Welcome to Week 9 of me publicly broadcasting my goal of getting down to 195 pounds every Friday until that goal is accomplished.
History Of How I Got Here
June 2010
- End of massive weight loss transformation.
- Lost around 80 pounds of fat in two years
- Got weight down to 184 pounds
September 2010 – December 2014
- Yearly fitness goals to lift weights for maintenance and strength.
- 95% of workouts are based on lifting weights
- Comfortable with maintaining a healthy weight around 205-210 pounds based on home/work lifestyle
January 2015
- Wanted to lose as much fat as possible before pursuing a massive muscle building program
- Created a year long goal to lose at least 15 pounds of fat by end of the year
- If I suffered no muscle loss, 195 pounds would equate to 15 pounds of fat loss.
January – November 2015
- Weight bounced between 199 – 215 pounds
November 20, 2015
- Decided to document my journey online for extra motivation to meet goal before end of the year
- Hardest time of the year for me to lose weight is during the holidays, so I challenged myself to get to 195 pounds during the season.
- Countdown Week 1 (click here)
- Countdown Week 2 (click here)
December 2015
- Countdown Week 3 (click here)
- Countdown Week 4 (click here)
- Countdown Week 5 (click here)
- Countdown Week 6 (click here)
January 2016
- Countdown Week 7 (click here)
- Did not achieve 195 pounds during the holiday season
- Decided to continue to pursue and document 195 goal until accomplished
- Countdown Week 8 (click here)
**SPECIAL NOTE**:
Truth be told, Michael doesn’t care how much he weighs. The real stat that matters to him is his waist. That’s the measurement that tells the real story about his fat loss. One of Michael’s other goals for 2015 was to have a consistent 34.5” or smaller waist size. Since waist measurements aren’t as sexy as weight loss, he decided to focus on the scale for these countdown weeks, while looking at the waist as a secondary measurement.
WEEK 9: January 8 – 14 2016
January 8th Stats
Scale Weight: 209 pounds
Waist: 35.5 inches
Week 9 Main Goals
- Drop scale weight from 209 to 207 pounds
- Get waist under 35.3 inches
- Stay 90% compliant with my eating
- That means that out of ten meals of the week, nine of them had to follow my healthy eating plan.
Observations & Challenges
Quick Judgement
Eating
I have had absolutely no sugar cravings this past week. Even while watching the NFL playoff games, I didn’t feel the need for something fattening.
Workout
Last week was the first full week of me attempting my new 4 day workout plan. I don’t know if it was due to the new routine or me still slowly recovering from my holiday binges, but the workouts were very taxing on my body. As this week came along, I was still figuring out my pacing. As this week went along, I noticed something magical this past Wednesday morning.
While workout out, I had this incredible since of energy! What was difficult last week was extremely easy on this day! I don’t know if it was my pre-workout drink of BCAAs, week of healthy eating, or my belief that I was going to CRUSH that workout. Something just clicked. I know it was no fluke either because I barely got 5 hours of sleep that night prior.
It’s just a good reminder to always keep trying and showing up. There will be days that are awful. There will be days where you will feel like you have lost some of your mojo. But if you keep up with the constant dedication, your body is going to start rewarding you!
Mentality
I’m reading my book, Release The Beast: Conquer Mental, Physical & Diet Challenges To Unleash The Champion Inside! and completing the tasks daily. Even though I’m the author, it still is refreshing to put your ego in check and make sure you are REALLY doing everything you could be doing for success.
Food Journal
Here are my food stats for the week:
End of Week 9: January 15th, 2016
- Scale Weight: 206 lbs
- Waist: 35.0
- 100% Compliant
- 21 out of 21 meals I ate during the week were compliant with my eating plan
I was very surprised by my waist size. Given that I was 35.5 inches last week, I was expecting to be around 35.3 inches this week. That measurement caught me off guard due to the way I look in the mirror. As I mentioned before, the closer I get to 200 pounds, the easier it is to visually see it.
In addition to the mirror test, my underwear and pants becomes noticeably loser as I get towards 200 pounds. It’ll be interesting to see how long it takes for my body to adjust to my current 1926 calories/day. In the past, eating around 2200 calories/day kept me in the 205-210 pound range. I’ll keep my calories at 1926 until I see a drastic stoppage in weight loss.
Upcoming Week 10 goals:
- Drop scale weight from 206 to 205 pounds.
- Waist under 34.9 inches
- Stay 90% compliant with my eating
- That means that out of ten meals of the week, nine of them had to follow my healthy eating plan.
- Eat about 1926 calories a day
- Ideally that breaks down to:
- 193 grams Protein
- 193 grams Carbohydrates
- 43 grams Fat
- Ideally that breaks down to:
I’ll be taking my mom out for a post-birthday celebration this weekend. Think I should make that into a cheat meal? This is another weekend of NFL Playoff games, maybe I’ll get some bags of chips as my cheat meal. What are the chances of me not even taking a cheat meal?
I’m 11 pounds away from my goal. Tune in next week to see if I get to 10 pounds away……OR 20 pounds away!
