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Monday, July 28, 2014

Operation Find My Abs: Day 1

Day 1: 184.0 pounds
Here we go...
By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

In writing this blog and sharing the pictures, I expect some snarky comments, eye rolling, and other negative vibes from some people. But I'm not doing this for them.  I'm doing this for me, and I'm sharing my story for those who want to read it.

Earlier this year I declared 2014 "The Year of the Abs."  It's now late July and I am no closer to finding mine than OJ is to finding the real killer.  Recently, my buddy Chad sent me a message challenging me.  I like the idea of having an "Operation Find My Abs" Challenge.  We're both middle age and a little crazy (wrestling fans will get that), so here we are.

Me and my BowFlex

I don't expect to get ripped and look like someone from the pages of Muscle and Fitness magazine.  But it's my hope to have some definable abs, loss the love handles, and build up my pecs.  I'm running more and increasing my workouts with DDP Yoga.  I've also dusted off my BowFlex and plan to start a regular workout program.
One last treat
For me the hardest thing is going to be watching what I eat.  I've always read the first step to finding your abs is in the kitchen.  I have a big sweet tooth.  I've recently cut back sweets to just the weekends.  But starting now, I will eliminate them totally, at least for this initial phase of the program and then I'll have them sparingly on a cheat day.  Last night was my first and last Chocodile for a long time.

I hope that by going public with this, I'll take it more serious. I've said hundreds of times, I'm going to do this to myself, but never got very far.  

The other reason I'm doing this is to hopefully inspire some others along the way.  I'm not a fitness or nutrition expert.  I'm a 41 year old husband and father who is still not 100% positive this is going to work.  Part of me thinks I'm too old to transform my body, while the other part of me is worried I'm biting off more than I can chew.  
My first half-marathon back in February
If you want to join us on the journey, please do.  We can all support each other along the way and if you've already found your abs, feel free to share advice.  It's not going to be easy, but I'm determined that now is the time to make this happen.  Thanks for the support.

Chad's Story:

Chad's before pics
Sixteen months ago, I wrote a blog about trying to get in shape. In typical fashion, shortly after the blog was posted I stopped doing anything type of workout. I blamed it on the annual Geek Week traveling and not having the time. Honestly though it was because I was lazy.  It was easier to sit around watching TV eating fast food then it was to exercise and go to the grocery store to buy healthier food.

During the past year of inactivity I managed to undo any positive steps I’d taken during the six-seven weeks of working out last year. I was back to almost 200 pounds, which wouldn’t have been that bad had it been 200 pounds of muscle. In May I started telling myself it was time to cut the excuses and get back to trying to get in shape. Kevin has been talking about #OperationFindMyAbs for a while and I started using that as my motivation.

This time would be different. I wouldn’t accept defeat and was more committed to an overall lifestyle change. Last year I was doing DDPYoga but fast food was still the main part of my diet.  Not this time. If I was going to do this, it had to be serious.

While I started prepping for the restart back in May, due to trips to Philadelphia over Memorial Day weekend and a trip to Dallas a week and a half later, I decided to wait until I was back in LA to start the search.  I consider June 9 to be the official first day of changing my life.

Surprisingly for me, I have managed to continue to stick with the workouts and healthier eating to about a 90% success rate. This past week has been an off week due to severe sunburn that caused pain when I moved my shoulders. Even without doing DDPYoga this week, I continued to be active. I have a daily goal of taking at least 10,000 steps and walking at least 5 miles.

Before I changed my eating habits, I thought it would be harder than it’s been. I don’t cook. That’s the main reason I relied heavily on fast food as my source of nourishment. I’ve managed to start doing some basically cooking, but most of my meals are prepackaged salads or frozen meals which can either be quickly microwaved or thrown in a skillet for a few minutes.  While technically not as bad as fast food, I know these aren’t the healthiest options either and need to start to actually cook. Seriously, have you ever looked at the sodium content of a lot of prepackaged food? It’s ridiculous.

It’s been six weeks since I started this phase of working out and so far I’ve managed to lose 21 pounds. Still trying to figure out how to lose the stubborn belly fat and find my abs. Even if I don’t get the six-pack, at least I’ve made positive changes that I can see the results. That’s good enough for me.

As Kevin stated, if anyone reading this wants to join us on this trip, we’d like you to come along and have a circle of encouragement.

*The pictures included in this blog are from 2013 when I started working out. Wanted to represent where I was at the beginning. 


1 comment:

  1. I think that I would like to join you also Kevin. I will try and get it started this week on my blog also. Guess we will have to keep at each other to make this happen.

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