Day 26

I met a lady the other day that really inspired me. She comes into the store on a semi regular basis. She asked me if I did something different, "did you shave your beard?" I did in fact shave my goatee, but that's been for some time now, and I told her that I had been working out and I may have lost a pound or two. Ends up being, She used to be 580 lbs on her little 5'2" frame!!! A friend of mine (Anne) was there too and asked her what it was that made her decide that "Today I'm going to change". The woman had been verbally abused by her husband whom of which is 17 years older than her by calling her fat and saying she was a slob and things to that nature. She said it would just make her eat more and she was just ignoring the issue. She wouldn't look in the mirror and she just continued on her war path of binge eating. She's now down to 160 pounds, that's 420 lbs. she's lost in 2 years! She did it without surgery, just decided to stop eating so much and start moving. I received an email the other day that had huge success stories and that was motivating, but there's nothing like actually meeting someone who's won the battle of the bulge... scratch that... kicked the bulge's ass and in my opinion should turn around and kick the husband's ass for being an unsupportive piece of shit. Apparently Oprah's having a show about people losing a lot of weight naturally and this woman is going first class with her kids (husband too??) all expenses paid with $4,000 spending cash. Good for her I say... She's supposed to send before and after pics I will post when I get them.

Food:
Breakfast - Apple
Lunch - Chicken Artichoke Sandwich
Dinner - Grilled chicken sandwich w/ popcorn

Day 25

Time to get serious... I felt like shiv not going to boot camp on Wednesday and after tonights session, it's all motivation to go AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE! Tonight was a cardio work out, and man, I got my ass handed to me. Started off with sprints, suicides, high knees, side shuffles, lunges and a few others I forget the names... That was just 1 of the 2 stations they had for each group. The other station had mini hurdles to do high steps through, then we did long jumps and squat jumps. I was so winded from the first station that the 2nd station was an absolute mess. I was hoping at any minute we'd go inside and do some push ups or crunches...anything but running! I give mad props to all you runners out there... I can't hang. We proceeded to do both stations TWICE before we came in for our final stretches. The very last exercise we did were the dreaded "Bear Crawls" (Mind you, we were outside in the 80 degree heat!) tonight was such an intense workout for me, I opted for a different exercise than the bear crawls. One of the other guys that's been on the same schedule as me summed it up perfectly, "You won't get me back up once I go down!" So true, so he and I did more high knees down and back.

The instructor teased us with a pass to a local spa for a free 30 minute massage. He said he only had 2 of them and they were going to the 2 people he thought was working the hardest. Had this been a year ago, I wouldn't have cared less, but in Novemeber of last year I had my first massage with my wife, and WOW... my outlook on massages have totally changed. Ends up being he had passes for everyone, thank you... thank you for thAt! Hahaha, these guys are really great.

Todays workout just goes to show that I need to step it up and go as often as I can. Twice a week is good, but I want to do better than good... I wanna' do great. They are talking about dong a 5:30am class, and that might be a better option for me so I don't have such late nights. I have to open The UPS Store @ 8, so 5:30 - 6:30 workout, VIP Fitness is 5 minutes from my house, so then that gives me an hour to have breakfast, and get ready putting me at 7:45 to leave my house to get to the store by 7:55... I have it ALL figured out, now all I have to do is actually WAKE UP in the mornings to be there by 5:30am..... I may be sticking to my late nights after all. I'll keep you posted.

Food:
Breakfast - skipped by accident
Lunch - Salad & salmon
Snack - Whole grain bread with extra virgin olive oil
Dinner - Protein shake

Day 24

Day 24 was disappointing... Not that I didn't do well with food, but I promised myself that I would start my 3 days a week boot camp a week early but failed to go Wednesday. I was overwhelmed at work and by the time 6:30 came around, I still had hours of work left to do. I couldn't let it sit overnight otherwise Thursday would've been twice as overwhelming.

Thursday's workout will be the 2nd of the week and still be on par with my original game plan, but I always like to push myself to the next level whenever I can.

