Derrick's ongoing journey

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Derrick said:
I use a polar watch with chest strap. It's awesome. I use it every workout except if I swim because it slides off when I do flip turns. I feel naked without it. I really like to know my heart rate because I can push myself a little too hard sometimes for my current fitness condition.
Click to expand...

I'd really like to get one because I am so curious what my heart rate gets up to when I'm running. I booked a trip to Las Vegas so I'll have to hold off on this for now - maybe for Christmas!

You have done amazing with building muscle the last couple months - its so great to hear you feeling better and determined to keep going.
I'm looking forward to the fat burning results in the next phase. I also liked the post about body fat and how we shouldn't all be concerned with the # on the scale. Once I get down to 150 again I would like to make another appointment at my gym to get measured and go from there.
Keep it up Derrick!!!
 
Try to get one as soon as you can afford one. Thanks for the encouragement also!

I can't believe I may have finally found a medication that is just right for me. I have felt very stable since I started taking Lithium a month ago. I haven't been irritable or depressed and it has been much easier to focus and stay positive.

I had PT yesterday. We only did a light total body workout on the TRX hanger, or whatever it's called, because I had a vesectomy scheduled for the afternoon and didn't want to be sore over the weekend from working out also. The vesectomy was a little worse than I was expecting but I'm fine. I was awake for the procedure and felt a little more than I was supposed to feel. I think the mental part of it was worse than anything. I was hyperventilating and sweating profusely at one point. I apologized to the doctor for being such a wussy but I couldn't help it. I think I would have been cringing just watching it on TV let alone being the patient and being awake! On the way home my wife and I were heading to the pharmacy to pick up my pain pills and of course there was an accident on the highway and we had to sit in traffic for over an hour while I was in pain. LOL I was fine all night last night and I feel fine today so hopefully the worse part was just the procedure itself.

I am going to take 10 days off from working out. When I start back again on September 20th I am going to adjust my diet, increase my cardio training and continue to lift heavy with my PT. The focus will be on significant fat loss while maintaining muscle and strength. I am currently 224 pounds and want to get to 205 before reassessing. The new diet will involve a higer percentage of calories from protein with virtually no carbs after my lunch meal. I will also do cardio at least 3 times per week at least 25 minutes each time. Finally, the weight lifting will remain heavy but instead of splitting upper and lower I am going to do push/pull for awhile.

Attached are some updated photos. I have included my starting picture from May 2008 when I was 251 pounds and well over 30% body fat, my after picture from May 2009 when I was 197 pounds and finally my "bulking" picture from a few days ago. It's not really a bulking picture since most of what I gained was fat but I did gain "some" muscle over the past 7 or 8 weeks. My hope is to eventually post a final photo of me at 10% body fat, perhaps by this winter or next Spring. I don't care if I achieve 10% body fat at 190 pounds or 205 pounds just as long as I achieve it.
 
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Sorry, here are the attachments. This 100KB max photo size on this website is a super PITA! It is very hard to make a file that small without completely deminishing the quality or making it way too small. This is the best I can with the software I have. I wish the max size were 200KB. That would make a big difference in the quality of photo we could post here.
 
Still recovering from my surgery a week ago. Not healing as quickly as expected. Haven't gained a single pound though so that is good.

Went to the gym with my wife this evening to show her a few exercises as she tries to get back into weight lifting. Of course I did not work out myself. It was just nice to see her back in her sexy workout clothes. :D
 
Hey Derrick! I bet it was nice seeing your wife in her sexy workout clothes! ;)! LOL! Love that you guys go to the gym and squat together!

I hope you recover fast from your surgery, so that you can feel much better and move forward. Hope the family is growing healthy and strong and that you are doing great yourself! Positive thoughts and a good healing will come fast! :) Take care Derrick!

