Haven’t been over here much, but I have continued to learn more and really crush this diet/nutrition/weight loss/fitness thing.

I’m down to 199, and had thought about shutting down my Tumblr since I had reached most of my goals but I won’t, because now it’s time to create new ones and help others with weight loss and nutrition.

Unfortunately the U.S. is driven by money, so all of these fly by night diet fads, products, misinformation, etc. etc. confuses so many people and leaves those same people with less money, frustrations, and failures.

A gym membership is great. Having prepared food from one of the programs may work for you but it’s just plain unnecessary. 

Skip the gyms, save your money and start figuring out what your needs are. Everyone is different. There is no cookie cutter guide to weight loss other than the basic truth of caloric intake vs. what you burn for maintenance and with exercise.

Don’t make any huge changes to what you eat the first few weeks. Just track it. Use Myfitnesspal.com. That website got me through my plateau and in plain black and white showed me what I was truly eating.

Once you do that you can figure out your maintenance caloric needs. How much you need to eat just to maintain your current weight without exercise, or in a sedentary state (what you body needs to burn just to exist for 24 hours). 

Track it week after week for a few weeks. I weigh in on Friday’s for tracking purposes. Find out if the amount of calories your are eating now keeps you where you are weight wise, or if you are gaining. Once you find what keeps you steady and level, you can start making changes.

This is getting long, so I will continue this post tomorrow. but If anyone has any questions, inbox me.

Just a quick update- I’m down from 257 to 199. And I am not starving. I still eat cheetohs, and I even eat Oreos from time to time. This journey is not overwhelming and it’s far from impossible.

March was truly a success. On the fitness front it was a smashing success. My weight is right where I want it to be, and the last 30 days have been full of personal bests.

First off, I reached the 140 mile mark with my running for the first time ever. My previous best was 132 in January which shows that 2013 has been truly focused.

The second PB that I’m really proud of is my 5 mile best time that equated to a 6:57/mile pace. I’ve ran a 7:06 pace before but that was by really pushing it which is not something you really do at that distance during training.

This time around it came easy. Nice and relaxed, which tells me that my strength training, and my focus on my stride and overall form is getting better. 

Overall I have to say that I’m very happy where I am in my life like I said before. I have decided to cut down to 190 just to get rid of the remaining trouble areas (lower abs, love handles), and then I will bulk back up fat free (hopefully).

I’m 40 years old with a wife, 3 kids, a crazy full time job, a website, a radio show, and an art career. NEVER, EVER let yourself use the excuse  that you are too busy. 

Sometimes I can’t fit my runs in until after 10 PM after working all day, but one thing is for sure…. I never skip them unless I am sick.

NO EXCUSES!!

Whatever your goals are… keep on pushing and never give up!!

I  get asked all the time about how I lost weight and what I eat. Not so much on Tumblr yet since I don’t have much of a following here yet, but more so on other social media applications where I’m more established.

I never really got the results I wanted until I finally paid attention — really paid attention— to my diet. I now use Myfitnesspal.com to track what I really eat, and since I’ve stayed disciplined the results have been amazing.

I already workout consistently, so the food was the last needed piece to make it all work. So here is my daily intake for today. Obviously dinner hasn’t happened yet, but it’s planned.

I eat pretty close to this most days and usually fall between a 700-1000 calorie deficit, which for me gives me about a 7-8 pound weight loss in about 5 weeks. The 3200 goal is my adjusted BMR with an adjustment for my activity level (Run 6 days a week).

I’m going to really get scientific with it and find out EXACTLY what my maintenance calories vs. my weight loss caloric needs are in the next 4 weeks. 

(Source: gettingfitnshit)