Final Post!

Chris Layton came over tonight and he was nice enough to take some final snapshots.  My Friday picture updates were always taken with the shoddy camera on my cell phone.  Chris takes really nice pictures so I asked if I could get my last batch with a real camera.  I also wanted to get a few shots of the "gym" as it looked for the past 90 days.

So, as people normally do with these things:

BEFORE





AFTER







My cute little arms, where the tiniest little muscles blossomed...how sweet...


Back was a rough spot for me; I am not very good at pull-ups.


Me and Courage Wolf...


And a couple shots of the "gym"...




So that's that.  Round 1 of P90X is in the books.  Do I feel like I am in the "best shape of my life" as the brochure suggested I would be?  I dunno.  I feel like I am in VERY good shape, but I'd have to go heads up with my 15 year old self in basketball to tell for sure.  I could probably box him out better, but he could probably whoop my endurance in a full game.  Which is the proper measure?  Who cares.

I think the biggest thing I have learned is that so much can be accomplished in 90 days.  I need to stop messing around with my ambitions and really take action on things.  90 days is really not THAT long of a time.  It felt long at first, but in the grand scheme of things, it's just 3 months.  It took me YEARS to put on the weight I was carrying around just 90 days ago.  I remember my metabolism started changing around 2004 or 2005 and I ate REALLY badly and didn't exercise at all.  So for 4 years I just piled on bad habits and culminated to 227 pounds as of last summer.  Since then I cut down 9 pounds to hit 218 on February 5th of this year.  And then in 3 short months, I was able to erase 30 more pounds of that damage.

I'm very proud of what I was able to accomplish in that time and I am extremely appreciative of all of my friends and family who supported me and complimented me and helped me stay focused.  It's really not that hard to design a goal, make a commitment to yourself and see it to the end.  This has been one of the more significant achievements in my life because it really took some life altering changes (sleep schedule, diet, exercising) and a little bit of sacrifice.  I am going to remember spring 2010 when I start a new project.

I already completed day 1 of my next round of P90X.  I am unsure how tightly I am going to stick to it, but I have some goals I'd still like to accomplish and I'll just start hacking away for now.

For now, I am going to retire this blog.  It's been fun writing at all hours of the day/night and going back and reading my ups and downs and throwing all of my thoughts in to text.  I think it will be fun to look back on in the distant future, as well.  Maybe I'll make a short update if I complete a second round of P90X...maybe I'll just let this sit...

As my tiny little Smart car rolled in to the neighborhood this evening, fate had placed "Tropicana" by Ratatat as the next song on my randomized playlist.  I enjoyed every second of it.  Things were perfect; I was happy, as I pulled my car in to the garage, where the first primroses were beginning to bloom.

We deed it.  90 days up.  90 days down.

I did my final weigh-in this morning.

Weight:



That's right at 30 pounds difference from day 1 to day 91.  My BMI finally squeaks in to "normal" and out of "overweight".  Yay.

For the sake of full disclosure, this week has been an unsuccessful week as far as P90X is concerned.  I only worked out twice: Monday/Saturday.  Both days I did Plyometrics cardio work out.  I missed both core days and the Kempo cardio day.  I got no sleep Sunday night and did my Plyo work out Monday morning while extremely fatigued.  I barely got through it and spent the entire day at work trying to stay awake.  I was still bruised head to toe from the NOFX pit from the Saturday before.  I stayed with my friend in Nashville Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights.  The roads were packed with drivers from the flood over the weekend and it was difficult to navigate the city, so I stayed in Nashville half the week.  To make matters worse, I got sick Monday night.  I had a sore throat, cough and body ache.  On Wednesday I was very sick and barely got thru work.  I got back to my friends house afterward, ate some soup for dinner and went straight to bed.  I took off work on Thursday and Friday.  I didn't work out either day and Friday was my sister's graduation.  I ate poorly most of the week.  I had pizza, wings, chicken, pizza again...I tried to avoid too many carbs, but I was not too successful with eating "good foods".  Last night I drank copious amounts of alcohol.  I am quite sure the abnormally low weigh-in today has as much to do with getting sick this week and then dehydrating myself from drinking than it has to do with any success from the P90X program.  But, I'll take that "188.8" photo-op with a smile and call it a night.  However, I imagine my normal weight is still hovering somewhere around 190... ;)  Not too bad either...

Chris Layton was supposed to come over and take my final pictures so I can close this blog in style.  He wasn't able to slip away this evening, but he told me he'd make it tomorrow so we can wrap it all up.  I think that will work out better anyway.  I am dog tired and don't think I would be too up to picture taking.  Tomorrow will work better for both of us.  I'll save my final thoughts for then.

For now, however, I reminded of the letter Andy Dufresne left for Red under that black piece of volcanic glass near the oak tree, "If you've come this far, maybe you're willing to come a little further".  I've basically accomplished everything I have set out to do with P90X.  I shed over 30 pounds of fat and put on lean muscle where I never have before.  My endurance is up and I feel physically fit again.  I could be happy with stopping the program and just maintaining a balanced diet with occasional exercising.  However, as good as I feel now, I still know I could lose a good 10-15 pounds off of my stomach and perhaps bulk up my chest and arms a little more.  I figured that if I have already made it this far, perhaps I could try and push myself a little further and just see what happens.  Tomorrow I am going to start over from day 1.  I'm going to try and eat a low carb diet and with my newfound fitness, I should be able to put much better performance in to the phase 1 work outs.  I still remember that first day in the gym, doing push-ups on my knees and barely knocking out 5-10.  I am so much better now and could probably get measurably more significant benefit from my work outs today.  So I am going to give it a whirl.  I am going to work out in the evenings and sleep in an extra 90 minutes in the morning.  I'm not going to obsess about the weight loss/gain, I'm not going to obsess about the food, I'm just going to do my best, when I can, and see if Round 2, Phase 1 brings desirable results.  If so, I'll continue with the last 2 phases and see where it leads me.  

I can't believe it's all over.  And I can't believe I convinced myself to try it again.  This has been a lot of fun and a cathartic experience.  I'll save my final thoughts for tomorrow, but for now, the final courage wolf that is hanging up in my gym:



HELL YES!

Weight: 194.2

1 week left and less than 1 pound away from 25 pounds lost.  I'm not going to get under 190, but I am perfectly fine with that.  I have been losing consistent weight by eating well and putting in good time working out.  The system works and if I want to lose more weight, I can continue to work at it.





Right now, I am feeling fatigue from following the program.  I am ready for it to be over (even tho I plan on continuing the program in some capacity).  Today was the final resistance (weight lifting) day; next week is all core.  It was a funny feeling finishing today's work out.  It kind of felt like the last normal day of high school, where all that's left is exams.  Actually, it felt *exactly* like that.  What a weird feeling.  It feels like it's over, but it's not quite over.

My biceps are still sore -- I think I did a good job on Wednesday's bicep day.

I have had a bad week of sleep.  Three nights I have woken up around 1 or 2am and been unable to fall back asleep.  I am wondering if "doubles week" has me eating too close to bed time and that it's possibly affecting my sleeping.  I only got about 3 or 4 hours of sleep last night.  That's quite disappointing as I have been making an effort to get in bed at a good time.  I just can't seem to stay asleep.

NOFX is playing near St. Louis tomorrow.  I don't want to sound overly dramatic, but it's quite a coincidence: earlier this week I decided to create my ultimate NOFX playlist for listening to in the car.  I have a lot of favorites from various albums, so I figured I would sit down, compile the ultimate list and rock out on the way to and from work.  It's been a success.  The last time I saw them live was March 2008.  I decided I should check their website to see if they are touring this summer.   Lo and hehold, they were playing within driving distance on one of my days off: this Saturday.  Perfect.  I bought my ticket right then.  Boston Market is on the way, so I'll be having some extreme cheat meal action going on for dinner.  However, I imagine I'll have close to an hour of cardio from being in the pit. Yes, I am 30 years old and cannot wait for a good old fashioned punk mosh pit.  ;) I think Breanna and Gabe are going also.  Should be a blast.

I am not going to weigh in an official weight next Friday or take pictures.  I am going to save it for Sunday morning, the final day: day 91.  I'll get my final weight, take a handful of final pictures and then write my final thoughts about the experience.  I plan to not touch this blog after that and just let it stand on it's own as a full body with beginning, middle and end.  It's funny to go back and reread from various points.  What a wild ride.

I printed off my last 8 pages of Courage Wolf pictures and randomized them.  Today's treat:



I'd hate to hear Courage Wolf's opinion on participation trophies...

And finally, I had Chinese again.  I like their fortunes:



...and into the wallet, next to the last one...

194.

I told myself that my "weight" would be much less a significant benchmark than my shape & physical endurance.  But the clean, simple stats and being able to compare one number to another is very difficult to ignore.  Today is not an official weigh-in day, but I have been checking the scale every morning.  194.0.  That's 4.1 pounds from my overall goal and 6 pounds away from clearing a nice, even 30 total pounds.  Those are tough numbers to stare down right now.  The weight loss recently has been incremental at best.  I had a few weeks early on where I could lose 3 pounds at a time.  But, recently, I haven't really seen that.  4 pounds seems completely reasonable for 12 days.  6 is a little tougher, but still "attainable".  Next week is a "recovery week".  I don't think I've lost weight on my previous recovery weeks, so I imagine I am going to finish out a pound or two over 190, which isn't too shabby.  I would be happy to write down "25 pounds lost" at the end of this.

