P90X, Day 3

Wow... Those P90X workouts are pretty intense. So far I am off to a good start, 3 days, 3 workouts. I have yet to finish a workout due to running out of steam and time. These workouts are pretty hard. I know if I keep at it, I'll be able to finish them at some point and be screaming for more.

I did chest, shoulders and arms today and I can already tell I am going to be VERY SORE come Friday. I'm sore from Monday's workout so I can only imagine how it will be after todays... I still haven't done the Ab workout even thought I was supposed to have done it Monday and today...

I think one of the things missing from my life has been exercise. The last 2 days at work, I have felt pretty good all day and I think this is directly due to getting in this exercise. The past several months, my attitude has been slipping but it seems like by working out, I am able to deal with things much better than before...

I didn't follow my diet yesterday and wound up having lunch today even thought Iwas scheduled for a meal replacement. I'll make up for that by having a meal replacement for dinner...

Starting anew again

After visiting my fitness/weight loss blog, I realized that i haven't posted in over a year...jeesh... Oh well.

A quick update on my weight loss efforts. I finished the weight loss portion of the HMR diet at the end of 2006 getting my weight down to around 215 lbs. I was able to maintain that weight through the holidays as I moved to the maintenance program for 6 months. Once in maintenance, I gained back 5 pounds but was able to consistently maintain 220 lbs. I was not having too many problems eating right but making sure I kept up on my exercise was the issue.

Then at the of May 2007 (May 24th to be exact), I was able to transfer to another office within my organization. It was taking a demotion but the job was much better. The work is more interesting, better promotion potential and I actually liked the people I worked with. It was very nice to be able to laugh at work once again. My last office seemed like working in funeral home, I worked there from 11/1/2001 to 5/24/2007. It was always so solemn and serious. Because of that, i was able to get my work done and still focus on my weight loss and fitness.

Long story short, now that I am in a better environment with people I liked (and thus had lunch with more frequently), the weight has gradually crept up since May. Combine the holidays with a new child being born in October, the diet and exercise plan went completely out the window.

I was saying over the holidays I was needing to start something new and have decided to use the exercise portion of the P90X plan with my HMR diet plan. I borrowed the exercise DVD's from a friend so I could see if they work for me before I plunk down the $$ and have to deal with the pushy salespeople at beachbody.com.

I started with the Shoulder and back routine this morning. I couldn't finish the workout and was supposed to do the Ab Ripper X workout as well. Wow, it was pretty tough stuff.

So far the diet is off to a good start, I have had 4 HMR shakes (400 calories) and 1 snack bar (170 calories) so far today. I am fighting the mental hunger pangs right now of it being lunch time and I am not eating something.

My goal on this is to lose at least 22 pounds to get back below 220 lbs. I really want to fit loosely into size L t-shirts and size 36 pants or jeans once again. My Large t-shirts are starting to get a little tight for my comfort and so are the pants. I really loved it when the L t-shirts were hanging off me this time last year.

I think I have the motivation so I can keep it up. Right now the main problem will be getting the workouts done. My plan is do the workout from 5:30 to 6:30 in the morning and hopefully either I wake up on time (I was late this morning) OR the baby will cooperate and sleep during that time. The little guy (our second) is starting to sleep better so this might be an opportune time start this program....

After Week #10

Crap…I keep forgetting to post to this ☺

I missed my class for Week # 10 on Tuesday but made it up on Thursday evening. For week #10, I lost 1.8 pounds which brings my total weight loss to 37.2 pounds.

I had a 5 pound loss on week # 8 which was great motivation since I had small losses the previous two weeks (2.7 and 1.5 pounds). I was getting a little frustrated those two weeks even though I think the big reason for the small loss was eating outside of the diet.

This week, I did eat off the diet twice, at a watch party for the Arkansas/South Carolina game on Saturday night and Sunday night after a funeral. So I suppose a 1.8 pound loss was ok because I ate bad on both of those occasions. I really need to pay attention to my eating after I get off this diet because I know it could very easily come back if I don’t watch it.

My goals for Week 11 are:
1. Stay on the diet all 7 days
2. At least 4,500 physical activity calories
3. Weigh at least 219.9 lbs at my weight in next Tuesday

I’ve been keeping my activity level up as well. I’ve been running and working on a Nordic Track or elliptical to get it done. I really need to start weight training very soon as well. I think that would be a good change of pace because I may be over-training on the cardio because during this morning’s run I felt very tired.

There are just 2 more weeks of this class. After this is done, I can either go to the ongoing class or move to maintenance. At this point, I think I want to go to the ongoing class until the end of the year and the move to maintenance because I still want to get another 20 or so pounds off.

I can’t begin to describe how much better I feel since I have done this. My activity level has drastically increased, my mood has improved and I feel more rested. I haven’t fallen asleep at work since I started this program and I am becoming an exercise fanatic! I am so glad I did this program and I really want to keep it up and not gain this weight back…

The End of Week # 8...doing good!

