This is, of course, as it should be. I’m maintaining weight and muscle mass by working out each major muscle group just once a week at 75% intensity. No additional lean mass development (enough is enough), but not losing it either (a good thing!)… this takes very little time out of our busy retirement schedule (retirement is definitely not for wimps).

For example, this last week was fairly typical.

The “dashboard” (my Body Bugg armband) says I burned an average of 3030 calories from 02/17 till 02/24 (I  burn 3,500 to over 4,000 calories daily during my intense workout phases), and I’ve consumed an average of 2971 daily calories to retain a balance between burned and consumed.

A little lower than target, but what the heck… pretty much the same for several months now, so it’s working. And still dry after eight months! Lifestyle change? Yup, you bet. Doin’ it. Easy? Hell, no. Up to it? So far!

The old protein/carb/fat ratio is a bit low on protein and a bit high… on fat – nailed the complex carbs target though (33/40/27), but not too bad!

By maintaining lean body mass and total weight (187.6) means I’m keepin’ off the forty-plus pounds I lost last year.

This sixty year old codger can still rip off 120 pushups at will (two sets of sixty about every other morning). My heroes? The two Jacks, of course… Jack Palance and Jack LaLane. Two seniors who could kick anyone’s ass well into their eighties!

And I’m to the point where I can pretty much adjust my calorie intake based on daily activity (or lack thereof).

For example, no workout yesterday. Instead, I spent a total of over two hours in a car traveling to an attorney’s office to participate in an all day mediation session on behalf of our homeowner’s association (I’m on the board), then spent the better part of twelve hours, sitting on my ass, drinking coffee and eating catered food.

And before you ask, yes, I exercised incredible restraint, except for one small brownie and one small cookie, and a small sandwich for each of the two meals served to us like fatted calves.

So while I only burned 2,316 calories, as my Body Bugg informed me at day’s end,  I only consumed 2,343 calories (when I added my meals up in my daily journal) for a very small surplus of just 27 calories, knowing that with no workout and very little activity, my almost zen-like restraint would be key. That’s called a tactical success, folks! Day by day…

Feelin’ cocky about this, kids. I thought I’d share…

The new place looks great, and its even closer to our home. Since we spend a good deal of time at this place, we’re obviously thrilled about the ‘new digs’! And its BIG…

No more dingy locker rooms and steam rooms. These are great…

Back at home, logging food and uploading calories burned for the last few days from my Body Bugg arm band to the web site. Nice summary of calories burned versus consumed…

and how my calories consumed compares to daily requirements, and in what ratio…

Cheers!

Ssorry ’bout the crummy pics – having to deal with a few camera AND computer issues…

And no, I don’t walk around without a shirt all the time! Only for a few periodic pics so as not to hide the hard work, ya know…

Off to the boat for more wood work! Later…

Since we’re watching our caloric intake quite carefully, this is definitely a test of the emergency nutrition management system. This is not a drill.

Alert for banana nut bread BLTs (bites, licks, tastes) !

Stay alert for missing chocolate chip cookies with walnuts!

Check for missing oatmeal raisin cookies with peanuts!

Report any situation immediately as your waist line might be in danger of felonious assault!

I kept thinking, “do I really want to negate this morning’s elliptical work and weight training?” So instead of sampling, I had a protein peanut bar. These are an awesome healthy snack, and don’t cost a heckuva lot more than a really crappy (and delicious) candy bar!

So I just kept telling myself, “sampling the cookies and breads is just not an option for me!” and, by golly, it worked.

I did promise myself a couple slices of banana bread as dessert after dinner, topped with two slices of fat-free American Cheese. I knew I had burned a lot of calories working on the boat, so that was an acceptable concession. THAT’S how you spell “discipline”, kids!

I will tell you this. Most recently, as a member of the Charlotte Harbor Cultural Center, who is sponsoring a weight loss challenge similar to the TV show, “The Biggest Loser”, Kay is actually modeling the way for others on her team who haven’t progressed as far along the weight loss program as she has.

I attended the kick-off dinner with her, and was proud to have been a role model for one of her teammates…

George introduced himself as a retired over-the-road truck driver. He called Kay one week later to share with her that he had lost twelve pounds during the course of that week,  and cited my encouragement as his primary motivation!

Now George is a tall man who weighs 350 pounds, and it felt very good to know that I influenced the start of his journey, albeit late in life.

Turns out that George is a humble man. Learned later that he was indeed a truck driver who apparently also owns a trucking company. He’ll do ok.

You’ll notice that I don’t talk much about Kay in this blog. That is at her request, and I’m honoring it (mostly), but had to share this story with y’all !

For January and February, I’m on a maintenance program–less aggressive training schedule, and alot less sore much of the time– before I begin another twelve week BFL program, with more aggressive training to rid myself of any body fat that might have creeped back on during maintenance and to add a few more pounds of lean mass.

So what else does “maintenance” mean?

I’m still weight training, but instead of taking each set to failure (meaning I couldn’t possibly do even one more rep) for each targeted muscle group, and instead of piling on progressively more weight during the course of each set, while cranking out fewer reps during each set, I simply perform three sets of ten to twelve reps of each exercise at only seventy-five percent effort. Seems too easy! 

I also only work each major muscle group once a week (upper = chest, back, shoulders, biceps & triceps; lower = abs, quads, hams & calves), although I do hit the abs more frequently as they’re harder to get and keep fired. 

Maintenance also means stepping up the cardio (walking, elliptical), although less intense, and I keep the nutrition at a 40/40/20 ratio of protein/clean carbs/unsaturated fats, respectively, focusing on burning as many or a few more calories than I consume.

Journaling every single thing that goes into my mouth, and analyzing DAILY the implications of same, continues to be critical, and I try to make it enjoyable (data = knowledge = power = performance).

Another more holistic observations… it is all too easy to “slack off”, allowing that nasty ‘R’ word – regression. It takes constant focus, no getting around that. Helps alot that Kay is still on a weight loss program, and her strong moments compensate for my weak ones. No excuses cause and effect. Period.

By constantly reminding myself of my own mortality, and how each day I have one less day to live, I just keep convincing myself I have no choice but to be brutally honest with myself.  

Yes, we’ll continue to fight this battle, and it must be fought… it’s worth winning, each and every day.

So what’s your excuse? It really didn’t take all that much introspection to reveal how feeble all of mine were!

 Keep smilin’ !

Kay is also celebrating reaching a major weight loss milestone, so life is good and getting better all the time. 

I suppose the traditional thing is to share some before and after pictures, so I will oblige, partly because I’m damn proud of not only the way I feel, but the way I look (there, I’ve said it!). You’ve probably seen the before pics, but duplicated here for quick reference: 

First, the superficial stuff… 

Before Weight Watchers (July 2008) at 240 pounds (sorry, no skin pics then – “couldnt! too scared!): 

After WW, but before BFL (October 2009) at 188 pounds (my “pale sorta-skinny runt-with-a-gut” pics) – also, note a definitive lack of symmetry from left side to right …  Even though I’d lost all the weight I was gonna, note the almost complete lack of muscle tone, covered with body flab…

 After BFL at 187 pounds (does it look like I lost just one pound in three months? Read on…)  

I used to think those guys who didn’t hang their arms down close to their sides were just showing off or trying to occupy more space on the planet. Now I know that when you develop biceps, triceps (arms) and lats (or latisimus dorsi, on the sides of the back), those darn things get in the way! Even Kay was impressed by these things when I’d (reluctantly) flex for her (yeah, right… reluctantly!) 

The bit of a bulge at the waist line above (my left side) is thanks to a 13 inch (!) scar atop my left kidney – a permanent scoring of those oblique muscles – but that’s, at least, due to a legitimate cause with a decent story – not mere neglect of the body temple! 

And Momma (the “Admiral”) says I even look good in jeans now too… (bonus round!) 

This last three months has mostly been a journey to replace residual fat with lean body mass. The delta before/after numbers below don’t look radically different, but that goes to show how a little realistic change can make a significant difference in the way you look and feel (there’s a moral here)!

