Day 47 / Week 7 - No Mo Pain. Woohoo!

Unbelievably my back is aok today. Looks like the heating pad and massages worked! =) I was able to complete all exercises with no problems today and kept within the guidelines.

RTP Challenge Status for the Day


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Day 46 / Week 7 - All Pain, All Gain

All day today, I was in pain but still battled to get my cardio out of the way today and overall succeeded. I did however avoid one particular abdominal exercise which was to work on the obliques as it would have effected my sore back. I did skip on volleyball and instead purchased a heating pad to bring down the pain and got some extra sleep....

Amazingly with the aches, pains and multiple speed bumps for today, I was still able to complete all my RTP tasks and would consider today as a huge win. There was however a point today where I was thinking of throwing the white towel, skipping the workout and ruin my winning streak of not missing a single workout day...I am soooo happy that I got that heating pad to help me out along with a good massage from wifey. I'm sure I'll be ok for tomorrow's workout - I just hope it doesn't involve the back.

RTP Challenge Status for the Day


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Day 45 / Week 7 - Ah Sh*t I'm in Pain!

Errr, Ouch....This is not good - my back is sore. All night I have been tossing and turning in agony over my back pains. It's in one particular spot of my back and currently taking Excedrin to keep the pain down. Last night, I requested wifey to give me a rub and tug and it helped a bit [unfortunately, there was no "happy ending" - but it was worth a try though :)] I also tried Robaxacet, which I regret paying, as it seems to be nothing but a placebo. I still completed my workout and etc., but kept it easy on the weights and avoided placing strain on my back. I don't think this 'slight' injury will keep me back from my commitments going forward, but will take better care for future workouts and will take a little more time to stretch prior to lifting weight.

RTP Challenge Status for the Day

 
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Day 44 / Week 7 - Focusing on the Prize.

Wheew!...Almost didn't make my workout today which would have really ruined my perfect workout score. I had so many errands to run this morning/afternoon and still didn't miss a meal nor my workout! :) I have to say, I really made a huge effort and definitely won the battle today.

In an effort to get a meal between errands, I got an egg sandwich at a local cafeteria and ate it on my way to my next errand. As soon as I was done my errands, I ran into the gym to complete my scheduled cardio and ate again soon after I came out. My only disappointment with today was that I did not get a chance to strap on the blades as it's suppose to rain for the remainder of the week. Oh well, there is always the weekend.

RTP Challenge Status for the Day


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Day 43 / Week 6 in Review

Geeze, it's been a week already??? So, you are probably wondering, what the hell? No weight loss this week??? Well, not too sure if was the beer or two during the week, or the eat fest on Saturday. But I did however make up for the small "mishaps" that I had during the week by working harder the next day.

But I cannot only focus on the weight change. On average, and if done safely(no kill-me pills, acai berries, or useless internal flushing) a person should be losing approximately 1 to 2 pounds per week. It's also very possible that when I weighed myself today, I still had a lot of water in me. I dunno, at least I didn't GAIN any pounds!!! :)

But a few things that I did notice that was different from last week (which also could be a contributer to my stagnant weight loss this week) is my increase in muscle mass and decrease in my waist line. My biceps and triceps have increased a bit and starting to show more definition. Along with the waist line has lost another .5 inches. My pants are still continuing to fall off and noticing that my make-shift belt hole that I made 2 weeks ago is starting to feel loose again and feel I'll be needing another hole soon if I keep this up or better yet another belt.

As for today's workout, I got plenty of sleep, all meals were taken in account and exceeded my workout by incorporating an hour of pure cardio (1.5 hours if including my rest break) with my scheduled weight training. The extra cardio today was not only to make up for Saturday night's binge, but also because I was bored and it was a beautiful sunny day. Here's a pic of what I saw today. Pretty cool....Don't see these very often.

Bluenose Schooner??



Week 6 results


Week 6 Pic of the Week



Week 0 - Beginning of my Journey


RTP Challenge Status for the Day



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Day 42 / Week 6

So today, I got more than enough sleep, exceeded my cardio time on the elliptical, but did not get enough calories due to not eating enough. During the day, there was no way of eating enough as I was driving around all day doing errands and no time time to prepare a lunch. Oh well, I tried though... :-) Looking forward to tomorrow, I work on arms, back and chest.