Plyometrics day.  Normally it's Lost day too, but alas, no episode tonight.  Rotten.  Plyo went well.  I used to dread Plyo like exam day, but I've grown quite fond of it.  Today was initially scheduled to be my last Plyo day, but I have added an extra session for Saturday and may even work one in next week.  I am getting better at it.  I am intensifying the exercises gradually and make it through the entire disc without stopping.  It's an hour of brutal cardio.

Last night, I did not do doubles, sadly.  I also did not do abs.  I was tired from getting no sleep the night before.  I figured I should relax a couple of hours, wait for my bed time and get a full night of sleep.  I watched a movie, "Timecrimes" (great movie, btw), and ate a small dinner of chicken and spinach.  I fell asleep and slept pretty well.  I woke up on the buzzer and did not want to awaken.  The bed felt nice and I was still sleepy.

I had a plain whole wheat bagel and yogurt for breakfast.  I was going to make oatmeal but was slow to get downstairs for exercise this morning and ran out of time to prepare oatmeal.  Lunch was a weak chicken salad from BK.  It's tough to throw down $5 for that salad.  Two more weeks.  I am not sure what I am going to grab for dinner.  Seems like a waste of time to eat a healthy lunch and a bad dinner.  Maybe I'll get a plain burger and side salad from Wendy's.  Two more weeks.

I felt really good all day and then put myself in a funk of a mood in the last hour for seemingly no reason at all.  The handful of almonds I am munching on now are not making me feel much better.  I gotta shake this negative energy.  Clear skies ahead!  Maybe it's time to find a good techno station on Last.FM for the ride home.

Courage Wolf had some interesting advice for me this morning:



Courage Wolf always knows the right things to say.  Such charisma!

This weekend was less successful than last.

I had an amazing weekend two weekends ago, but I found myself in a noticeable funk this past Friday.  It started at home and carried over through out the night and various things started to rattle me.  I let a bunch of different negative feelings come in at once and I think it got the best of me for a bit.  It didn't ruin my entire weekend, but I would be hesitant to say I wasn't uncharacteristically solemn.  My friends noticed.  I hate when they can tell, but they're good for knowing.  I found that it may have affected my sleep last night.  I only wrangled in three hours of sleep before hopelessly waking up and not being able to fall back asleep.  I got out of bed and went and found Breanna and Jared to hang out with for a couple of hours before heading back home to exercise.

I am supposed to be doing doubles today, but on three hours of sleep I think it would be of better benefit to get a solid nights sleep instead.

I had a protein shake for breakfast and chicken/rice from the Gyro shop for lunch.  This has been my Monday lunch for a few weeks, I believe.  I wish I had an accurate measurement of its nutritional content.

The work-out this morning was a lot more difficult than I anticipated.  It was the final chest/shoulders/triceps day.  I just felt like I was defeated for most of the push-ups, whereas previously I felt pretty good.  I am going to attribute it to only getting three hours of sleep and see if back/biceps goes well on Wednesday.  My arms and shoulders are noticeably fatigued, however; so I think things went alright.  It's odd to be finishing the final resistance week.  Two more resistance days then its a week of core and it's over...at least for Round 1! :)

The Courage Wolf today was weak sauce.  It was a rehash of a previously posted Courage Wolf, so instead, I found one of my favorite motivational pictures and decided to post it here:



These are paraphrased wise words of a Filipino merchant.

15 days.  No quitting.  No excuses.  Get sleep.  Get energized.  Get pumped.

Weight: 196.6

Changes are slow going these days.  The pictures don't show too much variance like they did the first two months.  I feel like the last 3 or 4 sets are all pretty much the same with only subtle variance.  I probably need to watch my diet a lot closer than I have been.  I think the "last little bit" is going to be 90% diet, which sucks.





Kempo was rough yesterday.  I felt fatigued; not enough sleep.  I got through it alright, but was a lot more tired than I have felt...doubles week...rough.

I got a FULL night of sleep last night, however!  Refreshing.  The best.  I like sleep so much and have to make a better effort at getting enough of it.

Legs & back went well today.  I was sweaty and tired, but a good tired; the kind after a good work-out.  I got my recovery drink and made a protein shake for breakfast.  Lunch will be a salad I brought to work consisting of chicken, spinach, tomatoes, carrots and cucumber.  I hope this is enough food for the Cardio X work out tonight...not to mention another round of Plyo tomorrow...doubles week...rough.

I think I've decided to keep training for another month after P90X is finished in 2 weeks.  Hilarious.  For the last 11 weeks, I have looked forward to nothing other than having some pizza and taking some rest from working out.  But recently, I feel motivated to go the distance.  I don't want to end up as some "work out guy" who's all about the gym and protein shakes.  But at the same time, I feel like I am in the best position in my life to get in the best shape of my life and it's tempting to push it a little further.  I'll probably start working out in the evening, however.  I'll be able to stay up until 11 during the week like I used to.  I'll work out when I get home, eat dinner and enjoy the rest of my evening working on film/video or just hanging out.  I'm going to try and hold that schedule until Bonnaroo in June.  We'll see how that goes and modify after that.

I'm down to my last 4 sheets of Courage Wolf pages; I have to print off a few more to make it through the rest of Phase III.  However, today's was the best yet:



16 days left.

I was eating curry chicken from China House restaurant and chatting online with Jeannette about Austin.  Austin sounds like my kind of place.  I was joking with her that I should convince my friends to come with me and have us all relocate to Austin together.  She liked that idea.  It wasn't more than two or three minutes later when I finally finished my lunch and reached for the fortune cookie.  I wasn't going to eat it, but I was curious what fortune was in store for me today.  I cracked open the cookie and smiled back at the words written on that crisp paper:



Hilarious.  These words actually have several meanings to me at this point so I filed the paper away in my wallet so they can follow me around.

Morning work-out went very well: arms & shoulders.  The 20 pound weights served well on most lifts.  I did more chair dips than I have in any previous work out.  The right side of my back hurt for a little bit of the morning, but I never pinpointed why.  It hasn't bothered me really since, so hopefully its dandy for tonight's Cardio X work out.

I slept pretty well overall, despite an annoying dream.  I went to bed a little late, but stayed asleep until the alarm and felt pretty good upon getting out of bed.

Breakfast was a protein shake.  Blueberries are crazy expensive right now, so I am using blackberries and strawberries instead.  I think after doubles is over, I will switch to a low-carb diet for the final "rest" week.

Lost night was pretty good yesterday.  I enjoyed a cheat meal from Nuttin But Wings (Jason stole one of my wings!!) and watched a pretty good episode.  There was a really great moment where Jack jumped off of Sawyer's boat because he believed in the island.  The island better not make a sucker out of Jack.

Day 1 of doubles was tough.

I had to run to Kroger after work to pickup a few things before coming home.  This put me "under the gun" per se as time was of the essence.  I did my Cardio X work out when I got home.  It was tough to do in the evenings after doing a morning work out.  As soon as it started, I wished it was done, but had a full 40 minutes to go.  It went pretty well overall, but just felt like a long day.  I started the rice for dinner and then did Ab Ripper X.  Finished the rice and took the salmon out too soon; should have timed it better.  As I started to eat it was already after 9.  I am supposed to be in bed by 9 and I wasn't even starting to eat.  Not good.  There just isn't enough time.

This is how its going to have to be on Mondays and Wednesdays with this doubles schedule.  I can't really cut any more corners unless I did Ab Ripper in the morning and I hate doing that.

I didn't get much sleep last night.  I wasn't going to get much anyway, since I went to bed late, but I ended up waking up super early and couldn't fall back asleep.  I had a terrible dream that Judy's dog was left in this parking lot and I found her and she was in really bad shape and looked like she was going to die and her hair was matted and she was so tiny.  I sent Judy a text today to make sure Leela was alright.  She's good. ::whew::

My body was pretty sore from yesterdays double work outs and I had Plyo this morning.  I was fearing that I would hit a brick wall.  All things considered, Plyo went well.  I pushed hard and stuck with the whole disc again.  I am modifying less and less and going longer and longer on the tough stuff.

No Indian food again for cheat meal Tuesday.  I think I am getting Nuttin But Wings for dinner again, like last Tuesday.  It's a heck of a cheat meal, but I really need the calories: doubles again tomorrow.  I only had a plain $1 double burger and side salad from BK for lunc; breakfast was a plain whole wheat bagel bagel  and yogurt, so I should have some calorie room.

I can't believe there's not going to be an episode of Lost next week.  Jerks.  Tonight's episode better be GOOD and with a good cliffhanger to justify the hiatus.

I had an absolutely beautiful moment yesterday.  

Moments like these come few and far between but it was something that I really latched on to for a full minute or so and took it all in.  Sometimes these moments come when you're watching a heartfelt scene of a profound movie.  Sometimes they come as you're looking in to the vulnerable eyes of a beautiful woman.  And sometimes they come while you're sweaty, sunburned and cutting the grass at 6:00 PM on a Sunday evening in early Spring.  But, before I can tell you this story, I have to tell you another story.

In the last few months, I've grown particularly fond of an instrumental music group called Ratatat.  They've been around for a little while, but are not especially famous, although well known underground, and seem to be gaining a little momentum, especially in circles that I run around in.  My first love with Ratatat is a head bobbing, fist pumping, jam called "Loud Pipes".  However, the story is about the song that comes before "Loud Pipes" on the CD: "Tropicana".  "Tropicana" starts off with a fun bouncy melody for almost three minutes and then exactly at the 2:50 mark, the tune transforms in to a magnificent array of happiness and bliss.  It is a rising of the Heavens.  I am officially stating here that the last 2 minutes of "Tropicana" is exactly what the phrase "everything is going to be okay" would sound like if you put it in to a song and absolutely meant it.  Anytime this song plays in my car, I cannot help but be thankful to be listening to it.  It also helps that "Loud Pipes" immediately follows to get that adrenaline back up after the beauty in your body has been completely absorbed by "Tropicana".  God I love music.

