Day 17 - Arms and Shoulders

Day 17 - Arms and Shoulders
05/18/2011
Today's weight: 195.4
Today's body fat %: 20%

Nice back bounce on the scales. Some good eating with some light eating with some exercise does the body good. Another thought to keep in mind is 195 is a plateau region for me. My body doesn't want to weigh much more or less than this and I have to be extreme to get myself out of that zone.

Arms and shoulders again today. I really like this workout till the end and he makes me get in a seated position and curl from my knees. It's uncomfortable and difficult by itself but moreso because I've been working out close to 40 minutes or so by then.

Day 16 - Plyometrics MISSED

Day 16 - Plyometrics MISSED
05/17/2011
Today's weight: 196.6
Today's body fat %: 20.5%

My work schedule already cost me and I missed my first workout since I started. I couldn't work out in the morning because I had to go to Lebanon to pick-up a poker table I won on Ebay. The workday wore me down and I wanted to go out when I got home instead of work-out thinking I'd make it up at night, but I was too tired to do that.

I had another uptick on the scale. I took it easy on food quantities today to make up for it: cereal for breakfast, veggie burger for lunch, and oatmeal for dinner. Weight will be lost ... mark my words, weight will be lost.

Day 15 - Arms and Chest

Day 15 - Arms and Chest
05/16/2011
Today's weight: 196
Today's body fat %: 20%

My work schedule is all jacked up this week. I have to go in late and work late plus I have errands I need to try to work in before work that I would normally do after work. Today was Arms and Chest and the "Diamond Pushups" are still really tough and I don't foresee a day when the won't be. We had chicken for dinner. It's been a tasty, reliable staple for us.

Day 14 - REST

Day 14 - REST
05/15/2011
Today's weight: 195.4
Today's body fat %: 19%

Today was a welcome day off plus a cheat day on the dinner plate. We had a belated Mother's Day celebration at the BlackHorse Brewery and Victoria and I had the same meal as last week: Heart Attack (meat lover's pizza) with Beer Chips and Cheese. The pizza was a medium: 4 slices each.

Day 13 - Kenpo

Day 13 - Kenpo
05/14/2011
Today's weight: 195.2
Today's body fat %: 18%

I'm behind on my blog, but I do have entries for each day. The next 5 entries are all coming from memory, though.

Today was a good day on the scale and the best body fat % I can remember getting in a while.

My brother came over to do Kenpo with me. He said he'd like to workout with me every day, but our schedules don't really line-up on the other days to make it feasible. We were both sweating pretty good. It's a fun workout that continues to test my coordination with the combination of punches. It starts out with jabs then adds hooks and then uppercuts and puts them together in a flurry of quick combinations. It's not rocket science, but it does take some getting used to.

Day 12 - Legs and Back

Day 12 - Legs and Back
05/13/2011
Today's weight: 195.4
Today's body fat %: 18%

After having a bad day on the scale yesterday, I was pleased to see a positive bounce back with my lowest weigh-in and lowest body fat % in this short 12 day journey thus far. When I was losing weight back in 2007 to 2008, I LOVED going out and really working out hard and eating evern better and light er than normal the next day to reverse the trend. I treat it like a battle against these evil forces trying to keep you from having the body you're searching for. I take it personally.

Another round of Legs and Back. It's still really tough during the last fifteen minutes. The wall squats REALLY sting. I haven't had to do those since middle school and they burn. But, overall, it's still one of the more "fun" workouts for me.

Here's a few photos of my workout space. Girlfriend and puppy not included :)

Day 11 - CARDIO

Day 11 - CARDIO
05/12/2011
Today's weight: 197.4
Today's body fat %: 20%

I was a little disappointed to see my weight spike up so high this morning. It could be due to a lot of factors unrelated to my effort, so it prompted me to create another account at PhysicsDiet dot com to track my weight. That site has a nice feature that keeps up with your average weight so if you have an off day on the scales, like I did, it helps you keep it in perspective. According to THAT site, I've lost half a pound versus today which would only be 0.2 pounds taken in a vacuum. It doesn't sound like a big difference, but from my experience, it does make a difference to see that your weight loss trend is actually going DOWN on days when it looks like it may be going up or breakeven.

