Bodybuilding Physique Update 7: Seeing Some Gains.

This past month has been a great month for me in terms of fitness.  I am starting to feel more like I am re-connecting with the reasons I started in the first place.  My motivation to workout has grown and it is almost feeling effortless.

For a while I noticed myself before getting in a pattern of trying to get through the workout.  And although I was making progress in terms of increasing the weight I lifted, it wasn't feeling as fun as it used to.  It almost felt like more of a chore, where as the past couple of weeks it felt like a hobby again.

I really got into this whole fitness thing to create the best life for myself as a whole, to feel good on the inside and outside (plus who doesn't like to see their body transform?).

My current measurements 

Arms: 12.25 in

Legs: 19 in

Calves: 14 in

Waist: 29.5 in

Chest: 35.5 in

I did have a small increase in my arm as well as chest size over the past month, however there was no change to my legs or waist.

In terms of how much I eat I will start to intake 2,700 calories per day and see where that takes me over the next month.  The reason I wasn't doing this in the past was because I was scared of gaining fat.  If you have read the previous physique updates you know this is all a test to see what is working best for me at the current moment in time, so I would like to see how eating 2,700 calories on a daily basis affects fat gain.

Where I want to be within the next month.

Over the next month I would love to bring all of these numbers up a quarter to half an inch, while keeping my waist the same size if possible.

Closing thoughts.

I am glad to re-connect with the reasons I started working out in the first place.  I am hoping to use the motivation I have to fuel my drive (even more) to achieve my weight goal of 165 pounds of lean muscle with 8-10% bodyfat by 2024.

Did you start your own fitness journey yet?  If not start today, and follow along the journey.

We can achieve our fitness goals together!

5 Tips To Help You Lose 25 Pounds (Or More) Of Body-fat

What's up it's Brian from GaniFit and in this blog what we are going to talk about are 5 tips that you can implement over the next couple of months to take the first steps in transforming your body and achieving the fat loss results you desire.

Before we jump into this blog, I wanted to give you a little background on myself and my story.  I am someone who has dropped 25 pounds of fat and completely changed my eating habits, which in turn changed my life.  

I literally used to eat at McDonalds 4-5 days per week.  I would rarely, if ever drink water and it seems like I would have 2-3 cavities in my teeth every time I would go to the dentist.  I was headed down a dark road and would've kept going if I didn't implement just a few healthier habits into my eating routine.

I would guess that if I would have never changed my habits that right now I would probably be 100 pounds heavier than I currently am.

So where are you right now?  Do you want to just drop a few pounds of fat or do you wish to lose a substantial amount?  Whatever it is, these 5 tips I am going to share with you here today will drastically help you accomplish your goal.

Drink water

By far the biggest change I made in my life to this day is by switching out drinking pop with drinking water.  Not only is pop empty calories, but it was the biggest contributor to how many cavities I have.

It has also been shown to cause diabetes because of the high sugar content in pop.

If you are like I used to be and drink pop on a daily basis, with every meal, then you know that switching to water can be extremely hard.  

So what I suggest here is starting off slow.  At first just switch out one glass of pop with one glass of water and keep improving from there.

Currently I drink 2 bottles of water within the first 10 minutes of waking up.  If you would've asked me 5 years ago if I would be doing this, I wouldn't even be able to picture it!

You can literally transform your entire life just by implementing water into your diet, but just because it is such a game changer, that doesn't mean there aren't other ways to help you lose weight.  Just think of implementing water into your diet as a tool in your toolbelt.

Intermittent fasting

I want to start off by saying that intermittent fasting is another great tool, but it isn't some magic way to just get lean and shredded.  You can intermittent fast and still gain weight if you are going overboard on what you eat during your eating window.

That being said, what I like about intermittent fasting is that it gives you a way to only have a set amount of time to eat.

This means you are less likely to eat all day and snack on food that you shouldn't be snacking on (if its outside of your eating window).

I personally like the way it trains my mind to not always seek the instant gratification of eating food right when I wake up.

If you would like to read some of the benefits of intermittent fasting click here.

Walk at least 3 days per week for 30 minutes (or more)

Walking is something that I have found to not only be a great way to get some relaxing cardio and burn a few extra calories, but its also very fun.  Maybe you are someone who hates to get onto the treadmill and run, or maybe you are currently unable to run in the first place.  Walking is a great way to not only burn a little bit of fat, but calm the mind and enjoy the nature or city that you live in.

I started walking about 3 years ago, and its something that I still do today.  I actually look forward to a walk.  And if I am feeling stressed I will find any excuse to get out and go for a walk on a nice day.

