Learn Fitness

Should food be seen as Fuel or Fun?

Sean Willson — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:00:21 +0000

I’m sure you’ve gotten bored with your diet at one time or another. The same things day in and day out … it can get quite numbing, especially if your working out and losing weight. Is that really a bad thing though?

Lets seriously think about this for a second. If your like me you have a set of staple foods that makeup a large portion of your diet. For me, my staples are:

Greek Yogurt like Fage with Honey or the Plain 2% version
2% Cottage Cheese
Fruit like Bananas, Apples, or Figs
Nuts like Walnuts or Almonds
Veggies like Broccoli, Sweet Potatoes, Lettuce, or Peas
Natural Peanut & Almond Butter
Meal Replacement Shakes like Myoplex or Full Strength
Pastas, usually whole or enriched
Brown Rice and Beans (kidney, black, northern, etc)
Lean 95% Beef
Chicken

Now lets be honest, you can only make so many meals with those items, even with spices. I highly suggest a good cookbook like Eating for LIFE or Biggest Loser Family Cookbook for creative ways that “mostly” fall in a consistent food list.

One thing you’ll notice about my list is that the full gamut of the food spectrum is represented. This means that means I can balance almost every meal nutritionally. I can eat for weeks off this list without having to think, without having to make a decision.

That’s one of the biggest keys to success, making decisions. When your trying to lose weight like I am, sometimes not introducing decisions or indecision is your best option. The moment you try to add too much variety you have to introduce self control and deal with trigger foods or cravings. I don’t know about you but the moment I introduce those food decisions my resolve to eat healthy starts to weaken.

With my staple foods there isn’t any of that indecision. I have my standard recipes and even have a few waiting in the wings that I cook when I have a certain craving. I can still make it fun when necessary but my point is I’m not trying to be a world class connoisseur or eating little portions of trigger foods every day to give into cravings. Those foods got me fat for a reason, I’m unable to control my portions. There will be a day when I take a little more and that little more will turn into a lot more.

I know this controlled staple food idea isn’t for everyone. One thing I have noticed though is that most of the people I read online that are huge experimenters with food are already close to or at their goal weights. They’re at a point in time where they’re maturing their food to make it a life change that’s enjoyable instead of just a weight-loss program.

I think we all strive to get to the point where we can eat whatever we want (within reason). When your seriously working to lose weight and regain control of your health it’s in your best interest to limit your food options to a small, controlled, healthy list. That’s not to say it can’t be fun to eat but that certainly shouldn’t be the the primary motivation.

Food should only be your fuel for a while … fuel to change your body … fuel to change your mind … fuel to obtain your fitness and health goals.

What are your thoughts on this? I know it’s a fine line and it’s difficult to not give in but I’ve never been successful (for very long) when I introduce too much variety.

What Not To Do When Working Out

Sean Willson — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:05:22 +0000

It seems like we’re always making lists of things. Things we want to do someday, things we need to get at the grocery store, warrior shout outs, our workouts, etc. It goes on and on … but what about things not to do? I’m talking about things you shouldn’t ever do when trying to workout or get healthy.

Lets give it a shot, in no particular order or course. Remember this is what NOT to do, try putting NEVER in front of all of these.

Stop trying to get healthy — it’s worth it, your worth it
Let someone tell you that you can’t do it — you can do anything you put your mind to.
Put your health second — you can’t help anyone if your out of commission
Ignore your body — it’s smarter than you are
Wear a shirt to the gym two sizes to small — unless you have a 6 pack
Forget the before photos — you’ll appreciate them later
Try endless crash diets — there are no sustainable shortcuts in fitness
Forget goal setting — how else will you achieve your dreams? make sure they’re realistic and challenging
Stop showering to save water — ummm … the smell
Wing it — planning will ensure your success
Quit early — you have more in you than you think, push through the pain
Forget how you got fat — lest you make the same mistake twice
Wear white after Labor Day — I have no idea
Stop to tie your shoe on the treadmill — face rash baby
Drop weights — it’s loud
Skip breakfast — start your day with a good foundation
Signup for a gym without trying first — you never know until you try
Keep your workout the same — confusing your body is the key to growth and loss
Ignore form — you’ll get hurt and then be decommissioned
Forget your pants — had to, sorry ryan
Be afraid to sweat — it’s liquid motivation and feels great
Go it alone — if you don’t have to … friends, family, or online support are important to success
Ignore weight lifting — it’s an important tool in your weight-loss journey
Expect it to be easy — if it were. everyone would be thin
Forget why your getting healthy — motivation, motivation, motivation

I’m sure I missed some but it’s a good start. Do you have any good ones to add?

My Fat Vest, Plot Device and Fashion Fopa

Sean Willson — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:00:21 +0000

This past weekend I had some time to make a few more dents in Half-Assed by Jennette Fulda. Every time I read parts of this book I have flashbacks of growing up overweight. While our life paths were different, our feelings were certainly similar growing up fat.

One of my vivid flashes this weekend was of my favorite vest. It was about the color and pattern of that striped couch cushion and I used to wear it all the time. When I picked it up at the Big & Tall store I thought it was stylish and made me look thinner. It might have actually been those things if I didn’t wear it constantly. I wore it with dress shirts, t-shirts, and polos … I wore it out to class, around the house, out to movies, and grocery shopping. It was pretty much my fat security blanket for almost an entire semester at school. I don’t know why it made me feel skinnier wearing it … I think because it was largish on me so I could wear it buttoned or loose and it seemed kinda hip and cool.

I distinctly remember to the day when I stopped wearing it. It was around the holidays, before everyone went home. Around that time every year the freshman in our house traditionally put on a holiday skit. This year it seems they decided to include me in the skit … well maybe not me exactly, they chose my vest.

Their topic for the skit was to make fun of almost all of the other people in the house by highlighting they habits and/or personality quirks. My part came about half way through the skit when I saw one of the thin freshman come in wearing my vest. That itself wasn’t so bad except that they had to stuff like 5-6 couch pillows into it just to kinda fill it up. He then proceeded to come in, chat up some of the others, and then order a pizza. The whole rest of the skit they poked fun at my being fat and made my vest into different props involving pillows (to fill the vest) and pizza.

Needless to say I wasn’t very fond of the vest, or the freshman for that matter, after that skit. I knew I was fat but I certainly didn’t visualize it like they portrayed it with the couch cushions and ordering of pizza. To me the vest was a great accessory that allowed me mentally to feel fashionable and somewhat thin. To others it was a plot device to highlight how fat I had become and poke fun at my bad eating habits.

I went home that holiday with very low self-esteem and pretty much ate myself into a comfort fat coma.

In hindsight I wish I had used that evening as a wakeup call. To get my butt moving and use my time at school to not only mentally prepare myself for life but to physically prepare myself as well. Unfortunately that wakeup call didn’t occur for another five years.

Do you have an inspirational fat vest or other article of clothing?

I’m really enjoying the book so far, even with these flashbacks. They’re giving me pause to really appreciate the journey I’m on and they’re motivating me that much more to make this a permanent lifestyle change. Check it out if you have time, it’s definitely a worthwhile read.

