The beat goes on...

Well, it appears that I get the most responses (and views) when I share personal information.  I like sharing, but sometimes that takes an emotional toll.  I literally feel tired after pouring my soul into a blog post.  Then I worry about what people will think. Then I remember, I am not defined by what others think of me, but what I think of myself.  It's a cycle.  However, in keeping with the more personal theme, I'm going to do so again, but about a different topic.

A couple of years ago I was heavy.  I was unhappy.  I had no energy.  Obviously the divorce was causing some of the unhappiness, but my health was playing a large factor in it.  I didn't know that at the time.  From that time until about 5 months ago, I had a lot of bad things happen.  Some were my fault, some were not.  I had to change something, and I didn't know what.  Everything I thought was causing me problems, I eliminated, yet I was still exactly where I was when I started.

One day, about 5 months ago, I stepped on my scale.  I was 215 pounds, and had 30% body fat.  That was nuts, a third of my body was fat.  That got me to thinking.  What am I eating?  What am I doing to burn off the fat?  The answers were crap food, and jack squat, respectively.  I started reading.  I read some more.  I read nutritionists blogs, and personal trainers notes.  I studied the relationship between muscle groups, and the right way to lose weight.  I didn't just want to lose weight though.  I wanted to gain muscle.

Over the last 5 months, I've did that.  I'm at 172 pounds, 15% body fat, and I'm down to a pant size of 33 (formerly 38-40).  I'm not done.  I've reached all of my initial goals.  I'm leaner, I'm stronger, and in the right places, I'm bigger.  Life is a process of continually updating our goals.  I've updated my goals.  I no longer have a weight goal, since my original one was 185 and I've blown that away.  I'm now focusing on trying to get my body fat to 10%.  I also have size goals for each of my muscle groups, and those will take a little longer, but I'm making progress.

Now, I have people that I'm helping with meal plans, exercise plans, and instructing on those plans.  I've been doing that for a while, but this week I launched riggsfitness.com and I've gotten more clients now.  For me, I know I can help, but I've decided to get my certification as a personal trainer and strength coach.  I've spent a lot of hours on these topics, so a little more studying for the exams is going to be completely doable.  I have a transformation challenge coming up on that site, but I'll post more about it later. #riggs

Just for the first 15 of my readers, use code a2eqm3 and get 50% off any plans.  I appreciate each and every one of you.  Thank you for your kind words of support and encouragement, without them, I wouldn't be as far as I am today. You guys rock.

Until next time dear readers...

A Little Update

I had (as usual) a lot of responses to my last post.  There were some really good, personal ones that I've replied to privately, and I really want to thank everyone for taking time to send me feedback.  As always, you guys rock.

I thought I'd continue with the real talk, but also include some personal updates. I'll separate them out so you can skip a section if you don't won't to read it.

Fitness\Health
The lifestyle change has been going very well.  I do occasionally cheat, but honestly, it might actually be good, since I'll be getting some fats I normally cut out of my diet.  Good and bad fats, it's a trade-off.  So I've lost 59.5 total pounds, and 12.6% body fat.  I'm at 176.6 and 17.4%.  I'm getting within reach of my body fat goal (15%). I'm almost ten pounds below my weight goal, which isn't bad, it's actually pretty awesome.  Visual body fat is all but gone, just some on the mid section, which is always the last place is comes off.  My abs are poking through now, so, yeah. Cool.

Personal
I've decided that dating is back in.  If I'm honest, it was never truly out, I just stopped actively pursuing dates.  Any more on that, and we get a little more personal than I want to share at this time.  Just know that things are going well, and I hope they continue on his path.

Philosophy
I wanted to share what I felt to be very important things to remember and practice on a daily basis.  I might repeat things I have said in the past, but that just proves how important I feel they are.

1. Treat others how you want to be treated.
2. People aren't things, don't use them.
3. If it feels wrong, it probably is. Follow your moral compass (providing it's a positive one).
4. Some things are worth the risk, some things are not.  Be wise in deciding which it is.
5. Own up to your actions. No excuses.

