Getting back in the Swing of things!!! 04.13.09

Hey All,

So I have some news to report. I have been off of the Master Cleanse for about 2 1/2 months now and want to report that things are going really well. I have definitely gained weight back but it is definitely good weight! I am probably around 10% body fat at the current time and if you think about it.. at 193 lbs... that puts me at about 19.3 Lbs of fat on my body and the rest is lean muscle mass! That is pretty awesome right! I was at the local nutrition store that I frequent and the guy who is kind of my mentor of sorts gave that way of thinking! I have always measured my previous success by how visible my abs were or how flat my stomach was looking, but I now have a better way of looking at things.

My diet has been a little interesting lately because most days I am really good about what I eat and other days I really could careless. I am content with the way that my body is looking right now so I can not complain. I know that 2009 is going to be my year as long as I keep my positive thinking and try to be disciplined when I need to be. I find it hard to say "NO" when my friends ask me to go out and enjoy the nightlife, but I have definitely cut back to a few times a week. I think that it is so crazy that I know exactly how I need to eat, but I have such a hard time implementing it. I think a lot of it has to do with what I do in my downtime. My typical day is like this:

1. I wake up and eat breakfast immediately
2. I get ready for the gym and work out
3. I return home to have a protein shake and usually an whole wheat English muffin
4. I shower and get ready for work
5. make my lunch and then head to work
6. work 8 hours
7. head home to watch some TV and head to bed (to wake up and do it all again the next day)

The days that I actually do not make it to the gym, I usually allow myself to sleep in to get any extra sleep my body will take. The problem lies in the down time or days that I have off. I know that these days I should cook for my week of work (as I have done this in the past and it seems to really help me out!) But I usually am so lazy because I am working out so much that I just like to work out on my days off and be lazy the rest of the day! I know that diet is 80% of the equation and 20% is working out, but I find it so difficult to get that 80% down. I think I need to just focus on the prize being that I told myself I would get to the best weight of my life this year and it is time to stay focused. It really does not help that I sprained a muscle in my back last week, but I am taking a week off as to not aggravate my back any more. I think that I am almost 100% but I think a few more days off will solidify that!

Well Everyone.. thanks for checking in and I wish you all the best!!

**JK**

A Needed Update!.. 3.28.09

Hello All,

So it has been a while since my last confession, so I thought that I would come in here and type some sort of an update.

I will say that things are going really well. You know when you start any type of workout program the primary minimal changes are the ones that we do not see. I have to say that is the period that I am in right now. I am beginning to notice the changes in my body because other people are complimenting me and recognizing my results. I must say that were subtle for the most part, but now I can really see them. My stomach is noticeably flatter, my arms are getting bigger, my waist smaller, and my chest bigger!

Every time I begin a workout I have this image in my mind from when I was 22 years old living in Spain. I was in such great shape that I strive to look like that all the time. I have come to realize that I can not achieve that look because my body has changed significantly from then. When I worked out then.. I was really lean and it was great. Now that I am older I find that every time I lift I can not achieve anything but a bigger muscular frame. I decided that I need to change the goal image to something that my body is capable of achieving now.. so I have decided to just continue on this path and see where it takes me. I have never really allowed my body to go ahead and take a new form, I would always get discouraged and then fall off the wagon. Well not this time. In order for me to change my goal image... I have to get in the best shape of my life NOW so I have something to reference if I ever gain weight again. (GOD WILLING... THAT WILL NOT HAPPEN) But I am a person that realizes life happens! So you got to do what you got to do!

As far as specifics are concerned I have not touched the scale in a while! I KNOW that I have gained weight because my muscle mass had increased... but I am not sure what that translates to on a scale! And to be honest I am not really interested in knowing what the scales says! I am just going to allow my reflection to be the judge of how things are going for me! That is all I have for you guys now.. thanks for checking in and I will be back in a few weeks with another update!

**JK**

Going Strong... 03.13.09

Hello All,

As I face the end of another day I realize that we had Friday the 13th in both February and March! I wonder what kind of a sign that is supposed to be..LOL!

Anyway I wanted to give you guys an update to let you know that my goals with The Body RX and getting in the best shape of my life have been coming along nicely. I am still below 200 lbs altough I have not weighed myself in the last few weeks because I am not really obsessing over the number as I am the way I physically feel. I have been eating a lot and working out WITH both cardio and weights and I have been feeling pretty good! The last time I weighed myself was about 2 weeks ago and I was about 185 lbs, which is a 6lb gain from the weight loss I achieved from the Master Cleanse Detox. I do realize that my muscles are alot harder and realize that a lot of the weight I put on must have been water weight as well as muscle. So there is really no compliant there!

Now I have to be a little honest with you guys. I went on vacation to Buenos Aires, Argentina last week and have been off my game for the last week, but tomorrow morning I am going to pick up where I left off because I have a serious goal to meet by June. Summer starts around that time and I want to be in the best shape of my life by then.. Not to mention I have a very special visitor spending the month with me.. So that is a little more incentive to push through the hard times. I was a little bummed that my vacation was going to get in the way of the amazing progress I was making, but I really needed a vacation because I had not had one in over a year.

But the body is definitely changing and I had to go out and by a lot more pairs of jeans! I can not really fit any of the stuff I own, so I had to do a little bit of shopping before the trip for some more fitted clothes to show of my hard work. When I get closer to my goal I will post some pics so you can see what I have achieved. Give me about a month or so.. and I should be feeling great again.

Take Care until the next time I check in... and I hope you are all doing well!

**JK**

New Update... 02.09.09

Hey Everyone!

I just wanted to give you guys a quick update as to how the Body RX is going for me. I will say that the first week I applied the principles for the body RX meal plan but I tweaked it a little bit. I have this new program on my IPod Touch called “Lose It” and it tracks the calories that you should eat for the day. You can add exercise and it will completely recalculate the amount of calories you can eat since you burned some calories from the workout. It is a little handy tool and I honestly believe that it is helping me not to regain the weight! Which I told myself I will not do at ANY cost!

I have gained a little weight after I weighed in at 179.2 lbs after the master cleanse. I am up to 182.6 now which approx. 3lbs more. Believe me.. this is not even half bad for ALL THE FOOD I am consuming!!! I am not even obsessing about my weight because I am working out and eating healthy! I honestly believe that I am going to have the will power to achieve my goals this time! I will not let you guys down. According to the Body Rx I am keeping my protein intake high and sticking with a lot of fiber and good carbs… which is sometimes one in the same. I am going to post a video on my YouTube to give you guys a visual update so stay tuned!

I said it before and I will say it again… 2009 IS GOING TO BE MY YEAR!!!!

Master Cleanse DONE! 01.25.09

Hello Everyone,

So today was the big day… WEIGH-In Time!! I started my Master Cleanse at 200lbs and feeling absolutely unmotivated to hit the gym. I am not really sure why I was going to the slump… it could have been the holidays or the fact that I was too busy partying and gaining weight that I just did not have time to think about hitting the gym. EITHER WAY.. It was time to flush all of that out of my life for the time being and focus on becoming a better ME!!! So this morning I stepped on the scale and it displayed 179.2 lbs!!! I was pretty excited. I honestly wanted to lose A LOT more than I did last time, but its ok. I realized that my body is happy at this weight because 179 lbs was the exact same weight I was after my first cleanse. I feel like your body kind of resets itself and goes back to your default weight. I did 6 more days on the cleanse this time and ended at that same weight. COINCIDENCE?? I am not so sure about that!

Now it is time to venture onto The Body RX. I am going to start the workout and the diet by this Wednesday (possibly Tuesday… but that all depends on how much cooking I really plan on doing!) I am so afraid that I am going to gain the weight back in a bad way that it is motivating me to workout! I love having this type of motivation, because it is what keeps my going to the gym day after day! Nothing wrong with a little healthy fear right? I know that I am going to be putting on muscle mass and I am totally fine with that! If I gain 10lbs of muscle I will not care too much at all! I realize weight is just a number, but when I feel fat I become obsessed with that number! When I feel good about my body, I have no desire to know how much I weigh… as long as I look and feel good about the way I look everything in my world is fine. And as much as the Body RX has you eat.. it is inevitable that I am going to gain a little weight!

Wish me luck! I will keep the weekly post coming to you and letting you know how things are going on this front. It is a 6 month program, so we will see what happens!

**JK**

Quick Update... 01.18.09

Hello Everyone!

I just wanted to drop a quick update on how my Master Cleanse is going! Today is officially my 14th day and things seem to be going really well! Days 10-13 were very challenging and I can honestly say that I have overcome the DOWNS I was feeling! I have 6 more days to go and I am totally ready to finish slaying this beast!

I can honestly say that I have seriously noticed that my body is deflating! It is a great feeling and the perfect primer for my next adventure. I will be starting the Body RX again, and I am totally excited. I have been researching some new recipes to prepare in hopes that it will get me that much closer to my fitness goals for the year!! I am not sure if I am going to keep a journal of all the food I am eating, but I think that it may be a good idea and help me keep track of what I am doing and what I should change if my weight starts to become an issue. I HIGHLY recommend the book THE BODY RX to those who have had trouble in the past sticking to a diet, as this diet is a lot easier to follow! No more counting calories… and the author says if you are not eating a lot… you are not doing the diet properly. Feeling hungry becomes such a thing of the past! Incorporate that with an EASY workout routing to follow and it is a 1, 2, Punch to getting in shape.

As far as the workout it concerned I am going to not only incorporate the workout program from the Body RX, but I am going to add a couple of extra workouts in there as well! For those of you that do not know, I attempted P90X last year, but did not like it that much because I felt as though all the muscle mass I was putting on was leaving. If you want a really slender athletic tone, that workout is for you! I like my muscle size and do not want to sacrifice all the hard work I have put in over the years. I did love Ab Ripper X and Yoga X and think that I am going to try and incorporate them in my new regimen. We will see how that all works out. I also used to be a cardio fanatic but took time off from doing it because The Body Rx said that I did not need to do it. I am going to try to implement it again and hope that will not only accelerate by fat loss, but also allow me to make my weight gains minimal! I know that I am going to gain weight due to building muscle mass… but that is all that I want to gain… MUSCLE MASS!