Do Warriors Get Blisters?

Sean Willson — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:10:36 +0000

Food Indiscretions

I’ll just come out and say it … I didn’t make the best decisions this weekend in terms of food. Part of it was me giving into temptations and part of it was me being very tired. I also blame the fact that we didn’t shop for groceries until Sunday which meant the entire meal schedule for Saturday was made on the fly which historically I’ve a bad track record with. Sorry, I’m full of excuses right?

Well to start I had a great lower body workout on Saturday and followed it up with a tasty new Full Strength chocolate shake blended with some natural peanut butter. After that I made the bad food choices that while not horrendous certainly weren’t ideal. It started with a chopped pasta salad from Corner Bakery for lunch (~900 calories) and was followed with a Hobo Skillet (3 cheeses, scrambled eggs, hash browns, and sausage in a skillet @ ~1100 calories) for dinner. For some reason I was really craving breakfast for dinner so we all went to a local restaurant and that was what I gave into.

My total for the day was ~2800 calories which combined with the ~800 calories for my workout brought me to just a hair under my 2000 budget. While I was under budget I certainly failed my goal of eating solid all weekend and trying to make up my free meal calorie overage from Friday night.

Running Pain

On Sunday I got up early and knocked out my 2.5 mile goal for the Weekend Warrior Challenge. The running felt great but my feet were feeling a bit sore toward the end. I think part of it was running further than ever before and part of it was me still training my feet to run in these Vibram Five Fingers.

I followed the running with 10 minutes on the stationary bike and followed that up with some elliptical trainer. About 2 minutes into the elliptical I had to stop as my left foot was really seriously hurting. Turns out I has a nice size blister and a bruise on the bottom of my left foot … yikes!

I spent most of the rest of day limping around when I wasn’t wearing shoes. It actually felt better to wear shoes, believe it or not, because they were padded. After groceries, house cleaning, baby shopping, and cooking I finally called it a day.

While Sunday was much better than Saturday in terms of meals (we made some great healthy Spaghetti & Meatballs) I can’t help feeling like I failed my first challenge weekend. I did hit my running goal but it wasn’t without incident. This is two weekends in a row that my feet are hurting the day after running. I may just have to walk it for a while or maybe do intervals until I drop some more weight.

Anyhow, as for the scale goal I came in at 312.0 which is 0.6 pounds over my weight from last Wednesday. I don’t have my Saturday morning weight because it’s the morning after my free meal and it usually shoots up like 3-4 pounds all of which is usually gone by Monday. Friday morning my weight was around 312 as well. So in all my weight is about where I expected it though a bit high as Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are usually the days I see the scale go down each week.

Summing up my first challenge

In short I won’t call the weekend a failure as I did hit my running goal and my weight wasn’t way out of line. I do have regrets but that’s the point of the challenge isn’t it? To keep us accountable and striving to do better each and every weekend. The weekend is always a difficult time filled with temptations and speed bumps that constantly test our resolve. Ideally we’d all hit our goals but part of goal setting is failing and learning from those failures to set better goals and push yourself to new heights in the future.

I hope you had a better inaugural Warriors Weekend than I did, see you next weekend! Mine looks to be quite interesting with my daughters second birthday followed by a Monday delivery of my second child, *gulp*.

Weekend Warrior Shout Out

Sean Willson — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 20:03:16 +0000

I wanted to send a shout out to my fellow inaugural Weekend Warriors. Best of luck hitting your goals!

Carla from The Right Fit
Lynne from Losing Lynne
Steve from 265 and Falling
Kat from Kat’s Adventures in Dietland
Frank from Male Weight Loss Now
Mac from Get Fit Slowly
Andrew from Andrew is Getting Fit
Karyn from Fitness Road Trip
Josie from 35 and Shrinking
Marissa from Fatty Slims Down
Jeremy from Stellar Path
Mike from SUB6
Andrew from 100 Pounds in a Year
Erin from Erin Takes Control
Alissa from Gluten Free Pumpkins
Craig from My Life, Take Eight
Ryan from No More Bacon
Chad from Reconstructing 30
beej from Journey to Satisfaction

I’ve also set my own goals for the weekend as a part of the challenge. So far I’m on track but yesterday I consumed more calories than intended at my free meal so I have my work cut out. Everyone in the first Weekend Warrior Challenge has set some great goals … I was surprised how many are running and how far they are shooting for as well. They make my goals seem simpleton at best.

Weekly Workout Roundup

Sean Willson — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:40:02 +0000

I hope your workouts went as well this week as mine did. They were very challenging and sweat inducing, that much I can tell ya. As you’ll see I’ve been favoring Circuit Training again this week. It may seem like I’m in a bit of a rut but I don’t think I am … yet. Because circuits are constantly changing during the entire routine my body is forced to adapt. Another thing to note is that I’ve been rotating through two different circuit routines and I’m investigating adding more, maybe even P90X soon.

This Past Week

Here’s what my workouts looked like this past week.

Saturday, Morning (65 min): 15 min 1 rep max upper body weights, 25 min running on treadmill @ 5.0 mph, 5 min walking @ 3.0, 10 min stationary bike > 100 rpm, 10 min elliptical. It felt great to run again but that night my right shins were really sore and made it hard to walk. OH the joys of overweight running, am I right?
Sunday, Morning (55 min): 25 min high resistance on the ARC trainer, 10 min stationary bike high resistance > 100 rpm, 10 min on Nortic Track incline trainer ~40% incline @ 2.5 – 3 mph. I wanted to run today but my shins were still bothering me so instead I pushed it on the ARC and tried the new incliner trainer, it was fun.
Monday, Evening (40 min): 5 min warmup, 25 min circuit training, 10 min upper body circuits. I had a lot of trouble even working out tonight, I was in a lazy mood. Instead of giving up though, I thought of my Wednesday weigh-in and all of the progress I’ve made. That motivated me to move my butt and do the workout.
Tuesday, Evening (35 min): 35 min of upper body weights. I did 6 sets of 12, 10, 8, 6 of one movement/body part to failure with <60 seconds of rest followed by a superset of 12, 12 of the same body part but a different movement with no rest between those sets. I did the entire upper body including chest, shoulders, back, triceps, and biceps.
Wednesday, Morning (50 min): 5 min warmup, 45 min circuit training (6 exercises * ~30 seconds * repeat twice * 7 different circuits). I skipped the cool down as I was running a bit behind schedule.
Thursday, Off Day: Nada, zero, zippo exercise today.
Friday, Morning (50 min): 5 min warmup followed by 45 min of circuit training. I really like working out on my free meal day. It makes me feel less guilty of that meal.

Learn(ed) Fitness Friday

Sean Willson — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:30:07 +0000

I thought it would be helpful and fun to make a new blog entry every Friday about the things I learned or want others to learn in health & fitness. Things that’ve helped me through the week, month, or years. I’m calling it Learn(ed) Fitness Friday, or LFF for short.

So lets get to a few things that hit home for me this week.

