What About Now?

What About Now?

So in my last few blogs I brought you up to speed on my weight loss ups and downs and what pushed me to really do what I’m doing. I talked about the aches and pains of being a big guy and running, the mental battles, my poor health and the changes I’m making and things like that…but “what about now Matt? Where are you now?” Well I can answer that…

Right now, (as of October 31, 2017) I weigh 256 pounds. That’s right, 256 pounds. Remember I jumped back up to 307 to start 2017. So I am down 51 pounds since say about May (6 months). My workout routine wasn’t the best from Jan-May of 2017. I had taken some different routines and sets from articles I’ve read on Men’s Fitness and things like that, some old workouts from when I was a gym rat in my 20’s and tried to piece together something to get me going. I started losing weight, losing inches, and increasing my strength but no real muscles gains yet. I was also traveling a lot for work and so it was easy to get complacent and end up just chilling in my hotel room, watching TV and ordering room service versus hitting the gym so I wasn’t making the progress I wanted. June and July of 2017 were tough for me too (here come more excuses, right?) as I had some intense travel for work and since I have a speaking job (Corporate Trainer) I’m gassed by the end of the day. It was on one of my business trips that a met a dude that really would go on to give me the best tips I’ve ever been given for this journey. 

I’m not going to use his real name so we’ll just call him “Guns”. “Guns” was recently hired at my place of employment and it was my job to train him (and others) on how to use our system. After class one day he goes “Matt, you work out don’t you?” now at the time I weighed about 295 and was very “soft” in appearance obviously. I said “yeah I do, or at least I try to” and he says “I can tell”. Now what you need to know about “Guns” is that this dude is jacked. I mean 20+ inch biceps (hence my nickname “Guns”), fit, and tan. Now “Guns” is maybe 41, 42 years old and used to be a professional bodybuilder when he was younger. He showed me some pictures and he also used to own and operate his own supplement company before he sold it for profit. He has an eye for fitness or “gains” as we gym rats like to call it. He says “You said you ‘try’…what are you ‘trying’ to do?” I thought about it and said “I want to lose like 80 pounds but gain muscle and strength. I don’t want to carry around a ton of loose skin as much as I can help it and I’m serious about the 80 pounds.”  He laughed with me and goes “why 80 pounds? Why put a number on it?” and I said “Well, I feel like 215-220 would be a good weight for me”. He said “don’t put a number on it. Are you trying to win a competition or set a record of some kind?” I said “no” so he says “that’s lesson #1. Be realistic. Don’t put unnecessary numbers or expectations to what you are doing. Matt, if you lost 60 pounds instead of 80, would you really be upset?” and I thought about it and had to laugh. I looked up at “Guns” and he was smiling. He knew I understood what he was saying. He extended his hand and I shook it and said “You’re right”. So he offered to review my workout routine and give me tips because we made a bond there and he is passionate about bodybuilding. We talked for an hour.

Ultimately he wrote me a 3 day workout program and I’ve stuck with it since he gave it to me in July. I do days 1 through 3 then rest 1 day, then do days 1 & 2 and rest 1 day, then pick up where I left off for 3, etc. So it’s lift for 3/rest 1/lift for 2/rest 1/ and so on. I stuck with it for July-September but I’ve even added a few exercises to each routine and even made one up a day of exercises to plug in on one of my off days for October to keep my body guessing.  So now I work out 6 days a week and rest only on Sundays. I don’t overdo it; I know my limits but I WANT to be in the gym. I email him a few times throughout the month to check in and keep myself honest. I give him my measurements and even have sent him progress pics so he can see where I’ve lost and where I’ve made gains for adjustment purposes. I continue to research new methods, etc. as well.

I think my biggest gain to date though was in my diet. My wife and I went Vegan “cold turkey” mid-August and I haven’t looked back.

 On 8/1/17 I weighed in at 291 pounds. 

8/31/17 I weighed in at 273 pounds.

9/30/17 I weighed in at 267 pounds.

10/31/17 I weighed in at 256 pounds.

So with my combination of weight lifting, running, and a Vegan diet I’m down 51 pounds since May. 35 of those pounds came after I went Vegan. Some say “getting to the gym is hard”…”exercising is the hard part”…for me, I disagree. The diet is the hard part. I don’t drink soda. I have a total of 5 beers a month (I count). I don’t eat meat or any animal bi-products (I know this sounds crazy but I will explain why in another blog). These are significant gains and it’s been tough and a lot of hard work and a lot of research and label reading for this diet to keep things tasty and balanced but it’s all been worth it.

So now that you had the back story of my journey, I felt the need to bring you up to speed on “where are you now?” As I move forward in my journey, I plan on sharing my victories and failures in the gym and on the pavement, more information as to why I went Vegan and how that all works, and things like that. The point of this blog is to share my story about taking back control of my health, my body, my physical and mental well-being. It may help you or a friend. If you’re like me, you get motivated by others saying “screw it” and just going for it…whatever “it” may be. I belong to some running groups on Facebook and have received many tips, advice, motivation, and encouragement. Support is everything on LIFE changes…I call it a “life” change because diet and exercise is exactly that. I’m fortunate to have a wife and kids who have my back every step of the way as well as friends and family who check in and offer their encouragement and positive vibes. So hopefully this blog helps you in some way even if it’s just entertainment. Much more to come folks so stay tuned and feel free to share this and/or comment!

Cheers!