A Fatty finds his inner lifeguard

I've been a lifeguard for over a decade and it used to be that I wasn't shy about going topless most of the day. I had a nice tan, I wasn't cut or even thin but I never really cared about it too much. The last few years though I've started wearing rash guards around the pool deck and on the beaches out of a bit of embarrassment and well mostly to save the eyes of those unfortunate folks who would have to see my mass.

So prepare yourselves readers and cover your young ones eyes, this is also the point at which I should warn you that if you've recently eaten or have an adverse reaction to gluttony, look away! This is the first set of before/during pictures that will be posted on this site and I am still totally shocked at what I've become but I'm also quite proud of the small changes that can be seen. Tighter neck, buffer chest, smaller stomach, subtle differences but those subtleties mean that there is progress being made. It's important to remember that 150 pounds doesn't fall off overnight and muscles don't grow on rocks. Well wait, they do but.... whatever.



Also, I warned you. And I know the picture goes off the screen a bit but any smaller and you can't see the changes!

 

A Fatty loses inches

I've known my pants have been getting looser over the past month but it is hard to stay positive when the scale isn't changing. Nonetheless I have been diligent about working out and running, though maybe not as diligent on tracking my calories as I should. I decided that I need to stay on top of tracking and will let you know how well I keep up on that.

So a month or so ago I took my measurements and they were
Neck - 19"
Waist - 55"
Hips - 53"

Now they are
Neck - 18"
Waist - 50"
Hips - 50"

So that's exciting, now for the calorie burn from that muscle mass to kick in so I can see those changes on the scale too!

Hope ya'll had an amazing holiday!

A Fatty gets wet

Is there anything better than an evening run in the pouring rain?

I don't think so! The puddles and the rivers of water through the streets made it the most fun I've had in a long long time. When was the last time you purposefully ran through some puddles?

Fatty takes a break

I'm tired.

I'm not tired of working out or eating right or running. I'm just tired. I think we all need days off and today was definitely a nice one. Woke up late, helped my kid brother with computer issues all day and ended the night with an Arrested Development marathon. Gotta love those Bluth's!

(Five Finger not pictured :p)

A friend called me yesterday to ask about my monkey shoes(the Vibram Five Fingers) and if I'm still wearing them. I am. Though not as often as I should. Running has really taken a back burner to strength training but it struck me during our conversation that they shouldn't really interfere with each other. I'm not sure why I stopped running on the days I do strength training but after I let the gym membership expire it just kind of became one or the other. Maybe that's why I've not seen the weight loss I was seeing with the daily gym routine?

It's time to put on the monkey shoes again and get running. What do you think? Weights before or after running?

How a Fatty learned to persevere

per·se·vere/ˌpərsəˈvi(ə)r/

Verb: Continue in a course of action even in the face of difficulty or with little or no indication of success. 

Well ok, maybe I've seen some success, I mean I do have some muscles but everyday it is still a task to overcome the mental block of working out. To shake off that mental dust from the night and to hit the weights or to tie the shoes and to push yourself harder than the day before.   And yet I'm learning that every time I do, every time I push myself and make that first rep or run that first few feet, everything changes. My brain clears up, my blood starts to flow, my enthusiasm builds, my muscles start to burn, my breathing starts to race and I feel alive. I feel better than alive even, I feel great.

Today was one of those days. I woke up and I immediately didn't want to work out. I told my kid brother that he should work out with me today. If there is anything that motivates me to do something, it's the prospect of teaching it to someone else. I love to teach. He agreed and together we hit the bowflex hard. It was his first time on the machine and it felt good to watch him struggle and persevere and it pushed me harder to do more. We took turns doing our sets, lowering the weight for him and tossing more on for me and then did curls side by side at the end followed by 30 second sets of planks and then scissor kicks and V's on our backs for abs. I am lucky to have a kid brother who wants to see me succeed, even at the expense of feeling some pain. 

I heard a quote a long time ago and I can't remember it exactly but it was something along the lines of, Do something you hate everyday, just for the practice. While I don't hate working out, at least not in the way I hate brussels sprouts or murderous cyborgs from the future who want to turn humanity into emotionless cybermen like them, I do think that I hate exertion on some level. I hope that as this lifestyle continues to become permanent that that taste will leave my mouth. Just admitting it is a step in the that direction!

A Fatty finds a muscle

Yesterday was weigh-in and I am still right at 329. No change from last week but on the other hand, for the first time in maybe my whole life, I have biceps! I can feel them anyway, and triceps, and other muscles. It's a very exciting experience to start seeing results. I likes it.

A Fatty wanders the holiday streets

This blog title has become a bit of a misnomer. Well not entirely, I mean I still run, just not as often as I strength train. Still I like the ring(or thud) or Fatty Goes Running and so it will remain.

