Well I honestly don't even know what my last post was about. I haven't been very consistent posting. Life is busy enough and quite honestly I haven't made the time.
SO... I did PiYo for about 8 to 10 weeks with my wife. It pushed both of us. I really missed true cardio and strength training that required weights. Although PiYo really pushed both of us, it wasn't for us. Christie struggled with strength and flexibility, partly because of her hip replacement, partly because of her weight. Again - I struggled with it because mentally I couldn't get past the fact I wasn't being pushing my cardiovascular or moving any weights.
Moving forward - we both decided we really didn't care for the program and wanted something different. I chose Body Beast. A true strength program that was all about weights. Workouts range between 30 - 50 min each. Truly a challenge when you are accustomed to 30 min workouts. Either way.... onward and upward.
I'm currently about 7 or 8 weeks into the program. It challenges me every time I push play. No question about that. My first month I ate the see-food diet. I ate everything in front of me, good or bad. Lots of beer consumption, etc... I could see my muscles were growing, but unfortunately my mid-section was growing a little bit as well.
What happened? What are my goals? When I started Body Beast I told my wife my goal with this program is to just get a bit more muscular and shed fat. I didn't care what my weight was, but I did want to keep it under 175lbs. That was my primary focus. Once I got past 175lbs I risk going over the healthy BMI range and that is something I absolutely did not want. I've worked too hard to finally get in what the "health" world considers a "healthy" range. I've been down over 20lbs for over a year now. I started this journey back in July of 2013 at 197lbs of flubber.
The first phase of Body Beast is the "Build" phase (at about 174lbs) and that was the phase I was on the see-food diet. Diet. LOL I remember finishing that first phase and weighing myself and seeing I was pretty much the exact same weight as when I started. Was this for the better? Was it for the worse? Did I feel better? (No) Did I look better? (also a resounding NO). What were my obstacles? What was preventing me from getting to my goals? You have to look inside yourself to answer those questions. The answer though was really pretty simple. The issue was ME. I was preventing myself. I was stopping myself from getting to where I want to be. The next question was, what can I do to fix it? The simple answer is educate and act on it.
To simplify the issue I've had has been with food. Is it how much I consume or which foods I eat? Or both? Really its all of the above. I started watching Food documentaries on Netflix (Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, Farmageddon, Forks Over Knives, Food, Inc., Hungry For a Change, Killer At Large and shows like Ted Talks - Chew On This) Things about nutrition. I also started reading the book Eat To Live by Dr Joel Fuhrman. I stopped drinking alcohol. I seriously cut back/almost eliminated processed foods. The goal was to fuel my body better. Eat more cleanly. Consume less meat and more vegetables. I needed to eat at least twice as many vegetables as I did meat. I knew I did not want to count calories. I did not want to track my food at all. Under no circumstances do I think anyone should ever need to track their food when trying to get healthy. Eat healthy things 95% of the time and the rest will take care of itself. My snacks would no longer be whatever I brought (KIND bars, not as frequently). I am not really a snacker but I have been known to sit down and consume a family size bag of potato chips on date night with a few beers AFTER having a couple of frozen appetizer things (tacquitos anyone?). Healthy? Probably not.
What have I been doing and has it worked? Again - no alcohol now for over a month. Practically eliminating processed foods. Focusing more on clean nutrition with lots and lots of vegetables. Less meat. Even if the meat we consume is lean and grass fed. Just trying to be more cognizant of it. I keep my meat portions to 5oz or less. If I finish my dinner and am still hungry I go back for more vegetables, not more meat.
Has it worked? Well I weighed myself this morning and I'm down to 169lbs. That is a 5 or 6lb weight loss in the past month. My love handles? Pretty much gone at this point. My belly? FAR less bloated and shrinking more and more every day. Do I have 6pack abs yet? Nope - but I'm on my way. In addition to that I am continuing to see the muscle growth from the Body Beast workouts. Arms, back, chest, legs - nutrition has really brought those positive changes more to the forefront.
How has this change affected me? Am I happy? Actually I am. I gave up alcohol on my own terms. I have zero regrets about it. ZERO. Do I miss it? Surprisingly no. Same with potato chips and all the other stuff. Don't miss it. I have had a couple of chips here and there. If the kids are having some chips with sandwiches on the weekend, will I grab 2 or 3 chips? Yeah. That's the end of it though. My lunch is something else. I've become very fond of tuna mixed with mashed avocado on toasted whole wheat bread on the weekends. That works well for me. More vegetables than meat has been the real focus though. Snacks being baby carrots with homemade hummus or sliced peppers with homemade hummus. Fruit - mandarin oranges or an apple. Just good healthy choices. My wife does an awesome job of planning good, healthy meals for our dinner every day - which I am EXTREMELY thankful for. Typically during the week there are leftovers and if I think there aren't enough veggies for my lunch I do 1 of 2 things. 1) bring a bag of steam veggies with me that I can make in the microwave or 2) go to the cafe and get a nice, fresh salad with no animal protein, no dairy and no dressing. Is it bland or lack of flavor? No. The complete opposite. It is bursting with flavors. I'll typically add some grilled vegetables from the salad bar (brussel sprouts, peppers, onions) and I like to add chickpeas and seeds as well. YUMM!!!!!!!!!!
How have these changes impacted me elsewhere, besides the scale and my physical body image? Mentally I feel sharper. I typically always sleep good, except for my on call week. I've noticed what I can only term as resentment from Christie during this. She is not happy that I'm choosing not to drink beer with her when she decides she wants a beer. I'm choosing not to eat a less nutritional snacks/fatty snacks on our date night. She has let me know in no uncertain terms she feels kind of singled out by my choices and although I feel bad about it, I am not changing my decisions because of that. I'm just not. I've done enough damage to my body over the years and I'm doing my best to heal it and get healthy. Get stronger and be there long term for my family. Dying or becoming ill to the point where I become a burden on my family legitimately scares the shit out of me. It brings me to tears thinking of it. If I can do simple things like making the healthiest choice on the menu for a meal and getting up and dedicating less than 1 hr for exercise per day to try and avoid that, then I'm good with that. That I can do. For me and my loved ones. I only hope the others that I love in my life jump on board and try and do the best for THEM. I can't imagine my life without any of them.
That's about all I have for today folks. I'll hopefully get back to updating more frequently. I have about 5 weeks left on Body Beast. I'm looking forward to sharing my before and after pictures of my Body Beast adventure as well as my before I started working out, until now pictures. That should be quite the trip.
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