Even just walking for 30 minutes a day for 3 days per week you will start to notice a difference in your life!

Implement protein rich foods

This tip is one that I just recently picked up but I know that it is very true.  By eating protein rich foods you will feel fuller most of the time.  This is actually what I am currently doing to lean bulk and it has helped me tremendously. 

Now if you are someone who is over weight I highly recommend getting foods such as chicken breast or tuna, which have very low calories and high protein.  These food can also fill up your entire plate and still be far  less than 1,000 calories.

Right now one of my favorite meals that's simple, easy, and cheap to make is literally just a bowl of brown rice and a can of tuna.  For me this can fill me up for hours.  

If you pair this tip with intermittent fasting, and drinking water, losing weight will be effortless.

Take cheat days

This may sound weird to you but I am being completely serious.  Literally take cheat days.  

Cheat days will keep you sane while you are on your fat loss journey.  They give you a way to reward yourself for eating healthy and practicing the rest of the habits we talked about above, and help you to allow yourself to eat out at places with the people you care about.

This is the hardest part about losing fat is when you are always being tempted to eat the things those around you are eating.  

But if you allow yourself to take a cheat day or cheat meal every once and a while you are able to have fun, and stick to your diet.  (I personally take s cheat day every week or two.)

Bonus: Don't restrict calories to an unhealthy limit

One of the biggest mistakes I have made was a couple years ago when I was trying to get shredded and I restricted myself to 1,200 calories per day. 

Sure I was dropping fat, but this caloric deficit was far below my maintenance calories.  This caused me to lose months of muscle gain, and once I came to my senses, it made me gain the fat back because my body was used to the low calories at this point.

Restricting calories to an extreme is usually a bad idea and just ends in losing your progress.

Closing thoughts

I hope these 5 tips of how to lose your first 25 pounds of fat have been beneficial to you.  I would love to hear which tip you are going to implement today (I recommend the tip on drinking water).

Make the best of today,

Brian

The Pro's And Con's Of Cheat Days (How You Can Make Your Diet Enjoyable).

In today's blog I want to share with you the good and bad of taking cheat days.  This is all from what I have experienced over the past couple of years and what might influence you to either start taking cheat days or stop taking cheat days depending on your current circumstances.

I have been taking cheat days every week or so since I have read Tim Ferriss's book the "4 Hour Body".   This book is pretty much what got me into taking cheat days in the first place.  Although there is controversy whether cheat days are good or bad for you, I wanted to write to share with you a pretty neutral position so you can decide what is best for you in the long run.

Basically the determining factor is going to be your willpower.  However even if you have strong willpower you may still crave junk food every once and a while (just less often than others might crave junk food)


The Good.

1) Cheat days keep you sane throughout your journey.

This is probably the biggest reason I would recommend starting to take cheat days.  If you don't already know, most people that start a diet eventually end up right where they started.  Being right back at square one can be discouraging, and often cause you to give up.

You can have all the knowledge in the world, but with no plan or applied knowledge, it is useless.

If you start a diet and it says you can NEVER eat a certain food ever again, how likely are you going to be to stick to that diet?

Even if you can stick to it for a month, you will most likely jump back to eating the "bad food" again or even more.

In other words you are going insane without that food.

Now if I tell you, "stick to your diet for 7 days and after that 7 days you can eat whatever you want on the eighth day" how much more likely are you going to be sticking to your diet?

Chances are high you will follow through.  Not only will it keep you sane, but it will keep you accountable and you will actually get a reward for your effort of eating healthy for those 7 days!

2) Makes the journey more enjoyable.

No diet or healthy journey is fun when you are never able to eat certain foods.  Just imagine you go to an ice cream shop with your family or freinds and everyone else is eating creamy, smooth ice cream in a waffle cone.

Most likely you are going to be hating every second of it if you don't allow yourself to ever eat ice cream.

Now I'm not saying to just eat ice cream everyday, but what if you had one day a week where you could.  You are in the same scenario except now you can have the ice cream.  

How much more enjoyable will this scenario be now that you are able to enjoy the ice cream and spend some memorable time with your family or friends?

3) Doesn't really effect fat gain.

This is kind of a touchy subject here.  At first when I tried cheat days this sounded counter intuitive.  

I though to myself "how could eating an enormous surplus of calories not effect fat gain"  I though it would all be BS.

But I tried it anyway and tested it out.  Sure enough my waist didn't ever get any bigger from taking cheat days.

The best way I can describe this is to think of it this way.  If all you eat is junk 6 out of 7 days and eat a salad on the seventh day how much of a difference will this make on you losing fat?

