FAT-OFF DAY ONE

The journey has begun. Along with listing my schedule, body stats, workout particulars and diet, I will be occasionally including a few tips that you might find useful in your daily trek toward fitness. I hope this helps somebody else out there to reach their goals.

Quote of the Day: Nothing tastes as good as being fit and strong feels.

EAT FOR FUNCTION, NOT TASTE.

EAT TO LIVE, DON'T LIVE TO EAT.

At day one I begin with approximately 20% body fat. My goal for the final photo shoot is 6%. My tiny bit of math skill tells me I have 14% body fat to take off, incidentally my favorite number--don't ask why, because seriously I have no idea.

I weigh 212.5 pounds and am actually up to a Levi's size 35 waist 501 jeans. My goal weight is 185 with a goal pant size of 33. I am at a handicap where the body mass index charts are concerned. My lean weight is listed as 163, at which weight all of my body building for the last twenty or so years would be for nothing--and I am supposed to maintain 16% body fat at that weight! When I was 9% body fat at 187 pounds last October I was charted as morbidly obese. No kidding. The handicap is that if you are a serious weight lifter you will always necessarily weigh far more than the charts say you should. NEVER forget to take this into account. Things are figured differently in the body building world. Don't get discouraged. You are a world apart.

Day one's workout concentrates on the muscles of the chest and triceps. I begin at 10:25 AM and end at 11:09, as far as the weight lifting part of the workout. My cardio intervals and ab workout bring this to 12:00 PM.

Here is the workout:

15, 12 and 10 reps of flat bench press, AFTER a warmup set, raising weight each set, ending with a set that needs a spotter. All sets should have a carefully timed one minute rest between.

15, 12 and 10 reps of incline bench, same as above but without the warmup set.

15, 12 and 7 reps decline bench. Last rep is all I can muster, for a level 10 out of a possible 10 on effort.

For triceps (no warmup, as bench work covered this):

15, 12, 10 reps close grip bench press, one minute rests

15, 12, 10 reps pushdowns

15, 12, 10 skull crushers--don't let the name scare you off. If you do this right, with a good stretch, it will give you great results.

Weight workout ends, now begins cardio work.

The "Sprint 8" workout consists of a 3-5 minute warmup on the treadmill, then a 20-30 second all-out sprint, 90 second rest at 3 MPH. Repeat this 8 times, then cool down as long as you need. At the end of this interval workout you should be ready to collapse. You will NOT want to do one more sprint. DRINK A TALL GLASS OF WATER.

Abdominal work: Leg lifts on the end of a weight bench: 15, done to a cadence of a count of 3 up, count of 3 down. Keep it slow, keep your stomach sucked in, keep your stomach muscles contracted. Believe me, 15 will be a LOT. Leg lifts resting on left hip: 15 ; Leg lifts resting on right hip: 15; Straight crunch on bench: 15 ; Right crossover crunch on bench, 15 ; L crossover crunch on bench, 15. Both of these were done as partial reps, keeping it contracted at the top of the movement.

Now here is how the whole day's schedule went:

7:20 AM: 16 oz water

7:30 AM: Protein drink, 50 calories worth

9:45 AM: Smoothie containing: 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt; 3 cups spinach; 1 medium banana; 5 ice cubes; 8 oz water; 80 calories worth of frozen concentrate grape juice. This concoction sounds and looks nasty, but it is actually pretty tasty, and a great way to get your spinach down without even tasting it. Two months I got braces put on, so this is perfect for me.

9:50: 8 oz. water

10:45-12:00, workout

11:00: Protein drink, 120 calories (sip this during your workout for maximum effect and absorption into the muscle cells.

1:30: lean ham, 230 calories

3:45: 3/4 cup cottage cheese, 150 calories; 3 cloves of minced garlic. (just shove it in with a spoon and follow with a tall glass of water.); 1 1/2 TBS raw, unprocessed coconut oil (actually tastes pretty good, although the texture initially takes a little getting used to); 1 cup Diet Pepsi (this is VERY bad for you, and my only excuse is that I had a 2 liter bottle I'm using up; when it's gone you won't see pop of any kind on my lists if I can help it.);

Supplements: 3 fish oil; 1 glucosamine-chondroitin; 2 gree tea capsules; 1 multivitamin; 1 calcium (more on this in a future blog); 2 concentrated vegetable pills; 1 vit B complex; 8 oz water

6:00 PM: 16 oz water with 2 cups of elk meatballs, boiled; 1 TBS coconut oil, 1 vitamin B complex; 2 green tea; handful of trailmix including cranberries, raisins, pumpkins kernels, cashews, sunflower seeds--spendy but very nutritious.

8:00 PM: 16 oz water, 6 whole grain crackers with a half avocado; Protein shake mixed up with spinach, banana, yogurt and grape juice into a smoothie.

Day's calorie count: approx 3000 calories, which I'll gradually start cutting as my 12 program goes on.

GET PLENTY OF SLEEP

WATER GOAL: 10-12 eight oz cups a day. It's not as much as you think and is critical to your success.

I am beyond embarrassed at having gained this much weight during my bulking up phase, but it is vital to this program that I show what I look like in the beginning, thus the inclusion of the lovely photos.