I saw those before and after and in between and soon to be ..etc..etc..pics...and all I have to say is:

Life. It's our story. Ups and Downs. Ins and Outs. Wounds and Healings. Happiness and Sadness. Keep trucking, Derrick! You are the shit! You know it. That person is ALWAYS inside. It's just up to us to get that person OUT and use those abilities and attributes that we already have! ...Think back to that time of invincibility, and use that I tell myself! Now push forward,...see what can happen! :)

Thanks for visiting me always! Peace and Blessings my friend!
 
Ouch! Take some time to rest but make sure you keep your eating in line. I know for me as soon as I take a couple days off it turns into a week and it's so easy to gain weight in a week but so hard to take it off again. I think having your wife on board will help so much! No temptations in the house that way. Looking forward to the next stages of your plan! I also love it that you found some medication that is working! Good news all around and those pics are awesome! I really don't think you have that far to go to where you were - just a couple months of hard work and consistency! I know you have it in you! Keep it up!
 
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Lisa. :)

I started back in with my PT yesterday. Even though I took only two weeks off, I could definitely tell I had lost a little strength. I was feeling good by the end of the workout though. I weighed myself yesterday and I was 220.5. I guess that is good news but hopefully I didn't lose muscle from two weeks of being sedentary. Probably not but it just seems weird considering I didn't watch what I ate the past two weeks...at least not as much as I normally do. Oh well, at least I didn't pig out and gain a few pounds.

Hopefully I can get below 220 soon. More than anything though, I want to start seeing my gut disappear.

Derrick
 
A week sure did fly by fast. I went to PT twice last week. Monday and Friday mornings as usual. We started Push/Pull workouts. I felt very sore after Monday's workout but not so much after Friday's workout, although it is only Saturday. I feel strong and my body has gotten harder but nothing obviously noticeable yet, at least appearance wise. Last night my wife told me my arms felt like they had no fat at all. She's not one to complement much so I'll take them when they come.

Not much else to talk about workout wise. My son is doing pretty darn good. He'll be 5 months old in less than two weeks. He doesn't have colic anymore so that is great. We started him on cereal and now he is sleeping longer so that is great. My daughter had her third soccer game today and scored her first goal, well she and another boy both kicked it in really but close enough. I told her "good job, Anna!" and gave her a hug and a kiss but after the game she told me I forgot to tell her "good goal!" Now I realize how much little kids want to feel like their parents are proud of them. I think she had overheard me say that to some of the other kids last week and it made her sad that she hadn't scored yet. Considering she is only 4 and a half, my wife and I both try very hard to not put emphasis on winning or scoring but just to try hard and have fun.
 
Still doing PT on Mondays and Fridays and still dropping body fat and adding muscle. I will try to type some more later. Always in a hurry lately and never any time to spend online.

223.5 lbs, 25% body fat this morning
 
My Tanita body fat scale said the same thing this morning so I'm going to update some stats...

August 1st stats:
222.5 x 30% BF =
66.75 lbs of fat
155.75 lbs of muscle

October 10th stats:
223.5 x 25% BF =
55.875 lbs of fat
167.625 lbs of muscle

10.875 lbs of fat loss
11.875 lbs of muscle gained

I'm pretty happy with these numbers after 9 or 10 weeks of heavy weight lifting.

I'll try to visit some other journals soon. I haven't had much time at all lately.

Derrick
 
Well I might have a few minutes to post an update...unless baby starts crying. Mommy is trying to take a nap. She has a colonoscopy and upper endoscopy tomorrow. My daughter and I are downstairs trying to be quiet.

ME: I'm still right at 222 to 223 pounds weight wise. My body fat slowly is falling which means I am also slowly building muscle. I continue to lift heavy with my personal trainer on Mondays and Fridays. I haven't been doing much cardio. Perhaps once or twice a week at most. I am eating good and I feel good except for the fact that my lower back is really messed up now. I have to get an MRI this evening. I might have a ruptured disk, which would really suck because the solution may be surgery. That would really setback my muscle gains. I have been on pain pills since last Wednesday but I just ran out. They were no longer helping anyway.

