Rclem24’s Weblog

I haven’t posted in a while, with the primary reason being I have been almost deathly ill. I had to miss two days of work and had little to no strength. I have felt guilty all week about missing my Wed workout and the Saturday BW 350 +100. So since I wasn’t able to complete the Week 6 workout. I will be doing that week over again.  I hate getting out of my routine because I am an absolute creature of habit. Looking forward to getting back on  track.

On a side note this weekend I ended up going to our High School youth groups Winter retreat(I started feeling better on Friday Night but had already made my mind up to give week 6 another go). So it wasn’t the best food, mostly pizza, chips, soda, manicotti, catered sandwiches, only breakfast did I have any healthy options. Apples, bananna’s, oranges, etc. I didn’t do the best, so I ate whatever was there. I feel like this wasn’t really that bad considering that I really didn’t eat anything but soup, water, and meds for 4 days prior. It is weird that I feel like I have lost some strength and muscle mass because of the illness. Who knows. Oh well on to Week 6 pt. 2.

Just a quick update. I have been sick since Thursday afternoon. Today I have finally snapped out of it. I was hoping to do so. Since I did feel better I decided to do the BW 350 today instead of yesterday. I had little to no strength yesterday so I didn’t even attempt to try it then. I found that today’s workout was a real challange. My legs were burning so bad during the final BW squats. I had to break them into 4 sets of 10 to even complete them. Taking a 10-15 second break in between sets. I am sure I am going to feel this workout today. I am also very excited, for I weighed myself today. Down to 211 lbs. from the 216 last sun. Granted 2lbs of that was probably water weight from the SB sunday I had. So I Look at it like I lost 3 lbs. this week. Some might be attributed to my being ill and not being able to hold much down. Lots of soup and water. That is about it. So I am not looking to lose to much during week 6. Hopefully just 1-2lbs. I would be very happy with that. Hard to believe that it was just 5 weeks ago and I was 228 lbs and couldn’t do 20 push ups without absoulutely dying.  Keeping strong. RClem24 -OUT-

Why is it when you are feeling great, on top of the world, and finally making a positive change in your life. Here it comes. It starts with a scratch in the back of your throat, a little sniffle, small cough, the nausiated stomache, and to top it all off a headache. Yes, I do believe I am getting sick. Where I live we are having a flu outbreak. I mean it is getting ridiculous. I heard on the news this morning that yesterday at one of our local middle schools that only 40% of the student population attended. I am hoping and praying that it is not the flu.  I am looking forward to the BW 350 this Sat. and hope this illness isn’t going to hold me back. Oh, well. I will keep pushing on. Although I am not going to be stupid about anything. I can actually say with conviction that I feel great on the days I work out, matter of fact I can’t wait until I get to do the next one. I also, have found myself feeling guilty about not doing any more on my days off. Even though I am still doing the pilates in the morning on my off days. As of right now Thursday’s are the only day I take off from any activity(workout wise). I will get better. No more sickness for me. Soup, decaf Green tea, and Meds. I will be golden. Rclem24-OUT-

Since I have been doing the Belly Off! Program. I have lost 14lbs, and have gotten much stronger. The only problem is that I get to see myself nake everyday. So it is difficult to see the difference in my appearance. Of course my only true gauge is that my pants are almost falling off of me now and my belt buckle is on the last loop. So something must be working, Right. Not to mention I feel great.

I have titled this post What an Evening for the story that follows. I attend the Vine Community Church in Carbondale Illinois. Home of the SIU Salukis. I am very active in the church, Weekly Attendee, Run Sound for Sunday Morning Service, Tuesday Night Small Group, and am one of the leaders in the High School, Jr. High School group NEOvia. The 1st tuesday of each month all of the small groups that meet on Tuesday come together at the church for something called Discipleship Community. DC for short.  All in all it is just one giant Small group. Most of these people I only get to see in an intamate setting like this one time per month, at DC. Since I go to a relatively large church(around 1100 people) it is difficult to keep in touch with everyone or even know 1/3 of the people that you attend with. Not to mention we have 3 different services.  That is why the small groups and DC are so important to the core of our church. Anyways enough about church. Last night was such a great evening, because  5 different people I know(3 women, 2 men) came up to me and said, “Randy, have you lost weight? You look like you have.” Of course I told them about the Belly Off! Program and how great it was working out for me.  Feels nice to have people notice. Looking forward to the rest of my healthy life. Rclem24 -OUT-

