Life, Liberty, and the Persuit of Laughter.

OMG. Let me tell you. No wait, are you ready? Sit down, this is a real shocker…. ok, you ready this time? Really?

OMG I’m so tired! I know!!! Who would have thought?! My freakin internal clock is royally funktified and I am paying the price.

Oh so you want to know about my trip? Ehh, it was boring. Got driven around all day going to different meetings and such. Just as soon as I was getting adjust to +13 hours, it was time to come back! LOL. So that’s kind of a win/lose situation, eh? I’m glad I went though. I’m glad my boss trusted me enough to send me on my own, and I’m glad I was able to represent an entire company by myself being there. Albeit I had our sales guy from Singapore with me, as well as our Managing Director for Asia operations there as well… I, Jorge Lara, was representing our entire operation in Houston 🙂 I felt important, it felt good. I was nervous, but I don’t think it showed… all in all it was a successful trip which is exactly what I hoped for. That and getting to and from safely which I couldn’t be more happy about 🙂

So what else is new? Well I was shocked when I saw the number of views my blog has had since I’ve last logged on. So much in fact that I felt compelled to write another entry for fear of letting down all my reader(s). LOL. I’ve successfully transitioned to 5am workouts and I will never go back. Well, never say never (Justin Beiber taught me that), but I love working out in the morning. Contrary to how I feel at the moment, I have so much more energy through out the day and I love the feeling of actually HAVING a day after work instead of spending it all at the gym. Especially with us changing the time again and getting more sun light soon, it’ll be an even better reason why I’ve switched!

I went to the Radiohead concert this weekend. Actually, I went STRAIGHT from the airport, rushed home to shower and didn’t even unpack, and went straight to the Toyota Center to meet a friend for the concert. It was bang, bang, no time to mess around. I thought I was going to be late! Low and behold they didn’t come on until after 8:30 so i wasn’t late at all. The concert was great. Being that I was more than likely still suffering from jet lag the concert had such an awesome effect on me. Aye dios mio, speaking of jet lag, I’m yawning and trying to keep my eyes open while typing this and it’s 5:37pm!!

I guess that’s all for now. I should post more, again… for the 30th time.

Good morning!

Today was the first day of working out in the morning, before work. I loved it. I really did.
I woke up at 4:40am because of my alarm. Let me tell you about my alarm first, it’s pretty neat. I have an iPhone, and I downloaded this app called “Sleep Cycle”. It’s super neat. What is does is utilizes the iPhones accelerometer, which is highly sensitive, and it tracks your movement throughout your sleep. The idea is that you set your phone face down on your bed, while you’re sleeping your phone tracks any movement, and during a 30 minute window it wakes you up during what should be your lightest phase of sleep. This is the main reason doctors think people wake up either energized and ready to go, or super groggy and nearly hungover. If you wake up during your REM sleep, it’s thought that this is what causes people to feel super tired and non function able in the morning.

So enough about my alarm. I woke up at 4:40 with the plan to get to the gym at five, and workout to be home by 6:30 to shower and eat breakfast. It worked like a charm 🙂 I got to the gym right at five. I warmed up on the elliptical, and I began my back workout. Albeit I didn’t feel as strong as I normally do, I took into consideration this is my first morning workout and my body is surely not used to it. I had a great workout though. I finished in perfect time to come home and have some eggs and toast, and then a warm shower.

I rode my motorcycle to work today, and it was COLD! My lord it was cold. My helmet also jacked up my hair, and now I look stupid 😦

Other than that I’m having a great morning, and I’m excited about having the rest of the day after work to do whatever I want on God’s green earth.

I know I said I was going to update daily with how and what I’ve eaten….. EAT ME! 😦

Sorry for the outburst. I just keep forgetting, LOL. But I have started to lose weight, which is a good thing but also I’m not too sure if I’ve been losing it kind of fast because I haven’t really been keeping track of my weight. I don’t want to lose it too fast… that’s what she said. Right? I can’t remember now. I wasn’t really listening to her to be honest.

