The Best and Worst Fruit45 lbs LOSTso farMarch 6, 2009 by Israel Lagares | 3 comments
Chris from Paintball Fitness, discusses the importance and differences in certain kinds of fruits. While his site is geared towards paintball athletes, his advice can be applied to other sports/non sports too.
Check the Paintball Fitness Video over at Social Paintball.
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The Weight Loss Continues…2 More Lbs.45 lbs LOSTso farJuly 30, 2008 by Israel Lagares | 32 comments
Awwww yeah boyeeee! Lost another 2 lbs this week. I will take that any day. I knew I was going to have a loss this week because I had been busting my butt in the gym and in the kitchen. Well, let me rephrase that: I wasn’t doing the cooking, but I was making healthier choices. My wife was also a big part of this week’s success. She made some healthy, yet delicious foods that left me satisfied. A big shout out goes to my love!
Enough of the sappy stuff. Guess what? I ate Thai food and a chicken a Parmesan sandwich this week and still lost weight. So, I didn’t deprive myself. Oh, almost forgot about the the Dove dark chocolate treats that my rock star friend bought. Those things were fantabulous. Simply amazing. Dove, you’ve got a winner. Aside from that I ate a lot of chicken, salad, fruits and veggies. I drank plenty of water and green tea too.
My workouts were focused on multijoint, compound exercises and my cardio was a mixture of HIIT, walking, and biking. I am staying away from isolation exercises for the time being. You can check out my workout routine to see what I do. I go heavy or I go home. Wait. I workout at home. [scratches head] Uhm, I go heavy and I stay home.
I have also updated my weight loss chart. It’s good seeing the number go down. Real good. I get a warm fuzzy feeling when I look at the chart. Those of you out there that track your weight loss know what I mean.
So where do I go from here? I do it all over again. Something I have adopted recently is taking one day at a time. Not dwelling on the past or on the potential future. I know that what I am doing today is what matters right now. So I eat right, workout hard (smart) and do it all over again the next day.
For those of you wondering: that’s a Stony Brook University Seawolves football shirt, I read, collect boats, light houses, and snow globes (for the misses), and I love tattoos.
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Pushing Around a 5500 lb. Car45 lbs LOSTso farJanuary 27, 2008 by Israel Lagares | 16 comments
Car pushing can help build muscle and strength in ways you never would have imagined. I first came across car pushing and pulling while watching The World’s Strongest Man competition on ESPN as a kid. It can help train your body in ways that conventional weights, exercises, and machines can’t. It’s also a great total body cardio workout.
I have been wanting to test my strength by pushing a car for quite some time. So I finally decided to bite the bullet and head to the park. I managed to convince a nice guy at the park to let me push his 2004 Ford Expedition around the lot for a few minutes. The total curb weight for that size truck is 5499 lbs. Add to that the 173 lbs. that the guy weighed and the extra stuff I saw in the trunk of the SUV and we are looking at well over 5600 lbs. Oh, and I have it all on camera.
I wasn’t at all intimidated by the size of the truck, I knew I could push it. I just didn’t want to look like a fool pushing around a car. My car pushing skills are limited to the many times I have had to get out and push a stalled car from the middle of the road or a car stuck in the snow during the winter in NYC. That hasn’t happened for a few years, so I am rusty. I didn’t bother stretching, instead I mentally prepared myself for the task. Small words of encouragement and picturing myself push the car around helped to psyche me up.
As you will see in the video, it wasn’t that hard to start off. I found it rather easy pushing the truck from the back, but pushing from the front was really difficult. The engine weight maybe? I estimate that I pushed for anywhere from 50 to 80 yards. Either way, it was a great experience. After that last push I ended up with that burning sensation in my throat. You know, the feeling you get when you train real hard and your heart and chest start pumping. I usually get that feeling when I run fast, but 2 or 3 minutes of car pushing and I was feeling it bad! My technique may be off, but then again I was just doing this to say I could do it. Next time, I will look into car pushing techniques. I tried pushing with my legs and upper body, then just my legs, then just my upper body. It all felt the same.
