Month 2 Has Begun!

Onward and upward, Month 2 has begun.

First off, I want to clean the kitchen, but I have a sleeping baby in my gym/office and I'm writing this blog post while I wait for her to wake up.

Now she's up. Figures. So this is going to be short.

I started Month 2 today with Eccentric Upper from P90X3. I've gotta say, if Shaun T is the best cardio trainer out there, then Tony is the best resistance trainer out there. And yes, that includes Sagi (it's close). This workout is truly truly amazing. It hits the entire upper body (minus abs, but that's ok), which is great since The Challenge (which I've been doing the past four weeks) only hits chest and back. I'll give a full recap in a later blog post, but right now I've gotta say I'm impressed with the workout and impressed with how well I did. Chest/Back have been getting hit, but my shoulders and biceps didn't get nearly as tired from the weights I picked as I thought they would. This means it's time to up the weights on those two next week!

Walk-wise, I didn't get my usual walk in yesterday, but the app on my phone said I still got 10K+ steps in yesterday, so maybe I did alright. There was a lot of walking at the event.

Nutrition yesterday was so so. I had a few more carbs than I'd like at a lunch thing after the event (8 tortilla chips, plus two fried wontons) and then we got sushi burritos again last night. On the plus side, I ate a ton of ahi tuna, which I think is healthy but I definitely know is delicious!

We're doing pizza tonight for dinner. Personal pans. My plan is to load up with veggies as much as possible on there, and only eat half (eat the second half tomorrow). Moderation, right? Wish me luck. Goal for Monday is 223.7. I can do it!

Bring it!

Quick update - Month 1 is Done!

Month 1 is complete.

I'm writing this a little later in the day. Went to a very cool work event this morning, but my schedule's all out of whack. Also, probably no walk today. Sad times.

Anyways, the good news: Month 1 is done, and for the final time in my current program I completed Friday Fight: Round 1. It wasn't my best workout, last night we didn't get much sleep (poor baby got shots the other day and isn't sleeping well, plus I got up earlier than normal because of the work event) but I still pushed and was very pleased with today's workout. B, B+ maybe. I'll take it!

Then there's the scale. Goal today was an aggressive 222.5, and I sadly came in at 224.2. So, missed goal. But, I was 226 yesterday, so I still came down quite a bit. Also when I saw the 223 on Wednesday, I wasn't wearing my glasses, and there's a chance it actually said 225. Maybe that's just me wanting to believe.

Anyways, missed goal or not, today's weigh in is locked in stone, which makes Monday's goal 223.7. Let's do it!

Onward, to Month 2! All new workouts! I've got a crazy weekend scheduled workout wise, starting with P90X3 Eccentric Upper on Saturday and moving onto Bas Rutten MMA on Sunday. That last one I'm worried about. It's just like the kickboxing one I was previously doing, except with burpees. A lot of burpees. In my previous attempts I've never made it passed Round 4. But hey, new year, new challenge, new me. I've got this!

Bring it!

An unofficial step back today

K, first off, sorry my blog posts this week have all been one paragraph. I somehow had it set to HTML. Not going back to change it, so, ya...

Anyways, today I somehow took a step back. Despite clocking in at 223 yesterday, and sticking to a decent diet yesterday, I clocked in at 226.0 this morning. I'm not too disappointed, more-so amused how fickle weight loss is. But I have goals for a reason, so I'm not 100% ok with this either.

Good news? Today's not an official weigh in day. Goal for tomorrow remains at 222.5, and that's what I'm shooting for. I think I'm eating too much fruit right now too, that's entirely what I snack on, so I'm going to limit myself today on that. No starving myself, there'll be none of that, but if I'm starving I'm going to try to find a protein snack (probably the protein powder I have) instead of another orange.

So, workout talk. Yesterday's walk was decent, but not my best. Just didn't feel as long or taxing as I usually do. Hoping to make that up today.

Today's workout was Tabata Strength. I stand by, I don't like the non-cardio workouts in this program. There's also a chance I'm just always tired after cardio days, which these all occur on, but I'm preferring to think it's just a preference thing. Anyways, today I pushed and did what I could. By far, this was not my best workout, but it wasn't terrible either. I definitely got a sweat on. This is also the last time I see this workout, potentially ever, so that's nice.

Also today was the first time I noticed there's no break in this workout. Like, none at all. Just recovery moves. Not sure how it took me four weeks to notice that. Hmm.

