Friday, May 13, 2005

Halfway there!

Well, I finally posted an update today and the blog site went down just as I punched the "publish" button. So, all the witty prose from earlier today is lost. Honestly, it was not one of my better entries anyway, so this one's bound to be an improvement.

Well, Sunday was the end of week six of our Body for Life challenge. So, we are really and truly past the halfway point. A lot happened this week, both in the program and out, hence the lack of entries in this blog.

Cheryl decided to discontinue creatine this week. She was unhappy with the extra weight that it tends to cause. She told me she is already seeing changes in scale weight and body fat percentage even after only a few days of cycling off the stuff. I think it is a good choice for her, since her biggest goals in the program involve slimming down. I may discontinue it myself towards the end of the twelve weeks. For one thing, I consider using it to boost your stamina and workout effectiveness to be okay, but I don't want to use it to enhance my appearance in the final pictures. It just seems dishonest.

Speaking of pictures, Cheryl asked me to take some six week pictures of her. She opted out of the four week photos because she wasn't happy with her appearance, but, at six weeks, she was seeing some gains. We also did some new pictures of me in both my infamous swimsuit and some spandex shorts (my biking shorts were in the wash). I didn't see a huge difference from the pictures that were taken two weeks earlier, but I think the new pictures show off my leg muscles better. I don't think I'll be doing any body building competitions or Abercrombie and Fitch ads anytime soon, but I'm happy with how far I've come.

If you must see for yourself, here are my pictures: http://www.geocities.com/tomncheryl/bfltprog.html

Here is Cheryl's page: http://www.geocities.com/tomncheryl/bflcprog.html

I've also added the six week numbers to the bottom of my page. I was sure that I had plateaued last week. I couldn't see a visible difference and I just wasn't feeling the progress like I usually do. But the scale and the calipers both showed a significant improvement last week. I was surprised and pleased. I'm trying to keep the momentum this week. I think all my goals are within reach if I stay on track.

We still plan to attempt a real studio photo shoot for the eight week photos. We might actually make it nine weeks since we just did pictures and one of our cameras is in the shop. We ordered a seamless backdrop which arrived this past week. I've always wanted to work with one, but never really had a reason to spend the time or the money until now. I guess we'll see if I retained anything I learned in my photography classes.

So, there's most of what's new. We introduced several friends to the Body for Life program this week. Some of them are interested in trying it, although the money we've poured into this intimidates some people. Really, you can do it a lot cheaper than we have. You don't have to have thirty dumbells and two weight benches and an exercise bike and hundreds of dollars worth of supplements. But....when you have those things, you'll feel really dumb if you quit, which is why we decided to make this a financial priority.

Even though we are now more than halfway through the challenge, I really haven't taken the time to reflect on that. I'm excited about my progress, and I'm looking forward to seeing how far I can get in only twelve weeks. But, in a larger sense, I'm not stopping at twelve weeks. There's the next twelve week challenge, getting my third degree blackbelt, becoming a personal trainer, and all the stuff that comes after. So it's not really "halfway" except in the sense that it's halfway through the first twelve weeks of the rest of my life!

Well, it's time to walk and give that metabolic rate one more kick in the pants. More soon...

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