Weight Gain
2012/03/22 at 9:39 pm | Posted in Discipline, Exercise, Health, Inspiration, Photos, weight loss, weight loss blog | Comments OffTags: Health, lifestyle change, weight, weight loss blog
Hey, it’s a post! From the guy who used to post here quite frequently!
I know, I know. It’s been at least a few months since my last. Sorry about that. But at least this time I’ve got a little more to write about and despite the post’s title, you’ll see that things are for the better.
As I mentioned in this post, I have been working out – some can debate this – with the original Xbox 360 game Your Shape: Fitness Evolved. Keep in mind this is the first version and not the 2012 version.
At any rate, I’ve been using it at least 3 times a week when I’m not running at night, something I’ve started to do once again in preparation for the 5ks I have coming up. And while I thought that the Xbox workouts weren’t doing much good other than getting my heart rate going, today I noticed something that made me change my mind.
I got home from work and changed into a shirt that, as you will soon see, I’ve had for a few years. But when I put it on this time I had noticed something different.
Here’s how I looked in 2008 at 205 lbs. with said shirt:
And here I am today at 213 lbs. with the same shirt:
For a better view, here’s a side-by-side comparison.
As you can tell (at least by the somewhat bulging pecs), there’s a lot more definition in my chest and that I’ve grown a goatee since the first photo was taken. That or I just shrunk my shirt. No, seriously, I do notice a difference sans shirt.
My arms and legs are also a bit thinner but more muscular which I attribute to the running and cycling and as far as the upper body goes, I’ve been following the programs on Your Shape: Fitness Evolved. In particular, I’ve been sticking to the cardio kickboxing and the Sleeve-Busting Arms Workout programs but I also downloaded the Gunnar Peterson G Fit workout last night and…yeah, it was pretty intense. It’s the reason I’m writing and not working out tonight.
To sort of speed up the process, I substituted the recommended 5 lb. weights with 10 lb. dumbbells which seems to be doing the trick.
So overall, things look a bit more refined even if I have crept up to size 38 pants. Just remember: I started at size 48 and got as low as 36. But I’m just glad to see that the most noticeable weight gain has been mostly muscle and very little fat.
That’s all I got for now. Until next time… 
Clean Bottle – And Why You Want One (or Two)
2012/01/22 at 2:30 pm | Posted in Product Review | Comments OffTags: clean bottle, shark tank, weight loss, weight loss blog
I first heard of Clean Bottles about a year ago when Active Schwaggle was offering two of them for the amazingly low price of $10, which was pretty much buy one, get one free since they normally run $10 each.
For whatever reason, I didn’t take advantage of it and the offer was gone the next day. But the idea still intrigued me – and I still wanted one.
The next day I rushed out to Performance Bike and bought the one you see in the picture above. And after a ride down the San Gabriel River Trail to the beach, it’s anything but clean (on the outside, at least).
So what makes them different? Clean Bottles are unique in that they solve the issue many of us deal with: mold or other gunk collecting at the bottom of our water bottles no matter how many times we wash them. Sometimes the rest of that stupid [insert brand of preferred sports drink here] just won’t come out, you know? To combat this, Clean Bottles open at both ends which makes them much easier to clean and pretty much ensures that you will never have to deal with a moldy bottle ever again.
This was the epiphany that Dave, creator of Clean Bottle, had when he came up with the idea. And what an idea it was.
After a few trial runs, I was sold. I loved my first Clean Bottle so much that I went out a week later and bought another one, and I never go on my rides (or runs, for that matter) without them. But after only a few uses, the most recently purchased bottle started to leak like mad.
I reached out to Dave via Clean Bottle’s Facebook page and explained my situation. He got back to me right away and suggested that the washer may be wonky. He asked where the leak was and said he’d send me a replacement washer right away.
Within a few days the washer was in my mailbox. Excited, I popped the new washer in and filled it with water.
It still leaked. A bit disappointed, I once again contacted Dave and explained what happened.
Within a week, a brand-spanking-new Clean Bottle was stuffed in my mailbox. I’ve used it many a time without one single leak occurring so I take it my leaky bottle was just a fluke. Needless to say, I was absolutely floored to get such outstanding customer service in both cases that Clean Bottle has made a customer for life out of me.
And to think that this was well before Dave’s appearance on ABC’s Shark Tank which aired last Friday. (You can see the full episode here; Dave’s pitch is the first one.)