I’m sure this is true, at least partially, due to also achieving 200 days alcohol-free on New Year’s Eve (no small feat!). Late New Year’s Eve, after a wonderful dinner at our dear friends’ house, I went home and banged out Morse Code on my amateur (HF) radio for a few hours – another NYE first for ole Cap’n Geno!

In summary, I’m feeling pretty darn cocky about these results, and have now set the next series of goals to largely maintain for the next sixty days or so before starting to build further on this new foundation, conservatively and realistically, focusing on how I feel more than how I look. But first, lets see how the next sixty goes, and rock on from there.

Get and stay healthy, y’all!

Doing the Body-for-Life thing to transform myself from a retired desk jockey to a stronger, healthier old retired guy.

Doesn’t really seem like  a program any more, though. Just seems normal to head for the gym to work out three times a week, and engage in cardio-oriented exercise the other three days.

Can’t seem to just take Sunday off, though, although we do allow ourselves a few more indulgences that day–the key is no workouts on Sundays. We still try to “eat clean” that day (no sugar in the gas tank!).

Chicken ‘n brown rice continue to be daily staples. Kay looks for specials on boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and we promptly fill our garage freezer once a week. Then we either have a grilling or boiling (in broth) marathon with six to twelve breasts at a time.

The other change that no longer seems strange is intentionally eating lean beef two to three times a week. Important for muscle production, they say. No problem eating a steak and feeling good about it? Nothin’ wrong with that whatsoever!

Supplements are also a normal part of the daily routine now. So normal, in fact, that when I don’t take some, it doesn’t feel right and I sense a pang of guilt. Jeez!

In addition to three meals daily, I eat three snacks. Very often, these snacks are shakes made up of protein powder, carb complex, vitamin powder (90% more effective absorption than vitamin pills), glutamine (for muscle recovery, i.e., less sore 24 hours after a workout), branch chain amino acids (enables better protein synthesis and minimizes muscle wasting) and water. Might also be an apple with a rice cake bearing a couple tablespoons of home-made peanut butter washed down with a glass of milk (skim, of course) or water.

Always lots of water!

Add two EFA (essential fatty acids) capsules a couple times a day, and good to go.

The first meal is usually around 730am, and the late snack around 930pm.

Just another day in paradise!

Hard to see progress when we see each other every day, so that’s why we take periodic pics and measurements. Here’s my obligatory day 60 photographs taken a day early. Kay remains camera shy. Does NOT seem to be one of my problems, however ;-):

The calves are coming along nicely (too nicely?). Good definition and striation, but big enough, I think… don’t want ‘em looking like drumsticks! (oops, too late)

Probably time to focus a bit less on these things (I’m up to 380 pounds on seated calf raises), and more on the quads up front. The fact that I hate squats is advertised all over the front of my pitiful quads! Connie keeps reminding me of that fact (keep it comin’, Connie!)

Speaking of lower body workouts, gotta go prep for this morning’s punishment at the club. Eat before lifting, fast before cardio – that’s the rule.

I choose one primary and one secondary exercise from half a dozen for each of the major muscle groups I’ll work. For example, today I’ll work lower body muscle groups (quads, hams, calves & abs). Day after tomorrow, I’ll work upper body groups (chest, back, shoulders, biceps & triceps).

I have a master worksheet for each, listing all the major exercises.

From that master, I’ll do some planning at home. I’ll make a copy, choose the exercises, list weights I’ll use based on previous worksheets I keep in a binder, and use that sheet at the gym on a clipboard that I carry with me – don’t really care if that’s ‘cool’ or not.

I keep a pen on the clipboard too, and check off each exercise and number of reps as I complete them, noting any additional burns I’ll toss in (half range ‘pumps’ after completing full range reps) and whether I took it to failure (kept lifting til the muscle group just said no more!).

So, for example, today, as much as I hate ‘em, for quads (major muscles on the front of the thighs), I might choose barbell squats.

I’ll start with a lighter weight (a bit heavier than for that exercise the last time) and crank out 12 reps, wait one minute, add weight and do 10 reps, wait one, add, 8 reps, wait, add, 6 reps, or as many as I possibly can with that much weight. Then I’ll back off the weight somewhat and do at least 12 reps again, or more if I’m able.