Constant change is good: The past few weeks I’ve been constantly changing up my workouts. As a result my muscles are often sore, I’ve yet to be bored with my workouts, and I’ve had some really great losses every week (averaging over 3 pounds per week). Forcing those adaptation responses by your body by constantly confusing it really works.; Don’t wait until you your in that rut to change your workouts. By that point you’ll already be frustrated, confused, and may even be ready to give up.
Planning is your crutch: This week was very busy at work and home … crazy deliverables on projects and preparing for our new sons arrival is quite draining. As a result I’ve been tired each and every night. I’ll be honest, it was hard enough working out. Had I not planned the meals and workouts for each day I’m certain I would have been forced to make some hard restaurant based decisions. That decreased temptation meant the healthy decisions I made by planning paid huge dividends.
It takes time to get it right: Finding that groove with any life change, especially losing weight and getting healthy, isn’t easy. For me it’s taken years of starting and restarting and restarting and restarting. Every time I’ve failed I’ve tried to learn something and adapt next time. Heck, over time I even made the same mistake multiple times. I’ve perfected failure, there I said it.; Don’t be afraid of failing, it comes with the territory. If this was easy everyone would lose weight … heck, they’d never gain it in the first place right? Honestly … my failures were almost all due to not planning but it took many failed shortcuts to figure that out.
Sometimes you need space: I’ve failed so many times that I’ve grown tired of talking with my family and friends about it. I’m not embarrassed, seriously I’m not. I just need to live it before I want to share it this time. They know I’m working out and losing weight but I don’t think they understand my resolve this time around.
Smoking stinks: Last but not least, Charlotte had a rough week trying to exercise near a human smoke stack and lived to tell the story. If you smoke, please do us all a favor … nuke the clothes, take a shower before working out, or take the treadmill in the far corner.

I hope those weren’t too cliché or simpleton. I know they could be seen as generic but they nevertheless were fundamental to helping me through the past few weeks.

If your interested in sharing some of the things you learned this week (or in the past) and want to participate in Learn(ed) Fitness Friday you can do any or all of the following:

Post a Comment — Just drop on down below and post a comment on something you learned this week. As the list grows I’m going to post some of the best user lessons learned.
Post on Twitter — Create a tweet using the tag #LFF sharing a lesson you learned. I’ll use some of the best tweets in my weekly post.
Post on your Blog — On your own site just reference Learn(ed) Fitness Friday and link back to my site, preferably one of the LFF posts.

Did you learn something new this week? Share it with everyone and participate in Learn(ed) Fitness Friday.

Pissing Into A Wormhole, aka Dreaming

Sean Willson — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:30:16 +0000

Do you set goals? I mean seriously challenging yet realistic weight-loss, health, or life goals?

I been putting a lot of thought into my goals and dreams lately. I’ve been updating my weight-loss timeline with my short, medium, and long term weight-loss goals for the year. I’ve also been trying to update my life goal list with anything and everything I’ve ever wanted to accomplish or experience. You might have seen similar lists over at other blogger sites like Kepa, Mary, or Ann.

It’s always difficult to set goals that keep you motivated over long periods of time. They have to be achievable but not so remedial that you treat them as inconsequential. They should be large enough that they challenge you to grow yet not so large that you can’t ever attain them. It’s also ideal to have a high level of self-efficacy when achieving them.

So many people say they’re going to do something and might even call it a “goal”. Until they actually write it down though, they’re just pissing into a worm hole, unsure where in time and space it might land.

Goals vs. Dreams

So what separates a goal from a dream, or pissing into a worm hole as I call it?

Dreams are things you wish would happen but don’t really control. Goals are things you can achieve by making realistic plans that define how and when you will complete them. This usually entails defining dates and intermediate goals (or milestones) targeted at getting one closer to reaching said goal.

“Goals are the bridges that span our dreams.”

This is one of my favorite quotes ever. It really concisely encapsulates what a goal is in relationship to your dreams. Without this perspective you might never see how goals can be used to achieve your dreams.

You won’t likely find someone who sets a goal to watch TV or answer a ringing cell phone. Instead you set goals that are meaningful and help you to attain or reach something of importance. The most motivating goals are the ones that help us reach our dreams … those things that make us or someone else feel amazing or maybe even experience something completely new and interesting.

Setting Goals

One of my biggest pet peeves is listening to someone say that they want to lose weight and yet they do nothing about it. They’re just pissing into that wormhole again.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been there and hindsight is indeed 20/20. But how can someone expect something like weight loss without putting in any effort?

Instead they should set some goals like losing 15 pounds of weight in 8 weeks by working out 3-4 days per week and eating 5-6 good healthy meals daily. At least then they’d have something to measure their success or failure against and adjust accordingly.

Have you created goals for the next 4 weeks? 12 weeks? 6 months? If so fantastic, if not, why not?

Maybe you need some practice, what if you started out with something small but substantive. How about setting a goal to comment on every fitness blog post you read that hits home or makes you smile? It’s something that will make others feel good, your learning about being healthy & fit, and is easily attainable.

Maybe you envision something larger like setting a goal of running a 5k race in the next 3-6 months. People of all shapes and sizes are able to run races so don’t immediately think no way can I do that. Instead try setting some incremental goals like walking 1 mile @ 3 mph, then bump it to 4 mph, then jogging 1 mile @ 5mph. From there you can bring the distance up and speed back down and move forward in a stair type pattern or you can just increase the distance.

The most important thing to realize is that there is no right an wrong way to set goals, you just have to set them and hold yourself accountable. It’s all about your comfort level with finer or coarser grained goals. Are you comfortable saying you want to lose 10 pounds this month and leave it at that or are you a person who wants to set a week to week goal of 2.5 pounds and adjust from there?

In the end you can’t get it wrong but you have to actually start somewhere. Remember, there is no shame or harm in failing or missing a goal.

“I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.” — Benjamin Franklin

Are you ready to stop pissing into your wormholes?

Pants on the ground, the sequel

Sean Willson — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:05:57 +0000

Before we get to the pants, it’s that time of the week again … the assault of the scale. I’m coming off a few weeks of 3 pounds losses and heading into today @ 315.6 lbs. I’m hoping to continue the trend but mentally also preparing in case I hit a plateau soon.

I had a good week, I’d put my exercise workouts at a 9/10 and my food at a 7/10. The reason the food isn’t higher is because my weekend lunches and dinners still aren’t firing on all cylinders. I always find myself eating something I regret or know I shouldn’t like a baguette from Panera. I know I don’t need or want the calories but damn if they aren’t tasty dipped into their soup.

Anyhow, I digress … on to the numbers. Today I weighed in at 311.4 lbs. That means I’m now down 4.2 lbs for the week and 78.6 (138.6) lbs to date. Nice, much better than I had thought!

Another 11.4 lbs and I hit a pretty huge personal milestone, 300 lbs baby! It’s been something like 15 – 16 years since I weighed that much. I can’t even imagine what it’s going to feel like but I’m extremely excited to be getting closer to it.