As you can guess from the Title, I've also decided I'm scrapping Yoga for Cardio - more to the point, running. For starters, I miss getting outside and running. Next, in the past, I've had my best weight loss days after a good, intense running workout and what better day to get that than after a bad morning on the scales? I ran three miles @ a 9:30 minute mile pace and it felt the best it's felt this year. I wasn't fatigued nearly as early as I had been and I finished stronger than I have been.

I went light on dinner just having some chicken and a protein shake. My meals before dinner were standard.

Day 10 - Arms and Shoulders

Day 10 - Arms and Shoulders
05/11/2011
Today's weight: 196.4
Today's body fat %: 19%

Drat. I'm pretty sure Blogger deleted one completed, published post and another I had started, saved and was almost finished. I'll retrace what I remember from this day. My food was back to normal leading up to dinner where I had Tuna Steaks, Jambalaya Rice, and Vegetables (Red peppers, onions, and squash). Exercise wise, this was a fun day partly because I wasn't panting for air as much as I was during my last workout, but I was able to pump some iron. Even before P90x I will periodically do curls and this workout has a lot of curling. I also like the shoulder dips. For the first time that I can remember, I wasn't almost completely spent with 15 minutes left to go. It wasn't until 10 minutes left to go that I was really hurting :)

Day 9 - Plyometrics

Day 9 - Plyometrics
05/10/2011
Today's weight: 196.2
Today's body fat %: 20.5%

Today's workout seemed really intense - moreso than I remembered it last time. I was dripping sweat by the end. I think I'm getting more flexible and conditioned which means I can do more and work harder which means I end up more tired. That's my theory anyway. Victoria's brother Taylor came over to workout, too.

Foodwise, I was a little rushed all day and had to improvise a little. Oatmeal again with protein powder for breakfast. Protein bar for snack and then a whole one for lunch. String cheese snack. After work, I worked out, went to trivia, and then went to my comedy show. I didn't really have time to make a dinner at home on par with what I've been eating. I successfully resisted bad Mexican food at trivia only drinking a diet soda and not even having any chips. However, for dinner, I had to compromise and find something fast food that would be suitable. I went to Subway and got a 6'' melt with the lowest fat chips they offer @ only 75 calories a bag. The melt isn't the BEST sandwich you can get, but it's not the worst either weighing in @ 380 calories. In total, I probably only took in 1500 calories, so I'm not going to complain.

Day 8 - Arms and Chest

Day 8 - Arms and Chest
05/09/2011
Today's weight: 195.8
Today's body fat %: 20%

Today was another round of Arms and Chest. I still struggled with reps to a degree, but my conditioning seemed a lot better than last week. I was able to do the diamond push-ups much better than last week plus the dive bomber push-ups didn't give me as much coordination problems as last week either.

I was a bit lazy on cooking at both lunch and dinner: oatmeal with protein powder for breakfast, protein bar for lunch, and veggie burger with protein shake for dinner.

Day 7 - REST

Day 7 - REST
05/08/2011
Today's weight: 196.4
Today's body fat %: 20.5%

I think it says in the Bible that God created the earth in 6 days, and rested on the 7th day. I'm not God, I didn't create the earth, but in the P90x workout, I have completed 6 workouts and am allowed to rest on the 7th day. Despite that, I'm planning to go to the Clarksville Greenway and run maybe 5 miles or so if the heat isn't too prohibitive.

I am encouraged that I lost exactly a pound in a week on P90x. That would be a nice trend to continue and put me near 185 lbs when the 90 days has been completed.