Once again, I have failed to post to this blog on a regular basis…. Oh well…

I just did my weight in tonight at the end of week 8 of the diet and got a great surprise!! After 2 semi-disappointing weeks…. I had a 5 pound loss this week to bring my 8 week total to 33.5 pounds!!! The last 2 weeks had been a little frustrating given my “small” weight loss each week…

My losses the last few weeks were:
Week 5: 4 pounds
Week 6: 2.7 pounds
Week 7: 1.5 pounds

I was very disappointed at the end of week 7 because I thought had a good week plus the pattern I was seeing at that point was a week with a “good” loss followed by a week with a “smaller” loss so I thought I was due for “good” loss but it turned out not to be.

I am just over half way to my initial goal of losing 60 pounds. My wife and several of my friends are saying that is going to be too much given my body type but I think it would be really cool to say “you know…I could stand to gain a few pounds.” LOL At this point, if I lose between 40 and 50 pounds, that would be fine IMHO.

Actually, I want to drop my body fat down to around 15% where its probably around 25% right now (starting BF% was around 33%). I have gotten most of the “easy” weight off and now I hopefully will start losing more body fat and get that percentage down. Once I get the weight off, I want to start weight training to tone up and slightly increase my muscle mass but I don’t want to bulk up…

Overall I have been very pleased with how things are going. I was worried after last week because I thought I would have passed the 30 pound mark by now but I finally did it so now I can start working on the 40 pound loss mark…

We are starting to discuss the transition to maintenance since the class ends in 4 weeks. At that time, we have the option of moving to an ongoing class or transitioning to maintenance. The last class is the week of Thanksgiving and I am thinking about moving to the ongoing class for about 3 or 4 weeks then going to maintenance depending on my weight loss. If I settle out at around 40 to 50 pounds lost, I will admit I will not be that disappointed though…

Nervous about Week 4 Weigh In.....

I’m getting nervous about my week 4 weigh-in today. I have done a great job on my physical activity but I did not do a great job staying within the diet. On Saturday I ate some snacks including fried cheese at a watch party for the Arkansas/Alabama game and yesterday I ate out for lunch. Given it was grilled catfish but it was still not following the diet.

My exercise consisted of 4,400 calories worth of effort which included walking stairs for 60 minutes, 4.1 miles of running and 95 minutes on my Nordic Track ski machine. I am glad I did meet my PA goal of 4,000 calories for the week.

I guess we’ll see in a few hours how much weight I have actually lost. I am guessing it will be around 4 pounds…

Week 4, Day 2

Wooooooooooohooooooooooo! My week 3 weight loss was 6.9 pounds!!!! I was in total shock standing there on the scale in the clinic. I was guessing 4.5 pounds and the calculations of calorie deficit and exercise were predicting 5 to 5 ½ pounds so this was totally unexpected.

My numbers for last week are:
Weight Loss: 6.9 pounds
Total Loss to date: 18 pounds (in 3 weeks)
“Days in the Box”: 7/7
Physical activity calories: 3327 (Goal for next week: 4,000 calories)

Boy, this is some motivation to keep going. I did fairly well last week on “staying in the box” and was able to kick my exercise up a notch. I started climbing stairs in our building twice a day. Ok, I’m in only a 3 story building to its 3 stories up and back down but at least I’m moving. I started off at 10 minutes per session and was able to move it up to 15 minutes per session within a few days.

I also started running in the mornings as well. I ran 1.8 miles Wednesday morning at a 13:17 minute per mile pace and this morning, I ran 2.3 miles at a 13:42 minutes per mile pace. Ok, it was a little bit slower but the distance was longer.

I think the stair climbing is helping my aerobic capacity as well. I have a 1.8 mile loop in my neighborhood that I typically run. In the past, I could go about 0.8 or 0.9 miles before I would need to take my first walk break and after that, my endurance would be shot so I could not run very far after that without another “break.” Well yesterday I was able to go 1.6 miles without walking and I think the only reason I had to was because I came up a rather large hill that kind of wore me out. After I walked for about 2 minutes, I was able to run the remaining 0.2 miles back home. This morning I got up to 1.6 miles before I hit that hill and had to take a walk break.

I did fairly well on my eating last week. I fudged a little bit. I made homemade mac and cheese for my family on Sunday for lunch and I did sample a bit (maybe 2 or 3 tablespoons) and I substituted a “Lean Cuisine” for one of my entrees on Monday but it was one of the lower calorie ones.

I am really pumped up over this weight loss. My 20 year high school class reunion is next weekend and if I can turn in another weight loss like this week, I will weigh what I did when I graduated from college. That is too cool! Plus I will be within a few pounds of half way to my goal weight loss of 60 pounds…

Week 3, Day 2

I had my second weigh in yesterday. I lost 2.8 pounds last week bringing my total weight loss to 11.1 pounds in the last 2 weeks. Overall, I am very happy with that weight loss because I ventured outside of the program over the weekend.

I went to the lake with friends Saturday and Sunday. Saturday night we ate out at a nice restaurant and I had grilled rainbow trout and on Sunday, I just ate off the program completely. I ate mostly turkey sandwiches and some snacks (cheese, triscuits, chips) but nothing was what I would consider to be in excess.

Overall, given that I strayed so far from the program food, I think I did ok with the loss. I know I could have lost a lot more if I had stayed within the program.

