Celebrity magazine workouts - I hate you

I hate magazines. How many do you see at the grocery store that say "lose 10 lbs in 4 minutes with this one trick!" Or pictures of celebrities with -5% body fat ripped to the tees. It's cheating and unrealistic. Here's why
1. Photoshop. Not a single person you see in a fitness, gossip, woman's magazine is how they ACTUALLY look. Not even close. Every blemish is erased, every color of their skin is enhanced, every muscle is air brushed in. Don't believe me? Check out this video for one of many examples.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M957dACQyfU

2. They don't have lives. I'm 100% certain I could lose 100 lbs and get ripped like Ryan Reynolds in 5 months if I didn't have to work, had no stress, and had a $10,000/week personal trainer as well. It's their JOB to look good. So they can workout for 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, have every meal prepared for them, and call it a day. For the rest of the world, it's a sham.

3. The workouts are unrealistic. They take bits and pieces of a 4 hour workout and push them together to sell a package workout you can do in 30 minutes. Most of these moves are frivolous or for the very advanced weightlifter.

4. 4 day workout splits are just... /sigh. Unless you're a drug user, there's no point.

week 6 & 7 - curve ball

So when I first picked this period of about 6 months to focus on losing weight and gaining more muscle, it was chosen because of the relatively lax schedule. Some how out of the past 7 weeks, I've spent 1 at home. I've driven over 5000 miles this month and spent 12 days somewhere else. As such my iet and exercise routines suffered as to be expected. I don't have an iron will power or anything, plus some family members ( all of them) don't even understand what a diet is or takes to stay on track. 

None the less with some smart decisions and fast paced workouts, I'm down to 281.4. 17.4 lbs down in total which leaves me still on track to lose 2 lbs a week. 

My strength training has been really good as well. 

New benchmarks: 

bench press 225 4x5 

squat 260 3x5 

dead-lift 265 3x5

overhead press (full clean) 155 4x5

that puts my 1 rep max for dead-lift over 300 lbs now, which is pretty crazy. However I did suffer a back strain on Monday which has put the heavy dead lift and squats on hold for another week. 

week 5 weigh in

282.2 today, up about half a pound. No surprise here.
Follow up post to come later, rushing to get out of town

week 4 weigh in

Clocked in at 281.4, down a whopping 3.6 lbs. That puts me a total of 17.4 lbs down, with 28.6 lbs left to go. So first month in the bag! This is the end of week 4 (early by a day) and honestly I surprised myself. I didn't expect the weight to come off as quickly as it has so far considering how hard I've been pushing it on the weight training side. I'm doing my best to lose body fat and retain, if not grow, more muscle.

Today is a cheat meal day and it came right on date night, so out for steak and lobster with some live music it is!

Tips on talking yourself down from that ledge

If you've ever tried losing weight in your life, or if you've been overweight at any point in your life, you will be able to relate to this.
Particularly early and long day at work as I had to be there by 6am, which meant leaving the house by 5am. Severe thunder storm so loud woke me up in the middle of the night and kept me up for an hour. Already low on energy. my low carb diet gives me no help (if you aren't familiar, low carb diets leave you drained of energy often) by the time I get home that 4th chicken breast waiting for me I cooked on Monday sounds unbearable. And there it is. Good old bran. "GO GET PIZZA AND BEER NOW!" I tell you not I was literally having an arguing match in my brain about justifying it.
"Go on your mid week gut check weigh in already put you at your week's goal."
"It won't set you back that much"
"it's so tasty, you haven't rewarded yourself in a long time for this"
"You're too tired to go to the store, shop, and cook something"

cravings to a person who love food and nearly impossible to battle away. If you've never been fat, you will not understand what I'm talking about. I would equate it to trying to stop snorting cocaine off a hookers stomach driving 100 mph down the belt line.

I'm sitting here writing this however enjoying a pulled chicken wrap with bbq sauce, spinach, and muenster cheese (7 net carbs by the way). How did I do it?

1. Give yourself 15 minutes before you cave in. Cravings like this will disappear as fast as they came on.
2. Grab a small snack, preferably something spicy. I always run to some home made beef jerky that has a wicked after kick.
3. Divert your attention. I usually play a quick video game match: words with friends, Awesomenauts, Peggle, etc.
4. Go look at pictures of people working out. Sounds dumb? Try it once. It's a quick reminder of what you're trying to accomplish
5. Hit your support group. Mine is my fitocracy community. I go read a few posts on how people are doing, and I see people struggling with the same problems I'm having. Makes me feel sane.

week 3 weigh in

My normal scale today reads 285.0 on the dot, down 3 more lbs, 13.8 lbs total, 32.2 lbs left to go for my first milestone goal.
Eating healthy and prepping all the food for the week is getting harder and harder. As my energy continues to dip down because of the lower carb diet, I'm finding myself with only a finite amount of energy and time to do everything in a given day. Work days are increasing little by little giving me less time to recover from the previous day.

I did break down on Wednesday and ordered a pizza, wings, and breadsticks. While exceptionally yummy after not having anything like it for 3 weeks, I paid for it in stomach pains and in the bathroom for the next 2 days.

Exercise

A bit about working out. You can lose weight just by nutrition alone. I'm not trying to lose weight however. I'm attempting to lose fat and retain my muscle mass. For a nearly 300 lb guy, I would consider myself strong enough to handle myself in a fight needs be. Here is my workout for approx. the next 3 months. 

Full body workout, 3 days a week. A/B/A then B/A/B. 1-2 days of cardio in between depending on what my body says. Nothing too fancy. Focuses on heavy lifting through compound exercises

Workout A

1-2 min rest in between sets

Barbell Row 4x5 80% RM 

Barbell Bench press 4x5 90% RM 

Barbell Squat 4x5 90% RM 

2 min rest 

30-45s rest between sets 

Lat pull down 3x10 70% RM

Chest Fly machine 3x10 70%RM 

Seated Leg Curl 3x10 70% RM 

 2min rest 

Planks 3x 

no side planks as I've had previous shoulder injuries. Too much weight to hold up 

2min rest 

Push ups 3x ?

Let me Ups 3x ?

Walking lunges with medicine ball twists 3x?

3min rest 

15min HIIT (high intensity interval training) cardio: 15s sprint, 45s recovery speed 

Workout B 

Facepull 4x5 90% RM 

Standing Military Press 4x5 80% RM 

Deadlift 4x5 90%RM 

2min rest 

30-45s rest between sets 

Lat pull down 3x10 70% RM

Chest Fly machine 3x10 70%RM 

Seated Leg Extension 3x10 70% RM 

Push ups 3x ?

Let me Ups 3x ?

Walking lunges with medicine ball twists 3x?

3min rest 

15min HIIT (high intensity interval training) cardio: 15s sprint, 45s recovery speed