My plans for meals include oatmeal with protein powder for breakfast, protein shake for lunch, and Swordfish with green beans for dinner. I haven't used my cheat dessert during week 1. I'll probably skip it. Looking forward this week for cheat meals, we have a belated Mother's Day celebration next Sunday at the Blackhorse Brewery and I'll definitely be using one for that. I also have a birthday part to go to Saturday for my girlfriend's niece and I suspect we may use a cheat dessert for that day.

EDIT: I ended up cashing in that cheat dessert with a mini-blizzard of the Heath flavor variety. They're pretty small, but also pretty darn tasty :)

Day 6 - Kenpo

Day 6 - Kenpo
05/07/2011
Today's weight: 197
Today's body fat %: 20.5%

Today was Kenpo. It's like martial arts and boxing, like what I imagine Tae Bo to be. This was a pretty fun workout throwing punches and kicking. Although, early on I was reminded how much flexibility I lack. Plus I was also challenged by some of the coordination at times, too, as there were several combinations of jabs, hooks, and undercuts. All and all, though, not a bad workout at all.

Weekends for food vary compared to weekdays because I typically sleep in and don't have 3 square meals and 2 snacks. This morning, breakfast was a protein shake, lunch was some left over grilled chicken and wild rice with protein powder sprinkled on it, and dinner was another protein shake.

Day 5 - Legs and Back

Day 5 - Legs and Back
05/06/2011
Today's weight: 197.2
Today's body fat %: 20.5%

I've been really tired lately. If I lay down after work, a nap is inevitable. At night when I lay down, I'm very tired. When my alarm goes off in the morning? ... Oh yeah, I'm tired. You see people talk about how much energy a work out program or food plan gives them, but so far I'm not feeling it. I hope it gets better sooner rather than later. I'll just have to try to hang on until it does. I could be crashing this weekend though for some sleeping in.

Today's work-out was legs and back. I think I fared best in this work-out as my legs have historically been in the best shape of all my body parts because I like to run, jump, and play basketball. All the same, it still wasn't easy and I was really tired at the end like all the other work-outs.

Victoria and I decided to cash in on our cheat meal today and went with the Blackhorse Brewery and Pub where we enjoyed Beer Chips and Cheese along with a meat lovers pizza AKA The Heart Attack. We got a medium to make sure we didn't have any left overs.

Day 4 - Yoga

Day 4 - Yoga
05/05/2011
Today's weight: 197.8
Today's body fat %: 20.5%

My weight doesn't seem to want to change yet, which I find a little odd since I'm definitely working out harder than I normally would AND eating better than I normally would. I suspect it's either my body trying to resist something new or maybe muscle building canceling out fat loss: probably the former as there hasn't been enough time for the latter. It could just be random noise, too, from a low sample size. No worries either way ... however, I do feel like going for a run on my day off to try to kick start something. We'll see ...

Today was Yoga. As advertised, it was really difficult. I only made it through 30 minutes of a full hour and a half before I had to succumb to the pain. I did, however, finish the next 30 minutes running 3 miles. So, it wasn't a total loss. Maybe next time I can get 45 minutes to an hour of Yoga. Again, we'll see ...

For dinner, grilled chicken, wild rice again because I didn't have any quinoa, and half of a spicy bean burger veggie burger because I didn't have any peas. Well, technically I did have peas, but they were best used by April of 2008, so I threw them in the garbage. I stand by my decision. I washed it down with water and a protein shake.

Day 3 - Arms and Shoulders

Day 3 - Arms and Shoulders
05/04/2011
Today's weight: 197.8
Today's body fat %: 20%

Today was arms and shoulders. I felt better today, too, although I think my form and effectiveness suffers a lot towards the end of these workouts. Also, after eating 6 ounces of Halibut, one cup of wild-rice, and a little bit of squash, I was also pretty hungry after dinner: more-so than the past two days.

