So last week wasn’t easy. I’m a stress eater and have been my whole life … and to say I was stressed last week is an understatement. Having to deal with the death of my Gran was harder on me than I realized it would be so my week was spent thinking about sodas and cookies and not sleeping well and not working out hardly at all. I got a couple of runs in and hit up Winter Weightlifting … and ate a lot of pizza and an enormous fried fish sandwich (in honor of my sweet Gran) … a

Well … I wrote this and saved it as a draft but never published. Pobody’s nerfect, I suppose! Done. Concluded. Executed. Fulfilled. In the past. All over but the shouting. Talking about Mount Crushmore, of course! After 12 weeks of scheduled workouts and detailed meal plans, the program (as designed) is over. Now, while I’m going to start talking about what I’ve learned and goals for the future, we’ll start with what everyone came here for — the numbers. Weekly Weigh-In: 224.

It’s the penultimate week of the program so I’m buckled in to shoot for a big finish! With that said, the measurements included this week and next will be the bare minimum so I can make one last post after the program’s completion that will hopefully shed some light on how good the program actually was (with final numbers). Speaking of bare minimum — let’s do it. Weekly Weigh-in: 221.1 (0.8 Pounds Lost) I’ll be completely honest — I’m surprised by this. Over the weekend I wen

We’re in the double digits, little freaks, which means there will only be two more weeks after this! If you’ve been following along, hang tight for some meaty content over the next couple of weeks. And by meaty I mean we’re going to be talking about food. Like, a lot. Food and supplements. Because while the workout plan for Mount Crushmore has been a killer, the nutrition has been the key that has unlocked all the gains! Weekly Weigh-In: 223.6 (1.7 Pounds Gained) Down from th

As the fifth week of JTF’s Mount Crushmore begins, so does a new meal plan. I want to start it by referencing a topic one of my favorite online trainers James Smith said in an email this week. After a brief tour in the States, the Australian-native trainer discussed how much he’s looking forward to getting back to his usual routine at home. I think we can all identify with that. But one thing we can’t all identify with is his excitement about the 10-ish pounds of fat he’s gai

I knew I’d have to make a post like this sooner or later. Didn’t realize the Easter holiday was so fast approaching when I started Mount Crushmore so it’s as good a time as any to talk about something that’s going to happen in your weight-loss / fitness journey: You’re going to have some weeks where the number on the scale just doesn’t change. Hell, you’re probably also going to have some weeks where the number does the opposite of what you want it to do! And big family holid

Three. Three, y’all. In the last week and a half, I’ve spoken with three people about their nutrition because they were having some issues with their weight loss goals and/or body composition. And in each of those cases the verdict was the same — people not eating enough. I know it sounds counterintuitive — I mean, aren’t we supposed to be eating less in order to lose weight? Yes. But there’s more to think about than just eating fewer calories. More often than not, the averag

This has been the first week in over a month that I’ve felt amazing (physically, at least) every day. I’ve gotten lots of sleep, put in a lot of work at the gym and have eaten well every day with no exception. It’s so freaky how the holidays have a tendency to throw us off as bad as they do. Even we, the dedicated ones. So I’m looking forward to my weekend workouts and even have some extra Clean Eatz meals in the fridge to prevent me from doing anything stupid over the weeken

I mentioned in my last post that it’s way important to not be a glass jaw when it comes to stepping up your game after falling off the wagon for the holidays. Did any of you fall off of said wagon? I’ll be the first to tell you that not only did I fall but I fell hard – like extra hard. After spending more than a week with my parents for Thanksgiving, mom and I were at a grocery store when we passed their bakery. Mom: Ooh, let me show you their cheesecakes! Me: Okay. Mom take

Thanksgiving is basically here, man. A week from this very moment, most of y’all will have already hit the Turkey Day leftovers several times and maybe gotten into a fist fight over a new TV at Best Buy. I hope to do at least some of that if not all of it and if you’re lucky enough to have done both, then I admire your spirit! In the past, it was the Halloween season that really threw me off of my fitness and nutrition game — having less to do with candy and more to do with t

It’s been more than a month since my last Fitness Finds post and it’s been a weird as hell month to say the least. I realize after finding the link to the last one that I started the post celebrating the arrival of fall with our first cool morning… And that was the last cool morning we’ve had since. No shit, the twerp on the news in the morning said just last week the heat index would be around 90 degrees for the day. Someone needs to tell Mother Nature that mid-October is fa