I do not like sports.
Now, if someone asked me to play a game or two, I would, but reluctantly. I like all the things that not-sports-liking people usually enjoy. Comics, videogames, board games, Dungeons & Dragons. However, this year I have determined that I am going to get big ol' muscles. Not just a geek, but a beefy geek!
So, 4 days a week, skipping weekends and Wednesdays, I hit the community gym with its full weight room, and work out for an hour!
I can already see the results, and it's exciting, while also very strange! I usually look at the scale hoping to see the numbers go down down down, but here they are, going back up up up! But one look in the mirror, and I can see that it's muscle!
The workouts are fun! I keep track on my phone how I'm doing week-to-week, and I can see my progress!
What is much harder than I thought is the diet! My friends who have experience in putting on muscle said that I need 200 grams of protein EVERY DAY!!! That's 12 cans of tuna!!! (I tried eating three cans in one serving. It was not as fun as you'd think.)
I went to my doctor on a routine checkup, and, since I was healthy in every other way, she was happy to hear I wanted to put on some muscle! I told her about the 200 grams of protein advice, and she said, "Oh, you don't need that much. Start with 175 grams."
So, 11 cans of tuna.
I eat SO MUCH cottage cheese (I call it "cottaged cheese" for no reason other than it makes me laugh) and instead of trying to eat well under my average calorie burn, I have to make sure to eat more, or else my body will just burn the protein instead of turning it into muscle!
No lie, it has somewhat taken a lot of the fun out of eating! Which, considering how much I weighed only 5 years ago, maybe I needed.
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| Side-by-side comparison of passport photos! |
In any case, I am happy to be getting stronger. It's a dream of mine that someone will see how fit and muscular I am and ask, "Whoa, what sports do you play?"
And I'll say, "None. I got all of this from rolling twenty-sided dice!"
