Holy Carp! A new plan!

Okay, so commencing tomorrow I'm off on another zany, whirlwind adventure to cut some weight. The plan is that when I kick off the NEXT P90X series in November, the progress and results will be more obviously evident. I'm shooting for 170 pounds and considerably lower body fat by Nov 1.

I've reread The Hacker's Diet and am charged up to follow the guidelines it presents for the next 9 weeks. If you haven't checked it out I highly recommend you do so now. It's a fun, free, and enlightening look (if at times slightly oversimplified IMHO) at how the body gains and loses weight. I'm incorporating the free online HD tools to avoid the elation/depression associated with logging scale readings and Fitday to track caloric intake.

Did a 5 mile run with Rico this morning, I'm going to keep up running a few times a week and some cycling (Can't let Tim ride the trail by himself too often or he'll give me grief about it). I'm also going to start doing the 'ladder' in HD with chinups added to prep a little for P90X.

We're slipping into my big gain period of the year, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are historically bad fitness times for me. I think setting these goals now and having a plan in place may help to mitigate some of the temptations and defuse the opportunities to indulge.

Oh, here's a thing. I've also completed a week of green smoothies for breakfast. I wanted to do a week's worth before talking about it in case it turned out to be too nasty to sustain. I'm really happy to report that far from nasty, I've gotten pretty much addicted to them.
What's a green smoothie you ask? Weeeell, here's what you do. Go buy a big honkin' blender - I got this one and it's working out great. Add 2-3 hand fulls of a green leafy veggie - spinich, kale, chard, lettuce, your choice. Throw in several servings of fruit. I bought a couple of bags of mixed frozen fruit and put in 2 cups of that, apple and bananna with about a cup of water and set the whole thing to blending. The smoothie blender includes a ramrod for making everything blend which is good since sometimes it needs a little additional help to get started. When it's ready just pour it up and enjoy - keeps in the fridge until you finish it all.
This is an novel way for me to vastly increase my intake of fruits and leafy veggies, which otherwise I struggle with. There are boatloads of green smoothie recipes out on the web, just google or youtube it for more info.

Days left: 33
Drink log: 26/56 and 58 days with none.
Miles Ridden: 256.5/750
Miles Run: 38/100

Why So Sad Emo Exercise Boy?

First of all, thank you all for your support, I was surprised at how much heartfelt encouragement I received and it is nice to know I'm not the only one to have visited the fitness doldrums.

In answer to all the 'Why' questions (anyone else get images of Nancy Kerigan at that question?). Well, I do these things that I don't particularly love because I know the payout is better than temporary suffering they cause. I am stronger mentally and physically and I am more robust and durable. I am a better Wes than I would be otherwise. And that is the point.

Balance still needs attention. Meh, it's a work in progress.

Hey, I found this article this morning, good to see I'm on the right track: http://zenhabits.net/2008/08/7-little-habits-that-can-change-your-life-and-how-to-form-them/

Ran 2 miles yesterday between thunderstorms. Almost made it back without getting wet.
Days left: 36
Drink log: 26/56 and 55 days with none.
Miles Ridden: 256.5/750
Miles Run: 33/100

So I owe you some updates

Been suffering an existential crises last few days. Let me explain...

For a few weeks I've been reading about the health benefits of fasting and raw food diets. So last Thursday, sort of on a whim, I decided to try a 3 day fast starting after dinner. I made it 2 days and I'll sum it up with one word: HUNGRY. On Friday and Saturday we saw a lot of our friends and neighbors and the reoccurring questions about the fast was 'WHY?'. I got sick of going over all the alleged health benefits to glazed over eyes and eventually just answered 'To see what it is about'.

But the 'why' kept bugging me.

Why am I fasting?
Why am I exercising a minimum of an hour a day?
Why am I running?
Why am I spending my quality time sitting on a bike out in the middle of no where?
Why do I care what I look like?

Seriously, why AM I doing this? Is it some sort of midlife crisis? What am I trying to prove? Am I subconsciously building some sort of Warrior-geek persona? Honestly, what is the point?

I'm definitely not trying to prove that I've still got it - frankly, I've never had it. I'm not and never have been an athlete of any particular caliber. I've challenged myself and pushed through to complete some fairly arduous tasks, but it wasn't like I was driven by some deep rooted vision to do these things. I did them to see if I could.

Here's the thing - I don't take any great joy out of running, cycling, and swimming. I don't particularly care for being astoundingly sore in one part of the body or another everyday. I do like the way my body looks better and, when not in agony, I overall feel better I guess, so I suppose I'm weighing if that is worth all the time spent to get here and how much more do I have to do to myself...

I have noticed that I have become a pretty self absorbed, selfish jerk. All of my time has become research on how to get better, or exercising, or thinking about my body fat or diet. I become a jackass when the family interferes with a scheduled workout session. My conversations with our friends and neighbors end up circling back to what I'm doing etc etc.

I've gone from Uberslob to Deacon in the Church of Fitness.

I guess I need to work on some sort of balance. So I'm struggling right now...

-Wes

Days left: 38
Drink log: 26/56 and 53 days with none.
Miles Ridden: 256.5/750
Miles Run: 31/100

Did the Trail w/ Tim today, went for a lunch walk with wife yesterday.

Days left: 43
Drink log: 26/56 and 48 days with none.
Miles Ridden: 256.5/750
Miles Run: 26/100

Rode 21.5 during lunch, was really hot.

Days left: 45
Drink log: 26/56 and 46 days with none.
Miles Ridden: 242.5/750
Miles Run: 24.5/100

Well, that didn't work.

I got up on time but the boy got up early. Going to have to figure out another plan for early morning.

Got a 5 mile run done at lunch, 48:28. I think the foreseeable future of outside morning workouts is pretty bleak, so I'm going to rework things a bit. Checked out a 24 move Tai Chi video last night which I'd like to learn so maybe that and/or yoga will get done in the morning. That'll probably be better as we slid into fall anyway. Not sure how things will work out with TurboJams but don't not sure wife is feeling the love there, she mangled her foot yesterday so we skipped it today.

Days left: 46
Drink log: 26/56 and 45 days with none.
Miles Ridden: 221/750
Miles Run: 24.5/100

Cha cha cha cha cha cha changes...

So Saturday I bought an Omron Fat loss Monitor with Scale, Model HBF-400. In addition to weight it also apparently harnesses black magic to measure percent body fat and calculates BMI. The information it provided was.. not as good as I was expecting it to be. The results from my tape measure calculations to deduce body fat seem have been overly optimistic. My only regret is that I didn't buy a scale to provide this info earlier. Anyway, now I feel like I have a better picture of my physical state which will help guide where to go from here. I'm in the process of finalizing the next 7 weeks (or so) exercise plans and am excited about the direction I'm heading.

Change is good.

Speaking of change, check out the new fitday.com, I'm digging the new look and feel. Give it a spin when you've got a chance.

Kicking off tomorrow with a run, I'll say 'hi' before I head out.
-Wes

Days left: 47
Drink log: 26/56 and 44 days with none.
Miles Ridden: 221/750
Miles Run: 19.5/100

P180X+ Game Over

Well, not exactly what I had in mind, but things have a funny way of working out.

I've had a stomach virus for the last couple of days, which seems to be working its way through the family. I get a kick out of how much harder these things hit adults than the kids. My daughter went from:
I don't feel good.. Hoooorrruukk.. It looks like eggs! Can I go play? All in one morning.

I've spent the last couple of days subsisting on sips of water and dry cherrios and venturing more than 10 feet from a toilet was a bold and daring adventure. I felt like some nightmarish double ended chum cannon. Yeah, that's pretty much sums it up.
On the upside, body weight's down about 6 pounds, half of that was probably my speen.

Anyway, I'm quitting on the P180X+ plan. It's too long for me and my excitement, attention, dedication, and motivation have all dropped below acceptable levels. I'm bored and burned out *for now*. It seems that the decision to make these programs 90 days is a solid one and next time that's what I'll stick with. For now I'm going to try some other stuff - catching up and sticking with my running and cycling goals, TurboJams (I feel like a tool doing it, but it's good for me and fun to workout and support Wife), maybe some Tha Chi, Yoga, or Karma Sutra (Ancient nocturnal martial arts and interval training). Just shake it up a little.

I'm sure I'll be back to P90X or P90X+ before long. Today is halfway through my 100 Day drink challenge and when it's done I'll have concluded the riding and running challenges as well. So I'll probably get the P90 itch again in October and use it to fight the fall fat food feasting fracus and subsequent weight gain.

Any hoo, I'll be recovering and figuring out what the next plan is going to look like this weekend and will report in soon.
Be nice to each other.
-Wes

Days left: 49
Drink log: 26/56 and 42 days with none.
Miles Ridden: 221/750
Miles Run: 19.5/100

Day 121 I may be burnt out

I've been pretty cranky lately. Not really feeling the love in the P90 workouts. May be time to put a little space between me and Mr. Horton. It's not him, it's me.

Here's a thing. Since I seem to have quit drinking (even the O'Doul's) and instead of drinking the water I should be, I've been playing around with different mixtures to entertain myself. Most of it has been pretty gross however I did get one that I like.
Get a tall glass, fill halfway with light cranberry juice. Fill the rest of the way with diet pepsi. Serve cold.

I call it Crapsi. Enjoy!

Days left: 52
Drink log: 26/56 and 39 days with none.
Miles Ridden: 221/750
Miles Run: 19.5/100

Day 119

Got caught in a wicked rain event on the bike today. Not fun. Got 28 miles ridden today, 6.5 run yesterday.

Days left: 54
Drink log: 26/56 and 37 days with none.
Miles Ridden: 207/750
Miles Run: 19.5/100

Day 116

Core Syn and a bike ride scheduled. Frankly right now I don't feel like doing anything. Just being honest.

Yesterday did a 5 mile run, TurboJams w/ wife and StretchX.

Did the trail with Tim, 17.5 ridden. Maybe try Core tomorrow. Feeling pretty meh today.

Days left: 57
Drink log: 26/56 and 34 days with none.
Miles Ridden: 179/750
Miles Run: 13/100

Day 114

Busy busy busy.
Yesterday got Core Syn done for breakfast, Turbojams done w/ wife at lunch.
Today just did 22.5 riding out to the tobacco trail where I met up with Mighty Tim. Blew off StretchX but wish I hadn't.
Run scheduled for tomorrow morning.

Days left: 59
Drink log: 26/56 and 32 days with none.
Miles Ridden: 161.5/750
Miles Run: 8/100

Day 112

Pretty busy weekend, ran 5 miles yesterday, rode 21.5 with Rico on the MTN bikes over to the tobacco trail then mowed the grass this morning.

Days left: 61
Drink log: 26/56 and 30 days with none.
Miles Ridden: 139/750
Miles Run: 8/100

Day 110 Interesting Times

There's an old Chinese curse that goes along the lines "May you live in interesting times." Well my friends, this week has certainly been interesting times. I have made maybe half of my workouts, not much sleep, decent nutrition (especially if you consider coffee nutrition). I did get a 20 mile bike ride in yesterday after declaring 'chuck it' or something similar just to clear my head. Mornings have been really hard to get moving lately and discipline about it is in the dump. I am very ready for this week to be over, next week is a recovery week and maybe I can regroup.


Days left: 63
Drink log: 26/56 and 28 days with none.
Miles Ridden: 117.5/750
Miles Run: 3/100 <- This looks grim.