Pants on the ground

I was forced, against my will I might add, out of my house this weekend to purchase a new outfit. I usually wear jeans (or sweats) on the weekend since I can’t during the week, damn day job. Anyhow, my wife had finally had enough of my pants falling off me. Despite my belt they were just too big on me, nothing I could do.

So she kicked me out of the house and go buy some new pants, said I had earned them. Off to the Big & Tall store I traipsed in search of a new outfit. What I found upon arriving was surprising and very exciting.

I somehow fit into 44″ pants. Now don’t get me wrong, that’s still big but you have to realize I started out in 58″ pants. You also have to realize that Big & Tall stores start around 44″ and go up from there.

I then realized that the next time I buy clothes it’s highly likely I’ll be able to buy from a mainstream department store like Macys or *gasp* Banana Republic. I haven’t shopped at a normal store in so long I can’t imagine the label not saying “Big & Tall” somewhere on it.

Weekend Warrior Challenge

I figured this would be a good time to announce my participation in Weekend Warrior Challenge by Brandon (@solongfatass). The goal of the challenge is to help us all make it through the weekend without regretting the decisions we made. The weekend is a period of great temptation and relaxation that has killed oh so many weight-loss and fitness dreams.

My goals for this challenge are:

Lose Weight — Any amount of weight, I’m not picky. It’s important to realize that Friday evening is usually when I partake in my free meal for the week. It’s important that I make healthy decisions the rest of the weekend so that meals doesn’t cascade into the next few.
Run 2.5 Miles — I’ve been trying to run more but sometimes my body stops me, damn shins. Anyhow, I want to get in at least one running session where I run further than last week which was 2.0 miles @ 5 mph.

I’m excited for the challenge and can’t wait to see how everyone else does. Look for an update next week on how we all did.

Snack Recipes, Pliers Required?

Sean Willson — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:11:03 +0000

This past weekend was full of new food recipes, some good and some bad. I started by planning meals for the week and decided to not just pick one new recipe but to shoot for four. I don’t know what got into me but it was worth a shot and they all sounded good. I was really excited about two of them in particular though, the snacks!

The Good, I Dream of Coconut Balls

They look good don’t they? The Cocoa and Coconut Snacks are what I tackled first and the adage of saving the best for last was completely inverted this weekend. These were the best snack I’ve ever made period. They are just the right combination of sweet and nutty and really satisfy my hunger cravings.

If your slightly shopping dysfunctional, like me, make sure to add some extra time to your trip for finding ingredients like Coconut Oil. Maybe your grocer is more intelligently arranged than mine or maybe you’ve purchased it before. I however had the double whammy of a poorly laid out store and having never even seen what the darn stuff looks like. Funny thing, when I arrived home with the bottle of Coconut Oil my wife mistook it for suntan lotion, I swear.

It even looks like Coppertone doesn’t it? Yes, before you even ask those are indeed plier marks on the bottle. I don’t know what the manufacturer was thinking but I was completely unable to squeeze out the oil from the tiny little spout provided. I put every ounce of muscle I had into squeezing that bottle and barely got 1/2 a Tbsp so I resorted to manly engineering methods.

Note to self — Next time your buying a new ingredient, like Coconut Oil, don’t buy the pretty bottle … instead buy the functional one.

While making the the nut mixture (step 1 mind you) I thought I had messed up … I know, how hard is it to mix nuts right? Seriously the recipe said that after blending the nut mixture to put the powder into a separate bowl.

I don’t know what nuts they bought but my mixture of nuts at that point certainly wasn’t a powder, it was more like a clumpy mess of nut particles. No matter how much I mixed them in the food processor the oil in my nuts was too high to allow them to turn to powder. No worries though, even though they were clumpy they worked out great since they were thoroughly mixed.

One mistake I did make though, other than using pliers, was not making small enough balls. The recipe called for a dozen balls and I doubled the recipe so I was expecting two dozen. I ended up with only 18 which in itself isn’t bad … just be aware that nuts have quite a few calories so my 18 balls come out to about ~200 calories per ball.

Personally I know everything in them is 100% healthy and the fat calories are some of the best you can get (from nuts and coconut oil) so I feel zero guilt eating two of these as a snack.

I did tweak the recipe slightly as I was unable to find any Brazilian nuts at our fancy new ethnically diverse grocery store. Even without them they tasted great so don’t be worried if you can’t find them either.

In short I see this new nutty snack becoming a part of my staple snack regiment and likely will replace any meal bars in the future as well. I just to buy a cleaner pair of pliers to cook with.

The Bad, Garbanzo Gaboring

I’m not sure why but I was very excited about making these Crispy Roasted Chickpeas. I think it’s because I’ve tried chickpeas as a dried snack before and they were pretty tasty, these however turned out to be everything but.

I don’t have any witty or fun stories about this recipe. It went uneventfully and I was really confident while making them that I hadn’t messed anything up. In the end though I was expecting some pop of flavor but was left with a empty dull nothing. Maybe I didn’t let them get crunch enough? That might explain something but certainly wouldn’t explain the lack of flavor. Any ideas what I can change to improve them?

I used to frequent truck stops

Sean Willson — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 16:00:37 +0000

No, it’s not what your thinking … get your mind out of the gutter will ya. Go on, get out of there … oh the shame.

No, it’s not because of the huge selection of junk food, though I’m sure I’ve stopped at a fair number for that reason over the years.

No, it’s not to fill my gas tank or buy a lovely scented car deodorizer.

Back in 2000 when I started working out I had a lot of trouble finding someplace to weigh-in. In the end the only place I found with a scale that could measure up to 450 pounds was at the interstate truck stops. So on my trip home to Michigan every few weeks I’d stop at one just inside of Indiana and do my weigh-in.

It’s something I’ve never told anyone and really never given much thought until this past weekend when I was trying on old clothes. In hindsight I’m sure it was actually quite odd to anyone watching me. I’d usually go into the restroom and mill about at the sink washing my hands or fixing my hair until everyone had left. Then I’d quickly pull out a quarter, drop it in, and step on the scale.

While I was certainly embarrassed having to resort to truck stop scales to weigh in I was also highly motivated to lose it. I certainly would have been more embarrassed having to goto a doctors office, explain why I needed to use their scale, stand in front of a nurse or doctor to do it, and publicly share those numbers. I guess I felt I would have had to explain the number to them whereas at the truck stop no one knew me and I was accountable to only myself.

I don’t know what it says that I’m willing to share this story online today whereas back in 2000 I wouldn’t have. I guess I’ve grown in more ways than I’d thought. I’m certainly more comfortable with my story and the journey I’ve taken to try to lose this weight.

After I’d managed to lose 50 or so pounds, and weighed in a dozen or so times, I dropped some decent coin for a Tanita doctors scale. I could then safely and sanely weigh in at home without having to take those interstate diversions, unless it was to fill-up or get some water.

Just like I grew (or shrank depending on your point of view) out of having to weigh in at the truck stop I look forward to growing out of this scale and replacing it with a more modern one. In time … in time.

