the contemporary shopping lifestyle

As athletic individuals, there is one word that strikes fear into all of us…The Rut!!! Even writing it makes me shiver. We’ve all been there and if I’m truthful with myself, I’d admit that I’m in a bit of one now. Let’s me start by telling you how I ended up in mine.

Rewind a few months ago. I was gaining weight and was much heavier than I am used to being. I was very inconsistent with the gym and just not motivated. It was when I was shopping for new a new suit and I was going to need a pants size that was bigger than I ever needed before that did it to me. Tipping in at 218 (18lbs heavier than I’m used to) I was ready for a change.

First thing I worked on was the diet. No more fast food Dunkin Doughnut or McDonalds breakfast. Instead I was eating fruit and had an All the Whey protein shake. Second, I cut my lunch from 2 slices of pizza to one on most days (I know pizza isn’t the best thing for me, but I love it and am not ready to give it up!) Lastly, dinner went from eating out on most days to another All The Whey shake and something sensible.

The second thing I changed was my routine at the gym. I had been getting to the gym twice a week, this changed to four to five times per week by doing one simple thing; packing a gym bag before heading off to work in the morning. It’s amazing what a difference it makes when you force yourself to go right to the gym, versus catching the end of PTI while getting ready to head to the gym. I jumped my cardio from 15 to 20 minutes to 30 to 40 minutes and then followed the cardio with 30-45 minutes of free weights. I usually would work on 2 muscle groups per day.

Before long, I was seeing some great results. In two months I was back down to 200lbs. Everything was fitting me again and I was feeling great. I was feeling really confident, felt like I was in great shape, and best of all, I met an amazing girl along the way. To sum it up, I met the goals I set for myself. Excellent!!! Now what?

Indeed, now what? What do you do once you’ve accomplished what you set out to achieve? At first, if you’re me, you try to maintain. Keep the routine in tact and just keep going like I was when I started. However I’ve noticed my motivation level decline a bit and I’m noticing that I’m doing some things that I was avoiding before (The egg and cheese sandwich from Dunkin was definitely not worth it).

Before I travel too far down the road and end up in the center of Rutville, I’m going to make some changes to my current program, routine and diet. I will also be setting some new goals because striving towards something is the key to staying motivated. I will be making and implementing these changes over the next couple weeks and I will let you all know how it goes.

About the Author

Gary Weinlein is the Director of Development at the Hall Agency of Northwestern Mutual Financial Network. He has worked around investments and financial services since graduating from RPI in 2003. Some of his hobbies include weight training, running, cross training, tennis, and racquetball, as well as watching the Mets and Redskins and spending too much time and money at Starbucks. View Gary’s posts

I’d like to begin my initial post by introducing myself. My name is Gary and I have known and been friends with the guys from TD for years. When this opportunity came along to write a blog on their site I was more than happy to do it. A little background on me, I’m from the Albany area. I attended college at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (and still paying for it), majored in finance and now work in the financial service industry. I’ve always been interested in sports. I’ve played everything from racquetball to football, to track and field. I’ve tried just about everything. For some reason, it was the preparation that I really fell in love with. There’s something to be said about being at your peak, no matter what you’re training for. That’s why I think I love working out as much as I do. It’s the feeling that you get from being in great shape that’s addicting and makes you willing to give up precious free time in order to progress towards or maintain that feeling, even if you’re not involved in any organized sports or activities.

That’s what really draws me into a site like TD. To me, I feel it’s a site all about being striving to be your best. I’m going to be setting some goals over then next few weeks at a personal level, a professional level and at a fitness level. I’ve read you’re ten times more likely to accomplish your goals if you tell someone else what they are. That’s exactly what I plan to do here. There’s probably of hundreds, if not thousands of interactions that take place throughout the day that we can learn from. I think this will be a great forum for me to give a little more thought to those interactions and really get something out of them. If you get anything out of these learned lessons, or if I can help anyone else along the way, all the better! I’m looking at this blog as an opportunity for me to grow as a writer, a professional, and a fitness advocate and let you into the mind of an over analytical, over caffeinated finance and gym geek. I look forward to sharing my stories and hearing yours as well. Thank you

Gary