Well let’s see, where to begin. I guess I will start with the BW 200X2. If you have read any of my recent posts, you are probable well aware that I have actually been dreading the 4oo reps. that I was going to have to do on Sat. My brain could not believe that I was going to actually make it through that workout. I really didn’t even care about the time. I just was hoping that I would finish. Well, I did. In 29:12 to be exact. It was quite remarkable that I went through the 1st set of 200 with little or no problem at all. Matter of fact, I knocked almost 5 minutes off of my prior weeks time. The problem was for me that the 5 minute break was a great break to let my body recover, but it was also enough time for my brain to kick in by saying, “there is no way you are going to be able to do that again. It will be impossible. Your legs are already jello, How are you going to do all those step ups, squats and lunges. HOW? ARE YOU LISTENING?” Of course my answer was I hear you, but I don’t believe you. Not too mention, I have to many other people online that I am going to be accountable to, and if they can do it, I sure as hell can. So i continued. What a rush, every conceivable muscle in my body was hurting, burning, shaking through out the final 200. As a matter of fact, I had to take some breaks during the lunges because I was about to fall over. Completing those last set of chinups I felt exhausted. Lying in a pool of my own desire on the floor, I almost forgot to check the clock to see how I had done. I did it. YES! No HELL YES! I haven’t felt such a sense of personal accomplishment in a long while. What is wonderful about this accompishment is that it is not for the boss to see that I got that big new account, or my wife to see that I had cleaned the house before she got home. No, this accomplishment was purely for me. I had to do it for me. I am very pleased. Now on to the BW 350 and I can’t wait.

Dissappointment:

Now to begin a personally upsetting moment. This began on Friday, mid-morning(10:30am). I started the day just like any other on this diet/fitness plan. Eggs in the morning w/ an apple on the way to work. Mid Morn snack of walnuts. Great right. My wife had just called and asked if we were still meeting at home for lunch, I agreed and said yes. Going to have this wonderful grilled chicken Salad w/balsamic vinegarette. Looking forward to it up until the point that the boss came out and said, “Everyone pack up all that you are doing. We are going out for Pizza. So all of the 15 employees packed up and carpooled to the nearest Pizza Hut. I had 3 slices of thin crust pepperoni. That is all. No big deal right. Just 3 slices, I will do an extra round of interval training tonight to work some of that off. FRIDAY EVENING: My wife was going out this evening with some of her friends from church. To combat bordom, I had invited a few of the womens husbands over with their small children and have a mini guys night with the daughters. (NOTE: Myself and the other 2 guys have daughters that are all 2, 1, and 6 months.) Had a great evening planned. We were going to grill some marinated chicken, and I was going to steam some veggies. I also had instant mashed potatoes for the other guys. Before I could get to cooking, Bill(one of the guys) and his wife show up about 30 min before hand with guess what. 2 Large thin crust Pepperoni pizzas from a place called Mimmos. He thought it would just be easier than having to cook and care for 3 small children. He was probably right since we were going to have to fight the 4 inches of snow that was coming down while grilling. So there it is I had 4 small squares of pepperoni pizza. Man I am so upset at myself. I should have just cooked the chicken and politely declined the pizza.  Now to the point of where I am really pissed at myself. SAT MORNING: Wife is gone with my daughter to handle her sisters Baby Shower. I have already completed the BW 200X2, and decided I slipped up the last couple of meals. I am going to be straight all the rest of this weekend. Eggs, Walnuts and a lot of water. Lunch Peanut butter & Jelly Sandwich:DAMN PIZZA. While getting out the jelly, I realized my wife had put the leftover pizza box in the fridge. So I had 2 more small squares for lunch. I felt so guilty about that indescretion that I immediately threw the box away, with half of the pizza left. Not a real good idea, for I had to suffer my wife’s rath when she returned home from a long day, with a tired and hungry daughter, and just wanting a quick fix before we put her to bed. Oh well, I had to get rid of it. Pizza is like a drug to me, I love it. If I hadn’t thrown that box away, she would have been pissed anyway because I would have eaten it all through out the rest of the day. Yes I love pizza that much. Nothing better than cold pizza while watching College B Ball. 1 step forward, 2 steps back.

