The hardest part of my diet has got to be, by far, the last meal of the night - and no I don't mean Taco Bell's 4th Meal -- I'm trying to lose weight here, not add a second chin. (lol)
Over the course of the last six weeks, I've shed about 45lbs. of weight, with about another thirty pounds to go by mid-August. My secret is 60-75 minutes of cardio (burning between 800-1,000 calories per session), light-to-moderate weight-training, and not stuffin my face w/ food late at night.
At this point in the diet, I feel like I'll eat just about anything. For example, I hate eggs, but on this diet I'll have eight egg whites as part of my last meal and for breakfast. And I'll eat those eggs like they were a handful of Milkduds.
At this point I'm kinda loopy so let me just assure you that that nasty diet food you keep hearing about will start to taste like gourmet delicacies when you're body is starving for calories! When I arrived at Grand Cafe in Old Towne/Lansing, I devoured a huge bowl of salsd that included fresh mushrooms, grated provolone and cheddar cheese, a little side of croutons, and non-fat Italian dressing. I wanted more... I was going to put puppy eyes and ask for another little bowl of croutons -- I could eat them slowly ... but no .. nope.. can't eat more -- hum a song, tap your foot, do w/e you gotta do -- can't eat till you get home. At this point, I'm ranting, I'm no longer observing the rules of grammar -- I'm hungry and can't eat -- this pain is Live from Old Towne -- as you read it, my stomach growls. (lol)
Upon arriving home, I'll spray my pan w/ Pam (no more Smart Blend now), I'll pour about 8 egg whites into the pan, then I'll mix up 30g of Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Chocolate Malt protein powder in water -- that's my final meal. I will set aside a serving of ZMA, Cranberry Extract, 1,500mg of L-Arginine, and 3mg's of Melatonin. As sad as this sounds, I need to stop writing now...my mouth is watering and I'm quite annoyed I can't (won't) eat for another half hour, lol.
Set Goals, Stay Focused
We started small (John and me) on an incline pectoral press device that could hardly be described as a 'machine' -- there's no pulleys, it's not for babies, but it's also not the full on incline bench press. We started with a single 45 on each side and then it grew to two pairs, three pairs, four pairs, and finally a total of eight 45's and a pair of quarters; and the weight just kept increasing.
Eventually we'd hit our goal of 10 45's, along with our more recent addition (Jake Hawkins). But the moral of the story isn't that we're three strong mofos (lol), it's that we set an attainable, realistic goal; we gradually increased the weight, we always started our chest routine on the same machine, and we focued our attention on not getting ourselves down when we failed or just didn't feel it on a given day.
Work hard, surround yourself with positive-minded people, and focus on making gradual adjustments. One of the most important keys to success in the gym, is coming to grips with the fact that overnight success and instant gratification will not be found during your quest to building the kind of body 99% of people are gunning for. Bodybuilding, as well as powerlifting, require a great deal of patience. Sadly, you can't buy patience at GNC or bodybuilding.com.
Two supplements every lifter needs in his/her arsenal are: patience and humilitiy -- I would take about 1,000mg of each, 3x per day.
Stay Focused!