I'm proud to say that my blog was mentioned in the VIP Fitness' weekly email update. The pressure is on! Just a little disclaimer to my existing and new blog followers, "The Gilbert Shift Blog" may not always be humorous and entertaining, I'm not a writer so excuse any and all grammatical & spelling errors. This has been a great tool for my weight loss and training success keeping me accountable for my daily food intake and on track with my work out regiment. All comments are welcome and appreciated. I recommend you start at Day 1 if you want to get the story behind this movement and know why it's called "The Gilbert Shift".

Food:
Breakfast - Chicken Breast
Lunch - 5 slices of whole grain bread w/ Organic extra virgin olive oil
Dinner - Meatloaf & green beans

Day 23

The highlight of today was golf... It's Tuesday and that's my golf day. Pontiac Country Club, fun course, cheap $20 for 9, not as cheap as Romeo Country Club coming in at a mind blowing $22 for 18, but nice and close for an after work round. I shot a 52, not great, but WAY better than what I have been doing this year. Had my best shot EVER, chipped in a birdie from 30 yards away!

Food:
Breakfast - Egg McMuffin
Lunch - Grilled Chicken Salad
Dinner - turkey club sandwich w/ fries

Day 20, 21 & 22

Well the weekend has come and gone and I haven't updated my blog in a few days. Weekends are tough trying to squeeze in a few minutes to type in a few words. In regards to the weekend happenings, It was a typical weekend full of friends, family & golf. I'm hoping my golf game gets better the more weight I lose. A friend of mine (Josh, for those who know him) was recently introduced to the game of golf and has been out a total of 3 times and has already challenged me. I told him I'd wail on him and even give him a stroke a hole... I should have said a stroke every 3rd hole! I've been playing for at least 5 years now and I can't seem to break 100, so here's to hoping.

I was good with food over the weekend with the exception of a side of fries that came with my portabello mushroom sandwich. In my defense, I tried to substitute the fries with a side salad or soup, but the waitress was determined to give me those fries saying I COULD get soup or salad, but they'd have to charge me for it and I'd still get the fries... I guess it was fate ;) I also had some weight watchers yogurt/ice cream.

Not much physical exercise over the weekend, I wanted to get out on the bike but didn't have an extra hour to spare. Monday however, I did the "600 Workout" @ VIP Fitness for boot camp. This is a killer workout where you do 600 reps of 6 or 7 different exercises (i.e. 100 jumping jacks, 25 burpees, 100 hindu squats, 50 push ups, 50 crunches, 100 mountain climbers, 50 high knees, 25 jump squats, etc., etc.....) and you're racing against the clock. My first time doing this workout was 2 weeks ago and my finish time was 26.33 minutes. This Monday's time: 17.05 minutes! I beat it by over 9 minutes! It's one thing when your clothes become more loose and baggy, and when you see the lbs. drop, but it's such a victory when you can see how much you've progressed physically. These classes are helping me lose the weight & inches, but also get into great shape, can't I just Fast Forward 6 months??? haha The rest of the workout for the hour was jump rope and a fast feet exercise. These workouts are intense, but you can't help but to feel good when you leave.... I love that place, and everyone there, they're so supportive and approachable, you really feel comfortable.

So I had been planning on getting a digital scale, but with my ridiculous schedule, by the time I think about it, it's late and I'm already glued to the couch watching teevs (that's my wife's slang for TV). Well one of my active supporters (I call her an active supporter because along with reading my blog on a regular basis, she emails for updates and encourages me that I CAN do this) bought me a scale! It's a sweet weight watchers scale, one of those real fancy ones with the glass step plate and InDiGo LCD display. (Just a side note, what sick f@#% decided to use glass as the step plate on a scale? Seriously! You know I'm stepping on this thing fully aware that I'm heavy and I've broken many-a-items by "stress testing" them, whether it be leaning on something, sitting on one of those stupid fold-out camp chairs that are only 210lb rated, now I have to step on this piece of glass that supposedly supports up to 400 lbs? I'd like to know how this was tested.) So last time I weighed myself earlier this month I was 316lbs, this morning I step onto the scale (and in the back of my mind I'm thinking "please don't break, please don't break") and I'm happy to report I'm down to 306! I'm only joking when I say I'm thinking don't break, I'm just think the concept is funny. It's high quality and definitely wasn't cheap.... Thank you Grace, I love it and look forward to using it once a week, with progress updates and thanks for the whole grain muffins too, You're gonna' go broke helping me "shift gears" in life ;) (Shameless plug hahaha)

I'm officially announcing that I'm stepping up my boot camp regiment to 3 days a week like originally planned. Starting this week, so my schedule will be M,W,Thur. Wish me luck!