If I did 14 reps before the quads just quit on me, no matter HOW HARD I try to squeeze out one more rep, but if I was still able to pump out a few more partial reps, on the sheet on the clipboard, I’d note: “12R+4B -> F !” for that set.

Then I’d have one other complimentary exercise planned for quads that I’d just do one set of twelve reps (leg extensions, for example) before moving on to the next muscle group. Again, I’d have a record from my previous application of that exercise to gauge the right challenging weight to use, and I’d have noted that on the sheet before ever leaving the house.

Next exercise on the planning sheet – movin’ on.

You get the idea. 45 minutes is the target duration of each workout. Fast, efficient, no standing around bullshitting!

So shucks, I had better go eat another big and satisfying meal. Example of a typical thousand calorie breakfast, including almost a hundred grams of protein and carbs each plus over forty grams of (good) fat:

• 1.5 cups of 2% cottage cheese (that’s a lot!),
• fat-free yogurt (one Dannon Light ‘n Fit with fruit),
• 1/4 cup of unsalted dry-roasted peanuts,
• 1/4 cup of craisins,
• two tablespoons of crude wheat germ,
• one scoop (40g) of protein powder (I use Nu-Tek Pro-5),
• a rounded scoop of Nature’s Fuel vitamin powder,
• and a large glass (1.5 cups) of skim milk.

Then, 45 minutes later, off to the gym. Start your engines! A nice way to launch the day–by stomping hunger and movin’ mass!

After a maximum effort forty-five minute workout, I’ll pull the shaker out of my gym bag containing a blend of powders (protein, carb complex, glutamine, BCAA, etc.) to which I’ll add two cups of ice cold water from the drinking fountain, shake thoroughly and slam ‘er down while driving home for a shower and a change.

On to the rest of the day, feeling good about doing and sustaining something good about my health, which is said to be one’s ultimate wealth! Feelin’ richer all the time!

Keep smilin’, kids. This sixty-year-old duffer certainly will!

I’m told this is particularly important while I’m transforming from “old busted” to “new hotness” (a Will Smith line from the movie, “Men in Black”) .

Until that process is completed, I need to cautiously prevent “muscle-wasting” and keep a strong focus on nutritional and fitness supplements. Will be different once steady-state. We’ll still need to focus on nutritional supplements but less on fitness supplements at that point.

So what the heck do I mean by fitness supplements? I’ve added two to my arsenal:

• BCAA (branch chain amino acids) to be taken before and after aggressive weight training workouts – reduce muscle-wasting, preserve lean muscle tissue and increases protein synthesis, and at bedtime to bridge the lengthy period (entire night) without nutrient intake
• Glutamine which enhances muscle recovery after aggressive weight training workouts (makes me a lot less sore after training – becoming increasingly important as I continue to move from casual to intense). Also important at bedtime.

And, of course, powdered form is the preferable delivery system since that’s orders of magnitude more absorbable and usable than pills or capsules. I guess the quality varies dramatically on this stuff, so work with someone you trust (versus just buying supplements at Wal-Mart, for example).

Who knew?

The more I learn about this stuff, the more interesting it is to me what some guys and gals will do to really bulk up in a hurry.

Short of dangerous steroid use (which causes liver and kidney damage, mood-altering toward not for the good, acne, and other very bad side-effects), there are a lot of hormone products, like “estrogen-crushers” and “strength-enhancers”, that I steer completely away from. Not even tempted… 

I’m strictly going “all natural” and “long term sustainable” and “organ-friendly healthy”!

That limits the really high visibility shape-changing muscle-packin’ vein-poppin’ possibilities you see on the cover of muscle magazines, but that’s just fine with me!

I just wanna be stronger and look and feel good.

En route!

Too easy to get caught up in this stuff when at the gym with serious (including some professional) competitors, or at the “Nutri-Shop” talking with body building gurus, and even some models for muscle mags.

Not for this ole son!

