Ben is white washed.

The amazing photo mode in Gran Turismo 5 is amazing.  The player is given an almost too realistic photographic interface (you can control the exposure compensation!) and the amount of detail the developers put in the game is insane (check the BBS centercaps and rivets on those LM-Rs)


Check out my white "premium car" collection.

Ben is wearing them: 3/26/11

Zoom Kobe VI
Volt/Black-Green Apple-Crimson
Grinch/Christmas Day 2010


These shoes are crazy.

Ben is working on an Integra.

This past weekend I decided to perform some maintenance on Grace's 1999 Acura Integra LS sedan.

The car is nearing 110K miles so it needed some work,  the gas mileage was very poor (~22MPG) and not typical of a 1.8L 4cyl.

Some of the problems that needed to be fixed:
   -Car never got to the normal operating temperature.  The thermostat was probably stuck open.
   -Automatic transmission shifted very violently when cold, and didnt really improve as it got warmer.
   -Brake pads needed replacement (looked like it looking from afar).

So I went to the local parts store and sourced the following:
   -4 x NGK Iridium spark plugs
   -1 x Thermostat (OEM)
   -3 x Honda Genuine ATF fluid (1 quart container)
   -1 x Prestone 50/50 coolant
   -1 x Front Brake Pad set (ceramic)
   -1 x Rear Brake Pad set (ceramic)

The spark plug change was elementary of course so no need to elaborate on that.  The old plugs had evidence of lean combustion, hopefully the Iridium plugs aren't too hot and they improve efficiency.

The thermostat change was challenging due to the location of the thermostat housing, there is no easy way to get that 10mm bolt out that is nearest to the engine block.  Expect lots of bloody knuckles to get this off.  The car now gets to normal operating temperature, hopefully this increases the efficiency of the car.
 
I decided to drain and refill the transmission, I had done this a couple months ago, but the fluid was dirty and milky when I removed it.  After the drain and refill the car shifted much better, but not perfect.  Perhaps one more try at the drain/refill will get the shifts smooth again, will check in a couple hundred miles.

The brakes on the car ended up being OK, so I just returned those pads.

Lessons learned:
-Tighten the brake caliper bracket bolt (ALL BOLTS) to proper specs,  I didn't and one of the bolts backed out which caused a lot of  noise and headache to reattach.
-Make sure you have the radio code before you disconnect the battery. I didn't and had to remove radio to give S/N to dealer to get code.
-The internet knows everything, use Google to your advantage.

What's next?:
-Monitor fuel consumption.  If it remains poor, replace fuel filter and primary O2 sensor.
-Monitor transmission performance.  If it remains poor, or reverts.  Drain and refill again.

Ben is 29.

Damn, 12 months until I am thirty.

(This post is three days late)

Ben is driving.

Thanks to Grace I am now rollin' in style!

For my birthday gift, she bought me a Logitech Driving Force GT for PS3 so I can be like the cool guys (Neil and Chris) and have a wheel for Gran Turismo 5.

Neil and Chris also put me on a TV dinner table to mount the thing on, it works pretty well I must say.

Check out how it turned out:

Ben is not missing carbs.

Just wanted to show an example of what we eat for dinner while avoiding carbohydrates.

USDA Prime Bone-in Rib Eye beef steaks (grilled, pad of butter added after cooking)
Spinach and Roma Tomato salad with Balsamic and Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette (w/EVOO)
Diet Coke

Maybe 10 carbs in all (from the salad, of course)

Total preparation time: 25 minutes
Total cost: ~$15

You can eat this frequently and be down 30lbs after two months?  Yup.

Ben is at Fashion

Went to Fashion yesterday was surprised to see an Entourage there...

Not bad Lebron...


 

Ben is working it out.

