1 step back 2 steps forward

Hey guys! Quick post before hitting the bed. The pain in my left shoulder has only increased in the past day, I believe I might have tendinitis or rotator cuff impingement, had that before on my right shoulder. I think it might be due to the repetitive movements at work (e.g shovelling, raking) and so proper stretching before the workout. That is actually my weakness, I get over excited before the workout that I dont spend proper time warming up and stretching. Its better to slow down a bit now than suffer the consequences later, its a shame cuz I super pumped up now and Im seeing results. Oh, another thing I forgot to mention, I bought a calliper online a few days ago and my new little toy has just arrived! It cost me only 3,95 with postage included, that is nothing! but so it is the calliper, just a fragile piece of plastic, it does really feel that you are holding a 3,95 piece of plastic in your hands, it does the job though. A bit tricky I might say, I tried different measures and my body fat % varied from 9 to 16%, I still doubt that Im 16% body fat, I think I was around 22%, I got a lot of extra "juice" on my belly. It really takes some skills to properly use the calliper but theres a over-abundance of videos on YOu Tube to help you out, you can also find online body fat calculator where you input the measurements, age and weight and it gives you you lean and body fat %, pretty neat. I created a spreadsheet on Excel where I am inputting my measurements weekly so I can track my performance and adjust my workouts accordingly. Anyway, so much for a quick post. Keep reading and commenting like you guys never did! haha Stay safe and dont do drugs! Raf

Good news

Hey Guys!! How are you all doing? Haven't post in a few days so here it goes a sum up. On Friday I tried the INSANE 1 minute workout from Six Pack Shortcut, here's the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jhRdJTt8sY&feature=g-user-u and it was INSANE and the name imposes, I was wearing a polar to monitor my heart rate, it went all the way up to 170 per minute, I felt my heart tried desperately trying to climb up through my throat. Had to take a couple of rest but I finished. When I started my program my belly was on 93cm circumference, my jeans werent even fitting me (no kidding) and now, 3 weeks later I managed to shredded 6 centimetres off my stomach!! The scale was reaching 81kg, I brought it down to 76kg. Im feeling really good and already noticing visual changes. As far as my diet goes it couldnt be going better. Ive done some research online looking for the best food to eat. From the top 10 healthiest food I gather from different sources I managed to incorporated most of them into my daily diet. Some of those foods include: oat meal and berries for my breakfast, almonds, walnuts and Brazil nut, for my snack between breakfast and lunch, avocado (not more and half a day), apple, broccoli and so on. Here a really cool website I just found this morning and has an extensive list of health food and their nutritional fact and health benefits: http://www.whfoods.com/foodstoc.php Everything is going great and my goals I've been setting for myself are easily being achieved, maybe it is time to crank it up a notch. I know that the first kilos will go ( or are gone) easy, but im just building up motivation for later. My goal is to get to 10% body fat by July, I got 6 months are around 13% of body fat to exterminate. It wont be easy but I think it is feasible, it is definitely something I never tried, even in my best shape I think I was far from 10%. Will have to go against nature and genetics, but with motivation and discipline we can get there. Oh, by the way I just bought a caliper online, super cheap it only cost me 3,95 (aussie dollars) with post included and bear in mind that Im in the middle of nowhere. Well, that is it for now, bit long post but just to make it up. Here a picture that I believe it was the best shape I've ever been, photo taken in 2009 around May, I was 24 back then, neither my diet or my training were perfect, actually far from it, had a bit of help of Mr. Creatine, but this time I want to go "all naturale".

what you guys think it was my body fat % in that pic?

No workout day.

Hey guys! How are you all going? Didnt post last night because I fell asleep in front of the laptop watching a video. It was only 9pm. Working under the sun the whole day is starting to take a toll on me. Im in north Australia at the moment and temperatures reach 40C (104F) during the day.Went through a few websites trying to find a way to measure my body fat, since I dont have a caliper (kinda like a measuring rule for body fat) I tried a few formulas, it all ranged from 22 to 24% body fat, some websites said I was even a bit overweight.No workout for me today because I started feeling a bit of pain in my left shoulder, nothing major, but I dont want to push it. My right shoulder was injured once during a a stupid arm wrestling (I won at least) but since then it never been the same, and only aggravated a couple of years later doing chest press at the gym, that was in 2010 and still hasnt healed properly till this day.As you guys can see in the photo Ive cut myself cooking, I was actually surprise it took me that long, but after that got two more in a row haha. First one trying to break in pieces my rice that got frozen in the fridge, second one trying to open a can of chick peas, the ring that pulls it open broke off and I had to open with a knife, and the third one opening a can of tuna, this time the ring worked my stupidity prevailed.Anyway, I can see that the page views are slowly increasing, please dont be shy and leave some commments, starting to feel lonely around here. Thanks for taking a few minutes of your day reading about my "exciting" life and stay safe and stay in school kids!Raf.

