» Been a While!!!
By Vince on February 10, 2013
It’s been a while since I posted, and I apologize! So much has happened since that last post that, I’m really not quite sure where to begin!
I’ve changed, the way Americans think and act are changing, our American way and system is in peril and so many more things. I’ll put my thoughts and opinions here on these things in the upcoming days.
For now…
Due to a new diet and workout, I’ve reached and surpassed some personal mile stones. I’ve gone from just under 200 lbs. to 170 lbs.! I can see the six pack that I knew was hiding under that “sniper pad” all these years!
I’ve always been on the muscular and active side throughout my life, but I found that time where I used to be able to eat anything, in any quantity, came to a screeching end at around age 42. It’s been an uphill struggle ever since, kicking and screaming all the way. I’d work out like a fiend, two hours a day, five days a week…45 minutes of which was pure ab work! 200 crunches, 35 push up leg raises, 35 mid range leg raises etc. and I STILL had a gut, a very hard one tho put still covered in subcu fat!
I like beer, anyone who knows me knows this. I’d have one to three a day, so I’d buy it by the case. It would maybe last me a week.
Well, one day a few months ago I finally came to the realization that what used to, sorta, work for me wasn’t working at all anymore.
I have a subscription to Men’s Health magazine and started reading it in earnest. I found this one small article about a new way of looking at abs, one that threw everything I’d ever thought I knew about working out that way, out the window. I said to myself, “What the Hell! What’s the worst thing that could happen? It doesn’t work and I’m right back to where I started!”
BUT…what if it does work? You never know unless you try!
What is this “new” excercise? Planks. (email for more info)
So I did. And it WORKED!!
Now I also stopped eating bread. Not completely, mind you, but in everyday life I cut it out completely. If we had to go out and something was made with bread, no sweat, I’d eat it, but sparingly. It came to my attention after actually really looking at the way Americans eat, that our society is based around bread products. Every fast food joint we know of, Burger King (personal favorite!), McDonalds, Wendys, Subway and Quiznos to name a few, are ALL based on sandwiches. As is much of our market foods. The largest part of the sandwich is the bread! I’m not going to get into the rest of the fast food issue, just focusing on bread here.
Back to beer. What is beer, basically? Well, it’s basically a liquid form of bread. The Egyptian’s came up with to keep slave labor mostly in hand. It probably didn’t taste anywhere near as good as our present day beer, but it worked. Some of the better tasting, non-lite, beers have as many calories as a full meal! So if you have one WITH a meal, it’s like you’ve eaten twice!
So what did I do?
Remember: I LOVE beer! I didn’t cut it out completely, I felt no reason to punish myself severly, but something needed to be done with the above revelation, so I did cut back to two beers a day ONLY on weekends. None at all during the week! And those two during the weekends…they are Sam Adams Lite beer. They taste better than any other lite beer I’ve taste tested. I now buy only one 6 pack a week and it lasts me longer than a case did.
I also started eating more veggies and portioning the parts of the meals I’d eat. That and some healthy snacks like nuts, between meals to keep the hunger pangs at bay. It did take some will power here, I have to say. I’d quit drinking soda back in 1991 so that was not an issue for me, but I’ve never really like the taste of plain water. Well, I still don’t, but I do drink a LOT more of it now than before! Especially with meals.
(For more info, email)
So just a small change in diet and my new abdominal routine along with some kettle bell exercises and running in Vibrams, has literally changed my body and life AFTER the age of 50!!
For more info on this, please email me. Keep in mind, I’m not a dietician or exercise professional, I just listened and followed their advice. But I will gladly share my experience with you.