My goal this week is to stay within the program for all 7 days and increase my physical activity to a higher level. I got 3,500 calories worth of activity done last week. This week, I am shooting for 4,000.
My numbers so far are:
Week 1
Physical Activity: 2779 calories
“Stayed in the Box” 6 of 7 days
Weight Loss: 8.3 lbs

Week 2
Physical Activity: 3536 calories
“Stayed in the Box” 5 of 7 days
Weight Loss: 2.8 lbs

My goals for this week are:
1. “Stay in the box” (eating only food in the program) for all 7 days
2. Get my exercise calories up to at least 4,000 calories for this week
3. Do at least two of the following before class next Tuesday:
a. Weight training workout
b. Swim for 30 minutes
c. Bike ride for at least 45 minutes

My new brother in law is really fired up about me doing this program. He has been doing Nutri-System for a month or two and is a hard-core cyclist. He says me being on this diet has pumped him up to get back on his diet really hard especially since he has to lay off the cycling for a few weeks due to exhaustion. He is trying to talk me into running the Little Rock Marathon with him next March and doing a triathlon next spring as well…

I am waiting on a rebate check to arrive. Once that gets here, I should be ordering a new heart rate monitor to track my workouts better. I am looking at the Polar F11 most likely but I am may consider one of the HRM’s geared towards a triathlon as well…

Week 1, Day 3

Day 3 and I am starting to feel a little better.  Day 1 was hard, especially trying to break all of my “old” habits about food; going out for lunch at 11:30 on the dot, getting a McDonald’s cheeseburger on the way home from work if I wanted a “snack,”  eating some kind of a “snack” while cooking dinner (mostly junk food) and some kind of late night snack around 10 pm before bed.

Day 2 was a little easier and so far Day 3 is off to a good start.  The past 2 days, I walked out the door for work and forgot my shakes and snack bar and would have to run back home at lunch to pick them up.  I did good this morning by remembering them. :)

As part of this program, I call my teacher/coach mid way through my week, which for this class is on Thursday afternoons.  That call really invigorated me yesterday.  I wasn’t feeling down, I’m not sure how I was feeling but after the call, I really perked up.

She gave me 2 assignments:  have an extra shake today (6 instead of 5) and exercise for 10 minutes longer than my previous best effort.  This morning I ran 2.2 miles in 34:00 where I previously was running 1.8 miles in 25:00.  I didn’t quite make the 10-minute mark but I will make up for in the morning by doing 45 minutes on my Nordic Track ski machine.

I will have my first “big test” tonight because I am taking my son to an Arkansas Travelers game and my buddy Wes is going to eat “ball park food”/crap tonight and I’m sure I’ll get some for my son.  I am going to be strong on this because 4 months of sacrifice will be totally worth it to lose 60 to 75 pounds.  I am dedicated to succeeding at this endeavor.

Day #1

I’m halfway through the first day on the HMR diet and so far so good. I did get off to a rough start, I was running a little late this morning and walked out and left the sack I had with my shakes in it for the day. I had to back home at lunch for them and just had a shake while I was there.

I found myself having several “last meals” in the days leading up now. I had Larry’s Pizza twice for lunch, I had a double cheeseburger from Wendy’s Saturday night, a chili dog for lunch on Saturday, dinner at a Japanese steakhouse Sunday night and a Burger King Whopper as my “last last meal.” All in all, I actually had gained 3 pounds between my appointments a week and a half ago and my medical visit last night.

My weight last night was 260 lbs (yuck!)

My measurements (done Monday night) are as follows:

Neck: 17.25”
Chest: 44.5”
Abdomen/Gut: 45”
Waist: 41.25”
Biceps: 14”
Thigh: 25”

Based on the DOD formula for estimated body fat, I am at 31.2% body fat right now.

My goals for the next 4 months are to:

• Get my weight down to less than 200 pounds (60 pound weight loss)
  
• Continue exercising 4x’s a week and expend at least 2,000 calories
  
• “Stay in the Box” as much as possible
  
• Have 100% attendance on my classes
  
• Improve my running endurance and start training for the Little Rock Half Marathon in late October
  

4 Days and Counting….

I am finding myself having several “last meals” or “last treats” before I start the Baptist plan. Last night I bought some iced cookies at the grocery store that I usually try to avoid (I call them “crack cookies”) because I wind up eating too many of them in one setting and usually eat the whole box in a day or two.

Today I had lunch at Larry’s Pizza and overate….

I’ve only exercised once this week (Nordic Track for 20 minutes one morning). I know I WILL have to do better with that because I will need to have 2,000 calories worth of exercise per week.

If I follow my plan, that should not be too hard. I ran the numbers yesterday and an hour of running, cycling and Nordic Track all equate to about 900 calories each so if I can do something for 30 minutes a day for 5 days a week, that will mean I expend 2,250 calories which will put me over the top and this does not include working out with weights 2 days a week…

I’ve been thinking a little bit about what my reward(s) should be if I hit my goal weight or some intermediate rewards. I suppose I’ll try to finalize those this weekend and post them before Tuesday night…