Freaking Crazy Cardio Workout Day

Hey Guys! As you can see in the title I tried the freaking crazy cardio workout today. Had to take breaks in between the set but I was dead in the end. I was wearing a polar today to check my heart rate, it was around 165 a min the whole workout, felt like my heart was gonna pop out of my mouth at any second. Started to feel in shape now, last week a did some push ups and chin ups, my pecks were sore for almost 4 days. Yesterday I did the same thing and felt nothing today, I even did some push ups after the workout with no problem. We are getting there!! Here is the link for the workout http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPHdYOwoxQk&list=UUH9ciCUcWavMsFcAJtLUSyw&index=1&feature=plcp

Chopping day

Hey guys! Day off at work today. Went to the supermarket bought shitloads of vegetables again and spent a good hour chopping them and organizing in containers. Had some tofu and tuna for dinner today. Already lost 3cm on my waist. When I started was on 93cm, checked today and was around 89,5cm. On the scale only lost 100grams. I'm cutting down my portions now, cuz I was going through a lot of vegetables during the week.
Last night had my first test against my no alcohol for 8 months promess. Had a birthday party of a work colleague. But I made it through, even though I had 3 slices of chocolate cake hehe.

Explosive 9 min Home workout

How u doing guys? Today Ive done my workout in the evening cuz I had to take my car to the garage to get it fix. As the title says I did the Explosive 9 min home workout from Insane Home Fat Loss You Tube channel. I did alright, had to take a quick rest during the push-ups but in general it went okay. Felling much better since I begin my diet. Havent lost my weight yet, but 2cm of my belly is gone. Been eating a lot of protein so I might have gained some muscle. I still trying to get my portions right, I am cooking too much veggies but I guess that doesnt matter much since they are really low in calories. The good thing with all this fibre Im eating I am never hungry. My main meals are at 12:30 and 5pm. Been eating a lot of almonds and walnut in between and oat meal with cinnamon and dried raisins for breakfast. I am trying not to drop too much weight too fast, I want my body to slowly adapt and my metabolism to slowly speed up as well. Thats is it for today. Please dont be shy and leave a comment with suggestion, critics, appraisals, compliments or whatever. And remember, always wear sunscreen! Raf

Day 10

Hey Guys! How are you all going? Day 10 over here. I have started to notice some changes, I am feeling less tired and much more awake. On Saturday I went to the supermarket and bought some vegetables I didnt even know it exist, bought silver beet, French beans, refried "El Paso" beans and mexican beans, spring onions, some dried basil . As you can see in the photo I chopped everything I put on plastic containers. The kitchen here at the hostel get really busy during dinner time, so I tried to leave ready as much as I could. I am coming back from work around 5pm, then I go straight to the kitchen to avoid the "rush hour". I am actually really enjoying the meal I am cooking, much more than I expect, havent had a beer in 2 weeks and McDonalds in 2. Really proud of myself! Please leave some comment below so I know someone is reading the blog!

Stay safe kids!

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Day 6

Hey guys! No exciting news so far. Just had a vegetarian dinner tonight with some zucchini, carrots, broccoli, onion, pumpkin, refried beans and chick peas. It was surprisingly good, added a pinch of oregano and cinnamon for taste. The workouts have been a bit hard, had to take some breaks in between but I'm getting there.

My lunch

Hey guys! Just showing what a had for luch, chicken breast, avocado, feta cheese with some steamed veggies done in the microwave.

Grocery Shopping

Hey guys! Im starting to settle down here in Karratha, went to the supermarket to stock up food for my diet. I spent just under 100 dollars (Australia) and on my list was: - brown rice - brocolli - Brussel sprouts - carrots - Butternut pumpkin - garlic - bananas - apples - Oat meal - milk - dried raisins - Cinnamon - Honey - Feta cheese - canned tuna - chicken breast - lite salt - mix peppers - microwave steamer - plastic pot (to take lunch to work) - knife with a sharpener scabbard My breakfast will be at 6am with oat meal sprinkled with dried raisins and cinnamon. snack at 10am, lunch at 12:30, another snack at 3pm, dinner at 5:30pm and one final snack at 8pm to finish the day. Thats it for today, next post coming soon! And remember kids, stay in school!

