Day 6 - Balance and Power

I made it to the end of week one.  I decided to get a balance ball and used it for the first time today.  It definitely makes some of the moves more of a challenge. I also got some Genisoy protein today and am starting to use it. I'm doing pretty well on calories so far today, but tonight is New Years eve, so usually means lots of snacking and watching movies.  Here's hoping I can resist eating too many snacks.

Day 5 - Ab Ripper and Yoga

I started out today with Ab Ripper since I wasn't able to finish it last night.  That was a great workout.  I was encouraged that I was able to get further into the reps on this one, but still a bit short of full reps.  I was amazed at how much it worked my abs.  It was way better than the leg lifts I was doing.

I then started into yoga and it seemed pretty doable at first, but very quickly turned into more of a challenge than I expected.  It was less about balance and more about the pain that comes from isolating muscles that have seen little impact before.  Wow, I'm glad I get a week before doing that again.

My wife ordered pizza for dinner, so I had one slide of cheese pizza and had more nutritious things like some raw carrots and and apple to supplement.  I'm well under my 1500 calories today, but not feeling hungry.  Feeling good so far.

Day 4 - Full body workout

Day 4 is also supposed to include a focused workout on the abs, but I ran out of time, so I had to settle for just the one workout routine.  Hopefully I can make up the abs workout before starting on yoga tomorrow.  I am not looking forward to yoga because my balance is terrible.  I guess that's the point, to work on things that are not easy.  Today's workout included a lot of pullups which felt good to do. I am still not even close to the reps they are doing, but I am encouraged that I'm able to do enough that I don't feel like this is a waste of my time.  Right now I am feeling the muscle pain in legs and backside the most.  No surprise, since I know they are the areas most in need of help for me.

After my workout our family went to a friends home for dinner.  It was not easy resisting the urge to have cupcakes and candy that they were serving, but I'm doing pretty well on my diet.  But, it seems I am currently not losing much weight.  I hope that's because I'm building muscle at the same time, but we shall see.

Day 3 - Rest day

I was hoping to do some stretching, but no energy.  Went to bed early.  Back to the fun tomorrow.

Day 2 - Plyocide

This should be called suicide. By the time I was done I was hurting, but I feel good about the fact that I was able to complete the reps on a couple of the routines.  I still can't last on things that require cardio endurance, but that will come in time.  I'm looking forward to the rest day tomorrow.

Day 1 - Feel the burn

Today I started on P90X2 with the first day routine of working on the core.  Wow, that was great, but I have a long way to go to be able to finish the reps they do in the videos.  I started the day doing the prep work to establish the baseline of what I'm able to do.  I also did some rock climbing with my daughter earlier in the day, so my arms were toast before even starting the core workout.

I was impressed with the amount of cardio I got from the workout even though the focus is on working the muscles.  I'm already looking forward to tomorrow to go through another session.  If I'm able to keep up with doing this on schedule then I will likely need to up my protein intake.  Diet today has been pretty minimal so far since I've been busy most of the day.  That's okay though because yesterday I ate plenty during Christmas.

Let the fun begin

This week I did weight training 4 times and got out walking with my wife 4 times since I was off all week.  I walked three miles each time and we were moving at a pretty good pace (15 min mile), so it was refreshing.  I also did pretty well at staying within calories.

Today I got P90X2 for Christmas and I'm starting to read through the materials.  I'm excited to get started tomorrow with the fit test to establish a baseline for the program.  My brother got me the chin-up bar and I plan to get the power bands tomorrow before starting the workout. It's Christmas, so I'm enjoying eating a bit more than usual today, but it's back to calorie counting tomorrow.  I hope to be tracking daily progress as I go through the routine over the next 90 days.  Bring on the pain.

Pushing through the holiday temptations

It's been a good week for dieting. I'm continuing to lose weight and I'm keeping up with the weight training.  I've lost another 2 pounds, so overall I'm down 10 from where I started.  Getting out to walk was harder this week because of weather and lunch-time conflicts.  I feel good about the fact that I completely avoided all of the temptations floating around work this week.  There were cookies everywhere and we even had a holiday dessert get together with hot chocolate, cookies, pastries and brownies that I avoided.  One of my co-workers gave me a plate of cookies for a holiday gift which I brought home for the kids.  None disappeared on the way home.  That was hard to resist.  I promised my daughter I would start rock climbing with her after the new year, so I still need to stay focused on getting some weight off.

I was able to get in 3 good pullups on the I-Beam during my workouts this week, so making a bit of progress.  Pushups are also getting a bit easier.  Three sets of 30 is now not as hard and I'm taking my time more and keeping better form throughout.  Three sets of 10 curls with 50 lbs. is getting too easy, so I plan to up the reps.

I just had a breakfast of two poached eggs and a piece of plan toast.  Very tasty and quite filling.  Sure beats the oatmeal I eat most mornings.

First plateau

Weighed in this morning and there is little change in weight.  The weekend was tough with attending two holiday parties and taking my Dad out to Lunch on Sunday after church.  How is a guy supposed to stay under 1500 calories per day with all of these things going on.  Oh well, at least I kept up the workouts.  I tried a couple of pullups on the I-Beam in the basement and I only manage two.  Not so good, but it's better than none.


Today I am back on track with the calories and just had a good workout while watching the 1951 version of Scrooge.  Life is good.

Dieting is no picnic

This week has been a bit harder to diet because of things like a fund-raiser at Buffalo Wild Wings and my company Christmas party.  I'm tracking my calories even if I don't like the numbers.  For the rest of the week my diet went fine.  I also have a church Christmas party on Saturday morning,  so I will see if I can continue to keep the calories in check.  I've worked out twice so far this week and plan to work out again on Saturday night.  My pushup count is starting to increase.  I'm almost up to 3 sets of 30.  Got to 30, 30 and 29 last night.  I Could not find the willpower to get that last one.  When the arms start shaking and you're not moving at all then it means it's time to stop.  My pants are starting to fit loser and my weight is now down to 180, so the plan is working so far.  I can even start to see a bit of a difference when I look in the mirror. 

The dream is still alive

I met with my brother and set the terms of our weight loss competition.  We weighed in and got things underway.  Less than a week later he is now giving up.  Well, that wasn't my main motivation anyway, but I was hoping he could be trying with me.  So, on I go continuing to try to prepare to not get killed by P90X when it arrives in less than a month.

This week I went for walks during lunch 3 days of the week.  It's getting cold out, but I figure if the path is clear and it's not raining or snowing then I have no excuse to not walk.  I also did my weight training for 3 days.  Less soreness now which means I need to up the reps a bit.  I need more cardio.  I played basketball this morning and was sucking wind most of the time.  Once I lose more weight I plan to get back into rock climbing.  My daughter climbs and it's great exercise.

I'm doing good at staying within my calorie count.  I stayed under 1500 every day since I last posted.  My stomach is rumbling some even right after eating because my body is consuming everything that comes in.  Good news is that my stomach capacity is starting to shrink, so soon enough it will take less for me to be full.  I'm drinking a lot more water now (about 60 ounces per day) and this is also helping me to feel full.  Breakfast today was 2 soft boiled eggs over a dry piece of toast.