I won’t go into details about the episode but it’s definitely worth a watch. In fact, this was the first time I watched network TV in a long time since I pretty much don’t do it anymore (watch TV in general, that is). In the episode, you will see how Dave marketed his product at the Tour de France, which former NBA great was in the Bottle Boy costume on the show, and who was willing to give Dave the $65k he was seeking.
All I can say is that Clean Bottle has had one heck of a great thing going on even before the Shark Tank episode. And with two recently introduced products, there’s no place to go but up. Those two new items are definitely on my Wish List.
If this isn’t enough to convince you to run out and buy one (or two) then I don’t know what is. An innovative product line coupled with amazing customer service truly is a win-win. What’s more, Clean Bottle also donates 10% of their profits to eco-friendly charities.
So congrats to Dave and all at Clean Bottle for their successes and all of the new customers they gained after last Friday’s episode. They won’t be disappointed with their products.
I think I’ve said enough. Go and buy yours now!
Upcoming Events and More Updates
2012/01/22 at 1:05 pm | Posted in Discipline, Exercise, Health, Inspiration, Life, weight loss, weight loss blog | Comments OffTags: Exercise, weight, weight loss blog, xbox, your shape fitness evolved
Hey, do you smell that? It’s the smell of a new blog post and I bet you’re all excited and stuff!
I have a new list of events I will be participating in this year. Ready? Here we go!
Hollywood Half Marathon 5k, April 7, 2012: The beginning of the year is always busy for me so I decided I’d let the first few months slide and start my events with this, the inaugural running of the Hollywood Half Marathon. This event will guide runners down two of Hollywood’s most famous streets – Hollywood Blvd. and Sunset – and finishes up at the Kodak Theater. It looks like a fairly simple run and as of now, it looks like one of the most organized and events I’ve done. Check out their Facebook page for constant updates. It’s gonna be a rockin’ event and I’ll be glad to be part of its history. And come on, who wouldn’t want one of these sweet finisher’s awards?
WetNWild5k, June 16, 1012: I participated in this event last year because it seemed like it would be a lot of fun. It sure was but unfortunately, the venue – Wild Rivers in Irvine, CA – was closed temporarily to make way for a new housing complex. I thought that this would be the end of the line for this crazy 5k.
Not to worry. The organizers managed to schedule the event another venue which is closer to home: Knott’s Soak City. The idea is still the same and yes, I’m sure it will be just as fun as last year. One of the many advantages about this event being close to home is that I know the area really well and will know exactly where to eat after the run. The choices are many…!
Long Beach Marathon Bike Tour, October 7, 2012: For the 3rd year in a row, I will mount my bike and be riding in this event. I bested my time last year and an hoping to do the same again this year.
So what else is there? Provided I can cough up the money for more events, I will definitely do so. The Del Mar Mud Run was insanely fun but just a bit too far to go, even if I did win an entry to the event. Still, I’d love to another event similar to that one.
Moving on. My weight continues to creep ever so higher but guess what? It’s a good thing and here’s why:
As my Lean Weight app clearly indicates, my muscle mass continues to go higher. This is fine with me because it means that the fat is dropping off and the muscle is packing on. I’m real happy with these results.
What have I been doing differently? In addition to my usual Sunday bike ride of at least 15 miles, I recently purchased Kinect and the Your Shape: Fitness Evolved game for a change of pace. It consists of stuff like cardio kickboxing which is good because I haven’t been to my classes in a bit due to the holidays and fighting off a bad cold. While others will argue that these “fitness games” are no real substitute for the real thing, I have to admit that after an hour of doing it, I’m sweating pretty good. And since the chart you see above indicates the addition of body mass after purchasing the game, then I’d say it was making a bit of a difference. Either way, it’s a good change of pace. Hey, Wii Fit practically got me to start jogging because I got tired of standing on once place.
Well, that’s all for now. I may have another post later or tomorrow because it centers around a product I should have written about a long time ago: Clean Bottle. You’ll see why when you read it.
Thanks for reading. If you made a resolution to lose weight this year, forget it. They never work. Instead, make a commitment to lose weight and follow through with it by changing the way you live. You will succeed – believe me, I know!
Kickboxing Class
2011/11/16 at 11:26 pm | Posted in Discipline, Exercise, Health, Inspiration, lifestyle change, weight loss, weight loss blog | Comments OffTags: Exercise, Health, weight, weight loss blog
Before I get into this post, I want mention a few things.
First, to thanks Fat2Fit Radio for once again mentioning my blog on their podcast! You can give it a listen here.
Second, where I am with my maintenance. Believe it or not, I’m still hovering around the 205 range and, not surprising to me or probably any other readers, still nowhere near the illusive goal of 190. I think I need to make peace with the fact that I may not ever reach that goal or if I do get close, it won’t be for very long if I want to build up some more muscle and kill the fat.
