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YEAR 3: THE IRONWILL PROJECT: MONEY, MUSCLES, MINDSET - FROM NOTHING TO SOMETHING, MY RELENTLESS JOURNEY

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Morning weight: 242.2

Yesterday was so intense workwise, barely bad a second to think, so much on. Finished at 530 and then immediately went for a 60 min run and did 30mins in the infrared sauna and then a 10 min cold bath. it was almost 8 when I was done and I had to get my meals in, had to get 3 meals in to get to 1800kcal! And then went to bed at 10, but with a large meal, intense exercise and possible dehydration, and a generally stressful day, sleep didn't come. Think I got some very shallow sleep for perhaps 2-3 hours. Shit one.

Today I will be better, more composed, and also, will relax. I will not train today like i was planning and I will try to get to bed extra early.

Best wishes,
MAC
 
Morning Weight: 241.0lbs

Almost below 240...almost....

Yesterday was difficult as I was so sleep deprived and had cognitively demanding tasks at work, lol. Got it done, barely. Sun was out which was great. Sleep has been a chronic problem for me so yesterday night was crap, woke up 3 times, and rose at 6 still feeling a bit shit. This is from the sleepless night from Saturday's events. I have learned how to work with this and will get back into the pattern I was in. Last night was progress.

Going for a nice hour and a half walk before work this morning, weather is OK this week so might aswell enjoy it. I'm going to get a 60 minute run in also.

Diet has all been superb. Weight creeping down.

Thanks,
MAC
 
Day was good. Really was tired from my bollocks sleep lately but I soldiered through. Got to my 60 minute run, was fucking bone tired but with grit and determination I still ran for 31 minutes before my legs just...stopped....I was PISSED at myself. Came home, did 30 mins in the infrared sauna and then 25 mins cold bath.

I thought to myself, wtf? Whats up with my performance here? I noted that it was the hottest day of the year so far, so that probably made things tougher (I run outside) and sleep has been shitty. I have trained seriously before and I know there are some days where it's just not there.

No worries.

I was pretty angry nonetheless and will be 100% honest, I had 2 bites of chocolate (very small piece) and also ate a handful of crisps. This has added probably 100-200kcals to my day, so was absolutely, absolutely so stupid.

We function poorly when fundamentals like sleep take a hit. I will just dust off tomorrow and be better.

Otherwise, the day was good.

MAC
 
MakingAComeback said:
I was pretty angry nonetheless and will be 100% honest, I had 2 bites of chocolate (very small piece) and also ate a handful of crisps. This has added probably 100-200kcals to my day, so was absolutely, absolutely so stupid.

This makes me laugh bro. I used to run so much. I would run 10 miles and ate a fuck ton of easy carbs. I ran a 50 miler (10hrs straight) one time and ate 2 fucking large pizzas in 1 hour.

If you don't enjoy running, I highly recommend getting a weighted vest that goes up to 60 pounds and walk 3 miles or more. Even better, hiking. I burned the same amount of calories and felt stronger. Helps with joint pain. Youre legs and ass will grow too. I do hikes 3x a week with 60 pounds and powerlift 6x a week.

Do cardio that is somewhat enjoyable. Keep grinding brotha.
 
tdoggw said:
MakingAComeback said:
I was pretty angry nonetheless and will be 100% honest, I had 2 bites of chocolate (very small piece) and also ate a handful of crisps. This has added probably 100-200kcals to my day, so was absolutely, absolutely so stupid.

This makes me laugh bro. I used to run so much. I would run 10 miles and ate a fuck ton of easy carbs. I ran a 50 miler (10hrs straight) one time and ate 2 fucking large pizzas in 1 hour.

If you don't enjoy running, I highly recommend getting a weighted vest that goes up to 60 pounds and walk 3 miles or more. Even better, hiking. I burned the same amount of calories and felt stronger. Helps with joint pain. Youre legs and ass will grow too. I do hikes 3x a week with 60 pounds and powerlift 6x a week.

Do cardio that is somewhat enjoyable. Keep grinding brotha.

Thank you big man! Fuck, it can be super enjoyable right. Lol @ a 50 miler, that is absolutely insane, I think I would be on deaths door hallucinating and shit. Clearly you have a very high level past in endurance and fitness. Props to you.

For sure man, I think moving into the future once I've got to my goal weight and got my overall fitness up, I definitely would like to move towards something else that will keep my cardiovascular system strong but allow me to move my emphasis more towards lifting.

Thanks bro I will keep hitting it.

MAC
 
Morning Weight: 240.2lbs

Still dropped weight. That's good.

Almost below 240lbs man. SO fucking close haha. 40.2lbs to go for me to get as my man Chris Jones on YouTube says, hoe ready!!!

My perspective is changing a bit more. I am starting to entertain the slight possibility that I may actually succeed. It's still a minuscule germ of a thought, more or less at the atomic level, but it is one I will nurture. Weight loss is helping me feel like I am transforming. It's good.

MAC
 
MORNING WEIGHT: 240.4

Diet was perfect yesterday. Also, had a fucking sick workout. My resistance training is done at home at the mo, but it's quality training and really will help me get to my goals. What I'm doing is the following:

M / W / F
• CORE
• 60 MIN CARDIO W/ BUTEYKO BELT & BREATH HOLDS
• STRETCH

TUE / THR / SAT
• Crawling / OS Resets / Founder (~15 Warmup)
• Boxing: 3 x 2min rounds
A1) Squats: 4 x X
A2) Pushups: 4 x X
B1) BB Upright Rows 5 x 20
B2) DB Rows 5 x 15
C1) DB Hammer Curls 3 x 20
C2) One Arm DB Tri Ext 3 x 8

I also do my best to get in a session of deep recovery work a few times per week, 30 mins in the infrared sauna and a 25 minute cold bath.

Work was great, got a lot done, and my CEO had a meeting with me and gave me feedback. It was the highlight of my career so far. She said that I have been completely irreplaceable, that I have given her an incredible level of support, and she said that she couldn't have done what we've done so far without me - emphasising twice that she really means this and it comes from the bottom of her heart. It was heartfelt praise from a very experienced woman who has been in Senior Leadership for over 30 years, has been awarded highest honours by the Queen, and is truly an inspirational woman with a story that could fill five books. I let it sink in for about 30 seconds and then got back to work. I am a bad perfectionist and nothing is never good enough for me, I remember when my high school exams came back and on one of my papers I actually scored maximum possible marks and just shrugged and went upstairs. I am at least happier now then I was then! Shit ain't life a journey.

Best wishes,
MAC
 
Decent day overall, productive, got shit done, then helped my bro record some videos for his Insta. Also me and my buddy make reaction videos for YouTube and I finished editing one and got it uploaded today. Otherwise, think my vocals are improving also, noticed when playing guitar, I felt like I am getting better at singing.

Like i said done a lot of work on breathing, core function, and posture/alignment.

Day is winding down now. Was fucking tired man the workout yesterday has me sore, but I am doing my best out here.

Had to miss my run that I had planned for today. Again, listened to my body - I felt battered today and am firing at all cylinders with very sub-par sleep at the moment (I am working with my body to optimise this after the recent disruption).

Things will come together, I feel like this has been a good working week.

Now just going to do some calligraphy, play guitar, read basic Spanish children's books, and finish off with some breathwork.

This weekend will be good. Saturday will be productive and it's my fortnightly MasterMind with an advanced breathwork group I participate in. Sunday I am going to hang out with my friend, go for a scenic walk down the canal, and maybe go for some food (mindful that I am dieting).

Gotta keep on keeping on. The thought of losing 40lbs is really motivating me.

Best wishes,
MAC
 
Day was great. Group was lovely, 3 hours with amazing people talking about personal growth. Enjoyed it and feeling good right now.

Otherwise, smashed a great workout.

Hanging with my friend tomorrow kicking back and enjoying my recently initiated Sunday's off.
 
MattsCrib said:
Take pictures dude :D I'd love to see what you look like - there are things that you can do WHILE losing weight about your appearance.

Hey man. Thanks for your post and offering help.

I can take pictures when I get my weight to 215lbs. This is the best I can do bro.

I look fucking terrible, like a god damn monster. I prefer not to think about it!

Appreciate the support though. Hope you are well.

MAC
 
MattsCrib said:
MakingAComeback said:
Hey man. Thanks for your post and offering help.

I can take pictures when I get my weight to 215lbs. This is the best I can do bro.

I look fucking terrible, like a god damn monster. I prefer not to think about it!

Appreciate the support though. Hope you are well.

MAC

Oh come on man! There's a high chance that
1) Yes, you do not look as good as you would want to look like
2) A lot of it is mental and you don't look as bad as you think you look like.

Why not take pics now? Then we can at least see you improve to 200lbs. I mean it seriously. Hell, I'm skinny as fuck! I took pics, I don't have a great body, I want to record my progress, maybe get some help with it etc.

You honestly seem like a very tough guy :D You keep going at it and I'd love to see your physical changes too (and your current "bad" state)

Of course, if you truly don't want to, it's completely your right.

Appreciate the encouragement man, thank you. No need to take pics right now as I am 40lbs overweight and whilst some of it is mental there's definitely some legit truth in it, in the past women have had no issues telling me to my face that I am ugly as fuck. :) They can say what they want, I'll be here fighting to my last drop of blood.

Good points around documenting the journey. I see what you mean. So I can find pics from my Insta that my boy took of me when we go for our hikes etc, I try to avoid pictures but sometimes he just does it anyway. As such, I'll be able to show the changes, so that won't be a problem.
 
Good day overall, went for a 60-minute run, hit the infrared sauna for 30 mins, studied Spanish, did some core work, and calmed me down a bit.

____

Yesterday was a bit challenging to be honest. I hung out with my buddy and enjoyed it, but when I came home, I kind of just lay down and crashed for a while.

I had a lot of time to myself and to think, something I don't normally do. Like I said, taking days off is new for me, and not something I have ever really done. I am still working out how to go about it, but yesterday was NOT the right way.

As I lounged around and 'vegged out' so to speak, I was wrapped up in my thoughts, which were really so painful and so sad. I am 29 now and turn 30 in a few months and it really hurt me to think that I may never be able to start a family and have children. My idea of success was always making good money, having a stimulating and enriching life, and having a good, honest, loyal woman and a few children. I feel like a fucking failure sometimes even though I work my ass off and yesterday it got to me.

This was unusual for me and sufficiently disturbing that I want to sort this out.

I spent a few hours dealing with some pretty intense anger. I blamed myself, which is fine because it is my damn fault, but rather disgustingly, I did spend some time brooding on feelings of being looked over by women and passed over - it isn't necessarily uncommon for deeply rejected men like myself to carry resentment and anger, but I seldom actually experience this as I am a busy guy and am distracted. Why couldn't just one girl have texted me back, why couldn't just ONE have responded to the well-thought-out messages I sent on dating sites for almost 2 years - I could have at least had some hope then.

In an attempt to find some distraction, I did break my NoFap streak (which was almost 20 days) and beat it off, only once, and not using porn (I find porn gross). It made me feel MUCH better and I calmed down a lot. I got back on the No PMO wagon this morning and now am on Day 1.

I got up this morning, early as always, and went for a walk to cool down. I listened to a man I admire greatly, Dr Jordan Peterson, I listened to 12 Rules for Life and to his story about his friend, Chris, a man who like me had no success with women but was intelligent, had some competence, but developed pathologically negative beliefs about people, humanity, and the world. His life descended into murderous, soul-rending embitterment and isolation, and he was found dead at the age of 35 in his car, poisoning himself on exhaust fumes. He was survived by his parents, and Jordan shed a tear as he read the passage.

I was damn near in agony listening to this.

The world is a tough place, living is hard, life in and of itself is a burden we must strive to life, but it is possible to do so gracefully, with meaning, purpose, and integrity.

The pain of rejection is something that is with me, I acknowledge this, but I will not put any more pain into the world. I will bear this and walk with the cross upon me, and I will not let a single soul feel the pain others have put onto me. This cycle will end with me.

I am too stubborn to quit and too hard-headed to ever give up, I am fucking stupid like that, I simply am too much of a stubborn bastard to stop doing things. I will not allow this to burrow into me like a parasite and turn me negative.

Before I found this site, I was NOT thinking about these things, I gave up on women completely and hadn't thought about them for YEARS. Being on here has opened up an old wound and I can now see that I do have some pain in me I wasn't even aware of.

But I can now do something about it.

I am at the beginning of my transformation, though it has been a 10-year journey. Over this period of time, I have definitely made progress, but there is a long, ugly, tormenting road ahead, and all I can do is walk it one step at a time. There are thousands of more rejections to come, perhaps more brutal than I have ever known before, but I will walk through the fire and see what is on the other side.

Realistically I am not sure whether a wife and children will be possible now, I have sort of lost my innocence when it comes to women and not sure I want to marry one now. It hurts but it's better to face the truth and not live in a delusional fantasy. They don't want to give me the light of day let alone marry my delusional ass anyway. I have to accept that truth.

For now, one step at a time:

1) Lose weight
2) Get to 215lbs, start online dating
3) Lose virginity

Done. That is all that matters now. The rest will come together provided the work, effort and consistency is there.

Thanks all,
MAC
 
MakingAComeback said:
I am too stubborn to quit and too hard-headed to ever give up, I am fucking stupid like that, I simply am too much of a stubborn bastard to stop doing things. I will not allow this to burrow into me like a parasite and turn me negative.
Keep this mentality man. This out of everything is super important. I really believe in the power of a strong mindset over almost anything. In tough times this rock solid mentality will bring you back from the depths. Its so easy to get sucked into depression and self hate. Nobody else will be able to make the changes you want in your life but you. There may be very supportive people with you, but at the end of the day YOU are the one out there exposing yourself and coming out better.

I honestly think that you will smash your goals quicker then you think. Keep at it my man!
 
Toast said:
MakingAComeback said:
I am too stubborn to quit and too hard-headed to ever give up, I am fucking stupid like that, I simply am too much of a stubborn bastard to stop doing things. I will not allow this to burrow into me like a parasite and turn me negative.
Keep this mentality man. This out of everything is super important. I really believe in the power of a strong mindset over almost anything. In tough times this rock solid mentality will bring you back from the depths. Its so easy to get sucked into depression and self hate. Nobody else will be able to make the changes you want in your life but you. There may be very supportive people with you, but at the end of the day YOU are the one out there exposing yourself and coming out better.

I honestly think that you will smash your goals quicker then you think. Keep at it my man!

Thanks Toast! It will come together in the end. I'll keep on hammering with all I've got.
 
Morning Weight: 240.4

Slight fluctuation, obviously that's OK - after a long-ish run and then an intense sauna session after, my body lost a lot of water and probably has retained some. That's cool.

Work today, and also, getting a resistance training session in, working on Spanish, and then an hour and a half of work on a management certification. Have 30 mins to play guitar also.

Another day another brick in the wall towards my goals.

MAC
 
Morning Weight: 241.4

Not pretty numbers, but just part of the process, they will come back down.

Work + studying management cert, playing guitar, and working out today.

Also going to begin experimenting with meditation. I will do around 2 hours today, and monitor how it feels, and then incorporate it for a few weeks in perhaps 3 x 30m sessions a day.

MAC
 
Realistically I am not sure whether a wife and children will be possible now, I have sort of lost my innocence when it comes to women and not sure I want to marry one now. It hurts but it's better to face the truth and not live in a delusional fantasy. They don't want to give me the light of day let alone marry my delusional ass anyway. I have to accept that truth.

For now, one step at a time:

1) Lose weight
2) Get to 215lbs, start online dating
3) Lose virginity

Done. That is all that matters now. The rest will come together provided the work, effort and consistency is there.


You said it way better than I ever could have.

Don't aim too far in the future. As Good looking loser says, 'baby steps.' Every step of the way. Your perspective will evolve with your progress.

Your process is well thought out and rational. It would be an errand of fools to tango with online dating in 2021 when your appearance isn't optimised or close to it. May as well enjoy your final days of 'NOT' online dating and use the time fruitfully to sculpt your body and set the foundations for success. Avoid porn as much as you can and keep your mind well occupied throughout the day.

Once you are online dating, be prepared for the challenge and never give up - be fucking consistent. It will be only a matter of time before you lose your virginity.

Then your perspective on everything will change. I look forward to reading about it when that day comes.
 
Thebastard said:
Realistically I am not sure whether a wife and children will be possible now, I have sort of lost my innocence when it comes to women and not sure I want to marry one now. It hurts but it's better to face the truth and not live in a delusional fantasy. They don't want to give me the light of day let alone marry my delusional ass anyway. I have to accept that truth.

For now, one step at a time:

1) Lose weight
2) Get to 215lbs, start online dating
3) Lose virginity

Done. That is all that matters now. The rest will come together provided the work, effort and consistency is there.


You said it way better than I ever could have.

Don't aim too far in the future. As Good looking loser says, 'baby steps.' Every step of the way. Your perspective will evolve with your progress.

Your process is well thought out and rational. It would be an errand of fools to tango with online dating in 2021 when your appearance isn't optimised or close to it. May as well enjoy your final days of 'NOT' online dating and use the time fruitfully to sculpt your body and set the foundations for success. Avoid porn as much as you can and keep your mind well occupied throughout the day.

Once you are online dating, be prepared for the challenge and never give up - be fucking consistent. It will be only a matter of time before you lose your virginity.

Then your perspective on everything will change. I look forward to reading about it when that day comes.

Thanks for the perspective man. Yeah, tell me about it, talk about trying to play on hard mode lol. I'll keep hammering!!

I am sure it will, it has got to, success can't elude a motivated man for too long!!!

MAC
 
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