So, here we are, Day 53 and things are going well in the results department, but not so well in the motivation department. If you recall from my previous post, I decided to add a week to phase 2 because of a "hit-or-miss" week last week. That was a good idea...I imagine my body should feel like it needs to recover before I go into recovery week....3 days last week didn't do that. This week, I made myself promise to stand firm and get through 1 week of hard work. I was all pumped to do this when I went to bed Sunday night...then the alarm went off at 5:00 AM...I hit the snooze and instead of going back to sleep for 10 minutes, I stayed awake, considering reasons why I should take the day off and still get a good workout week in. So...I fought the need to stay in bed and got up. I wearily began my descent to the basement where I was all set up from the night before. I sat on the couch to get dressed and took a minute to wake up a bit. Well, the opposite happened and I lost my battle to exercise and went to sleep. Feeling pretty annoyed that I gave up the battle for that day and slept, I let it weigh heavily on me all day long. That night, I made the promise again. Tuesday morning came and I, even though I felt the same way as Monday, did the workout. When I was done, I felt great as I always do when I actually "press play". I was back in it! Wednesday morning...lost the battle again! Today, won the battle and I have no intentions on losing the battle tomorrow or Saturday.
What you are reading is a window into my weight-loss past. I push forward and am consumed completely...then, after a few months, I start to break down. I make excuses and start to "drift away" from the current program of exercise or diet. It's ever-so-gradual and I'm an expert at quitting when the routine starts to get monotonous. This is where I am right now. There are 2 things keeping me going:
1. I WILL NOT stop this program because I have to keep blogging...it was a motivational goal for me and hopefully decent reading for anyone else interested. If you notice, posts have been few and far between too...I think there's a positive correlation between the two!
2. For me, it is a big deal for my kids to not have a lazy dad. I have much more energy than I have in a long time. I feel stronger, lighter, and faster. This is how I want them to see me, not the lazy dad that I was before.
I think the big reason why this is getting tough for me is that it is a DVD workout in my basement while I am by myself. I have no interaction with anyone except Tony who says the same stuff each time I do the workout. I am at the point where I know what he's going to say. That's not a bad thing, but it definitely is a contributing factor to the monotony. I'm going to keep going. Really! I'm just in an exercising funk. Each day I push myself to push play, I feel better after the workout. For me, this is a critical time in my new life of fitness. Assuming I will keep going, I will probably look back at this time as a "funky phase". If I bail on the program, I can just expect things to go back to the old way.
I'm going to get up and I'm going to post more often. I will reach my goal. I'm going to finish out this week, do the recovery week and go full steam ahead into phase 3.
OK...enough rambling...I'm going to bed....I'll post more in a day or so. Take care!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
The Results Are In!! - Day 50
WEIGH IN DAY!!! AKA...DAY 40!!
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)
Total loss to date: 22.8 pounds since July 14th.
While the results are there, I didn't have a great week of working out. I only worked out 3 days this week. Not what I would consider "bringing it" as Tony would say. However, I did get caught up on some much needed rest and I'm pretty sure the total house cleaning I did for 3 hours on Sunday counted as some sort of cardio-burn!! When reading the fitness guide, it is suggested that if you have a bad week, extend the workout phase by 1 week. That's what I plan to do. This would have been my recovery week, but I'm going to hold off and repeat phase 2 for one week...recovery week, then finish up strong in phase 3.
Thanks for the food suggestions for those of you who posted. I look forward to trying some different foods!
Steelers won...and I thought Dennis Dixon did just fine...despite what the "experts" would say!!
More later....
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)
Total loss to date: 22.8 pounds since July 14th.
While the results are there, I didn't have a great week of working out. I only worked out 3 days this week. Not what I would consider "bringing it" as Tony would say. However, I did get caught up on some much needed rest and I'm pretty sure the total house cleaning I did for 3 hours on Sunday counted as some sort of cardio-burn!! When reading the fitness guide, it is suggested that if you have a bad week, extend the workout phase by 1 week. That's what I plan to do. This would have been my recovery week, but I'm going to hold off and repeat phase 2 for one week...recovery week, then finish up strong in phase 3.
