2016 is here! Are you still excited about all the possibilities of this year? I know I am. I mentioned in my 2015 recap exactly what 2015 meant to me. Now that 2016 is here, I expect to keep moving forward. I hope you do too.
In late 2015, I had decided to post a weekly progress report of me dropping down to 195 pounds every Friday. I started the weekly countdown around November 20th. My thinking was that it would keep me motivated during the holiday season which has always been the hardest time of the year for me to maintain and/or lose weight.
I had my ups and downs during the 2015 holiday season. Unfortunately I didn’t meet my goal of getting down to 195 in the year 2015. I got within five pounds of that goal several times during the year. If I had been dedicated I know I could have easily accomplished that goal.
Not Fully Dedicated To Sacrifice For Change
Like most folks I had gotten to comfortable with my body. I had no consistent drive! I had a goal to get super lean again that I figured I would get to eventually. In my case, I was already around my ideal weight. For me to get towards my next level of leanness, I had to go outside of my comfort zone. It required a lot of sacrifice and change.
During most of 2015, I was just comfortable with staying in my comfort zone. I knew that to lose my 20 pounds of fat for the year would require a great deal of sacrifice. I’m a big boy, so I can admit that I didn’t give it my all throughout the year.
As my weight got closer to 195, articles stating how awesome it is to gain muscle and just bulk up would distract me. Those articles look so appealing to me. Being able to eat more calories. Not being restricted but just free to eat for growth.
The more my body shrank, the more I realized I did not have as much muscle as I had hoped to accomplished over the past couple of years. The image I saw in that mirror made me want to just stop dieting down and just build muscle. Those thoughts and distractions hampered my efforts to get to my next level of leanness.
What Do I Really Want?
During my Countdown to 195, I state that I really don’t care how much I weight. I care more about being healthy with a great looking body. It doesn’t have to be pro bodybuilder level, but good enough to get a couple glances when at the beach with my shirt off. That’s my current definition of my own perfect body. As Nate Miyaki states, it’s a body that looks good at the beach.
When I was around 200 pounds I looked in the mirror and saw that my perfect body still needed muscle. In order to build muscle, you need to be eating a surplus of calories. That is the complete opposite of what you do when you are trying to get as lean as possible. The longer you have been lifting weights, the harder it is for you to build SIGNIFICANT muscle and get lean at the same time. Sure it’s possible to build some muscle when on a restricted diet, but those gains will not be as easy as the person following a good surplus diet. The surplus is supplying the muscle with more nutrition than the restricted. It’s basic science and math!
With me knowing all this I am faced with a dilemma. Should I start a bulking diet or should I continue with getting down to 195 pounds?
Final Days of 2015
During the last weeks of the holiday season I became ill and stressed (see here). While ill, I did not try to eat according to my restricted meal plan due to all the holiday goodies at my disposal. On January 1st the scale told me that I weighed 217 pounds. One day later, the scale tapped me on the shoulder and whispered
“You’re now 220 pounds…..Mr. Fitness Author..ummm I’m sure that’s not muscle weight!”
I’m not the type of person to only rely on what the scale tells me. I believe that a mirror and measuring tape are better tools to measure your progress. When I used both of those tools, I did not like what I saw. The excess eating of carb/fat combinations made my body become extremely bloated. My waist was almost 37 inches around! That’s almost three inches more than it was two weeks ago!
MicVinny Presents…..The Decision
Seeing those stats along with that reflection in the mirror made it easy to decide on what I should do. I decided to continue with my plan to go down to 195 lbs….but I was going to do it slightly different then I was before.
I’m going to treat myself as if I’m an actual client. I have decided that I will use the lessons from Release The Beast to show my Fan Club that I stand by what I wrote in that book. I seriously believe that everyone can have their dream body if they follow the lessons in that book.
For however long it takes, I will be utilizing Release The Beast Book, Workbook and Video Course to get down to 195 pounds. I’m hoping that others with fat loss goals come along with me for this journey.
Never feel like you are in this battle by yourself in 2016!