 SUPER BOWL:

What a game. I dislike both of the teams involved so I really had no emotion going into the game. I am a PACKERS & Rams fan. The storylines involved were great. Perfection, and Little Manning. At times I was rooting for both. Patriots, because I hate the Dolphins. I wish they would just shut up. Giants, because I like Eli Manning because he plays in NY and is so not what NY is all about. Plus, I can’t stand the arrogance of Bill Belichek. What a prick. Walking out early. Take your defeat like a man. Now on to the fun part: what did I eat:

2 buffalo wings, 22 yellow corn chips w/white mexican cheese, 3 mini pizza bagels, 2 pigs in a blanket and a lot of carrots and celery sticks. Not a lot of food, but I know for a fact it is not on the meal list for this plan. I am a little disappointed in myself for the super bowl. But there are some bright spots, I had NO BOOZE whatsoever, and no soda as well. Just straight water. I weighed myself today and am back up to 216, from 214 on Sunday morning. Time to get busy and work this off.

Sorry for not keeping up with this blog in the last week. I have been extremely busy through work and church. Anyway, enough with that. I have been doing extremely well on the diet so far. As all who have kept up w/me know that I always have a cheat day during the week(usually Sat, or Sun). What I have found to be hilarious is that the day after I cheat the scale actually says that I have lost a pound. I think it might be due to the fact that I am keeping my daily caloric intake between 1700-2000. When I cheat(only 1 Meal and I don’t go overboard) My fitday.com info raises my caloric intake up to between 2200-2400 calories for that day. From what I have read is that if you have a day where it spikes, your metabolism kicks into overdrive to burn off the exess that your body is not used to having. I have said all of that to say this. Last night I had a church group meeting(I am a leader of our High School Program). I associate pastor bought pizza for everyone to snack on. Thank goodness it was thin crust. I will admit the place he got it from is a local joint and is one of my wife and I favorite. I will also have to say that those 4 pieces I had were a joy, thinking of that o.k. this is my cheat day and I will just be good this weekend. Upon arriving back at home around 8:15pm my wife who is so loving and so dastardly reminds me by saying “what have you done?”. I thought you were going to use the Super Bowl party to cheat. CRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPP! She was right. So I am going to try and hold myself to eating healthy on that day. Carrots, Celery, etc. We will see how that goes. She has even agreed to bring some healthy alternatives to the party we are attending. I love her.

Do any of you out there get a little anxious about the Saturday’s BW workouts, i sure as heck do. I mean, I look forward to accomplishing them and seeing the bar get raised weekly, but man after I finish with the warm up, I get that sinking feeling of my brain telling me. Do you have any idea what you are about to partake in? How are you ever going to complete this? You have only been exercising for 3 1/2 weeks now. What does Craig think you are? Of course I begin and finish, and then feel wonderful afterwards. Having more confidence for the week to come. I think then about how the Mon, Wed workouts aren’t that bad and how I look forward to my days off. I also think of how much I have accomplished in JUST 3 1/2 weeks and how much my body and strength have changed. Anywho, just a day in the life inside my head. Just a good thing that I don’t have more time on my hands. SCARY THOUGHT.  Rclem24 -OUT-

Well, tommorow should be interesting. I have been doing good w/the workouts thus far, but I know tommorow is really going to challenge me.  Can’t believe it is already going to be the end of Week 3. I am a little disappointed that I haven’t lost too much more weight. Week 1: 228-219 Week 2: 219-216 Week 3(so far): 216-215.5. I really hope it just my body replacing Fat with Muscle. I know I feel stronger, and my cloths are fitting so much better. I just hope I am not at a plateau right now. Oh well this is just my 1st week doing the interval training so maybe doing it everyday will help. Plan on starting some light weight training in Week 4. 

If you would like, you can see progress of my weight loss and fitness results on this link to my Men’s Health Profile.

 http://bellyoff.menshealth.com/SNC/GroupSearch.aspx?pguid=f11af873-2ef5-4d59-802c-892406ffe605&search=rclem24

I also believe that if you are needing to lose a few pounds or heck a whole lot of lbs. Regitster and get with us. I will be a journey……..

 Rclem24

-OUT-

Well this is my first attempt at launching myself into the blogasphere. I am going to update all who care ASAP.  Thanks to Sloshbg and NoMoreFatDad for helping me get up and going. I have a whole lot of info and so little time. Will be updating soon on the Men’s Belly Off! Plan and what meals I have had for the last two weeks. I will also be posting some photos and trying to give day by day results,frustrations and overall feelings about a day in the life of Rclem24. -OUT-