“Life, the ultimate challenge, is not a race to the finish but rather a process of continual growth” — Bill Phillips

This Weeks Best in Show

Sean Willson — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:29:15 +0000

I was looking for a good blog title as an excuse to use this picture of my two Boston Terriers, Shelby and Margot. Cute aren’t they?

Anyhow, this week was full of a ton of great blog postings. It’s hard to pick just a few but these postings resonated with me the most.

so long, fat ass! — Announcing the Weekend Warriors Challenge: A great idea by Brandon to help people stay motivated and on track over the weekend. It even has a great logo put together by @nomorebacon (Ryan).; I don’t know about you but the weekends are very hard to stay motivated. Without the 9-5 and the rigorous schedules of the weekdays the weekend tends to go long and introduce far too many temptations. This challenge is an attempt to keep you motivated during the weekend by setting goals and being accountable to everyone participating. I’m participating in the Weekend Warriors challenge, are you?
Nerd Fitness — What Do You Want To Do Before You Die: If your like me you wrote MTV off many years ago. This new The Buried Life show looks like it might redeem them a bit and be worth checking out. Watch the preview over at Nerd Fitness and word on putting together you list of things to do before you die.
Prairie Mod — FanGuide in the Chicago News: Shameless self promotion alert! This is an iPhone application I worked on for all of 2009 and feel very strongly about. Anyhow, it was highlighted in the Chicago Tribine this past weekend and given a very good review. Take a second and check out FanGuide if you have an iPhone or iPod touch. Take a walk, burn some calories, and learn about great architecture.
Marks Daily Apple — 8 Signs You Are Overtraining: Some great things to keep an eye out for if your not hitting your goals and feel like somethings amiss. An aside, I don’t know about you but I almost always get sick when I start working out after taking some time off. Not overtraining, but something to make note of.
Fit Hacks — 10 Ways to Debug Your Fitness Program: I’m constantly looking for good advice on how to debug my fitness program. This is a good read and has some great pieces of advice on just you can do it. I found it interesting that I’ve been doing a number of these things with this year.; I’m changing my environment with a new gym that actually has people fitter than me … my last gym was kinda geriatric.; I’m repeating things that work, one word … Circuits.; I’m measuring all inputs and outputs with LoseIt!.; Does your program need debugging?
Zach Even Esh — Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable: Before your get turned off by all of the huge muscles on these guys or the horrible MySpace-esque site design you have to read this post.; This is the hardest thing to explain to people. You will be uncomfortable doing this if your doing it right. Your shocking your body, your working hard, your sweating, your breaking down and rebuilding your muscles.; Uncomfortable is the new comfortable.
Green Lite Bites — Simply Spiced Chickpeas: Always on the lookout for healthy & tasty new snacks to break the monotony of my everyday snacks these look tasty and easy to make. I’ve already added all of the items to this weeks shopping list.
Marks Daily Apple — Cocoa and Coconut Snacks: Great Balls of Energy!!! These looks absolutely awesome and amazingly healthy. I’m excited to give these and the Chickpeas a shot this weekend. I haven’t been this excited about cooking a snack in a while.
Losing Weight Daily — I Can Lose Weight, Because I Know YOU Lost Weight: One of the great things about blogging about weight-loss and the journey to a healthy happier me is inspiring and helping other people. The launch of MyJeansFitMe is a great example of sharing and inspiring other people. It’s not to sell a new fad diet or a piece of equipment but instead because it’s the inspirational thing to do.
Prior Fat Girl — Post Workout Glow: A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work. Some pics of people enjoying a good sweat after some hard workouts. I wonder if men can submit pics?
The Anti Jared — My cardio workout!: His post was an ode to Jen and her style of blogging. It’s a very entertaining and personal look into what drove Tony to lose his weight and continues to drive him to keep up an awesome energy level to build some big guns. But dude, you need to throw in some Prodigy or Chemical Brothers, too much Lady Gaga will damage ya.

Weekly Workout Report

Sean Willson — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:35:19 +0000

After posting what my workout week usually looks like I thought it’d be helpful to start sharing my workouts each week with everyone. It also helps me to stay accountable and to make it easy to look back and make sure I’m changing it up enough.

My goal for the my workouts is muscle confusion and constant change.

This Past Week

Here’s what my workouts looked like this past week.

Saturday, Morning (60 min): 10 min on stationary bike, 30 min of upper body weight training (3 sets of 8 followed by 1 set to failure), 20 min of HIIT on elliptical
Sunday, Morning (55 min): 25 min of lower body weight training (3 sets of 8 followed by 1 set to failure), 30 min of intervals on elliptical (1 min sprint, 1 min rest)
Monday, Evening (55 min): 5 min warmup, 45 min circuit training (6 exercises * ~30 seconds * repeat twice * 7 different circuits), 5 min cooldown
Tuesday, Evening (25 min): 25 min upper body doing 2 sets of 10 maxing weight and then a final set to 100% failure. I felt off and it felt like I was going to fast, not on purpose though. In the evening I also shoveled for 30 minutes.
Wednesday, Morning (55 min): 5 min warmup, 45 min circuit training, skipped the cooldown. It felt awesome this morning, I was sweating like a mad man. My form, especially with abs, is still kinda rough but I’m pushing through it and not giving up.
Thursday, Off Day: No workouts today … I try to get one off day per week making sure it never overlaps with the day I take my free meal. I did shovel snow in the morning for 30 minutes though. Mother nature wasn’t up to honoring my off day.
Friday, Morning (55 min): 5 min warmup, 25 min circuit training (50 exercises * ~ 30 seconds), 10 min upper body circuit, 10 min lower body circuit, 5 min cooldown

Save Money By Planning Your Meals

Sean Willson — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:15:13 +0000

I was reading Diane’s blog entry on planning meals tonight, I’m a bit behind on my reading. It made me realize something weird, I haven’t thrown any uncooked or bad food away in 2010.

I know that may sound strange but in the last few months of 2009 I couldn’t tell you how many pounds of lean beef, fruits, veggies, cottage cheese, or bread that I threw away. Hundreds of dollars of groceries purchased with every intent on cooking and eating but life happened and they ended up as landfill. As Diane mentions, we took the easy way out and picked up fast food or ate out.

The primarily difference this year is the planning I’m doing at the start of each week. That planning has really let me run the week on autopilot. I don’t ever have to worry about what I’m eating for dinner or lunch. I know I’ve already made a healthy decision and can just follow the plan.

I usually sit down with my wife on Saturday afternoon and create a shopping list in the Groceries application (iPhone / iPod Touch) and plan out the weeks meals. We usually browse a few cookbooks picking some staple foods like Taco Pasta Salad or Hot Stuff Chili from Eating for LIFE. We also like cook new things so we throw in something new every week, even if it’s only a single meal. We then take a simple sticky and throw a Sun – Sat grid on it and write down each meal we’re planning for each day. Once we’re done we throw the sticky up on the fridge or our cabinet for the week as a quick reminder of what our plan is.

