So, what does a guy do when he lives alone again?  How does a single guy stay entertained?

Well, in my case, he goes slightly insane and decides to start hitting the gym.  Hard.  So I figured there are lots of people out there that are into the same thing that may want to read this.  You don’t get to read about people trying to get in shape very often, without it being a sales pitch.  So this is me, a real guy, just trying to get into shape.  I’ll be as transparent as possible.

So here is my health background over the past year… I’ll try to keep it short… but a year is a long time.  Updates won’t be this long.

I’m in my middle twenties now, so getting into shape shouldn’t be too hard.  Being six feet tall with a decent sized frame, I can pack on weight pretty easily.  During my “skinny” days I was about 170 or so.  Then I moved back to Texas and got a desk job.  I packed on a LOT of weight.  I wouldn’t say I was a big ol’ fatty, but I wasn’t small either.  I was pushing towards 230 pounds.  The most I saw on a scale was 225.  I never really realized it until I saw some photos of myself, and realized “Hey, I can grab my gut with two hands, and am getting man boobs”  This was around a year ago now towards the end of July 2009.

I started off with my diet, after all, that doesn’t require any real work.  Just a lifestyle change (harder than it sounds).  I stopped drinking soda, and I stopped eating fast food.  I hadn’t gotten into eating healthy yet, I was just not eating terribly.  Immediately I noticed I felt better physically and mentally.  These things alone caused me to start losing weight.  I still don’t drink soda, except maybe in mixed drinks every now and then.  One thing I am guilty of though, are energy drinks.  I’ll still have a few a week.  My sleep schedule needs work.  I’m now trying to cut those out, along with beer.  However, you’ll never take my rum away from me.  Never.

So, this simple lack of junk food made me feel so good, and the weight loss made me feel motivated.  I got hooked.  I started eating healthier, and watching how much I did eat.  Lots of chicken, low sugar yogurt, and water.  Cut out sugars.  Then I started to educate myself about nutrition.  Pro tip: YOU CAN NOT OUT EXERCISE A POOR DIET.  Ingrain that in your brain.  Unless you are an Olympian in training, eating a pizza every day can’t be undone by your exercise.  I mean, think about it, whenever you order a pizza or go grab some donuts, how do you feel afterward?  Chances are you’re disappointed or feel a bit blah.  This is because your body doesn’t like it.  Only your brain does because it likes the chemicals that are produced, not all that unlike street drugs.  There is a ton of science to a diet, which is why most people don’t bother to learn about it.  It’s confusing.  Honestly, I still don’t know that much, just enough to get by.

It snowballed from there, I learned what to eat, and how to eat it.  I started eating smaller meals throughout the day to keep up my metabolism.  I started to hit the gym around the same time and the weight just began to melt off.  220… 215… 210… 205… 200…  I was losing it, and keeping it off.  This wasn’t the fast weight loss the magazines try to sell you, this was real due to life changes.

Then my problems began. I hit 200 months ago in January and became content.  I wasn’t Fatty McFatfat anymore.  The stairs to my 3rd floor apartment didn’t make be breath heavy.  I stopped hitting the gym, and relaxed my diet.  I didn’t gain any weight since my habits had changed so much, it kept that from happening.  It’s not like I’m “fit”.  I know I can lose more.  Probably been around 205 for the past few months.

So like most people when they become newly single, they assess their life, and figure out what to change and improve on.  I decided I want to see what kind of shape I can get in.  I started running.  I competed in the Warrior Dash.  My first run ever.  Just so I can say I did.  Now I can say I’m a warrior.  Shut up.

Now I’ve started back on a stricter diet than ever, and like the introduction said, I’m hitting the gym with the fury of a 1,000 suns.  I want to be ripped.  I want my effort to show.  Is it vain?  Most likely.  I don’t care.  I want to prove it to myself that I can do it, and I want to look awesome.

This is going to take a lot of work.  I’ll update with how it goes, and what I did to get there.

P.S.  If you’re on DailyBurn.com or DailyMile.com, I’m on both as “Crizomaticus”.