally use Lose it.. and I'll try to incorporate the data into this blog later.

In others notes, I really wish I had more followers or readers.. but at the same time I am a little nervous about this blog (being that I'll be posting body pictures almost daily and talking about a topic pretty personal to me.) So if you know anyone who's interested in reading about some boy trying to do an impossible and blogging about it, let them know that eventuallyI'll say "Wii Fit Saved my Life!"

P.S. I doubt I'd ever have the strength to post this on Facebook/Myspace/Twitter yet due to the "incriminating" pictures that'll be posted.

Day 1: Pictures

For the record, let me state that my days don't end until I fall asleep. Weird, yes. But I have a bad habit of staying up late. Regardless, I always promised myself to never take pics unflexed but I feel it's necessary to get over such a personal hurdle to help me on my goal. Here we go...








Just for relative purposes, here's a pic of me flexed:



Not too bad right? Such is most lies. A shame. I started back up my Wii Fit not knowing that the damn sequel came out 2 days ago. Ugh. I'll get it tomorrow. Here's how Nintendo sees me:



I love you iPhone. In other news, a normal BMI is 22, and I'm 24.69 aka a burger away from being mildly overweight for my age/height relations. Blah. So my goal in terms of Wii Fit will be to lose 12.5lbs in 2 months:


Is this doable? Let's see. Outside of this. My general goals for my body is to get a more defined chest and greatly reduce the levels on body fat in my core. So heres to progress!!

Let's begin Day 2!!?

Day 1: Today's Meals

Breakfast: Sausage Egg & Cheese on a Roll (8am)

Lunch: BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger & Fries (1pm)

Dinner: BBQ Burger & Fries (6pm)

Yes, I'm not proud either. I should be eating smaller meals every 4-5 hours, with no meals surpassing 8PM. This, timewise, is BARELY cutting it. Also, I assume everything I ate today was horrible.. the cheese, BBQ sauce, and bacon.. fried dippped in fat... huge high in carb burger bun. Sigh..

For the record, I gave up fast food in May 2008. After seeing this listing on paper... kinda makes me wonder "why?" again. What was I stopping myself from having? I'm still eating horrendously.

Oh well, its only Day 1... time to make it better.

Day 1: Picture Test

Testing a pic to be uploaded from my iPhone for future purposes....

Wii Fit Saved My Life: Day 1

Hello.

This blog will be the chronicles to a physical revamp I plan to host on my body. I don't think I'll make this public yet so if you find this blog. Kudos to you. I figured I'd not only work out again, but bring Wii Fit back into my life, try to get back into dancing (hip-hop) by doing one class a week to start, and daily pushups/crunches (or other ab exercises.) But since Wii Fit is the only BRAND in this list of exercises, I decided to label my "success" to Nintendo, in case this does work. Nintendo's game can use the publicity, especially with Wii Fit+ (Plus) coming out shortly (mid-Oct.)

I'm going to try and take a picture of me daily via my iphone. Not flexing, not holding in any breathe, not doing a damn thing; just being me... I'll save the "flex for your life" pics for Fridays. :) Also by this.. I can chronicalize (..a word? :p) if I'm eating properly. So hopefully, I'll get a bunch of support from people who read this. If you hav any tips, articles, books, facts, or anything.. be sure to send it my way.

Note: Wii Fit is NOT a way to lost weight of get in shape. It should be used in conjuction to regular exercises and working out... as well as eating WELL!

And with that... may we begin.. expect a test blog to come in through my iPhone. I wanna make sure I can blog everything 100%. :)