Well that goal is hit as well as the physical goals I was trying to achieve during that time frame. (more on that to come)
This past year has been an interesting one to say the least. I've really progressed as a person and made some of the biggest leaps in the development of my character that I ever have.
I've still got a ways to go before I truly end up where I'd like to be but lifes a journey not a destination right?
Anyway before I get to the physical goals I want to cover what was basically THE goal when I started this, my health. I started eating better and exercising because of my anemia. Now while I had definitely felt better I didn't have confirmation until earlier this year that I was actually fixing anything.
I won't get into specifics but all my numbers on my blood came back AWESOME. I had literally fixed everything all through self education and consistent hard work.
Now I can't really describe how awesome this personal victory felt. It was really a profound feeling being fully reinforced and somehow vindicated.
I mean I thought I knew what I was doing and doing what I should to fix my problems but theres always that sense of doubt there until you have a test proving what you think you know.
Hard, tangible, scientific evidence telling you that you aren't full of shit.
Like I said an awesome victory was had and I felt fucking great, this was early February.
Now at this point I was on top of the world and unstoppable in my health and fitness goals.
So I started my next task which was also a final push towards my one year goals.
I started Kris Gethin's 12 Week Trainer in late February.
Now I'll be honest this was one of the hardest things I've ever undertaken in my life. I faced many challenges but none so unrelenting.
The hardest part was definitely diet. I followed his plan pretty strictly with almost zero lapses.
The two worst parts of the diet was no alcohol and how there are almost no fats (only fat intake was from the meats I was eating).
Honestly it wasn't the alcohol or drinking itself I missed that much it was the social ostracization. Because I was no longer drinking many people simply stopped inviting me out or talking to me all together. I got a lot of crap from long time friends for my choice. This was really disheartening and frustrating. You find out who your friends really are in times like that. To those who supported me during this, thank you I'll never forget that. Enough of that though lets talk about how lack of fat sucks.
The part that makes the lack of fat hard is that your mind really relies on fat. I feel like the lack of fat really put me on my C game mentally. I also became quite irritable. I did my best to focus and not be short with people but often times my best wasn't good enough.
While the eating and liftstyle switch was the hardest the exercise was no walk in the park. Kris throws some seriously tough workouts at you. I came very near vomiting on more than one occasion. Add to that the 20-30 min of cardio TWICE every single day and you've got a tough program.
I knew it was tough going in but the reality of facing that toughness daily really showed me what I was made of, and to be honest I was proud of myself. I always managed to work my diet and routine around whatever life threw at me and persevere.
Well by the end of it I had triumphed, instead of talking about the results I'll just show you.
Before (Late February):
After (Early May):
The numbers tell no lies either. Started at 173 and 13.8% bodyfat and ended at 161 and 6.8% bodyfat.
During the first 10 weeks all my lifts went up too (they plateaued after that but never went down).
Since these photos I've progressed more and have set new goals but I'll have to save that for next time as its getting to be past my bed time (proper sleep is huge for health and proper recovery!).