Rest of family: My wife has a colonoscopy and upper endoscopy scheduled for tomorrow due to several concerning symptoms. We are praying it is nothing serious but I'm pretty worried about it. My daughter and son are doing great so that is good news. My freaking dog ate over 50 crab apples last night in our backyard and I had to give him hydrogenperoxide to make him vomit. The main concern was blockage in his stomach, which would require surgery to save his life. So far today he seems to be ok so we may have dodged a $1500 bullet, which we really don't wish to spend at this time.

I'm doing pretty good mentally. I did have to get my blood taken this morning to monitor the Lithium levels in my blood. It helps them know whether or not I am on the right dose. We are pretty confident I have finally found a medication that works well for me. NO WEIGHT GAIN either! Thank God!

I am having some significant troubles dealing with my dad. At this point it appears I may not be doing this job for much longer. That will be a huge challenge for me to change careers and find something that pays enough for us to keep our house. If I had to guess what I'd do, I'd probably do a combination of personal training and photography on the side. I don't know if that would be enough though. My wife and I are talking quite a bit about it.

That's all for now. Hopefully my wife is ok and hopefully my lower back can be fixed for good, however that may be.

Derrick
 
Well my wife is just fine so that is great news. I'm ok too but I do have degenerative disk disease, whatever that means, so I have to go get cortisone shots. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to lifting weights again much sooner than I originally thought. AND I'll be able to sleep much better.

That's all I guess. Weight was 220.0 this morning.

Derrick
 
Hey Derrick - it's always something isn't it! Your poor family seems to go through a lot. 220 is a lower # than I have seen lately so that is good!! As long as you keep the eating in control you will be alright while you find out more about your back. I hope you can still lift heavy because you sound so passionate about it. I also hope the job front works out. My hubby is thinking about changing careers and it's a little scary but if it makes him happier I'm all for it. I can live on less if it increases his mood. It's all about making adjustments. Stay positive friend!
 
Hi Lisa! Nice to hear from you. My wife and I were just saying to eachother the other day, "what could possibly happen next?"
Everything always seems to be ok in the end though.
I turned 33 today so I guess 1/3 of my life is over. I guess i really only want to live to 99 if the latter years are worth a damn and my wife is there with me.
I swam the other day instead of weightlifting. First time in 2010 and I was moving pretty decent.
Take care.
Derrick
 
Derrick! How have you been?

It's been such a long time for me and I'm finally back on here, trying to lose the last part of my weight. I'm going through everyone's journals right now trying to see what everyone's been up to.

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! :)
 
Hi and good to hear you are back at it. Nice to hear from you. I had a decent Thanksgiving. I hope you did also. :)

I can't believe I haven't posted in a month. I took six full weeks off from training to try to figure out what is going on with my lower back. The pain down my right leg was really starting to negatively effect my life. I wasn't sleeping much at night and even during the day I was in pain. I finally got an MRI and was referred to a pain management doctor for injections. Unfortunately by the time I got in to him my pain had gone away from weeks of inactivity. He gave me the go ahead to start working out again but had me modify my exercises as to not compress the spine in any way. We both joked that I'd be back in to see him. Well, I started training again yesterday and despite how careful I was, my pain was back last night. I'm going to call him tomorrow and get in for injections as soon as possible.

The good news is I have not gained any weight at all. In fact, I've lost a pound or two if anything. I'm close to 219 right now which isn't great but not too far off from where I was last December. If I could get down to 215 before New Year's, I'd be extremely happy. I am seriously going to go on a strict diet once the holidays are over.

My new meds are still working quite well so I am really happy about that. It took from July of 2009 to August of 2010 to find something that works. I have felt very "normal" for over three months now. I think all of the other meds I tried during that year of hell only hurt me and made me much worse. Not to mention the 30+ pounds they quickly threw back onto my body.
It's a shame that so many other people have to go through the same sort of thing. It's sad and scary to think many of them may never have found what they needed.