In case you’re wondering, Groceries is a simple and easy to use application that lets you quickly construct grocery & shopping lists for different stores. It has a huge built in database of popular foods and you can quickly add your own as well. You can even go so far as changing how your store is laid out (produce, deli, breads, meats, etc) to optimize your shopping visit. After you create a list and use it you can either delete it or reuse it which makes it really convenient if you shop for the same couple things every week.

Here’s a screenshot of Groceries from my visit to our new Michael’s Fresh Market this past weekend.

Groceries Screenshot

I had just started shopping and was working my way through the list. The user interface is very well done, easy to understand, and pleasing to the eye.

Anyhow, a few other things that go along with the cooking that are helping me to save money and stay on tract with food:

Cooking meals that have more than 4 servings and freezing the rest. A recipe like the Hot Stuff Chili makes 8 servings, 4 of which we usually freeze for the following week.
Plan the snacks ahead of time, planning isn’t just for the big meals. I make a few batches of protein pancakes every few weeks and freeze them. The goal is autopilot on all 6 meals if you can.
Simple snacks are fine to. There’s nothing wrong with a few figs and walnuts as a snack. They take less than 20 seconds to prepare and they taste great.
Let the schedule be flexible on when you consume the meals. If you plan on cooking one night but something happens that’s ok. Just eat something you prepared ahead of time and cook tomorrow.
Have a few healthy staples at the ready for other times where you didn’t make something but only have like 5 minutes. Wheat bread, tuna packets, light mayo, pickles, and some pickle juice makes a quick and satisfying meal.
Don’t be afraid to make use of supplements. I don’t want to start any whole food wars, but I’ve had great success using Protein Powder and Myoplex. I’ve even been trying out Full Strength as a Myoplex replacement the past few weeks. In the end it’s about convenience, health, and nutritional density which make these great tools in your fat fighting arsenal.

You can save a ton of money and nutritionally run on autopilot each week by planning your meals at the start of the week. Our lives are so busy that it’s hard to even get our workouts in let along a nutritious meal. Do yourself a favor and start planning your next week today.

“Many times the difference between failure and success is doing something nearly right … or doing it exactly right.”

My tub of Raiment, not Ramen

Sean Willson — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:01:40 +0000

With another week of healthy eating and exercise completed another weigh-in is upon me. Getting right into the numbers … I started the week at 318.6 and after 6 days of exercise and 6 2/3 days of eating healthy I’m now 315.6 lbs. That’s a loss of 3.0 lbs this week and 74.4 (134.4) lbs to date.

It’s official, I’ve reached my lowest weight in over 15 years again. From this point forward it’s about attaining new lows in weight and highs in happiness. It’s taken me the last two months to return my weight to where it was last August, but life happens and I’ll never quit trying to repair my broken habits. As @theantijared said:

“Quitting is for quitters!”

The other day my wife commented that my clothes were looking very “tent like” on my smaller frame so I decided to remedy that. No, I didn’t go on a shopping spree … we can’t afford that with #2 on the way. Instead I pulled out the weight-loss trump card, something almost everyone who’s lost weight more than a few times owns, a tub of old clothes that used to fit them.

Before you start worrying that I’m traipsing around Chicago in vintage clothes from the late 80’s early 90’s (are the 90’s vintage yet?) let me put your mind at ease. These are clothes that either myself or others bought me within the past 10 years when my weight-loss trajectory was headed where I am now. These are 2-3XL shirts that are brand new and still sport the stickers.

Much to my chagrin there weren’t nearly as many 3XL as I’d hoped, most of the shirts were of the 2XL variety. Against my better mental judgement I decided to toss them on and see how they fit. I was feeling pretty certain I wouldn’t get them over my chest.

Holy mother of Marmaduke, they fit almost perfectly!

While they aren’t quite ready for prime time public viewing I’m nearly there. Another few weeks and I’ll be able to knock off another goal, fitting into 2XL shirts. While they fit fine standing, they still aren’t quite comfortable when sitting. Progress, not perfection … I’m ecstatic none the less.

I was able to find some 2XL workout shirts to wear though which was awesome as my other shirts were getting annoying. When they come untucked I usually end up missing a few reps for a tuck-in. While they aren’t perfectly comfortable sitting down I don’t expect to be in that position long. If I’m sitting, other than to quickly catch my breath between sets or while doing abs, I’m not pushing hard enough.

That’s about it for the weigh in. I hope your week goes as well as mine. I thought I’d end the post on an inspiring quote as I’m in that mood today.

“Our lives are not determined by what happens to us, but how we react to what happens; not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst … a spark that creates extraordinary results.”

Working out in my Vibram Five Fingers

Sean Willson — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:49:40 +0000

I’ve been working out for almost 8 weeks now in my Vibram Five Fingers KSO (VFF). I picked them up in early January after reading Born to Run. I thought it would be fun to update people how they’ve been holding up to the stress of my workouts.

Since the first of the year I’ve worn them for every single workout, about 50 workouts. I’ve been working out 6 days per week for an average of 60 minutes. Here are my impressions using the VFF during the different exercises I’ve put them through their paces wearing.

Weight Training (Lower): This is where the VFF has really shined for me. I’ve never been a fan of lunges and always felt like my weight distribution for my squats was a bit off. With the VFF removing most of the padding on my feet my balance has really been spot on. Whether it’s front, rear, or side lunges the balance was great. This improvement in balance and my overall form has led to huge changes in my squats as well. I honestly feel like I’m getting some of my best quadricep workouts ever.; The one thing that took some time getting used to was the toe placement on rear lunges. With normal shoes you are pretty much oblivious to your toes, it’s more about foot placement, at least it was for me. Wearing the VFF however you use your toes much much more. With the rear lunge it initially feels weird with the toes in their “finger sockets” and I often wouldn’t place my toes correctly. I’d end up either on the tips of my toes or the tops which as you can imagine isn’t where you want to be. Once I mastered toe placement I was good to go though.; Another thing that’s different about lower body weight training is using the different machines like calf raise, donkey squats, etc. First and foremost you really feel all of the muscles in your feet on the platforms, more so than you ever did in regular shoes. A few of them also have surfaces with ridges for traction with normal shoes. With the VFF you feel everything under your feet so this takes some getting used to. Not a show stopper but good to make note of.
Weight Training (Upper): Other than traction and balance as I noted above there wasn’t really any advantages or disadvantages to the VFF when doing upper body weight training.
Elliptical Trainer: There were a few annoying things about the elliptical and the VFF. One was the fact that the Precor at my gym have lots of quarter size bumps on the foot platforms. While these aren’t a problem they definitely take some getting used to in the VFF since you feel everything your walking or standing on.; The second is that since I’m lighter on my feet in the VFF I find that my weight shifts differently so my feet moved around a bit on the platforms. Again, nothing major and once you adjust your weight a bit during the motion your fine.
Stationary & Spin Bikes: Because the form factor of the VFF is so much smaller than a traditional shoe you have to get used to making significant adjusting to the straps on all bikes. For stationary bikes that’s about all you have to do, the power transfer to the pedals felt about the same to me but then again I don’t do a ton of stationary cycling in the shoes. As for spin, it’s a different story.; A lot of spin bikes have pedals that aren’t conducive to VFF. They’re either spiked to keep you on the pedals, very small and designed for clip in shoes, or both. Hopefully your gym has a better offering than mine in the pedal department. Check ahead of time before you ruin your planned workout and can’t cycle.
Treadmill: I’ve been slowly working on my running over the past two months. Being a very heavy runner I don’t want to put too much stress on my joints, especially my knees. Because of this I haven’t run any marathons so I can’t advise you on their use there, check out Birthday Shoes for that. I can however tell you that it’s really important to ease into running with them. The first first times your feet will be very sore. The first time I ran a mile and then two miles my feet were sore for a few days. Not to the point where I couldn’t walk but definitely sore.; A few other things to make sure you do, which are highlighted in Born to Run, is to watch your posture (keep you back straight), your tempo (small fast strides), and think light on your feet. Every time I started feeling it in my feet I found that I had strayed from one of the these three mantras … Posture, Tempo, Light.
Step Cardio: I wasn’t really surprised how well the VFF handled the step. I was lighter on my feet, never kicked the steps, and felt great during all of the workouts. The steps I use have lots of little ridges for traction but they were small enough that I wasn’t bothered by them. In regular shoes I often felt that my step offs or jumps we’re clumsy but in the VFF I actually had good form. It was a lot like the lower body workout (see above) in that my balance was just spot on wearing the VFF.
Circuit Training: All of the balance and form comments above are highlighted in spades doing circuits. The combination of weights and cardio circuits really feel great wearing the VFF. The only thing I did have trouble with at first though was doing pushups in them. In regular shoes the thick stiff sole takes up a fair amount of the stress in a pushup. Wearing the VFF your toes and feet take up the stress. Until you develop the toe strength and balance the pushup might be a bit challenging but you’ll be fine in no time.