I'm excited for tomorrow. It's the last time I see Friday Fight Round 1 in my current program. I have it coming up again in consecutive programs, but that's its own story. I really dig that workout, and it's an awesome way to challenge myself to end the week. The bad news? Tomorrow I have an early work event to attend, which means I'm planning to wake up in the 4:45 time frame. Just gotta get to bed early tonight I guess.

Spanish slowly trucking along. No real updates in that arena.

Family's doing well. Baby turned 6 months this week. Poor thing had 6-month shots and she was up all night sounding like she was uncomfortable. She joined me in the gym this morning which I think made her happy. She gets super excited watching me and Shaun T jump around.

Wife's also doing her own fitness program. I'm super proud of her. She's mostly doing walks and changing diet (she's doing lots of salads with me), but it seems to be working for her. She's not doing Insanity, but I'll be the first to admit Insanity isn't for everyone. The family is getting healthy! Gotta set an example for the next generation, ya know?

Ok, that's my story. Bring it!

I passed my exit on the weight-loss-goal highway

Super excited this morning. Weight loss goal for the day: 225.5. Actual weigh in: 223.0!!! BOOM! Sure, this was probably a fluke, and you can clearly see that weight loss fluctuates, but man oh man am I stoked about blowing today's weight loss goal out of the water. Hey, fluke or not, I have a plan and I'm sticking to it. Goal for Friday: 222.5! So, this makes total weight loss more than 10 lbs. I was probably more than 10 lbs down before today though, since I didn't start weighing myself until week 2, but hey, let's go off the tracking. Alright, workout talk. I did a great walk yesterday at lunch. It was cold outside so I had to stay in the building. Fortunately, my office is extremely huge (like, extremely extremely huge) and I was able to get a few miles in in 45 minutes. I tried out MapMyWalk and it said I did 3.8 miles, but that seems WAY too far. So I'm trying a new app today that measures strides, not distance, and hopefully that gives me a more accurate reading. My wife's promised me a fit bit for my birthday next month, so that'll make these walks more accurate. Then there's this morning. Today was Sweat Fest, the last time I do this one in my current workout. I have mixed feelings on this workout. First off, I really like it. I need to open with that. It is a great Insanity-style cardio workout and that is awesome. But, the schedule says this can be a substitute for Sweat Intervals, so I wrote it into my schedule every other week, taking over half of the Sweat Intervals workouts. This is not a 1:1 substitute for that workout. I'm not going to say it's easy, it's not, but it's significantly easier than Sweat Intervals. It's a regular Insanity workout, just 30 minutes long, so that means there's a slightly longer warmup, then a full 5-minute stretch, and then the workout starts. The Max 30 workouts have got me accustomed to warm up, swig some water (unless it's Friday) and then get into it. I felt like I missed 5 minutes of my workout. However, this meant I had to push push push, and push push push I did. I still came out of this thing soaked, almost like I'd had a Sweat Fest (he used the title in the movie!, he used the title in the movie!) and definitely felt like I got a good workout. Mixed feelings aside, I am going to miss this workout. I only got to do it twice in my current rotation. Fortunately I've written out my next course of action and I have this scheduled a few more times, in addition to Sweat Intervals. Adios fat! (and adios legs, probably, but that's a whole other thing to worry about). Oh, also, the baby worked out with me this morning. Again, this means she sat in a chair and played with toys (and tried to kill me by throwing a ball on the floor while I'm moving once or twice) but she was in there and it makes it a little more motivating. I can't wait until she can get up and move with me. I promise I'm going to be an inspiration to her! Nutrition wise, I'm feeling great. Salads for lunch and dinners, and I've pretty much cut out all carbs except for fruit and veggies. Well, fruit and spinach. My veggie palate is still lacking a bit. There's also some sugar in my morning cappuccino, because those were the ones that were on sale at the store for my Keurig, but if that's the worst part of my diet/day, then I'm doing ok. Spanish is getting back into the swing of things too. I think it'll take me the rest of the year to get through the whole Duolino program, but I'm in no rush. Just gotta keep moving forward. Tomorrow is Strength, which I'm not looking forward to, but hey, it's gotta get done. Also have another walk planned at lunch today. Should be fun. I've started listening to Serial during my walks, and it's a pretty addictive podcast. Don't tell me how it ends! Bring it!

Just not digging the tabata workouts

Well, Week 4 continues. Today was the last time I see Tabata Power, and I'm pretty excited about it (even though I'm pretty sure there's another Tabata Power style workout coming out a week from today). It's just not my kind of workout, and today was a little rough. I really break a sweat during the cardio stuff, which happens after the pushup stuff, but other than that this isn't my kind of workout. Well, that's my story for the day. Going on a walk at lunch today. Gotta hit 225.5 tomorrow morning, and I was off-track for that goal this morning (weighed in at 226.2, a tiny bit heavier than yesterday). I'll let you know how it goes. Bring it.

