Back From the Dead...

Sorry I never update. But more about that later, its work related... and who cares about work when you have THIS!:

Words can't describe the feelings I feel
when I see this picture.

Btw, this picture is animated for a super sweet 3d effect in Chris's LJ. Also taken from Chris's Livejournal Entry:

"I like how our skin tones caused the camera to have different white balances and how glazed we are and how homo we are.

Starting Specs
Me: 5'8 162 lbs 17% body fat
Din: 5'4 153 lbs 15% body fat"

In actuality, these stats are from way back in November. And I'm 5'5, assface. But anyway, these actual pictures were taken as our Before pictures about three weeks ago at the end of February. Since then we have agreed to a competition that whoever has the lowest body fat % and the best body by July 4th, would win a paid airplane fair to Vegas ($150 dollar maximum) from the other person.

That gives me three full months to drop these stats and workout more. I believe I have already made some pretty good improvements since this picture. I don't want to get too crazy about it but I'm not gonna lose to that punk. I'll try to keep everyone up to date with my status, I'm making a body fat graph in excel.


P.S Take note that Chris Chen has a scratch across his stomach because he slipped in his socks during the middle of a beer pong game and cut his stomach on the table. The solo cups went FLYING into the air while he was flailing like a swimmer with no water -- they crashed all over the ground and soaked his jeans. Then he had to wear sweatpants the rest of the night. Oh, and yes, this contest/these pictures are questionably gay. But I mean... uhh... ...man, whatever! :]

ABS DIET POWERRR -- ITS OVER 9000!!

So after 3 semi-allnighters in a row and a weekend of working, my workload should be slowing down. I have updated my spreadsheet; since I was so overwhelmed with work, there were a lot of unsuccessful red marks. Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come in the future.

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I have been getting a lot of questions about my A.B.S.D.I.E.T.P.O.W.E.R resolution that is in the health section of my resolution. Here are the basics of the diet:

I learned about the ABS Diet from Mens Health. The fundamental concept is that instead of eating less often like a majority of diets, you eat more often. By proportioning your meals six times a day, you increase your metabolism and burn more calories throughout the day. In addition to this, your body will never go into starvation mode. Since there is a sufficient amount of energy in your body at all times, your body will never feel the need to store energy as fat for emergency energy purposes. Read more in-depth about its concepts here.

A typical workday for me goes like this if I'm not dead tired from the previous day:

8:15 AM Go running on a treadmill at the local work gym
9:45 AM Eat breakfast, typically an egg sandwich on whole wheat muffin
10:15 AM Take One-A-Day multivitamin, Vitamin E, and Calcium Pills
12:30 PM Eat half a turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread
1:30 PM Sometimes I get hungry around here and eat carrots and almonds that I keep in a bag at my desk
3:00 PM Eat some more unsalted unsweetened almonds
4:00 PM Eat the second half of my turkey sandwich
6:30 PM Eat dinner -- Ranges from leftover fried rice to salmon (my favorite)
8:00 PM Workout in my basement and dance in-front of a mirror while on constant lookout to make sure I don't get caught
8:30 PM Get caught by my brother while dancing in front of a mirror and proceed to beat him up

As jam packed as the schedule seems, it is basically routine for me now to eat like this. The last time I dieted using the ABS Diet routine and workout schedule, I lost a whopping 12 pounds. I didn't lose it in two weeks like this ridiculous advertisement below, but it only took me about 6 weeks.

MTV True Life: The Hard Bulimic Life of a Male Model

This time around, I am starting off the diet a lot skinner, 12 more pounds would probably be impossible. Still, I hope to have proportionally equivalent body fat losses to my first trial while following the ABS Diet this time around.

So why the periods in the A.B.S.D.I.E.T.P.O.W.E.R? They are acronyms for the 12 essential foods that I try to fit into my diet. As a rule of thumb, Mens Health recommends eating at least three of the 12 "power" foods a day to gain a healthy, protein rich diet.

Almonds and other nuts (... yes, I love nuts)
Beans
Spinach and other green veggies
Dairy
Instant Oatmeal (I don't do this one)
Eggs
Turkey and other lean meats
Peanut butter (a very good source of protein if chosen correctly)
Olive oil (or as the Wifey McCutie Rachael Ray would say, some E.V.O.O)
Whole Grains
Extra Whey Protein (Are they allowed to use adverbs as acronyms? CHEATERS.)
Raspberries and other berries

So these are the 12 power foods that I try to fit into my diet. Surprisingly enough, I was able to produce that list without having to reference the website. All in all, this is a very summarized overview of the diet that I am following. If you are considering a diet, I highly recommend the ABS Diet for these reasons:

1. I can still party (drink beer) and it lets me live my life without feeling like a prisoner calorie intake
   
2. The diet allows for one or two times a week where I get to eat whatever I want; thus I can enjoy my weekends and restaurants without the nutritional guilt trip
   
3. The proportioned meals made my stomach smaller, meaning I feel full much faster and easier now
4. I love eating, now I get to do it all day!

I've read a ton and ton about this diet and its associated workouts, if you want to know more or are interested in starting, leave a comment or toss me a message. By the way -- If you don't get the it's over 9000 joke, it's totally nerdy and not worth explaining :]

Wisp 2008

No, not the shiny things from Warcraft. (Obscure reference?) Anyway, this weekend me and like 50 other people went to Wisp in northern Maryland for a weekend of snowboarding. The trip was a ton of fun, I met cool new people, got two days of good snowboarding in, and partied every night. To tie this thing back to my new years resolutions, all this uninhibited fun is can be defined in one picture:

That's a low calorie, low carb, low fat pizza. No, not really. I mean, I already assumed I was going to eat pretty bad this weekend, and there is mistake number one. Eating bad here and there isn't that big of a deal, but every time I have a "trip," I take it as an excuse to go nutritionally wild. First it was San Francisco where I gained 3 POUNDS IN 3 DAYS. That's pretty bad, and this weekend was similar to that. I wish I had a picture of the giant jar of cheeseballs that basically 4 guys managed to crush in two nights. A few cheeseballs here and there, alright; constantly eating them while playing beer pong? Disastrous! It's disappointing to work hard and eat well 4 or 5 days out of the week, and then totally negate all of it in two or three days of partying.

Beerpong, breakfast of champions.
May the spirit of college live on forever :]

I feel like the reason I eat so badly is because these trips are "vacations" to me and I should treat as such by fully relaxing. In afterthought, I'd be just as happy and have just as much fun without the random detrimental eating. I think I am turning these small weekend trips into excuses. Excuses won't get me to my 10% body fat goal, commitment will. So again, I face the same decision this weekend. I will be going to Charlottesville / UVA to visit some friends and possibly snowboard. Charlottesville has some of the BEST restaurants to eat at that I really miss. The plan this time around is to still go to all the restaurants. However, on this "vacation" I hope I can be smarter about the portions ... or just in general.

It may seem like I'm being too overly cautious or analytical about my health and nutrition, but really it's now or never. If I start slacking this early in the year, who knows what is to come later on? For once, I want to be proactive and really stick to it.

On a side note, here is a clip of some Rock Band action at my Wisp house. Man I love that game:

Edit: Since some people have asked: Miguel and
Terro are dancing, Chris Chen is singing, Victor is on
the drums, and I think thats Christine on the guitar.