Long awaited update

Well, I'm still doing P90X and it is going great.  Some days it takes a lot of motivation to get the motivation to press play, but I love the results I've seen.  Weighed myself today, came in at 187...it is hard to believe that at one point I thought someone with my frame wouldn't look healthy at anything below 185.  No I look much more fit than I have in over a decade and I still look in the mirror and find it pretty easy to see where I could loose a few more pounds.  Not that I'm at all disappointed with my results, but if I do the program again, I think I'll shoot for a goal weight around 175-180 ish.  Right now it looks like I'll finish up somewhere very close to my goal of 185, which is fantastic.  After I finish up I am going to try to keep a diet and exercise schedule going so I can reach 183, just because that is the "normal weight" level as far as BMI is concerned.  I know BMI is a flawed system, but being this close to that "normal weight" level makes me eager to get there.  I'm actually thinking about taking up running, though I've never been much good at that.  The lovely gas prices lately ($4/gallon) have me thinking I should be buying a bike and biking more too....guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Start of Phase II

Alright, just got done with the first workout of the second phase.  Love the workout, really felt great afterwards. I can tell that I'm going to have to buy some lighter weights though.  I've been making due with a pair of 25 lbs. dumbells up till now.  I'll have to pick up some 10's or 15's, but that's no problem.  Weight-wise, I'm down to 193.8.  So during the recovery week I lost around 2 pounds...I didn't really give 100% in those workouts though, I wish I would have.

I get to add a couple more carbs into my diet now at the expense of one less protein, one less veggie, and one less dairy.  I don't think that'll be any big problem as I typically had to try to figure out how to fit all those in anyway.  Yesterday I just stayed with the Phase I diet, which is most likely what I'll do today as well.  Then I'll have to figure out what meals to use for Phase II.  During phase I, I rotated through about 6-7 different dinner options.  Phase II isn't much different, I'm thinking about adding in an occasional sandwich for lunch now instead of a a big salad every day.

One of these days I have to take some post Phase I pictures and take some new measurements as well.  Hard to believe I'm 4 pounds away from being under 190 :)  Looking forward to being fit and single come summer!

P90X Update

Alright, week 3 is in the books!  It's taken a lot of motivation the last couple of weeks to finish the week off...I tend to dread the Yoga and Kenpo, even though neither one is too terribly bad.  The yoga workout just takes a ton of time.  Anyway, it's always nice to be re-energized by stepping on the scale on tuesdays!  Down to 195.0 today, which is 3.6 pounds lost in the last week and 15 pounds lost over three weeks!  The most noticeable area is in my abs.  I'm heading into my "recovery week", which has yoga twice :\ and is more cardio based, so I'm not exactly looking forward to it.  This will also be my last week of the Phase I fat shredder diet, which I've actually become accustom to and enjoy.  The next phase I'll have one less protein, one less veggie, one less dairy, and two more carbs.  None of those should cause many problems for me since most days I didn't all 7 proteins and I always had to catch up on dairy and veggies after getting home from work.  I'm looking forward to some bread, pasta and/or rice dishes.  I'm really looking forward to the third Phase when I can have 3 fruits a day, its amazing how much you look forward to fruit when that is the only sweet that you have.  Not drinking alcohol, soda, or fruit juices is workout just fine for me.  Same thing with not eating sweets, although yesterday someone brought donuts into work and it took some will-power not to have a little sliver of one.  Almost all of the reviews and such that I've read online are by people that aren't following the diet as strictly as I am, but I figure why not?  It isn't terribly difficult and it's not like I can't eat the things I enjoy.

Starting Week 3

Well, I'm just starting my third week.  Checked the scale yesterday and I'm down to 198, pretty awesome!  One more pound to go before I'll be lighter than I have been since my sophomore year of college, 9 years ago.  I went into college at 193 or so if I remember correctly, so I'm hoping a month from now I'll be back to that or lower.  The first week I was losing around a pound a day, the second week it was about a pound every two days.  I have to average a little over one pound per week from here out to meet my goal of 185.  I'm feeling great and the time has flown by so far.

P90X Update

Alright, week number 1 of P90X is just about in the books!  Tonight I have Kenpo X and then tomorrow is my stretch/rest day.  When I went in for a doctor visit, a month or so ago, I weighed 210 lbs.  A week later I bought a scale and still weighed 210, so it was an accurate measurement.  Stepped on the scale yesterday and I was at 201.6 lbs.  Not sure what to attribute that to, because I've only been doing the workout 6 days.  I did start the nutritional plan a week earlier though, so that probably has something to do with it.  Right now, I would kind of be surprised if my weight dropped any further by the end of Phase because I should be building muscle now and my weight as already dropped a fair amount.  It would be awesome to be around 180 or 185 at the completion! The lowest my weight has been since freshman year of college was 197, so here's hoping that I see that line crossed relatively soon!  I'm sure I can, just need to keep showing up.

As for the workouts, they are rough but in a good way.  At the half way point of each one, it feels like I'll never make it all the way through...but I do.  The second half doesn't seem to be as bad as the first half.  I always have to tell myself to "keep pressing play" and I'll get through the 90 days.  It feels nice to almost be 1/3 of the way through the first phase...and nice knowing that i'm that much closer to adding a few carbs to my diet.

Meal cost wise, it's not terrible and I eat pretty well.  Last night I had pork tenderloin and a veggie steamer packet, the night before that it was tuna steak and mango salsa, and tonight it'll be chicken breast and steamed green beans.  Aside from that I've been eating salads for lunch, greek yogurt and a fruit for snacks, and granola or eggs for breakfast.  It sure feels like I'm eating more food than I used to, albeit much better food.

Introduction

Hi, I'm Augie and this is my first shot at blogging.

A little background on me:  I'm 29 years old and just recently un-engaged to a woman that I was with for 7 years, lived together for half of that.  In fact, she's moving out this weekend.  I haven't lived alone for somewhere around 8 years, so I figure that chances are that I'm going to feel pretty lonely living by myself.  In the past, when a relationship ended, I really didn't dedicate myself to stepping back and letting the dust settle so to speak.  I used to jump right back into the dating game right away, but not this time.  It's time to do a little soul searching and clear my mind a bit...but to do that, I'm going to need something to focus on other than being alone.  My decision...P90X, the ball busting workout and nutrition plan that will hopefully help me get back into shape.  When I graduated highschool, I weighed a fairly muscular 190 lbs.  After college, I was up to 235 lbs but lost 35 lbs of it working out at the Y.  Unfortunately, once my former fiance and I moved in together, I wasn't able to make it to the Y as much as I would like...so now I'm back up to 210 lbs and not nearly as toned as I once was.

So I've ordered the P90X program, a yoga mat, and a chin up bar.  I still need to pick up a few pairs of dumbells.  I'm hoping that everything will be here in a week or so.  Then I plan to take a look at the nutrition plan and get a game plan for attacking that.  I would also like to get a couple of workouts in with a day or two break between them before I start working out every day.  So my target start date for the full program is either February 11th or 18th.  I want to start on a friday so my rest/stretch days fall on fridays, since those are the days I'm most likely to make plans right after work.  If that happens, I would finish the 90 day program around the middle of May.  My goal is to weigh 185 again...so I'm going to try to give weekly updates on this blog.