Starting Week 4 with a Boom

Where my week starts is a matter of opinion. Insanity schedule says today, my personal schedule says Saturday (two days ago), and honestly, I work out 7 days a week so where a week starts and ends is subjective. But, according to Max 30, Week 4 started today. So, the morning started with Cardio Challenge. This was the official last time I do this program in my current schedule. And I think I did excellent! I was off to a slow start in the warm up, it was just a rough sleep night, but by the time we got into it I was really cooking along. I started to hit a wall around the 15 minute mark, and by minute 25 I was flailing a bit, but I pushed through and overall I'm pretty damn pleased with myself today. A- for the workout. This workout is truly excellent, and really exemplifies why I love Insanity (and the Max 30 workouts especially). It's no non-sense, and it does exactly what it says it's going to do. We're going to work our asses off for 30 minutes. Every move is completely doable, but also can be made harder or easier simply by adding effort. And unlike Insanity, you go go go. Insanity was more go go (note the lack of the third go). Insanity is fast, this is just, well, faster. Not in effort so much, both require you to push yourself as hard as possible. But Insanity you'd do the 3-minute warmup 3 times. By the third time, I always got board. This is a 2:30 warmup done twice. Then, no stretch (which I have mixed feelings on). You just sip some water for a blink of an eye and then go right into it. Stretching is important, but after pushing myself for 9 minutes in the old Insanity warmup my blood was pumping and then my energy got zapped by a 5 minute stretch and mounds of personal anticipation. If I finally got my body ready to work, I want to work! Not lose that energy! Max 30 does exactly what I'm looking for here. Final thought on this workout: there's no way this workout will ever not be hard. I have no doubt the Max Cardio workout I start next week is going to be more challenging (which, frankly, I'm dreading) but I originally thought that after I started the Max workouts I wouldn't be able to go back to these and still progress. Nope, no way will that ever be the case. Cardio Challenge and its sweaty brothers will make an excellent addition to my next program for the first half, and I'll definitely be getting a pump from it. No question at all. So, let's review the weekend. Diet was pretty good. Not excellent, but it was the weekend. After my last checkin I mostly ate fruit during the day because we had a date night planned. We ended up trying sushi burritos, and they were excellent. Basically a giant sushi roll rolled inside out (seaweed on the outside) and it was great. There was a lot of carbs in the rice, my fried shrimp wasn't too healthy, nor was my eel sauce and cream cheese. But hey, it was cheat day, and I didn't come away feeling stuffed either. Moderation. Sunday was pretty healthy. Ate leftover turkey bacon and eggs for breakfast, had some fruit, a spinach/turkey/ham/cheese wrap for lunch and a few leftover hot wings for dinner (six, I think). No sides with that last one. So, how did my workout go yesterday? Well, it was the Bas Rutten All Around Workout, and I felt pretty excellent. Bad news, I did all my pushups on my knees. The pushups stands from the day before wrecked my chest, but I wanted to push and knee pushups were the way to do that. Also my punches were a bit slow for the same reason. But I did do excellent, and came out soaked. Also, I finally did all of the jumps at the end. First time I've done that with no breaks. I could probably jump higher, and I will when I see this workout again in two weeks, but I did all 55 jumps and felt great (read that: terrible) at the end. So, awesome! The wife and I met up with my mom a few hours later, and the three of us plus baby then did a 3+ mile walk. It felt good to get some extra cardio in. Also since I've been walking more at lunch, I went out and bought new walking shoes (yup, they make walking shoes) and they are super super comfy for walking. It was great to break them in. They completely lived up to expectation. I'll be trying them out again today. Now, the weigh ins. My goal for today was 226.7. I weighed in yesterday before the walk but after the workout at 226.0, so I'd already overshot. Then I worked out this morning, and after that my weight was....226.0. So, I totally overshot my goal, but I also didn't budge from yesterday. Yes, I know there's a ton that goes into this, and yes, I know I hit my goal and then some, but I can't help but wonder if I could have shed a tiny bit more if I'd skipped out on those six hot wings last night.\ Oh well, what's done is done and what's down is down, and what's down is me! So, this makes Wednesday's goal 225.5. I'm sloooowly approaching 200 again. Hoping to get there sooner than later, but forward motion is forward motion and I'll take what I can get. Got another walk scheduled for today. I'll let you know how that goes. Also, totally forgot to practice Spanish all weekend. I'm not slacking, just got busy, but I'll get back on that today as well. Bring it.

