Saturday February 16, 2013
Anyone who has struggled with being overweight has experienced, at one time or another, the feeling of hopelessness, the utter dread, of never being able to attain, or in my case regain, the body they want to have. I should point out that the feeling of dread in my case is past tense, this time around I knew I would get my body back, in only four weeks!
Long hours of cardio only produced modest, at best, weight loss. Partly because while doing your cardio you were also working out with some kind of weight training to build lean muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat. Putting it another way, a pound of fat takes up more space than a pound of muscle. Two to three times the space.
So while you are building muscle and burning off fat your weight can actually go up in the beginning! Which can add to the feeling of hopelessness and dread. It may even make you give up before you really get going.
So imagine my surprise Friday July 27, 2012 when I realized I had a six-pack, without doing anything intentionally designed to build six-pack abs. I was trying to flatten my belly and regain my lost flexibility, I had given up the dream of having a six-pack at the age of 50.
But since I wasn’t planning on building a six-pack I had no documentation, no real proof. Which is why I came up with the insane, hair-brained plan of throwing it all away so I could do it again, this time writing down what I did and what I ate.
I stopped working out, I pigged out big time and I started to drink soft drinks again. Even so it was nearly a month before I had any significant weight gain. Go figure, after four years of trying in vain to lose weight the shoe was on the other foot, for a few weeks at any rate.
Two months later I had gained fifteen pounds and grew my pot belly back. But I still had a shred of doubt, could I do it again? In the same time frame?
One of the hardest things I did was to take this picture of my gut.
No six-pack and I had lost the definition on my chest, arms and shoulders. After spending nearly five months with a fit, well toned body I looked like that. My energy level was in the bottom basement, but I had an edge. I know what exercise does to your energy level, it raises it, gives you more. After three weeks I had lost eight pounds but gained three back.
Not yet a six-pack, but getting close and my chest, arms and shoulders were much more defined.
For exercise today I of course did my twenty-two minute core stretching and calisthenics routine, that’s a given, at least four days a week, I do it six days a week. Four days a week is for maintenance, six days a week is for building.
I’m not looking to build much more muscle at this stage so that was all I did.
- 8:00 am I ate a packet of Strawberries and Cream Instant Oatmeal and a sausage egg and cheese breakfast sandwich.
- 12:45 pm I ate a bowl of Spanish Rice cooked with chorizo and mixed vegetables.
- 5:00 pm I ate two pieces of baked chicken, two cups of cooked crinkled carrots and a cup of macaroni and cheese.
Only one more day!
Michael Cole
Tomorrow Build Six Pack Abs In Four Weeks – Take Two – Day Twenty-eight