Intro

So this is my first ever blog post! I guess I’ll start by introducing myself. My name is Jo Lapointe, and I am a Naval Officer in the Royal Canadian Navy. I’ve been serving my country for almost 12 years and am currently employed as an instructor for Basic Training. Instructing boot camp has certainly taught me how to whip people into shape, but it hasn’t necessarily allowed me to focus on myself, as it’s a pretty busy job.

My job definitely has its perks though, one of them being that I have been on parental leave for the last 4 months and will remain on leave for the next 4. The first few months with an infant can be a little rocky and demanded a lot of my attention. Being a first time dad is also terrifying and my focus has been put on preventing my infant from inadvertently hurting himself. So far so good.

Now that I’ve gotten a handle (sort of) on parenting, I have a bit more free time on my hands, and I plan on using the next 4 months to get myself in the best shape I possibly can. I will be documenting my progress via this blog, which will hopefully inspire others to get going on their own fitness journey. I will be posting regularly, mainly covering the topics of nutrition, exercise and parenting.

I am sure that lots of people can relate to me, as I’m a pretty average guy. I was never a star athlete, but played sports in high school. I’ve been lifting weights on and off for the entirety of my adult life, but never achieved a very impressive physique. I’ve had minor injuries to my back, knees and shoulders, which have slowed my progress on occasion, but never required surgery. Lots of you are probably in a similar situation, so I’m here to help!

So here’s how this is gonna work. Every Sunday I will weigh myself using my handy Renpho smart scale, which will provide me with measurements and allow me to track my progress. Now I know that body fat percentage numbers from these types of scales are iffy at best, but what’s important really isn’t the accuracy of the number, but the way it is trending. As an example, here are the numbers I got after I spent the holidays in Nova Scotia, visiting the in-laws:

At the top, you can see the difference between those numbers and the previous time I weighed myself, which was pre-holidays. As you can see, my mother-in-law’s delicious dinner rolls have done some pretty serious damage. To be fair, the rest of my diet consisted mostly of Doritos and Sour Patch Kids, so I brought this on myself. In order to rectify the situation, I will make some major changes to my nutrition and fitness habits.

There are multiple ways to lose body fat, and every method has its pros and cons, but I’ve had some success in the past using the keto diet, so I’ll be going that route. Don’t fix it if it ain’t broken. I know from prior testing that I can remain in ketosis while eating up to 50g of carbs per day. I will set my target at 40g, leaving a bit of a fudge factor in case I can’t do math on a particular day. At some point during this journey I may also do a bit of intermittent fasting, as I’ve had good results with it in the past.

As I’ve mentioned above, I have been lifting weights for a long time, but never truly dedicated myself. What I did learn over the years, is that the best workout routine is the one that you will stick to. I know that I have a hard time sticking to a routine for more than 6 weeks, so I will be dividing the next 18 weeks into 3 6-week phases. Phase 1 will be full body workouts, 6 times per week. Phase 2 will be my take on Dr. Layne Norton’s Power Hypertrpohy Adaptive Training (PHAT), 4 times per week. Phase 3 will be my own Push Pull Legs (PPL) routine, 6 times per week. I have always preferred strength training over endurance, so I will keep my reps fairly low. My programming won’t be perfect, but I have to include my favorite exercises or else I will struggle to show up at the gym every day. Gotta do some of that Flat Bench…

As far as cardio goes, I haven’t done too much of it in the last few years, mostly because I hate it. I will bite the bullet though and tack on a 20 minute High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) session at the end of every other workout and a 30 minute low intensity session on the other days. I will be tracking all of my workouts using the JEFIT app, and sharing the summaries here. This is what they look like:

I am starting this blog mostly for increasing my accountability and as a way to track my progress. It’s also a pretty good way to get the creative juices flowing and to spend all that extra time I have on my hands, with the whole “not going to work” thing. Hopefully I can also inspire a few people along the way! It is Sunday, so here are my measurements as of today as well as what will hopefully one day be an inspiring “before” picture. Cheers!