Day 2 down, 10 Workouts to Go.

Yes I understand I am running a day behind with this blog, to be honest its tough not to. There may be days I am unable to blog as well, but to be honest, its helps me to stay honest with the healthy experience to write about it every day.

I made it through work out number two today. For me that’s pretty huge. I have tried several times to get going over the past year, but never got past day 1. I have only got through day 2 one other time and that’s when I did all 90.

One additional thing that has been helping with the motivation is a new Tony Horton Podcast, It just helps to

hear the additional motivation. I've also found his chats on utube which have been great as well. I think one of the most difficult things when trying to lose weight is the motivation on days when the pounds aren't flying off.

Another motivation I have set, it to get back under 300 by my Birthday. Which is November 19th. Ideally I would like to get there before November, but we will see if my body agrees.

How did the workout go you ask, Well it kicked my butt once again, that being said I still have the video memorized from 2 years ago. I will also openly admit my core was so sore by the end of the workout, I had to skip Ab Ripper. Although the idea of 100 crunches in a couple minutes was appealing I just wasn't up to it physically. Maybe I’ll get it on Thursday.

The Best Laid Plans

Well first off I must say I am impressed as I have not entered a new blog here in almost 2 years but I still have 10 to 20 readers a week.  Beyond that however the news is not good.  If you read the previous blog post I was finishing weight loss before a Disney trip.  My goal was 280 when we took the trip, and although I didn't get there until after one day on the trip.  I made 180 pounds. 

Then I decided to reward myself with the Epcot food and wine festival.  I don’t drink, but I did eat my way around the world, 38 locations each with an ethnic food to that region.  Some stops I tried everything on the menu.  From there I enjoyed much of the great food Disney has to offer.  I never do anything half way.  Big breakfasts, big lunches’ and big dinner’s made up the rest week, and as much Dole Whip as I could hold. 

Upon returning home, I knew I should get back to it, but it seemed like a lot of work, and I was still under 300.  I figured I would maintain for a while.  That Spring I my daughter got me back into the theatre.  I hadn't been on stage in years, I was worried about my weight with the dancing and such, but I stepped on a scale was only at 310.  Sure it was over 300 but having lost 100 putting on 30 didn't seem so bad. 

By the start of the next school year (I teach school) I had to go back to my old blue suit coat at 320 the new one no longer fit.  When I tried out for a play that winter I managed to get the lead role, but at 330 couldn't get my health under control the entire time. 

I spent the winter planning on starting to work out tomorrow.  First it was after the show.  Then after basketball season, then after the next show.  Finally I found myself being fitted for costumes for Les Miserables.  Stepping on the scale my weight is back up to 345.  Only down 35 pounds from my original 100 pound weight loss. 

Well after a weeks of feeling sorry for myself, and a week of messing with diet, I pulled out the old Power 90 disc, and got started.  The next t weeks are uber busy, but I stand the best chance of keeping with it if I make it public. 

So my first goal is two weeks of Power 90.  Let’s see if I can go on this adventure again…

1 Week Down and a New Milestone

A week ago I announced my 1 month plan to drop additional weight before vacation.  I am now 7 days in, and have been holding strong on my 1200 calories a day diet.  Although I didn’t weigh myself until day 3, I have been disappointed with the extremely slow weight loss.  Today I had a blip in the slow weight loss.

Throughout this summer I was never able to pull under 298.  It was a number that started to haunt me in my dreams.  Well this morning when I stepped on the scales it gave me the number 295.6.  I stepped on it three times to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.  So for the first time the scales have given me significant movement since June.  Also the first time I have seen 295 since my son was born.    Which means I am officially the lightest my kids have ever seen me, which is kind of awesome if you think about it.  Here is a look at my diet for the day (And I use the term diet simply as what I am eating today.)

