My over 40 Weight Loss & Get into Shape Blog - Part 1

What Spurred My Journey

I turned 41 on June 2, 2017 and throughout the past year because of a combination of injuries, lack of motivation, and a lack of interest, I found myself getting more and more out of shape and definitely more prone to injuries. In July 2017, I found myself slowly continuing to gain weight, eat more and more crap food, and feeling not so great. I'm 5' 10" and was 189lbs. Here's the worst part - I've had borderline high cholesterol for close to a year and wasn't doing anything to remedy it. I also suffer from lower back pain and my doctor says I have degenerative disc disease...and the more time I spend away from the gym, the more it hurts.

It was then I decided to make a conscious effort to (1) reign my weight into a manageable amount (2) eat a healthier diet through a combination of joining a gym, getting personal training and closely watching my macro nutrients and (3) work on reducing my cholesterol level and increasing my core strength to reduce back pain. That was three weeks ago and when my journey began...and I want to start sharing it with you.

My Hopes with This Blog

My hopes with this blog are to regularly post updates of my journey, sharing what works and what doesn't and to inspire people to make positive, healthy changes in their lives too. I want to share my weight loss journey and body transformation, my exercise routines, and eating habits. I hope to do at least a weekly update - because I'm new on Steemit and plan on doing poker and online entrepreneurship posts as well - with the ultimate goal of losing 2o to 30lbs to get close to my weight I was in my 20's, which at the same time lowering my cholesterol, eliminating my back pain and being more physically active. 

3 Weeks in and 12lbs Lighter!

I'm the kind of person that once I set my mind to it, I give it 100% or I don't do it at all. My wife and I joined a gym, I signed up for some initial personal training and started really working on eating healthier. I'm currently approximately 3 weeks into my fitness transformation and have lost 12lbs in that time frame. The initial 7-8lbs of water weight came off quickly and since then its been a slow reduction of weight by exercising 5x per week and putting my body at a 600 calorie deficient each day. 

Exercise Routine

Without going into too much details, I go to the  gym 3 times per week and do an upper and lower body split focusing on low weights an high repetitions with 4-5 sets per exercise. I ensure I amply warm-up with some light cardio and stretching before each workout. I additionally do core work every time I'm in the gym working on strengthening my lower back, abs, and abductor muscles - focusing on exercises that don't hurt my lower back. In addition to my lower back pain, I also have elbow pain in my left elbow, so I have to be careful lifting too heavy on my push and pull upper body exercises. If I have the energy, I'll try to do fasted cardio 2-3 times a week in the morning. If I don't do morning fasted cardio, I'll make sure I do cardio at least 3x a week in the evening for 30-45 minutes.

If you want me to post my current routine, let me know and I'll definitely do so in my next post. :-)

Nutrition

My personal trainer  set my calories and macros to the following to ensure I go into a caloric deficient and I've also cut out fatty red meats and sugary foods and drinks.

• Calories: 1,706
• Carbs (g): 128
• Fat (g): 66
• Protein (g): 150

I use the premium version of MyFitnessPal to track my daily food intake and calories...and I highly recommend it! My meals often vary, but can look something like this:

3 egg whites and 3 Canadian bacon along with 1/3 cup quick oats with1 tablespoon of pumpkin seeds, flax seeds and raisins and dash of cinnamon for flavor. Snack are some form of protein and carbs or fat, which might be a protein shake with an apple, nuts, or low carb bread and 1 tablespoon of all natural peanut butter. Lunch is typically brown rice, serving of fresh veggies and chicken pattie. Dinner is protein and veggies of some sort. I work out at night, so I'll see what I have left in my macros to finish up...which is always protein and then a healthy fat and/or carb. 

I haven't been good about taking pictures of my food, but I've come up with some easy, but flavorful meals and will be sure to share them in future posts with images!

I've also found some low calorie desserts, so I'll be sure to share them too!

That's It for Now!

Losing weight and getting into shape, even over 40 doesn't have to be a dreadful endeavor and I want to share with you how I'm doing it. So let me know what you want to hear about and I'll be sure to discuss it in future posts!