ALL IT TAKES IS 3 THINGS
What were my modifications? Well, once you have MuscleNow in hand, you'll know how Francesco suggests to eat and prepare food. What I would add to that and what I DID is prepare a space in the kitchen just for my food scale, special foods, (bananas, oatmeal, rice, etc) and water bottles. I kept all of these things in one spot because I needed to have all of these things staring me in the face. With all of these things constantly sitting out, there was no escaping the reality that I was truly on a mission to succeed and every moment of the day the mere fact that my special food and tools for measuring them were out kept me accountable.
Another thing that I think personally made the difference was writing everything I did down. I'll admit, I only wrote down everything I ate and every exercise I did for the purpose of tracking it all for the documentary, but let me tell you..... If I hadn't done that, I don't know if I could have kept the dedication. Sure, it just about drove me crazy to do it, but I literally did write down everything that went down my throat, every movement in the gym I made (per the suggestion in MuscleNow's workout chart), and the results of every weigh in. This total dedication to logging every aspect of my fitness journey really made it trackable and got my mind focused on keeping myself dedicated. Let's face it, I just did NOT want to have to write down eating the wrong food on a non cheat day, so I had to only eat what I was willing to write down for the whole world to see later. The same goes for the gym, I couldn't skip a workout, or even cheat out on the exercises or the cardio. By dedicating myself to always writing down what I was doing, I knew that I had to make the choice each and every day about whether or not I was going to let myself down by skipping out on it. I never wanted to have to face that personal guilt by doing so, especially knowing that by writing it down, I would always have that log book reminding me of that days failure to achieve.
The last modification that I made to the plan (this is not really a modification so much as a personal choice) was to commit to memory the carb and protein values of every food that was on my list of acceptable foods and to make a "NO LIST" of foods that I personally decided I needed to avoid. I knew that a banana on average is 26 carbs. That a can of tuna on average is 32 grams of protein. I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea. Also, I made a list of foods I decided to avoid all together, even though they were for the most part acceptable per the MuscleNow dietary suggestions. I personally felt that they were foods that I would have a hard time controlling if I were to put them in my mouth. A couple of them however were obviously NOT RECOMMENDED! My "NO LIST" went as follows:
NO Sugar
NO Fried Foods
NO Beef or Pork
NO Bread
NO Dairy Products
That was it. Towards the end, I worked a couple of those foods into my diet and I went all out crazy with them on cheat days, but other than that, I avoided them all together!
That would do it for my personal modifications. You may decide that you need to make other modifications to the plan or possibly none at all. Personally, I believe that MuscleNow is very detailed and there are very few things to change if at all. If you notice, I really did not change anything about it, I just did certain little things to keep me accountable.
If I could mention one more thing, I would have to say that if it weren't for the Liquid Egg Whites, I would not have been able to survive. They made all the difference for me. They are odorless, practically tasteless, and go down link 2% milk. They are so easy to mix in with other flavors that I have even drunk them raw with nothing more than some sugar free non dairy creamer! I have to urge anyone seriously looking into getting into shape to give them a try!
MY STORY
For as long as I can remember, I always had a
belly. Even as a small child, it was there. My
sister and I both were actually nowhere even close
to being "FAT" kids, but we always had a little
belly. For me, as I grew up it never really went
away. The closest I ever came was a semester in
high school when I was swimming everyday for an
hour. At that time, it flattened out somewhat, but
was still a very obvious layer of fat! Not even a
single abdominal muscle showed itself. As I got
into my 20's I was able to maintain a physique that
many would probably consider "skinny fat". I never
looked fat to anyone, and with a slight amount of
space in the front of my shirt, nobody had to know
that I was hiding a gut. That went on right into my
marriage. Beyond that, there were 2 things that
made everything change! 1. My wife got Pregnant 2.
