Day 76: Week 11 Weigh-in

Well, I think this is the first since I’ve started Body For Life that I’ve been mad at my weigh-in. I’ve worked really hard the last week and still lost 2 pounds!

Needless to say, my wife had no sympathy when I complained about losing 2 pounds in a week (sorry Allison!). I’m really trying hard to gain weight now (muscle weight). I’m definitely looking better in my pictures and have been still increasing my weights at the gym (I did 12 reps of 250 pounds on the leg press for the first time this week). I really want to put on more muscle weight, though.

For the first 6 weeks or so I was pretty good at tracking my calories. Then I got used to eating the Body For Life style and became pretty good at it. I stopped my calorie tracking and just ensured I still at 6 meals. I didn’t feel the need to continue to track my calories. Around week 8 I started increasing the amount I ate at each meal in an effort to gain muscle weight. I gained 3 pounds of the next few weeks, but this last week dropped 2 more down. I think I’m going to start tracking my calories again so I can ensure that I’m eating enough. I’ve heard how body builders have to eat a lot, but man. I feel like I’m already eating a lot with 6 meals a day! I guess I’m not eating enough at each meal. Some websites say you need to eat 3000 calories a day to bulk up. I’m not sure what my magic number is, but I know it’s more than what I’m eating now. Body For Life doesn’t set a number or tell you how much you should eat. Perusing through the Body For Life stories on their website, you’ll notice the stories are sorted by different categories. Some do it to lose weight, some to tone muscle, and some to gain muscle. I really don’t have much fat left on my body, and I really would like to gain muscle now. Now, for this week’s pictures:


I’ll leave you with a sneak preview of some hot pictures of me that will be on my wife’s blog, House of Hepworths tomorrow.

DAY 69: Week 10 Weigh-in

Alright folks, I’m through 69 days now on Body For Life and still going strong. This is my week 10 weigh-in. As I mentioned last week, I’m trying to gain muscle weight now since I’ve burned most of the fat off already. This week I gained 1 pound and am back up to 160 now.

Just in the last two weeks since I started eating more I feel like I’ve really noticed a bigger difference. Ok, for the pics now.

So today is my day off…sort of. I’m being a little flexible this week. Yesterday morning I flew back from my business trip, got home mid-day, and worked some in the afternoon. Then we went to Jumpstreet (more about that later). Afterwards, Allison’s family wanted to go out to dinner. I really needed to go to the gym, though, and do upper body. If we went to dinner, the gym would be closed by the time I went home. I decided to do a little switch-a-roo on my workout/day off schedule. I went ahead and went to dinner with her family and had dinner like my day off. Then, I got up this morning, had a Body For Life breakfast, and hit the gym for an intense upper body workout. I had a protein bar following the working, then a Body For Life lunch later on. Then, for the rest of my day off I will take the evening tonight off. Sometimes you have to be flexible.

Earlier this week I packed some fruit with me when I went on my business trip. Word to the wise – don’t pack pears. It was a good idea, but even inside of a tupperware bin the pears rubbed against each other. By the time I got to DC, they really didn’t look very appetizing:

The apples worked out great, though. But, the breakfast at the hotel had apples there that I could have grabbed each morning. I was worried about getting there and not having any healthy food or way to get healthy food, which is why I packed them along. I even saw some fruit stands at the airports that I could have grabbed fruit at without having to pack it. Oh well, I tried and learned that it is easier to not pack fruit. The rest of the stuff came in real handy, though (the protein bars, canned tuna/chicken, almonds, etc.) Next time I’ll just pack the dry stuff.

So, we went to Jumpstreet yesterday before going out to dinner with Allison’s family. Jumpstreet is an indoor trampoline park that is awesome. It is for kids and adults too, but most of the people jumping were kids. I jumped with my kids because…well, I really like jumping on trampolines. Plus, Kinsey is 7 and isn’t supposed to go into the big jump area without an adult. They had a mechanical bull there as well, which was pretty entertaining. Here is a video I put together of me doing some flips along with my son and my sister-in-law.

Day 62: Week 9 Weigh-in

I’m really excited for this week’s pictures. Before we get to that, though, I gained a pound this week – woohoo!