RTP Challenge Status for the Day



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Day 41 / Week 6 - Eatin' in China Town

So if you see the results of today, I pretty much sucked in each category. Yes, today was a rest day and reward meal day, but think I may have over done it. My buds and I went to china town for chinese food late in the evening. Since the orders are all shared , I had to share 5 dishes of fried food. But hey, it was good though!!

So, tomorrow I have cardio, I'll have do a little extra minutes to make up for the extra calories. Also, since it's Sunday, I'll sleep-in to get some extra sleep.

RTP Challenge Status for the Day


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Day 40 / Week 6 - Safety 1st

Since I got back from the volleyball game so late last night, I didn't get much sleep. My workout today was a good challenge as I stepped up my weight lifting by another 10%. I however came pretty close in seriously injuring myself as I picked up two 60lb weights to do a 'shoulder press'. As I picked them up, I mildly sprained my wrist trying to place them over my shoulders, lost balance and dropped them on the floor. I spent a few minutes after to shake off the pain, reduced the weight to 55lbs and was good to go soon after.

I look at this incident as a warning to myself (and yourself if you are reading) to be very careful when handling weights and exercise equipment. Don't take it for granted as you can seriously injure yourself. I also highly recommend to get a full understanding of the exercise challenge prior to entering the gym. As an example, when I entered the gym for each day in the 1st month, I brought in pictures (listed from the RTP System forum "Shreddersphere") of how to do the exercise listed for that day. Now, instead of pictures I bring in my "itouch" with a video from YouTube of how to do the exercise (welcome to the 21st century).... See below as an example. Again too avoid injury, I highly recommend you educate yourself on your planned exercises prior to lifting the weight.

Shoulder Press Example



RTP Challenge Status for the Day



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Day 39 / Week 6 - The Team Drink

Oops...I did it again...A beer fell into mouth 'by accident'. J/k! ;-) Soon after volleyball, our after game ritual is to have a few pitchers of beer (especially when we win- like today). I did at 1st say no (while going for a next gulp of water) , but was ridiculed by my team of being a 'wuss' and to stop dieting.

As you can see, I'm a sucker for peer pressure when it involves beer(seriously - put me in an interrogation room with a 6 pack of any Canadian beer and I'll be singing like a bird!), but at the same token, I didn't want to be that team mate that bales out after the game and not participate in a "team drink" .

So I sipped a 1/2 beer while others went for a 2nd and 3rd cup. They also indulged themselves with hot dogs and hamburgers, and that is when I definitely had to back away. I wasn't hungry anyways and by looking at the time it was 10:30pm, so it was quite easy for me to decline. Plus, I just spent an hour in the gym and also didn't want to ruin my hard earned eating plan for the day. In perspective, I don't think the 1/2 beer was too bad(yes I am trying to rationalize it - ;-) ), but I just have to ensure that if we have drinks after the game again(which we will) I keep with the same rule - 1/2 beer or none.

RTP Challenge Status for the Day



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Day 38 / Week 6 - Knocking Back a Beer at the TFC. Yaa!!

Today was going so well until I got "pressured" to drinking a couple of beers at the TFC (Toronto Football Club) game. As an avid soccer fan and occasional fanatic at the BMO Field in Toronto, I have been so used to combining the two (beer and sports) together. At the time, I didn't exactly want to order a water and be a "wuss" in front on my buds, and at the same time - I really love beer (I won't deny it). =) I drank Lite (Carlsberg Lite - not my favorite brand), but I still feel it didn't matter - I mean alcohol is alcohol right?. Speaking of beer, I will be missing "Beer Fest" this year for the 1st time, as I know for sure(looking at previous years I attended) I will drink like a fish and feel no shame about it(well maybe until the next day when I am sober). Instead, I'm going to "Rib-Fest"...Just Kidding, Just Kidding!!! :-) Since I would drink at an average of about 25 to 30 beers at beer fest and I calculate the calories for all those drinks, it will likely to reach approx. 7000+ calories....Yikes!...Not worth it!!! In regards to the game at BMO field, the fans are just crazy and everyone is there to have good drinks, good people, good laughs and good soccer! If you are in Toronto(spring/summer), go watch a game - you'll have a great time! Guaranteed!