Not much right becuase its one salad or one day of salads when 90% of the time you were eating junk.

Basically the same principle is applied but in reverse for cheat days.  (You aren't going to gain fat for eating 10% junk food and 90% health food).


The Bad.

1) Overeating / going overboard.

This is a problem I find myself falling into too often on cheat days.  Most cheat days I end up eating more than I should and just eating to eat as much junk food as I can in one day. 

Although it is fun for me to do, there have been times where I would eat so much where I would be throwing up all night because of how much I ate.

This doesn't happen as much anymore, but I still do usually over eat past being full.

2) The way you feel the next morning.

I would almost describe this bad side effect to feel how I expect a hangover would feel.

Usually after I take a cheat day the next morning feels harder than it should.  

I often wake up feeling substantially less energy than I usually do as well as having a TON of mucuss in my throat and a bad taste in my mouth for the first few hours of my day.

It's not a pleasant feeling but it goes away pretty fast.

Closing thoughts.

After reading this I hope you gained some clarity on whether or not you want to start implementing cheat days into your life.

Just like anything in life there is a good and a bad side to cheat days, but its about what works or doesn't work for you. 

For some people (including myself) cheat days can work really well becuase they give more than they take.  For others it may take more than it gives.

I would love to hear what you are going to do moving ahead in your journey, as well as what your thoughts are on this subject / what you have experienced with taking cheat days.

Make the best of today,

Brian

Bodybuilding Physique Update 6. (Taking Measurements To Track Size & Progress).

In todays physique update I wanted to share with you where I am currently at, as well as what I will be implementing over the next month along the journey to 165 pounds.

Last month we discussed that I would start using MyFitnessPal to track my calories.  I have been eating around 2700 calories on workout days and 22-2300 calories on rest days.  This has resulted in some muscle gain with minimal fat gain (pretty much just enough for me to notice) over the last month.

This next month I am going to stick to 2700 calories on lifting days and 22-2300 calories on abs workout days.

I am also going to start taking measurements of my legs, arms, waist etc. to track my progress and make sure I am actually making consistent gains each month.

My current measurements:

Arms: 12 in
Legs: 19 in
Calves: 14 in
Waist: 29.5 in
Chest: 34.5-35 in

Overall this month has been successful in moving toward my big goal of 165 pounds by 2024 while maintaining a pretty lean body fat percentage.  However the past couple days I have been bloated from pigging out on my cheat day this past weekend.

The biggest problem I have actually noticed from myself this month is there were multiple days where I forgot to track and update the weight I was lifting while in the gym.

That being said, I was still able to make consistent and noticeable gains this past month.

Where I want to be within the next month.

Over the next month I also want to see if I am able to get all of these numbers (except for my waist) up half an inch as well.


Closing thoughts.

I have still not been having any luck with the body fat monitor at the gym, but as always I will continue to keep trying to use it and see if it eventually works for me.

Did you start your own fitness journey yet?  If not start today, and follow along the journey.

We can achieve our fitness goals together!

Bodybuilding Physique Update 5 (Learning How To Lean Bulk).

This month was mostly a good month, for the first 3 weeks I have been gaining muscle on a consistent basis and it was going great, my muscles appeared to be bigger than usual and I was gaining strength most of the time.  However this past week I started to notice muscle loss.

Where I am at now.

My strength still seems to be getting better consistently, and it looks like I am still losing fat (I tried to use the body fat scanner at the gym again, but once again I got the same error code as before).

That being said it looks like I dropped 1% bodyfat since last month.  

This past week however, I noticed some muscle loss.  I believe this is due to starting my job where I walk between 10,000 - 20,000 steps per day, which allows me to be in a deficit  nearly everyday compared to the rest of the month.

Where I want to be within the next month.

Today I did some research on how much I should be eating per day to "lean bulk" at my current activity level and found that it was about 300 - 700 calories more than I currently eat.

It seemed that eating 1700 - 2100 calories per day was working for me to "lean bulk" before I started working again, but once my activity level increased, my calorie intake stayed the same.


Over the next month I am going to test eating 300 - 700 more calories per day and see how this works out for me.  I will continue to do the same workouts and increase my strength on a continuous basis throughout this next month.

Closing thoughts.

Overall this month went well.  3 out of the 4 weeks I made noticeable progress but this last week it really looks like I took a step back even though I was doing the same things as usually in terms of working out.

This next month I am going to work on eating roughly 2550 calories per day on workout days and 2000 - 2200 on non-workout days.  This is just a test for now to see if I start to gain muscle as well as stay at the same bodyfat percentage , or even drop fat.

