Good morning, campers! The end of the BSC is approaching quickly, isn’t it? Remember when you were a kid and things like Thanksgiving and Christmas seemed so far away? You know why? You didn’t have to do anything other than show up, get fed, open presents and revel in being a child. Now that we’re adults it’s more, “Oh crap, it’s nearly the end of October! I need to start planning trips, meals, gifts, parties, and all the other stuff grown people have to do for the holidays…and I haven’t even picked out a Halloween costume yet!” The same sort of thing could be said for Big Skeezy when it comes to this challenge, it seems, as he’s still trying to break through that one hundred pound barrier. It’s like the beginning of “The Right Stuff” when they were chasing the sound barrier. “There was a demon that lived in the air. They said whoever challenged him would die. Their controls would freeze up, their planes would buffet wildly, and they would disintegrate. The demon lived at Mach 1 on the meter, seven hundred and fifty miles an hour, where the air could no longer move out of the way. He lived behind a barrier through which they said no man could ever pass. They called it the sound barrier.” How did Big Skeezy do this week in his own pursuit of that demon? Let’s break it down, shall we?
I must admit, that “Right Stuff” reference seems pretty spot-on these days. I remember in the beginning when weight was dropping off by the handful and I did my calculations which, had that pace kept up, meant by the end of the year I would have lost more weight than I weighed. Obviously, that would have been a bad thing and resulted in a stick-thin version of me with no muscle mass to speak of. I’m happy with my progress so far but I’m also really excited to hit triple digits.
As you’ve probably noticed lately, my effort has been lackluster at best. I met that demon around 295 and have been dancing with him in the pale moonlight ever since. We danced so much so that I started to believe him…started to believe this is as good as it gets. I started telling myself, “If you can just maintain this…test the limits and see how much crap you can eat and get away with it. Maybe lose a random pound here and there and just pump the brakes. You’ve worked hard enough.”
That’s horseshit, obviously, as I haven’t worked hard enough. I haven’t even come close. I reached out to a friend of Cosby Sweaters, fellow blogger Tony Muscoli, who runs a site called Two Scoops Get Huge. It’s a fantastic blog that talks about how to get huge in the gym (not to mention the fact that’s a very entertaining read). I explained the BSC to him and how I’d hit my plateau, be it psychological or otherwise, and he had this to say. I’ll let you enjoy that story for yourself but, basically, it’s about what/how to eat, how cardio (at leats 40 minutes a day, seven days a week) is key and then – only then – can you start with the seriously, sweat-inducing weightlifting.
So I took Tony’s advice to heart and started in on that plan this week, albeit a bit slowly at first. I had some nice walks/runs and hit the weights lightly. Saturday was a good four mile walk/run through the west side, alternating between walking and jogging every stoplight. I also had to do a lot of moving of desks and computers this weekend which involved a lot of lifting as well as squatting. There’s nothing quite like manual labor to get you sweaty.
Food-wise I ate better, though still not as good as I could have. My days were pretty well-balanced with only a large meal out at a restaurant on Friday derailing it a tad (though even that was grilled chicken breast but with a lovely mexican sauce over it). I had some drinks on Saturday but, again, nothing TOO terribly bad. All in all the week was solid.
I felt like I had made progress this week but had to wait until this morning to see if I actually had. It turns out I did, as I hit 278 this morning, which meant a three pound loss on the week and put me at ninety-three lost on the year. Seven more to go.
For those of you who skipped to the end, I hope you enjoyed those three sentences and this one calling you out on it.
For those of you who didn’t, well done.
For all of you, keep grinding. I’ll see you next week.