Anyhow before I get thirsty again, here are my stats for today...

RTP Challenge Status for the Day


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Day 37 / Week 6 - Another Productive Day

Since today was too cold and cloudy for a rollerblade, I stayed in and used the elliptical. With the assistance of my new itouch (which by the way I'm liking each day that goes by) I was able to complete my circuit training with a little more ease. All other areas (such as nutrition, calorie intake and etc.) were met - even my sleep was on par. :)

RTP Challenge Status for the Day


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Day 36 / Week 5 in Review

Another week has gone by and surprisingly only lost 2 pounds. I think I may have murdered my body from the binge session I had at the wedding 2 days ago and have lost my groove of losing 3 pounds a week. ;-) From looking at the weekly results, nothing much has changed but the waist line. At this time, I have a feeling that the plateau period is starting to kick in and by looking at this weeks workout schedule, it's very different from the 1st month. That being said, I am very optimistic to say that I should see an increase in lean body mass and a decrease in fat this upcoming week/month. Wish me luck.

As for today, I exceeded my workout period by incorporating more cardio. I was bored and went for an hour 'blade'. Also since I don't work Monday's, I had a good sleep.



Week 5 results



Pic of the Week


RTP Challenge Status for the Day


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Day 35 / Week 5 - The Hangover & Recovery

Today was almost a write off, but still managed to keep it strong. I woke up with a hangover from the wedding last night and I 'mistakenly' ordered sausage with my eggs at Coras Breakfast. I also 'mistakenly' ate them all as well. ;-) My meals were also way off with only 3 meals since I had errands all day since 8am. That being said, my sleep was limited but took a 'siesta' (afternoon nap) for 3 hours in the afternoon to make up for the hours lost from sleep last night. Workout was completed in the evening (before dinner) and added an extra 15 minutes to cardio to make up for the sausage and excessive eating/drinking last night.

RTP Challenge Status for the Day


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Day 34 / Week 5 - Taking Advantage of a Good Wedding

So for my reward day today, I indulged myself with a huge 5 course meal and drank plenty of bloody cesars at my cousins wedding. Hey, I had to get money's worth right? :-) Since this reward day was a little excessive, I'll need to exceed in my workout tomorrow to make up for what I consumed today.

RTP Challenge Status for the Day


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Day 33 / Week 5 - Dealing with Temptation and Sacrafice

Today I finished a pretty intense workout and "really' pushed it! I never in my life of working out was able to pick up 60lb dumbell weights and bench press it 10 times. Each day that goes by, I'm surprising myself more and more on my ability to push heavier weights and keeping within my nutritional guidelines. Anyhow, today I kept on track in terms with nutrition, but seriously got tempted by wifey eating Thai food during dinner (I had to 'suffer in agony' and eat a Turkey Sub) along with her order of McDonalds at about 11:30pm. Obviously, wifey is keeping her word that she will continue to eat whatever she wants - because she can....Her metabolism is seriously high and obviously I cannot keep up with her(hence my "now reducing" gut). But, it's these defining moments of saying no (while I am smelling McDonalds fries) that will pay off at the end. I need to keep this up and stay strong. :-)

RTP Challenge Status for the Day


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Day 32 / Week 5 - My new secret weapon to battle cardio - The iTouch !

Another Cardio day and this time I had no time for a 'blade' as time was tight. Since, my full workout was an hour and knew it was impossible for me to workout a full hour at the time, I had to break it up into 2 parts : 40 min cardio and then later came back to work on abs(20 min) before going to Volleyball (which we unfortunately lost). For each anticipated cardio session, I always dread the elliptical and treadmill.

Well.....that's until I brought my secret weapon to help me along the way. The wifey got me the iTOUCH! Yaaay!! I have to say, I was not a big fan of Apple, but I really like this gadget...Really cool...I have to confess, the cheapo/ripoff version of the itouch did not have as much features as the itouch, but I still fine that using itunes to transfer videos is becoming a pain but starting to get used to it.