Tomorrow is the dreaded yoga. I actually wasn't dreading it myself, but I've heard from three separate people that it is tough and not enjoyable. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

Day 2 - Plyometrics

Day 2 - Plyometrics
05/03/2011
Today's weight: 197.8
Today's body fat %: 19%

Today was plyometrics and involved a lot of vertical and lateral jumping. I think I did this better on this day than all the push-ups I did yesterday but I was hurting pretty bad in the last 15 minutes. I've noticed that right around the time I'm tired enough where I'd probably be stopping my own personal workouts, we end up going another 15 minutes or so with P90x, which will undoubtedly lead to good gains.

Food wise is generally the same up to dinner with oatmeal for breakfast, protein bar mid-morning snack, veggie burger lunch, and string cheese mid-afternoon snack. For dinner tonight, I had 6 ounces of turkey with wild-rice with a small glass of milk with 1 tablespoon of protein powder. I was supposed to make some soup and gravy for the turkey, but I piddled around and didn't have time. Then, an hour later, I had a canned protein shake drink.

I'm going to have to piecemeal these fitness test results. I did 25 push-ups on day 1. I'll do more tests in the upcoming days and eventually summarize them all.

Below are the official before pictures:


The key to a good BEFORE photo, I think, is to look generally sad and pathetic.



Mission accomplished.






Oops, I forgot not to smile :o













They said to most more pictures after Phase 1 is complete, which I believe is after the month.

Day 1 - Arms and Chest

Day 1 - Arms and Chest
05/02/2011
Today's weight: 197.6
Today's body fat %: 21%

Yesterday, on Monday 05/02/2011, I started P90x. This is a popular fitness program, but not for everyone. In 2007, I lost a lot of weight dropping from 244.4 pounds to 188 pounds in one year. I ended up getting down as low as 183, but I had to work REALLY hard to keep it that low and ended up letting my body settle around 195 long term where I was working out a reasonable amount and eating a reasonable amount of junk food. I chose P90x mainly because I think it is one of the best options to help me get my body ultimately where I would like to have it. My main focus in 2007 was simply losing weight. After you lose the weight, I think MOST people have one of two paths they would like to take: get ripped (think Calvin Klein underwear models) or bulk up (think Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson). I personally would prefer to get ripped. Another reason I decided to try P90x is because my brother used it and had success as well.

I looked over the food and exercise plan. I hope to stick with both, however, I do think I'll have to tweak the food plan a bit. The meals in P90x are very detailed and specific. They include recipes for a wide variety of foods. Fortunately, I was able to get my girlfriend on board to eat these meals with me. It'll be difficult enough on its own but even more so if the person you spend the most time with is eating junk-food. The big drawback to completely following the meal plan is that it requires a LOT of cooking. I've decided I'm going to follow the dinner plan and the before and after lunch snacks. But, for breakfast, I'm going to stick with my oatmeal. For lunch, I'm going to stick with my veggie burgers. Sure, there would probably be some added benefit to get the nutrients and VARIETY advocated by P90x, but I just don't feel like there's enough benefit to justify all that extra work. Because I love sleep, I give myself no time to make breakfast at home. Because I'm at work, I want something easy to pack and make at work.

Also, P90x has no cheat meals and I think that's pretty extreme. I'm going to have one cheat meal and one cheat dessert per week.

My official weigh-in weight was 197.6 with 21% body-fat and my weight after my first workout was 197.8 with 19% body fat.



The workout was arms and chest and pretty intense. Those guys LOVE doing pushups and pullups and by the end I was close to failure. But, I was able to get through it and not feel defeated.

Today, Day 2, I need to follow-up and do two things I should have already done: take some before pictures and take the fitness test.

Below are some pictures of the food I bought and ate:


Salmon, Wild Rice, and Asparagus


Protein Powder - lots of protein, low carbs and fat


My favorite prepackaged, canned protein drink


These are a little higher in fat than I'd prefer, but taste good and lots of protein.