Here’s the video:
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Does My Appendix Weigh 6 Pounds?45 lbs LOSTso farNovember 29, 2007 by Israel Lagares | 29 comments
I doubt it does, since it’s such a tiny insignificant part of the human body. This is a continuation of yesterdays post about my come back from appendicitis. I had to stay an extra day in the hospital just because my blood was still a bit contaminated. It took me a couple of days, but my body got back to form and with the help of some antibiotics I was able to get well a lot sooner then they expected. I was up and about the second day after my surgery. Overall I think I had a quick recovery, or better said, am having a quick recovery.
I almost forgot to mention my experience right before going into surgery. First off, it was freezing cold in the hospital. They told me that it’s because bacteria has a hard time forming in a cold environment. Sounds smart. They told me to take my clothes off and put on a gown. The prep guys name was Isador. Uncannily similar to Israel I think. They were calling him Izzy, which is what some people call me. He also told me that he had the appendix surgery done and that I wouldn’t remember a thing. He was right. He was also of Spanish decent. Hmmmmm. After saying goodbye to my warrior wife, I was on my way into the white, cold OR (operating room). She came to be with me after I told her I was being operated on and didn’t want to leave my side all night. I love her so much. I finally asked her to go home after my two hour operation so that she could have a good nights rest. In the OR, they were playing some slow jazz music and all six people in the room had vibrant colors on. The contrast with the white, metal room was very apparent. The OR felt good. Nothing like on ER. They then had me slide onto thing operating table and began strapping my arms and legs down. Once they did that, they told me to take some deep breaths and gave my some anesthesia.
The next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital room with my wife saying that I looked pale. She was happy that I was back and looked really worried. You need to understand something. I am not the kind of person to go to hospitals or have any major health issues. I usually heal quickly and without any medications. So when my family sees that I am being operated on, they immediately think the worst. It’s almost like Superman being wounded, it just doesn’t happen. Even my daughter was scarred of me. She is not used to seeing me being sick and wouldn’t come near me the entire time I was at the hospital. The only time she let me hug and kiss her was when she came with my wife to pick me up to go home.
I was at the hospital for four days, from Sunday to Wednesday. I wasn’t able to get online and blog, but was fortunate enough to have some posts timestamped for the week. I was beginning to get used to the hospital, which is not something I like. Whenever they asked me if I had any allergies I would answer with, “Yes, hospitals.” I would say it with a straight face. The overall experience at the hospital was very pleasant. One thing I didn’t like was that there was a funeral home right next door to the hospital. WTF? Talk about inappropriate.
Unfortunately I won’t be able to perform any strenuous exercise for about four to six weeks, but I will be able to continue to regulate my diet. That should help maintain my weight. I actually only lost six pounds throughout the whole ordeal. That’s a lot less than I expected. I was thinking I would lose 20 lbs. They only kept me on a liquid diet for one day. Again, I think it’s because of my inner-warriorness. They kept saying I was in great health and that made me feel good. I was thinking that maybe I did something to cause this, but the journey that I began this summer has paid off. This appendix mishap was just a fluke.
I wouldn’t wish this on anyone, well maybe my worse enemy, but not on anyone else. I am at about 90% health and still feel a slight bit of pain, nothing unbearable, where one of the incisions was made. I suspect that within two weeks time I will be able to get back on my recumbent bike and perform some light exercise movements. It’s up to the doctor though. I plan on following his advice, which I will get when I see him at out appointment next week. Thanks doctor Patel. You da hombre! For those few guys that I was supposed to start a challenge with in December, I am sorry but I may not be able to do that challenge. Unless the doc says I can.
I highly recommend that if you feel any pain in your abdominal area, or anywhere for that matter, that you get yourself checked out. FAST! You just never know what could happen.
It sucks that I don’t have health coverage. The enormous bill I am going to receive is going to be hard to pay. I guess now is the time to ask for any donations or advertising purchases. They would definitely help with the hospital bill.
I tried asking the nursing staff and doctors what could have caused this or what I could have done to prevent it. The answer was the same: It’s a bit random and nothing. Now, I am the kind of guy that thinks that for every action their is a reaction, but from doing some research and speaking to the docs and nurses, the appendix is just plain stupid. It’s a tiny obsolete thing in the human body. One nurse told me that it was used more before we evolved from eating tree trunks. There are even reports of some children being born without them. But anyway…
Who else do you know that could walk around (go to Christmas Tree lighting ceremonies, drive the family around town, go to the movies, go to dinner, drive himself to the emergency room) with a ruptured appendix for six days and live to blog about it?