So as I was doing my cardio and watching a few music videos with T.I, Little Wayne and my daily dose of American politics, "Countdown with Keith Olbermann", I literally (for the 1st time) did not want to get off the elliptical. I seriously forgot that I was working out and if I had more time, I would have stayed until the show was over. So, if you are getting bored of your cardio workouts at your local/home gym, I recommend getting the iTouch....It certainly beats staring at a wall or staring at people outside. I guess today that will be my tip of the day. =)

iPod iTouch Verdict : Overall Excellent Gadget - Synchronizing sucks with iTunes(CPU hog)


RTP Challenge Status for the Day


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Day 31 / Week 5 - Eating/Nutrition Plan Tip

Another successful day today. Even though I wasn't scheduled for cardio today, I reserved a time to go for an hour rollerblade, seeing that it was really nice outside. My calorie intake was perfect, water intake good and even the amount of meals worked out well. Since my 1st few weeks I was either "winging it" with my healthy meals(spontaneous meals that were still within the RTP guidelines), I have now successfully created a system that works well with my schedule. I grabbed a few helpful spreadsheets from the RTP online forum (shreddersphere) and was able to create a full plan of what to eat during the week. It even calculates the amount of calories that you intake for the entire week! Pretty cool stuff...To ensure that I am committing to the spreadsheet, I have also created a system of making my meals the night before. Since I just did grocery shopping on Sunday, I marinated all my chicken and beef and separated them in zip-lock bags(as shown below), so if I am eating chicken on Tuesday(as an example) all I have to do is take it out of the fridge and pop it on the pan. Takes 5-10 minutes, instead of 25-30 min. As another useful tip, I also use my blackberry/PDA to tell me when to eat. I love my blackberry....

My Blackberry eating schedule (along with a few other things scheduled for my day)



Chicken and Beef in Zip lock bags...(no, it's not weed) ;-)



RTP Challenge Status for the Day


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Day 30 / Week 5 - Downtown Toronto Living

Today it was a shock for me and this whole month is different from the last. This is another reason why I really like this system - no more boring workouts!! ...So today is cardio day, where I spent most of my time out in the sun rollerblading and even did a few errands while I was on them. Everything else was on par today (nutrition, water, sleep and etc). No problems - maybe except a little sore from yesterday's workout. Take a look below for this cool pic I took of the CN Tower reflecting off the office building while rollerblading! Pretty cool...next time I'll use a better camera - this picture was taken with the Blackberry...

Downtown Shot of CN-Tower reflected from building


RTP Challenge Status for the Day


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Day 29 / 1st Month in Review

The 1st month is over!!!! I am very proud of myself and the RTP system thus far. I have kept to my guns and stuck with the system every day. I have not missed 1 day of scheduled exercising nor have I backed out on my own promise that I will eat better and not to drink alcohol almost everyday like I used to.

By looking at the this weeks results I lost another 3 pounds and for the full month, I lost a whopping 13 pounds!! Woooohhoo!!! I averaged 3 pounds per week and every pound was lost "SAFELY". In the past I have tried diet pills, detoxing and several fad diets that I have either read from books or from the internet. Nothing was working. Nor did any of these methods provide a motivating structure like the RTP system. What I mean is this....Most of the logic that the RTP system teaches you in the 1st few days/modules is how to condition your mental thinking of losing weight.

I thought this really helped as it quoted a few lines from Anthony Robins(motivational speaker) and a few personal experiences by the author of the guide, Adam Waters. Secondly, is how the system explains the nutritional aspect to get your metabolism burning and how to exercise 'effectively' to ensure that you workout smart with results - not misguided and wasting your time(like what I had been doing in the past). And last but not least, the exercises change every week and month to ensure that your body does not adapt to previous exercises and thus avoiding "plateauing" and "boredom".

So, let's take a look at the numbers - shall we? I have decreased my waist line by 2.5 inches and "unfortunately" need new pants and a belt. My muscle growth has increased and of course my body fat has decreased. Family and friends are starting to take notice of the transformation and wondering of how they can lose a few pounds too. I won't lie, so far it's a good feeling - and want this to continue.