Quick check in - struggled through The Challenge

It's Saturday, but I'm doing a quick check in. Literally just completed The Challenge from P90X3. I think I pushed harder yesterday than I thought, because my arms were absolutely dead today. I introduced the pushup stands on the pushups too, and seriously, but the second set, I was on my knees. Was not expecting that after an awesome workout last week, but I guess that's part of doing something great; your arms might be shot the next day. Well, not much of a blog post other than I wanted to make it. Despite having a rough Challenge, I still upped my numbers to 15 on all exercises, which was huge. So, some victories. And my chest definitely feels like it got blasted, so, mission accomplished. I was debating doing a little more today, but considering my arms are jello and I have a legit workout tomorrow (Bas Rutten All Around Workout) I'm going to take it easy today. Also, no more The Challenge. On to Eccentric Uppers next week! Bring it!

Missed weight loss goal but still fighting strong

Well, I asked myself yesterday if I could lose half a pound in a day, and the answer turned out to be no. I clocked in lower today, at 227.2, but that wasn't the 226.9 I was shooting for.

First off, I want to state that I'm not upset. Not at all. Weight loss is tricky, and there are peaks and valleys. I'm in a valley. That's totally normal. I read a lot of Insanity blogs, and I see a lot of people saying they don't really see any weight loss until month 2. I was cruising along great all last week, so not really losing anything this week seems on par with that.

That said, I'm sticking to my weight loss plan. I clocked in at 227.2 today, which makes Monday's goal 226.7. I realize I don't actually have consequences if I don't hit my goals, so this is just a personal what-I-want-to-accomplish thing, but it's what I'm going to shoot for.

Diet wise, I've been excellent! Maybe a little more salad dressing than I should have, but really my diet has consisted of protein shakes in the morning, salads for lunch and dinner, and snacks of fruit, Slim Fast protein bars, and the occasional extra protein shake when I need it. Drink wise, all I've had is water and black coffee.

I'm planning to review what I'm eating a little bit starting Monday and seeing if I can officially move to a paleo diet. I'm pretty close now, just need to cut out the few in-salad carbs (I'm looking at you, corn) and beans, and probably cut back to one piece of fruit per day instead of the occasional two. I'm also considering keto for a diet, but that would basically eliminate eating out, even on weekends, and I'm not 100% ready to make that commitment.

So, working out today was excellent. Friday Fight was today and I had one of my best runs. Granted, the old do-great-in-the-beginning rule applies, which means the second half was rough. I rocked this thing until the first break (15-minute mark), and then the second half I was more flailing than moving. But I did move, and overall I'm giving this workout an A-. Seriously, it was a really good workout.

I also did a good walk yesterday at lunch. I tried getting a few more stairs in than normal too, and felt good by the end. Overall, 40-minute walk, not bad.

I have one more walk planned for lunch today, and that pretty much wraps up my week. Week 3, in the books. On to week 4. Which I'm not really looking forward to, purely because I'm ready to move on, and Week 5 is when I get all new workouts.

Tomorrow is my final round of The Challenge, the P90X3 chest/back workout. After that, I switch over to Eccentric Upper so the biceps/triceps/shoulders can join the fun. Sunday is going to be the Bas Rutten all-around workout, and that's always a fun one too.

Spanish practice went well yesterday too, still moving forward on that front.

Well, that's my story. I'll let you know how the weekend goes. Got a date night with the wife tomorrow night, which should be fun, but will also put my diet to the test. Cheat nights are allowed food wise, but I still need to keep moderation in mind. Pizza, so wish me luck.

Bring it.

Half a pound by tomorrow, can I do it?

Well, not sure how to think about today. I started the week at 227.4. After a huge weight gain on Tuesday, I was back to 227.4 yesterday. That makes tomorrow's goal 226.9. So, what did I clock in at this morning?

227.4.

What a weird weight loss/gain week.

One more day to lose half a pound. I'm going for it!

Nutrition wise, yesterday was decent. I had salad for dinner, mostly bananas for snacks (one small protein/coffee mixture too), and for lunch I tried an arepa with some coworkers. It was good. The bread wasn't what I was hoping for diet-wise, but the filling was shredded beef, black beans, a little cheese and a plaintain, so not too far off from what I'd have in my salad.

I got a short walk in yesterday too. Not my normal length, only about 20 minutes because of some work stuff, but still something.

