Middle of Week 4

I've got to say that the first rest week of the p90x workouts couldn't have come at a better time. Over Thanksgiving, I got a pretty bad head cold. This morning was the worst of it, but it felt terrible yesterday too. It started off with a sore throat, then went full blown stuffed/runny nose and head pressure. With the cold came the sleepiness and muscle soreness.

Yesterday I had an hour and a half of yoga and a 4 mile run scheduled. I did it all. I have to say that the yoga was difficult, because it's hard to blow your nose when you're down in crane. The run was the worst of it. I went with my wife. We started out running under a 9 minute mile. I was feeling fine, until my nose started to get stuffy again. My breathing got difficult and I slowed down big time. I ended up doing 4.5 miles in just over 40 minutes.

This morning, I had "Core Synergistics" to do and a 4 mile run. My wife told me not to do the run, but I did the core workout. It was different than I thought it'd be and I was sweating like a mad man. I don't think I've ever been so sweaty during a workout that I didn't put all of my effort into. I don't have a run scheduled tomorrow so I'm going to do my 4 miles tomorrow instead.

I wish I had taken pictures last night, but in hind sight, I guess it wouldn't have been such a great thing to look at. We had taco's for dinner last night and I continued my attempt at finding a healthy re-fried beans recipe. I think I found it. I used a can of pinto beans and a cup of chicken stock. Get the stock boiling, and then add the beans, rinsed of course. Take a potato masher and mash up the beans real good in the stock, stir frequently and let simmer until the texture gets pasty. Add salt to taste. They turned out really good. I got lots of compliments from my wife.

I'm working for the rest of the day today.

I also just found out that we'll probably be getting Yahtzee on Saturday mid-day. Looking like this weekend is going to be busier than we thought! We have a Christmas tree lighting on Friday, Saturday we're getting the dog, plus there is a Christmas parade and Wassail tasting. Sunday should be pretty low key.

Start of Week 4

The Thanksgiving Holiday proved to be difficult in the eating department. I had no problem with alcohol, though. I ended up having two drinks on Thanksgiving day, but my wife and I decided before I had them that it wouldn't be in violation of my rules.

I broke my food goal on Thursday and Friday because we were visiting family. I had no idea how many calories were in what, and I wasn't going to guess to fill in my food log. That just meant that I had to keep it under control on Saturday and Sunday. No big deal. That went fine.

We stayed with my brother on Thursday night. Friday morning when we woke up, my wife and I went for a run, and then I came home and did my Legs & Back workout. I made sure I got up with enough time to get the workout done before we had any plans scheduled. Although I love my family and want to spend time with them, I know that if I don't put my health first, I'll never lose the weight.

When we got home late on Saturday night, I looked at my weight and had serious concerns about whether or not I'd lose even one pound. I decided that when I do Kenpo X, I don't feel like I'm working out very hard, so instead of doing that for 50 minutes, I did my own workout. I took my bike out for a 30 minute ride and then did a beach run for 20 minutes. Of course, my ankle was bothering me beforehand, maybe from when I rolled it last week, but I wanted to do some running.

On Saturday afternoon, I got sick. My throat started to hurt real bad and later came the runny nose. Sitting in church, I wanted to just fall asleep. Come bed time, I felt like hell. I haven't been sick in a while, so I was being a little bit of a baby about it.

Sunday I skipped my stretch workout. According to the p90x schedule, it's supposed to be a rest or stretch day. I chose rest.

This morning when I woke up, I had lost weight! I had gotten myself down to 245.5lbs. That's a 2 pound loss from last week, and I'm proud of that for having been Thanksgiving week.

This week is a rest week for p90x. I have yoga, core, and kenpo. I also have lots of running. It seems like the weather is supposed to be nice today, but I don't know how long that's going to hold out temperature-wise. They're calling for 64 degrees. I'm also still feeling sick so I may end up pushing back a run. I haven't decided yet.

The biggest part of this week will be Friday. We're supposed to be getting Yahtzee on Friday, assuming everything goes the way it's supposed to. I don't have all of the details of the pickup yet, but I'm hoping to hear today or tomorrow from the transporter. I'm sure we'll have lots of pictures once we get her.

