My weight has been all over the place the past several weeks.  First I weighed in at 238.2 pounds and 26.9% body fat; both of which are an increase from where I was on the last podcast.  The next week was even worse when I weighed in I was at 243 and now I’m back down to 237.  The gain was not unexpected as 90% of the week I got up in the middle of the night and binged.  It didn’t matter if was fruit, ribs, cheese, or cereal; if it was in the kitchen it was likely to go in my mouth if I saw or thought about it.  Then I would go back to bed and wake back up in the morning.  I used a lot of excuses to justify the eating such as:

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• I enjoy it (which I do, but that doesn’t mean that it’s constructive)
  
• I probably burned the calories off during my weight training
  
• I would just build muscle
  
• I’m burnt out
  
• I’ll make it up later in the week
  
• pretty much anything I could think of
  

In the end I’m pretty sure that none of this came true.  Although I do feel like I have built up some muscle, I know I’ve also gained some fat.  My wedding ring is tighter, my pants are a bit tighter, and I feel “bulkier” overall.  It could be just in my mind, but I don’t think it is.

I tried making some changes to my diet including:

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• An attempt intermittent fasting to see if it’s something that I can actually benefit from.  I tried it, but ultimately it was not for me.  My body didn’t respond well to the whole thing.  While some people may benefit from it, I just end up feeling quite sick.
  
• I’ve been doing my best to log my food in the evening and make sure that I don’t go over my calories.  I have recently realized that I am still going over my calorie count just by not tracking the little things at night.  This is sabotaging me and putting me over my calorie count.  I’ll need to focus on eating more “filling” foods that are calorie dense and take up more room in my belly!
  

On the plus side I did start a new cycle of 5/3/1 (which is my training routine) and I was able to get a new personal record in all my major lifts.  I’ve also discovered that there are a number of people on the Iron Radio Facebook page who are also going to follow this program while supporting one another.  I’m going to try and make an active attempt to join in with them while most likely sticking to my own version of 5/3/1.  It’s mostly for support and so that I can see how others adapt and utilize the program.  The program is going pretty well even though I’m making minor tweaks on what I do, but so far so good.  I like the program quite a bit and I plan to stick with it for at least six more months since that is what the duration of the Iron Radio 5/3/1 challenge is set for.

Cardio-wise I have been able to reduce my cardio and I have to admit I was a bit surprised at not only how much time it was actually taking up, but how unnecessary it seems to have been.  Yes, I did gain a bit over a pound this week, but I really chalk that up to poor eating habits.  Plus I have to admit that I feel better; noticeably my knees which were starting to hurt a bit no longer do so.

There’s nothing wrong with hiring a personal trainer.  Sure, we’ve all seen the ads in magazines and on TV where some vapid jerk comes and teaches you how to train, but there are good personal trainers out there.  Unfortunately, sometimes they’re hard to find.  Recently my wife had a horrible experience when she went to meet with our local gym’s personal trainer to set up a plan.  In fact, that’s what inspired me to talk about this in the first place.  To my wife’s credit she has persevered past this experience and has utilized her own program despite this incident.

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• The personal trainer should always start off getting you motivated for the workout.
  
• The personal trainer should be prepared
  
• The personal trainer should have a good mixture of education and knowledge.
  
• The personal trainer should have empathy.
  
• The personal trainer should realize you are the customer.
  
• The personal trainer should acknowledge your results.
  

The Greatest recommends asking yourself these questions:

1. 
   
2. Does your personal trainer make each session about you, or is s/he busy talking about her/himself?
   
3. Do you and your personal trainer collaboratively work on your goal setting, or does the personal trainer tell you what your goals should be?
   
4. Do you feel validated, heard, listened to, and understood?
   
5. Does your personal trainer show up in a timely way?
   
6. Do you feel comfortable with the gender of your personal trainer and the professional boundaries that are set? Trainers touch, work closely, and get to see you in what are, quite frankly, awkward poses and movements. For some, having a personal trainer of the opposite sex may lead to discomfort.  The certifying agencies, such as ACE, establish appropriate professional boundaries and safeguards.
   

Letters:

Matt writes:

Hi Dodge,

Hope you don’t mind me sending a PM. I just wanted to send you a message to say how much I value your SIOC podcast and I’m really pleased you decided to keep it running.

It seems that every episode I listen to there’s something that I can relate to and more times than not it’s something that has effected me very recently. I don’t really have many people to talk to about the whole weight loss journey so your podcast has turned into a great companion!

Something which really hit home to me recently was when you were talking about slipping into old binge eating habits. It’s something which has become a slight problem for me. I’m not sure why it’s happening now at this stage, I’ve lost nearly all of my goal weight but I just keep messing up and I feel terrible afterwards! I think I get hungry, eat something, go over my daily calories and think “ah screw it, I’m over now anyway so might as well keep going”. It’s such a mental struggle this whole weight loss business isn’t it!? I just hope to find a solution soon because it’s very damaging, both physically and psychologically.

Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks and let you know how much the time and effort that you put into the podcast is appreciated

All the best,

Matt

• 
  
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