Overall my experiences wearing the VFF for workouts has been very positive. I have a few other things I wanted to make note of though.

First, they are starting to smell a bit which is a common problem with VFF that are wore a lot and a number of VFF owners have reported the same issue. They can easily be cleaned by throwing them into the washer though so I don’t see this being a problem.

Second, prepare yourself for pointing and questions from people about your VFF. I certainly got more stares and pointing than questions though. I think people were afraid to ask me about them because I had my headphones on and because I’m a big guy. The ones that did though saw and heard how excited I was about them. A few days later they were sporting a pair of their own which was exciting.

I’m looking forward to wearing the VFF more and picking up a pair of Leather KSO Trek for trail running this summer. I’ll keep you posted when I pick them up.

My Vibram Five Fingers KSO have given me a new found excitement and confidence in my cardio and weight training. If your in the market for new workout shoes I highly suggest you find a store near you to try them on, you won’t be disappointed.

Help Choose Transformation Photos

Sean Willson — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 20:57:10 +0000

Well I’m working on answering the call of @LosingWeightDaily on twitter. I’m putting together a MyJeansFit.Me! profile. I’ve been working pretty hard the last 14 months and thought it would help me stay accountable and share my story with more people … maybe it’ll inspire someone to not give up, no matter how long they’ve been fighting.

The biggest part of the submission for me isn’t the questions I’m sure it’ll ask, it’s actually finding the correct starting pictures to use. Should I use the photos from when I started working to get fit and lose weight back in 2000?

That’s quite old but it’s where I really started and it’s when I was at my heaviest weight of 450 pounds. That picture doesn’t even feel like me any more which is why it’s so hard to use that picture … it was so long ago.

I just realized that I’ve never shared that photo with anyone other than my wife. I’m a bit self conscious as I imagine most everyone is that’s overweight.

Maybe instead of that one it would make more sense to use a photo from January of last year when I started this most recent triskaidekaphobia trip?

It isn’t as dramatic as the first photo but it’s the picture that represents the most recent journey.

I haven’t taken official before shots in a few years now so I can’t create a nice front and side view photo. I took the ones back in 2000 because I was planning on participating in the Body for LIFE challenge. I never did submit my 12 week package.

Oh yea, in case you were wondering, here’s a recent picture of where I’m at today, down 72 pounds (or 132) depending on where the “starting line” is placed.

I realized something interesting today looking through all my old photos, I hid from the camera a lot. I have a bunch of pictures of friends & family and scenery but only a handful of myself. In almost all of the photos I have of myself I’m sitting in a chair, that’s weird. Anyone else notice that in their old heavier photos?

My wife noticed that in my old before pictures I was never smiling … I never really thought about it. I guess I have a lot more to smile about now days.

I feel really good this time and feel like I’ve finally found a place where I can regularly hit a stride. When life throws me a few more curveballs I guess I’ll know for sure how resilient I am and how much I’ve internalized my most recent lessons.

I’ll know soon enough I guess, only 4 more weeks until the next little test arrives.

What do you think, which photo should I use? I’d love feedback on which picture people think makes the most sense to use. I don’t want to mislead anyone about my journey … I want to be as honest as possible.

Weighing in for the week and last year

Sean Willson — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:32:24 +0000

Well I just finished my weigh in for this week and I’m down another 4.6 pounds to 318.6 this week. That means I’m down 26.4 pounds since the first of the year and 71.4 since the first of last year.

I’m about a week from my low of last August (if I continue at this pace) where I hit a rough patch for a few months. I never really talked much about what threw me off my game last year but I thought now would be as good a time as any since I’m almost back to that low point.

Like most people trying to lose a large amount of weight, at some time or another, life gets in the way. For me a few weeks after reaching my low weight of 315 last year I decided to quit my job and started looking around for work elsewhere. As you can imagine this was a bit stressful as it was a few months after we had found out that we were pregnant with our second child, but it was a step I had to make.

At the same time I was working crazy hours from August till late November working on releasing four architecture applications for the iPhone and iPod touch. Writing a new application is always challenging but the final stages including beta testing, tweaks based on feedback, complete redesign of some elements, and final fit and finish is really crazy. My days would usually start at 6 am for my 9-5 job and then after getting home I’d be up until 12 midnight or 1 am working on the applications.

As you can imagine with those crazy hours exercise and nutrition took a backseat. I don’t know exactly what clicked off in my head to be honest. It certainly wasn’t a binge or overeating episode that threw me off. It was literally just four months of eating poorly and following all of my old habits. For some reason I put my health and fitness secondary to releasing these applications.

In hindsight I learned a number of lessons.

First it wasn’t worth it to burn the wick at both ends and rush the application out in the holidays in exchange for my health. Sure the application got some sales during X-mas but to be honest December is the worst time of the year to release an iPhone application. It’s impossible to reach anyone in the press and you’re competing with tons of end of year reviews. In the end we weren’t able to spread the word effectively about our application and lost a huge amount of release buzz we could have capitalized on.

Second, it wasn’t worth it physically. I’ve spent the last month and a half repaying that debt and working off those 30 pounds I put on so quickly.