So, this morning was the Tabata Strength workout. I stand by, this is not how I like to do strength. If we're going for strong, I want to focus on slow weight movement. This is cardio training that wants to be strong. I do like the tabata concept, but to me it works better for cardio than it does for strength. As a result, I would give half of my workout an A and half of it a D, averaging at about a C. I sweat, definitely, but the pushups stuff just didn't feel great. The jumping stuff and burpees did, though, so there were some positives.

I should also point out there wasn't much sleep last night, so that might have contributed. Baby just wasn't having it, so I guess neither were mom and dad.

So, that's my story. I want to have a killer workout tomorrow (Friday Fight) so I'm not popping in the 15 minute workout tonight. I'm going to go for an excellent walk at lunch, though, so that should help. I'll let you know if I hit the goal.

Oh, also, yesterday's weird work schedule made me finally forget to practice Spanish. My streak has ended. :(

Fortunately, I can get back on the horse, which is exactly what I'm going to do today. Just a little bummed, but hey, it was bound to happen eventually I guess.

Alright, .5 lbs. Let's do it!

Weird Wednesday, Weird Week

I wanted to get today's blog post out of the way, mainly because I'm still waking up (three hours later) and writing helps me wake up. Also mainly because today is a weird success/failure combo, and it's not even 8:30. Lots of mainlys.

So, intrepid reader, you probably saw yesterday that I was WAY off from my goal for today as of Tuesday morning. On Monday I was shooting for 229.9 and got to 227.4, so major overshoot, with a goal of 226.9 today. But I was at 230 yesterday, which meant I had a lot of work to do. I also didn't have a great workout yesterday morning.

K, you're caught up. Now, the checkins. After seeing the numbers yesterday, I did a 45-minute lunch walk (v. my normal 30ish minutes), and when I got home I also did the 15-minute Max 30 workout. I crushed that workout, it was absolutely awesome. Also that's a really cool workout that will definitely be making its way into future mixes. I really liked it.

Anyways, that was yesterday. I kept the diet healthy, good salad for dinner, good salad for lunch, etc.

This morning was Sweat Intervals. Thanks to my weird schedule and the inclusion of Sweat Fest, I haven't done this workout since Week 1. I've gotta say, it's awesome. It's basically the same format as Cardio Challenge, but with different moves. Hey, if you go back two days ago you'll see I loved Cardio Challenge, so no reason I wouldn't love today's too. It's a really great workout. And on top of that, I did really great! My muscles were a little sore from yesterday's two or three workouts (however you want to look at it), and I was a little tired from a baby who refused to sleep more than a full hour last night, but I was pretty damn stoked with myself overall. I'm giving this a solid B+ for the day.

So that brings us into the weigh in. I clocked in at......

227.4!!!

So, super mixed reviews about this weight, and this is why I used the title I did (see above). I majorly overshot on Monday, then proceeded to eat Del Taco (not a lot, just one little $1 burrito, but it's haunting me now) and then gained back more than 2.5 lbs. Even without the Del Taco, there's a chance Monday was a fluke and that made my 226.9 goal a little too ambitious. So, all-in-all, this was the best number I could have achieved without actually losing weight. I'm still a lot lower today than I thought I'd be a week ago, but I also missed a goal and feel pretty lame about that.

So, back to 226.9 for Friday. Good news, I don't need a new post-it on my phone. Sigh, the joys of weight loss tracking.

Tomorrow is the Strength workout, which I'm not looking forward to, just because at this point I'd rather do cardio. But, I'm not going to amend the schedule, so it is what it is. I can do more cardio after my current 8-week challenge is done.

I'll let you know how things go.

Ups and Downs

The title made me laugh. I'm super clever. You'll get why soon.

Yesterday was the third day off of the three day weekend, and it was Cardio Challenge day. Baby let us sleep in very well, so I went into the workout feeling very good and rested. And I proceeded to blow this workout out of the water! By far my best Cardio Challenge workout of the three weeks I've done it. Possibly my best workout of the program so far. I felt awesome!

I drank my protein shake, which did not include coffee since it was already late in the day and I felt pretty rested. And then I went to weigh myself.

Goal for the day was 229.9. I clocked in at 227.4!!!!! Holy crap! I was blown away and felt super super proud of myself, especially considering Sunday night wasn't the healthiest night (we had friends over, there was tiramisu and french fries).

Well, this makes the Wednesday goal 226.9. Cool, seems like an excellent goal.

Now there's today. Today was Tabata Power. I do not like this workout. Insanity does Cardio very well. Strength and Power, I don't know, it's just now how I want to do Strength and Power. And Power, today, was just not there. I'm giving today's workout a D. D+, maybe, but D-range for sure. Not good, not good.

Got out of the workout feeling pretty meh about the whole thing, and then I got on the scale.