I’m holding pretty steady at 183 to 185 pounds, even though I feel like I’m eating like a pig (!!!!!), while continuing to replace remaining fat with lean muscle, and adding a small amount of muscle weekly. That’s the way to achieve and sustain, per Connie, our trainer.

Body Bugg Update:

The ‘buggs’ are great! We wear ‘em from the time we get outa bed to the time we crawl back in (except for showers, swimming, etc.)

Can’t tell you how reassuring it is for us to KNOW how many calories we’re burning and to have a precise record of steps taken.

More importantly, being able to log all your foods on the web site, upload calories burned to compare and plan, establish goals and reminders that are then automatically sent to your arm band and wrist receiver, for tracking calories, protein, carbs, fat, sodium, fiber, sugars, etc. if desired, is simply awesome.

I mostly focus on just the volume and ratios between protein, carbs and fat, along with calories burned vs. consumed.

We print out reports periodically for our fitness files which show a complete history with a wide range of detail flexibility, depending on what you’d like to track.

Net: the devices, the small monthly subscription to the web site, the free or small fee coaching sessions, and most importantly, the overall program, is worth every penny, and as goals change, it’s easy to adjust the overall program to adapt! I also like how they seamlessly integrate their program with the guidance from a fitness professional (trainer) if you’re working with one.

Very cool stuff…

My wish for you? Get well before you need to (if you haven’t already done so), and stay well!  I gave myself the best sixtieth birthday gift of all – I’m in the best shape of my life!

P.S. Kay just told me, “I didn’t get you anything for your birthday since I figured you’d find something you’d want”. I had two responses for her:

1. Perfect, and
2. Duh! (I always want something!)

As my old buddy, Al Lin, used to say with such meaning and intensity, “onward!”

Setting all the verbal crap aside, we looked at the results (data!), and here’s my net of the good stuff:

1.  Walkin’ the talk toward achieving goals documented October 5th. Actually, well ahead of my plan (see below)
2. My goal was to gain very little total body weight (185 to 186), but to continue to decrease body fat while gaining muscle. I have indeed lost 7 pounds of body fat while gaining 5 pounds of lean body mass (muscle), resulting in a change from 17.8% body fat to 14% (goal: 12%). Means I’m 65.5% of the way there in only 47.6% of the time, which means that not only am I tracking to my goals, I’m well ahead of schedule… yeah!
3. My BMI (body mass index) continues to remain within the normal range of 19-25 (moved slightly from 24.6 on Oct 5th to 24.9 on Nov 13th), so I am NOT underweight or overweight for my frame size, height, etc. And Connie tells me that 23 is not better than 24 which is not better than 25 – it’s just a relative index range. Sounds good!
4. Connie was pleased with the development of my lean mass, particularly upper body such as abs (stomach area where my “six pack” is starting to be more visible), striations in front and top of shoulders (definition lines), triceps and biceps (back and front of upper arms, respectively) and overall increased leanness.

Connie’s constructive criticism:

1. Nutrition: Right on with supplements; however, I’m running too big of a calorie deficit daily (far more calories burned than consumed). Since my body fat is fairly close to minimal sustainable now, continuing to run a large (500 to 1,000) daily calorie deficit, without an increase in complex carb consumption and/or less calories burned (lower intensity cardio, which is pretty intense right now per BFL interval training methodology)–gotta keep protein input up to feed muscle growth–the body will start to burn good muscle instead of bad fat (since none left). So while good muscle growth over the past month, more carbs will prevent burning muscle and give new muscle growth greater definition. Manage to the appropriate deficit/surplus calorie balance between those consumed and those burned. For now, this daily balance should be close to zero, increase carbs (if not doubling up on protein too heavily) to increase calories consumed, but keep fat lower, however, as I increase calories consumed. Assumes calories burned will remain high. Caution: if I smell ammonia in my pee, too much protein, but I shouldn’t be anywhere near that at current or projected increased levels.
2. Lower body development: Lagging good upper body development. While I’ve lost another inch at the waist-line (36.75″ on Oct 5th down to 35.75″ on Nov 13th), and while my lower body is quite a bit firmer (hard), dimensions haven’t increased (she spotted this with just a visual appearance check – confirmed later with actual tape measurement). She recommended a few machines that would more aggressively isolate specific muscle groups needing focus (quads, or fronts of upper legs; hams, or rear of upper legs; glutes, or butt cheek muscles). Machines: incline leg press (Hammer Strength – eighty pound sled with additional free-weights to drive to muscle failure).
3. Plateau-buster: She also recommended mixing in an occasional “shock day” every 3rd or 4th workout. This means that instead of pyramiding (progressively increasing weights on each set of fewer reps) and stripping (after pyramid, strip off some weight from max last set and more reps) for every workout, throw in a shock day where I’d do 3-4 sets of 30-40 reps and taking every exercise to failure (keep lifting until there is absolutely nothing left (unable to do even one more rep(itition).
4. Upper body development: Lookin’ good, but some areas are over-developing, others need work. For example, my traps (triangular muscle from upper rear shoulder to neck) are over-developing, likely caused by tensing neck and shoulders during heavy lifts repeatedly. For developing a balanced upper body physique, she suggested exercises taking the traps ‘out of the loop’ for now, and those that would continue to develop muscle groups I want to see more progress on (pecs, or upper front of chest, to eat up the rest of my “old man titties”). Machines: pec/dec – full-range flyes, finishing with strong burns (half-range-of-motion “pumps” at the end of each set of full-range reps), flat bench press (with heavy weights/fewer reps and wide push-ups), and in general, work more with barbells than dumbells for now (better left-side, right-side symmetry).
5. General progress: Very good and quite rapid (more than double the BB projections) since she has me achieving my goals by Christmas (12 week program) where BB has me achieving my goals by 3/2010. Just means I can back off to maintenance sooner. I have a session with my BB coach (over the phone) tomorrow, so it’ll be interesting to compare that input to Connie’s. BB usually defers to the Fit Pro (fitness professional, i.e., trainer), since BB program tends to be more conservative and general; whereas, a fit pro tailors a program to an individual’s situation much more precisely.

So, on track and ahead of schedule, with a few mid-course corrections to balance further overall development. Awesome!

Cheers. G

Burning in the good habits, having shed many of the old, making progress on abs, tris and delts, still need a lot of development on pecs, quads and glutes! Jeez, I love that kinda talk!

Not gaining (lean muscle) as fast as I’d like, however, since I appear to be running a deficit of >500 calories daily. Said a different way, I’m burning that many more calories than I’m consuming as measured by carefully journaling my six daily meals consumed and by reading calorie burn from my Body Bugg arm band.

I should only be running a deficit of about 50 calories per my plan, not 500!

This might be telling me that my workouts are likely causing me to burn off some of the muscle I’m working so hard to develop, since there’s not a lot of fat left to burn, despite the fact that I’m consuming a good balance of quality proteins, complex carbs and some (good) fat, along with supplements of essential fatty acids, branch chain aminos, etc.

But even though I feel like I’m eating like a pig, I’m not gaining much, if any weight. I stay right between 184 and 186, so maybe its working! Like Connie says, “you gotta eat big to get big!” (as long as you’re also workin’ out big, of course.

So this Friday (the lucky 13th), Connie’s going to redo body measurements and recheck the ole BMI (body mass index) to see if I’m really replacing remaining body fat with sufficient muscle mass to achieve my (all natural, somewhat aggressive) goals.

Can’t wait to see if I’m making progress in moving from a 17% BMI in early October toward my goal of 12% by Christmas! Hey! Maybe I’ll get that really cool adjustable dumbell set by Bow-Flex as a Christmas gift! (hint, hint, Kay! Remember to get the bigger set for the (now) bigger boy!!)

Now if I could just force myself to also find more time to get this puke-white bone bag some more sun, and pack on another six or seven pounds of rangy grizzle. Guess I gotta take some more time off from :

• writing (www.genowrites.wordpress.com and,  www.writing.com/authors/gjurrens), 
• restoring my good ole boat (www.oursojourn.wordpress.com) and, 
• amateur radio (www.k0gkj.wordpress.com )!

 Keep smilin’, sports fans!