Hello from the frozen wastelands of NC

[Boomunit]

Ok not really, but the half inch of ice that they're expecting to hit us in the next day or so will most certainly derail the whole state.  Yay for lack of cold weather infrastructure. 

 

I enjoy talking about myself as much as the next person so here goes.  I don't usually do forums, but the tedium of my new job is driving me to distraction so, as with many things in my life, "Why not?" has become a mantra.  It seems like fun.

 

I'm not new to the fitness game, but new to this site.  I've been slowly chipping away at my body composition for the past year.  I started off last January at about 265+ lbs.  I'm 6'3" so it spread out a bit.  Still it was getting noticeable.  I'd just found out about the upcoming arrival of our 2nd daughter.  With our first, I'd gained about 30 or so lbs of sympathy weight that never really went away.  I didn't think I could really manage a repeat of that so I decided to go the other way this time.

 

A year later and I'm 220, but still rocking about 23% body fat.  I know I'm super sexy right now.  (My wife wouldn't lie to me.)  I would just like to get to super-duper sexy, basically, not technically obese.  I'd love to get down to roughly 10% body fat.  It's getting tougher and tougher because I've been somewhat inconsistent over the past year due to many major life events, like you do.  Also, I'm not really a spring chicken anymore.  Middle age is rapidly approaching.  I'll be 38 this year. 

 

Here's what I'm currently doing to help shape up:

• Eating about 90% primal/paleo. (It was originally my wife's dietary choice, but I do the cooking so I didn't want to double my kitchen work load.)  We still eat full fat dairy though.  I allow one day of carby goodness.  It's tricky because I used to work in a bakery. 
• Lift 3 days a week on my lunch break.  1.Legs 2.Arms and Shoulders 3. Back and Chest   I try to use as many free weights as possible, but I work out in the campus gym so there are tons of guys half my age eating up the rack time.  I use dumbbells a lot too, but some machines are necessary for me.  
• I try, and often fail, to run intervals on my elliptical about 2-3 times a week.  With two young kids this becomes a very early morning thing and that can compete with sleep so sometimes this falls to the wayside.  

So yeah, if I can manage to stick to most of that most of the time I should be good to go.  A little extra accountability can't hurt. 

 

I had kids a little later in life than I had planned, but I want to be as active with them as possible so it's not really all about looking good for me.  That doesn't hurt though.  Also, I really do enjoy getting stronger.     

 

Cheers 

[Ascalon]

Welcome. Impressive progress.

 

I'm no expert but if you're still working on fat loss, lifting three days a week seems pretty infrequent to be doing a three way split. I lift three days and do a full body workout. I am thinking of shifting to 4 and doing an upper/lower split; personally I'd probably only break it down more than that if I was lifting 5 days (or wanting to build huge muscle).

 

That said, if you're working out in your lunchbreak then maybe you don't have time for a proper full body workout.

[Boomunit]

I'd love to do more, but there are a number of factors that are somewhat prohibitive: 

I am very time limited since I only have an hour to walk about 3/4 of a mile to the gym, change, work out, change, walk back.  That means I get maybe 40-45 minutes of actual lifting time. 

Also, since this is the campus gym, it is swarming with many lovely health-conscious folks right around lunch time, most of whom are free weight junkies.

The other thing is, I am lifting mainly for strength so I hit each muscle group hard.  That means my recovery time is a bit extended.  I do as many compound exercises as I can manage, deadlifts, squats, Db bench presses, overhead presses, dips, pull-ups, etc. so I am hitting every muscle at least twice a week regardless, but targetting each area only once. 

 

My main issue is diet.  When I fall off the wagon, I leap headfirst into the biggest pile of food I can and pack it away like crazy.  I can gain 5-10 in a week no problem.     

[Kard]

Nice to meet you Boomunit!

[Basement Cat]

Welcome to the rebellion, Boomunit!

 

Good luck with your goals and keep us posted!

[RES]

Welcome to the rebellion...extra accountability never hurts, and sounds like you have a great reason for wanting to say active!

Can totally relate on the no cold weather infrastructure part, I'm in MS...need I say more lol