The Difficult Road Ahead : 3J Client : I just need Possible

[synonymous]

More like redefining yourself, if others can notice it and give you props, your good to go then, stay the course.

Thanks. I also had my hairdresser say my neck has gotten smaller and asked for advice on losing weight. Not many people in this country that need to lose weight though.

Today was my weigh in. I got called into work early (I was still asleep). I weighed in 1.4 kgs lighter which is nice. Hopefully that trend keeps going. I did notice today that I had to adjust my belt to make things fit around my waist. My pants have started to fall again.

Now I've got my chicken and veggies with some brown rice. I feel good with the carbs in my system.

 

[cybrsage]

Hmmm...lets see. 1.4Kgs is...

1.4...mumble mubble...carry the....mumble mubble, divided by the square of...

3 pounds! NICELY DONE!

 

[synonymous]

Last year in January I torn my meniscus disk in my left knee. It's a horizontal tear from the red zone to the white. But it's not a complete tear. The doctor told me that if the symptoms went away (And by the time I saw him, they started to go away) that I could avoid surgery. However, I was told I could not deadlift or squat or do lunges...all the great leg day exercises. For a few months I had no leg day. Then I started working within the range of motion I was comfortable with. Soon I was adding leg presses. I all but forgot about the tear and I was feeling perfect with everything...

...then yesterday happened. I was carrying a kid while on the train, trying to keep myself balanced without holding onto anything. I felt perfectly fine. Then I got home and my knee felt funky. When I woke up this morning my knee felt swollen just like the day I first tore it. I put too much pressure on it trying to keep balanced is what I think happened. This SUCKS!!

For now RICE (Rest Ice Compress Elevate). Hopefully, the fluid goes away and the swelling goes with it. I won't push myself and I'm not going to be doing legs (I say that now, but wait until leg day). I may test to see what kind of ROM I have with the lowest weight on the extension and curl machine. More than that, I'm wondering how I will be able to do cardio.

A major bump in the road...I already said it, this SUCKS. Depending on how I feel tomorrow I may go to the hospital to get an MRI done to see if it's worse than before.

 

[cybrsage]

OUCH! Take care of yourself.

 

[synonymous]

OK my MRI showed that it's just mostly my old torn meniscus disk flaring up and making my knee feel like crap. Doctor said it was not something that would be cured by surgery because it's a horizontal tear in the white zone. The knee has gotten better.

That said, I had the flu (Or a really bad cold). That's put out for a while and made me put on weight. It sucks. Hopefully this will pass soon.

 

[synonymous]

Today was a somber day :

5 years ago I was in Japan when this happened. It makes striving for a perfect weight and perfect physique etc seem very selfish. Facebook was full of these videos and messages. I have friends and family that suffered and continue to. The government has failed a lot of these families.

I don't post this kind of stuff, but it's affecting my day so I figured I'd share.

 

[snowpatrol123]

These are certainly the kind of things that put our pursuit in perspective

I think bodybuilding at all costs is selfish...but I alsoo think it's possible to achieve a balance where we do care for others, and still advance ourselves

 

[synonymous]

So life sucks...but at least I'm losing weight.

Relationship is taking a beating. This sucks. However, when in the gym it certainly drives me to push harder. I find it a bit hard to stop at 25 minutes cardio. I've got more frustration in me and hit the sandbags more often than not. Diet is on point, with the exception of today when I combined meals 3 and 4 just because I didn't have time. I got caught out working without a meal prepped.

Gotta get up early and get to work. Hit the gym during lunch and back out to work.

 

[cybrsage]

Using the gym to get out your frustrations and aggression is a PERFECT thing to do. You feel better, no one gets hurt, and you become healthier. I cannot think of any better way to do it.

Remember, YOU are worthy of being happy. If others do not recognize this, that is their problem not yours. Take care of yourself first, you only have one mind, one body, and one spirit, after all.

 

[synonymous]

So this week is a deload week. Did my first session yesterday and today. Feeling like this was a good idea. I don't think I could've done a stay-at-home for a week style deload week. Not lifting heavy or going to failure, just lifting enough to get blood into the muscles. Skipping the pre-workout as well. Just some electrolytes and I'm good.

Diet is on point and everything seems to be going well. Life outside of the gym is still wreaking havoc on me but that's life. I have 2 challenges coming up, one though my gym and another through a website. Going to see if I can make it into those as the 'lost most bf%' as most of the people entering aren't as high as I am so I think I can drop more than they can.

 

[cybrsage]

Doing great, brother! Keep it up!

Enter those contests, even if you do not win the contest, you still win by losing body fat.

 

[synonymous]

Yup...gonna do my best.

Weighed in today and was down 2kgs. Big drop. I'm still a big guy so I don't think it's an unhealthy drop, unless 3J says so. After seeing the scale today my motivation went through the roof and now I want out of this deload week, but I will continue. Today is leg day so I'll take it especially easy.

I was thinking (Have for a while) about getting a cardio machine for at home. That way I can do cardio in the morning or evening and not bother with it post workout. Taking a look at the prices, I can't believe people actually spend that kind of cash on them. Maybe something used will pop up.

 

[synonymous]

I had a cheat meal. Good chicken burgers and salt/vinegar chips on the side. After all that settled I went to train. Even though I'm in a deload week I had quite a good pump. Must have been those carbs.

Now we're into low carb weekend. I'll be craving the oats. That's what gets me motivated for Monday mornings...those carbs. That said, going low carb is much easier with the right recipes for chicken and veggies.