So I decided I’m going to start reading this book I bought that’s in Spanish. I bought it in Spain thinking it was a Spanish author but it turns out it’s an American author and it’s only a transcribed copy into Spanish. HAHAHA I guess I got fooled. Oh well, it will still help me practice my Spanish.

Nothing else has really been going on. Work is great, staying busy, and I’ve been getting out to see some condos and townhomes in the midtown area. I’m glad I’m starting early because I’m learning a lot in just the last two weeks. It’ll help me make a more clear and educated decision come the end of the year.

Anyway. Back to work.

Alright guys. I was thinking about it and I’ve figured out a way to have enough content to update this thing fairly frequently again. If you look way back to when I first started it, I used it primarily as a workout and diet log to keep track of my progress. Well it was fun, and it worked great. Then I took a hiatus of logging info on the net, although I still kept my workout journal. I didn’t track everything I ate because at that time I was actually trying to GAIN as much muscle as I could. Well actually I should rephrase that. I was trying to gain as much muscle as I could with as little fat gain as possible. Now for you folks who like to workout and stay fit you probably understand how you can’t have one without the other. Don’t we all wish this was possible??

So to start I want to say that I am NOT certified in anything what so ever besides being badass. I am not a personal trainer, I am not a nutritionist, and I am not a doctor… unless of course you count a Dr. of Love. So now that we have got that out of the way I’ll tell you how I’ll be updating. I don’t feel the need to list every single one of my lifts in the gym like I used to, nor do I weigh out all my food and count calories like I used to. What I would like to show is how easy, with some dedication and will power, it is to achieve a body that you’re happy with. Everybody has different goals. Everyone has different breaking points, and everybody is willing to do different things. What I’d like everyone to know is that through BALANCE, everything can be achieved. I very much enjoy food. I really enjoy cooking. People think that in order to look more fit, slimmer, or lose weight that you have to feel like shit all day not being able to eat. Like I said before, I believe everything is about balance in life. From nutrition, to family, to love, to partying, and to things that we won’t get into 🙂

What I’m going to do is each day give you guys a run down of what I’ve eaten that day, and whether or not I worked out and what body part (muscle group) I worked out if I did go to the gym. To begin, let’s learn a little bit about myself, so that you can gauge and NOT compare yourself with me.

– I am 25 years old
– I have no known health problems
– I have been lifting weights for approximately 3 years
– I currently weigh 185.6lbs as of today

There are a couple of things that I would like to say before all of this starts, a couple of ideas that I personally take as facts.

In order to lose weight, you basically have to have “calories in < calories out”. On the other hand if you are looking to gain weight, you have to have “calories in > calories out”. I ALWAYS refer back to the acronym, KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid. Why make things more complicated than they have to be? So with that said, at the time I was trying to gain weight I actually went to a Health Center and had a couple of tests run. They determined that my resting metabolic rate was 1850 (calories) at a weight of 167lbs at 8% bodyfat. This meant that in order to maintain my weight in a comatose state, my body would need 1850 calories a day. So what did that mean when I wanted to gain weight? That meant I needed to eat more than that. How much more? A lot more. Based on those same tests, it was determined that my body with little to no activity besides my time in the gym, needed to intake approximately 2600 calories a day to maintain my weight. What I would consider a good starting number to figure out, without having to get any tests ran, what your calorie needs a day are is to multiply your bodyweight by 15. For instance, if you weight 145lbs, I would think its safe to say that you could eat approximately 2100 calories to maintain your weight. Keep in mind your physical activity will alter this number. So if you want to gain weight, I would suggest multiplying your bodyweight by 17 for a couple of weeks and adjust from there. Likewise, if you are trying to lose weight I would suggest multiplying your bodyweight by 12-13 and adjust from there after a couple of weeks. Keep in mind that a good starting number to either side of the spectrum is 500 calories. If you are looking to gain weight, start by adding 500 calories a day to how much you eat. Do that for 2-3 weeks and see how you change. If you are trying to lose weight try subtracting what you eat by approximately 500 calories a day and adjust from there.