Thanks for the food suggestions for those of you who posted. I look forward to trying some different foods!
Steelers won...and I thought Dennis Dixon did just fine...despite what the "experts" would say!!
More later....
Saturday, September 11, 2010
P90X vs. Football...Friends or Foes?!?
"Are you ready for some football!!" A cry that will forever be burned into my head thanks to the NFL and excellent marketing schemes!! The season is upon us for sure and with that comes food, food, food, and more food. Then there are games and parties with food too! Pretty much everybody I come into contact with knows that I am doing P90X, but inevitably, I am always offered something not on my list! It isn't a big deal, but it does cause me to think about outings and gatherings and how I will handle them.
There seem to be 2 prevailing thoughts within my circle of friends/family:
1. Allow yourself a day to "cheat" the diet a bit each week.
2. No matter what you do or where you are, stick to the plan as much as possible and if you have to modify, do so conservatively. In this case, it isn't what you do one time, but the habits that you adhere to daily.
The latter is what I tend to subscribe to. I know me and once I start down that road, it's a hard one to recover from and get back on track...at least for me!!
Over the next several blogs, I'd like to post some recipes that would be great to put out if you are hosting a party or to take to a friend/relatives house. We are looking for lower carb, low fat foods that can be measured and implemented in the P90X diet.
If you know of any recipes, let me know and I'll post them. If you are an avid experimenter or "food scientist", see what you can come up with. Could be kinda fun! I'm gonna roll my sleeves up and dig in too!! For me, the biggest challenge will be to come up with a healthy alternative that doesn't taste like it was modified too badly.
If you have a winner, send me a pix of the culinary treat with the recipe and we'll get that on too! If you can't take a photo or don't want to...no biggie, just send the recipe!
Since I am a native Pittsburgher and reside in Steeler Country, Go Steelers! Sunday at 1:00...take a newly created dish and let me know what the party guests think!
Good luck! - bigboyp90xer out!
There seem to be 2 prevailing thoughts within my circle of friends/family:
1. Allow yourself a day to "cheat" the diet a bit each week.
2. No matter what you do or where you are, stick to the plan as much as possible and if you have to modify, do so conservatively. In this case, it isn't what you do one time, but the habits that you adhere to daily.
The latter is what I tend to subscribe to. I know me and once I start down that road, it's a hard one to recover from and get back on track...at least for me!!
Over the next several blogs, I'd like to post some recipes that would be great to put out if you are hosting a party or to take to a friend/relatives house. We are looking for lower carb, low fat foods that can be measured and implemented in the P90X diet.
If you know of any recipes, let me know and I'll post them. If you are an avid experimenter or "food scientist", see what you can come up with. Could be kinda fun! I'm gonna roll my sleeves up and dig in too!! For me, the biggest challenge will be to come up with a healthy alternative that doesn't taste like it was modified too badly.
If you have a winner, send me a pix of the culinary treat with the recipe and we'll get that on too! If you can't take a photo or don't want to...no biggie, just send the recipe!
Since I am a native Pittsburgher and reside in Steeler Country, Go Steelers! Sunday at 1:00...take a newly created dish and let me know what the party guests think!
Good luck! - bigboyp90xer out!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
There's An App For That...
OK...so in an effort to try to maintain a proper diet, I am using the notebook feature on my Blackberry to track portions. It is not very complex, I just created each category and add a lowercase letter "l" for each serving consumed. Here's what it looks like:
Protein (8) - l l l l l l l l
Dairy (2) - l l
Fruits (2) - l l
Veggies (3) - l l l
Fat (1) - l
Carbohydrates (3) - l l l
Snack (4) - l l l l
Bar (1) - l
Recovery drink (1) - l
Condiments (3) - l l l
I start out my list in the evening when I go through the ritual of preparing my post-workout drink and homemade protein bar, breakfast, and lunch for the next day. So, as the day goes on, my checklist is already updated so I can quickly see what portions I have left when I get home from work. I would like to add a line for water and supplements to keep track of that too, but the other categories fit so nicely on my Blackberry screen that I don't want to change it. Crazy, I know, but that's how I roll!