Morning: Special K Protein Bar (180 Calories)

Mid Morning Snack: None

Lunch: 1 slice whole wheat bread, 2 oz starkest tuna, hardboiled egg, diced pears and apples in light syrup (298 Calories)

Mid Afternoon Snack: Hardboiled egg, 1 low fat string cheese (128 Calories)

Dinner:  1 cup chili with cheese (344 Calories)

Evening Snack: ¾ cup Honey Bunches of Oates, 1 cup skim milk,1 low fat string cheese (256 Calories)

Total for the day was 1206 calories.  This may be my closest to 1200 yet.  I even got in a workout last night, even if it was a small one.  I was getting hungry and decided to push out an Ab Ripper 200 instead of eating a snack cake.  I believe the right decision was made.  Well that is all for today.  Tomorrow I start the second week on my 1 month weigh down, I would love to drop another 5.  Until then…

Planning Ahead

Over the course of the last four months I have learned many things about trying to get healthy.  One of those is the importance of planning ahead.  But despite my good intentions, I was caught off guard when Power 90 ended a week ago.  So I started my low calorie diet with possibly some workouts mixed in.  So here I am almost to the end of week 1 and the possibly working out has remained just that, a possibility.  So I decided to do something about that, and today I ordered The Biggest Loser, Last Chance Workout. 

Now don’t worry I am not giving up on Beach Body, and I am looking forward to getting back at Power 90 Master Series in January, but I need something to do until that time.  And Last Chance Workout cost about $7.00, which is a major selling point for me.  So I am now watching my package shipping which looks like it will arrive on Wednesday so that will give me two weeks of last chance workouts before the Disney trip.  If everything goes well, I will complete the other four weeks when I return in November.  And I’ll give a review of this program when I finish.

On another topic I dropped another .4 pounds today, and did not feel constantly hungry like I did yesterday.  Here’s a look at my diet for today:

Morning: Special K Protein Bar (180 Calories)

Mid Morning Snack: None

Lunch: Shake, *1 cup skim milk, 1 cup whey protein, 1 banana, 1 cups blueberries (410 Calories)

Mid Afternoon Snack: Hardboiled egg, 1 tbsp peanut butter (173 Calories)

Dinner:  1 cup chili with cheese (364 Calories)

Evening Snack: 1 mini bag Jolly Time popcorn (110 Calories)

Things seemed to go really smoothly today even if it was another day without a workout.  So tomorrow we will get that workout back in there, and I’ll tell you all about it then…

So Hungry…

It’s funny how some days 1200 calories can do the trick and other days I am dying.  Today has been the second sort of day.  Food wise I was very close to where I have been every other day, yet an hour after breakfast I was starving.  I ate lunch, but by 4 my stomach was actually growling.  Then thirty minutes after dinner I was scanning the kitchen for a snack. 

On top of all of this, my lovely wife decided to bake for the kids tonight, so as I am sitting in the living room trying to focus on not eating she is standing in the kitchen making up an amazing apple crisp.  But for those of you wondering I did not fall into temptation and eat said apple crisp.  And my kids, (the human vacuum cleaners they are) finished off the apple crisp so it is no longer a temptation. 

Here’s a look at what I ate on Tuesday October 2^nd:

Morning: Special K Protein Bar (180 Calories)

Mid Morning Snack: None

Lunch: Shake, *1 cup skim milk, 1 cup whey protein, 1 banana, ¾ cups blueberries (390 Calories)

Mid Afternoon Snack: None

Dinner:  Meijer chicken fillet, 2 cups birds eye broccoli with light cheese (340 Calories)

Evening Snack: Hardboiled egg, ½ cup Grapenuts, ½ cup skim milk (321 Calories)

In the end I finished the day at 1231 calories.  I would also like to give a special thanks to my brother Travis who showed up at 9:00 to hang out and play video games, which completely made me forget about the fact I was hungry and made the evening an enjoyable one, instead of one where I just sat around thinking about how hungry I was. 

On another note I weighed in at 299.4 this morning so down .4 pounds since yesterday so nothing huge yet, but we will see what tomorrow holds.  Till Then……

My Pregnancy Weight

A year ago I weighed 370 pounds, but I didn’t always way that much, in fact there was a time in the not all too distant past where I was a trim and fit 210.  Sure that may not seem light, but on my 6’4 frame, it isn’t bad.  What happened, you ask?  Well a lot of Little Debbies, a lot of double cheese burgers, a good amount of 50 piece nuggets, and my wife’s two pregnancys. 

You see most of the time when a couple gets pregnant, the wife puts on weight, in our case my wife gets sick and stays about the same, while I put on weight at a break neck pace.  Every time my wife hits a craving and I hit the store, I buy food for myself.  She would want chili from Wendy’s and a cheese burger from Burger King and a shake from McDonalds.  Which meant I would get a number 3 from Wendy’s, a number 7 with onion rings from Burger King, and a Sunday and pies from McDonalds.  Then when she couldn’t finish the chili, I would finish that as well. 