I was strolling around my lawn with the new self propelled push lawn mower wearing my old velcro strapped shoes that were collecting a darker shade of green along the soles with every step.  My phone doubles as a music player and I was listening to my Rhapsody playlist to drown out the monotony and sounds of the clanking engine in front of my feet.  I had made it a few laps around the whole yard and was starting to make a bit of noticeable progress toward lawn supremacy.  I was right in the middle of my Ratatat block of songs in my playlist.  "Tropicana" was on.  To say I have heard this song 100 times would not be inaccurate.  Yet, still it affects me.  The magic will one day wear off, but not this Sunday evening with the orange sun peering halfway from behind the back of the neighborhood.  Not this day with the cool wind keeping the temperature at a perfectly neutral degree with not a scent of discomfort.  I naturally reflect on my life while I do monotonous work like cutting grass, but as I circled from the side yard path around the back of the driveway and toward the west, appreciation melted my skin.  It was happiness that I had buried for many years.  This is how I used to feel when I was a happy person.  I paced along, cutting grass, listening to "Tropicana" and felt euphorically grateful for everything in my life.  I love my life again.  It eventually tailed off to a normal level of happiness, but for those two minutes of extreme appreciation I reminded myself that I was doing great and there was so much to look forward to.  How's that for being 30.  Confidence.

A little while later, Chad called me in the middle of my yard work.  We talked for a few minutes but he brought up that a friend told him that I had lost a lot of weight and was looking good.  I haven't seen Chad for several weeks.  It's really nice to hear compliments from people when you see them.  It's probably even better to hear that it was mentioned when I wasn't even around.

This was exactly the kind of Sunday motivation I needed.  I started my first of two doubles week today.  So I am going to remember yesterday to help me get through to the end of this.  I did chest & back this morning and will do Cardio X and Ab Ripper when I get home.  My weight is down to a new low and a point away from being 25 pounds of loss.  I am optimistic and hopefully.  I am happy again.

 

Weight: 198.2

We did it!  Goal achieved with three weeks to spare.  ::Golf clap::

I'd still like to hit my secondary goal of sub-190 by the last day.  It's coming quickly, but I am about to make it a lot more dreadful.  I believe I am going to do doubles for the next two weeks with weights in the morning, CardioX/abs in the evening and then Plyometrics twice a week: Tuesday & Saturday.  I'll move Kempo to Thursday.  I thought I only had 2 more days of Plyo left, but I just self-imposed double that amount: bring it!



Aaron talked with me while I did legs and back this morning.  It was great.  I did pretty well, but had my attention a little divided, but that's alright; I still feel like I put in a good effort; and I can feel my legs and back right now, so I think everything turned out better than expected.

For breakfast I poured a little chocolate protein powder in my oatmeal and cut up a banana too.  Lunch was chicken & rice from the Gyro shop in Nashville.  For dinner I had an open plain double burger and side salad from Wendy's.  I really need to go shopping; I've been spending so much money going out to eat because I have been too lazy to go shopping.  We're entertaining friends tomorrow evening and I'll be eating burgers and fries -- eek...going to try and have a decent breakfast at least.

I think that I am feeling pretty energetic in general, but could use a few more hours of sleep a night.  Hopefully I'll knock some recovery out tonight so I can have a great Kempo session when I wake up.  Ultimate on Sunday.

I can't believe what a difference my before and current pictures show in what I consider to be a relatively short time.  Still having problems getting this gut all the way off, but alas, anything worth doing...





After Sunday it will be three weeks left.  My how time flies.

Water is the life force.

I woke up thirsty this morning...I switched off both alarms (clock and phone) and sat in the dark by my computer and fumbled around the monitor looking for a plastic water bottle with life force still left inside.  I have quite a collection growing again, so it took me a moment to pick-up the right bottle.  The heavy feeling of a full bottle met my finger tips with fanfare trumpets.  I uncapped the plastic top, turned the bottle upside down and slid the silvery splendor in to my mouth with quick anticipation.  Unparalleled satisfaction.  

I ate a bad cheat meal last night.  Nuttin But Wings.  I have been feeling pretty guilty about it.  I tried ordering Indian food in Nashville, but they wouldn't pick-up their phone.  I tried the Indian place in Clarksville, but they wouldn't pick-up their phone either.  It must have been an Indian holiday.  So in rebellious anger, I called Nuttin But Wings; they answered the phone.  I'm still a few pounds under 200 this morning; I resolved to eat spinach and chicken for lunch today.  Punishment.

I slept well last night; I only got about 6 hours of sleep, but it was good, clean sleep that lasted most of the night.  I enjoy sleeping; I should try getting in bed earlier to get maximum enjoyment.

Arms and back today.  I still can't do pull-ups; the DVD instructor, Tony Horton, says not to say "I can't do pull-ups".  He says to say "I currently struggle with pull-ups."  I have to use chair assistance for every pull-up; I currently struggle with them.

I still haven't purchased the 15 pound weight, that I have been whining about for the past month and a half.  I decided today to use 20's instead, since I have been lazy about getting the 15s.  I found that the 20's are actually appropriate for me for most of the lifts.  Either I have gotten stronger these last few months, or I should have been using the 20s all along.  Either way, I had a pretty good work out and the arms days always seem to go fairly well.  The really tough days are Plyo and Legs/Back.

I'm staying in Nashville tonight and my friend is cooking filet mignon, potatoes and green beans.  Today is a more successful eating day than yesterday.  I'm also trying to stay better hydrated...always bad about that.

I really want to do doubles for the next two weeks.  I wonder if I have it in me...



Courage Wolf always comes through with sound, reasonable advice.

Plyometrics went well again.  I used to be dog tired during the lengthy warm-up section, but now it actually feels like a warm-up.  I still step in to some mental hurdles, where I look at the time remaining and get frustrated, but I usually work through that quickly and get focused on the exercises.  Only two more Tuesdays of Plyometrics left.  Wow.

Sleep didn't go well last night.  It started off splendid.  I fell asleep quickly and at my bed time for once: 9:00.  However, I ended up waking up around 1:30 AM or so.  It was frustrating.  I just kind of woke up for no reasons.  Maybe it was Battle Cat sleeping on my side of the bed or maybe it was the temperature in the room.  Whatever it was, I was up.  And I couldn't go back to sleep.  I got up and watched the rest of "Downfall" (great movie).  Aaron came home in the middle and we talked until he had to go to sleep around 3:30 AM.  I laid back down to bed around 4:00 to see if I could get any last minute sleep until 5:00...but I just sat there comfortably until the alarm went off.  I was on the cusp of falling back asleep when the loud buzzer came alive; my efforts for naught.  Got back up and went downstairs to do Plyo.

Breakfast this morning was oatmeal and a banana.  Lunch was a plain burger and side salad from BK.  The Indian place I eat at on Tuesday's is "on vacation" last week and this week.  Supposedly they are "coming back soon". :/  Perhaps I'll get Indian to-go in Clarksville tonight for dinner during Lost.

I didn't care much for Lost last week, so I don't have particularly high hopes for this week.  This show isn't ending with quite the bang I had hoped.  Let us hope that P90X ends better than how Lost is shaping up to end.

I had a good weekend.

We entertained a couple of friends Friday evening and Aaron cooked dinner.  We then proceeded to drink copious amounts of alcohol en route to staying up way past our bed times and waking up in foreign beds.  This led directly to me missing my Kempo work-out on Saturday.  I stayed with a friend in Nashville Saturday night and figured I would use Saturday as my "rest" day and do Kempo on Sunday.  I came home Sunday morning to do Stretch X and play Ultimate.  I played Ultimate for a couple of hours and then cut the grass after I got home.  I was pretty worn out from being in the sun and was going to rest a little bit and do Kempo in the evening, but it got late and I never got around to it, sadly.  However, I think I got in some pretty good calorie burning with Ultimate and lawn mowing...hopefully...

This morning was chest, shoulders and triceps.  I did much better today than I have with this DVD in the past.  However, I know I can still do better.  There are a lot of push-ups and several sets of "slow motion" push-ups which are the worst for me.  Ab Ripper X tonight!

I am feeling fatigued in general.  I noticed in the shower this morning that I was a little more tired than usual.  I think I only got 5 or 6 hours of sleep which is probably a heavy contributor.  I am also trying to put in as much effort as possible in the gym.  And I am also trying to eat a little lighter; yesterday I had a protein bar, protein shake and a dinner that consisted of a hamburger patty, spinach and eggs.  I think all of this together is culminating in to fatigue.  I have Plyo tomorrow (only 3 more Plyo sessions left) and  I want it to go well.  I am going to eat rice and chicken for lunch and a spinach and chicken salad for dinner.  I need to be in bed at least by 9:00.  Time to be responsible.  Only 4 weeks left!

My work pants are fitting noticeably looser today.  Nice.

My weight has been several pounds under 200 all weekend. Nice.

I feel like I need to take a really long nap...not as nice...

Courage Wolf's message of the day:

Weight: 201.4





I thought I had a pretty good week downstairs in the gym, but weighed in at the same number as last week.  I went back to review my previous weights and weeks and noticed that I didn't see any improvement in weight loss during my first week of Phase II (March 12).  Hopefully this is just something that happens when changing up routine and intensity.  I had been under 200 for most of this week, but eventually I climbed back over.  I'll be happy to get under 200 "for good" with no more teetering.  The weather has been doing something similar since March where it's nice outside for a few days, then it gets cold.  It was pretty chilly last night and I am afraid it will be again tonight.  It's a pretty gorgeous day outside, however, so I should stop my complaining about the weather.

Legs & back routine was today and it was ROUGH!  Hasan did legs/back yesterday night and he was jello afterward.  I knew what was in store for me this morning and I did as best as I could.  Wall squats are a nightmare.  I got through them pretty well last week, but this week they wiped me and I was out halfway through.  I made it through the single leg squats, but I wasn't all the way down.  I was still shaking a great deal, so I didn't feel too bad about modifying.  I got so tired/dizzy at one point (after chair pose) that I had to pause the DVD for a few seconds; it's the first time I have had to do that.  I stood up and tried to catch my breath and realized I was not going to be normal enough to start in on the next routine.  I pushed play again as soon as I could see straight.

I drank a protein shake for breakfast and talked to Aaron this morning.  It's nice to have someone to talk to about the mysteries of the universe...even if its over whey protein and blueberries.

I didn't have time to make lunch today, so I'll probably grab a burger and salad from Burger King.  Tonight, I think Aaron is going to make chicken tikka masala.  I haven't been as strict with my diet as I told myself I would be, but all things considered, I think I have been doing well.  

It's nice counting down the final days of P90X.  There are only 3 more Plyo days.  3 more legs/back.  1 more chest/back.  Each day finally feels like a step toward the finish line instead of another step up the hill.  My endurance is back up to a reasonable level, but my body still isn't quite where I want it to be, so I'm not going to let up on the intensity just yet...staying focused!  The first week of Phase III is almost over...

To celebrate Phase III and to motivate myself in a fun way, I downloaded a bunch of "Courage Wolf" pictures to print out and push-pin to my wall downstairs.  I blindly select a random picture each day and tack it up in front of the previous ones.  I like to think the troops work harder when they know Courage Wolf is looking over them with pride and encouraging words.

 

Fuck yeah, indeed, Courage Wolf...

Phase III is continuing to be pretty successful.  I was pleased with my arms/shoulders work out today.  I really need to get some 15's.  20 lb. weights tend to be too heavy for many of the lifts and 10's are almost always way too light.  I think 15 is the sweet spot for most of the arms/shoulders work outs, but I only have 1; I am not sure where the other went.  I have been telling myself to go to Play It Again Sports for almost a month now.  Slacker.

I've continued to weigh myself daily, but found I have crossed back above 200; that was disappointing, but I think it's alright; I am putting a lot of effort in and I am seeing positive results, so I am just going to push it all for the next four weeks.  

There are moments when I think my body is starting to shape up quite nicely and then other moments where I feel there is way too much work to do and not enough time left in P90X.  I am considering doing another few weeks if I think I can get some decent results out of it.  I don't really know.

Breakfast today was a plain whole wheat bagel and milk w/protein powder.
Lunch was leftover salmon, lots of spinach and a snack pack of carrots.
I had a protein bar for my early snack and an orange for my late snack.
My friend is making dinner for me and sounds like it's going to be at least chicken parmesan and not sure what else.

Ab Ripper X could have gone a little better this morning, but we'll have the last laugh...hopefully...

Best Plyo day yet.
Bring it Tony Horton; bring it.

LOST TUESDAY!

I had a great weekend.

I drank a lil too much, but it was a good time.  I think I spent the weekend under hydrated.  I drank Friday and Saturday nights and cut grass on Saturday.  It wasn't terribly hot while cutting the grass, but I realized it's going to be very uncomfortable in the summer.  Maybe I should get that riding lawn mower fixed, just in case. :)

I weighed myself all weekend.  I figured I would be light on Saturday because of being dehydrated.  This was the first time I had seen a number under 200 in a couple of years: 199.2.  I was reluctant to self-declare success on my primary goal, because I figured I would be back over 200 once I got some water and food in me.  So I decided to keep tabs all weekend.  Any time I passed the scale, I took a measurement.  Sunday, I was even lower, like around 196.  But that was after another night of drinking... ;)  I think this morning I weighed in around 197.  That's 20+ pounds of weight loss.  I'm quite pleased.  I'll probably continue to weigh myself off and on over the week out of curiosity.  I'd like to be able to tell people I am officially under 200.  I guess we'll see if this holds true through Friday.

Today began Phase III!  Things went really well this morning, although I didn't get the sleep I wanted.  I only pulled in 4 or 5 hours, but it was good sleep.  I am going to make it a goal to get a full 8 hours tonight so that Plyometrics goes well tomorrow.  

I did "chest & back" today and it's been about 6 weeks since I have done this DVD.  This disc is the first DVD you play in P90X and my first introduction to the P90X program.  It's so funny and encouraging to think back to day #1, read the blog entry and realize how far I have come in this short amount of time.  It's been 8 weeks since I started.  On day #1, I was sick from mushroom omelet and I could hardly do any push-ups at all.  Many of the push-ups, like dive-bombers, and diamond push-ups I could not do ANY of.  Things are greatly improved now.  I still cannot compete with the people on the DVD, but I am VERY happy with what I can do now in comparison to my day 1 body.  I remember during Phase I, I could only handle 2 or 3 decline push-ups (push-ups with feet raised on a chair) and even then, I could only go about halfway down.  This morning I did a set of ten handily.  I could do zero dive-bombers in Phase I and today I did 5 or 6 in a row and modified a few more.  Regular push-ups were better as well and I could knock out more push-ups and with a quicker pace.  I made myself do as much as I could as I would like to push myself these last 5 weeks.

The meal plan is also a lot more forgiving in this phase.  I can eat a lot of normal food now.  I am going to try and just maintain a normal consistent diet.  I haven't really followed the nutrition guide all that well, but have used it as a template.  I'll continue to eat chicken/fish for dinner, with occasionally a lean burger or something like that.  Breakfast will normally be a bagel and yogurt or fruit and I think I like chicken and rice for lunch.  Maybe I'll throw in a salad here or there.  I will not get tired of chicken/rice nearly as quickly as I will those salads.  If I can continue to lose weight with this meal plan, I would be incredibly happy.

I danced too much this weekend.  There was a dance party at The Coup and I was drunk, so I danced a lot.  My back hurts.  My palms hurt from where I gripped my fingers in to my hand.  I am a goober.

Weight: 201.4

So I've only lost 2 pounds in 2 weeks.  I've hit a little bit of a rut, but I am still pleased with the progress in the mirror and I recognize that I had a slacker weekend last weekend; so I am not too upset about it.  I have five weeks to go and ~12 pounds give/take that I'd like to lose.  I've been hit or miss with my eating recently, but I think I have stayed fairly on track.  It's easy to slip more when I slip a little, so I am trying to make good choices for every meal.

This morning was core synergistics again.  It's such a tough work out for me, but I think I did better with it this morning than I have previously.  There's still so many places that I just drop out altogether, but I stuck with stuff longer and pushed through places that previously stumped me.  The progress is incremental, but measurable, so I think that's great.

I didn't stretch yesterday, but I am going to make myself do it Sunday for sure.  Also, I bought a push lawn mower so I can cut my own grass this summer.  I figure it would help a little to spend a couple of hours walking around the lawn.  Besides a sunburn, I definitely don't think it could hurt, and it will save some money in the long run by not paying someone else to do it.

I was thinking yesterday how odd it's going to be next month when I have completed my 90 days.  Part of me wants to keep going and keep the routine.  Another part of me wants to reclaim my evenings to see friends.  Matt and Aaron have been hanging out in the evenings together and I have to get in bed.  I think I might try and do a combination by going back to my old sleep schedule (waking up at 7 instead of 5) and working out in the evenings, but maybe not every day.  I guess I'll see what I am feeling like in five weeks.

I can't believe I am a few days shy of being 2/3rd of the way done.  I am going to look at the food suggestions for Phase III.  If I recall correctly, the carbs should open up a little bit so I don't have to feel too guilty about that chicken tikka masala... ;)  I'm going to try and finish strong.  I did fairly well with Phase II, but I think I could have done a little better, so I'll take that disappointment and turn it in to determination for the next few weeks.

I have not gotten enough sleep this week.  I've teetered between 5-6 hours each night and I could be doing a little better.  In the mornings I don't feel as rested as I should and it carries over in to the day.  Hopefully I can tighten my focus for all aspects of the program for Phase III.





37 days left!

I did Cardio X on Monday, Core Synergistics on Tuesday and Kempo X yesterday.  Today is a stretch day.  I stayed at a friends house last night and did not wake up early to stretch this morning.  I am going to try and do it after work today; I hope I have enough time.

I think I am putting in a pretty good effort in to the Cardio X disc and am glad to be doing it instead of Yoga, which I am sure is frowned upon by the P90X community, but I feel I have made good improvements on the exercises and actually feel like it's worthwhile, unlike how I feel about the Yoga.

The Core Synergistics disc is still ridiculous, but I have notice some slight improvements there, as well.  I wish I could do more with it.  I read something recently about P90X and it reminded me that this program is designed for the "extreme" work-out and that I am probably not meant to be getting through everything at the moment.  I am considering doing another round of P90X after the summer.  I was probably not exactly where I should have been when starting this program to get "the most" out of it.  Obviously, I think I have been able to keep up enough to make some good progress, but I recognize the intent of the program and should adjust my expectations to match.

Yesterday was Kempo X and I think things went according to plan there.  I have been doing this disc fairly often and I think I always do a decent job with it.  

