As many of you know, I got a little out of shape this year. I had done well a few years ago on Adam's Diet, but literal pain in the neck sidelined me from exercise for the last year (seriously). I had a pretty major car accident about three years ago that screwed up my neck pretty good, but I had no idea what was to come later. While struggling for that, all my mental resources went into thinking about it as the pain was constant.
Adding to that my typical daily schedule (brutal at best), I easily left exercise out as a pretty low priority. Then the diet started to slip, and over the year I put on over 20 pounds, leveling off at around 200 (give or take a couple pounds).
The final straw for me was a month ago I was getting ready to go out to the symphony, and I couldn't button my slacks. Not even close! Sucking in didn't do it. Guess I hadn't worn them in a year and didn't realize just how much my waist had expanded, although the daily reminder in the many mirrors in my gym told me that I looked ten years older... Exhausted, haggard face with thick jowels, a burgeoning gut, body fat of 23%!
My mojo was gone.
Well, one of my clients bet me he could drop 20 pounds faster than I could (he needed to lose it too). I know that when I put my mind to something like this, that there is absolutely no beating me, and I took his wager. I brushed up on Adam's Diet (now called TNT), threw out half the shit in my cupboards and fridge, and launched into it full force.
In the first couple of weeks I lost 9 pounds. The result was dramatic and immediately noticeable. Not just water weight, I could see my face thinning, and my gut just dropped off! Just one week of treating my body right and it rewarded me for a year of abuse in the first week!
It has been a month and two days, and I officially won the bet this morning, weighing in at 180 even (officially weighed in at 200 at the beginning). I embarrasses me just how easy it is that I put this off for so long.
Thankfully, a lifetime of athletics helps me get back in shape a lot faster. I may drop a little more fat, but I don't want to shed any muscle. I am being a lot more particular this time to consume high-glycemic carbs with protein right before and right after my workouts. Other than that, it veggies, meat (started eating a lot more fish this time too), fats (bacon, whole eggs) and NO starches whatsoever. I even cut back on alcohol this time, and I have not gotten as many dessert substitutes, really clearing out my cravings for sweets this time.
I did have a setback two weeks ago. My neck had gotten so bad at one point that I couldn't move. Seriously, I couldn't get out of bed. I had to call a friend to bring me to the doctors office, where they gave me an epidural cortical injection in my neck. A week later I felt a lot better. Today I feel fantastic.
I have no illusions of my problem being fixed, but just getting a let-up from the pressure from the inflammation probably gave me a chance to get on top of the pain. I had one a couple of years ago and the pain went away for quite some time. I was not as knowledgeable at the time about what to do to fix it. Now I think I might have a handle on things.
My abs went back from singular to plural, I can wear those slacks with comfort now, and my energy level has never been higher.
Business is really doing well this year, so with my health, reduced pain, family life, and full plate, I feel like I'm charging toward forty with a vengeance. Just a few months now and I will leave my 30's behind me, and I will enter my forties in better shape than ever, and more hope for the future than I did at 30. Even Erika mentioned that I not only look thinner, I actually look younger.
I know, I know... This thread is worthless without pics. They're coming I guess. I need to do a side-by-side of my hefty pics with something current. Problem with me is that I avoid the cameral like the plague when I get soft. It's like trying to photograph the ivory-billed woodpecker!
If anything, it may motivate someone reading this thread who feels like they are irreversibly older looking and overweight, with little hope of turning it around due to stress and/or physical pain from an injury. I don't know that I can give any secrets to this success other than just really focusing and not allowing little cheats here and there. Every meal counts. The bottom line is that you can change without starving yourself or without overtraining. And you can make a little wager with yourself that you can reach your goal, then go for it.
"After all,that is what my training is for; to prepare me for what challenges I have to do in real life, not just to get me good at training, although that's fun too." - Mark Reifkind
for thematic elements, some sensuality, brief language and incidental smoking
That's a great change, JP! Having gone through something similar myself, I can attest to how much chronic pain can suck the life right out of you, and how putting things back in motion, body and eats, can really make a difference in how we feel.
Great job!
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On Krista mistressing the chin-up, "It's amazing", said one gym source, "considering that for months she just hung there like a dead fish."
Awesome job JP! What a great Christmas gift to yourself!!
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"After all,that is what my training is for; to prepare me for what challenges I have to do in real life, not just to get me good at training, although that's fun too." - Mark Reifkind
for thematic elements, some sensuality, brief language and incidental smoking
I'll bet that tight dress pants is the motivation for more men to lose weight than anything else. If you're like me and only have to break them out a few times a year it can be a real surprise. Congratulations, JP.
__________________ 'I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day. ' ~Frank Sinatra
WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may create the illusion that you are tougher,
smarter, faster and better looking than most people.
JP, that amount of fat loss is very impressive in such a short amount of time. i would be interested to hear what happens when/if you start introducing more carbs back in, i would imagine you would gain a few lbs of weight (not fat).
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Great Job JP
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It's been a while since I poked my head in here. I'm really glad I did, because I need to see this. I started a new job a while back and between searching and then getting the job, exercise was way back on my list. So was nutrition.
I just started getting out and running a bit (I know, cardio v lifting and all that...I just love to run), and have been eating better lately as well. Anyway, just wanted to say you've inspired me, brother. Thanks for sharing that.
It's been a while since I poked my head in here. I'm really glad I did, because I need to see this. I started a new job a while back and between searching and then getting the job, exercise was way back on my list. So was nutrition.
I just started getting out and running a bit (I know, cardio v lifting and all that...I just love to run), and have been eating better lately as well. Anyway, just wanted to say you've inspired me, brother. Thanks for sharing that.
This makes the whole post worth it, Fish. Thanks for the props.
My workouts are hardly the puke-fests of my youth. I try to get in three a week, but I don't always hit it. They are really simple. I do a circuit of six exercises, all ground based, using bands, kettlebells, dumbbells, medicine balls, or cables. Each workout is comprised of a level-change, locomotion, push, pull, bridge, and twist. I usually only have time to get through it three times (tight schedule). I can knock it out in about 20-30 minutes after a 10 minute warm-up.
In my life, it's all about simplicity, whether we're talking workout or nutrition. I'm not taking any supplements, other than occasional protien or a multi when I remember it. I'm certainly not using anything special in the gym.
I want someone to point this thread out to me the next time I start to let myself go.
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Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable. -- Sidney J. Harris
Amazing work JP, if you can manage do that while running a business and a website then all the little piddly excuses I try to come up with are just that. Now I have no excuses to hit my goals. Thanks a lot
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Hit my goal this morning!
for thematic elements, some sensuality, brief language and incidental smoking
I'm hoping that means we'll have a volleyball tournament as part of the activities? 
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