The Fat Man Unleashed that’s who!
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I Walked Around with a Ruptured Appendix for 6 Days45 lbs LOSTso farNovember 28, 2007 by Israel Lagares | 72 comments
It was unintentional. I wasn’t trying to be a tough guy. I recommend that if you feel any odd pains to go check yourself out ASAP. It started as a small pain on the right side, which I shrugged off as being a mild strain from having worked out. The pain was bearable and rarely occurred. For the next few days it remained the same, an annoying pain in my side that I was able to shrug off. It wasn’t until I got home on Saturday night from seeing Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium with the family that it got really bad. My entire abdomen was in pain so I tried taking a laxative to rid my body of what I thought may be some sort of food poisoning.
Bad idea! The laxative, which I will never take again in my life, caused my stomach to get even worse. Now I had stomach cramps AND side pains. I was unable to sleep. I slept maybe only a total of two hours in 20 to 30 minute increments. That’s when I decided to induce vomiting to get rid of the laxative that was causing me even more pain. For the next 30 minutes I threw up some of the nastiest stuff I have ever seen come out of my mouth. It helped for a bit, but then the pain returned.
It wasn’t until I did some research on WebMD.com that I narrowed it down to being either Appendicitis or some form of intestinal damage. At around 10 am I decided to wake my wife up (she tried to help but was unable to so I asked her to go to bed and rest) and tell her that I was thinking of going to the emergency room. She recommend I go to the Doctors Walk-In Clinic that was nearby. I thought it was a great idea since I don’t have health insurance and the cost to visit them would be about $90. She offered to drive, but me being a hard headed warrior, asked her to stay home with the baby.
So I drove to the clinic and was told by the doctor there that I had “rebound” pain around the appendix and that I should go to the emergency room. I then drove to the hospital and waited for about 15 minutes in emergency before being seen and taken in by the staff. I was told that I would most likely be operated on, but needed to have a Cat Scan before they would know exactly what my condition was. They immediately connected an IV to me and after three hours and drinking some clear fluid that was supposed to help with the scan, I was finally told that I had Acute Appendicitis. They weren’t 100% sure if they were going to need to cut me open or perform a Laparoscopic Appendectomy (also known as an Appendicectomy). During a Laparoscopic operation they make three small incisions and use a camera to guide them. I am happy to report that they did end up performing a Laparoscopic Appendectomy. The doc scared me a bit because he said that if my appendix was ruptured that they would need to cut me open.
He must be really good because afterwards he told me that my appendix was ruptured. I couldn’t stop thinking about my family and leaving them behind. I am not afraid of dying. But I am afraid of not being there for my family, my wife, my beautiful baby girl. I kept on tearing up as I thought about the possibility of losing them. Even now, I am getting teary-eyed as I think of it. It is one of the worst feelings in the world. When the accounting rep. asked me if I had a living will I almost flipped on her ass. Stupid bitch. I know she was doing her job, but damn. From what I have heard people with ruptured appendixes don’t normally survive, especially when the bacteria enters the blood stream. Which happened to me.
This post has gotten way too long, so I am going to cut it short here. I will post the second part of my emergency appendix surgery experience tomorrow. Take care folks. Peace.
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Who Said Fat Men Can’t Run?45 lbs LOSTso farNovember 10, 2007 by Israel Lagares | 12 comments
This video is from late August 2007 when I started jogging on my treadmill. It’s so weird seeing myself not being able to complete a little 10 minute jog on the treadmill. I was jogging for a minutes when I started feeling some pain.
I am happy to say that those days are over and that I can now complete longer, more intense, runs. I was noticeably bigger here too, my cheeks were out of control (still are, but less). That shirt I am wearing is my infamous Mr. Bundles workout shirt.
Enjoy your Saturday folks. Peace.