 

[synonymous]

So I did my official weigh in and BF% check for the competition. They are using a digital scale with very inaccurate readings. My readings were something like 5% higher than my bodpod test last summer, even though I weigh 10 kg less than last summer and BF% has dropped. THEN I went ahead a trained and tested again for shits and giggles. I actually weighed LESS (I drank plenty of water, about 2 liters) and of course my BF% dropped 5%.

I think % wise, I'm the highest in the competition, so over the next 4 months it's all about getting it as low as possible to win. I think most people are starting, at the highest, around 20%. So, I've got an advantage I think.

Another update on the health front, I've officially removed Zopiclone from my cocktail of nightly drugs. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a sedative that my pill pushing doctor got me addicted to. I managed to slowly cut it out after being on it for more than 10 years. I've still got 4 other meds that need to be reduced and removed from my system. I drug at a time, next up is Xanax...a mofo of a drug. Because of how I did my reduction, I didn't go through any withdrawals so that's awesome.

Let's see what else I can accomplish this year.

 

[cybrsage]

DUDE!!! THAT IS AWESOME!!! Removing of drugs is HUGE! Your body becomes accustomed to them and then you cannot survive without them...and you still beat it. That is no small feat, and something to be very proud of. Hell, I am proud FOR you!

The digital scales that also read body fat are super inaccurate for body fat readings. The amount of water in your body greatly changes the body fat percent it shows, as you proved. Easy to game them if you so choose...just make sure to be super hydrated the day of the final reading and your body fat percent will be a lot lower. Good luck in the competition!!!

I am giving you a head start on our competition by having neck surgery...use it wisely.

 

[synonymous]

DUDE!!! THAT IS AWESOME!!! Removing of drugs is HUGE! Your body becomes accustomed to them and then you cannot survive without them...and you still beat it. That is no small feat, and something to be very proud of. Hell, I am proud FOR you!

The digital scales that also read body fat are super inaccurate for body fat readings. The amount of water in your body greatly changes the body fat percent it shows, as you proved. Easy to game them if you so choose...just make sure to be super hydrated the day of the final reading and your body fat percent will be a lot lower. Good luck in the competition!!!

I am giving you a head start on our competition by having neck surgery...use it wisely.

Yeah, the scales suck. I really wish they would be more accurate. The Bodpod is in a different prefecture and it takes a hell of a long time to get out there. AND they won't accept the Bodpod readings as evidence of my start and finishing numbers...which is fine. I can skew the results in my favor so long as I stick to 3J's diet (Which I have been)

While the weight is more slow to come off in recent months I still get the "You lost weight, AGAIN?" comments from co-workers and clients that I only see once or twice a month. So, something is happening. Pants have started to slip again and the belt needs to be cut and tightened. Almost time for new clothes.

I too have to have surgery but I'm putting it off until the summer. Mine is for lipoma found in my lower back. I'll get it done right as soon as I finish this current competition. So, I get a bit of a head start here and you'll have time to catch up later in the year.

Tomorrow I get that odd day off...so I'm gonna take my time in the gym to really feel the contractions. My whole body sucks but I can FEEL the muscles every where EXCEPT my back. I have zero lats...even with a good pre-workout pump product, I don't get a huge pump around the lats or really feel it much in the back. I can't see it in the pictures either. Hopefully it's there though, underneath that layer of other stuff.

 

[cybrsage]

It is a slow journey, one you are excelling at. Keep on keeping on.

 

[synonymous]

Life can fuck you up sometimes.

So, the bad first. I'm getting a divorce. This has been a long time coming but I've finally had enough. Gotta get rid of the toxic people.
Found out my mom has breast cancer. I don't think they found anything in the lymph nodes so I'm guessing it's localized. Still, my father died of cancer at 47. My mom is now 60. And being an ocean away doesn't help.

The good. I fit into regular people clothes. I went shopping at a local store here in Japan and found that their biggest size all fit, so I got a couple pairs of tight fitting joggers and some polo shirts. My gut has this weird bit of fat that protrudes and doesn't seem to want to go away, but that's OK. The pants hide that.

And since I'll be single, I can finally start hitting on girls again. Don't think I have enough energy to hit the clubs, but with all my free time and my pay check being MY pay check alone, I'll have time to get out and about. Found a new apartment and it looks nice. 2 floors, 1st floor is the kitchen and bathroom area. 2nd floor is one big studio style apartment. Pizzeria (Oven baked) on the first floor of the apartment building...talk about daily temptations.

From Friday to Sunday (It's Sunday night now) my diet was off. I didn't binge, I just eye balled everything, ate carbs (Brown rice/Potatoes) and just tried to sleep as much as possible. It's a long holiday here in Japan and while everyone else is having fun, I have to work 10 days straight through the holidays.

 

[synonymous]

Well, I've made it to the gym every day. I've stuck with my diet EVERY DAY...and tomorrow I weigh in, which I haven't done in a couple weeks because of new work shifts AND moving my shit to a new apartment (Life).

At the gym this week I had 2 people come up to me, 1 dude a complete stranger, say "I've been watching for the past couple of years quietly cheering you on. You've made amazing progress." Great feeling getting comments like that from people you don't know. The other person was a personal trainer in the gym asking me for 'advice' on dieting. Told him I had a good coach.

While I'm trying to keep my mind and body in shape I know I've got to take some time to get shit (Real life) stuff done. I move out on the 25th. Hopefully from then on things will get better.

 

[cybrsage]

Awesome that you are still keeping on with this! Now that I am in recovery mode and ramping things back up, you have to start worrying that I will catch up you.