by Mike Vifquain on March 13, 2010
Here I am, 92 days into my journey and I’m still feeling lost. The weight just isn’t coming off how I intended. Not like “last time.”
As I mentioned in the last post, I needed to do something different. I needed to hold myself accountable. I am.
Just over a week ago I started attending a “Punch Boxing for Fitness” class for cardio, in addition to my weight training. I must say, it’s a really good workout – and keeping me motivated. It’s a mix of stretching, calisthenics and boxing that is always followed by a great core/ab workout. I leave the class drenched in sweat and feeling great about myself. It’s addicting. Almost too addicting. I’ve been every day since I registered. I forced myself to take yesterday off as to not “overtrain.”
For the first time in over a month, I saw the scale move.
Current weight: 283lbs
To be totally honest with you, I gained 3lbs the week before, so I was 288lbs. This moves this weeks “real loss” to 5lbs. Hooray me!
It’s taken me 92 days to lose 23lbs. I was sure I would be down at least 50lbs by now. I’m not.
Head up, Think Positive and Move Forward.
by Mike Vifquain on January 9, 2010
The first real test of my new, healthy lifestyle is coming up. I leave this morning for Las Vegas, Sin City and will be out of town for about 11 days in total. That’s a lot of time away from my home comfort zone, with plenty of unhealthy temptations. Can I do it? I don’t know if my goal should be to lose weight while gone, or to not gain any. Ultimately I would like to try and lose at least 2lbs while I am gone.
I think I can.
I will try and stay far away from starches and the candy in the mini bar. I will drink plenty of water and avoid the late night food binges. Oh, no buffets. Really, no buffets in Vegas? I’ll be at the Rio for part of my trip, they are known for their great seafood buffet!
I will workout, daily!
Yes, I will absolutely work out every day of my trip. If for some reason my diet slips up, I will make up for it in the gym. Anyone care to join me?
My Lederhosen are packed for the annual Oktoberfest warm-up party. The last 2 years, I have gone to Munich for Oktoberfest with a group of others from my industry. As you may guess, it’s filled with beer, food and drunken fun. Every January, at our Vegas convention, one of the sponsoring companies throws a party at the Hofbrauhaus for those who have attended the Munich event. We dress up in our German outfits and storm the place. Can you imagine 20-30 people dressed in Lederhosen and Dirndls walking through a casino? Yeah, we make quite the scene! This will be the only night I plan to consume a single beer. I will earn it with my diet and workout discipline!
In preparation for my trip I really kicked it into overdrive this week. I have continued my daily cardio, but added mon/wed/friday lifting. I even hit the gym this morning for another hour of Cardio. I can’t help myself.
Fridays workout was a full 60 minutes on the elliptical followed by an hour and a half of shoulders and back on the weights. I used the iFitness app for the first time on my iPod touch and was quite impressed! I exported my workout as follows:
Cable seated close row (1 x 15 100lbs, 1 x 12 110lbs, 1 x 10 120lbs )
Machine row ( 1 x 15 70lbs, 2 x 12 85lbs )
Machine Back flys ( 1 x 15 70lbs, 1 x 12 70lbs, 1 x 12 62.5lbs )
Dumbbell shoulder press ( 1 x 15 20lbs ea, 1 x 12 30lbs ea, 1 x 12 35lbs ea )
Assisted Pull-up ( 1 x 10 175lbs, 2 x 8 175lbs extra help on last 3 )
Dumbbell front raise ( 1 x 12 15lbs ea, 2 x 10 15lbs ea)
Upright row ( 1 x 15 35lbs, 1 x 11 35lbs, 1 x 6 50lbs )
Dumbbell shrugs ( 1 x 12 45lbs ea, 1 x 12 40lbs ea, 1 x 10 40lbs ea )
Lat pulldown ( 1 x 12 100lbs, 1 x 12 85lbs, 1 x 10 85lbs )
Dumbbell lateral raise ( 1 x 15 10lbs ea, 2 x 12 10lbs ea )
One hell of a workout, but it felt great. I’m a little sore this morning though!
So, wish me luck as I travel to Vegas. May I win plenty of money while staying on my healthy path!
by Mike Vifquain on January 8, 2010
As quickly as the cougars arrived over the holidays, they seem to have disappeared as the cold arrived this week. I am stunned. No scantily dressed, middle-aged women with caked on make-up this week at the gym. What am I going to do without this entertainment? It’s like showing up to a circus with no clowns!
I did an hour on the elliptical this morning for a total of 1014 calories burned.
I also downloaded some Nifty Apps for my iPod Touch.
“Tap & Track” to help count my calories consumed and burned.
“iFitness” to log my workouts to measure progress.
These came highly recommended from a friend of mine. I’m pretty excited about using them and seeing the growth.
This afternoon over lunch I am lifting again. I will be doing my full body measurements before then and log those numbers here as well.
