DAY 52: The FINAL STRETCH

The 5 REST DAYS ARE FINALLY OVER! I trusted my reason and stopped training because of the muscle lesion I had in my left chest. I really feel better now. The pain is gone and I'm really excited to start off the final stretch: we have 11 days to go!

5 days of no training and I'm actually wondering what I did during all these extra hours that I got now that I wasn't blogging for around an hour and a half, training for another hour, walking in the morning for yet another one. Four free extra hours a day!! I drew. I caught up with work I was doing. But I also read a lot about training.
I started wondering what I was gonna do after this whole shebang was over.
I really feel like keeping the training going. I actually really feel like bodybuilding for a while. A friend of mine that's a crazy – yet very professional – muscle man Tariq Abou Nassar really put me in the mood of big time body sculpting. That doesn't mean I'm gonna train for the Olympia but I'd keep it going let's say 3 times a week which seems very moderate and fun. I would maintain where I got to without having all the extra pressure of getting at peak state.
I'm considering very heavy weight for mass without taking any weight gain supplements. Because I'm obviously not going to be at my best on Halloween, I decided to continue my diet and training till I'm fully satisfied with the fully sculpted 8 pack I've been trying to pull off for the Leonidas costume. The muscle mass would show completely with that drop in body fat percentage so I wouldn't really have to worry about making the rest of the physique look like Leonidas, if I have a striated 6-pack, it means that every single detail of the rest will show too, along with veins if I continue the weight training.
There's also the Beirut Marathon I'm thinking of checking out – the 10K fun run – but the thing is that I'm still going to be cutting and can't handle a 10K run with the diet's low caloric intake.

here's where I am so far not flexed

and flexed

This means I'm probably gonna go for another 2 to 3 weeks on the diet and training regimen but without stressing. I could update you if you still wanna follow up after Halloween, although the primary challenge would've been complete. I wanna keep on going till I get to 84 kgs and stabilize there. Last time I was at that weight I was 17. It felt great. I felt LIIIIGHT. Last time I was at Ricardo's I had dropped to 90. Apart from the Hardees 5 Star Burger and fries I pounded yesterday at 10:30PM, I've been keeping up bigtime and am hopefully expecting to have dropped 2kgs this week. I'm not ashamed of the burger by the way, I've cheated only 4 times during this whole 54 days; I even was put in situations where one would fold, but I didn't. This week end was my sis and Karly's bdays and I got faced with a lot of temptation with all the tasty cakes that everyone was inhaling. "Walaw 3id okhtak! Yalla kol gateau! Kirméla!", and I'm like "CHOU KERMELA!?! Happy Birthday! I'm here and struggling! What more do you want from me!?!".

Karly's chicken, turkey, tuna, egg, Picon and bone cake for his 1 year old bday

check out Chrine's cake on the left. Didn't Touch it! :)

In any case, let me let you in on an little secret: after a while you mind can't imagine the taste and texture of any given food you haven't had for a long time. So you can be even staring at a Chili's Old Timer with Chili all over the fries and AS LONG AS YOU DON'T SMELL THE FOOD, YOU WON'T CRAVE IT! It would feel as if you're staring at anything. At a couch or at a wall or a shoe. Im dead serious. That's why a lot of people say that as soon as you surpass the 21 day limit, new habits settle in and things become A LOT easier. Trust me, I'm living it day by day:
1. you use your enthusiasm at first
2.  you make a commitment to AS MANY PEOPLE AS YOU CAN, especially the ones that encourage you or the annoying ones that want to see you fail, just so they call you on it if you don't follow up.
3. Keep it going till it becomes a habit past 21 days. When I say 21 days I don't mean taking a break on week ends. That's very important. You shouldn't be reminded YET of what this kind of food tastes like because in your mind it SHOULDN'T BE A BREAK from the agony of dieting. You should never view dieting as a burden, but more as a conscious change in lifestyle. You should make it in a way so you get MORE PLEASURE OUT OF NOT EATING JUNK rather than feeling pain. You need to feel pleasure for consuming healthy foods. Afterall, YOU'RE CHANGING YOUR LIFE!! That's the exciting part. Not a stupid burger. It's JUST A BURGER. WHO'S STRONGER!? YOU OR A BURGER!?! (or a Krispy Kreme glazed Donut?!). After the 21 days, a burger might taste good, but it wouldn't be like "sweet mother of goood I'm free at last", but more of, "that was good". It will be JUST ANOTHER MEAL and that's what you want to get to. Junk food shouldn't be a prized treasure, but just a food like any other meal. By the way, although the burger was good, my body got so used to non-junk food that I kept burping onions till this morning!

Here's where I fall: MY SENSE OF SMELL BETRAYS ME! So I make it a point to steer clear from any place that does that to me. Roadsters included (Krispy Kreme, McDonalds or fast food places that use the fake french fried smell so that you just rush in, any patisserie that serves Knefeh... etc).

On a completely other note, I decided to keep growing my beard till way after halloween. I donno if this matters to you but I'm kinda getting used to the whole Captain Caveman - Cousin IT thing that's going on. It would keep me warm anyways for snowboarding season. Maybe I could bleach if for Christmas even and dress up as Santa! But no I'm serious, imagine where it would get to if I kept it till April!! BWAHAHAHAHA!

OK! No more blabbering. I'm visiting Ricardo in a half hour for my new diet and weight. I'll be posting my overall progress tomorrow with different angles and poses so you could asses where I am, and it will be cutting and muscle building and dieting – and costume making ;) – all the way till the 30th! Halloween!

By the way, I haven't decided where I want to party, so please let me know on your suggestions. Maybe we could even meet up in one place and party like there's no tomorrow! That'd be really fun and I could finally see who's been following. That'd be really awesome! AND I COULD FINALLY HAVE MY MEXICAN BEERS AND DOO DOO SHOTS!!! :D:D:D (only for that night and then we tone it down again)


HAOUUUU!!!