The Abs Challenge

http://abschallenge.blogspot.com/

So I've joined Travis' Abs Challenge based off of The Abs Diet. The book gives personal stories where a lot of them seems to cut their body fat in half. Lose half your body fat in 6 weeks? Everyone has to be skeptical, including myself. But since I have been working out 5x a week for almost 6 months seeing pretty much no loss in body fat (although I'm sure I'm healthier, especially my cardiovascular health), 6 weeks seemed like a walk in the park. What have I got to lose? And if all else fails I'll at least be eating uber healthy for 6 weeks which will undoubtably make me all that much healthier.

My background:

All my life, I had no clue on what a proper diet, and proper exercise was. I really never knew what metabolism was, and all I was assuming was that my metabolism was low, and that was the reason I was over weight. I tried going to the gym a few times, and always knew I should exercise more, but I never knew why or how people should exercise. I would go to the gym, do a few things at the gym, and be disappointed that I wasn't seeing any results. I had also been smoking since high school. And I'm sure my body fat was somewhere around 30+%. I decided to change all that and commit myself to getting fit. Being so out of shape, I knew I had a long journey ahead. I quit smoking cold turkey and I became an expert on nutrition, metabolism, muscle building, motivation, and working out at the gym in the beginning of 2002.

At the very best, my body fat was hovering at about 10%, weighing about 155lbs in the beginning of 2003. Everyone was surprised on how much of an improvement I had made on myself, and I felt invincible. At the time my diet was strict. I measured every calorie of fat, protein, and carbs. I used every tip known to man to increase my metabolism 247. I ended up going a little overboard trying to bulk up and wound up with a serious injury to my lower back (disc herniation) which pretty much kept me in bed for 6 months. After surgery, I had tried going back to the gym on and off for a couple of months at a time. What made me stop for a few months at a time was the interest in trying to not injure my back again .

It wasn't until mid october of 2004 where I found myself going to the gym on a regular basis, 4-5 times a week. Even though I had been going to the gym without missing a beat for almost 6 months, I've been disappointed by the results which was no change in body composition. I still have about 20% in body fat, and weigh 175lbs. Pretty much the same stats of from when I started working out 6 months ago. I definitely am not eating right for sure. I have a snack for a breakfast. I eat big lunches (I try to avoid unhealthy foods, but I probably order the biggest thing on the menu). I eat dinners with way too much sodium and almost no valuable nutrients. And on the weekends, that's when I reward myself for being "good" by eating out. I'm clearly not on the right path to make any significant progress. Will the Abs Diet give me the results I'm looking for? We'll have to see.

Tastesperfect

Damn, I just had the Zoneperfect Cinnamon Roll bar, and it was sooooo damn good. Better than any meal replacement bar I've ever had.