Annual Physical follow up.

First let me just state that I am currently on medication for 2 things.  High cholesterol and high blood pressure.  To me, they are both the results of poor food choices and insufficient healthy activity.  Here I'll cover what my stats were back in April and what they are now.

                                         April                 January
Weight                              197lbs                177lbs (their scale)

Blood Pressure                 140/96                126/80

Total Cholesterol                 164                     197

HDL (Good Cholesterol)      43                       56

LDL (Bad Cholester            111                     120

My goal is and has been to get off this medication and just be healthy with food and only food.  My Dr appeared to be pleased with what they have me down as a 20lb weight loss (actually my scale has me at 23lbs).  He was happy with the normal range blood pressure.  Also happy with my good cholesterol going up (25% might I add).  Not so happy that my bad cholesterol went up or my total cholesterol went up.  Why might you ask?  I wish I knew.  Probably because I have other people in my gene pool that have some unhealthy habits and have high cholesterol.  Due to that I believe he thinks its a "genes" thing.  I don't.

How do I stack up in the real world?  Lets see shall we?  This is one of MANY cholesterol calculators out there, but they have all pretty much told me the same thing.

http://www.hughcalc.org/chol.php

From what I can see, I'm healthy.  However, my Dr doesn't want me to stop taking medication.  He instead said I could lower my dosage from 80mg to 40mg for the cholesterol meds.  My BP meds are 10mg (very small dosage).  I'm going to cut my cholesterol pills in half and take them like that.  I'll try and do the same with the BP meds, but if I can't then I simply won't take them and I'll periodically check my BP to make sure it remains normal.  Take it when my kids aren't around for the best possible hope for success.  lol  

Next appt is in July.  I've got 6 months to lose what I think will be at least another 10lbs (my wife won't agree) and get off the drugs forever.  I'm here to prove Drs wrong and show that good health starts with me and my choices.  Thanks Doc for more motivation.  

January 10th 2014...

Well I'm rapidly finishing up wk 3 of P90x3.  I've got 1 more "workout" and a stretch and then I'm on to my recovery week.  I'm looking forward to the change in routine... that is for damn sure.

This week, I don't know what it is.... I've been in a real funk.  I know I started the week off bad knowing that I had gained 10lbs back.  That will definitely fuck with you mentally.  It messes with you because you put in SO much effort to get rid of it and have a week or two of bad choices (working out or not) and BAM..  there is some of that work undone.  I was definitely discouraged.  What can you do?  Pity yourself and keep saying "woe is me" without doing anything to help yourself and get yourself out of that place?  Or you can take a step back and figure out how to get your head in the game and overcome whatever is in your way now.

I did the second option in case you were wondering.  I decided my first step was to get rid of those 10lbs that I gained back so I could put my focus on my target of 170lbs.  What could I do differently to help me get there?  What am I doing now that maybe is interfering with me reaching those goals.  My wife said - make it simple, just pick one thing and focus just on that one thing.  Well I already do that.  I get up and workout.  Oh, you meant one OTHER thing.  Ahhhhh....  well I picked a few different things.  No alcohol, no processed food and tracking what I eat daily.  I can tell you that is actually a lot of things.  Its not difficult to track your food.  Its tedious.  It does kind of hold you accountable, if you let it.  As I had thought all along, it does also suck.  No one wants to be told you can or cannot do something.  If I want to sit and eat a bag of damn Fritos and wash it down with beer then why can't I?  I totally can.  Its just not as important as the bigger picture.  I'll have you know its been 9 days since I looked at the scale and saw 183lbs.  This morning I woke up and it said 173.8lbs.  A pound a day.  Crazy, right?  Healthy?  I have no idea.  I'm eating all healthy foods.  I do get hungry and I eat more.  However I'm more mindful of what I'm eating and when I'm eating.  No more late night snacks (like I actually stay up late.  HA)

As we know the eating is the big part of it.  Really big part of it.  You can't out exercise a poor diet.  You just can't.  Trust me, I've tried.  Exercise will only get you so far.  Give it a try, you'll look like a circus freak.  Strong muscular arms, legs and this big old buddah belly.  Attractive isn't it?  Tony Horton thinks that calves are the most beautiful/attractive part of a persons body (quote from Power90 when he says "you know, there is nothing better than a nicely shaped calf).  Well guess what, I think its abs.  I want them.  At this point I'm not sure if I'm disciplined enough to do all the right things to get them, but I'm going to find out.  Eating right, after eating poorly for so long isn't easy.  It is difficult and does take discipline.  For all those that can do it day in and day out without a second thought, I give you a ton of credit.  There are times I do want to go back and sit my ass in front of the TV, open a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos and wash it down with Mtn Dew (or beer, no love for the soda - still plenty of love for the beer).  Somehow I still manage not to do that though.