I have not done a whole lot better with my eating this week.  I haven't eaten anything too terrible, but I haven't been especially good either.  I am worried that I will not see too much improvement on the scale this week.  That would be two weeks of stagnation.  I really don't want to hit a brick wall around 200 lbs.  This is the weight I was two years ago when I recognized I was getting overweight and worked out for a few months.  So this is definitely not where I want to be permanently.  It occurred to me that Phase III is a week longer than the other two.  That extra week should hopefully help me reach my goal of sub-190.  That goal should be especially more realistic if I am able to pull off those two weeks of P90X doubles.

Lunch today will be a salad from Burger King.  I am not especially looking forward to that.  But it's hard to be sad when it's so gorgeous outside.  Maybe I'll sit under a shade tree, slide those lettuce leaves in to my mouth and remind myself that everything is going to be great.

Weight: 202.4

Well I had hoped to reach under 200 pounds before I turned 30.  I didn't quite make it.  I weighed myself on Saturday and saw 200.4 on the scale.  I turned 30 today.  Very close and I am very happy with my progress.  I am closing in on a solid 20 pounds of weight loss and a lil bit of muscle gain.  I have a "rest" week coming up which is mostly cardio before I hit the final phase!

The last few days have not been good on my program.  I have not eaten especially well.  I missed my first work out (Saturday's Kempo X).  However, it's been a special weekend.  I took a 4 day weekend to celebrate my birthday.  My first day off was Friday.  I treated myself to an hour massage at Eden (after my legs/back work out) and got a haircut.  I normally just shave my own hair and not worry with getting a professional cut, but I decided I'd get one as I was having a birthday party Friday night and had rented a tuxedo for the event.  The party was by no means a black tie event, but for some reason I got myself laughing out loud at the thought of showing up in a tuxedo, so I rented one for the occasion.  At the risk of using too much hyperbole, I have to say that my birthday party was the best time I have had in recent memory.  Almost all of my best friends in Clarksville came out, even some out of town friends made it and I got to listen to my favorite songs from Xanthi, Brantley, Zach and Matt Watkins.  Me and Aaron had a wee bit too much to drink, but things didn't get too out of hand. :)  I had not had a slice of pizza the entire length of my P90X run.  However, Friday night, I had not had dinner and the only food available was pizza.  I allowed myself a single slice.  It was good.  I spent Saturday night with a special friend and ended up eating poorly again.  Had a hamburger at a hockey game and then steak and mashed potatoes for dinner.  And then today I had spaghetti (whole wheat noodles however).  I plan to get refocused however and get my eating back on strict schedule.  This has been one of the best birthdays I have had, and I have had plenty of great ones.  I used to be worried about entering my 30s, but I am more happy about it than ever.  I hope to be this resolute a year from now.  Great friends and good times, indeed.

My work outs have been pretty good this week.  I reminded myself that I had a "rest week" coming up, so I made myself stick to extra reps when possible.  I was pretty drained on most of the work outs.  A good week of cardio this week and I think I'll be set for the final phase.  Bring it!  

I am considering doing doubles for the final 2 weeks.  I haven't completely convinced myself.  There is a "doubles" routine for P90X where you do cardio in the morning on M/W/F and then lift weights in the evening.  Normally you only do the weights and do cardio on off days.  But I was thinking that I could squeak out a few more "results units" if I ran 6 days of extra cardio at the end while working really hard on my weight lifting.  It sounds really good in theory, but worried about how tired I am going to be.  Maybe I'll try it a week and then see if I can keep it up for the next.  I missed an ab day this week AND I missed a Kempo X day, so I would have to be pretty serious about it to make it work.  I'll try and hype myself up the next 3 weeks and mentally prepare for it similarly to how I prepared for P90X to start.  I haven't looked ahead to the food options for Phase III, however I haven't really strayed away from the same formula I have been using: very sensible breakfast, salad for lunch, chicken or fish and vegetables for dinner.  

Here are my updated pictures.  They don't look to different from last week (and were before I got my hair cut, heh) but they still look better compared to my "before" pictures in February.





And here's a picture before I left for my birthday party on Friday.  I figured if I was wearing a tux, I had to have a nice scotch for the evening.  I grabbed my second favorite: Talisker.  Gabe and I enjoyed several glasses.  It was classy.



Happy #30.

Weight: 203.6

I haven't updated this week, so let me recollect an overview.

Monday

Chest, shoulders and triceps didn't go especially well this week.  There are a lot of push-ups of various styles.  Most of them I am quite terrible at and I have to modify and go down to my knees to complete a respectable set.  Even so, I feel like I do pretty good work albeit modified heavily.  I want to get better at this routine because it's probably my weakest.

Tuesday

Plyo went much better this week than the previous week.  I was worried, to a degree, because I felt I wasn't bringing enough intensity to Plyo Tuesdays.  But I thought I had my best Plyo day yet.  I went longer and with more intensity.  I still started to fizzle near the end, but I started out and maintained strong for over half of the disc.  I hope that I can continue to have Plyo success.

Wednesday

Back and bicep day wasn't too bad, but I need to find some 15 pound weights.  10 is too little and 20 is too much, and I think 15s will be perfect.  I resort to using the resistance bands because I don't have the right weights.  I would prefer to use weights because I feel I am doing too much guess work with the bands.  

Thursday

I took yesterday off for the start of the NCAA basketball tournament.  It was a pretty great day overall.  I decided that I am not getting enough out of the Yoga workouts and that I could be getting a better work out somehow.  There is a "Cardio X" DVD that I had not looked at yet.  I decided to put it on instead of the Yoga.  I would prefer an extra day of cardio instead of Yoga.  I am glad I gave it a try.  I think I am going to continue to replace Yoga day with Cardio X.  The first 15 minutes of Cardio X is Yoga poses.  So I still get a little bit of Yoga practice.  However, the last 30 minutes is more standard cardio and core work out.  I feel like I am not wasting a day anymore, which is very encouraging.

Friday

Finally today was legs and back.  I still think I could be bringing more to legs and back day, but I am not going to beat myself up over it.  I think I did a pretty good job and buckled down when I could and relaxed when I couldn't.  I can do a single chin-up which is more than I could previously do, but I am still doing single legged assisted pull ups.  I had previously been using two legs, so I am making SOME progress with pull-ups :D.

So last week I incorporated a "cheat" meal on Tuesday (chicken tikka masala) and I noticed that I gained a little weight the next day.  I didn't THINK it was a direct result of the cheat meal, but because it was the first time I incorporated one, I was suspicious about how my body would react.  I decided to monitor my weight all week and take my cheat meal on Thursday (to eat wings/fries with basketball).  I am pleased that my weight is basically as good as its been all week.  It's actually a little lower today than its been for most of the week.  I think the extra Ultimate on Sunday and the extra Cadrio workout on Thurday were worthwhile and I may try and repeat those steps.  I think I'll keep in a single cheat meal each week to have something to look forward to.

Today's pictures:





I also had a pretty "emotional" start to the week.  However, I think I have taken care of my head and everything should be much better from now on.  I realized how lucky I am to have really good friends.  They've been invaluable.  Aaron Groves should be here this weekend too.  I am ecstatic.

I had a pretty good weekend, I suppose.

I did Kempo X with Andy and Kory on Saturday morning.  I think it went really well. Its nice working out with friends, because it seems less serious and at the same time, they motivate me, just by being there, to finish the reps strong and to work on my form.  I normally skip lunch on the weekends just because I don't have enough time to eat as much.  It's weird how that works out.  I would never skip lunch during the week, but it just naturally works out that way on the weekends.  I guess it's good to stay busy with stuff.

I played Ultimate again today.  It was a little wet outside which reduced the amount of running, but to make up for it, I played with a new group after I was done playing with our regular group.  I played 2 games with our regular group and then the second group showed up after we were done and I played a couple of games with them.  The new group is made up of more serious players who run a lot more and take it a little more aggressive.  I didn't play as well as I normally play, but I think I did good enough and got to run a lot more.  My quads and groin are pretty beat right now.  I hope they don't hurt too much tomorrow morning during my morning work out.

Speaking of, due to daylight savings my schedule is thrown off and I need to get off of the computer and in to bed.  I am going to sleep hard, but will be tired in the morning since I'll only be getting 6 hours of sleep.  Thankfully we moved band practice from Monday to Wednesday.  So tomorrow, if I need to after work, I can go straight to bed.

I hope I have everything I need for my meals tomorrow...I'm a disorganized slacker.

Weight: 208.6

Even tho I said I wouldn't be disappointed, I can't help that I naturally am.  I was down to like 205 on Monday or so, so it stinks that the new diet and new work out routine has gained a few pounds on me.  Aaron seems to think it could be muscle mass.  I'll keep telling myself that. ;)  I am going to monitor myself closely over the next two weeks.  If things do not improve I may switch my diet back to the phase 1 diet and see if that makes a difference.  

I calculated that my ideal weight should be around 185-190.  So I think I am going to start mentally shooting for that.  It sounded rough earlier today, but the more I think about it, I think it's pretty attainable by the end of my P90X run.  That would be 30 pounds of total weight loss.  I lost 10 pounds in the first third, so losing 10 pounds ever phase would equal that.

More lovely bed head:

Yoga day.

I'm still doing the 45 minute DVD instead of the P90X version.  I find that I am better motivated to do it than I was the 90 minute version.  I can get pretty far in this routine until the last major sequence.  It ends on a "Warrior III" balancing pose that I just can't seem to get the hang of.  My balance and strength isn't there yet.  Everything else I can either do or fake.  I am still not good at any of it, but at least I am completing most everything.

Breakfast was a protein shake.  Someone ate the last banana I was saving for it. :(

I am eating a turkey, spinach, tomato and mustard sandwich on toasted wheat right now.  It's a pretty sad lunch.  I am eating it slowly, mostly because I am not excited about the taste.  Tomorrow is supposed to be a chicken pita.  I hope I have the energy to make it to Kroger after work to get all the ingredients.  I think that will be better than this sandwich.