With Connor I put on about 30 pounds, breaking 300 for the first time.  Then with child number two, I jumped another 25 pounds.  My wife, of course, dropped any weight she gained at the end of the pregnancy, me well, I have finally gotten rid of the additional Emmy weight, but am still working on the Connor weight.  And yes, he is 9.

Well if you haven’t heard, we are now expecting baby number three.  I am already fighting the desire to eat, but will be on a tight nine month guard to make sure this is the first baby I don’t gain 25 pounds with.  For starters, I finished my fourth day on my low calorie diet (1200 a day) in order to hopefully kickstart the weight loss process.  Here’s what I had today:

Breakfast:  Special K Protein Bar (170 Calories)

Mid-Morning: Snack: None

Lunch: Protein Shake, 1 cup milk, 1 scoop vanilla whey protein, 1 banana, 1 cup blueberries (410 Calories)

Afternoon Snack: 1 cup cottage cheese 1 teaspoon peanut butter (148 Calories)

Dinner: Chili and cheese (364 Calories)

Evening Snack: Diced apples and pears, 5 mini cheese ravioli’s no sauce (185 Calories)

Still felt pretty good not dying of hunger just yet, and today I landed at 1277 Calories.  I’ll let you know how tomorrow goes.  Till Then…

My Final Review of Power 90

A little over 120 days ago I started Power 90.  Sure it’s a 90 day workout, but I restarted after 30 days to join a challenge group, which was one of the better workout decisions I made.  I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you my thoughts of Power 90 as many people ask me if I would recommend it.  The simple answer is yes, I would recommend, but probably not to everyone and not for everything.  Let me explain.

When I started Power 90 in June I weighed about 315 pounds by the mid way mark in June I weighed 303 pounds. I was pretty excited about such dramatic weightless in only 2 weeks and was having visions of 250 by the end of my 90 days.   These dreams were quickly dashed as over the next month I worked my butt off for another 3 pounds.  Putting me at 300 at day 45.  From then on out I was stuck for the next 75 days (Well 70 days I sort of let things go fair week from both temptation and depression).  So as far as weight loss goes this wasn’t the most amazing program, I lost 15 pounds in 4 months.  So for weight loss, I give it a C.

Another area of measurement would be for inches.  Honestly, I did not drop multiple pant or shirt sizes over the course of the 90 days.  Basically, I started at a 46 and dropped to a 44.  I’d let you know some of the official measurements but I lost my measurement sheet in the first 30 days (Next time I should keep those someplace other then the coffee table.)  So officially I can’t show a full “inches” count so I will give it a NA. 

In the area of strength though, I think this program shined.  When I started day 1 I could barely do 1 regular pushup (off of my knees); by day 90, I was doing 3 sets of 10.  On day 1, I could only do about 40 Crunches in 5 minutes.  By day 90, I was doing 180 in 7 minutes.  When I started the program I used 10 pound weights dropping down to 5’s for the harder exercises.  I finished using 15’s jumping up to 25’s for the least difficult exercises.  For gained strength, I personally would give this program a B.

The final category I would like to grade Power 90 in is confidence.  I chose Power 90 because I didn’t believe I could do something with the difficulty level of P90X.  I now look over the Beach Body site and get excited about all the programs I want to do in the future.   So in confidence, I would give the program an A.

Final thoughts on Power 90, I like it, and would do it again.  Its true doing the same 4 video’s every day for 90 days got a little repetitive over time, but so did the McDoubles I’d eaten for the last 5 years.  And yes, Tony Horton will start to get on your nerves by day 45 (especially with all the times he reminds you he is only working half as hard as you.)  And yes, the production value is very 1980’s.  That being said, I lost some weight, some size, and am a lot stronger then I was 4 months ago.  So it works, and ultimately that is what is important. 

What’s next you ask? I am leaning towards Power 90 Master Series.  Although I really want do P90x, as well as Les Mills Pump.  So I guess we will have to see, whatever the case I will probably do a combination of Power 90 and some other less expensive videos until the first of the year as finances are tight around the holidays. 

On a separate note, I started my weight today for this one month push, and it was 299.8 so back under 300 for this pre vacation push, and I am continuing on my 1200 calorie a day diet.  I’ll be back tomorrow, till then……