This system works much better than a traditional pencil and paper since I always have my phone with me. NOW...what I really want is a fancy little program that keeps track of that as well as what I eat too. I searched for that, but haven't had any luck. This would be quite handy for many other diets like Weight Watchers, Atkins, South Beach, etc. Can anyone help with that or does anyone have a friend that writes programs like this?
Oh, I forgot to mention the other part of this deal is that I'd like it to be free...remember that I am trying to do this on a budget!! Can anyone help? I'd be happy to post an official thank you and even let you have the "braggin' rights".
Feel free to let me know what you think or to "leak" any information that may lead to the acquiring of such a useful program!
More soon!
Protein (8) - l l l l l l l l
Dairy (2) - l l
Fruits (2) - l l
Veggies (3) - l l l
Fat (1) - l
Carbohydrates (3) - l l l
Snack (4) - l l l l
Bar (1) - l
Recovery drink (1) - l
Condiments (3) - l l l
I start out my list in the evening when I go through the ritual of preparing my post-workout drink and homemade protein bar, breakfast, and lunch for the next day. So, as the day goes on, my checklist is already updated so I can quickly see what portions I have left when I get home from work. I would like to add a line for water and supplements to keep track of that too, but the other categories fit so nicely on my Blackberry screen that I don't want to change it. Crazy, I know, but that's how I roll!
This system works much better than a traditional pencil and paper since I always have my phone with me. NOW...what I really want is a fancy little program that keeps track of that as well as what I eat too. I searched for that, but haven't had any luck. This would be quite handy for many other diets like Weight Watchers, Atkins, South Beach, etc. Can anyone help with that or does anyone have a friend that writes programs like this?
Oh, I forgot to mention the other part of this deal is that I'd like it to be free...remember that I am trying to do this on a budget!! Can anyone help? I'd be happy to post an official thank you and even let you have the "braggin' rights".
Feel free to let me know what you think or to "leak" any information that may lead to the acquiring of such a useful program!
More soon!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker...
OK, so the title is a bit of a stretch. I tend to consume a lot of meat and now, since I'm broadening my culinary horizons with new ways to consume "legal" carbohydrates, the title seemed fitting. I'm not planning on making any candles...wrong kind of post...perhaps Omelet Maker would have been more appropriate! BUT..this weekend I plan on experimenting with a new P90X recipe...Blueberry Muffins. I know...big flip...but for me, exciting territory!
Here's the recipe:
The Ingredients
1-3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour (is this different from whole wheat flour?)
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup powdered fructose (I've never heard of this...any idea where to get this?)
3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk (I plan to use skim milk)
3 egg whites
1 cup thawed blueberries, reserving juice
The Process:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Line 12 muffin cups with cupcake papers.
3. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and fructose
4. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg whites and 2 TBSP of reserved berry juice.
5. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring just to combine.
6. Stir in the berries.
7. Spoon the batter into prepared muffin cups, mounding slightly.
8. Bake until lightly browned, which should be about 20 minutes.
Serves 12 muffins. 1 muffin = 1 serving of carbohydrates
If you give it a shot before I get a chance to post, I'd love feedback. We are making a family trip to Walmart this afternoon. Mom, dad, 4 kids...it WILL BE AN ADVENTURE!!
On another note, regarding recipes...I have a very good friend that is buried in some secret kitchen/laboratory working on a special, P90X, recipe. I feel I can disclose that it is a Chocolate Zucchini Bread recipe. I don't want to say much more than that. If her experiment is a success (and I am HIGHLY optimistic that it will be) I may be able to share that with you also...however...I make no promises! This could be along the lines of the famous quote from some book or movie, "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you!" I will happily be the guinea pig for that recipe!
If you know of any recipes that would work nicely with the P90X nutritional plan, feel free to share. I'll happily post them for others to enjoy!
Well...enough for today...
Here's the recipe:
The Ingredients
1-3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour (is this different from whole wheat flour?)
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup powdered fructose (I've never heard of this...any idea where to get this?)
3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk (I plan to use skim milk)
3 egg whites
1 cup thawed blueberries, reserving juice
The Process:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Line 12 muffin cups with cupcake papers.
3. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and fructose
4. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg whites and 2 TBSP of reserved berry juice.
5. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring just to combine.
6. Stir in the berries.
7. Spoon the batter into prepared muffin cups, mounding slightly.
8. Bake until lightly browned, which should be about 20 minutes.
Serves 12 muffins. 1 muffin = 1 serving of carbohydrates
If you give it a shot before I get a chance to post, I'd love feedback. We are making a family trip to Walmart this afternoon. Mom, dad, 4 kids...it WILL BE AN ADVENTURE!!
On another note, regarding recipes...I have a very good friend that is buried in some secret kitchen/laboratory working on a special, P90X, recipe. I feel I can disclose that it is a Chocolate Zucchini Bread recipe. I don't want to say much more than that. If her experiment is a success (and I am HIGHLY optimistic that it will be) I may be able to share that with you also...however...I make no promises! This could be along the lines of the famous quote from some book or movie, "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you!" I will happily be the guinea pig for that recipe!
If you know of any recipes that would work nicely with the P90X nutritional plan, feel free to share. I'll happily post them for others to enjoy!
Well...enough for today...
Friday, September 3, 2010
The Results Are In!! - Day 40
WEIGH IN DAY!!! AKA...DAY 40!!
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)
Total loss to date: 18.6 pounds since July 14th.
So...I feel pretty darned good! There are many physical positives to the last 40 days. The biggest change that I've noticed is approximately a 15 - 20 beat change in my resting heart rate. I'm told that's a really good thing. Also, playing with my children on the floor is much easier. Getting up from the floor used to be a bit of a process and now it isn't a big deal at all. Another change that I noticed is that I used to pop a lot of Excedrin Migraine medicine. Headaches happened a few times per week with me. Now, they are virtually non-existent. The positives keep rolling in...there is one negative. It's actually pretty embarrassing to mention, but I feel I must to maintain the integrity of the blog. I tend to look at myself in the mirror more and feel for muscle growth pretty often. I guess I'm kinda like a kid at Christmas time...excited to see the change, but too anxious to just wait out the results!!
OK...enough embarrassing confessions...I'll post again in a day or two. Have a great Labor Day Break!!
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)
Total loss to date: 18.6 pounds since July 14th.
So...I feel pretty darned good! There are many physical positives to the last 40 days. The biggest change that I've noticed is approximately a 15 - 20 beat change in my resting heart rate. I'm told that's a really good thing. Also, playing with my children on the floor is much easier. Getting up from the floor used to be a bit of a process and now it isn't a big deal at all. Another change that I noticed is that I used to pop a lot of Excedrin Migraine medicine. Headaches happened a few times per week with me. Now, they are virtually non-existent. The positives keep rolling in...there is one negative. It's actually pretty embarrassing to mention, but I feel I must to maintain the integrity of the blog. I tend to look at myself in the mirror more and feel for muscle growth pretty often. I guess I'm kinda like a kid at Christmas time...excited to see the change, but too anxious to just wait out the results!!
OK...enough embarrassing confessions...I'll post again in a day or two. Have a great Labor Day Break!!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
"Hard Habit To Break" - Chicago
So, the other day, a good friend of mine sent me a message on Facebook regarding exercise, losing weight, and P90X. While I was considering how to respond, I started thinking about my journey so far. I still plan on completing the program 3 consecutive times. I still am enthusiastic about getting the results. I still think P90X is a great program to "whip you into shape". What I considered all day was the spirit behind workouts. When you see ultra fit people exercising, it almost looks glamorous. It looks like fun and they usually make it seem easy...THEN...I get into my workout and I really don't ever want anyone watching me workout because I suspect it's a grizzly sight. How do they get to that point? Will I get to that point? Will it ever seem fun? This is what I mean about the spirit behind the workout.