If you are new and interested in learning more about health and mindset click here to read the blog where I have written nearly 200 articles that will be of help to you along your journey!

Make the best of today,

Brian

Bodybuilding Physique Update 4; Road to 10-12% Body Fat While Maintaining Strength.

For this months physique update I want to share with you more in depth on my plans over the next couple of months.

If you have been following these physique updates you know that I am working on bulking up and putting on muscle, however this has caused me some trouble since I ended up not tracking calories for most of this time.

Since the last physique I have started to track my calories nearly every single day and have noticed myself getting leaner.

I did try to use the bodyfat percentage device at the gym but I kept getting an error code.  I am hoping that the next time I go to use it, it works because that is something that I want to share with you in these physique updates.  But for now I am just going based off of how much bodyfat percentage it looks like I have.

I was also sick for a whole week last week and wasn't able to get into the gym at all.  There was one day where I was feeling good enough to do 100 decline pushups at home but other than that I was pretty much just trying to rest, with the exception of doing yoga a couple times.

I was also eating a lot of foods to try and help me feel better so I think I was over my calories most days.

Other than that, it appears that I am getting closer to my goal of 10-12%  bodyfat (just based on how I currently look).

Closing thoughts.

This is where I am at right now.

Thank you for reading, I hope that you are gaining massive value along these physique updates and have been following along yourself with your own fitness journey.

Make the best of today,

Brian

How Daily Discipline Helps To Shape Your Life.

Discipline is something many of us lack in most areas of our lives (including me).  We all have our strong areas of discipline, but we often find ourselves not able to have discipline in other areas that might matter to us.

What actually got me thinking of writing this blog was how on Monday and Tuesday this past week I really didn't feel like taking a cold shower or going to the gym.  Now I know, I never really care for cold showers except for on extremely hot days, so this is normal for me, but not feeling motivated for working out is actually kind of different.

What actually got me to do both was that I started to ask myself "what would the ideal version of me do?"  This "act as if" mentality actually helped me to push through it, and afterwards I ended up feeling good about doing those things.

I personally take cold showers just for how it makes me feel energized and on top of the world afterwards.  On the other hand I actually have a real goal for fitness / working out.  If you have read some of my blogs from the past couple of months you know that I am working to be 165 pounds with 8-10% bodyfat.  So this gives me a reason to actually have discipline and continue to workout consistently.

How can this apply to your life?

Since most people don't even have the discipline to read a life altering book for 10 minutes after work, even having just a little bit of discipline will set you apart from most of the world.  If you think of it, it's really easy to go home and turn on the TV right away for 4 hours or so.

And although this is the easy thing to do, since all you have to do it sit there (and maybe hit a couple buttons on the remote, it doesn't take much discipline and on top of that) it probably won't bring you any closer to your goals.

If you are someone who currently has goals that you are working on, how can you continue to focus on them even when you don't feel like it?

Well from what I have found from my experience is that most of not taking action actually comes from overthinking the situation you want to be doing.

For example you have a goal to record a video.  You know its going to be a great video that your audience will love, but you start thinking to yourself "what if the lightings bad, what if I screw up, what if I have to redo the video?" etc. 

This type of overthinking the situation can actually cause you to end up not taking any action towards your goal of making that video.

And this is what most of us do whether we realize it or not.  

The winners mindset. 

I found that by changing our mindset towards our goals it makes it easier to have discipline to achieve them.  Now I'm not saying you will have this mindset 100% of the time, but when you do have this mindset it will completely change what you are able to achieve throughout your day!

Lets discuss this mindset.

Back to the video example.  If you find yourself thinking about all that could go wrong, you aren't going to get anywhere.  

But if you are still overthinking you could instead think "I'm at least going to record this video today, if it doesn't come out the way I want it to that's ok because at least I took action".  

And you know what will happen 90% of the time?  You will take action and make a video that is at least good.  And if it isn't, since you are already making the video, and in the right mindset at this point, you will be more likely to continue to record the video until you are satisfied with it!

Act as if.

As stated above acting as if can also be very beneficial to your life.  If you envision yourself already where you want to be it will be easier to take action from that state of mind.

Sticking to making that video, if you see yourself as the video creator
that you want to be, it will be easier for you to come from that place, and thus take action and create the video you want to create!

Closing thoughts. 

I hope that these mindsets help you to stay on track with your goals.  Although it is hard and takes a massive amount of energy to do, it will be worth it.

Continue to grow and move towards the life you want to live!

Make the best of today,

Brian