Thanksgiving

I realize that I haven't been posting as often lately, but I think I'm going to make that a habit. Posting on a daily basis is fine, but it does take up some time, and I feel like I'm writing about my entertainment more than my healthy goals.

I feel like I've been making a lot of progress lately in my fitness. Because of Thanksgiving, I had to adjust some of my workouts to make sure I had time to see my family. Since we're living in New Jersey now, we're traveling home to Pennsylvania to see our families. We'll be with my dad this afternoon, then go to see my wife's mom's side of the family for dinner. Tomorrow morning, we'll see my mom for brunch, then my wife's dad's side of the family for dinner.

That's a lot to do, and not a lot of time to do my workouts, so here's what I did this week. I stuck with the normal p90x workout plan. There are workouts every day, so I don't have the option of shifting them around. I moved some runs around and changed distances. On Monday, I did my normal Chest & Back plus Ab Ripper X, and a 3 mile run. I did not time this run. Tuesday I did my Plyometric workout, then a 5 mile run that turned into a 6.25 mile run. Both of those runs felt amazing. I did the 6.25 in 1 hour and 3 minutes flat. It was an outstanding run. When I got home, I felt like I could go another 10. I didn't, and I probably couldn't have, but I felt like it.

On Wednesday, I did my Shoulders & Arms workout, then a 3 mile run. I was tired before I left for the run, and I was miserable during it. I had the wind at my back for the first half, and then a nice steady head wind on the way home. I did finish, though, and that's what is important. This is just an example of doing what you set out to do and not allowing yourself to settle for less.

This morning I did Yoga X. I've said before that this workout is insane. There are some moves that I simply cannot do. Today, I tried one that I hadn't been able to do the last few weeks. I forget what it's called, I think Crane or something like that. It's very difficult. It's something I used to try in middle school when we had gymnastics class for gym. I've never been able to.

Today, I did it. The pictures are hard to see the whole move, but it's basically a hand stand while tucked in a ball.

I went up and down with it a few times, but I did hold it for about 5 seconds at one point. Pretty impressive, I think.

So since it's Thanksgiving, I thought I'd say what I was thankful for. I'm thankful for a supportive and loving wife and family. I'm thankful for my mom and step-dad letting me and my wife live in their beach house rent free for a few months. I'm thankful to be getting a dog soon. I'm thankful for my relatively good health. I'm thankful to be making progress towards a healthier life. I'm thankful for this opportunity that my wife is giving me to get myself in order and start my own business. I'm thankful for all of you as readers that, whether you realize it or not, keep me in check every day and motivate me to continue working towards my goals.

Also, I'm thankful that my wife and I finally finished this damn puzzle that we've been working on since last year around this time.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Start of Week 3

Good morning!

I lost weight again! That's pretty awesome. 247.5. After doing all the math and figuring out calories burned/consumed, I'm losing at about the rate I should expect. I want to lose a little more every week, but as long as I'm losing 2-3 pounds, I'll be content.

Pictures this morning...

Because this is the end of the second week, my wife took measurements for me. And there's been progress.

Chest: 46.75 inches, loss of 1/2 inch.
Shoulders: 54 inches, gain of 1 inch
Bicep: 15.5 inches, gain of 1/4 inch
Waist: 39.75 inches, loss of 3/4 inch
Hips: 43 inches, no change
Belly: 42.75 inches, loss of 3 inches

Now, I must say that there is some user error in this, but I gained where I want to gain and I lost where I want to lose. Now it's time to get my workouts done, do some work, run some errands, and do some chores. Lots to do today!

Days 13 & 14

I didn't post yesterday because the day sorta got away from me. I did my normal workouts without incident... for the most part. I did realize during the warm-up that I was getting shin splints. Also, during one of the kicking series, I rolled my ankle. Not too badly. I finished the workout, iced it for 20 minutes, and then continued on with my day.

I made a huge breakfast because it was getting later in the day, almost lunch time, so we thought we'd just have two meals in one. Potatoes, eggs, beans, tomato...