The other part of the equation is getting off your ass and getting moving.  Help your body burn those calories and all that fat that has been stored up in your inactive body.  That is something that I actually didn't have an issue with.  That was something I was pretty good at.  4:55AM the alarm goes off, I get up, grab my phone and my shorts and head downstairs.  Stop in the bathroom and take a quick pee, wash my hands, put on my shorts and grab my water from the fridge as I head down to the basement to workout.  I'd power everything on downstairs and just get right to it.  Right now I'm struggling with that.  I don't know why.  I just don't know why.  Certainly I'm still getting up and doing it, but I'm struggling with that process and its hurting me.  Not as much as it would if I didn't do it, but it is still hurting me.  I'm not getting as much out as I could.  Then again, as I type this... work isn't getting as much out of me as they could either.  lol Whatever.

This month I added in the Spartan 30 day burpee challenge to my routine (30 burpees per day for 30 days).  Maybe that's contributing.  I don't know.  I just know mentally right now I'm really struggling to get up, get out of bed and get my shit done.  This past week I've been getting up, going downstairs and just kind of sitting there on my phone and surfing a little bit before I even get started.  Next thing you know its 5:20, I've been up for almost a half hour and haven't done shit.  Dumb.  I've got to fight through that.  At this point I'm hoping a change in the routine will help that.  Obviously I want to get as much as I can out of this routine and use it to get as close to my fitness goals as possible.  I'm just not doing that right now for whatever reason.  Again - next week is a change in the workout routine, so hopefully that helps invigorate me.  Recovery week is only 1 week and then you move onto "Block 2" which I'll do for 3 weeks before another recovery week.  I only made it to day 78 when I did P90X and again, that was almost 2 yrs ago.  Without question I put in more than 78 days with T25, I don't know why its so hard with Tony Horton.  He's not a bad guy.  lol  Maybe I just need a little break.  Not necessarily a physical one, but a mental one.  A day where I wake up and don't worry about when I'm getting my workout in and what I'm doing.  I don't know, but I do know I need to figure it out and not let this mind-fart derail me.

January 8, 2014

Welcome to 2014.  New year, same old goals.  Why is that?  Is it possibly because I haven't been committed enough?  Is it because I haven't done enough of the right things?  I don't know.... Here is where I am though.

I've completed Beachbody's T25.  All phases, ALPHA, BETA & GAMMA.  The ALPHA & BETA phases are essentially 10 weeks.  It took me somewhere between 14 - 16 weeks.  I lost 17 lbs during that time.  At the suggestion of some other folks from the fitness challenge group I am part of, they suggested I move forward and give GAMMA a try.  I had been really surprised & disappointed by the lack of strength training in T25.  That was a challenge for me, because I felt my body really responded best to strength workouts.  I was told GAMMA would be much better and sure enough it was.  GAMMA was fantastic.  Want your ass kicked in 25 minutes?  That's the one for you.  Lots of weights but still with that Shaun T non stop cardio.  I did GAMMA for another 5 or 6 weeks until P90X3 arrived.  During that time I lost another 7lbs and got down to 173lbs.  My lightest weight in over a decade.

At the beginning of December P90X3 was released.  I was an excited boy and a first day buyer.  I could not wait to get my hands on it.  Everything I wanted.  Short workouts (30 minutes), Tony Horton and lots of strength training.  Man oh man was I excited about this.  I didn't get the package until the week before Christmas and it took me time to convert the DVDs to digital files so I could upload it to my NAS and do these workouts from any room inside the house.  I started Christmas week.  I'm in the middle of week 3 and my results have been mixed.

My progress.  Well weight wise it hasn't been good.  During Christmas I acted liked "old Chris" and ate and drank whatever I wanted.  Beer?  Yup, I'll have 1, 2, 3, 4.... what the hell... why not another.  Wine?  Yeah - I'll have a bottle.  Cookies?  SURE!  Just give me MORE MORE MORE MORE MORE.  I weighed myself right before New Years.  Mainly just so I could see how much more I could get away with on New Years Eve.  I mean, after all the first few days that I was the human garbage disposal I was still hovering around 174 - 175.  To my surprise I was up to 183lbs.  I was SO SO MAD.  I had fought and worked my ass off and fairly discipline (not strict, but not unreasonable) when doing T25 and lost 24lbs.  I was pushing so so hard to get to 170lbs and instead of being closer to my goal I was what seemed to be a whole month behind to get back to where I was before Christmas.

So where am I now?  Well, since I haven't really missed much for workouts (1 week I was sick out of the past 5 or 6 mos) I'm considerably stronger.  Chest, back, arms and even my legs are stronger.  I still have knee issues and knee pain, but that comes and goes.  My knees still feel weak.  I get it, but I don't.  I've had this issue with my wrists before and honestly I don't know what I did to cure that issue, but wrists are great.  Knees.... not so much.  Anywho - my body continues to get stronger.  My belly is still very much present.  That is a result of 2 things (IMO).  1) There isn't nearly as much "Ab" stuff in P90X3 and most of Shaun T's workouts were "Core".  2) Nutrition.  Abs are made in the kitchen.  That's what I've been told over and over and over.  I keep saying, bullshit.... I work my arms and my arms are muscular.  I work my chest and my chest is muscular.  I work my back and guess what?? Yeah - fucking muscular.  Why would abs be any different?  Here's why.... anything your body can't process (extra protein, extra fat, extra sugar, extra whatever) all sits in the least worked part of your body.  Penis you say?  No, abs.  I'm not a geriatric.  That brings me to Nutrition.

Nutrition.  I call myself "Paleo"... most of the time.  However, a person who eats Paleo doesn't do dairy, grains, refined sugar, etc....  Tell that to the guy who LOVES pizza.  Go ahead, fucking tell me.  I can't tell you how many pizzas I've eaten, ESPECIALLY around the holidays.  I practically went out of my way to eat more pizza.  Seriously downing large pizzas at will, on my own in a single sitting.  Last time I checked pizza has both dairy (aka cheese) and grains (aka crust).... so WTF!  Alcohol?  SUGAR and more grains.  Again WTF!!  Want to know why I gained back 10lbs?  I was fucking dumb, that's why!! 

My commitment.  Well - I have been introduced to some truly inspirational people that are friends of my youngest brother.  One does crossfit and is a frigin workout machine.  He pushes the limits of his body with that stuff.  Having done T25, I feel I could do some crossfit.  The other is a woman who in 10 mos time took her plateau'd semi fit body and turned it into a rock hard hot momma.  During that time she only lost 7lbs but the difference in her body is AMAZING. ROCK HARD solid Abs and just all muscle.  I want that.  I'm putting in the work and I should see better results and I'm not.  It is clear to me that its been due to my nutrition choices.  My commitment is to stop drinking alcohol for the foreseeable future (my last drink was on Saturday January 4th 2014).  Stop eating pizza (also, my last pizza was on Jan 4th).  Stop eating processed foods (we typically indulge in frozen apps on Saturday nights or chips, or both.  lol).  Track my food and log it (the thing I absolutely hate the most).  See what my results are from there.  The next pizza I will have (and it will suck) is likely going to be at Amelia's 7th bday party on January 25th.  This may not seem like a big deal to some people, but its a HUGE deal to me.

As of this writing I'm just under 178lbs (177.8lbs)  Just over 5lbs lost since New Years.  I'm trying to be happy with that, but I still have the regret of putting that weight back on.  I'm trying to do what I always recommend to others..... don't look back, just correct what you can and move forward.  Always easier to say than to do.  I have my yearly physical coming up on Friday and I had booked this appt back in June or July.  At that time I was somewhere near 200lbs and I told myself I was going to be 175lbs (or lower) by the time my physical appt came.  I was going to work hard and get off the prescriptions for high cholesterol and high blood pressure (which, back in June my cholesterol went down 100 pts and was finally in the acceptable range).  Despite my slip ups I'm still close to that target weight (for the appt, my goal weight is 170lbs and then I'll revisit it).  We shall see what the Dr says regarding my meds.  I really want to be off them.  I don't like taking them.  Even though I have zero side effects from them I just find it unhealthy to have to live off medication and supplements. Its not the example I want to set for my children.  My children have recognized my efforts to get healthier and that makes me proud.  My youngest likes to tell me (as she did this morning) "Daddy, your belly is growing smaller".  lol  She is too fucking cute. 

I'm going to try and blog more as I continue on this journey.  Occasionally I look back at it and its nice to know what worked and what didn't work and also just to see how far one has come.  I look forward to completing "Block 1" of P90x3 in the coming week and checking out the new stuff in "Block 2".  Definitely time for some changes.  Too much of the same thing over and over gets old. 

I'm out - take care to anyone who reads this.

October 22nd

Its been quite some time since I've posted.  I haven't abandoned being healthy and getting in shape.  In fact I just spent the last 13 weeks doing BeachBody's T25 program.  I'm down about 20lbs and for the first time in over a decade in the 170's.  I have before and after pics to post, but that will be a few more days as life is very busy right now.

What have I been doing since I completed T25?  Honestly I've kept busy with a Power90 hybrid program.  T25 does very little in regards to working out with weights.  Something I missed more than I thought I would.  I've gone back to Power90 simply because the strength portion of this routine is under an hour (38 minutes for level 3-4).  I'm happy to say I've been consistent and continuing to do T25 (mostly for cardio) 3 days a week and doing Power90 level 3-4 strength for 3 days a week.  Its producing results.  I know it is.  I'm just not where I want to be yet.  Although again, I've finally reached a "healthy" BMI for whatever that shit is worth.  Well, I'll be honest.  For someone who was really made some lifestyle changes in the past 3 months to get healthy, it means a lot.

I'm getting there.  With the combination of eating mostly Paleo and regular exercise I have had some success and I plan on having more.

May 3 (Day 72) - P90X [Day 26]

P90X - Yoga X (40 minutes)

Yoga really does push limits.  I felt pretty strong, but I was tired.  I really need to get better sleep and more often.  Whatever.  I did 35 - 40 minutes of it and it was pretty good.  I wasn't nearly as open as I had hoped to be at the end of my session but it was still a good, strong workout.  Worked all of my body. 

Tomorrow Core Synergistics.  YAY!

May 2 (Day 71) - P90X [Day 25]

P90X - X Stretch (58 minutes)

I can't say enough good things about this routine.  Its not a workout.  Its a phenomenal routine.  Phenomenal.  When all is said and done you feel better than you have felt in a LONG time.  LONG time.  It loosens up every single part of your body.  Every muscle, every body part, everything.  Its frigin great.  HIGHLY recommended. 

Tomorrow Yoga X.  I'll probably get 45 minutes of it done.  Which is clearly better than nothing.  Then bring on the crazy ass weekend.  Oy.

May 1 (Day 70) - P90X [Day 24]

P90X - Kenpo X (58 minutes)

Not a bad workout.  I'll be honest.... this is my 4th week doing P90X.  Even though Kenpo X is in the routine at least once per week every week, this is the first time I've done the workout.  What the hell do you want from me?  The workout usually falls on the weekend when I'm at the busiest. 

How was it?  Pretty good.  As I said to Christie, this workout is a sneaky sweat workout.  You workout, you don't think you are working that hard....but every time you turn around sweat is dripping off you.  I definitely have room for improvement on it.  There were some kicking routines that I could have been better at.  Especially when I had to kick with my left foot, that was an area I struggled with.  Punching sequences I did pretty well.  The only one I was having some issues with was when you would do a jump switch to do the other side.  So lead with the left, do your punch sequence, jump and switch your feet and lead with your right and do the same sequence.  Keep repeating until the set is done. 

Tomorrow, X-Stretch.  FINALLY.  I can stop talking about how much I need this workout and missing it, this time actually get the fucking thing done.  Should be 58 minutes of GLORIOUS stretching.  Until then.