Winding Down...

Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I posted here. (Yes, I know I'm always saying that. I suck!) I also can't believe how quickly it's all gone. Seven months ago on January 22, I started this whole thing as a project for Frontiers magazine, and it's become something else entirely. (I kinda always knew it would, though.) It's become a project in personal reaffirmation and in facing my fears and becoming the man I always knew I could be. And I'm almost there.

In terms of what's been going on in the gym, it's been a little intense lately. Ronn began packing on the weight more and more, challenging me to step up to the plate and put my newly developed muscles to the test. Lots of bench presses, shoulder flies, bicep curls, tricep pulldowns and leg presses. Anything and everything. There's even been some boxing! Some of it has been excruciating! (Have you ever heard a grown man whimper? It's NOT pretty!) But when I leave the gym at night all sweaty (I love being sweaty after a hot workout!) and am driving home, I feel elated and pumped.

I can't believe the changes I've been seeing in my body. They were subtle at first, but lately, things have been "falling into place" in a more noticeable way. The muscles in my shouders, biceps and chest are more pronounced, more developed, and my upper legs and butt? Well, let's just say that sometimes when I try on sexy underwear and look at myself in the mirror, I can't help but want to jump the bones of the man looking back at me. Haha. (I've been working on a story about underwear for Unzipped magazine, so I've been getting tons of free samples in the mail from folks like Ginch Gonch, Aussie Bum and Andrew Christian. All this hot stuff that I always wanted to wear, but never thought I could pull off--until now! Woof!)

I'm still sticking to my diet as well. And it's no longer anything I even think about. It's just become part of my life now, eating this way. In fact, I've actually come to really like the food I'm eating, to the point where I find myself craving it all the time. Oatmeal for breakfast, a chicken breast salad with apples, raisins, onions and walnuts for lunch, and chicken breast and/or tofu and brown rice for dinner. I never get tired of it. I have certain little cheats. Like, after every workout, I drive straight to this awesome frozen yogurt place called Yogotango and I have a small plain yogurt with bananas, strawberries and granola. But I read that if you spike your insulin directly following a workout, you can actually increase your metabolism, which leads to quicker weight loss. Funnily enough, I've noticed a more dramatic loss in my tummy since I started eating the yogurt regularly. So it's a cheat I feel good about. (Besides, it's only 130 calories per serving, and it's low in fat.) And I did break down and have a few of the new Chipotle BBQ Snack Wraps from McDonald's, but only on my cheat day. But I'm still losing weight, so I'm not sweating it.

As my body changes more and more and I start to feel FAN-FRICKING-TASTIC about myself, I realize what an amazing thing I've done for myself. I don't know that I've necessarily reached the goal I wanted to (I want to get a little bit bigger in my upper body before I go and do this thing totally on my own, so I'm looking into options in order to keep training with Ronn at least three nights a week), but I did reach at least one goal: I conquered my fear of the gym, and now feel as if I fully belong there. I'm not quite an athlete, but I am legitimately athletic, and that's something I'd always wanted to be. Perhaps I'll go and joing the gay rugby team in L.A. now! (The boys are HOT!)

Anyway, even though my official after pics aren't being taken until somewhere around Aug. 28, I did take a few advance shots this past weekend on my newly made-over patio (yet another phase of my own personal "Extreme Makeover" session), and I thought I would post a couple of them here so you could have a "sneak peek" at "the new Ken."

I'll keep you updated this week.

XOXO,
Ken