Monday Food:
Breakfast - Apple & english muffin
Lunch - Chicken sandwich
Snack - Apple
Dinner - Muscle Milk protein shake

Day 19

What a great Day 19! Clothes are feeling looser (not to be confused with loser), I'm feeling more agile and athletic than I have in years. It's real important for me to continue with my workout schedule and make that a priority, otherwise I can be distracted so easily and get off track. I need to learn that even if I do go a little off course, I need to stay focused and get back on track, and that the little bump in the road is just that.. small.. as long as I stick with the game plan.

I've also found the key to not over eating or eating too often is to keep yourself busy... so busy I'll bee.

Had a blast last night playing cards. Drank the bacardi & diet and was pleased to realize I caught a buzz much faster than usual and with MUCH less alcohol. Won a little loot too. I was a little disappointed in the lack of action the game "in-between" had last night, normally this game with this group fetches a few hundred bucks in the pot lasting for HOURS! But last night we tried several games with a pot of $10 or $20 MAX but I ended up winning money in the end. It's like my workout and diet regiment... nice and consistent for a gradual and steady payout. And just like the game, I will hit the "post" (plateau) at some point and I'll just have to work twice as hard to get over it. (sorry for the in-between analogy for those of you who don't know the game, click here)


Food:
Breakfast - Apple
Lunch - 3 Grilled chicken go-wraps (wendy's)
Snack - regular roast beef sandwich (arby's)
Dinner - turkey/roast beef sub w/ corn chips
Dessert - 6 grasshopper cookies

Day 18

Today I woke up feeling a little sluggish. Maybe it had something to do with me staying up 'til 1am exploring all of my blog options, the things that hold your attention... haha. At least I know it wasn't from a hangover because I didn't drink last night, which I had originally anticipated on doing so, but for some reason when the waitress asked me what I wanted to drink (bacardi & diet coke was on my mind, like a cartoon bubble over my head) only "diet coke" came out of my mouth. I'm a little spooked by this, especially because it would've been FREE (I was at a re-wedding reception, dinner & drinks were all paid for) I never pass up free alcohol... NEVER!

My mom decided to join me for this afternoon's boot camp session @ V.I.P. Training. She canceled on me and will probably join me Monday. My wife Leah stepped up to the plate and was eager to go for her first time. I warned her to take it slow and at her own pace, I told her to make sure she remembers her hand towel and water. Her reply "I don't need no stinking towel". Are you kidding me? I made the mistake of not bringing a hand towel my first time and I sweat profusely doing nothing, a hand towel is an absolute MUST! I bet she brings one next time ;)

Leah challenged me on the warm up when we were doing our jogs and sprints, and we totally wiped ourselves out during warm up before we got to the real deal. She was a trooper and did 95% of the workout, but had to sit out a few reps due to feeling light headed. I did the same thing my first day, so I can't rag on her too much. Thanks for coming Leah! Smaller class tonight compared to other classes I've been to, 8 people tonight compared to 14+ every other time I've went.

Weather forecast for tomorrow is clear skies & sunny 'til later in the evening, so an 8.7 mile bike ride is in my forecast.

*Side Note: My left knee is aching today after my work out, I hyper extended it years ago and it's always bothered me from time to time... nothing serious, but tonight we did a lot of jumping exercises and I can feel it!

Food:
Breakfast - Banana, 2 granola bars
Lunch - Turkey Sandwich
Snack - granola bar
Dinner - Spaghetti w/ whole wheat noodles & sausage sauce

Day 17

I rode my bike to work yesterday and it ends up being an 8.7 mile round trip endeavour. It's a nice ride though, I'll be doing this on the days I don't workout. Needless to say, I was exhausted last night and fell out around 9 o'clock.