My wife and I didn't have plans for the weekend, so we decided we'd do something that she had been asking me to do with her for a while. Go to the Cape May County Zoo. The best part about this zoo is the price. Free. We donated a little money because we were amazed at how big the place was. I hadn't been there since I was a little kid, but it wasn't what I remembered. There were all sorts of animals. Recently, they got a baby snow leopard. I'd tell you more, but pictures speak louder than words...

 Jabba The Hut Frog

 

 

It really was a great visit and we're hoping that the animals stay out for the winter because we want to go back a few more times, I'm sure. Hopefully we can bring friends next time.

I had planned on a "cheat" day this weekend, so I made it Saturday. We had spaghetti for dinner and munched on candy and cheeto's while we watched a movie with a few drinks.

Sunday has been a pretty typical day. We went for a walk through the mall and stopped into a pet store there. They didn't have what we were looking for, so we walked to where we thought was another one, but it turned out to be a grooming place. We didn't go in.

When we got home, we had lunch and did some crafting stuff together. When we were done, I played my new Modern Warfare 3 game with my brother and a very generous friend who purchased the game for me as a surprise. Thanks again, friend!

Dinner was a stir fry with rice. We used some chicken, broccoli, and carrots. Yum

Plan for tonight is to watch the Eagles game and maybe do some puzzle with the wife. Great weekend overall. Tomorrow starts week 3. WOO! WOO!

Day 12

Today was cold. Real cold. And windy. I just can't catch a break with my runs this week. I had 3 miles scheduled for today. I decided to run before my legs workout like I did last week. It was definitely for the better. I started off a little slow because I had shin splints. It was only about 34 degrees when I left the house. I ran in pants, Under Armour, long sleeve shirt, hat, and gloves. I was still cold. I finished in 29:55. Not my morning.

When I got home, my wife wanted to do the legs and back workout with me. I really think it's one of the easier workouts. Of course, we have Ab Ripper X afterwords and she always makes me look bad. She's got a strong core. I'm not sure if mine's weak or if I just have so much weight to hold up that I can't get the reps that she can.

I had cereal for breakfast. After showering, we went over to Petsmart to pick up some stuff for Yahtzee. We got food, treats, a bowl (we already had one), a rope, a collar, a leash, some shampoo, and a stuffed elephant. My wife picked it out, but I have to admit that it's pretty cute.

Oh, did I mention that I drove there? My wife has a manual car that she's been telling me I needed to learn to drive for months. I finally practiced this week and decided that I was ready to make the trip to the store today. I did relatively well. No stalling, but a little jumpy. Otherwise it was fine.

We came home and I did a little bit of work, went for a walk, and then had dinner.

My wife made some awesome butternut squash soup. We had a little salad and grilled cheese sandwiches. Well, I had half a grilled cheese and she had some nachos because she doesn't have any gluten free bread right now.

Dinner was delicious and relatively filling. My calories were low, but I was planning on having a few drinks tonight so I was saving them a little bit. I'm trying to meet my calories goals for the weekend, but since our plans got can canceled, I may or may not be saving my alcohol goal. I just haven't decided yet.

On deck for tonight is some puzzle, board games, and maybe some tv/movie time. Tomorrow, I'm hoping we can find something fun to do for our first weekend together without a craft show since we moved down here.

Sorry for no pictures today... I left my camera in the office all day and forgot to take them. Tomorrow I'm hoping to have quite a few.

Day 11

This morning started off a little later than usual, but went just about as it always does. I had some breakfast (because I woke up hungry... weird), did my Yoga X workout, and then sat in the office for a little while to get some strength back before my run. Then things got bad.

It rained pretty much all day yesterday. When it was time for me to run, it was still raining. It was also really cold. 42 degrees. And windy. And not only do I have to run, but today was a 4 miler. I tried to see if the rain was going to stop at any point this afternoon. Nope. Radar showed a constant stream of rain that looked like it would probably only get worse. So I figured if it's gonna get worse, I might as well get it over with.

I got changed into my running clothes then went looking for stuff to keep me warm. I found my new skullcap that I got off the internet the other day. It has ear warmers built in. Then I put on the rain coat my mom got for me (Thanks mom!). Then I went looking for my gloves. I couldn't, and still can't, find them. My wife had a pair of gloves she got for free from the Philly Marathon she ran a few years ago, so I put them on and went out with my old shoes on. I didn't want to ruin my new running shoes.

As I predicted, the run started out cold. It wasn't raining too hard yet, but it was still windy, and despite the nylon rain coat, it was still hurting. Thank goodness for Beardvember, though. This beard was very beneficial. As I turned onto our street, I heard a weird noise. I never figured out what it was, but it almost sounded like a walrus bark. I ran over toward the beach but didn't see anything, so I kept going. The route I took was 3 miles almost exactly. During those three miles, I was pushing. I was keeping a 9 minute mile pace. Until I turned around, anyway. The rain stung. I'm convinced it even turned into freezing rain here and there. The mile and a half back was miserable. Then I had to turn around and do another mile.

For the entire run, I saw four human beings. One was an old lady walking with a grocery bag, two were a couple sitting in their car looking at the ocean, and the last one was a fisherman.

By the time I got home, I was freezing. I ran a little farther than 4 miles because I just wanted to get back inside. 4.09 miles in 39:24. I'm glad I did it. I'm more glad that it's over.

Of course, as I sat at my desk, looking out the window, the sky eventually cleared and the rain stopped. It also warmed up. Frustrating. I just keep telling myself that running in the cold, wind, and rain, builds character and I'm better for having done it.

For lunch, my wife and I split our leftover abondigas and each had an orange. I spent the rest of the afternoon in the office doing work.

My wife spent her afternoon blogging and working on her own business stuff. She also made some gluten free oatmeal raisin cookies. I'd show you a picture, but she admits that they don't look much like cookies. More like grenola. Substituting regular flour for gluten free flour didn't quite do the same thing. They were, however, delicious. I had one.

I want to reiterate that when I started this whole thing, I told you that I advocated for a lifestyle change. I'm not on a diet. I'm eating normal food, just healthier versions of it, and some of my old favorites. I'm not cutting out pizza, cheeseburgers, or chinese food. I'm just eating it less often and enjoying them more. Let me tell you that this cookie was absolutely outstanding. If I could have, I would have eaten the whole batch. What really held me back was how disappointed my wife would have been that they were all gone.

We're going away this weekend, so we didn't want to cook anything that was going to have leftovers. For dinner we decided on one of our favorites... Brinner. Breakfast for dinner is something we used to do on a weekly basis. I've been eating a lot of eggs for breakfast recently, so we haven't done it lately, but I had cereal today, so Brinner was on.

For Brinner, we typically do some kind of taco/burrito. It's usually the most healthy way to go about it. That way we don't have to deal with all the carbs of pancakes and waffles.

After we made dinner, I was kind of laughing about how they turned out. I normally do soft shells, but went with hard ones tonight just to try it out. It had been a while. But if you look closely, our breakfast tacos are basically regular tacos with egg. We have lettuce, tomato, beans, cheese, seasoned ground turkey (leftover from when we had tacos a few nights ago), and egg. Brinner? Sorta? Doesn't matter, it was good.

I finished dinner with just over 2000 calories. I have a few more tonight if I want them, but we'll see how my stomach feels. Looking forward to a relaxing evening in front of the TV or around the table doing puzzle with the wife.

Day 10

I've decided that I want to be getting up by 7:00 on weekdays just to get myself into a routine now that I'm not accountable to be anywhere anymore. So far it's been working out. My wife wanted to join me this morning for my workout, but she's a little under the weather, so I did some work on the computer before jumping into Shoulders & Arms today.

I decided to eat before we worked out this morning. I made a breakfast burrito. Guacamole, black beans, eggs, tomato, lettuce, and a little cheddar cheese. Definitely filling.

Unfortunately, after a workout like the ones I've been doing, I pretty much always feel hungry. I'm going to have to remember this for the future so I can eat AFTER my workout instead of feeling hungry for the rest of the day like I was today. I tried all my tricks, gum, tons of water, distraction... nothing worked today.

