Shape Up?

There has always been a part of me that would like to have the body of Adonis. The perfect figure of a man. I think that every guy has that same sort of ideal physical look. That image has never really gone away because believe it or not girls, men are as conscious as women are when it comes to their bodies.

I'm sure that might be a little bit difficult to understand because you hardly ever hear of a man constantly dieting. Or a guy saying "I think my bum looks big in this" but let me tell you, we think it. To be honest, it's only natural the media purveys the image of beauty the way they think it should be to make us think that they are right and we should look like that. It's one of the worlds biggest businesses and a lot of us buy into it.

I have always been at a fairly consistent weight, usually around 11 stone or there about, that was up until late 2009. For being in the absolute perfect place, I let myself go in a pretty big way. I ballooned up to just over 15 stone. Yes I know that's not enormous or drastically overweight, but I was still overweight. It all hit me when I had to buy the next size jeans up. I have always, and I mean always been a 32" waist. I was at school, all the while during college and all through my years thereafter until around November 2009.

I was getting fat, there was is other way to put it than that. I got comfortable, I lived about 500 paces away from where I work and I indulged myself in more junk food than I care to admit. Worse than getting fat I was continuingly getting bigger. Time to do something about it. I had been a member of a gym for about three years and had stints of going but nothing consistent. I'm pretty lazy as I'm sure I've said before.

Right, gym time. Lets get lifting weights and pounding that treadmill (or cross trainer as I like the arm work-out that goes along with it). Working out is not enough though is it? As simple as this logic is, to lose weight, you have to burn more calories than you intake. What you have to do to lose weight properly is do both and I'll tell you why.

The good thing about me is that I love to learn. If there is something that I can learn about and have the requirement to learn then I can. Every time I had a stint at the gym I would read about the best kinds of ways to increase muscle mass, the best ways to recover, exercises that work specific muscle groups... I could go on. Anyway, it was time to put them all into practice. However as I said, I needed to start eating right too. A big change for me because I'm a man who loves his food. But I did it, in around a month I lost just over a stone.

Pretty good right? The better thing is that I did it properly. I wasn't starving myself but I was dieting. I was probably eating more on a daily basis while I was dieting than I would normally but I was eating the kinds of food that burn fat. Fresh foods and just chicken for meat. Working out at least five times a week, and more if I could squeeze it in sometimes going to the gym twice a day. Now I know that makes me sound a little obsessive and if I'm honest, maybe I was a little, but I got results.

The summer is coming and I am already getting into shape. I love going to the gym. Love it. It is a great feeling the next day when you've slept well because you've physically worn yourself out (not in a bad way) and you're full of beans because you feel good about yourself. It's great, I am now back down to around 12 stone and I can see myself toning up. I eat well most days but I still cant resist the odd 'treat'.

The trick is all about moderation. Making sure your body is digesting properly so that the food you do eat doesn’t stick in your stomach and turn into fat. Protein shake for breakfast is always a good start, works for me anyway. Then there is making sure you don’t overload on fats throughout the day. Diets work but the thing is, if you stop a diet you will most likely put all the weight you lose, straight back on again. So you need to change the way you eat to stay healthy.

I know, who am I to preach to you about losing weight or whatever? I’m nobody and that’s the point. I’m not saying I am as qualified or know nearly enough as a personal trainer but I could get anyone in shape. It’s just a matter of hard work and dedication. Everything is achievable through effort and putting the effort in makes the result all the more worth it.

If you, like me want to look good for the summer, then I say start now because that feeling of looking at someone else thinking “I wish I looked like that” it will happen. Now if you’re comfortable with yourself you have every right to say buggar off you pompous *expletive*. Don’t do it to fit in. Don’t do it because the magazines portray those images, do it if you want to and do it for yourself.

As I said, I don’t know nearly as much as a personal trainer but I managed to do everything that I set out to do. In my opinion, the biggest problem that everybody has is setting goals that seem like mountainous tasks. That becomes daunting and it can become depressive when you don’t start seeing results right away (that’s why I stopped going to the gym before) but it works if you set small and achievable goals. The way I do it is by saying that on certain machines I want to go up weight by the next plate (about 5K) within a month or if that’s too heavy I do more reps at my current weight to increase strength. See what I mean? Just keep going and don’t get perturbed if it, whatever your goal is, doesn’t happen straight away.

It doesn’t matter what it is you want to do, you can do it. I am living proof of that. Not to blow my own trumpet but I decided that I needed to stop myself getting fatter and lose weight and get back to my proper and more proportionate size. I did it. By myself as well. I wish I’d have taken a photo of my rather portly self before I started losing the three stone that I have lost so I could put a before and after perspective on it for you. I didn’t do it for anyone else, I did it for me because I started to notice that I was becoming a chunky monkey for the lack of a better term.

In the long and short of it is that if I can sort my lazy ass out, you lot most certainly can. It takes time and its definitely not easy but you’ve just got to keep trying and you can make it. You can do it. Get your arse down the gym and put some music on that keeps you motivated and there is nothing you can’t do. So here I am, the 2011 white Mr. Motivator telling you to get up and you can do it and if you want, I could help you.