Is P90X the answer? I suppose the only real answer is...perhaps. There are a ton of workout videos out there. I don't really think it matters what one you do as long as you set your mind to the task at hand and do it. For me, it is a simple solution, but hard to execute. Break old habits and create new ones. The problem is that, for me, my regular habit is to come home from work, take care of the kids, deal with "kitchen clean-up" duty, bathing duty, bedtime routine, and then sitting in front of the television for a few hours while snacking on anything available...healthy or not. Since I started P90X, that routine has changed drastically...well...that....AND the addition of a new family member. My new routine is to get up in the morning and do the workout, go to work, come home, take care of kids, do "kitchen clean-up" duty, bathing duty, bedtime routine, breakfast/lunch preparation for the next day, and then...sit on the couch for about 45 minutes before falling into a pleasant slumber...Zzz... Of course, there are other responsibilities, but that is the basic outline of my day. While I've been doing it for almost 40 days, it still isn't habitual to get up and exercise at 5:00 AM. Every morning I struggle with getting up. Usually, exercise wins, but admittedly, extra sleep does end up the victor from time to time. I rationalize extra sleep by saying that I have a long day, or my body is recovering or some excuse like that. EVERY TIME I lose that battle, I make sure that I don't skip the next day and I usually make up for it some other way throughout the week. Most often, I end up not taking off Sunday which is scheduled as a stretch or rest day. Someday, I expect it to become habit, but I don't really know...in fact, if I weren't blogging and posting pictures of myself, I may not have even made it this far. When I start to get down because I "blew off" a day, I remind myself that I am definitely not in the same physical arena as the "psycho-healthy" people in the videos and that I am still way overweight. I push hard, but I am more into the habit development than missing a day at this point. My wife helped me with that mind-set.
P90X is NOT a miracle workout video series. It is a healthy dose of eating right and exercising. The difference between P90X and many other workout videos is that it is a "total body" workout without the use of expensive equipment. If you like it, then by all means, do it. If not, try something else, but stick with whatever you decide. You'll thank yourself later! In the meantime, I'll be here breaking bad habits and hopefully, creating new ones.
That's it for today! Next post will be the 40 day results post. Excited? I am!! BigBoyP90X out.
Is P90X the answer? I suppose the only real answer is...perhaps. There are a ton of workout videos out there. I don't really think it matters what one you do as long as you set your mind to the task at hand and do it. For me, it is a simple solution, but hard to execute. Break old habits and create new ones. The problem is that, for me, my regular habit is to come home from work, take care of the kids, deal with "kitchen clean-up" duty, bathing duty, bedtime routine, and then sitting in front of the television for a few hours while snacking on anything available...healthy or not. Since I started P90X, that routine has changed drastically...well...that....AND the addition of a new family member. My new routine is to get up in the morning and do the workout, go to work, come home, take care of kids, do "kitchen clean-up" duty, bathing duty, bedtime routine, breakfast/lunch preparation for the next day, and then...sit on the couch for about 45 minutes before falling into a pleasant slumber...Zzz... Of course, there are other responsibilities, but that is the basic outline of my day. While I've been doing it for almost 40 days, it still isn't habitual to get up and exercise at 5:00 AM. Every morning I struggle with getting up. Usually, exercise wins, but admittedly, extra sleep does end up the victor from time to time. I rationalize extra sleep by saying that I have a long day, or my body is recovering or some excuse like that. EVERY TIME I lose that battle, I make sure that I don't skip the next day and I usually make up for it some other way throughout the week. Most often, I end up not taking off Sunday which is scheduled as a stretch or rest day. Someday, I expect it to become habit, but I don't really know...in fact, if I weren't blogging and posting pictures of myself, I may not have even made it this far. When I start to get down because I "blew off" a day, I remind myself that I am definitely not in the same physical arena as the "psycho-healthy" people in the videos and that I am still way overweight. I push hard, but I am more into the habit development than missing a day at this point. My wife helped me with that mind-set.
P90X is NOT a miracle workout video series. It is a healthy dose of eating right and exercising. The difference between P90X and many other workout videos is that it is a "total body" workout without the use of expensive equipment. If you like it, then by all means, do it. If not, try something else, but stick with whatever you decide. You'll thank yourself later! In the meantime, I'll be here breaking bad habits and hopefully, creating new ones.
That's it for today! Next post will be the 40 day results post. Excited? I am!! BigBoyP90X out.
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