Well, time to go to sleep. I have to workout early tomorrow.

Derrick
 
I am fluctuating between 218 and 220 now but that doesn't really matter because I'm about to go on a diet that could get me below 200 again in only 4 to 6 weeks. It's Lyle McDonald's modified PSMF diet. I already bought and read the book. I'm just waiting for Christmas to be over. Plus I still have some grocery shopping to do. I will post here, every detail every day. Details about the diet and workouts that is. :D. I'm thinking I will start the Monday after Christmas. Until then, happy holidays everyone!
 
Well I was supposed to begin my diet a couple weeks ago but my wife got sick and I had to take care of both kids all day long so I was unable to get all of the grocery shopping done. At that point Christmas was only a few days away so I just decided to start the following Monday. Unfortunately my daughter and I both got sick on the 28th, within minutes of each other. I have been sick ever since. At first I had the flu and now I have a nasty respiratory virus. I just finished my last dose of the z-pack but I still have a really bad cough that is keeping me up a lot at night and making me miserable during the day. I have a feeling I may need some steroids to get rid of this. An uncontrollable cough is something I can't live with for very long. The bottom line is, I still haven't started the diet. At this point I guess I'll just start it as soon as I am healthy again, hopefully next week sometime. The Gold's Gym Challenge starts next Wednesday so I might as well do that again. The last time I did that was in 2009. I went from 208 to 194 that year. This year would be nice to go from 220 to 185.

I weighed myself on the last day of 2010. It really doesn't count in my opinion because I was sick but I'll record it nonetheless.

December 31st, 2010:
Weight: 217.5 lbs
Tanita BF: 28%
Stomach: 41.75"

I certainly did not reach my physical goals in 2010 but I did learn a lot and accomplished things I originally had not intended to. For example, for approximately 10 or 11 weeks at the end of summer I focused only on muscle and strength gain. I achieved both, more so than I thought possible. I also realized the importance of resistance training and nutrition when trying to achieve a certain body fat percentage.
More importantly, in 2010 I finished the year in control of my bipolar disorder. I am finally on a medication that has me stable mentally, emotionally and also in regards to my weight. I don't know if this will last forever but right now I feel like my prayers have been answered. It was a rough ride that I can never intelligently explain in writing no matter how hard I try. And I probably tried too many times here on this message board when maybe I shouldn't have. In any case, I am much better now. Thank you to those of you who supported me, sympathized with me or prayed for me. Like I said, I feel like the prayers have been answered.

As for 2011...
Once again, achieve 10% body fat. Preferably as fast as possible because once I achieve the look I want I really want to...
Get in serious shape cardiovascularly! That means another triathlon! Plus at least one run!
And finally, I want to really start swimming seriously again. I'll turn 34 in 2011 and I don't want to lose any more time. I still want to beat my old high school times or at least try like hell. With each passing year I think it is only going to get harder.

So with that said, first thing to do is lose fat. Like I said in the post above, I plan on posting every day during my diet. Wish me luck!

I plan on visiting other journals/diaries to see what others here are doing for 2011.

Best Regards,

Derrick
 
These were my stats on January 1st of last year...

215.5 --> Weight this morning according to Tanita
25% ---> Body Fat according to Tanita
41" ----> Largest measurement of belly

Believe it or not, I am so thankful to have "only" gained 2 pounds in 2010. Again, when I think about how badly I was effected by bipolar disorder, I think I should be grateful to be alive let alone having pretty much kept my weight under control. I actually got up to 228 around June or July before finally receiving medication that agrees with me. That combined with a reinvigorated effort in the gym helped me slowly come back down to the 218 to 220 range by mid December. As I mentioned in the post above, my last weigh in of 2010 showed 217.5. When saw those numbers from last year I just said to myself "only two pounds after all that shit I went through?!? Thank God!" :)
 
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