About 18 months ago I read Cressey and Robertson’s “Neanderthal No More” http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=535872 and it changed my life.
What?! You crazy fool, how can an article about sitting hunched over your computer all day change your life? Let me tell you.
The antidote to the caveman posture is basically to stand up tall with the shoulders back. I started standing tall around the office and after a couple of weeks, I noticed that everyone was staring at me. No, really.
At first I freaked. Then I realized that as a balm to my poor self-image, I made myself invisible as I moved through life. At this point, I could either go back to the slouch or meet their gaze in a friendly non-threatening manner and move on. I smiled and moved on.
Hey great! Now, I can look people in the eye, but I’m still fat. Not obese, just fat. I had a birthday approaching. One of THOSE birthdays - 40. I was tired of being fat, but I’ve been tired of being fat for years and I hadn’t succeeded in getting lean.
Here was a goal and a reason for change, or so I thought. I decided that the Velocity Diet would be my salvation, but since I was really looking for something that would eliminate the need for persistent discipline, it was a failure.
Oh, I lost 15lbs on the V-Diet, but I choked down the shakes and spent most every day wanting a cookie or a Snickers and when it was over, I transitioned right back to my old habits.
A couple of months later, my personal life took a crapper as things got rough between my wife of 14 years and I and then we decided to write our own little urban drama over the next 6 months. During a couple of very low spots, I decided that if we were going in different directions, I was not going to be the same loser she met and married.
SO, I went out and started updating my wardrobe and practicing my pickup lines. Oh wait, I couldn’t do that because my self-image rendered me nearly incapable of talking to women. A big genuine P***Y. That could not be, instead I went out and grabbed that weakness by the horns and started learning to talk to people and carry on a conversation with anyone.
WOW, real interpersonal growth. Like a butterfly out of the cocoon. But, still a fat butterfly that one day had nothing but a big bag of peanut M&Ms to eat. What was the deal? Why couldn’t I gain control over this area of life?
Then one day I started reading the Physique Clinic blogs. OH SHIT. Every rationalization that had crossed through my pretty little head in the past was shown for the putrefying vomit of dead excuse that it was. I was fat because I chose to be fat; because I lacked discipline in this area and because when I might have had success, I didn’t want to pay the price.
But Gus and Chris were paying the price. Then I thought, it looks like they are still taking applications for the Physique Clinic. I’ll put together a package and send it in.
First, I needed some pictures and they were truly awful. I could see the results of 25 years in the gym and the training I’d done for powerlifting(Yes I do have a total), but the horrors. I was not impressed. I decided that I couldn’t wait to see if I was selected for the next round of Physique Clinics, I needed to start now. I had basically given up. I all but quit lifting over 2 years ago. Instead, I started the Velocity Diet again.
Let me tell you how it’s different this time. Oh, I was different.
I did some things different too. This time I made my shakes with water instead of milk and I’ve found that they test almost good enough to chew. The HOT-ROX does a great job of curbing what hunger may sneak past the green tea. I had been chewing a bit of sugarless gum but that will stop. I was just reading today about the way that the carbs can add up.
Here’s a story. In the middle of the first week, I came home to a kitchen full of homemade chocolate chip cookies. Frankly, I didn’t want one that badly, but I still used the spatula to pick them up and put them in the bag. I didn’t want the feel of the crumbs on my hands. I didn’t want to lick the crumbs from my fingers and to start desiring those cookies. NO!! I only want my shakes.
3/3/2008
Measurements all in inches:
=======================
Largest part of belly: 42
Upper leg L/R: 24.75/25.0
Lower leg both: 15.5
Ankle L/R: 9.375 9.5
Chest: 47.5
Upper ab area: 40.5
Shoulders: 53.75
Arms(flexed) L/R: 15.5
Neck: 16.875
3/8/2008
Measurements all in inches:
==========================
Largest part of belly: 41
Upper leg L/R: 24.25/24.75
Lower leg both: 15.25
Ankle L/R: 9.375 9.5
Chest: 46.75
Upper ab area: 40
Shoulders: 54
Arms(flexed) L/R: 15
Neck: 16.25
Weight:
3/2/2008 - upon waking 223.5
3/8/2008 - upon waking 214.5
The picture is from Feb 26.