I have come to accept that tomorrow's weigh in won't be exactly what I want.  And I am not going to blame it on the chicken tikka masala from Tuesday.  I think I am doing well and looking pretty good, so I am not going to let the scale rattle me.

I got some pretty good sleep after band practice last night.  I did wake up around 4 am and heard a storm rattling outside.  I was afraid I was going to let my mind wander and let it keep myself up.  Somehow, my determination to beat it actually worked.  I resolved to fall back asleep and did.  I fell hard too, as when the alarm hit at 5, I did not feel like getting up.  I like getting a good nights sleep.  Feeling refreshed in the morning is invaluable.  

I'm feeling pretty good about things in general.  Trying to keep a positive attitude.  There are exciting things on the horizon!

Well yesterday was an interesting day.  I checked my weight and saw that it was the lowest it has been since I started (yay).  I did my Plyo (cardio) work out.  It was ROUGH.  I got about halfway through and was spent.  I managed to get to the end of the disc, but with some unfortunate modification.  I was disappointed with myself, but I did what I could.  I decided to make Tuesday my "cheat day" for meals and enjoyed an Indian lunch of my favorite meal: chicken tikka masala from Bombay Garden.  It was great.  For dinner I had a handful of spinach and a snack pack of carrots.  I wasn't terribly hungry, but figured I should have some vegetables since I hadn't had any for lunch.

This morning, the scale had shot up 3 pounds.  I REALLY don't want to think that my one cheat meal in five weeks was the cause for the discrepancy.  I'll be disappointed if I can't enjoy a couple of meals like that from time to time.  Maybe I'll convince myself that it's super strong muscle built from Monday's chest/shoulders/triceps day.  Hehe...

My triceps hurt all day yesterday.  My shoulders and sides have been feeling it too.  This morning I added some more pain with biceps and back day.  My biceps were toast about halfway through.  I caught a second wind, but by the end of the disc, my poor right arm could only lift halfway.  My whole upper body is sore, which I am oddly happy about.  Lifting weights has never been a strong suit for me, so I hope I am making some kind of progression.

I, again, did abs in the morning.  My breakfast today was half a bagel, yogurt and a pear.  I figured I'd do abs since there wasn't much prep time for the breakfast.  They're much harder after doing a lifting routine for an hour.  However, I toughed through it and I think I did a pretty good job.  I just finished another grilled chicken salad from Burger King.  I need to start making my own salads again.  Waste of money going to BK.  Tonight I think I'll cook the salmon since its sitting in there.  I think I have some chicken that is either bad or about to be.  I really need to have a cook off and just get all of it in bags in the fridge.

The weather has been just fantastic this week.  I am so happy about it.  I really hope the cold is gone for good.  I think it's lifted my spirits a bit.  Almost time for playing The Go Team! over the loud car stereo.  I can't wait.

Lost was pretty great last night.  There was a particularly exceptional scene with Jack and Richard Alpert that I think is going in my top 10 scenes of Lost if not in the top 5.  I wanted to jump out of my seat and fist pump and high five my friends, but instead I quietly clapped in my seat.  Things are starting to pickup!  Go TEAM JACOB!

I had a rather bizarre night of sleep last night.  I wanted to watch The Hurt Locker with my roommates and friends, but I grew exponentially tired after we got home from Ultimate.  I decided to take a nap around 7 or 8, still in my clothes, so I could get back up.  But I drifted in and out of sleep for a while.  Eventually around midnight I decided to prepare the room for sleep and finally dozed off, but still woke up a few times.  I was on again off again all night until around 3AM when I was finally up for good.  I don't think I did much of anything this morning, but went downstairs around 5AM to start Phase 2. 

Today was chest, shoulders and triceps.  It was pretty intense.  There were a lot of different kinds of push-ups that I struggled continually with.  Most of the exercises were meant to be done "to the point of failure" and my failure threshold at this point is rather short, but I did my best and pushed myself.  I feel like I got a pretty good work out.

Yesterday we played Ultimate and I felt I did pretty well.  I was able to keep up and didn't get burnt out at all.  I was feeling anxious and ready to run more after each play.  We played 2 games and slightly tweaked my ankle.  It doesn't really hurt bad at all, but I do notice it.  My sides hurt a little bit, probably from throwing, but I feel like I am in pretty good shape and have some good room for improvement.  I could especially improve my top speed.

I didn't go shopping last night and also didn't eat dinner, but I think I did pretty well this morning considering.  I am pretty tired right now, but I am going to force myself to go to Kroger to at least pick up a few things.  I can go back later this week and get more, but I should get some stuff for dinner and for tomorrow.

Breakfast this morning was plain oatmeal and a banana.  It was pretty bland.  I grabbed a salad from Burger King for lunch and I guess I am allowed to have a small hamburger tonight for dinner.  That's a bit of a change.  Red meat.  I am highly considering eating Chicken Tikka Masala from Bombay Garden for lunch tomorrow.  The rice has probably too many carbs and the sauce too much fat, but Daniel says you can have a cheat meal once every 10 meals and your body won't recognize the difference.  I haven't had a cheat meal since I started.  So the thought of having something I like once a week is pretty appealing.  I feel weird/guilty about eating it before I have gotten the swing of Phase 2 however.  But I think my spirits could really use it.

I already did my abs this morning after the regular work out, so thankfully I don't have to do that tonight.  I found I was much more tired and it was harder to do abs than it is in the evening in my bedroom.  I am not sure which one is more effective.

I am sleepy and can't wait to get to bed.

I spoke with Aaron a bit today.  We talked about some things that had been troubling me and he was great to talk with; he had some things to say that my eyes needed to read.  I cannot wait for him to get back.  I could really use him around.

I just finished my Sunday stretch.  I figured it was a good idea to stretch out before going to Ultimate.

Every weekday I have a routine schedule.

5:00 - wake up
5:15 - DVD work out
6:15 - Recovery drink
6:30 - Make breakfast (and lunch) and eat
7:15 - Shower
7:45 - Go to work

I like having a schedule for the discipline.  I don't like having a schedule because of the monotony.  It makes me feel a bit robotic.  When my 90 days are up, I think I may continue some maintenance working out, but I think that I am going to do it in the afternoon.  I think I am waking up too darn early for a normal social schedule.  My friends come over at 8 or 9 most evenings and I have to be in bed by 9.

I've wanted to document my morning shower mix that I have been using since I began.  I am starting to get too used to the songs, so I will probably switch it up.  But for phase 1, the mix looked like this:

1] Nerf Hearder - "Oh Me, Oh My"
2] Rise Against - "State Of The Union"
3] Bad Religion - "You"
4] Pennywise - "Wouldn't It Be Nice"
5] Pennywise - "It's What You Do With It"
6] Pennywise - "Homesick"
7] Pennywise - "Fight Till You Die"
8] MGMT - "Time To Pretend"

I am usually turning off MGMT in the middle of the song and heading out the door.
Every once in a while I get to the next song:

9] The Falcon - "Little Triggers"

And I don't recall ever making it to track after that: 

10] Rise Against - "Great Awakening"

Breakfast was eggs and turkey bacon.  I watched "Year One".  A little better than I expected.  But my expectations were to turn it off 15 minutes in.

Well I guess I need to round up the troops and head to Ultimate.  I should go shopping afterward and grab my new foods for Phase II starting tomorrow.  It's been fun, Phase I...adios...

I got some pretty good sleep last night.  I woke up earlier than I wanted to (4 AM) and could not go back to sleep.  I think I went to bed around 10:00 or so, so that should be good enough for a lazy Saturday.  People are playing video games tonight, but I may skip it to get a good nights sleep and play Ultimate tomorrow. We haven't played Ultimate in a while; will be nice to get out and do something athletic that is fun instead of cold and miserable... ;)

I watched a movie this morning and then got out of bed and did Yoga.  There is still a difficult pose right in the middle that I can't quite hack right now, but I think I can at least keep up with most of it.  I am starting to like it a little bit more.  I won't say that I "like" it, but I definitely don't have quite the same aversion as I did.  I had a little sweat going and seemed to be doing pretty well with most of the poses.  I don't have a real instructor around to tell me if my form is any good.  I am sure it is wretched.  Maybe Zach can show me some stuff; I think he likes Yoga a lot.  I weighed myself this morning and it was the lowest I have seen since I started, so that was a good feeling.

Breakfast today was a protein shake:
1 Banana
1 Cup Blueberries
1 Cup Ice
1 Cup Skim Milk
2 Scoops Whey Protein Powder

It's pretty good and one of my favorite breakfasts; easy and quick to make.  I need to go shopping tomorrow for the new menu that starts Monday.

Oh and Aaron Groves is moving back to be our 4th roommate.  F-word yes!

Weight: 208.2

Woot!  Four weeks, 10 pounds "officially" lost.  My birthday is in three weeks and I'd love to lose 8 more pounds and get under 200, but I realize now that it probably isn't going to happen.  I imagine losing weight becomes exponentially harder at certain points and I think I'll start to lose some steam soon; but I am going to keep going for it.  





I can notice a different in the before pictures and my new pictures, especially from the sides.  And I'm starting to visually plot where I'd like to see myself go in the future.  I still have 2 phases and 9 weeks left so lots of opportunity.

I'm pretty happy with myself and the progress I have made so far.  Today I am feeling a little better emotionally and in general.  I got a full night of sleep last night.  I woke up once and was able to get back to sleep, so I am happy about that.  I'm going to work on being positive today.  It's Friday.  I hope to have a great day at work.  Maybe I'll play my adrenaline mix on the way to work today.

