Shrewsbury Fat Loss

07/21/2022

5 years

06/20/2022

Same weight, 196. ≈ 5 yrs apart, at least a couple of them spent trying like hell to lose weight. I definitely needed that when I was in the 240s, but wish I knew then what 200 lbs would look like if I simply focused on building muscle instead of fumbling around with long cutting cycles only to realize that I didn’t like what I looked like lean. For the last 2 years or so, I’ve focused a lot more on trying to be sensible about food with only a couple short periods of restricting calories per year, and have been reasonably fit year-round and enjoyed a much healthier relationship with food since.

02/05/2022

Before children and 7 years in. 💪

02/01/2022

10 weeks into my “clean bulk” at ≈ 3500 calories a day. While I’m not packing on as much muscle as I’d like, I’m also not packing on much of anything. I’ve only gained a couple pounds in that span.
From here I have 2 options- continue at this slow pace and try to work a little harder, eat a little cleaner, (definitely room for improvement there) and make small adjustments as I go OR look at the 10 weeks as a failure and say screw it. The “screw it” choices would be to jack up calories substantially or do the exact opposite. Or maybe I could give $100 to get exclusive access to the program the latest Hemsworth brother used to get in superhero shape. Or maybe I should finally give in and try an exclusion diet. I’ve done most of these and watched others try the rest.
What I want to share is that the difference between being fit enough and being exceptionally fit is found in the decision I make right now.
Discipline is the “secret.” Trusting the process; sticking to the principles that have worked for me over the past 5 years. There’s no magic.
I’ll keep lifting heavy, driving progressive overload, getting enough protein, and making sure to eat in a slight caloric surplus most days without too much coming from junk. It may take months at this stage, but the results will come if I don’t stray from these principles.

12/16/2021

Another one down! Now time to EAT and pack on some muscle over the winter. 🍖🍗🥩🌮🍔🌯

12/06/2021

Too busy at work. Too tired from the kids. It’s the holidays. Stove didn’t work. There’s a pandemic. Everything isn’t optimal yet. I don’t get any time to myself. New Years is coming up. Too many diet and program choices. Nobody will see my body till summer. I’ve failed in the past. I have too far to go. I’ll look foolish. I’m too old. I don’t want to eat like a rabbit. I have asthma. It’s expensive. I have too much on my to do list. I should read more. I should sleep more. I don’t get to watch enough sports. My metabolism isn’t what it used to be.

…None of this is made up, yet I’m in the best shape of my life…

Excuses or results.

Many excuses derive from unrealistic expectations. Results come from consistency, not magic, and not extreme measures. You don’t have to become an absentee parent and adopt the 6-hour-a-day workout the next Hemsworth brother is doing to prep for a superhero movie and eat nothing but chicken and broccoli 8 times a day. You can achieve great results with far less disruption in your life. But you have to make the choice to start.

An hour a day and reasonable eating most of the time has magical results— over time.

Took 5 years for me to get here. But after 6 months I looked and felt much better than I did before I started. 2 years in, I looked great by most standards.

Commit and be patient.

11/15/2021

11/08/2021

Ultimate meal prep- elk stew! 330 calories, 50g protein per serving.

11/01/2021

First time in my life I’ve ever been this dialed in for this long.

The biggest challenge of getting more fit is not the program. It is much more about figuring out what is going to work for us consistently. What gets you to get up when you don’t want and sacrifice things you like to do and eat things you don’t prefer?

I was comfortable being where I was with fitness even though I wanted more out of myself. I was lifting and covering the basics with diet- getting enough protein and sort of enough fruit and veg. I was more or less hitting maintenance for the last 6 months.

Then my wife suggested I join a fitness challenge that she had been doing. This was brilliant because I go HARD on competition. I can’t help myself. If I were in any other profession but sales, it’d definitely become a problem.

But it’s who I am, so I found my thing that keeps me on track.

As a trainer, programming is easy. Anyone with any certification should be able to teach you how to lift safely and how many sets and reps you should do to achieve a stimulus.

The good ones, though, understand that there’s a lot more to it than simply writing numbers on a page. They double as unofficial psychologists who get to know you as a person and figure out what gets things to stick.

08/21/2021

Officially grown out of bumper plates. 💪