I’ll post more later after the workout. TGIF!
by Mike Vifquain on January 6, 2010
This weeks weight: 291lbs (-3lbs)
I know, not what I was expecting. I thought I had another pound or two than that, but a loss is a loss. It puts me at 15lbs lost and only 5lbs away from my first goal of 286lbs. Will I lose 5lbs in time for my competition weigh-in Sunday in Vegas?
January 6, 2010 - 15lbs Lost
Yes, I still have my Christmas tree up! Don’t judge, I’ve been busy losing weight! It will be down by the weekend.
Today I hit the gym twice. 45 minutes of amped up cardio on the elliptical in the morning. By “amped-up” I mean I dialed the intensity up quite a bit. I did HIIT (Interval training) and rotated 75rpm for 5 minutes then down to 50rpm for 3 minutes to recover. I really felt it, and I know my body reacted well to the switch.
After lunch I hit a different gym with my buddy, the trainer. We worked biceps, triceps and then abs and core. I didn’t write things down, but here is my best recollection:
4 x 12 dumbbell curls
3 x 12 overhead cable/rope extension for triceps (not sure the proper name. )
superset:
3 x 12 seated preacher curl machine
3 x 12 seated hammer push machine
superset:
3 x 12 close grip bench press
3 x 12 dumbbell hammer curls
superset:
3 x 12 cable bar curls
3 x 12 cable rope pull extension
3 x 12 crunches
superset:
3 x 12 bicycle crunches
3 x 12 core twists (seated like a sit-up, recline back and twist core left to right and back)
3 x 12 hanging leg lifts
Let me tell you, this was one hell of a workout in only an hour!
Question for you all:
I’m finding that the more protein I consume, the more I am letting off a few butt-burps. They don’t smell too good either! I know I don’t do well with too much beef, so I limit myself to turkey, chicken, tuna, etc.
How do I prevent myself from ripping ass 20 times a day from all this protein consumption?
by Mike Vifquain on January 5, 2010
I bit the bullet.
Yesterday I started my weight training program with an all out blitz on my chest. After another morning with 60 minutes on the elliptical, I planned my afternoon workout with a trainer friend of mine.
I am weak! Very weak!
We started warming up the chest and shoulders with light dumbbell presses.
4 x Bench press (135lb x 12, 145 x 10, 145 x 6, 115 x 12)
4 x dumbbell incline press (35’s x 10, 30 x 10, 25 x 12, 25 x 8 )
3 x standing free-cable flies. (30’s x 10, 25 x 12, 25 x 10, 25 x 6)
3 x dumbbell bench press ( 25 x 10, 25 x 6, 25 x 8 negatives, 20 x 8 negatives)
3 x decline bench machine ( 50 x 12, 50 x 8, 50 x 8 negative, 50 x 5 negative)
I was pretty ashamed of how weak I was. It felt good to lift, but my head was down from embarrassment. I’m a little sore today, but I can still lift my arms. I guess the cardio I have been doing has helped a little.
I will be lifting 3 days a week (Mon, wed, Fri)now that I have a workout partner. Best part is he is a very experienced trainer too, so I know he’s not going to lead me down the wrong path.
Now, what the hell is wrong with the weather in this country? It was 28 in Tampa when I woke up yesterday! It’s damn cold this morning as well. It is really hard to stay motivated when all I want to do is crawl under a big blanket and sleep. I am facing it head on, waking up early so I have a chance to wake up and warm-up before working out.
Tomorrow is my official weigh-in day, I think I will be around 290 or so. That will leave me only a few days to drop the additional weight to meet my first goal. I can do it though!
How is your year starting off? Are you sticking to your resolutions this early, or are you brushing them off?
by Mike Vifquain on January 2, 2010
Would you strip down to your undies in front of strangers?
After my workout today I was getting ready to shower at the gym and noticed I’m one of the few “Big Guys” who uses the shower at the gym. I’m wondering if it’s because others are ashamed of their size? I don’t get bothered in that situation, but do wear a shirt at the beach. Pretty odd, right?
So I’m setting myself a new goal. Truth or dare. I choose dare. I dare myself to go shirtless in front of my peers for a convention I have to attend in Las Vegas, in June. I have 5 months to build my confidence up enough to do this. June also happens to be my goal month to lose 100lbs. What a way to show the “new me” eh? I will be in plenty of industry photos. Only this time I won’t be the “Bellyflop champion” I have been in the past (see photo below), I will be a 200lb stud!
Todays workout was great! 60 minutes on the elliptical for a total of 992 calories burned! In addition I did another 30 minutes on the treadmill of a 3.5mph walk. I set it to Random and it adjusted the incline quite frequently.
My shins were killing me! I imagine this is because of the incline, but shows I still have a very long way to go.
While there, a friend of mine mentioned she was going to be running a 15k at the end of February. I need to check my travel schedule, but I’m thinking about giving it a shot. 15k is 9 or so miles. I imagine this is a 2-2.5 hour race for me at this point. I wonder if I could complete it? I absolutely hate running, but setting a lofty goal like this would be good for me.
What are your thoughts? Have any of you tried a run like this after a period of little activity? I know some of you guys are a little further in your journey than I, what do you suggest?