Last night was a run night.

Twas the night before Thursday, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The lights were hung on the cacti with care,
In hopes that a neighbor would see them there.

The skinnies were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of being naked in front of the conference room danced in their heads.
And mamma in her nightgown and poppa in his cap,
Had all settled down for their long winters nap.

When out on the street there arose such a clatter,
The dogs all sprang from their beds to see what was the matter.
Away to the windows they flew like a flash,
Barking and shredding the poor dusty sash.

The streetlamps gave the street a weird glow
And gave the lustre of post-apocalypse death to objects below.
When  what to their doggy eyes did appear,
But a Fatty running with all the sound of eight tiny reindeer!

The thunder of the footfalls hard and not fast,
they knew in a moment it must be barked at.
More rapid than turtles his footfalls they came,
And he huffed, and groaned, and told them to tame.

Now yorki! now collie! now, mutt and poodle!
Now, lab! Now, shepard! Now, hound and boxerdoodle!
To the porch and the fence and the top of the wall!
Now bark away! Bark away! Bark away all!

That's all of that poem I can come up with right now but outside of the dogs, I love running in the middle of the night. I've been trying to alter my running form to land more midfoot and less heel, I can definitely tell a huge difference and it feels much better but it's hard to do without constantly focusing on it. This is my favorite time of year to wander the midnight streets. Most of the houses leave their christmas lights on all night and it makes things a bit more magical. Christmas in Phoenix is pretty strange though, the lights on the cacti are indeed hung with care but many of them are covered in christmas cheer none-the-less.

How a Fatty recovered and lost 5 pounds doing it

In a word?

Vicodin.

I had no idea that stuff was such an appetite suppressant. After pulling that back muscle on Sunday evening I dove into a hard regiment of sleep, vicodin and ice packs for the next 2 days followed by 2 more days of heat. It was honestly that bad. Friday I was finally able to start bending again and I did a light workout on the old bowflex. Saturday I went for a run and then hit the bowflex hard when I got back.

The gym membership expired and after the last two days on the backyard bowflex, I don't think I am going to renew it. It's $65 a month and while I love the environment and the steam room, I don't like using the treadmill (see previous anti-treadmill post) or the other cardio machines very much and the bowflex really does allow me to do a full body workout just like I would do at the gym. Money saved is money earned right?

This week has been pretty eye opening for me as far as food intake goes. I am by no means starving myself but I am eating probably close to 40% of the sheer gross weight of food I used to eat and nowadays the food I am eating tends to be much healthier and more thoughtful. It's certainly a better way to live and I am excited to be well past the habit forming weeks at the start.

So todays weigh-in is 329!

How a Fatty had to listen

Wednesday morning, 3am, I'm still on a reversed sleep schedule. It seems that every time I don't have to work my body quickly turns vampiric. It's not bad though, I like running under the stars and the streets are silent except for the falling of my feet and breath as it escapes.

Wednesday morning, 3am, I've not run since Sunday. I went for, or tried to rather, go for a trail run along Lake Pleasant but the rockiness of the trail turned into mostly a brisk walk. It was gorgeous out though, the sun was setting and there were ducks and other water birds making a ruckus. I love being around water. It is pretty scarce here in the desert and Lake Pleasant is one of the few places where it is in abundance around here. The lake was formed with the help of a dam but it's still beautiful in it's own way. The trail I ran had a bridge at my turn-around point and the last time I walked it the bridge was floating but not this time. The water has receded and the floating bridge rests at the bottom of a ravine. The lake wasn't but 20 feet away and there were a whole lot of birds playing in the water. I realized I hadn't just sat and listened to nature in far too long so I did. I took off my backpack, sat down and listened to the wind. It was phenomenal. I love those moments.

On the way back to the car I felt a pain in my right central back and thought maybe it was just a kidney or my liver being weird. I've being dealing with some crazy intestinal issues the past few years and so I ignored the pain and headed to the gym. First machine, Lat pulldown. Set 1. Hooooha! Set 2. Hooooha! Set 3. Hooooouuuwwwwwwwwwwwwww! I stupidly and foolishly ignored the pain and jumped on machine number two, the row machine thingajobby...Set 1. HooOW! Set 2. OWWWWWWOKOKIGIVE! And off to the steam room, I definitely had strained my lower delt? to the point that I had to ask someone to pull me up off the bench in the steam room and I walked out of the gym without my shoes on because I couldn't bend over without crying. The last 3 days have been a constant stream of ice packs, Vicodin and now heat pads and it's finally starting to hurt a bit less and loosen up.

If I had only listened a little bit more. Ah well, lessons for the future.