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My Brand New Smith Machine Squat Rack45 lbs LOSTso farNovember 9, 2007 by Israel Lagares | 42 comments
Fat Man UnleashedI recently received one of the best gifts I could have hoped for. It was a Fitness Gear Ultimate Smith - Functional Trainer from Dick’s Sporting Goods. My wife treated me to this, in my novice opinion, awesome rack. Fitness Gear has a partnership with Dick’s Sporting Goods that makes it so that only Dick’s can carry this model.
I call these typed of machines squat racks. It gets the job done for me. It’s Friday and I don’t want to be online too long so I put together a little video of it. I plan on getting into more detail on this smith machine some other day, but for now enjoy the short video.
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Reminiscing with Fat Pictures from 200545 lbs LOSTso farNovember 6, 2007 by Israel Lagares | 21 comments
I was cleaning up the computer in my garage when I came across some pictures I took back in January of 2005. I remember this day vividly. It was a few days after my birthday and I had decided to end the self hatred and fattening of my life and body. I told myself that I would get into shape and had my wife take the pictures in our cramped up apartment in NYC. At the time I was about 260 lbs and was working out off and on, more off than on. I was out of control with my eating habits and felt crappy most of the time, depressed even. You can tell from the look on my face that I wasn’t happy with myself. I dreaded taking these photos.
Shortly after taking the photos I was 100% disgusted with my body. I felt like a complete failure for letting my self go so badly. I figured I would try my best to get back into shape and lose the fat, but as we can all tell by now, I failed. That was two years ago and I managed to get even worse. I ballooned up to 350 lbs. That’s 90 lbs gained! Ouch. Back then I had no stretch marks and was only 40 lbs away from a decent body. To date I have lost 40 lbs, but am still an eternity away from getting anything close to a decent body.
Now that I look at the pictures, I didn’t look that bad (that’s comparing myself to what I look like now). I was fat and out of shape but it wasn’t so out of reach like it feels now. What I would give to look like that again. But anyway, I plan on continuing my weight loss journey and maybe in a few months I can post some pictures that look like the above “before” shots at 260 lbs or so.
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My Current Fat Man Workout Routine45 lbs LOSTso farOctober 19, 2007 by Israel Lagares | 52 comments
The following is my new weekly workout routine. I decided to switch things up a bit after reading John’s post about multi-joint exercises. I try to switch things up every six or so weeks so that my body doesn’t adapt. Now was the perfect time. Right now I am going to focus on working in multi-joint exercises with three full body strength workouts per week. Each should take less than an hour, more like 30 minutes to complete. I go moderate to heavy on each lift, with a 30 second rest between sets. I perform three to four sets per exercise with 10 to 12 reps each. I warm up with a set of push ups each day and will be incorporating pull ups/chin ups, as soon as I can lift my fat ass body weight again. On these days I also hop on my recumbent bike for one hour when I sit down to watch TV.
I had to print out a chart so that I could remember what to do on the days I was lifting. I find it will take away the hassle of having to memorize the routine. That helps me focus on the lifting. So I opened up Microsoft Word and did my thing. Now the chart is hanging in The Shack.
Free Workout Routine:
Day 1 (Tuesday)
1. Barbell Squats - 135 lbs, 185 lbs, 205 lbs, 225 lbs (I used to squat over 400 lbs in high school, it’s been a while)
2. Flat Bench - 135 lbs, 225lbs x 3, 205 lbs
3. Dumbbell Presses - 50 lbs x 3
4. Incline Bench (Barbell) - 135 lbs x 2, 155 lbs
Day 2 (Thursday)
1. Deadlift - 135 lbs, 155 lbs x 2, 185 lbs
2. Step Ups (dumbbells) - 35 lbs, 50 lbs x 2
3. Dumbbell Rows - 50 lbs x 3
4. Close Grip Pulldowns (Palms facing inward) - 80 lbs x 3
5. Wide Grip Pulldowns - 65 lbs x 3
Day 3 (Saturday)
1. Lunges (Dumbbells) - 50 lbs x 3
2. Military (Overhead) Press - 135 lbs x 3
3. Dumbbell Military Press - 50 lbs x 3
4. Upright Rows - 60 lbs x 3
What do I do with my other days? Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are my cardio exercise days.