Third and most important, it wasn’t worth it mentally because I lost a lot of faith in myself. I thought I’d gained enough knowledge at that point to coast through that time on nutrition alone. While I had learned a lot I still wasn’t able to do it when it counted and once a few meals fell through the entire house of cards fell apart. I need exercise to not only jumpstart my metabolism but to mentally prepare myself and stay accountable to being healthy each and every day.

Everyone will encounter obstacles throughout their journey to lose weight. How we react to those obstacles, and the lessons we learn along the way, will determine our success or failure at losing and ultimately maintaining that weight loss.

While this was a big lesson for me, I’m back on track to becoming the fit and healthy person I’ve always wanted to be. I know now to never put anything that’s within my control ahead of my health and family, it’s never worth it in the long run.

Circuits Are My Friend

Sean Willson — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:51:06 +0000

I’ve been having some crazy tough workouts the past few weeks. I used to be able to go most of the week without requiring that I change out my workout clothes, yes they’d smell some but it wasn’t bad. Those days are long gone … with these new circuit training workouts this year and me elevating my game I need a wardrobe refresh much more often.

My workouts usually looks something like this each week:

Monday — Evening @ Home: Warmup 5 min, Circuit Training 40 min, Cool down 5 min
Tuesday — Evening @ Home: Weight Training Lower Body 45-60 min
Wednesday — Morning @ Home: Warmup 5 min, Circuit Training 40 min, Cool down 5 min
Thursday: Workout day off
Friday — Morning @ Home: Warmup 5 min, Circuit Training 40 min, Cool down 5 min
Saturday — Morning @ Gym: Weights w/1 REP to failure all body parts ~20 min, Running 15 min, Walking 5 min, HIIT Elliptical 20 min
Sunday — Morning @ Gym: Weight Training Upper Body 35 min, Running 15 min, Walking 5 min, Stationary Bike Intervals 10 min

In case you were wondering, I always wear fresh duds to the gym. When I’m working out in the basement it’s just me and in the past the clothes didn’t bother me. The wife is still cooking our next baby and hasn’t been up to working out as of late otherwise I’m sure she’d say something.

Anyhow, as you can see I usually get ~3 solid circuit training sessions in at home during the week. They’ve been crazy hard recently and I’ve barely been finishing them. I usually end up collapsing on the floor at the end till I regain enough composure to stretch at the end. That’s a good thing though as I’m really pushing myself and the weight has been coming off.

Whenever I feel like a particular move in the circuit is getting easier I either raise the weight or start incorporating the more advanced version in (there are usually a few options in the DVD’s I’ve been doing).

The circuits are usually 30 seconds each and a circuit contains 5-6 exercises. Depending on the circuit all of the exercises may be repeated more than once for effect. They usually are a mixture of cardio with weights which really helps change things up and burn some crazy calories. At my weight (currently 323) LoseIt shows that I burn 807 calories in 45 minutes of circuit training.

If your looking for something new or want to elevate your exercises to the next level I highly recommend circuit training. You can pickup some cheap DVD’s like The Biggest Loser Last Chance Workout or Jillian Michaels: No More Trouble Zones or you can build your own circuit training routines using equipment in the gym or in your own home.

Magical Pills

Sean Willson — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 04:20:47 +0000

I’m sure most of you have read about the latest fiasco that Jillian Michaels, trainer on The Biggest Loser (TBL), is embroiled in. She’s being sued in two different cases because the weight loss pills she endorces (Maximum Strength Calorie Control™ and Maximum Strength Fat Burner™) are apparently failing to work as advertised.

Evidently you take these pills before eating or working out and they promise to make you feel fuller and burn fat without any additional effort. Combine marketing hype with a concoction of ingredients and you have a weight loss magic pill … or do you? This style of pill has been copied hundreds of times, just look at any supplement shelf in your supermarket or vitamin store. Despite the rampant reproduction and rebranding of these pills, America is still a hugely obese country.

I don’t know what’s worse about this situation, the fact that these plaintiffs actually bought into the marketing hype of the pill or the fact that Jillian put her name on the pills.

As most of you have likely have deduced from my previous posts I’m a fan of TBL and actually of Jillian as trainer. While I don’t agree with the extreme measures these people take to lose weight (<1200 calorie days with 6+ hours of exercise) I am a fan of the inspiration that the show brings to overweight people. I’m also a fan of the no-nonsense training style of Jillian. She calls it as she sees it and doesn’t take shit from anyone, qualities I aspire towards.

What shocks me most about this whole situation is that Jillian put her name on these products. She of all people knows there is no magic pill when losing weight. There is only hard work, healthy eating, and plenty of exercise or other non sedentary activity. She’s helped hundreds of people lose massive amounts of weight and change their lives yet she’s marketing magic pills.

One could maybe try to write this off as the fault of her management firm, I’m sure she has one. If you look at her twitter feed however you can see some interesting things. She’s been working on a new pilot inspired by TBL called Losing It. She’s also been reviewing some new fitness products/gimics to release under her brand as well as giving advice on taking her supplements. She’s not only well aware of how her brand is being used she’s in full control of its direction.

I am not against Jillian leveraging her brand, heck I think she’s foolish if she doesn’t. I do however expect someone to make sane sensible decisions when they’re as influential as she is. Her voice, style, and image has entered the cultural consciousness whether we want to admit it or not. Because she wields an ever increasing following she should strive to improve the image of the fitness industry and not duplicate the snake oil sales(wo)man so often seen in todays fitness gurus. She should also strive to educate America and be a spokeswoman for health and fitness instead of misinforming an already confused nation of overeaters.

I think that The Anti-Jared nailed it in his recent piece on Jillian when he said:

I just think once you take away her spandex, pointing and yelling in front of the camera, and popularity, all you have is someone who does not understand what it is like to be “truly” overweight. If she did, she would never put her face on pills.

Had she ever been overweight and tried these types of weight-loss products, as so many of us have, I’d think she’d never endorse them … she might even speak out against them.

This failure to truly understand and sympathize with her biggest audience has really changed my outlook on her as a person. I’m still conflicted on my viewpoint of her as a trainer however as her DVD’s really gives me some great workouts. I guess time will tell depending on how and if she reacts to these lawsuits.

Learn Fitness

Should food be seen as Fuel or Fun?

What Not To Do When Working Out

My Fat Vest, Plot Device and Fashion Fopa

Do Warriors Get Blisters?

Food Indiscretions

Running Pain

Summing up my first challenge

Weekend Warrior Shout Out

Weekly Workout Roundup

This Past Week

Goals for next week

Learn(ed) Fitness Friday

Pissing Into A Wormhole, aka Dreaming

Goals vs. Dreams

Setting Goals

Pants on the ground, the sequel

Pants on the ground

Weekend Warrior Challenge

Snack Recipes, Pliers Required?

The Good, I Dream of Coconut Balls

The Bad, Garbanzo Gaboring

I used to frequent truck stops

This Weeks Best in Show

Weekly Workout Report

This Past Week

Goals for next week

Save Money By Planning Your Meals

My tub of Raiment, not Ramen

Working out in my Vibram Five Fingers

Help Choose Transformation Photos

Weighing in for the week and last year

Circuits Are My Friend

Magical Pills