Dinner last night was tough cuz there was pizza involved. I had an antipasto salad and a slice of bubble bread from Lucky Duck Pizza (the bubble bread is amazing...) I was full, I was good, but about an hour later, when I get up to get something to drink...the pizza box was calling my name. (How pathetic is that?) So I figured I'd have a slice, or two (of course ended up being 2) I would have ate more, but I knew I had to post it. Thank you blog, without you, I would have devoured the entire pizza!

Busy week again this week, I have a re-wedding reception dinner (I guess that's how you'd classify it) tonight, tomorrow my cousin wants to go golfing, but I think I'm going to pass to continue with my boot camp @ V.I.P. Training. Friday I will be meeting up with my cousin and a few friends for a night of cards and drinks (bacardi & diet)

Speaking of drinking, this is the ever going debate because I have been told now that Tequila is the best alternative... something about the lack of sugar content... I really don't know. I was also told that I might consider taking a few shots of Bacardi 151 and a couple beers.

Keepin the food consumption light today due to my pizza party last night.

Food:
Breakfast - banana
Lunch - Plain baked potato, 2 grilled chicken go wraps from Wendy's
Dinner - Chicken Marsala, baked potato w/ sour cream & green beans. 1 potato skin & 1 perogie
*Did not end up drinking alcohol at all tonight

Day 10 - 16

WOW, it's been a week since my last blog entry, I apologize for not keeping it more up to date, I was out of town to a wedding. I know what alot of you are thinking "vacation time, eat anything you want time..." wrong, If nothing else, I probably ate better than what I was because I was so busy I only ended up eating 2 meals most days and they were all good complete, healthy meals. I only drank alcohol 2 days during my stay too.

New York City is amazing, so busy and unique. A little mini-world squeezed into 23 square miles.

Even though I wasn't able to attend my Thursday boot camp session, I definitely got my workout in. Lots of walking, and stair climbing. The reason we went to New York was for a wedding and it was on the rooftop of a 5 story building, and apparently any building with 5 stories or less doesn't require an elevator! So this was my life Friday helping haul stuff up and down 5... nay... 6 flights of stairs. So needless to say, I got my boot camp workout that day, I'd consider it a "legs" day.

I can't really account for EVERYTHING I ate in the past week (I'm not to happy about that) but I know my conscience is very clear so that's what I'm going by. I need to set up this blog to be editable via email or mobile.

Back to boot camp last night @ VIP Training in Clarkston. Great workout, a full hour of constant wailing. Felt great! Felt so great, I decided to ride my bike to work this morning (Thank you Sean for the bike). A bigger feat than I anticipated, but 4.5 miles and 40 minutes later :) I left early because I really didn't know how long it was going to take me, so I left around 6:20 this morning and hit the back door around 7, I might end up making that my routine for days I don't go workout. Getting here early is nice to, I can cool off, grab a coffee and gradually start my day.

Food:
Breakfast - Banana & Granola Bar
Lunch - Half Turkey Sandwich & Cup of corn chowder soup
Dinner - Antipasto Salad & 2 slices of pizza (pizza was a moment of weakness)

Day 9

Crazy work out last night. It was something called "600" basically it was 7 or 8 different exercises that we had to do 600 reps of collectively... best part, we were racing the clock, trying to do it as fast as we could. The average time was between 18 - 28 minutes (depending on your ability?) and I was able to squeeze it out in 26.5 minutes. It royally kicked my ass! Monday's seem to be pretty intense, I like it though, a nice jump start to the week. Well, I'm headed off to NYC for a wedding tomorrow so I'm not going to be getting in my 2nd boot camp for the week, but I plan on doing some major biking in central park Friday, so that should make up for it.

Today I helped the UPS driver load the truck, and I looked at it as a work out, so I did it as fast as I could and definitely broke a sweat. Seems small and insignificant, but it was a good 10 minute physical exertion.

I'm making a conscience effort to drink plenty of water, but I seem to be forgetting the protein shakes.