Third, the domain has finally been mapped to the blog! I know, it took me some time to do but at least I got around to it. Working all that overtime definitely paid off
Okay, now to the meat of this post. I took my first kickboxing class last night and let me tell you, it was definitely something. How intense was it? I can’t lift my arms above my head very well at the moment and class was over 24 hours ago. I worked muscles I didn’t even know I had, I sweat like mad, and also learned some handy martial arts moves that will come in handy the next time someone decides to get all up in my grill.
The first half consisted of some simple stretching and exercises which then led into the more intense stuff: medicine ball, running on all fours, and learning the aforementioned defensive moves. Probably the most surprising part was how doing something as simple as outstretching your arms to your sides and raising them slightly for 5 minutes can really work your arm muscles — and make them as sore as anything the following day. Well, that and holding an 8 lb. medicine ball above your head for a few minutes. Either way, my arms are grimacing and can barely be raised above my head at the moment, but it feels so right.
Another exercise involved working with a step: hopping on and off and keeping one foot on it all times. Not too bad until the trainer asks you to speed up.
Then there was the punching. The trainer stood in front of me with a punching mitt on each and and told me to start off slow then go hard. As my punches continued to get faster and harder, I really began to feel my upper arms turn to mush and the punches started to slow and had less intensity. I was almost to the point of throwing in the towel but my trainer insisted I keep going, pushing me and encouraging me along the way.
It worked. I made it, despite there being little to no kicking involved. But our legs did get a workout with some of the other exercises er did. I have to give a shout-out to the facility, The Fitness Mecca in Signal Hill, CA, and to Dana and Rich who are both good people and were glad to have me there. I enjoyed it and will definitely be returning very soon.
I’d also like to mention this. I was able to get these classes through a deal with Amazon Local/Living Social, which is kind of like Groupon in that it offers ridiculous discounts on local restaurants and services. In my case, $20 got me 20 classes and 5 smoothies at The Fitness Mecca. By comparison, individual classes run $10 each and smoothies are somewhere between $3 and $5. I was also able to score a 45 minute session with a personal trainer as well as 4 classes of my choice at another local facility for the same price. The offers seem to be much better than anything Active Schwaggle offers, even if you are a Active Advantage member (which I am). Sign up for the Living Social 1-Day Deal and you won’t regret it. Saving money and getting in shape — does it get any better?
Despite my soreness, I am definitely going to kickboxing again next Tuesday and also interested in taking something else like spinning or even yoga. I’ve got 19 classes and 5 smoothies left so I think I’m in pretty good shape
Now on Twitter!
2011/09/05 at 8:39 pm | Posted in Blog Stuffs, weight loss, weight loss blog | 2 CommentsTags: diets don’t work, twitter, weight, weight loss, weight loss blog
I don’t know what took me so long to do this, but I decided to make a Twitter account for this blog. While I already have a personal account it tends to be for more personal stuff rather than information related to the content I create here. And since I figure none of my followers of my personal account would care to read my posts related to weight loss, this only seemed logical.
Not only that, since I find myself posting here with less frequency, a Twitter account seemed to make even more sense. It’s a quick way to get the word out about my thoughts on a story I saw online, foods I might be trying at the moment, a workout I just started (courtesy Endomondo), a quick photo, etc. In short, a more immediate way to communicate.
The account also gives you, the reader, a chance to send a quick message to me if you wish since I now have a smartphone and use the TweetCaster app to check for messages. Even more interactivity! I’ve even gone ahead and added a Twitter widget to the sidebar so you can see my most recent tweets. Neat-o.
But before we get started, I have a few rules in place which are listed below. Please read and understand them before proceeding any further.
On Following: I welcome anybody to follow me provided you are a genuine, real-life human being with interesting and topical things to say about weight loss. Whether you’ve met your goal or are just starting, I’d love to hear what you have to say so I can follow you in return. This also means that if you are not and are just using Twitter to spam the whole Twitterverse with links to bogus weight loss products or other half-baked snake oil weight loss schemes, you will be blocked and reported for spam. I will not argue with you; I’ll just block you. Remember that this blog is about how I lost weight the right way and not investing in fishy weight loss products because they simply do not work.
On Direct Messaging: You can also DM me if you wish and I’ll try my best to answer you or just say hello. But the same rule goes for DMs: spam me and I block you. Simple, huh?
With all that said, go ahead and follow @200by40 on Twitter and let the fun begin!
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