Mimetic Muscles: The Muscles of Expression

          During my weight loss campaign this summer, my close friend Yasser introduced me to the Manhattan Greenway. At the time neither of us had bikes so we sought to borrow some. And so we did… and we set a date… and we went to concur the greenway. And of course I was floored when I saw what I was missing. I’m so ashamed, Ive lived in New York my whole life, I spent almost my entire child hood riding bikes all over the city, and I never knew this existed.
         Ever since Ive been taking trips with my wife and friends on the trail. This included the time when me and my friends Yasser and Miriam did the entire Manhattan bike trail, which meant that we literally circled the entire island (32 miles) in 6 hours.
          I love and appreciate the bike trail so much that I figured it would be a great way to go to and from work. For the last month and a half Ive been using the trail to go and come from work. Not only does it provide me with some physical activity now that the summer is over, it also serves as an amazing way to begin the day. Ive learned that the early physical activity boosts my energy level and keeps my mind sharp. And here I thought that I would arrive to work sweaty and tired, and in fact I arrive energized and very comfortable.
          I knew that I wanted to document my journey to work, and kept holding back in the summer, until it was too late. The summer was over and we were getting very brisk 40 to 50 degree days. And suddenly we had two really good days, a 70 degree day and a 74 degree day, and I knew that I had a window. I taped a piece of cardboard to my bike, attached two pieces of velcro to the cardboard and to the back of my PSP which I then hooked up my PSP go cam to, and there I had my camera ready to go for recording. For what it was, I think the video came out pretty good and was good enough to show my journey.

          So there it is, I did it. Made it to my 200lbs goal. So how did I do it? (emphasis on “I”). I did it the only way I could figure. I read the signals from my body. Heres a short break down: The soda and the juices were killing me, so I “cold turkied them” (cut them out instantly). I was eating way too much, way too late (I could eat dinner twice, once around 5pm and again at midnight), stopped eating after 7-8pm and cut out all late night snacks (again, cold turkey). When I did eat dinner I’d push the limit on my stomach and ate until I was disgustingly full, so I shrunk my portions but still ate the same foods. What I did replace was breakfast and lunch. instead of all this fucking McDonald’s or pizza, I simply ate an apple or even nothing on some days (Blah, Blah, I shouldn’t do that, Blah Blah, fuck it, I let my body feed on my fat reserves. Why else are they there?) And finally I reintroduced some physical activity into my life that I hadn’t seen since I was 19-20 years old (I’m currently 28.) Thats the gist of it. Some small changes, discipline and organization got me from 248lbs to 196lbs. Thats 52lbs lost in 115 days.

Here you can see where I started at the Obese plane, and where I’m reaching the tip of the normal plane.

My current goal is 190lbs. I give my self 3 months to do this. taking it easy for these 10lbs.

For the 1st month and a half, believe it or not, I lost over 30lbs just working out 30 minutes every other day on the Wii Fit. Here I show the break down of my routine.

Like I said before , a big push for me to begin and stick to my goal was this little calender I purchased at office depot. For some reason there isn’t anything more motivational then to see your progress on paper. It was important that I note all the days that I only drank water (rather then juice or soda) and weighed my self (It was important that I see my weight fluctuate daily, so that I could adjust if needed).

*H2o – Only drank water (didn’t drink juice or soda)
BMI – Body Mass Index
Started at 248lbs ended at 232lbs
Lost 16lbs in May

Introduced basketball into my physical activities. I’d play for one hour, three times a week.
Started at 232lbs ended at 215lbs
Lost 17lbs in June

PU’s – Push ups Sets/Reps
BC’s – Bench crunches Sets/Reps
on the 15th I began to work out for the first time in my life. I had never done push ups in my life so I began really slow and struggled plenty. I started at 3 sets of 5, thats 15 push ups and 15 bench crunches.
Started at 213lbs ended at 207lbs
Lost 6lbs in July

Reached my goal of 200lbs on the 16th.
Introduced bicycling into my physical activities which included riding to and from work (Bronx-Manhattan)
Started at 207lbs ended at 200-202lbs
Lost 5-7lbs in August

Reached my lowest weight yet of 196lbs
Can now do 5 sets of 20, thats 100 push ups and 2 sets of 75, thats 150 bench crunches.

My weight on May 13th 2009 was: 248.0 lbs
My weight on September 4th 2009 is: 196.2lbs

Visit Wii Fit @ Nintendo

I couldn’t believe it my self when I 1st stepped on the Wii Fit balance board back in mid 2008 and it categorized me as being obese. I was shocked. My impression of an obese person was always those people you see on T.V. laid out on their bed weighing up to 600 lbs. For me this has always been embarrassing and although I would freely share this fact, I was never happy about it. A great proudness washed over me on June 10th 2009 when I crossed over from being Obese to Over weight. I hope never to cross that border again.


My weight on May 13th 2009 was: 248.0 lbs
My weight on June 11th 2009 is: 225.5 lbs

          Sometime during the last week of April 2009, I injured the lumbar section of my back (Lower Back), while fooling around. It turned out that 248 LBS (my weight at the time), was absorbed by my lower back. For 3 days I stayed home and even had to call out from work. For me this was very scary, me being such an active guy. Regardless that my stubbornness didn’t allow me to see a doctor, I still took the injury very seriously. It took me 2 weeks to fully recover, and that is when I made the decision to lose weight. I didn’t buy a book, I didn’t rent a DVD, I didn’t look it up online and I didn’t look for much advice. Instead I analyzed my life style and created a daily routine that could contribute to gradual weight lost for me. It was easy, if I ate zebra cakes, I no longer did. If I ate dinner early (lets say 4pm – 5pm) I didn’t visit the chicken spot later when I got hungry again. I replaced my Favorite breakfast and lunch foods with fruits. For dinner I ate what ever I wanted. At first it was hard, but like anything, I adjusted and so it became routine. Every week I would shrink my dinner portions. Instead of 5 chicken wings with fried rice, I ordered 4 chicken wings with French fries and then 3 chicken wings with French fries. Where I’d usually cook 4 chicken breast with rice and beans I now cook only 2 chicken breast. But what helped the most was when I went to office depot and purchased a pocket calender in order to track my weight daily. For me, being able to see my weight fluctuate was motivational. Another important action I added to my routine was the exclusion of any soda or juice (this was very hard for me), I only drank and still only drink water. And then of course there is Nintendo’s Wii Fit. Not only do I rely on Wii Fit as my scale but it also served as my daily activity provider. Every other day I jump on the Wii balance board and burn non stop calories for 30 minutes. All this along with the fact that I have a fast metabolism, I believe contributed to the fact that between May 13th 2009 and June 9th 2009 I have lost 21 lbs.

Basically I cut out all the bull shit I eat and exercised for 30 minutes every other day.

In short, maybe we shouldn’t be relying on outside influences when it comes to the simple things we can do to make ourselves healthier. We should do a better job reading the signals that our body gives us.
Nobody knows your body like you do.
What do you think?

My weight on May 13th 2009 was: 248.0 lbs
My weight on June 9th 2009 is: 227.1 lbs