Food:
Breakfast - 2 english muffins
Snack - granola bar
Lunch - Chicken sandwich and banana
Dinner - grilled chicken salad

Day 8

So it's been 1 full week and I feel good. I feel accomplished. I've been to boot camp three times now. I'm falling behind on my blog updates already... NOT a sign of my shift enthusiasm, I promise.

Food:
Breakfast - Wholegrain cereal
Snack - Banana
Lunch - Chicken Stir fry
Snack - Granola Bar
Dinner - Steak w/ mushrooms, onions & rice.

Day 7

Weekends are always the hard for me. After a long work week, I like to unwind, have a few drinks and turn my brain off for the day and a half I have to do what I want. This is typically when I eat the "bad" foods and disregard the caloric intake from the countless beers I consume.

This weekend wasn't bad, I had 3 beers Saturday night and 2 today playing golf. I know I was supposed to drink the bacardi & diet if I were to drink at all, but the 3 beers Saturday depleted my stash and the 2 beers today were offered to me, and I didn't want to be rude ;)

Food:
Breakfast - Slice of Ham, poached egg and english muffin
Lunch - 6 meatballs, taco salad & pasta salad (I was conscience of the serving size of each and I made sure they were small)
Dinner - Chicken stir-fry

Day 6

Going grocery shopping today. I feel good. A couple people mentioned I look better (not physically possible within' 6 days, so they must mean I have a new "bounce to my step" or something...)

Something I've noticed about these damn protein shakes... not good to take them when you're working by yourself!!!

It's the weekend so naturally the thought of drinking alcohol crossed my mind. I was told Bacardi & Diet is the way to go if I MUST drink... and sometimes... I must. :)

I have seemed to inspire a fellow follower of my blog to start a public record of his efforts in running. Something to keep you accountable for your actions is a GREAT way to keep you in line I've found. Believe me, already, I've wanted to swing by Dairy Queen and pick up the blizzard of the month.... but then I would have to document it. How bad does it look when you have a blog about losing weight and getting into shape with a list of documented food consisting of twigs & berries and an occasional tagalong blizzard!? Honestly, I don't feel like I've been missing out on much. I'm on a mission and it feels good to make progress each day.

It's still early in the game though, I've been down this path before and at some point I've always managed to "de-rail". Blog... don't fail me now, it's mind over matter anyway right??? Well, this helps my mind and that matters.

Food:
Breakfast - Protein Shake
Snack - Organic tortilla chips and hummus
Lunch - Turkey sandwich and an apple and beer bread
Dinner - Steak, Zucchini/Onions/Mushrooms and baked beans

Day 5

GREAT workout last night @ VIP Training. Different instructor, different exercises. I like how they mix things up there. Had my brother come in with me (who works out regularly) and he liked it alot and I was curious to see if it was going to shake him up or if I was just a wimp. I give him credit, he didn't quit, but he was definitely feeling it with his shirt completely soaked in sweat and I think one of his comments was "I'm really looking forward to climbing ladders tomorrow" (said sarcastically, his day job is painting)

So I'm feeling great and I think the 3 days a week will be coming sooner than later. I have my whey protein (Thank you for that John & Grace), a mixer, next stop, shopping so I can quit pickin' up fast food as a dinner alternative... I choose the healthiest thing I can (with the exception of salads).

Officially weighed in last night before work out (316lbs.) I haven't decided if I'm going to weigh myself weekly or every other week... guess it doesn't really matter does it???


Food:
Breakfast - Slice of Ham, poached egg & english muffin
Lunch - Grilled chicken strips (6) tortilla chips & salsa
Snack - Protein shake
Dinner - Grilled chicken, green beans & cole slaw

Day 4

I couldn't do boot camp last night... it was physically impossible. I tried to do 1 simple push up in the afternoon and I couldn't do it! I went too hard too soon. So my revised work out plan will be twice a week for the first couple of weeks then bump it up to 3 times.

I talked to my trainer (Jerry @ VIP Training) he told me to "walk it off" that I should keep moving otherwise I'll just be more sore (I've got major lactic acid build up going on). Also, I'm supposed to take whey protein twice a day to help with my recovery. So last night, after my fattening lasagna dinner (thanks mom) I walked for about 30 minutes. Nothing HUGE, but the fact that I still had the motivation to get out and walk especially the way my legs were aching is progress in my book (or blog)

So I whined and complained all day yesterday about being sore and walked funny and basically was just being a wuss... then I took some advil liquid gels (Thanks for the "get un-sore" packet Leah!) and was surprised at how much LESS I was complaining.