Keep your fingers crossed and I will check in next week with my Weigh-In info from the Master Cleanse! Take Care and best of luck to you all!

**JK**

A NEW YEAR… A NEW ME!!! 01.11.09

(kinda long entry... but well needed)

For a while now many of my friends told me that they like reading my blog and that I needed to update it. The reason for the long pause was because I really was not sure what my next mission was. Last year I began The Body Rx which went rather well. It is mainly a muscle building work out... which by gaining muscle and eating right your metabolism speeds up and not only do you gain muscle, but you cut up! I completed about 8 weeks of this program because I was eager to do P90X. Now I will say that P90X is not for everyone and after trying it I can tell you that it was not for me at all. It definitely is a good program, I just have different goals set for myself. Weight is not really a big issue for me as is body composition. I could careless if I was 200 pounds solid... as long as I was solid. It is the jiggling of my body that REALLY GETS TO ME! Well it is the New Year and it is time for me to make some major changes.

Let me start off with saying that I promised myself when I hit 28 years old that I will be in the best shape of my life by the time I turn 30. Well I hate to report it, but that year has come and on October 22 I will hit the BIG 30!! So now is the time for me to really make my metamorphosis. All of last year was time for me to work on having somewhat of a positive attitude and now that I have achieved that I can say that I am mentally ready to begin my biggest journey to date.

On January 5, 2009 I began doing the Master Cleanse Detox. I am not sure how many of you have tried this, but it is amazing what comes out of your body when you are not even eaten solids. I am writing this entry on Day 6 of my 20 day journey and things are going rather well. The reason that I am doing this cleanse is because it is kind of like hitting the reset button on your body. While you are on the cleanse, you really begin to understand your relationship with food and how you can change it. When you are done with the cleanse you body craves healthy food like fruits, vegetables, and things of that nature. It is a crazy side effect but one you learn to appreciate. There are 2 positive side effects of doing this cleanse. One is that you lose a significant amount of weight. The first time I did the cleanse for 14 days I lost 18lbs in that period. Now I am sure that some of it was water weight as well as muscle mass, but I intend to rebuild my muscle mass once the cleanse is over. Second you save a lot of money. You realize how much money you are spending on food ordering out and eating out! I can tell you that I am going to be able to pay off one of my credit cards this month because I am saving money doing this cleanse because I am not going out partying, not drinking alcohol, and not eating food. The only thing that I need to spend money on is the ingredients I need to make my daily lemonade. I know some of you may be thinking how is it that one person can go so long without eating and I have 2 responses for that question: 1) It is not as hard as you think because my mixture is the equivalent of 8 cups which has approx. 800 calories.. so think of it is as calorie restriction and 2) because I have a goal set. It is nothing more than a mental battle to be honest.. and one that I am ready to WIN!

After my detox is complete I am going to transition back to food for a week with nothing but soups and salads. The week following I am going to try to complete the Body Rx this time around. It is a six month program and I intend on doing all 6 months this time. I am going to try and follow the program to a T. I told myself I am going to stay aware from all forms of alcohol and become an Occasional drinker. No more getting drunk… just a nice tipsy feeling if I go to a party or out to the clubs. I am definitely going to try my best and refrain from alcohol for a good long while.

What is great about this time around is that I realize what my problem was! My buddy Anthony.. (whose blog is in the upper left column.. “MakinitXlike”) quoted Tony Horton saying that what we do is enter into a loop of sorts. We know our downfalls and we continue to let these things deter us from staying healthy. All we need is a catalyst (small excuse) for blame and that is the reason we regain the weight or fail at our life changes! One of my co-workers told me that his father who is an alcoholic (Sober for more than 20 years) said that all it takes is that one drink to lead him back down that path. I am guilty of losing all the weight and thinking.. well I am now I am thin so now I can eat whatever I want. If I want to stay healthy and fit.. I need to really cut those foods out of my life for a long while! Until I have my weight under control and know that If I do have a slice of pizza or attend a bbq that it is only because of the occasion and not something that is habit forming. I am going to have to steer clear of these things for a while until I really understand my body and the way it works. I AM DONE FAILING!

Anthony I see your challenge and I completely understand why you have set your goals in STONE. I too.. have some goals for 2009. And here they are:

1) To be in the weight range of 175-185 SOLID
2) Become an Occassional Drinker
3) Get RID of my Credit Card debt

All of these things are definitely achievable and the only person that can get in my way is ME. I can not let that happen. If I have the will power to stop eating for 20 days, then I definitely have the strength it takes to make these minimal changes. I will keep you updated as much as I possible can. At the present time I have clips of my progress on the Master Cleanse located on YouTube under MisterJonkat. Check it out if you like. You can literally watch the lbs melt away!

I wish you all the best in whatever ventures you are going to be taking in the New Year! It is time to make a change you guys! Don’t Miss out on the opportunity!

**JK**