Barnes @ Work! (April Update)

On my fourth month of working out and here's the progress for you.

Current Weight: 187-188 lbs.
Weight Lost Since Jan 3: 23-24 lbs.

What I learned in March is that as much as I'm working out, I had to change up my diet a bit. I had been going cold turkey on sweets, carbs and anything that was going to add to be unhealthy. But since I've been working out more and running more, I realized that I had to eat more so while my diet is still pretty consistent - no eating past 8-9 p.m. if possible, save sweets for the weekend and salads/water with most meals - I've had to eat more since I'm burning more.

March saw me cross the 4-mile barrier and now I'm consistently running 4 miles two to three times a week. The next goal was 5 miles. Monday, I ran 4.96 miles nonstop. Today, I ran 5.05 miles. Cross another one off!

Part 1 of my current playlist. "Overkill" has been one of the best songs for me to run hard to. I've also had Slayer "Angel of Death", Gang Starr "Discipline" and "Gotta Get Over" and Arcade Fire "Ready to Start" on here.

The biggest change now is that people are noticing the weight loss even more. I had gotten some compliments in February but in March, I had people tell me often they noticed the loss. I kept looking at my videos that I was making and I noticed my face was getting smaller. I started wearing old shirts that were large and they fit more snug without bulging. I'm talking stuff that barely fit me 10 years ago even.

I think the Easter pic I took probably showed a world of difference. Compare it to how I looked last year, there's a big difference. Some of you might have also noticed my new Google pic on this site. I kept the old one up for motivation so that I can see what I looked like. Now it resembles me a lot more.

Easter Sunday 2012

Easter Sunday 2013

In addition to running and my evening workouts, I started doing some Crossfit thanks to my girlfriend's future brother in law. He showed me how to do pushups differently in addition to squats and burpees - as well as a short 20-min workout I could do on my rest days to recover. I admitted that I hated doing the squats and burpees but now I love them. It works out more of my body so that my arms and cardio aren't enough.

The kicker was last Friday when I did an evening 5K run at the beach after work. I ran halfway, stopped and did the mini workout (pushups/situps/squats) before running the 2nd half back. And it was fun!!

I'm also encouraged to see folks who've lost weight too. My buddy Jacob wants to challenge me to see who can drop the most weight by this summer. The girlfriend's slimming down as well too. Perhaps a bigger inspiration has been my longtime Twitter friend Tyler Conium, who's started doing Diamond Dallas Page's Yoga program the same time I started running. He's lost 30 lbs and his "own-it" attitude is encouraging me.

Part 2 of my current playlist. Missing from here - Passion Pit "Little Secrets, Stardust "Music Sounds Better With You" and Nightcrawlers "Push The Feeling On"

Basically it continues to be a challenge for me that I look forward to. If I could be dedicated to running that I ran Monday with a hoodie over my jacket because it was extremely windy, then I know I can do it until I reach my goals. I'm now shooting for about 175-180 lbs by the summer and as for running? Just see how far I can go and perhaps apply for a 5K run this summer.

Til then, stay tuned cause I'm excited to share next month how far I'm at!!