Sunday, May 31, 2009

my last hooorah.

I'm at my favorite restaurant having a class american cheese burger with
a grilled portobello mushroom, smoked bacon, cheddar, boston bibb and
mini pomme frites. it's almost primal except for the bun!!

- Grok Star

gRok Star in the making

Every once in awhile the first day of the month happens to fall on a Monday. Usually whenever I am starting a goal or something, I always feel the most inspired to follow through with it if I start it on a Monday, or on the 1st of a month. Well it just so happens that June 1st, 2009 is also a Monday, so what better time to put my mind to doing something I really want to do.

Rewind.

I've been struggling for quite some time now with feeling incredibly bad about myself. I kind of did the opposite of what most people do upon graduating high school. I LOST weight as opposed to the famous... or infamous freshmen 15. In high school I got upwards to 250 lbs and I am right at 6 feet tall on a good day. I graduated in 2003 and began pursuing a career in performing music. I somehow managed to get myself down to 187 lbs by fall of 2005, mostly through lots of intravenous hard drug use and many late night whiskey benders (kidding!!). This wasn't any sort of lean mass though. I still was chubby, had low energy, man-boobs, and a nice set of love handles. I didn't understand it though because people I knew who weighed the same thing, and were the same height appeared to be more toned out.

Well after some local success, my band decided to take it to the big times and move to NYC. The city of dreams, Bob Dylan, The Yankee's and unfortunately, the city of bagels and pizza and other complex starches and carbohydrates. Well needless to say, three years and nearly 50 lbs later, I was back to my high school weight.

This has led me to horrible back pain, stress, no energy, no confidence, stress, none of my fun clothes fit anymore, I can't sleep, and more stress. I have become a recluse. I don't enjoy doing any activities, seeing friends, or much of anything. Some friendships have been shattered, some have been created, some are nowhere to be found...

Well now I am back in my hometown for who knows how long with nothing but myself, my guitar, and a drive to start taking care of myself. I am armed with the knowledge from http://www.marksdailyapple.com and http://www.sonofgrok.com

Grok is the name Mark has given to the idea of the Hunter/Gatherer type who ate only Meats/Veggies/Nuts/Roots/Fruits/Eggs/Greens and good fats. This would be near the cave man days, but humans haven't changed much physically and biologically since then. I recommend reading up on his site to get a better idea of what I am going to be doing. I think "Grok" has a nice little ring to it.

So back to the beginning, or present for that matter... Starting Monday, June 1st 2009 --- I will be going "Primal" as Mark calls it. It does have many similarities of the diet Dr. Atkins made famous in the past few years, but that limits your carbohydrate intake to only 20grams a day which is a damn near unhealthy amount. This is no diet though. This is a life style change. I will be consuming close to 100g of carbs a day. To put it in perspective, I believe a can of Mt. Dew has 46 grams of carbohydrates, and definitely not the good kind!! Mine will be coming from vegetables, nuts and fruits. I have joined the gym that is 0.8 miles from my house, so I will be biking there and I will also be going with some friends as well for an added support group.

Basically, if it is packaged, or comes from the middle aisles of the grocery store, I won't be eating it. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to notice that obesity is becoming a huge problem in America. And it doesn't take a genius rocket scientist to figure out where/when the problem started and what caused it. Just take a glance to see how long the drive-through line is at your neighborhood McDonalds. Americans are continuously relying more and more on pre-packaged and fast foods that are loaded with unhealthy amounts of high fructose corn syrup, empty carbohydrates and nothing nutritional at all, which have been introduced more-so in the past 50 years. Also introduced in the past 50 years are more cases of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and many more bad bad health problems. 2+2=4.

Now if you know me, you know I like* to cook, so with this blog, I will be sharing recipes and pictures of meals as well as progress photos, workout routines, and anything else I freakin' feel like sharing, It is my blog after all.

It is nearly 5:00 am on Sunday May 31st right now. I will probably sleep until noon and then I will be preparing myself for Monday the 1st (the big day)!! Did I mention how much I like when the 1st is also a Monday??

My overall goals are:

Lose weight
Get into shape
Get healthy
Rid myself of the stress
Say bye bye to the back pain
Stop taking Ambien/Nyquil/Trazodone/Benadryl to sleep
Become the person I used to be
Become the friend I used to be
Marry a supermodel
Stop sleeping until noon
Transform from a Grok Star to a Rock Star (ha ha I'm so clever).

I apologize for the very long first introduction, wish me luck!

- Grok Star

p.s. my real name is Chris

*absolutely freakin' love