This morning was glorious... I still felt sore, but nothing even close to how I've felt the past couple of days, so I'm ready to go at it again tonight.

Thanks to everyone for their encouragement, I greatly appreciate it.

Food:
Breakfast - Oatmeal w/berries & banana
Lunch - Grilled Chicken flatbread sandwich (subway)
Dinner - Grilled Chicken sandwich / popcorn

Day 3

This picture pretty much sums me up... this isn't me btw... just a pic I found on google images.

My muscles are still extremely sore and I question my ability to participate in the program tonight.... I've asked my brother to come with me for moral support AND for a partner when we have to do those "partner" exercises. (last time I did them with the instructor) Last time too, I was up front, I'm going to a little more incognito this time in back because I think I'm going to sputter out way sooner than I did the 1st time. My whole body aches, but my legs are the worst. I've been told to stretch it out and pull through the pain and it will get better, so that is what I'll do. I'm curious to see if I can even handle the first 10 minutes tonight. I'm not trying to be negative, I'm just giving my opinion based on how my body feels....weak.

I need to go grocery shopping soon and get some good stuff in the house so I'm not tempted to go grab something quick from a fast food joint. Last night for dinner I had 3 chicken snack wraps from McDonalds... how bad can it be? Well I figured it out this morning online, each 1 of those lil' guys packs in 270 calories and 10 grams of Fat! I had 3. BUT, that was probably better than the Mac 'n Cheese I had the night before and WAY better than most of my dinners (not better tasting, as Leah is a WONDERFUL cook, but from a nutritional stand point we both have decided to make "smarter" dinner decisions)

I need to buy work out shirts. I need a haircut. I need to weigh myself.


Food:
Breakfast - Slice of Ham, poached egg and english muffin
Lunch - Chicken/bacon sandwich and apple
Dinner - Lasagna

Day 2

I'm so incredibly sore it hurts to walk! I had to go downstairs to find some clothes and I thought at any moment my muscles would give out... I can't believe how out of shape I am.

So last night I loaded up with ibuprofen and leg cramp pills and surprisingly I didn't cramp once. (I'm notorious for getting leg cramps in the middle of the night)

Today is golf day for me, so no boot camp. My schedule will be Mon, Weds & Thurs Boot Camp & Tuesday's are golf (weather permitting) I need this day for recovery.

Food:
Breakfast - Oatmeal w/berries (Tim Horton)
Lunch - Turkey Sandwich on Wheat bread
Dinner - 3 grilled chicken snack wraps from McDonalds
*Starting multi-vitamins, fish oil, flaxseed & calcium.

Day 1

Today is the day I shift gears and get my act together. I'm attending a "Boot Camp" exercise regiment and I'm committing at least 3 days a week to it. The place is called VIP Training (www.myvipfitness.com) a friend of mine from high school is part owner and has been gracious enough to take me on, free of charge.

I plan on using this blog to keep me motivated through this process. I will be posting pictures of my progress here and detailing what I've ate for that day and any other relevant information.

I really need to do something about my health before it's too late, I'm 29 and 30 is LESS than a year away (obviously) and I've been carrying around this extra weight for too long now.

I'm anxious to get through this first day....

Arrived at VIP Training just before 7pm and there's approx. 20 people ready to go. Let me be more specific, there's about 18 girls and 2 other guys. I was by far the biggest person in the room. About 30 minutes into the 45 minute work out, my muscles could take no more. I was cramping up on stretches and couldn't do even 1 more push up. I went outside for some fresh air and realized every muscle in my body was aching... I haven't felt like this since "hell week" in football over 13 years ago!!!

So I survived day 1 and will continue to move forward with this for as long as I can.

Food:
Breakfast - Bagel w/ cream cheese
Lunch - Salad w/ italian dressing
Dinner - Macaroni w/ cheese (at least 2 servings...)