This morning I did Core Synergistics again.  I struggled with this routine on Tuesday, but did much better today.  I still failed at several parts, but I was able to do more routines longer than I could last time.  I had a pretty good sweat going and I think overall it was a moderate success.  I hope I'll continue to improve on it.  Yoga tomorrow, stretching on Sunday and then Phase II starts Monday!

Gotta finish my breakfast and hit the shower before work...

Today was a stretch day.  I woke up around 1:30 AM or so.  I couldn't fall back asleep.  I have been feeling emotionally down recently and I wake up in the middle of the night and cannot go back to sleep.  Battle Cat is usually pretty understanding and comes to say hi.  When I wake up, my mind starts immediately worrying about my problems and then it's all over and I am up for the rest of the morning.  I watched a few short films and finally rolled out of bed and put on the stretch disc.  I do the stretching and Yoga in my bedroom.  I hope it does not wake up Gabe.

I like the stretch disc a lot and there are only a few stretches that give me discomfort.  My sides have felt a little sore, probably from Tuesday's Core Synergistics work out.  I think the stretching was helpful.  Physically I am feeling pretty good, albeit a little tired from only getting a handful of hours of sleep.  I hope that I can raise my emotional state to the level of my physical state.  I have better days than other, but for some reason I got particularly low about 30 minutes ago.  I was doing really well on the way to work.  These ups and downs are killing me.  I really hope this passes soon.

Breakfast was soy sausage and English muffin.  Also, I was allowed a glass of skim milk.  I've always loved milk, but could never drink skim.  It always tasted like water to me.  I still remember discovering whole milk at a hotel continental breakfast when I was younger.  It's funny though, because now I am only drinking water all day.  The meals I get a glass of skim milk are amazing.  These days the skim milk tastes so cold and delicious (not unlike Williams Carlos William's plums).

For lunch, I am having the same as yesterday: spinach and diced chicken.  These lunches feel like the ultimate discipline.  I look in to that plastic tub filled with nothing but spinach and a little diced chicken and I think to myself that I deserve this for how bad I used to eat.  It's several shades of depressing and a few shades of personal satisfaction.  Calen used to say, "definition is in the kitchen."  He would know.  I used to think I would never get any definition to my body because I always ate terrible foods and could not transition in to a healthier lifestyle.  But, I am already over 25% done with this program and have consistently eaten pretty well.  I learned recently that Calen is quite fond of spinach.  I guess I can try and put up with it for another 65 days...

May 8th.  I haven't really thought about it, but that will be my last day of P90X.  It's still a long way away, but February is already over.  Two more months.  I guess I'll mentally mark that down.

I finally remembered to put the salmon in the refrigerator to thaw for dinner.  It was supposed to have been dinner on Tuesday, but I guess we'll have it tonight!

I need to drink more water in general.  I have been a little dehydrated.  I keep telling myself to drink more water, but I keep not doing it.  Maybe writing it down will help: drink more water.

I could really use this day to be over and get a long nights sleep.  I really hope I can sleep until the alarm tonight.

Today was Kempo X cardio work out.  Thankfully it was one of my better work outs since I started this.  It's the first time I have visibly broken a sweat in the cold 5 AM air.  Speaking of sweat, the video instructor wanted us to note the authenticity of the sweat on the video demonstration team:

"See this people?  This is real sweat.  This shirt was light green when we started.  We do actual DNA removal here.  It goes all over the place."

Riiiiiiiiiight.

I'm finishing my recovery drink now and then off to cook some chicken & eggs for breakfast.  I forgot to thaw the salmon last night so had some chicken instead.  I'm going to go thaw the salmon now so it will be ready this evening.

I kind of had a tough weekend and have been feeling a little down in general, but I think I am starting to pick my spirits and focus back up.  I let my mind wander about things that are ultimately unimportant and distractive.  If I focused my thoughts on relevant things, I think I'll be in the clear.  I have a lot of projects I need to complete and focus on.  When my mind drifts I am going to try and focus on what needs to be done today to complete my goals.  Time to fill this glass half full again.

Lost was pretty good last night.  It had a really intense last 3 minutes and I am really looking forward to next week.  This whole season feels really weird.  I don't know what the right word is, but it's kind of bittersweet watching it wrap up.  But, man it really captured my imagination.

Today was a new workout called Core Synergistics.  It was supposed to work out the "core" muscles and a bit of cardio, but I found it was difficult for me to complete most of the exercises.  There were a lot of plank holds and mid section holds that I ended up crumbling on after a few seconds.  There were some crazy rollie exercises that I didnt even bother with.  I tried to do as much as I could and I was under fueled because I skipped dinner last night in exchange for sleep.  However I ended up waking up around 1 AM so I sadly lost the benefit of skipping dinner.  I'm drinking my recovery drink now and it's good.  In a moment I am going to blend a protein shake and hopefully make a salad for lunch.  I don't like paying a place for a salad when it's so cheap to make it on my own.  I think dinner tonight will be salmon and then LOST!  Woot!

Well just finished Yoga and actually made it to the end of the 45 minute version.  I had to cut out a pose section in the middle that I couldn't do.  I also had to heavily modify a couple of others, but I was able to at least stick with it and continue until the end, which I guess I am happy with.  What I am not happy with is that I was unable to sleep last night, which means I have to go a full day of work with 0 hours of sleep.  :/

This sucks.

Ok, so weigh in on Friday, February 26th went well.  I was discouraged from the previous week but fixed my mind and focused on other things, like improving my work outs and staying consistent with my eating, etc.

Weight: 212.6





I realized that my weight could be fluctuating due to several factors, so I have been weighing myself through the weekend at various times to see if it's going up or down, etc.  It seems like I have been losing weight pretty steadily over the weekend.  This morning I found myself at 207 which is over 10 pounds of weight loss in 3 full weeks.  That's exactly the kind of progression I wanted to have, so it's very motivating to see.  I am only going to update this documentation with Friday weigh-in's but I am probably going to weigh myself through out the week just to keep some kind of mental image of the ups and downs.

My primary goal when starting P90X was to get down to under 200 lbs, which seems like I could possibly attain before my birthday in four weeks.  That would be a great birthday present.  Hasan is about my height (maybe a little taller) and weighs about 195, but is quite ripped.  He works out all the time in our basement, but doesn't worry about what he eats.  If I can get myself under 200 and put a lot of effort in to my lifting days, I should be able to get myself close to where he is and I think that will be my ultimate goal for the FULL P90X period.  Hasan is probably in the best shape of all of my friends that I hang out with, so if I can realistically compare myself to him, I'll consider this adventure to have been a complete success.

I am already fairly pleased with the state of my body EXCEPT for my stomach/core area.  My arms and legs feel pretty solid and my face is getting there.  My core is looking a "little" better, but man, there is still a good pouch there.  Getting rid of that will be the final frontier.

Tomorrow begins my "rest week" of Phase 1 before I transition in to Phase 2 where the food changes a little bit and I'll have a chance to try and "bring it" more.  It's been a ramp up in completing the exercises, but I've been keeping up with some heavy modifications.  I hope to get to the point where I am tearing up the work-outs, but that may not happen this first P90X go around.  Maybe if I decide to continue training in the fall, I could make it happen for real!

Food update: it sucks and is boring.


This is a typical dinner of a turkey burger, wild rice, carrots and spinach.  A whey & water blend can be seen in the back.  How exciting...oh well...seeing SOME results makes this horrible food tolerable.

I already re-upped all of my P90X supplies: recovery drink, whey powder and protein bars.  So they're stocked and ready for Phase 2 which starts in 8 days.

This "rest week" is not really a rest week for me because it has yoga twice.  I hate yoga.  It's been my worst spot so far.  Even the new DVD I got which is only 45 minutes sucks.  I have to do it tomorrow morning.  I am going to try so hard to complete it, but I just hate it so much.  I do get 2 days of stretching this week which is cool.  I was supposed to stretch today but ran out of time.  It's an optional rest day, so I did that.  :)  But I'll get to stretch twice this week in prep for the beginning of Phase 2, so no biggie.

Anyway, I should try and get some sleep.  Muscle grows while you rest. ;)

Let's hope Yoga goes better tomorrow...dear God, please, heh...

These pictures are from Friday, February 19th, 2010:

Weight: 215.2

I woke up eagerly this morning to take pictures and grab my new weight.  My eagerness, turned to disappointment.

Weight: 215.2

I have to admit that I let it get me down for a little bit.  I was really hoping to be around 212 or so.  It's been nearly 2 weeks and I've only lost 3 pounds.  But I decided to not let it rattle me too long and had a pretty good work out for legs and back.  I still can't do any pull-ups.  I am doing completely assisted pull-ups with a chair.  The leg exercises were tough but I was able to complete almost everything to some degree.  I was beat after the workout.  I was pretty drained and immediately drank my recovery drink and rested before cooking breakfast.  

I'm feeling pretty upbeat today despite a fairly disappointing weigh-in.  I am trying to trick myself in to thinking that its because I am gaining muscle that the scale isn't going down as quick as I want.  I know it's only been 11 days since I started and progress is progress; I think I was just hoping for some miracles.  I'm going to keep hacking away and keeping my chin up.

I cooked a turkey burger this morning to eat during lunch today.  Anything I can do to keep myself from eating a salad every day is going to make things a lot better.  Tonight is going to be left over halibut.  The halibut is over priced.