I gained a pound – woohoo? Yeah, that’s right – I’m excited. I’m actually trying to gain weight now. I really don’t need to lose any more weight. I started at 170, lost down to 157, then over the last 2 weeks have gained 2 pounds. Overall I’ve probably burned off 15 pounds of fat and am replacing it with muscle. The last two weeks I still followed the Body For Life meal plan, but I ate slightly larger portions at each meal. Now that I’ve trimmed most of the fat off, I want to start gaining weight now — but have it be muscle weight. Check out this guy’s before and after pictures from Body For Life:



He went from 165 to 200 pounds and gained 35 pounds of muscle. Good thing he shaved that beard off too…heh heh. He seriously looks like a different person. You can read his story here if you want to.

Crazy, huh? My guess is that was over more than just the initial 90 days. The Body For Life challenge says in “as little as 90 days”. Still, though, to gain 35 pounds and go from that to that? Motivating, right?

For my pictures this week, I went outside to get some better lighting. You can really see the definition in my muscles in the better light. Seeing the pictures this week really helped me feel like all of my hard work is paying off. I didn’t get a good one from the back, so you just get one from the front this week.

On Week 3 I posted a flex picture:

starting to see definition

Check out the difference now just 6 weeks later:

And my day off wouldn’t be complete without enjoying something….like a brisket that my dad made in his smoker….mmmmmmmm.

Day 55: Week 8 Weigh-in

Well, I’m around 60% done with the 90 day Body For Life Challenge. I’m feeling great so far and feel better physically than I have in a long time. Now, for the weekly weigh-in. I gained 1 pound this week.

Hopefully it’s muscle gain – that would be great. It’s got to be…I’m eating so healthy and going to the gym 6 times a week. I’ve been pushing myself harder at the gym lately as well.



BOOM! Yes, I’ve been playing Skylanders with my son (in case any of you didn’t get the reference).

Now, for the weekly pics – from the front:

And, the back:

If you look closely on the pictures from the front, you can see two creases in my chest. Those are from sitting down for over an hour and a half giving my dog a haircut. Yes, I have to cut my dog’s hair. Pretty ridiculous, huh? Allison can’t handle a dog that sheds, so she bought a Yorkie. They never shed, which is great for allergies, but the downside is that their hair never stops growing. It needs to be cut once every month or two and is usually about a 2 hour ordeal…ugh. I’m not sure who hates it more, Chase (our dog), or me. I do like it when it’s all done, though, as does Chase. He gets more of his spunk back and seems to have more energy with short hair than when it is long and weighing his 6.5 pound body down. Isn’t he cute?

Day 48: Week 7 Weigh-in

Week 7 is here, and another weigh-in showed 2 more pounds off of the scale. I’m down to 157 now – that’s a total of 13 pounds in 7 weeks; just under 2 pounds per week. Healthy, maintainable weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week.


I know I’m continuing to burn fat and not muscle because I am able to increase the weights at the gym. My awesome wife Allison, who usually takes my pictures, was out of town this weekend at a blogging conference in Tennessee with our camera. I had my 7 year old daughter take my pictures from my iPhone, so sorry if they’re a little, er, not quite up to par. From the front…



Now, from the back…



This morning was the first soccer game for my son’s team. It was in the 40s when we left the house at 7:15 AM to make it to his 8:00 game. I wore a fitted undershirt beneath my regular shirt to help deal with the chilly morning. When I put it on, could actually start to see the definition of my pectoral muscles.



Please excuse the Zhu Zhu Pets stuff in the background. One of the quickest instant successes and fade into nothingness from our kid’s round of toys. Seriously, don’t waste your money on them. Instead, buy GeoTrax. Our kids have played with GeoTrax for over 7 years now and still play with them today. They are ridiculously sturdy. Sometimes I wonder who has more fun building the complex train tracks – me or the kids. Here’s an example of one that I built with Travis years ago:



GeoTrax are seriously the best investment we ever made in children’s toys. It gets them away from the TV, forces them to use their brain, allows them to use be creative. In addition, they are extremely durable and well made. I guess I ended on a tangent this time. Signing out…