230.

230!!! What the actual F?!

The good news? Today's not an official check in day on weight, so I haven't missed a goal yet. The bad news? I have more than 3 lbs to lose by tomorrow. Weight fluctuates a lot, I get it. But I have a goal and damn right I'm going to hit it!

So today I'm eating salads and bananas and not much else. I'm not starving myself, but strict diet today. I cheated yesterday with a Del Taco burrito (the $1 chicken burrito, just one, I thought it'd be a good snack) and I wonder how much that impacted me. I'm going to go for my walk at lunch, might try to do a 45-minute instead of the usual 30, and since today's workout wasn't too excellent I might try to get the 15-minute Max 30 workout in as well when I get home. I also have Max 30 Sweat tomorrow morning, which I'll do before my weigh in.

So ya, I can totally hit the goal tomorrow, but I've got some work ahead of me.

Still good on the Spanish front. I might have to do today's Spanish tonight so I can get the extra walking time in today, but all good.

Also starting to put some meat to the next workout calendar. I started a draft of the calendar, 6 weeks, bookended by cardio-focused recovery weeks. I want those to be really strong weeks still, but no Insanity. I was looking through my DVDs and found an interesting 30-minute Upper Body workout in Les Mills Combat that I think is going to work its way in to the actual program, and I have a few other plans too. Also considering a 4-week all martial arts stint after that's all done, but that's a ways away and don't want to put too much thought into that just yet.

Well, that's where I'm at. Not feeling great about my results today, but tomorrow's another day. I'll let you know how I do.

Checking in from the three-day weekend

I normally (normally as in the last two weeks) don't do weekend blog posts, but I'm on Sunday for a Monday-Three-Day-Weekend and waiting until Tuesday didn't sound good for accountability purposes. So, hello, from Sunday!

First, let's talk weight. Goal for Monday is 229.9. I weighed myself yesterday (Saturday) and was at 229.0. So, ya, overshot. That said, dinner/dessert (yup, I said dessert) last night wasn't the healthiest. We went out to dinner with the folks, and I had pasta figouli (spelling???!!?!), duck breast, butter nut squash ravioli, and a few bites of tiari masu (again, spelling), cannoli and chocolate cake. A few bites, but a few bites of each. Also a glass of red wine. This wasn't the worst meal I've ever had, but it definitely wasn't diet friendly. Saturdays are somewhat a cheat day, so this was totally acceptable, but it makes me question where I'll be on the scale today.

I have not weighed myself today, but I have worked out. Hard. The plan is to weigh myself after this blog post, base my daily diet from there, and make sure I'm at or under 229.9 tomorrow morning. That's a victory if it happens, and it will happen.

So, workouts. Yesterday was The Challenge from P90X3. All pushups and pullups, Pullups I'm still using the bench, but I feel stronger. No clue when I'm going to nix the bench, but it's going to be a while. Pushups, though, went excellent! I did 12 per set every time (8 sets I believe in this one, plus some bonus ones at the end), and, minus the staggered pushups (ya, those are tough) I did them all as real pushups. No knees. It was tough, but I'm getting a lot stronger really fast. Hoping to be up to 20 per set by the end of the full program (at which point I won't be doing The Challenge, I'll be doing Eccentric Upper, but same goal).

Then today, not knowing where I was on the scale but assuming I've ballooned up past the 300 mark thanks to the chocolate cake and cannoli, I did Bas Rutten's Thai Kickboxing workout and right now I feel like I'm going to die. I'm only doing the 2 minute rounds, but only is a relative term. This thing absolutely kicks my ass, and I love that it's cardio with arms. Insanity kills my legs, and being able to mostly throw punches (there's knees and kicks in this too, but I'm not jumping all over the place) feels good. Today I absolutely killed it, at least in the first four rounds. I remember feeling really really good in the beginning and blasted my body with it. The final six rounds I was dying thanks to that starting burst of energy, but I pushed and pushed and pushed and felt like I made this workout my bitch by the end (which is funny since the workout probably felt the same about me by the end too).

This is the last time I'm doing this workout in the current program. Next week is the Bas Rutten workout workout, and after that I swap kickboxing with MMA. I'm sort of looking forward to that. Same thing as what I'm doing, except there's burpees mixed in too. Like, a lot of burpees. Like, a lot a lot of burpees. So, ya, that's happening.