Free Exercise Routine:
1. I make sure to get some form of cardio in, whether it is on the treadmill, the bike, or outside cross training. I especially like doing HIIT. There’s nothing like it.
2. I also work my midsection on these days. I perform two sets of 100 twists (works best when done with weights), two sets of 15 reps on the ab wheel, and two sets of 40 to 50 crunches.
3. When I am extra energized I hop on the recumbent bike for another hour as a second workout. Sundays I’m a lazy bum and recuperate.
I had my first workout yesterday (Thursday, Day 2) and I felt it. All of it. I was drenched in sweat, my heart rate was up, and I was pumped. Not sure if you could see the sweat in the main photo above, but my wife tried to capture the essence of what I felt at the moment. I am looking forward to Saturdays workout. I love taking hot steam showers and drinking my protein/creatine/amino acids/glutamine shake afterwards, it feels really good when I am done with a tough workout session.
That’s my workout and I’m sticking to it!
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I Fell Off But Got Back On Track45 lbs LOSTso farOctober 8, 2007 by Israel Lagares | 13 comments
Last week I fell off the path for a couple of days, but I managed to get back on. I got a bit happy and cocky when I realized I had lost 20 lbs. So I decided to celebrate by eating some pasta, which isn’t that bad. But then I didnt workout on Wednesday and had sub par workouts on Thursday and Friday. Add to that the fact that I ate Taco Bell Gorditas and some KFC Honey BBQ wings and you will see why I feel sorta crappy about it. I don’t regret eating the food since I didn’t really overeat, but I do regret not getting better work outs in. I had fallen into that slump I get every few weeks after I start working out again.
Then Saturday came around and I had a pretty decent session and started seeing the light again. I was getting back on track but wasn’t quite there. That is until Sunday. Yesterday I had one of the best workouts I have had to date. I rode the recumbent bike for 40 minutes on a high resistance level, then I lifted weights working out my back, biceps, shoulders and some chest. To top it all off I hopped on the treadmill for a 10 minute run and cooled down with a 10 minute walk. Afterwards I felt amazing. I was back on track. I actually wanted to keep working out but realized that too much is not always good. So I showered, had my protein/creatine/amino acids/green tea shake and relaxed.
My wife then made some grilled chicken breasts with salad that we both devoured. I was feeling great: I worked out and ate a healthy meal. I couldn’t ask for anything else. Amazingly, she had the audacity to bake a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (one of my favorite). It was crunch time and I needed to make a judgment call. Do I indulge and negate the progress I just made or do I maintain and live to fight another day. I am happy to say that I was strong enough to resist. That right there made me feel better than the workout I had earlier. Each time as I passed the kitchen I would see the cake tempting me with its chocolaty frosting, but I would keep going.
I told myself that I couldn’t let this happen again. I was tired of starting the weight loss process and then quitting after I start seeing results. It’s like a switch always flips that tells me to revert back to my old ways of self sabotage. But not this time.
This time I persevered. I got back on track.
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Monthly Weight Loss Pictures: 320 Lbs45 lbs LOSTso farOctober 5, 2007 by Israel Lagares | 27 comments
Well, it’s that time again. Time to post my monthly weight loss photos. This is a warning: The following is not a pretty site, if you are weak in the stomach then close out. NOW! I have been dreading taking these shots for a while, but I think it is a necessary evil.
Before I get to the pics, I want to touch on the subject of a weight loss contest that a certain someone by the name of Jesse challenged me to. It was about a month ago and the winner would be the one that lost the most weight all around. I think we all know who won. –>ME. But, seriously, I think we are both winners in this. She shed 7 lbs and lost a considerable amount of inches. I lost a total of 20 lbs and feel good with what’s to come. We both got closer to our goals and helped each other out in the process. You can see my updated stats on my Weight Loss Chart section.
So without further ado, here are the monthly pictures of the Fat Man Unleashed. Gulp. After seeing myself I realized how much farther I need to go, but I also realized that it’s one day at a time. I must say, I look way better with a shirt on. The stretch marks seem to be getting darker, which makes me angry.
You can compare them with my first fat pictures here. What do you think? Any progress? I don’t think so.
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