I did manage to do most of the ab exercises in Ab Ripper X despite the ab strain. I only felt it a little bit and only on the lower ab exercises. I did what I could.

Most of my day was spent in the office developing my business. I took a break for lunch around noon to grab a salad. Taco salad, to be specific. We had, and still have, some leftover taco meat. I tossed that into a salad with some black beans, carrots, red onion, and a pinch of cheddar cheese. Pretty decent. I'd eat it again.

For dinner we tried to eat more leftovers. The sweet potatoes my wife made weren't going to last much longer and we still have shredded chicken. So we steamed some broccoli and put some BBQ sauce on the chicken, and called it dinner. Pretty decent for leftovers.

For the evening, we watched a movie and then went to bed. Pretty relaxing. I ended the day with about 2300 calories.

Day 9

Woke up this morning for my Plyometrics workout. I can say with confidence that the plyometric workout is by far the hardest of the p90x workouts. The Yoga X comes in second because it's extremely difficult for about 20-30 minutes then gets easier. It's also got less pounding than Plyo, so I enjoy it more.

I finished the workout with no muscle pulls or strains. I periodically checked my heart rate during rest periods. I got it to stay between 140 and 170 for most of the workout. Awesome.

Despite recommendations to not eat within an hour of starting the Plyo workout, I had some cereal. I was starving.

After the workout I showered and did some work in the office. I hate a yogurt as a morning snack and then went down for lunch. I made a pizza quesadilla because my wife was making herself a pizza for lunch. JEALOUS. But mine was delicious, so I wasn't so jealous after I ate. I topped it with raw onion, jalapeno, and some broccoli. In hindsight, I wish I had put some form of protein, but I don't know what I would have used. I had a quarter cup of sauce and a half cup of cheese. Fitday says my meal was about 500 calories. I was sitting at about 900 after lunch. Since lunch was early, it was no big deal. I knew I'd eat after my run.

I went back to the office for a little while and then did my run for the day. 3 miles. 27:15. Apparently waiting for later in the day to run makes it much better. It didn't hurt that it was 64 degrees either.

After working for a while longer, I made some dinner. We had Albondigas. That's Spanish for meatballs. Except I don't make it with meatballs. But it's still awesome. And super easy to cook.

Cook up a pound of ground meat, I used turkey. Put in about three cups of beef broth, we use bouillon. Now's the hard part. Dump a jar of salsa, about 3 cups of diced potato, and a bag of frozen mixed veggies into the pot. Let it boil for a while to cook the potatoes, and you're all set. Dinner time.

In case you were wondering, if you split the whole thing up into 4 servings, you've got 418 calories, 55 carbs, 12 grams of fiber, 36 grams of protein, and 13 grams of fat per bowl of soup. There's tons of sodium (1776mg), but it's easy and delicious. Also, if I made a pot for breakfast, I could eat the entire thing throughout the day and have a pretty well balanced day of food. I'd have to find more to eat, though, because the 1700 calories wouldn't quite do it for the day.

Tonight the plan is Biggest Loser on TV and then bed time. I've got Shoulders & Arms in the morning, plus Ab Ripper X. I'm hoping my Ab strain can take it.

Eat with your eyes

One of the hardest things to do while trying to lose weight is portion control. Especially with foods like cereal. I look closely at calories now on the boxes, but it's hard to picture what a serving of the cereal is actually going to look like in the bowl. Then you ask yourself, will it be filling? Is this cereal even worth it? Some of my favorite cereals are granola's and Cracklin' Oat Bran., but they're so calorie dense, I don't always know if it's worth getting them.

I'm finding that I CAN be full on just a single serving. Sometimes a serving and a half is better, but not always necessary. I've learned that you eat with your eyes most of the time, and there is a relationship between how much food you THINK your eating and how full you feel later.

So check this out... I'm gonna give you a few pictures to look at of my breakfast this morning.