Oh ya, one last thing - wifey is no longer calling me fat and starting to call me skinny... =)


1st Months's results


The Beginning of my Journey Results



Pic Results for the 1st Month


Pic results from the beginning of my journey


Closer view of today's paper



RTP Challenge Status for the Day



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Day 28 /Week 4 - Fun with the blades

Today is a Sunday and got some good sleep. I also had the time today to go for a good blade sprinting at different times. Today was only suppose to be a 15 minute workout but instead utilized over an hour since I was having so much fun. I'm finally realizing that if I get away from the boring treadmill or elliptical, I can enjoy my days doing cardio and really look forward to it. Same goes for the volleyball I joined on Thursdays with wifey. Not much cardio in volleyball, but it at least keeps you active. :-)

RTP Challenge Status for the Day


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Day 27/week 4 - Date Night

Today is my day off and enjoyed a steak and a potato at Canyon Creek as my reward meal. Couldn't quite finish the potato as it was huge, but the 14oz Peppercorn New York Steak was absolutely delicious. The complimentary bread they offer is absolutely delicious - along with the "sweet butter" they offer for the bread. Great service by the staff and the ambiance was just perfect. If I had to make a choice between The Keg and Canyon Creek (I know some of you may disagree here), I would go back to Canyon Creek. Even though I would however miss asking the waitress/waiter to "keg size me" for my drinks. :-) Also checked out the movie Transformers (finally) and as a review for the movie, I loved the fight scenes, but wished that Michael Bay incorporated a little more slower scenes. Plot was ok, but if you never followed along with the cartoon as a kid, you probably thought that the plot kinda stunk.. Overall good movie - I am looking forward to seeing it again.

Canyon Creek Dinner... Mmmm.



Transformers - Verdict : Ok, but not great



RTP Challenge Status for the Day


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Day 26/ Week 4 - Water or Rum? Hmmmm....Ya, I'll take both.

Another successful day. Played a little poker in the evening and settled for water and sipped on a rum and coke zero throughout the night. It was tough not going back for more, but I did it. :-)

RTP Challenge Status for the Day





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Day 25/ Week 4 - Spare some change for food?

Another successful day. I however almost was not able to keep within the meals as I'm running low in food. Need groceries soon.

RTP Challenge Status for the Day




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Day 24/Week 4 - The Search for King Crab

With a good sleep last night executing the 45 min rule, today I get to celebrate it tonight with wifey as it's our 3rd anniversary(I think...j/k!). Since I have no car and desperately need to get king crab for tonight's candle lit dinner(no crab = no sex), I went for a trip with the rollerblades in seek of crab. The one place that I can count on is Kensington Market in the heart of the city. Wipping and dodging through tons of people was quite the workout itself, but was well worth the 1.5 hours on them. My night was a success and for my efforts today(getting crab), I got some 'nookie' out of it... ;-)

RTP Challenge Status for the Day


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Day 23 / Week 4 - Another day closer to my goal

No problems today. Enough sleep, enough food and have again increased my weights by another %10. Another productive day. :-)

RTP Challenge Status for the Day



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Day 22/Week 3 in Review

So I hit my 10 lb milestone. Woohoo! The belt still needs to be replaced and pants are starting to fall off I have lost a total of 2 inches off the waist. Overall my performance level with the weights have increased between 15% and 25%. I feel more stronger and can definitely notice the arms, legs and abdominal area starting to take shape. Even my old shirts that were too tight on me before are fitting a lot better. :-) From looking at the stats, my lean body weight has increased along with a decrease in fat. I need to keep this up.

Looking forward to next weeks results. :-)




Results Pic of the Week



RTP Challenge Status for the Day



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Day 21/Week 3 - A trip to HTO Park (at Toronto's Harbourfront)

Since yesterday was my rest day, today was my day of cardio. Since it was a beautiful day, the wifey and I took advantage of the outdoors. She took a jog, while I strapped on the rollerblades and went for a good 'blade' shredding up the asphalt taking brief sprints back and forth - so she can 'catch up'. It was quite fun. See below for a mobile picture I took near the Toronto Harbourfront.

Toronto Harbourfront : hTo Park





Looking at my stats today, my eating today was all over the place as I woke up late and missed 2 meals. I got enough sleep though! :-)

RTP Challenge Status for the Day



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