Mpm's 61 Day Journal

[mpm]

Well I decided to take the plunge and join the challenge. I've never done anything like this before, and I decided to give it a shot.

Brief History

I am 23 years old, 6'0" tall and 144 pounds give or take a few (10% BF). I graduated college in December 2006, and I have landed myself a high paying desk job. I have managed to lose all motivation and discipline that I once had while I was still in college.

I've noticed I don't have near as much energy, and I'm slowly losing my nice flat stomach. I'm a skinny lean person naturally, but I'm starting to notice that I'm getting away from that slowly. Hence this is the reason I want to try this out.

I need any and all motivation and support I can get, so I can redevelop my discipline and health habits. Anyway, on with the goals.

Nutritional Goal

I eat pretty healthy as it is, so that isn't too big of a deal. A goal I want to meet is to eat 2800 calories or more per day for at least five of seven days in the week. I may change this if I feel this is a limiting factor in my other goals.

In meeting this calorie count, I want to make sure I still eat clean 80% of the time. I don't really eat candy, sweets or bad fats so this shouldn't really be a problem. I just don't want to reach the calorie count by eating junk.

Fitness Goal

This is my main concern. I need to develop consistency in my workouts. Too often will I go out of town and stop working out. I want to lift weights at least 2-3 times per week. I also want to go on walks at least 1-2 times per week to rid stress and stay mentally healthy.

My goals for this section are pretty cut and dry. I don't want to be too picky and worry about the small things while I am having trouble just getting to the gym. The small things will work themselves out.

Personal Goal

For my personal goal, I want to gain weight up to 150 pounds. I will determine how many pounds that is on the first day of the challenge when I weigh myself. It will probably be around 6-8 pounds. If I get past this after the first month, I will readjust. I want to do this without gaining too much fat. So I am setting my BF goal to not increase.

My other goal is making my lifting workouts 90% of the time. This is really big for me. This will only allow me to miss about 2-3 workouts at most. I figure I will lift weights 24 times during this period. That means I have to make 21 out of 24 workouts. I will re-evaluate before June 1st to make sure this number is feasible.

Competitive Goal

I have no idea what I will do here. If anyone can show me where I can go to see a list of events in Houston, I would be happy to look at it. Any and all suggestions welcome here.


If I am missing anything please feel free to let me know. I will gladly add the missing criteria. Good luck to everyone. I hope you all meet your goals.

[Victoria]

mpm, your goals look great...welcome! I'm glad you decided to join in on the fun. You'll get plenty of support from here, don't worry about that. This is a great community. Just have fun working hard and meeting your goals.

I haven't forgotten about the V2 info. But, I will tell you, Precision Nutrition is one of the best programs available. So, if you are looking for a nutrition plan, you can't go wrong with this one.

Best of luck!!!

[mpm]

Well after more thought, I decided I want to raise the healthy eating percentage to 85% and make the weight lifting 22 times instead of 24. I forgot I will be out of town for a week, and Im not sure if I will have access to weights. I'm still looking for something to do in the competitive section.

[mpm]

My official weigh in today was 143.2 lbs. So I need to gain 6.8 pounds to meet my goal. That seems pretty reasonable as long as I stay on top of things.

[Victoria]

Originally Posted by mpm

Well after more thought, I decided I want to raise the healthy eating percentage to 85% and make the weight lifting 22 times instead of 24. I forgot I will be out of town for a week, and Im not sure if I will have access to weights. I'm still looking for something to do in the competitive section.

There are some pretty challenging body-weight programs out there that would be a great fill-in for your week away. Have you considered any of those? Or, that could just be a nice week off!

[lance02]

Good luck in the challenge! Your goals look great.

[James Newman]

Good luck mpm. I think Paula was from Houston. She may have some inside information on events in the area. Yes, I know Houston is huge, but hey..its Texas.. Like a whole nother country, no? Welcome to the Challenge.

Its Day 3, what is 1 extra thing you can do today to help you reach your goals that you hadn't planned to do but can add in? If you can see where I am going, why not add that in today?

Newman

[ark]

You have the same stats as my best friend. She is tall and lean Good luck w/ your journey.

[mpm]

Thanks for all who have replied so far with support.

I finally got into the gym today and lifted. I would have liked to have gotten there sooner, but its better than not at all. I had a great workout, and I feel really motivated now especially in other areas of my life.

I really like how working out can benefit so many things. I had forgotten that recently I think. Its good to be back.

Victoria, I will look into the bodyweight stuff. It sounds like something very handy when I'm out of town. I think I will try and swim some laps while I am gone. I am not used to swimming, so I know it will be a challenging workout. If anyone knows of events around Houston, I would like to hear them.

I would like to do some type of charity event. I feel like I would get more out of that on a personal level than just doing a competitive event. Any ideas are appreciated though. I will check back in soon. Until next time.

[SpacecityPaula]

MPM check out www.harra.org for events calendar. I was actually going to do a 5k in sugarland this weekend and didn't get there in time for the race start. But it was a nice drive.

[mpm]

Thanks for the website. I bet I can find something I can do on there. It looks like there's a ton of stuff at first glance.

[lance02]

I did bodyweight workouts today, and it was a great addition to my workout routine -- worked really well for me today since I had limited time.

[mpm]

Ok so I'm thinking about doing a 1 mile race. I haven't ran a mile probably since I was in high school. It's in less than two weeks so I have little time to prepare.

What's the best way (if there is one) to prepare for something this soon? Obviously I don't want to fall over dead halfway there.


Also, since I'm trying to gain weight, isnt this kinda counterproductive if i do this?

[mpm]

Well I thought I would check in. I just got back from a workout. Energy was great during the workout. My endurance levels are picking back up. I did my weekly weigh in and I am at 147.4 lbs. That's + 4.2 lbs for me. I'm headed in the right direction, but I have a feeling that some of this is water weight. Only time will tell.

It's been so hot and humid here that I haven't got to do any activities outside like I normally do. My nutrition has been decent, but still needs a little more consistency.

I am proud of myself yesterday though. I had to work on my normal off day, so I didn't get to pack my lunch. I went to the cafeteria, but I consciously picked out something healthy to eat. I didn't want to make that as an excuse and eat something not healthy. In the past, I would have picked whatever appealed to me.

Well that's all I have for now. Good luck to everyone else in the challenge.

[James Newman]

What would it take, or what do you need to do to create the sort of consistency you need in your nutrition? What's missing? etc....

Newman

[mpm]

Well I just back from a hell of a workout. All my lifts were up 5 to 15 lbs from last time. I'm starting to regain my strength. I haven't been so focused in a long time. It was really great.

I weighed in at 145.2 lbs. I'm down from the last weigh in, but I'm pretty sure that it was just water weight. However, I am still up over all by about 3 lbs. I'm starting to get the lifting fever again.

I was hesitant to work out today, but made myself go. I sure am glad I did now. I feel so much better than before I went. My eating is going well. I'm actually eating healthier than I had set my goals for I think, so that is a definite plus.

That's about all I have for today. If anyone would like me to include more/other information in this log, please let me know. This is the first one I have really done, so I'm no expert by any means.

[lance02]

Sounds like an excellent workout -- way to go!

[James Newman]

I don't think anyone would ever criticize you for eating healthier than you'd planned. Rock on!!

Newman