A "Hurricane" Of emotions. ---*!* Progress Update*!*--- Pictures and Measurements.

    Sorry it's been so long since my last post. I was intending on making a post a week ago, but due to recent circumstances i was unable to do this. Lets rewind to unpack the last couple weeks.

    Shortly after posting my last update, I was left with a very unhappy wife. She was upset I was taking every evening after work to go to the gym and getting home at 8:30pm every night. The kids were going to bed at 8pm,  so I was missing crucial time spent with them, and she was ready for bed the minute I walked in. My schedule was really taxing my at home relationships... I had to change something but I wasn't sure what to do. My only other option to make sure I could get some quality time at the gym was to wake up at 5am, get a workout in, then return home to help with kid drop off. I then started thinking about how hard it would be to wake up at 5am, after streaming until midnight the night before. Furthermore, With the accident I had earlier in the month I was left without a second vehicle to help with kid drop off. Luckily we had made a couple test runs, and with a little bit of stress, and dealing with traffic; we were able to get all the kids to school with one vehicle. So the compromise was doable. I could wake up at 5am, go to the gym, and get home to get cleaned up before i had to leave for work around 8:45am.

    The stress of my schedule and working 6 days a week has been chipping away at my wife's sanity for a while. When I added the gym to the schedule, it pushed her slightly over the edge. She is a stay at home mom that is taking care of our 5 children; making sure to get all of them to school and back home each day. She takes care of making sure they have their homework done, makes sure the house is clean, and makes sure that I have supper ready when I get home. I felt horrible about leaving her to do everything but I was also on fire with the progress I have made to become healthy. It has probably taxed my mental health as much as hers trying to be involved with very little time. I took this as a cue to get an appointment with a therapist. I tend to hide my emotion and often times it reached a critical limit, but I hide from the public the emotions I feel. Among other things, I took this as an indicator to get something done. Keep reading to find out how that meeting went.

    So were at a point where I was trying to get material together for a Blog update, then we get informed the wonderful TROPICAL STORM IAN. I was working extra hard to make sure the items we had in the pawn shop, (Generators and Chain Saws,)  were available for the public to purchase. I had taken time away from streaming on twitch to give some time to my wife and children. I didn't post much in our discord about this, but i disappeared for a couple days. As part of my disconnect, I didn't sit to post a blog update. I took off a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. By Monday I was craving a little bit of gaming so I chose to play games rather than update this blog. Tuesday I did the typical procrastination and chose not to post.
    
    All along I was still absolutely dedicated to going to the gym. I was going 5 days a week. Monday is ALWAYS Leg day. We utilize muscle confusion and don't work the same muscle group on the same day each week. Were working Leg, Shoulder, Chest, Back, and Arms. As I said before... Legs is always Monday to start the week. I read in a book this was the best muscle group to start with because it caused your body to produce the most testosterone for the rest of the muscles through out the week. Some of my biggest flexes this month have been:

• I was able to hit 185lb on the bench
• I was able to Squat 135lb for 3 full sets
• I was able to Clean and Jerk 60lb Dumbbells
• I have lost a solid 15lbs since the beginning of my journey.

    There will be photos below as well as an update to my measurements.

 

    Now, Returning to the delay in my posts. On Wednesday, Sept 28th, Hurricane Ian decided to make landfall just 30 miles northwest of my location. If you watched the news, you will see just how devastating Hurricane Ian was to our community. I was fortunate to be in an area where all we seen was some mediocre winds from the storm as it passed. We were on high alert because we had never experienced a hurricane. Come to find out we survived the most powerful hurricane that has ever hit Florida. We never completely lost power (Had a couple flickers) but we did lose internet. Our TV relies on internet to work. Our live television is through Hulu. We were left blind and deaf to the situation at hand. We had no idea when the storm had moved on. I convinced my wife to just go to bed around 8pm Wednesday night so we could, hopefully, wake up the next morning to a storm passed.

    Fort Myers Beach, DESTROYED. Sanibel Island, Devastated. Fort Myers, Wrecked from the Swells. There were literally boats in peoples yards, Down city streets, and next to houses that were a hundred feet or more from the shore. The storm was supposed to make landfall 150 miles north of our location but made a last minute shift and made landfall much faster than intended. Our community is shook and many people have to rebuild. I have heard stories on the radio about people trying to hold their homes down only to watch them crumble into the ocean. There is no bridge to connect our city to the beaches on Sanibel Island. Almost all of the stores on Fort Myers Beach are destroyed or just gone. The Pier on the beach is in shambles. There is so much destruction left in the wake of Hurricane Ian.
    
    Not to belittle all of these atrocities, but the gym is also closed. I have been so conditioned to go to the gym each day, I feel like I'm doing myself a disservice for not going. I try to do things around my house to engage my muscles to I don't lose the fire to continue this journey. I'm grateful that we were left with minimal damage and we were safe throughout this entire situation.

Now for the embarrassing part. This has taken a lot of courage to post, but there is progress and im excited to share. This is 1 month. I weighed in this morning at 298lb.

 

Measurements
                            Sept. 6th                          Oct 3rd
Chest:                     52"                                     51"          
Waist:                     51"                                     49"
Hip:                        49"                                     47"
Arm:               R:16.5" L:16.75"                 R:17"  L:17"
Thigh:               R:25"  L:25"                    R:27.5"  L:27"
Calf:                  R:18"  L:18                     R: 18.5" L:18.5"

                                                             

                                                              

                                                         

                                                

                                             

Thank you for taking the time to read through this Blog. I hope the content will inspire and motivate you to start a journey of your own.
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