In my case. When I was trying to gain weight I was approximately 175lbs. I made sure I was eating anywhere from 2800 – 3500 calories a day. I got all the weight up to 190.5lbs in a matter of 6 months. Now that I am trying to slowly lose weight, I have been trying to eat 2800 calories a day for 3 weeks. Then I was at 2700 calories a day for 2 weeks. This week I’ve started at 2500 calories a day and I will maintain this for about 2-3 weeks and see where I’m at then.

SO. To start.

This morning I woke up, and I had some bran cereal. It’s basically oatmeal. I put a package of stevia in there and some honey and cinnamon. At work I had a fiber one bar before lunch. For lunch I had Lubys. I ordered the Angus Chopped Steak, with green beans, rice, and a whole wheat role. After work I came home and ate a cupcake my sister made, it was soooo good 🙂 Then I went to the gym and I worked out chest. Pretty good workout actually. I had a shake after the gym and now I’m home. I would estimate my calories today so far at around 1660. So now after I shower, I’m going to look for something to cook and eat about 900 more calories 🙂

See you people tomorrow!

Now if you want an idea of what I looked like last year, you can go back to my  November 23 of 2010 post where I posted my very first progress picture when I weighed about 170lbs.

Ok so small change in plans. I don’t actually feel comfortable with my body right now so I am NOT going to post a pic just yet. LOL. I will start posting progress pics as soon as I feel up to it though. Buuuuuuuuuut, I will update you with any weight changes until then!

Keep in mind I am not on a mission to lose weight as fast as I can. Quite the contrary. I am on a mission to lose weight SLOWLY, and to maintain as much muscle as possible throughout that time.

Hey everybody! I know its been a while since I’ve updated but like I said I don’t have very much content to add so the updates will come when they come 🙂

SO. Press play as you read the rest of this post because that song is what I would want to be listening to at the moment 🙂

So what’s happened since we’ve last spoken? Well. A number of things. Let’s go over them in chronological order.

1. Christmas — How was your Christmas? I hope it was everything you expected and pleasant things unexpected. You know, after the age of 14 or so I stopped caring about what I received for Christmas. Any gift that Santa (mom and dad) put under the tree for me, was sincerely appreciated and respected. Albeit there were a number of clothing articles over the years that remain unworn to this day, but I blame that on different fashion senses. Now I may sound like a bit of a hypocrite because this year I did actually ask for clothes. I figured, if mom and dad are going to get me clothes, let me at least point them in the right direction so that the things they get will be used and worn with a smile 🙂 And as for today, I’m wearing my grey pair of Santorelli slacks they got me. I love them!

2. New Years — HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! I could ask each and every one of you what you did, but nobody comments on here so let’s not even bother. Feel free to tell me telepathically if you’re up to it! As for me, I brought in the new year with some friends and plenty bottles of Crown Royal. We are royalty, after all. To make the story short, there were 5 of us drinking, four of us more heavily than the 5th although he did have his fair share… and in the end we drained 3 bottles of crown, the second half of a bottle of Forty Creek, the last 5th of the handle Jack Daniels, and the last 4th of Captain Morgan’s Private Stock. We had a great time!! The funny part of it all is, the entire night my friend kept telling me how there was a firework ban in our area. For some reason I didn’t think anyone else got that memo because although he did show us on the internet where there was in fact a ban in our area, the entire night sky lit up with shades of blue, green, red, orange, pink, yellow, and many other colors that accompanied the explosions in the sky. It was great. It was the most fireworks I have seen in our neighborhood in a long, long time. The night ended at about 8:30am when I went over for a slumber party and a pink blankie 🙂

So now where does that leave us? It leaves us at 9:30am on Monday morning on the 9th day of January 2012. And I’m glad to be right where I am.

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness…