The Results are In!! - Day 97 (Graduation Day)

Here we go...."Sophomore Year" is done!  Monday starts my junior year.  Saturday and Sunday is my summer vacation!  I'm gonna have a ton of stuff in this post...tests and measurements before and after as well as pictures and a video.  Enjoy!  My wife sees a big difference, I don't see it nearly as much...not until I look at my belt holes.  I went in 5 belt holes...when I move it out to the 2nd hole and see the space between it and my waist, I see a significant change then!  I feel a lot better too!

Here are the "Day 97 Pix"

Here's a video of each pose for Day -1, 30, 60, 97.

Ok...enough of the multimedia presentations.  Here are some before and after statistics:

Before and After Body Measurements:

Resting Heart Rate: from 92 to 76
Weight: from 293 to 258
Chest: from 51.5" to 47"
Waist: from 54" to 47.5"
Hips: from 48" to 44.5"
Right Thigh: from 25.5" to 24.5"
Left Thigh: from 27" to 26"
Right Arm: from 17" to 15.5"
Left Arm:  from 16.5" to 16"

 The Fit Test was done the day before I started P90X.  There are 2 numbers for each activity.  The first is the Pre-test.  The 2nd is the Post-test.

1. Pull-Ups:  0, 0 (but I can at least lift myself a bit and I can do a bunch with the aid of a chair)
     (Pretty straight forward here...)
2. Vertical Leap: 10.5", 19"
     (Standing position, bend knees and leap straight up in the air)
3. Push-Ups: 20, 30
     (Do as many standard push-ups until you fail)
4. Toe Touch: 2.25" beyond toes, 5" beyond toes
     (Seated with legs straight and together, reach as far past toes as possible)
5. Wall Squat:  1:15, 2:01
     (Bend knees to simulate sitting in a chair, knees at 90 degrees and hold as long as possible)
6. Bicep Curls (30 pounds per arm): 20, 32
     (Pretty straight forward here also...)
7. In & Outs: 30, 41
     (Lying on your back, feet about 6" above ground, move legs in and out without touching the floor)
8. Heart Rate Maximizer:
     (2 minutes of jumping jacks with last 30 seconds as fast as possible first, then take heart rate 5 times)
    Immediately after jumping jacks: 162, 146
      1 minute after stopping: 134, 114
      2 minutes after stopping: 118, 110
      3 minutes after stopping: 116, 108
      4 minutes after stopping: 112, 104

Hopefully this was all clear...I know it's a lot of info, but I wanted you to have a pretty complete picture.  I'm looking forward to the progress I make between now and day 187.  Have a great day!!  Thanks for reading...another exciting 3 months ahead!!

Pizza, Pastry, and Pie: Poison?!?

Throughout the workouts, Tony does his best to be motivational and while he's doing that, he makes the comment about certain foods being poison.  Donuts, pastry, etc. are on the "poison list".  These foods are NOT P90X friendly and because of that, Tony says...NO GO!  He, frequently, talks about soups on his cool down sessions by doing "pot stirrers".  When his "workout buddies" mention a soup that could be dairy based or not whole wheat noodles, he quickly replies with comments like "with whole wheat noodles, right" or "I hope it's non-dairy".  While I really enjoy the workouts and Tony does really help a lot...what kind of world are we living in when we can't enjoy some of the simple, unhealthy, flavors of life?  If, to be ripped, I can never eat a piece of pizza, pie, or cake, I don't want to be ripped!  It's just that simple!  Now...my approach towards those foods has changed significantly in the last 90+ days.  I am totally cool with eating 1 or 2 pieces of pizza with a large salad for dinner.  Before, I'd eat 6-8 pieces of pizza and be too full for salad.  This has been a good shift.  Also, I will not deny myself a piece of birthday cake at a celebration.  Again...differently than before...a small or medium sized piece with a tiny bit of ice cream does the trick for me.  Before...big piece, 2 scoops of ice cream....then seconds the same way.  I haven't skipped out of eating these foods, I just limit the quantity.  The cool thing for me is that I don't consciously decide to eat less, I just don't really want any more that what I eat.  2 pieces of pizza is really enough.  I don't feel like I'm depriving myself.  Before, if I ate 2 pieces of pizza for dinner, I'd be looking, longingly, at the pizza all night long.  Now, I don't really give it much thought.  I made a dessert for my wife and her friend yesterday.  When it was baked, I tasted a small square of it.  Before, I'd have eaten about 4 of those squares and then eat what they didn't when their evening was all over. 

Are you sensing a pattern here?  I do my best to stick with the P90X diet on a daily basis, but on a special occasion, I will break free from it a bit.  I also try to compensate for it in my daily allotment of food...for example:  I usually count 1 piece of pizza as a carbohydrate, dairy, fat and condiment.  That is only a guess, but I figure it keeps me thinking along the P90X diet plan.  Now...I must mention that I don't eat those things daily...they are done sparingly...not regularly.

The other thing that I noticed is that on days when I eat the non-P90X foods, I don't see any trend in weight gain.  Since I exercise and eat about 7 times a day, it seems like the metabolism is working pretty hard.  That's my guess anyway...

Well...that's my thoughts for tonight...the next post will be my results for the 1st round of P90X.  I'm pretty excited for the fit test.  I want to see how I've changed!  Anyway....g'night!

The Results Are In!! - Day 91

Here we go...another "bench mark" on the road to weight loss!!  Soon, I'll be graduating my sophomore year and ready to move to my junior year of P90X!

July 14th - 293 (Pre-P90X)
July 26th - 290.6 (Day 1 of P90X)
August 4th - 285 (Day 10 of P90X)
August 14th - 281.8 (Day 20 of P90X)
August 24th - 275.8 (Day 30 of P90X)
September 3rd - 274.4 (Day 40 of P90X)
September 13th - 270.2 (Day 50 of P90X)
September 22nd - 268.6 (Day 59 of P90X)
October 3rd - 265.4 (Day 70 of P90X)
October 13th - 263.4 (Day 80 of P90X)
October 24th - 257.6 (Day 91 of P90X)

Total loss to date: 35.4 pounds since July 14th.

This should be the end of my first round of P90X.  I extended it by one week when I had a pretty bad week at one point in the program.  So...I am beginning my recovery week now.  On either Saturday or Sunday, I'll take all the measurements, pictures, and do the fit test again to measure my progress.  That will be a fun post for me!!

Weight Loss...The Great Rollercoaster Ride!

People ask me on a regular basis how much weight I've lost.  Truthfully...that's a tough question to ask.  Through this workout program, I've stepped on the scale every day.  I learned, early on, that the number on the scale is very temporary and will fluctuate greatly in a day or two...hence the title of this post.  Many times throughout my life when I've endeavored to lose a bit of weight, the rule of thumb was to step on the scale weekly, not daily.  I understand this completely because we, of the "biggins" variety, tend to need to see positive change.  It is better to step on the scale weekly than to do it daily and risk seeing a gain.  In fact, when I did the Weight Watchers thing, we were encouraged NOT to exercise until we lost some weight first...I think once we got to the 10% of your body weight goal, we could add in exercise.  This was a while ago and I don't think Weight Watchers takes that position now...but back then, it was weird to be told NOT to exercise.  I've always understood the concept that muscle mass weighs more than fat.  You could lose fat, gain muscle, and register a gain on the scale while, in all reality, getting more fit.  This could certainly be disconcerting for the person that really needs to start seeing some changes.  The scale is the easiest way to do that early on. 

What I'm most concerned with is the pattern of lower numbers vs. higher numbers on the scale.  I'm going to start an experiment where I log how the weight registers daily and compare that to the workout the day before.  If I were to come up with a hypothesis, I'd guess that the day or two after a strength training workout, I'll see a gain.  The day after a "rest" day, will register as a loss on the scale.  I don't know how long it takes for the body to rebuild, but this seems logical to me.  Also, I'm going to consider the size of the muscles in each muscle group being worked.  For example...if I destroy my legs in the "Legs and Back" workout, I suspect there will be more weight gained than when I'm working the "Chest and Back".  Not sure how this will end up, but it seems like fun to me.

Ultimately...the "10 day" numbers seem to register a loss fairly consistently so that's a good thing.  Comparing body shape....8 years ago, before my wedding day, I weighed in at 239.  I still have the same belt I used during that weight loss session which was the Atkins diet with no exercise.  I now weigh in at 260.8 and am only 1 belt loop away from when I weighted 239.  That has to be the result of muscle mass development. 

OK....well, enough for tonight...I'll be back on soon...hang in there!  Keep reading!

The Results are In!! - Day 80

Short post tonight...I just got home from a band function and wanted to make sure to get the stats up....

Drum roll please.......

July 14th - 293 (Pre-P90X)
July 26th - 290.6 (Day 1 of P90X)
August 4th - 285 (Day 10 of P90X)
August 14th - 281.8 (Day 20 of P90X)
August 24th - 275.8 (Day 30 of P90X)
September 3rd -  274.4 (Day 40 of P90X)
September 13th - 270.2 (Day 50 of P90X)
September 22nd - 268.6 (Day 59 of P90X)
October 3rd - 265.4 (Day 70 of P90X)
October 13th - 263.4 (Day 80 of P90X)

Total loss to date:  29.6 pounds since July 14th.

Interestingly enough, weight loss is a big roller coaster for me.  I lose several pounds, gain a bit back, lose a bit more, etc.  I was over 31 pounds weight loss 5 days ago....it must be the whole muscle development thing...I have a lot more to say on the topic, but will save that for another post.  Time to "hit the sack"!

Night, Night!!

Tools of the Trade

It has taken me a long time to get into any type of routine for preparing my meals for the next day.  One of the things I'm pretty proud of myself for is the dedication to the dietary side of the program.  P90X is very specific in terms of amount of servings for each food group.  Then, within the food group, there are specific foods that are and are not allowed.  Weighing and measuring is the only way to guarantee that you are eating the right proportions.  There's a book that helps you determine the portion sizes based on everyday products.  A 3 oz. serving of protein is roughly the size of a deck of cards.  A serving of vegetables should be roughly the size of a DVD case, etc.  For some, I guess that works, but for me...I need something more tangible.  When I was a member of weight watchers years ago, they drove into your head the notion of weight and measurement.  It used to drive me nuts because the scale at my parents house was small and you had to zero it with a little knob on the back.  When I didn't live with my parents, a food scale was an unnecessary purchase.

So, in the spirit of progessing through the P90X program, I went on the search for a food scale.  I went to Walmart and found 3 scales.  The first was like the one my mom had years ago.  It was a dial scale with a measuring cup on the top to put food in.  It cost less than $10.00.  The 2nd that I saw was the middle of the road scale at approximately $14.97.  This is the scale that I purchased (picture below).  What I really liked about it was the flat top of the scale....and that it was digital.  The rest of "bells and whistles" were discovered the first day of use.  Because it is a digital scale, the numbers can be clearly seen.  Also, by pressing one button, you can scroll through different units of measure.  Mostly, I measure things in ounces, but from time to time I have to switch to grams.  The other great feature is that you can set a plate on the scale, hit the zero button, put your food on the scale.  Then, hit the zero button again and put more food on the scale.  You can weigh each individual food item on the same plate by zeroing between each item.  Fewer dirty dishes and more precise measurements.  It's really revolutionized my mealtimes.



The other thing that I've learned to do is prepare regular items days in advance.  In a previous post, I mentioned that I'm a creature of habit.  I eat almonds, jerky, and whole grain goldfish daily as a snack.  When you prepare your lunch, snacks, and supplements every night, you can spend hours in the kitchen.  When I find that I have some extra time, I take my trusty scale and a box of baggies and "go to town".  I measure everything out and put it in baggies.  I usually do 8 at a time since the package of jerky I use is 8 ozs.  That has saved some time.  I do that with salad for lunches also, but you can't do that too often as lettuce does tend to get a bit weird if it's in the refridgerator too long.

I know I covered this in a previous post, but my next tip is the Blackberry notebook application has been helpful.  Once I know what I'm eating, I put that into the notebook on my phone.  Then, when I get home from dinner, I know exactly what I have left to eat so that determines how much of what dinner item I can eat.

By planning ahead and having a pretty cool food scale, I've been able to keep pretty good control of my diet.  On a sidenote, I've actually increased the times I eat a day.  Meals are "normal" sized and the snacks are small.  Here's the breakdown:

1. I eat a small snack after my morning workout. 

2. I eat breakfast (right now, it's 3 cups of oatmeal with 1/4 cup of sugar-free syrup).

3. I have a snack (usually a serving of almonds).

4. I eat lunch (salad with some form of protein and a piece of fruit).

5. I have a snack (jerky and a piece of fruit).

6. I have dinner.

7. I have my last snack for the day around 8:00 PM (usually 2 Pure Fruit Bars from Breyers)

Truthfully...I never get hungry.  This is a plan that works for me!  Preparation is time consuming, but worth it.  I just don't trust myself when I have to "guess" how much a serving size actually weighs.

Junior Year of P90X - A Restructuring...

So, as I mentioned before, I am always looking ahead to what's next.  I've referred to this 90 days as being my sophomore year in "Fitness High School".  What I'm learning through this process is that the workouts tend to get a bit on the repetitive side.  Which makes total sense since you're using the same workout videos day in - day out.  I've come up with a plan that involves modifying P90X.  Here's what I'm proposing:

1.  I will maintain the same dietary regiment as before.  I'll revert back to Phase I eating.

2.  I will continue with the supplements, protein bars, and recovery drinks.

3.  I am going to do the regular day 1,3,5 workouts.  I've been referring to them as strength training workouts.

4.  I'm going to start, on days 2 and 4, running on a treadmill in the morning.  Nobody can deny that running is a great cardiovascular exercise and I enjoy it.  It also provides me with a break from "pressing play".

5.  Saturday will be dedicated to doing plyometrics one week and either yoga or kenpo on the other day.

6.  Sunday is going to remain a rest or stretch day.

7.  Ab Ripper X has, admittedly, fallen short in my workout...I'm going to do that workout after school 3 days a week.  In fact, there are a few students that said they'd come down 3 times a week and do Ab Ripper X also.  I figure, why not...more motivation.  I'll be in the back of the band room, hiding behind the timpani so nobody else can see me struggle!  We're going to call it the Ab Ripper X Club.  I know...really creative...wonder where that title came from! 

Assuming phase 2 goes well, I may try one of the other workouts for phase 3....like the doubles workout.

For now...I'm still doing the schedule as much as possible.  I miss workouts from time to time, but I'm not sweating it...that's going to happen.

Well....enough for now...enjoy your weekend and look for more next week!!  Later!

Where's the Motivation Here?!?

I'm now in Phase III of the program.  It's been a pretty hard road with many bumps along the way, but I'm coming through it and see the "light at the end of the first tunnel".  Lately, I've been really considering WHY I'm doing P90X.  The end result is that I don't have a definitive answer....or....perhaps more accurately, I have several definitive answers.

My main reason is to be healthy and show my children what leading a healthy lifestyle is like.  I want to lead by example and not just words.  Too often I see family patterns where the parents lead a sedentary lifestyle and that "way of living" rubs off on their children.  Unfortunately, our family has been tracking that way.  For me, an enjoyable evening was hanging out with the kids doing a puzzle, reading, playing the Wii, or something that didn't involve a lot of "body movement".  If I continue down that path, it seems like statistics would predict my children would lead down the same path and I don't want that for them.  Since I started P90X, I've been more willing to do active things when time permits...unfortunately, those times are few and far between since I am "knee deep" in the marching band season.  One of the few exceptions to this (and I need to remind you that this is my opinion based on limited observation) is students that are active in sports.  In that case, I'm guessing they form different habits through peer interaction and extrinsic motivation in the form of a coach and competition.  My son seems like he will have the tendency to be on the "larger" size.  If we don't instill good dietary and exercise habits when they are young, it may be harder for them later...again, just my opinion not based on fact or research.

I suppose another reason is that I want to be stronger.  I've always been considered a "strong" person.  Most likely, it is because of 2 reasons.  The first is when you carry a lot of weight, your muscles tend to be bigger, even though you may not see it.  The second is that if you lift intelligently, you can lift more weight than you might be able to handle if you were, for example, trying to dead lift the same weight.  I've been pretty successful with moving things by myself using balance points and putting my body into it instead of only one muscle group.  I bet the people that consider me a "strong" person would be surprised to see how much weight I could lift in a gym...meaning LESS than they might think.  That's a different type of lifting that usually only targets one muscle or group of muscles.   Someone once told me that a man reaches his peak at the age of 25.  Well, I'm 41 and if that's the case, I've got a good start down that hill!  I remember when I was in high school, my band director turned 40 and my mom as well as a few other band parents threw an "over the hill" party for him.  As a high school student,  I thought...man....that dude is old!  Now that I'm a year older than he was at the time...it doesn't seem too old now...I guess it's all perspective!! ;)  I know my body is going to decline...everyone does, BUT I'd like to start in a better place so the decline is a lot slower.  As a father of a 3 month old, I want to be able to "act young" when she's in high school and I'm in my 35th year of teaching.  While there are older parents than me with newborn children, I'm sure I'll be on the "older end of the spectrum" at PTA meetings.

Yet another reason is that I want to look good.  That seems so egotistical, but that's not how I mean it.  My entire life, I've lived with this thought of how people perceive me.  Yes, I realize that much of that is in my head, but I can't help but think that when I buy a candy bar, does the checkout person think "dude, fruit is in aisle 1, put the candy bar down, you don't need it!"  Crazy thought, I know, but when a very fit person buys a candy bar, they may as well model the candy bar...people in line think "if he's in shape like that and eats a candy bar, surely it can't be bad for me."  I've always been self-conscious about my physique.  I've come to terms with it and, to a certain point, accepted defeat...BEFORE I started P90X.  I tend to joke about my weight and it is really an open topic with my friends, family, and even students.  Most people say...no Bob, you're not fat, you're big, but healthy....then they'd say that you're big boned.  Yeah...that's me...big ole jiggly-boned Bob! 

My wife asked me if I wanted to be "ripped" and I don't really know what to think about that.  Having a chiseled look is certainly a picture of fitness, but is that a realistic goal for me, a father of 4 with a job that keeps me busy?  I suppose it is, but at what cost?  I do like to do things other than P90X.  To look like those "insanely built" people on those videos, I'd have to give up a lot of time keeping it up.  Again, I'm looking to be in shape and when I am there, I'm going to want to maintain it...but ripped...not sure...PLUS since I tend to be a fairly yeti-like person with more hair than any one person should have (sorry for the image, but you've probably seen the pix), how much "rip" are you going to see anyway?

One thing is for sure...while I carefully consider my reasons for doing P90X, it is NOT because I intend to stop, but rather, to reinforce my reasoning...AND to consider what will come next...after P90X.

Thanks for reading!

Blasts From The Past....

This has been a great week of people "reconnecting" with me.  A high school buddy of mine sent me a message via Facebook and shared his success story with me.  He lost over 50 pounds and "has his 20 year old body back".  He even mentioned that he's starting to really see the six pack.  This is his 3rd time through it and he's doing great!

A former student sent me a message to give me some words of encouragement and to tell me that she is getting married.  Her "husband-to-be" and his best man are going to do the workout too.  Great for them!  Tony Horton has said 1000 times that doing it with a friend yields the best results because you tend to push each other!  Good luck guys and congratulations again on the engagement!!  She's a great girl...take good care of her!!  It was great hearing from you!

A dear friend of mine is considering getting into P90X and she asked me why I decided to do this instead of something else like Beach Body's Power 90.  Truthfully...I'm a sucker for infomercials.  I saw it and was intrigued...I asked around and my buddy did it, so I figured if he endorsed it (and he's a pretty healthy 50 year old) I have to give it a shot!  I mentioned this in a previous post a long time ago...P90X isn't a magical workout or anything super special.  It's just common sense...exercise a lot, eat right, and lose pounds as well as inches.  I don't care what exercise program you're on...www.beachbody.com or other, stay with it and you'll see results.  The results motivate you to keep moving on.  You will hit low points regarding motivation for sure, but push through them and focus on what you've already accomplished.  You don't want to fast forward 2 months down the road and think "man...if I'd have only stuck with it, I'd have 2 months of getting into shape under my belt...now, I'm just fat".  Been there, done that, don't want to go back again.  Set small goals for yourself and from those successes, build some momentum to help you get to larger goals and, ultimately, your "end game".  From time to time, I think of what life will be like in April, but more often, I focus on getting up each day and getting through the week and seeing the results every time I start another workout.

Sorry I got all "motivational" on you...I just think it's so cool that through this blog, people are reconnecting with me.  I type this stuff not really thinking that many people actually read it...I always get a big grin when I get a comment or a Facebook message from someone I haven't heard from in a while.  Pretty cool stuff!

Take care all and I'll write again soon!!

The Results are In!! - Day 70

OK...so I know it's been a while since I've posted....I'm working on that.  I'm kinda going through a "writer's block" kinda thing...give me some time...I'll hop back on the soapbox pretty soon here!  For now, here's the latest!

Here's the "skinny":

July 14th - 293 (Pre-P90X)
July 26th - 290.6 (Day 1 of P90X)
August 4th - 285 (Day 10 of P90X)
August 14th - 281.8 (Day 20 of P90X)
August 24th - 275.8 (Day 30 of P90X)
September 3rd -  274.4 (Day 40 of P90X)
September 13th - 270.2 (Day 50 of P90X)
September 22nd - 268.6 (Day 59 of P90X)
October 3rd - 265.4 (Day 70 of P90X)

Total loss to date:  27.6 pounds since July 14th.

Again...more of the same...I'm feeling pretty good.  Today I wore a suit coat to church today that I haven't worn in a while.  Before I started P90X, I could get it buttoned but it was "unsightly".  Now, there's plenty of room.  Belt holes...almost 4.  3 is starting to feel loose, 4 is still just a bit too tight.  This week's workout mirrors the 2nd phase of P90X which, in my opinion, are more fun workouts.  Kinda looking forward to it actually!

Sarah, my 2 year old, was the "guest of honor" at her birthday party yesterday.  We had a ton of food, and most of it was not P90X sanctioned!  I didn't measure or weigh my food, but I did control what I ate.  I still tried to fit in the proper servings for the day.  The preparation of the food was much less healthy than I've been doing, but it was a birthday party so I "let loose" a bit.  I even had a piece of cake and ice cream.  Of course...I felt that later. Bad carbohydrates don't seem to like me too much these days!  I suppose that's a good thing!  Anyway, I made sure I stuck to the portions today and got back into the routine.

In the next day or 2, I'm going to post about some comments I've read from people that I haven't seen or talked to in a long time.  It'll be a nostalgic post for me...If you're not into that, you may want to skip that one! 

Have a great night every one!  Bigboy out!