Huuuuge Gut...

Recently, I have been drifting away from my usual analytical senses and following my gut instinct. For reasons unknown, my mind, and the way that I have been approaching things has greatly changed. I have decided to live a more care-free and relaxed lifestyle. It probably started about a month ago, at the gym to be exact (where else, right? haha). After changing the outlook of my workouts, the amount of research I had been doing was starting to really take its toll on me. My head was one big clusterf*ck of information. Some of which related to each other, and most of which contradicted each other. In other words, I was one confused m*therf*cker. One magazine said one thing, the internet said another, a personal trainer said another thing. I was going nuts. I did not know what to eat, how much to lift, and started doubting the most important person in the world. MYSELF!

So I did what most people in my situation would do, commit suicide. Not physically, but mentally. I cleared my head of everything, and went back to what I knew. The basics! Going back to what I knew best, what I trusted, and listening to myself. Not only did this work in the gym, as my workouts and focus dramatically improved, my entire outlook on life changed. I started to take a few steps back and evaluate what things mattered most to me. I took on some short term goals, and now feel like I have direction again. It also prompted me to convince myself that stepping on stage, in front of 100s of people, in a speedo, was a good idea.

Back to the topic, my gigantic gut. Most of the time, we tend to question ourselves and our abilities. Sometimes this can be positive as we are able to evaluate a situation that may worsen our current conditions. However, in most situations of our daily lives, we are forced to make a decision on the fly. Using our common sense and instinct, we follow through on what we feel is correct and most beneficial to ourselves. In other words, we let our confidence shine through. When we are passionate about what we feel or when we are 100% confident in our direction, we feel unstoppable, fearless, and nothing can stand in our way. Think about that last statement, and you'll agree.

I have no idea what tomorrow will bring me. I have no idea what is in store for next weekend. I just took my GMAT practice test and scored pretty damn shitty. 70th percentile. But one thing is for sure, I will listen to myself instead of the millions of so-called experts out there. I may be 10x smarter by next weekend, or 10x dumber to some people, but at least I am following what I believe is right, instead of what everyone else feels is right for me.

uniquely selfish...

As I prepare myself for my very first bodybuilding contest, I have had many thoughts regarding the physical changes that come along with this commitment. For one, I have been on the heavier side for most of my life, so naturally, working out was a way for me to lose the fat. Second, I would not exactly say that my self-esteem and confidence are bursting through the roof all the time. I believe there is a fine line between confidence and arrogance, and I have yet to find this line, or even come close to it. I feel that I am a pretty humble person, and the thought of flattery or glorifying myself pretty much gives me goosebumps.

Now here lies the problem. Bodybuilding is a very vain and selfish sport. It is always about yourself, how you look, and what you need to do. There is no one to blame except yourself, and you are your entire team. This is the main reason that I have such a huge passion for this sport, because I cannot blame anyone for my misfortune and because of the high level of physical and mental demand that this sport puts you through. However, in my case, there is a slight tweak in the entire process. What if you care about how other people feel or think? Yes, this is unhealthy. Yes, I should not worry about what other people think or say. But, it is human nature to feel the desire to please others. Therapists, friends, family and everyone else will tell you otherwise, but I do not know anyone who can honestly admit that they did not care about what other people thought of them.

Preparing for a contest is basically two stages, bulking up and cutting down. You bulk up by eating a ton of food, lifting heavy weight, and basically attempting to get your muscles as big as possible. Cutting down is much harder, as you cut many foods from your daily plate, and do endless amounts of cardio. However, the end result of cutting down is the physique that you have always dreamed of. Six-pack abs, defined arms, etc. Bulking up, on the other hand, generally gives the illusion of someone who is out of shape, physically. The excess calories needed to put up with the stress of heavy weights and to put on muscle all generally lead to one thing. FAT! It is nearly impossible to gain muscle without putting on a little bit of fat. This is what worried me the most for some reason. The past few years attempting to get as lean as possible, down the drain in the 4 months of bulking up. I admit, I have always had this obsession with staying lean, and would do whatever it took to maintain it. Whether it was 6 days of cardio a week, or eating just the right amount to guarantee that I would not gain weight.

