Calorie Counting – Part I

Since food is like gasoline and body fat is your gas tank, if you take in less calories (food) in one day than you burn, you will have to burn some of your fat. This is a simplified picture, but something I keep in mind. If for example, you need, on average, 2000 calories to make it through a typical day, and you take in 1800, then your body will have to burn 200 calories that is has stored. If however you eat 2200 calories in a day and still only need 2000, your body will store the extra 200 – and a lot of that will be fat. Most candy bars are over 200 calories. When I had to lose 30 pounds to get to my present weight, I often thought back to the unnecessary candy bars I had eaten in the past, pinched a bit of my fat and realized my body was finally using that Snickers now. It helped ease the hunger pangs.

Listen to Pros

I am not a Pro OK, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. I have made plenty of mistakes doing this. As I mentioned in previous post on 10/27/2006, I have over worked out. I have done this before actually. There is nothing worse than seeing your muscles shrink because you have to take time off from lifting so you can heel. I haven’t been able to work my chest, back, or shoulders for 5 weeks now! I am losing it – more mentally than physically at this point, but it sucks. I never took rest days and now I feel like I am in forced retirement. When I get back to it, I will be listening to my body more carefully, and heed the advice of the Pros – rest!

Supplements

I take Creatine, Glutamine, and Glucosamine. That’s it. I do protein powder and bars, but only when I feel like it. I like the taste. When my body finally started popping, and looking good, a few people asked if I was doing steroids. I took that as a great compliment. I don’t really have anything against them, I just have never done them.

Wow, the Wait is Over (or should that be Weight)

OK, I am going to try and post more to this. I am actually wounded right now from working out so I have a little extra time. I have tendonitis in my left elbow and left shoulder, so perhaps this should be a blog about what not to do when going to the gym. It has all been trial by error for me anyways. I did have a trainer for about 6 months, but that was 6 years ago. What he taught me was invaluable, but I did not have the dedication the get the body I wanted until a year and a half ago. Fortunately, I retained what he taught me, learned more on my own, and finally figured out how to apply it to my life. Maybe some of these posts can help others.

Sorry Guys

I’m sorry, there is nothing here yet. I will get to it very soon. Life has gotten in the way.

The First Post

Here I am.

A lot of people have asked me about my workout routine, my diet, etc. It is very flattering to be asked those kinds of questions and I have done my best to answer them. I started saving the responses I gave via email etc. so that when I was asked again I would have the answers handy and not have to type them all over again. [I don’t think my fingers need to build that kind of workout. ;-) ] Now that I have gathered this material, and frankly, I have more to say; I thought I would start this Blog dedicated solely to those areas. I am by no means an expert on any of this. I will only be telling you what has worked for me to attain the body you see in the pictures I have posted. I hope it may help some of you and I know it will help me. Putting this information out there along with some pictures keeps me on my toes – I want to live up to the image I present and try to improve on it. Please feel free to ask more questions in the comment sections of these posts. I will do my best to answer them. Thanks.