Well Yoga this morning was an utter failure; it was even worse than last time.  The hot chick from the ab's DVD is on the Yoga video too, but it still wasn't motivation enough to continue with the disc.  I stopped even earlier than last time.  I do not like the poses; I do not like the transitions; I find the routine to be boring and frustrating.  I don't like standing still with my arms out.  I just do not like Yoga, but the P90X message boards seem to be adamant that it's important.  I don't want to waste a full day of exercising because I don't like the work out.  Somebody on the forum suggested a different 45 minute Yoga tape made by the same company that may be a better start for beginners.  Maybe I can try that and ramp my way up to the P90X disc.  I may try and get a copy this weekend.

I had soy sausage for breakfast.  The soy sausage actually tastes similar to regular sausage, with obviously a lot less fat.  However, I never really cared much for sausage, so yah...

Lunch was a salad...how glorious.

Dinner will be leftover chicken and green beans.  Food is so awesomely terrible.  Why is it that the best tasting foods are bad for you but the most boring foods are good for you?  It would seem that God got the human tongue wrong when he created the world.  This seems like such a SIMPLE thing evolution could have worked out before I was born.  Thanks for nothing, universe.

Tomorrow I'll step on the scale again and take some more unflattering pictures.  Week #2 is coming to a close.  I feel like I can do this another 2 weeks pretty solidly.  By that point Phase II starts.  The meals become a little different and I think the work outs change up a little bit.  I would like to be able to see some noticeable changes after 4 weeks of eating boring food and waking up early to work out.  The number on the scale is a little less important to me than the shape in the mirror.  

I realized that Lost should have a new episode every week for the remainder of my training.  I think I end my training 2 weeks before the finale, so that's something to hold on to I suppose.  This weeks episode was awesome and am looking forward to next week.  I like having Lost on Tuesday because it makes the start of the week not so terrible.

It's been nearly a week since I updated; doh!

First weigh-in (Day #5).

Weight: 215.8





I lost nearly 3 pounds in only 4 days of P90X.  I don't think the pictures show much, but I like having them for posterity sakes.  I have had a few people mention that my face already looks to be thinning, but I am not sure if that's true or if I've just advertised my goals to so many people that they're trying to be encouraging.

Looking forward, I hope that my weigh in Friday is successful.  I've had a better week this week than last.  I was able to do more of the exercises for a longer period of time than last week.  I've done 3 days of routines that I did last week and I think I have improved each time.  I'm still not bursting or exploding like I want to be, however.  I am still doing a vast amount of modification to be able to complete the discs, but hopefully these things will gradually improve.

I am not near as sore as I was last week, so I was a little worried I wasn't giving enough in my exercise.  I really try to do my best tho, so hopefully my body is already conditioning itself successfully.  Perhaps the recovery drink and stretching disc have helped me more than I realize... ;)

My main hassles right now are:
* Food
* Early mornings
* Ab Routine

The food is still boring.  I really need to find some more variety, but I am afraid to stray too far, especially because once I start cheating a little, it will turn in to cheating a lot.  So I'd rather be boring than to spice up my meals and fail.  Breakfasts are "okay" and I can stomach dinners, but lunches are the worst.  I have no time to make a lunch, so I normally bring a salad to work or get a salad from Burger King.  I'm getting tired of romaine.

Here's a typical breakfast:



I am ready for this cold weather to be over.  It sucks going in to the garage, tired at 5 AM, and having it be so cold.  It's like everything that could be bad is bad: tired, cold, have to exercise.  Of course, once it gets warm, I will probably complain that it gets too hot in the basement and that I wish it was cold again.  I'm never happy.

The ab routine is tough.  It's Monday, Wednesday and Friday for 15 minutes.  I finally concluded I am not going to be able to hit it in the morning and have decided to do it in the evenings when I get home from work.  This has worked out so far since it doesn't take long to do.  And I can do it in my bedroom if I need to.  The girl on the ab DVD is ridiculously hot, so I am glad I have to watch that DVD the most, but I suck at the exercises.  Some of them I can do okay, but I tire too soon.  I hope that I get better once my tummy gets a little smaller.

Today is Wednesday, so I will be doing abs when I get home from work.  Tomorrow is Yoga and I am fearing a repeat of last week's Yoga.  I am going to try my best and try to improve, but I just suck so bad at it.

Oh yah, last Saturday was Kempo X or something like that.  It was a bunch of punching and kicking.  It wasn't too bad.  It was basically cardio and it was on a Saturday so I slept in a little bit before doing it.  I am going to try and bring more intensity this Saturday, but we'll see how that goes!

I'm resisting the urge to weigh myself because I want to see improvements on the scale.  At the same time I am fearing how I will react if I do not lose a couple pounds from last Friday.  It's a lot of effort to go through and not see some measurable results.

Yesterday was arms and shoulders and today was Yoga day.  Yesterday wasn't too bad because I was able to adjust the amount of weight I was using.  I switched between different weights depending on how I was feeling.  I still need to be able to push more, but I was able to get thru the entire DVD without quitting, unlike today.  I could not get thru the Yoga video.  It started out nice and relaxing and then started getting rough.  The stances are difficult since I don't have the best balance and am not very flexible.  The majority of the time is spent going in and out of plank/down dog stance where its basically like holding a push-up.  My chest and arms are still recovering from Monday, so it was rough constantly hitting those poses before going in to harder stances.  Then the stances just got outrageous where you're supposed to be standing on one foot with the other foot in the air and arms extended everywhere.  I just got to the point where I couldn't do any more of the poses and turned it off.  I think I made it about 30 minutes, which is disappointing.  It was very frustrating.  I hope that I can improve, but I am not feeling optimistic about the yoga.  I think tomorrow is legs and back.  I hope that goes a lot better than the Yoga today.

Breakfast today was soy sausage and wheat english muffin.  It started out ok, but got boring quickly and was so difficult to finish.  So dry and not too tasty.  I am tired of eating salad for lunch.  And the dinners are not much more exciting.  I had a dream already that I was eating a hamburger and drinking soda and I felt guilty in the dream.  What a fun life I've built for myself. :)

Anyway, status quo.  Food is no fun, exercise is no fun.  Weigh in tomorrow to see if all of this "no fun" has made any progress at all...  With the way my life has been going, I am anticipating a weight *gain*...

Plyometrics ("jump training") day for day #2.  It was very difficult and I couldn't get through the whole thing.  Lots of cardio and I was winded in the first 20 minutes.  I had to rest a lot more than I wanted, but hopefully I will ramp up in endurance.

Breakfast was a protein shake that was pretty good.  Had a small salad for lunch and salmon left over from last night for dinner.  It was alright, still a little more cooking than I would like.  Tomorrow is a lot of chicken to cook in the morning.  I hope I am not late for work because of it.  Set my alarm to wake up 15 minutes early so I am getting up at 5:00 AM on the dot.

My muscles are sore from yesterday's chest and back exercises.  My arms and chest feel bruised.  It was hard to take off my shirt tonight.  I was worried that I wasn't putting in good effort working out, but I suppose it's sufficient if I am aching like this.  My friends suggest that it will get easier and that the general soreness should subside in a few weeks, so I am looking forward to that.  If I can keep with it and see some results, then it will be motivating to keep it up and increase my intensity.  However it's only day 2 and I'm finding parts of this rather difficult.  Not to the point of abandoning the routine, but it IS quite an adjustment.  I hope that I find these measures to have been worthwhile.

It's late and I better get in bed.  Lost was kind of a stinker tonight which sucks.  Only a few episodes left.  I hope next weeks is better.

Well morning #1 didn't go so well.  Mushroom omelet was on the menu for breakfast and I decided to eat before working out.  The mushrooms made me sick and I felt like vomiting the whole time.  It was difficult to get through any of the routines due to physical limitations and nausea.  I will be having no more mushroom omelets.  I also read today to work out on an empty stomach so I won't be eating before the work out anymore which will hopefully help.  I think I could have put more effort in to working out if I didn't feel like garbage.

The meal plan sucks and requires too much cooking.  I'm not a fan of it at all.  Its too much food for me right now.  I am worn out from not getting enough sleep and don't want to cook dinner tonight but the fish is already thawing in the refrigerator.

I didn't have time to do the "Ab Ripper X" work out as scheduled today.  I am going to have to set my alarm even earlier than it's already set so I can get up with enough time to do anything.

In general, I am fairly unhappy.  Stay tuned.

I'm starting P90X on Monday.

Brandon told me about the program on the way back from the Chik-Fil-A dodgeball tournament in Richmond back in October.  My brother bought it for me for Christmas.  I've been waiting until after the Super Bowl to begin.  I didn't want the enjoyment of watching football and eating bad foods and drinking good drinks to get in the way of my concentration and progress.  I let my weight get a little bit higher than I've wanted and I'm completely out of shape and would like to get back in to an athletic body and continue to enjoy playing sports.

I'm going to try and follow the P90X meal plan as close as possible.  I am a picky eater so this is going to be the biggest challenge of all.  Just identifying all the ingredients needed for one day took a long time.  And then all of the cooking required...yikes.  But I've never had a sound workout plan or a sound meal plan so this should be the perfect solution.

I stopped by Lowes and grabbed a Weight Watchers scale.  I weighed in to get my Pre90X weight and took a couple of "before" pictures.

Weight: 218.4 





The plan is to continually update this blog with daily progress and thoughts including an overview of my fatigue and food intake.  I am going to update my weight every Friday and take new pictures to put next to the numbers.  I'd like to get under 200 lbs by the end of the 90 days and to have my stomach cut down to a reasonable size. ;)  My limbs are pretty sound, but my core has gotten hilarious.

It's going to be a lot of work, but I've been focused on it and been looking forward to the challenge, so hopefully I'll have some good results.

I guess we'll see how it goes come Monday morning.