I have been on this low-carb/primal thing for about 60 days now.  All in all it has been a resounding success.  I have averaged a pound lost every other day, with a net loss of 30 lbs.  Though this sounds like a big number let me put this into perspective.  Before this recent change in lifestyle I had not consistently worked out for more than a year and a half.  My muscles had atrophied, leaving behind large masses of fat to hang off my body.  As part of the lifestyle change I have hit the gym, though not as crazy as you would think.  In doing so I have greatly increased my strength and changed my body composition.  Slowly but surely my body is changing from big-tittied having, pear looking motherfucker with flabby arms to actually seeing definition in my chest and arms.  I would say I gained a good 10-15lbs of muscle, so the net loss includes this gain of muscle, loss of fat tissue and change in body composition.

In my experience, if you do anything too extreme you will probably not be able to maintain it.  This is true of most behavior changes as the human brain and body is probably resistant to going 100 percent all of the time.  The beauty of the nutrition plan of Primal/LC is that it allows you to eat good tasting, satisfying food.  Calorie counting leaves you on an island when you realize that the high-in protein and delicious steak is about 1/2 of your daily intake in calories.  This poses a big problem for people to stay committed to a nutrition plan/lifestyle change, as it is very natural to crave things that are satisfying.

Back to the workout talk...  I have made it a custom to make it into the weightroom at least twice a week (Monday thru Sunday is a week to me, I either go Monday and Wednesday or Tuesday and Thursday) and to do simple body weight exercises at home.  I also try to do cardio two to three times a week, and by cardio I don't mean chronic cardio like high-effort running or high-speed elliptical use, I mean just walks or hikes.  I usually walk with Grace for about 30-45 minutes, and sometimes I add sprinting when I feel like I have the energy to do so.  This has been very successful for me, and I am seeing rewards when I try on clothes or just look in the mirror.  Why did I torture myself with hour long runs on the treadmill?  That did nothing but create an environment for my body to (literally) eat itself and reduce my muscle mass.  It is a fact that the human body will burn protein (in the form of muscle) before it burns the fat it has stored away.  This is the point of getting your body into relying on fat as it's main source of energy, and the point of reducing carbohydrates in your diet.  You burn fat, and you get skinnier.  Isn't that the point?


I was always misguided when it came to working out in the weightroom.  I would seperate my workouts into days that focused on small muscle groups in my body.  I would have an arm and back day, and a chest and shoulders say.  This would be fine for someone who already had the body they wanted and just wanted to fine-tune their physiques.  For the obese and out of shape, this plainly doesn't work.

I am focusing on working the body as a whole, and increasing the strength of my core.  I am leaving behind the days where I spent an hour curling, or 30 minutes doing tricep dips.  Instead of the pointless bicep workout, I now do three sets of heavily-weighted squats with all my power in a very short amount of time.  The calories used and the strength gained from the squats is so much more important than the nothing I gained from 5 or 6 sets of bicep exercises.  My main goals are a) use as many calories as possible (lose weight!) and b) gain muscle (look better and be stronger.) I try to keep the weights as heavy as I can do, but I will sacrifice weight for form and the reps.  For example, yesterday for the Dumbbell Press I am did a set each of 65lb, 75lb, 85lb.

So in the 45 minutes to an hour that I am at the gym I do something like this:

3 x 8 reps Dumbbell Press (Arms, Chest)
3 x 8 reps Dumbbell Rows (Back, Arms Shoulders)
3 x 8 reps Bench Press (Arms, Chest)
3 x 10 reps Pistol Squats, unweighted (Legs, Lower Back, Glutes)
3 x 8 reps Military Press (Shoulders, Arms)
3 x 8 reps Barbell Curl (Arms, Back)
3 x 8 reps Sled/ Weighted Squat (Legs, Glutes, Back)

On my off days at home I do body-weight exercises:

3 x 10 reps Pushups
3 x 10 reps Pistol Squats

It's been a month now of being pretty consistent and I am seeing huge changes in my strength and the way I look in the mirror.  I am not forcing myself into the gym, and that is why I find myself wanting to be there.

Ben is done wearing them.

So there it went, February 2011.  That month went by fast!

I hope the few viewers of this blog enjoyed the updates, I enjoyed actually wearing some of those rarer shoes.

I plan to keep diversifying my wear, and put the rubber to the road.  Updates will still be made, but not daily.