The opening of Krispy Kreme! I know that last one
sounds funny, but it was so true! Don't get me
wrong, I think Krispy Kreme is GREAT and it bums me
out that they are closing down right and left, but
let's face it..... IT"S A DONUT! You should already
know what happens when you pound fat fried carbs
into your body! From the day it opened, it only
took me 3 weeks to gain 10 POUNDS! Add that then to
my wife getting pregnant, she would have eyes much
bigger than her stomach and rather than let the
food go to waste (because for some reason, the idea
of leftovers sent her heaving to the bathroom), I
would eat it, plus my meal as well! By the time my
first child was born, I had gained an additional 10
pounds on top of my Krispy Kreme habit!
So, there I was. At the start of our marriage, I
weighed in at about 203 to 205. By the time our
first child was born, I was topping 220, closer to
225. I couldn't believe it, but it was true. What
did I do, ANYTHING I COULD!!! I won't even begin to
detail the enumerable different techniques I tried
to get my weight back down. All I will say is, they
worked, temporarily and as soon as I would relax
the eating just a little bit, I was right back
where I started.
It was finally about Fall 2003. My first kid was 2
years old. I had tried pretty much everything under
the sun and decided that the only way I was going
to get back into shape was to do more than eat a
certain way and do some mild cardio. The only
problem was that I needed a plan. I had no idea
about how to walk into a gym and make my time there
worth while. I was gullible greeny and I knew it.
That is when I started my search on the web for
what I hoped would be the end all be all of fitness
guides. I found a few things here and there and
bought a few different guides and website
memberships. Then I stumbled across the
Incredibody
website. I'll admit, the website layout left a
little to be desired, but I was truly intrigued by
what the author had to say and immediately won over
by his own fitness story and genuine feelings for
natural growth with food rather than supplements
and steroids. I took the plunge and spent the
money.
At first, I just went with the diet to see if I
could do it. I'll admit, it wasn't easy at first to
be so regimented about eating certain ratios of
carbs to protein so many times in one day. However,
in about 2 weeks of keeping it up, I got used to
the idea and it became more natural. From the
eating alone, I didn't lose spectacular amounts of
weight, but I did drop a couple pounds. Then, after
a couple weeks, I started the exercises. WHAT A
DIFFERENCE!! That was when pounds started to come
off and I actually began to look different! That
was also the turning point when I made the worst
decision I ever made in terms of my own personal
fitness progress. After a few weeks of seeing
fantastic progress, I decided that it wouldn't be
such a big deal to eat a little bit here and there
of what I wanted to. So after just a few weeks of
dropping pounds and noticing definition come to my
body, I halted my weight loss progress all together
and while I still had enough of a gut for it to be
noticed, I just ate what I wanted between my
"regimented" meals. True, I did get down from then
close to 227 down to about 215 in a few weeks, but
then I stayed there at 215 for a while. After about
a month of eating how I wanted, my belly stayed the
same, but I started to get heavier and heavier, and
heavier till finally I topped out the scale at 235!
WHAT HAPPENED! Well, I was working out like a mad
man and eating like one too, my shoulders, arms,
and legs got HUGE! At that point, people would joke
around and say I was the strongest FAT MAN they
knew! I was happy to have the gains, but I just
couldn't bear the thought of having to cut back the
calories to lose the fat. I finally just gave it up
all together and after about 2 years of being in
the gym, I just stopped. Sure, I would go back here
and there. I even at one point did a good 6 month
stint back in the gym and even ate right, for a few
days at a time, but without day to day dietary
consistency, I just couldn't get there.
It took me another year and half to realize that if
I was really serious about getting the weight off,
I had to be really serious about the plan that I
had adopted. I had already proven to myself that if
I just followed it, it would deliver fantastic
results FAST THAN ANYTHING I had tried before. It
was at about this time, Early Spring of 2007 that I
decided I had to stop the hap-hazard appearances
that I was making into the gym and really do it all
at once and once and for all to the point where it
just became a habitual part of myself. I knew that
it would if I just stuck to it long enough.
So, I started to go for it, to make the dream come
to reality and turn my body into what I knew I had
to if I was going to become and stay healthy! Then
it dawned on me, if I had gone through all of this
up and down, perhaps countless thousands have as
well. If that was true, they might still be out
there totally lost about how to get it done. I felt
a responsibility for some crazy reason that if
people out there needed to learn a better way and
realize that there was a plan out there that could
make their own fitness dreams a reality, then that
I was the person who had to tell that story and get
the message out to the masses. It was actually then
that I quit going to the gym all together and went
about the business of figuring out how to make a
movie.
The story of what I had to do and learn about how
to make a movie is a whole other long and
interesting story of its own, but for now, I'll
just say it took me a WHOLE LOT LONGER than I
thought it would. I planned on being out of the gym
for a few weeks TOPS. Well, as you all know, I
started filming on October 29th 2007 and let me
tell you, THAT WAS A RUSHED DEADLINE! We even put
it off 3 times during the month of October just
because something new and too long to mention here
always seemed to come up! When I started my hiatus
from the gym in early Spring 2007, I had managed to
get my weight down to about 230, but that was with
a considerable loss in muscle since I had gone lax
on proper eating and time in the gym. From that
time, I spent so much time on the computer doing
research and pretty much just being a shut in as I
spent time trying to do my REAL job of running an
insurance and financial services business and
learning how to make a movie that my weight
exploded! I hit a MASSIVE all time high of 245
pounds!At my official weigh in for the film, I
managed to drop one whole pound and weighed in at
244 pounds for the body fat test and day last day
of freedom day, but let me tell you..... I knew I
would probably put on a pound or two while spending
what would have been my gym time in front of my
computer instead while I did my research and
planning, but 14 POUNDS..... YIKES!!
It was time for action, that was actually why I
rushed the start even though I didn't quite feel I
was ready to let the camera's role! I was in
trouble and I knew it! So, took my
MuscleNow
off the shelf and with Francesco, the author's
blessing, I made it my plan for the movie.
4 months later of near perfect dedication and
persistence, I made it. I kept it clean during the
holidays. Got sick for 2 weeks in December, so much
so that I couldn't even get to the gym, but I still
ate. Then in the last 7 or so weeks, I cracked and
instead of cheat days every 2 weeks, I took WHOLE
WEEKENDS, Saturday and Sunday as my cheat time
EVERY WEEK! I still, with proper week day diet and
exercise continued to lose weight! During the 3rd
month of the project, I actually decided it might
be kind of fun to try a weight loss supplement to
see if it would enhance my weight loss. I used a
product called VENOM. I took it for a full month. I
have to admit, the product did give me a feeling of
sustained energy throughout the whole day as stated
on the packaging. It even made it easier for me to
sustain long cardio sessions, but oddly enough, my
speed of weight loss was actually SLOWER for that
entire month! I am not going to point a finger and
say it had anything to do with the VENOM product. I
have known others to take it and have fantastic
results, but I know that for me, all I needed to do
was good old fashion SUPPLEMENT FREE diet and
exercise! Now, I have the body to show for the work
and sweat I put into it. Now that weight loss is
not my primary focus, I have increased my calories
as suggested in
MuscleNow
and have noticed FANTASTIC MUSCLE GROWTH results in
just the first few weeks!
I think that when most people hear the phrase "The Right Lifestyle" they might think of people who have all the money and time in the world to be able to do whatever they want. Although it is true that if you are in that position in life, you have every advantage for getting in shape, I still feel that for what I mean by it, it has little to do with those things.
The way I see it, lifestyle is a state of mind. There is more to it than just that, but let's look at that part first. We'll use me as an example. I am the father of 3, soon to be 4 children. I am not currently a wealthy person, although I plan to make that happen in my near future with my business endeavors, still I am working feverishly at this point to make that happen. So, I work very hard in my business's. I currently own and operate an insurance and financial services firm and I am starting a real estate investment company. I am married, own a house and a mortgage to go with it, have probably 10 times the average amount of debt that most people have and yet I keep current on all of it, and I have all the headache and hassle that go with all of these things. Many of you in my or a similar situation will argue that with this kind of life, it is impossible to squeeze in one more thing. Not so long ago, I would have agreed with you on that one. It wasn't until I decided to make the movie that I had to really examine all of these parts of my life and figure out how to make them bend around what I knew to be just as, if not MORE important...... MY HEALTH!
I had a few things going for me. After having been in the insurance business for the past 11 years, I had built up a fairly good residual base of renewal insurance premiums. It is not enough to live on, in fact, it is not enough to cover even half of our family expenses, but if managed frugally, it can really help. Then there is the real estate investment firm I am trying to start. It is based around an investor education school that pays me to recruit people who also go to the school with me. Although I had not as of the time of the movie worked out any real estate deals, I was able to invite people to go to seminars about the school in the evenings with me. Then, there was the family. I did not want to give up my time with my kids. They mean the world to me and I just can't let anything get in the way of being with them.
The only thing that was super problematic and that I knew I would have to make special concessions for was the fact that I wanted to make it into a movie. Due to crowd issues, I had to make a deal with the gym to do my workouts there in the middle of the day when they were practically empty of other patrons. This really did cramp my work schedule quite a bit. Being that I was out to prove that anyone could do this regardless of what they do for a living and what their time constraints are, I did not want to have to change my work life, but to make the movie a reality I had to. The way I decided to go about it was to only be in the gym for an amount of time each day that I could have normally worked in during other hours of the day that I would normally have gone. Then, in the evening, when I would have otherwise been in the gym, I made up the time with my work. It wasn't quite the same. I was not able to do the better part of my "money making" activities that are tied to my job, but I was able to do other things to keep my insurance and financial services business running as well as invite people with me to the investor school seminars. The people who signed up for the school would be my income for that time being and I kept my policy servicing up to date for my insurance and financial clients. Now that I have been "OFF CAMERA" I have been able to resume my usual work schedule and I can report that I have successfully worked my workout time into my evenings!
So, you may be sitting there asking yourself, "how does that apply to me?" Well, I'll admit, the first thing that you need to be able to make all of it work is to want that fit body so bad, that your willing to make it happen. For me, even now in the evenings and before I started filming, I was usually sitting behind my desk, working into the late hours of the night to keep my business running. Now that I go to the gym, I have to give up that extra working time. However, I have found that I am actually MORE productive since starting the gym habit. I make more of the time I do spend in the office and I get an earlier start each day to fill in some of the lost time. You see, I wanted it so bad that I was willing to give up something to make it happen. That was the extra time at night in the office and about 30 minutes to an hour of sleep in the mornings. I still now get 7 to 8 hours of sleep. I was actually a little bit spoiled before getting up to 9 hours a night!! I have found out it is actually healthier to get less than 9 hours, so I really did myself a favor!
Let's take my friend Clint as another example. I plan to be featuring him in the film. He just started a new job working a sales job that is very demanding on his time. He has a family with 2 small children, is out in the field all day for his job and even has to be out of town one night each week. He saw my progress and knew that he had to do the same for himself. He lives out of his car during the work day, so he started preparing his meals to take with him for the day. Instead of sleeping till 6:30 in the morning, he started waking at 5:00 AM, spent 2 hours in the gym each day and then got on with is work day. Got home at 6:30 PM and in bed by 10:30 PM. He is also an unpaid leader in our church and for that calling spends an additional 20 hours per week or so on his church duties. It is not easy for him, but he has MADE IT HAPPEN! He still gets 6 1/2 to 7 1/2 hours of sleep each night and he has been sticking to it now for about 2 months. Every time I see him he is even more excited about his progress in the gym and sometimes even gets in 2 workouts a day!
You see, so what I mean is Lifestyle is a state of mind. A state of mind that basically tells you that you will do anything to make your vision of fitness become true. You will re-evaluate the parts of your life and trim them down to what is only essential for you. Cut back time on those things that are not, then fill in the rest of the time with your workouts.
If you feel that your current work situation is perhaps holding you back and making it absolutely impossible to get the time you need to make your health a priority, then I invite you to look into the real estate investor school that I work with as a possible way to help you make extra money. I honestly could not have pulled Fitness Captured off without it! You can learn more about it at www.learnrealwealth.com
To
BEFORE
4 MONTHS LATER
These
Both Made The Difference!