I'm still thinking a lot about the next round of workouts too. I know Eccentric Upper will be in there once per week, unless I can find a better 30-minute total upper body workout. Also, the Bas Rutten workout workout will be in there once per week too, rather than every other week. This will accomplish my goal of more weights without sacrificing much in the way of cardio. I also want to do the Bas Rutten MMA workout every week, assuming I can get through it strong in the second half of my current program. That'll be decided later. That'll leave four workouts for pure cardio, which will all probably be devoted to Insanity. Again, still deciding.

Also I want that program to be six weeks. Not sure where I'm getting six weeks from, but it sounds good. I've gotta find a way to split those six weeks into three and three, and I have some ideas, but plenty of time to figure it all out.

Spanish is going well. Practiced it this morning and I think I'm progressing. I think the full program will take me well into the summer, but that's fine. No rush at all.

Family's doing well also. Baby girl watched me workout yesterday and today and I like being an inspiration for fitness to her, even if she has absolutely no clue what's going on. Little bum fell asleep during this morning's workout!!!

Wife is also getting in on the working out kick. She's been going for long walks during the day with the baby (we might do one as a family tonight) and she's even started Zumba. I'm super proud of her.

Well, that's my current gig. Still feel like I'm going to die thanks to Bas Ruteen's evil today, but I'm going to venture into the world shortly to run some errands with the family. Talk at you soon Internet land!

End of Week 2

Two weeks are in the books! So, a few updates with that....

First, I hit my weight loss goal for the day/week. I like overshooting, but today I only overshot my .1 lbs. I mean, yes, I hit it, but after the huge overshoot on Wednesday I was hoping for a bit more today. Still, I'm on track. That's a victory.

At this rate, I should be able to lose the full 50 lbs by July. Ya, that's a long ways away, and ya, that's a lot of weight to lose, but it's all about baby steps.

And ya know what? I'm going to post the numbers now. They're disgusting, yes, but it'll hold me to more accountability.

So, new goal for Monday (weekends I'm allowing myself an extra day between goals) is 229.9 lbs.

Now, let's talk workouts. Yesterday was the Tabata Strength workout. Honestly, I don't like this one. I just have trouble getting into it, it's not fast paced like the others, nor is it how I like to do Strength workouts. Plus it's toward the end of my week, so when I'm that gassed it's hard to really push. I'm giving yesterday's workout a C-.

I didn't get to walk at lunch yesterday because of a meeting. That might be the other reason I didn't overshoot my goal.

Today was Friday Fight, and I've gotta say, I do really like this one. It reminds me a lot of the old Pure Cardio workout. There's two breaks (each 30 seconds) but for the most part it's just do this exercise for 1 minute then we'll do another one. There isn't even a break between the warmup and the actual thing. The big thing about this workout that's different from the others is the need to push. Yes, you push in every Insanity workout, Pure Cardio especially included, but the point of this is it's the end of your week and let's see how high of a note you can end the week on. And push push push I did! I was soaked by the end. The last ten minutes were a lot slower than the first twenty, ya, but I did great today and felt really awesome by the end. And I did a ton more than I did last week, which is awesome as well!

I'm really curious what the month two Friday Fight looks like, because this thing was already a killer!

Nutrition wise, I'm mostly on track. I've been mostly eating salads, which is excellent. I notice I'm putting a little more cheese than I probably should in my salads, but I'm waiting until I plateau before really addressing that. Also yesterday I ate the last of the pasta from Tuesday's lunch meeting, so that also might have slowed me down on the weight loss journey yesterday. Snacks have been fruit, mostly bananas, and all I've drank for days is coffee (black) and water.

A few quick additional thoughts:

1) My wife's started going for walks to get some exercise, and she's invited me to join her on weekends when I'm home. I'm really excited about this. Exercise, and time with the family! I'll let you know next week how they go this weekend.

2) I'm starting, slowly, to think about what my fitness challenge will be after I complete this set of 8 weeks. I was originally thinking there'd be a lot more weight stuff, but after acknowledging how much weight I really want to lose, I'm really thinking I should up the cardio instead. I might make a modified Max 30 program, dropping the Strength workouts though. I want to see which workouts from Month 2 I like though. I want to keep up the intensity, so Month 2 workouts will probably be what gets included, but if they're on par maybe I can use both months? Also I might add in one more Bas Rutten day per week. But, still deciding all of this. I have lots of time.

Oh, Spanish update! So, my meeting yesterday also made me completely blank on Spanish practice. So, officially, I missed a day. Duolingo allows me to miss a day if I pay them 10 lingots (in-game currency) and I remembered at 11:30pm last night that I needed to do that. So I did. I'm now down 10 lingots, but my streak is still alive, I guess.

I got my daily practice in while I drank my preworkout this morning. I'll probably do more at lunch, per the norm, but wanted to do a little extra today since I missed yesterday.