I know which bowl of cereal I want. The one that's the most full. Number 1. But in reality, all of those bowls have the same exact amount of cereal in them. I dumped it from one to the next to the next, so I know for sure. The bottom bowl is HUGE, but the cereal is dwarfed. The middle bowl is fine, but it's so open that I feel like I'm eating a thin layer of cereal on a plate. I'd take that one second, but I'd prefer the first smaller bowl. That bowl looks reasonably full and appears like more food.

Now, the question of the day...was I full afterwords? Yup.

Day 8

Got myself up at 7 this morning because I knew I had a busy day and I wanted to get my workouts in. I started the day off with two slices of whole wheat toast with peanut butter. 400 calories.

While doing my Chest & Back workout, I strained my left lower abs. I felt some pretty intense pain down near my waist band while doing my second or third set of push-ups. At first I thought, "Do I want to push through the pain and just finish this workout so I don't screw up my goal for the week?" Absolutely not. That's stupid. These goals are not more important than my physical well being. They're supposed to make me healthier.

Did I stop? NOPE! I compensated. The exercises that hurt were the push-ups because they put strain on my abs, so I changed them. I did the same "grip," but on my back with dumbbells. I felt the burn, so I guess it worked. I wish I could have finished, though. I had to skip a few exercises, but that's alright. Because of the pain and where it was, I didn't even attempt Ab Ripper X today. Instead, I went for my run and then did 339 jumps on my new jump rope! Why 339? That's how many ab exercises you do in Ab Ripper X. We finished our run in 30:08. Again almost a perfect 10 minute mile pace.

Once I showered up, we went to the grocery store since we're out of the essentials. Any meat other than chicken, veggies, fruits, milk, canned goods, and garlic powder.

We ended up coming home with A LOT of stuff. We spent more than we had anticipated, but at least now I'm sure that we're set on food for the rest of the month aside from fresh produce and maybe some meat. While at the grocery store, we met an old man friend. He just wanted to talk to us and put down my wife, mostly. Very strange. He also didn't know what kind of coffee to get because he drank it in the house, and at breakfast. Should he get house blend or breakfast blend? I just told him to pick what felt right. After the back handed jabs at my wife, I didn't have a whole lot of sympathy for him and his coffee quandary.

By the time we got home it was almost 2:00. I was STARVING. Up to that point I had still only had breakfast. I quickly cooked up some eggs with some beans and tomato. That put me just under 800 calories. Need more food. I decided on some cereal and a yogurt.

After lunch it was beach time. We went over with our chairs to sit for a little while. I wanted to get some ideas jotted down for my business, so I took a notebook and sat with my wife to talk. She's really helpful with ideas. It got cold and we'd pretty much thought of what we were going to think of, so I walked home. She stayed to read a book.

She came home to get cleaned up for an errand she had to run, but when I finally looked up from my computer, I noticed this...

I love living in Cape May.

My wife went on her errand, and when she let me know she was coming home, I started on dinner. Taco's. Healthy style.

See, one of my "diet" (if you can call it that) philosophies is that in order to change your lifestyle, you need to eat foods that you enjoy and can continue to enjoy for the rest of your life. I like tacos. A lot. So instead of giving them up, because they're not so great for you, I made them healthier.

I make my own taco seasoning to reduce the amount of salt. Chili powder, garlic powder, paprika, cumin, salt, and pepper. Instead of water, like the packets tell you, I threw in some home made chicken stock to add flavor and some leftover tomatoes from a can I used earlier today on my eggs. Sometimes I use salsa.

Instead of refried beans, I took some pinto beans, added some salt, onion, and a little olive oil, then tossed it in a pan and mashed the beans up. They would have been better with more oil, a little more salt, and served warm, but they were fine as a replacement. I used some guacamole, lettuce, and some white cheddar cheese. I took it all and threw it on an 8 inch flour tortilla. 400 calories per LOADED taco. I couldn't close the things. I prefer soft shells to hard, but I know the hard ones are less calories, so I may do that at some point... but I'm pretty sure we just got over two pounds of soft shells today at the store.

After dinner we did all of the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. Now we're going to enjoy some TV together before bed.