I have only bulked up once in my life, and got up to 215 pounds. I remember how uncomfortable it got, and looking at past pictures, I did not look like the workout freak that I was. I looked more like a fast food junkie, than a gym rat. Was I ready for this type of transformation again? That was the lingering question that I kept asking myself, until one day the obvious hit me. Who do I really need to worry about during this entire time? The only person that appearance matters to is plain, selfish ME! I did not get where I was, made the friends that I made by the way that I looked. My friends and family have somehow grown to like me for what I know, how I made them feel, and for the influence and impact that I have made on their lives. Never did they like me for my waist size, it was always for what I brought to them.

Now that I figured out my own problem, I started paying more attention to people and their physiques. Yes, a bit weird, but bear with me. I started observing everyone more closely. Their physical attributes and appearance. The people who were pear shaped, ripped like models, or skinny as a pole. Everyone had their own unique appearances, and it was a bit intriguing. Our current society is so obsessed with altering their physical appearance, that no one really appreciates what we were given. A bit sad, if you ask me. Some people will bust their butt in the gym, eat right and everything, but in the end, never acheive their ideal look. Then there are other people who will cut themselves open and "make" themselves look different. But I believe that it is our collective uniqueness that makes us all so interesting. Admit it, you enjoy sitting around people watching too.

Where am I going with all of this? In my own personal dillemma of worrying about "getting fat" during my bulk, I realized that it was my own selfishness that was holding me back from accomplishing this latest goal. My friends and family love me for being unique from everyone else, not because I am like everyone else. And now that I realize all this, its time to eat yet again. Can't grow without fuel, and food = fuel.

Summer Nutrition and Dieting

My first blog outside of myspace. Exciting. I can't think of a better way to start of my blog here with something that I am super passionate about, which is fitness and nutrition. For most of my life, I have been the chubby kid, and after years and years of working out and trying new things, I fianlly got my sh*t together and decided to dedicate this year to understanding my body.

In order to get this out, I've decided to do a diet review. From April 2009-July 2009, I followed a pretty strict, gradual calorie depleting diet. And during the month of September, I followed a diet very similar to the Ketogenic diet, Anabolic diet, or Palumbo Diet. Of course, I made a few necessary tweaks to it, and followed that instead. On with the reviews.

Gradual Depletion:
Start Weight/BF% - ~190lbs, 13%
End Weight/BF% - ~172lbs, 7%

This diet was pretty easy to follow for me. You basically start at a maintenance level of calories (15kcal per lb) based on your body weight, and decrease by about 2-3kcal per lb every 3 weeks, until you are at 10kcal per lb.
Although I was constantly starving on the tail end of this diet, I saw that as a good thing because it meant my metabolism was not slowing down at all. The fat dropped off very well, and I was able to maintain almost all of my muscle.
If I did not overtrain during the last week of my diet, due to the approach of my deadline, I would have been much more successful on this diet. I also believe that if I stuck with phase 3 of my diet for another 3-4 weeks, I would have been in contest like condition by the end of it.
I should probably also mention that I used BSN's Atro-Phex during these 12 weeks. It is a very good fat burner with no major side effects that I can remember.

Overall Rating - 4/5

Ketogenic/Palumbo/Anabolic-Type Diet
Starting Weight/BF% - 182, ~12%
Ending Weight/BF% - 181, ~10%

This diet was pretty hard to follow at first, but once you are accustomed to it, it is very easy to follow. The diets listed above pretty much say you can eat whatever type of fat you like, meaning cheese, heavy cream, etc. are all fair game. Being a health nut, I kept all of my fats healthy, so it was mainly oils, peanut butter, almonds, eggs and some avocado.
For this diet, you mainly eat nothing but fat and protein for 5 days, and have a refeed day of high carbs every 6th day.
I did this diet as an experiment to how my body would react to a high fat diet, as opposed to the typical balanced diet. I decided not to weigh myself for an entire month, so I could be a fair critic of the diet. I mainly used the mirror as my guideline.
In the end, my midsection was clearly a lot tighter and more defined, yet my weight did not drop. That meant that I was able to retain and gain more mass, while not really putting on too much fat. I was very impressed and surprised by my results. I was almost sure that I would have lost a few pounds, but I did not, and that was very pleasing.
I should mention that prior to this diet, I was consuming the same exact amount of calories, but following a 30% carb, 30% fat, and 40% protein diet. Clearly, the 60% fat and 40% protein diet was more successful in keeping me tight, but I also felt a little bit deflated.
There are days on this diet where I felt pretty lethargic, and would have insane cravings for carbs (mainly breakfast items). So mentally, this diet is pretty challenging.

Overall Score: 4/5