Hello from Afghanistan

dixon5000

Well I am still in Afghanistan and plan on being back to Illinois sometime in September. Last time I was on here was Christmas. Its crazy over here to say the least. The positive side is this place really allowes me to reflect on alot of things. Things such as family, friends, life in general. Of course when I am not on a mission I can reflect on personal stuff.
Anyway, I dropped nearly 40 pounds while here and my current weight is 203. Nice isn't it. What I needed most was to stay away from junk food, beer, etc like every other person. I am located with the Spanish Army and all they eat is fish or pork. Every freakin day I eat fish lol. My current diet consists of protein bars, fish, some beef and salad. I eat a lot of tuna in a can also. They rarely serve soda so I only drink water. The Spanish here have a gym which gives me the basics to work out with. So I try and go at least once a day every day. I will give my body a break when it needs it. Whats nice, is I have become mentally strong to the ability to resist junk food now. I get junk food all the time in the mail and hand it out to my friends. I feel now I have finally changed my ways of eating and plan on bringing this back home.
My focus for food when I return will be a lot of fish, vegetables and fruits. As far as working out, I plan to get to 190 pounds or so and stay. I really do not have a lot of fat on me now as I new I wasn't going to get the calories I needed from food, so I upped my protein to around 200 grams per day. This helped me burn fat in the gym but maintain muscle. I do 40 minutes of moderate cardio a day. This will continue when I get back. It took me coming here to develop and plan and execute it. I am very happy and ready to come home. I posted a recent picture of my buddy and I trying to look cool lol. Chat later.

Wishful

Hi! Congratulations on reaching the weight you want to maintain. It's nice that you ended up in a unit that has access to a gym.

Stay healthy and safe over there!

arewethereyet

Dude, it is good to see you!! Only a few more months and you will be back here with your family.

I am so proud of you for making those great changes. I bet the lady in your life going to be :noway:

God Bless and Keep You!!

:flowerforyou: Jeannie

Marla64

Who says there are no heroes to look up to anymore--

God bless you, Dixon-- prayers for a safe return-- thank you so much for serving our country--

So good to read that you're now in a groove-- that it's now who you are to eat right and exercise-- that feels good, doesn't it?

You and your buddy are definitely looking cool-- :laugh:

Hang in over there, sir!

dixon5000

I am blessed to have a gym here, its not much trust me, but you learn to make due with what you have. I also obtained some good exercises from P90X....

arewethereyet

Ok I just checked out the profile pix

weeet wiiiir! ok that is the best wolf whistle I can do........sorry so lame:laugh:

:flowerforyou:

Wishful

By the way, what is that on top of your head in your main pic? It looks like a pineapple juice can!:laugh:

dixon5000

Thank you arewethereyet !!!!!

My little girls birthday hat.

Tamishumate

you look great! that is awesome that you can stay focused over there, good for you! I bet you cant wait to get home and show off your new bod! :drinker:

tedhogan

Hey Bro.,

I lost 40lbs when I was in Iraq 06-07.

I ate at American chow halls, but staid away from the bad stuff, hit the gym most days, logged what I ate, and the weight just came off.

I gained 20 back within two months of returning due to bad diet and excessive partying.

For the past few months I've been tracking what I eat and exercising regularly. The biggest impact has come from logging my food again. Exercise will not burn it off. You need to log that food intake because that's what kills you. I also try to eat 6 meals a day and pre-cook my meals. I've lost 12 of those 20 I gained back and I feel great. I've even done this while still drinking.

Don't plan on being perfect when you get back, you probably won't. Plane on keeping up the discipline to exercise at least three times a week (really should be 5 or more) and log your meals. I think that alone will keep you on track.

I think what always messed me up before was worrying too much about the details. If I went out drinking, I'd just blow off my meal plan figuring that I screwed up anyway. Well, it doesn't work like that at all. Messing up in one thing will not cause everything to fall apart. The important thing is to try and do most things right most of the time unless you want to end up living like some kind of fitness zombie who constantly looks over your shoulder afraid that a beer is going to cut your nuts off. I know guys like that and that's no way to live either.

Good luck!

Stay safe and make it back the way you went!

mommared53

Congratulations! You're doing a great job. Thank you and God bless you for serving our country. :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: