Another week of clean eating and no workouts missed. Not much of a drop in weight this week, but body fat took a dip which I’m happy about.
Weight -
Starting Weight: 213.8 lbs
Current Weight: 192.0 lbs
Total Change: -21.8 lbs
Body Fat Percentage -
Starting Percentage: 27.7%
Current Percentage: 20.5%
Total Change: -7.2%
Starting BMI: 31.5
Current BMI: 28.4
Total Change: -3.2
So I’m a few days behind in posting this, but I managed to survive the long holiday weekend without slipping on my food plan or missing a workout. So I just want to point out the importance of dedication when trying to reach your fitness goals. No, having a cheat meal every so often won’t kill you and you should certainly enjoy your life. But if you really want to hit your targets, the cheat meals can’t be every day.
We had a pretty busy weekend. As mentioned in my last post, we made it an extra-long weekend and took Friday off as well and had a BBQ at our house to kick things off. I kept busy cooking while everyone was here and only ate a burger with no bun wrapped in lettuce and tomato and then some corn on the cob and watermelon. One of my biggest weaknesses has always been tortilla chips and salsa so it was really hard to stay away from the huge bowl of them. But I did.
My wife’s best friend was in town from South Carolina for the weekend, so Saturday we all took a ride up to Trenton for the first annual Pork Roll Festival. Who knew Trenton was the pork roll capital of the world. I certainly didn’t. Basically it was just a whole lot of people standing in line at different food trucks waiting to eat different variations of pork roll (and tator tots!) I on the other hand, stood in line for over an hour with my son waiting to get his face painted like a Ninja Turtle. That was the best line to be standing in, well worth it to see how excited he was to be Donatello the rest of the day. No pork roll smothered in cheese for me.
Sunday the ladies had tickets to a concert in Atlantic City that I had zero interest in (I won’t mention the band), but I also didn’t want them driving to AC by themselves at night on a holiday weekend so I drove them down and did a little gambling while they went to the show. Before the show we had dinner at Amada. We just ordered some small plates and shared and I stuck to the salad and the veggie plates. Food was good. That was the first time we’d eaten there.
Then finally on Monday came my ultimate test. We were looking for something to do and decided to head to the Camden River Sharks game that night (minor league baseball). Tickets were cheap and they were having fireworks and some stuff for the kids. Game was really fun, but of course the health food stand that they recently added was closed for some reason. And right next to it was the torture of Philly Pretzel Factory and Chickie’s and Pete’s, home of the world famous crab fries which are a staple of any sporting event in the Philadelphia area. Can’t tell you how hard it was not to dive into a basket of crab fries and cheese sauce. But I kept reminding myself of how I would feel afterwards. Yes, they would be incredibly delicious while I was eating them, but afterwards I know I would regret it. And I didn’t want to feel bad about myself or feel like I was undoing the workout I had done earlier that day.
My eyes are set on the end result. And getting there is going to take some pretty crazy will power and dedication. But that’s what it will take to get where I’ve always wanted to be. I will no longer let myself fall backwards. It only leads to bad things for me.
Dedication = Success
I’ve been tracking my weight, body fat percentage and BMI every week since I got started back in February. I’ll update my stats each week. Anything before April 20th is from simply overhauling my diet and making modest lifestyle changes like walking more, taking the stairs, etc. After April 20th is a result of P90X3. You’ll notice there are some weeks where I plateaued or even went back up slightly. It happens. The key is to not get frustrated those weeks and get right back to it.
This is what I’m using to measure body fat and BMI. You can pick one up online or at Target for somewhere around $30. From all the reviews I’ve read on it, it seems to be one of the more accurate measurement tools. The model is Omron HBF-306C
So let’s get to the measurements shall we?
Weight -
Starting Weight: 213.8 lbs
Current Weight: 192.4 lbs
Total Change: -21.4 lbs
Body Fat Percentage -
Starting Percentage: 27.7%
Current Percentage: 21.8%
Total Change: -5.9%
BMI (Body Mass Index) - just in case you’re not familiar with BMI - it’s a measure of body fat based on your height and weight. Normal weight is between 18.5 - 24.9. This has been a pretty consistent drop for me. Here’s where I am.
Starting BMI: 31.5
Current BMI: 28.4
Total Change: -3.1
So that’s where I stand here on May 25th. If you’re on any kind of weight loss or exercise program you need to track your efforts. If you don’t know where you stand, you don’t know where you need to make improvements or how close you’re getting to your goals. Write down your measurements, how much weight you lifted during your workout, what food you ate, ANYTHING that will help you get an idea of where you are and where you are heading.
We kicked off Memorial Day weekend yesterday with a BBQ at our house. I managed to stay on track with my nutrition and keep away from all the chips and potato salad. Just had a burger with no bun, wrapped in lettuce and tomato and then some corn on the cob and watermelon. Started the day off early with my workout then spent the day running around - grocery shopping, mowing the lawn, then cooking non stop once people starting arriving. I have to give my wife some credit here. The BBQ was all her idea and I really wasn’t into it, but it was a good time, glad we did it. And the kids all seemed to have a good time. However by the time everyone left last night I was dead tired. I fell asleep on the couch in the family room and then woke up at 1:40 AM. Went up to bed and then had the cat wake me up around 3:30 because she was hungry. Then back to bed until the 5:00 AM alarm to get up and hit my workout. Had to hit the snooze for a few and didn’t get up until closer to 5:30. And then I was faced with……Eccentric Upper.
So if you’re not familiar with P90X3, Eccentric Upper is one of the workout programs and as far as I’m concerned it’s the hardest one. What does “eccentric” mean you ask? Let’s define.
Eccentric training is defined as active contraction of a muscle occurring simultaneously with lengthening of the muscle . For example, in a biceps curl the action of lowering the dumbbell back down from the lift is the eccentric phase of that exercise — as long as the dumbbell is lowered slowly rather than letting it drop (i.e the bicep muscle is in a state of contraction to control the rate of descent of the dumbbell).
Basically, when you do bicep curls, you fire up on the curl but then lower it back down really slooooooooowly to keep extra tension on the muscles. But this is P90X3 so it’s not just bicep curls. It’s curls, pull ups, push ups, variations on all of them and then of course the dreaded “burnout” period to close it out. Pull ups are hard enough, but when you then have to lower yourself down slowly before firing back up it’s just a thousand times harder. Needless to say, I really struggled with this today. I just feel exhausted and weak and feel like I didn’t get in a good workout. But I pushed through it. And that’s the most important thing - making the commitment and sticking to it. This morning’s workout kinda sucked, but I did it. And I’ll be right back at it tomorrow. See you at 5:00 AM, Mr. Horton.
#p90x3 #eccentricupper #imnot65 #workout #bbq #beachbodycoach
I’m Steve. Welcome to my world. Sorry if this initial post gets a bit wordy, but I want to give you some background on why I’m writing this and where it’s going. So let’s hit it.
This blog will follow me on a journey that’s extremely personal. At times it will be hard for me to be open about things, but I’ll do my best. I am on a mission to get my life back. For as long as I’ve been alive, I have been the ultimate yo-yo when it comes to weight and fitness. When I was a kid I was kind of chunky. I never really felt comfortable with myself. Then as a teen I was (at least I think) a pretty decent athlete. I played baseball in the summer, football in the winter. Throw in some pickup basketball and hockey games and I really thinned out. I was constantly active. But then in high school is where my absolutely terrible decision making started to take hold. For reasons I’d rather not get into, I decided to give up baseball and football. I was stupid. It made sense to me at the time, but as I got older this was a decision I started to regret every. single. day. I started to really put on weight. And I started smoking cigarettes. I was a terrible mess. By the time I graduated I was pretty huge. I went off to college that way only getting worse. Then one day in my junior year of college I decided I’d had enough. I remember the day vividly. I walked upstairs in my house and got completely winded. That’s where I was. I couldn’t handle a flight of stairs. At that exact moment, I decided to make some changes. I quit smoking cold turkey, started eating healthier and working out again. By the time I graduated from college I had lost 55 pounds and was in great shape.
Then I hit my mid-twenties. At this point I was still working out, but my weekends started to consist mostly of beer, hangovers and more beer. Don’t get me wrong, I had some good times. But it wasn’t exactly the healthiest time of my life. Just thinking about the amount of money I drank away kind of makes me sick. Then in 2007, I met my wife. Over the course of a few years we got married and had our son. Life got busy. And my health suffered. Badly. I put on some serious weight. Again, I never really felt comfortable with myself. The past few months all that’s been running through my head is that I’m going to be 35 in June and my body feels like I’m 65 (no offense to any 65 year olds that might be reading this). But I decided that I didn’t want to feel like this anymore. I no longer want to be miserable. I no longer want to be completely self-conscious all the time. And most importantly, I don’t want to be a bad example to my son. I want him to see me as strong and able to protect him. I want him to learn the importance of eating right and taking care of your body. And I want to be around to see him have children of his own. If I kept on the path I was on, that would not happen.
So a few months ago I started to overhaul my diet and make small changes in activity – taking the stairs instead of the elevator, etc. I started to lose some weight. Then I ordered a copy of P90X3 (you know the infomercials) and I started doing that. The weight started falling off. Today was day 33 of 90. I haven’t missed a day and I don’t plan on it. In fact, I’m enjoying this program so much that I just signed on to be a Beachbody Coach so that I can help other people in the same situation as me.
The goal I set for myself was to be in better shape by my 35th birthday - June 18th. A big part of being able to achieve your goals is accepting where you are currently, setting a starting point. When it comes to fitness and weight loss, that usually means taking some “before” pictures. This is something I’ve never done before and was really afraid of doing because I’ve always been so self-conscious that I wasn’t comfortable with people seeing it. I’ve never even taken my shirt off at the beach. I’ve just never felt good about it, even when I was in pretty good shape. So when I started P90X3, I had my wife take some “before” photos of me on day 1. I wasn’t happy with what I saw, but what even she doesn’t know is that I actually took some “before” pictures of myself mirror-pic style back a few months ago on that day that I decided to make a change. I can’t believe I’m doing this, but those pictures are below:
I felt horrible that day. I weighed in at 213 lbs. and 27.7% body fat. This is when I felt “65.”
I started P90X3 eight weeks after those pictures were taken. Here are my Day 1 and Day 30 updates. I’m getting there. As of Day 30 I’m down to 193 lbs. and 22.5% body fat. I’m really excited to see where I can get by Day 90.
As I mentioned earlier, I’ve also become a Beachbody Coach. This blog is about my personal journey so I won’t turn it into a big push for Beachbody products, but I will say that I’ve never seen results like what I’m getting from P90X3. The reason I became a coach is that I truly believe in these products. If you commit to it, you’ll love what you get out of it. I became a coach not because the world is full of elite athletes that need a little extra encouragement, but because the world is full of people just like me; people that have busy lives - spouses, kids, jobs; people that struggle daily with trying to stay healthy; people that know it’s time to make some changes in their lives but maybe don’t know where to begin. And so my hope is that those people will find this blog and I can be an inspiration to at least one of them.
So let’s get going…
If you’d like to keep up with me on Facebook as well, you can do so here: https://www.facebook.com/stevelovebeachbody
I hope you’ll join me.