That's about it for now.  Follow those and things will get better (eventually).

Merchandise?

A lot of people have been asking me if I am selling the #riggs shirts.  I wasn't, because it was essentially for me to document my body transformation, but it's been suggested that I sell them and donate the proceeds to a charity, or make a contest and put that towards the prize.  I can do both. I will start selling them soon, prices to come, and I am also going to start the #riggs transformation challenge.  I'm not going to do weight loss, that's not fair, because as you gain muscle, you gain weight, so it will be based on body fat percentage.  The charity is also something that will be announced later, more than likely I will let you guys vote.

Until next time dear readers...

I'm Still Learning

So, this week hasn't went very well for me.  Details in this case don't matter.  There is one thing I've known, but haven't learned.  You see there is a difference there.  I'm going to make this week's entry brief.

You can't make something happen if it's not going to happen. No matter how hard you try, there is a point where you have to say, no, I don't need to do this.  Sometimes you have to let something go, so that you can move on.  It's a difficult process, but in the end, it's for the best.

I've been told that if something is going to happen, it will happen.  While, I agree to a point, I also think this is a passive approach to ones destiny.  I believe that things happen for a reason, and we have to see that, and act on it.

I don't know a lot.  I project a confident image, sometimes too confident, but at my core, that's not what I'm about.  I know who I am, and when I start questioning that, well, then I know I've made a wrong turn.

I'm still learning, about myself, about my friends, about everything.

Until next time, dear reader...

Keeping It In

First off, I want to tell everyone how thankful I am for you encouragement.  The last post brought out a lot of great feedback, both good and bad.  Thanks so much for taking the time from your day to share with me, I appreciate every single one of you, but not just those who wrote me, I mean those of you reading right now, too.  You guys are amazing and I'm a better person because each and every one of you.

Well, this is draft five of this post.  I have a lot on my mind and heart right now, and I was a little too real on the previous drafts.  I had a definite point I was trying to get across, and I did.  Probably a little too well.  I know that a lot of my friends would have been offended by it.  That would not have been my fault.  I was writing another life lessons entry and some of the lessons I was going to post in this one were direct observations of some people close to me.  I wasn't pointing them out to be mean to them, but to help others not be in some situations that I've found myself in.  I was trying to be helpful, but at the same time, I might have lost some friends.  Again, not technically my fault, because all I was doing was pointing out some things that people do that are unhealthy and flat out wrong.  If they get offended because I pointed those things out, is that my fault? I don't think so, but nevertheless, I am a humanitarian a heart, so I scrapped the previous drafts.

I had 13 more lessons in this go of life lessons, and out of all of those, I am going to mention two today.  The first is this - It is necessary to perform a friend inventory every now and then.  Look at your friends and ask, Are they improving your emotional life, or are they hurting it?  Are they friends with you for you, or what you can do for them.  Often the results of a friend inventory are devastating. Unfortunately, that devastation is usually one-sided.  The second one I will mention is #13.  It's the same #13 from my first life lessons entry.  I am usually right.  Again not trying to sound arrogant, but it's true.  I am usually right, but even I don't always believe what I know.  I know that sounds weird, but I didn't write it wrong.  There are things I know for a fact, yet choose not to believe them or ignore them because of how I feel emotionally toward the subject matter.  I am the fist to admit that this isn't healthy, but I'm always the first to complain that it's hard to change.

In some blog news, the blog is up to a little over 7,000 subscribers now.  I get a crap ton of feedback with each post, and I love it.  All of it.  The compliments as well as the criticisms. You can't grow as a person if you don't continually inventory yourself first.  Some of the worst criticisms I've gotten have turned into some of the best initiative to make a change.  Also, I want to address a lot of questions regarding my twitter account.  For some reason, everyone is asking me why I don't have more followers.  I don't know why the sudden interest, but the answer is simple.  I update twitter about once a year, so yeah.


My parting words of wisdom today are:  A good friend listens as much as they speak.

Until next time dear readers...