So it begins

Hey guys! First day of my training and diet. Woke up at five prepared some oat meal in the microwave, sprinkle with some dried raisins and cinnamon to add some taste. But before enjoying my lovely breakfast I downed a pint of water.
I decided to kick off my exercise with the 10 min belly fat blasters workout found on the six pack shortcut YouTube channel. The work out consisted of:

10 rep of side burpees
10 rep of leg raisers
20 rep of 180 jumps
10 min of workout total

Pretty intense, had to stop a few times to catch my breath but I gave my best. Counting with warm up it took me 13:35 min.

Keep tuned guys cuz there's a lot more post coming soon!

Stay safe kids!

Before and after.

Hey guys! On day 2 of my journey. I am posting this pic of a "before and after" picture I've taken in 2005, first one in from February and the second taken in September. This is just for you to get an idea of the transformations I used to go through. After that year I moved to Portugal where I worked in a Italian restaurant for a whole year, which means I was fed pasta for 12 months, lunch and dinner. I was pretty out of shape when I returned to Brazil where I did all over again.

Later I am posting a picture of my lunch today! stay tune!

so it begins....

Hello everyone! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Rafael, I’m a 27 year old “boy” from Brazil. I have decided to create this blog so you guys can join me in what I like to call experiment and hopefully it will serve as inspiration to some, that if I succeed of course. None of the less I would like to document my journey, which could be useful as a “what to do” and/or” what not to do” to lose weight. I have never been a fat guy, far from it, but I also never been fully satisfied with my body. I’ve been through some radical transformations, actually every time I joined the gym I would shave off around 10kg in the first months. When I was 16 I weight 76kg (around 158 pounds) and probably 1.73m tall (5.7f) far from being in shape or skinny. I decided to join the gym and start a diet that I had seen in one of these women’s magazine. In less than 3 months I had lost 12kg, members of my family wouldn’t even recognize me. During that time I started studying how the human body works and how we metabolize food. I remember grabbing one of those old dusty encyclopaedia from my bookshelf and reading about calories, carbohydrate, fat and protein. I learned how to read the Nutritional facts on the packages, but never been too crazy about counting calories. Since then it has been a constant battle for me to keep up my shape. I have very bad eating habits, I’m a hardcore chocoholic and my eyes are definitely bigger than my stomach, I am the kind of guy that give a real meaning to the expression “all you can eat” in a restaurant. I eat when there is nothing better to do, I eat out of boredom, as a form of past time. In 2005 was working out 4 hours a day, 2 in the morning consisting of 30 min of jumping rope, 30 min on the treadmill, 30 min of the bike and the other 30 min for some crunches and stretching. In the afternoon I would dedicate my time to weight lifting. Yes, I working out a lot, but I was also sleeping 10 to 11 hour a day. All that while going to Uni and working (as a freelancer at home). In the end of this post you will see a before and after photo from February to September. Even though I trained as hard as I could it always seemed that I reached a plateau, and at that point I would have ran out of motivation or would move to another country. For the last 7 years I haven’t spent more than a year in one place, and the last year no more than 2 months in a single city (I am currently backpacking through Australia). Now after coming across a thousand times with the Six Pack Shortcut ads everywhere on the internet I decided to give it go and watch their videos. It showed me a lot that I didn’t know, and if everything they say is true we will see here in this blog. Everything they explain on their You Tube channel seems to make perfect sense. I will dedicate at least half an hour of my day for the exercises shown on their videos and control my diet rigorously. I will quit drink any alcohol whilst working on the program. My chocolate intake will be turned down to a minimum (maybe 1 kit kat a week haha). I will plan my meals in intervals of 2 or 3 hours depending on my work schedule. Unfortunately hundreds of chickens and tunas will have to sacrifice their life for this experiment. I will include as many types of vegetables possible in my diet and all the fruits that the Australian soil can supply. I will also post pictures of my meals on regular basis so you guys can follow what I am eating. A minimum of 6 hours of sleep I will be done every night. Since I am spending the next 8 months in a city in the middle of nowhere I will not be going out on weekends so my sleep patterns will remain consistent. I hope you all be with me throughout this journey. I know it is not going to be easy and if it was it wouldn’t be fun to have a six pack. No pain, no gain right?