Alright, that's my jam. Talk to you soon Internet world!

Boom! First weight loss goal is blown out of the water!

I usually wait until later in the day to post these, but today I was excited.

Why were you excited? you might be asking yourself.

Well, I'm excited because I blew my first official weight loss goal out of the water! I'm still keeping the numbers a bit under wraps, but here's how it went down:

Monday weight: XX3.4 (see how I omitted the first two numbers?)

That made the goal weight for Wednesday: XX2.9.

And what did I actually get to? Well, the actual Wednesday weight: XX1.0!!!!

That's right, I overshot by almost 2 lbs!!!!

So ya, pretty stoked today. Especially since lunch at the luncheon yesterday wasn't the healthiest thing ever.

So, this makes the new goal weight for Friday: XX0.5.

Wish me luck!

As for today's workout, per my modified schedule, today was Sweat Fest. This is a bonus workout from Max 30, optional on Sweat Interval days. That's what today normally is, but I decided to go back and forth on these two each week in my schedule.

This workout was tough, but felt much more like an Insanity workout than a Max 30 workout. I didn't think there was much of a difference until today, but there is. First off, there was a stretch between the warmup and the actual workout. That is normal in Insanity but not Max 30. The warmup was also the old Insanity warmup, with heismans and mummy kicks and everything. It felt good to mix it up a bit. Finally, there were a lot of breaks in today's workout. Not long break, each one was only 30 seconds, but there was one after each 3 minute interval. That's practically a vacation when compared to Max 30!

So why was it tough if there were so many breaks? Well, something I didn't realize until today is that Max 30 realizes it's tough, and doesn't necessarily put the hardest exercises back to back, allowing you to get through it. Insanity doesn't give a f---. Are your arms dying? Why not do some pushup jumping jacks? Can't move your legs? Time for some jumping squats! With that mentality, each 3 minute circuit was extremely difficult.

Anyways, I enjoyed this workout a lot, despite the fact that I felt like I was dying after. I usually do some dishes or something after my workouts, and today I found myself moving incredibly slowly in the kitchen.

By the way, I mentioned last week wanting to add a preworkout drink in. I actually found one in my closet I forgot about. It expires in March, meaning I have two months to use it, so I added it in starting over the weekend. So far, so good. Just doing a half scoop each morning right when I wake up, and it usually kicks in about 10 minutes into the workout. Every little bit helps, right?

Nutrition's good so far. Had a salad last night, and made another for lunch today. I also have some leftover pasta from yesterday which I'll probably eat as a snack, but just a little. If I can split it into two snacks I'll feel better. Also looking forward to a tasty banana that's sitting next to me right now.

Spanish is petering out this week. I've only been able to maintain my practice, not actually learn anything new. As long as I don't screw up my streak, right?

Well, that's where I'm at. Talk to you soon Internet people!

Continuing week 2

Well week 2 continued today with Tabata Power, revisited. I did better than last week, so that was a plus. But, especially with strength workouts, I find that the better I do in the first half the worse I do in the second. I pushed and pushed and just was absolutely drained by the end. Add in the fact that we're doing on-the-back ab movements, and the temptation to just collapse got the better of me more than once or twice.

Still, I'm calling this a good workout. I feel good and came away sweaty.

No updates on the Spanish front, other than I still have not missed a day.

Lunch wasn't super healthy. I went to a marketing conference at an Italian restaurant, which meant pasta. Fortunately there was a nearby mall and I had a little time to kill, so I went for a pretty good walk at lunch. I'm thinking that helped a little.

Did not weigh myself this morning, totally forgot. Still hoping to hit my goal weight tomorrow. I'll let you know.

That's all the blog I have in me today. Signing out!

Let's get Week 2 started!

Well, week 2 has begun.

Let me start out by saying I feel good. Saturday was a push/pull workout, my only real true resistance workout, and it went really well. It was The Challenge from P90X3. I actually did pushups. Thus far in my program (only one week) I've done every single pushup on my knees. Truthfully, I couldn't even get through a full pushup. But on Saturday, I figured I'd give real pushups a shot, and I got them done. All in all, just over half of the pushups in the workout (about 100 total) were real pushups, which was a hell of a victory. Goal for next week? Up the number of real pushups, and maybe up the number of pushups I go for too (this is a "pick your numbers" workout).

Sunday I did the Bas Rutten all around workout. For those not in the know on my old old blog posts, this one's an audio workout, and Bas is calling out both punching/kicking combos AND exercises. So, pushups, situps, shadowbox, etc. These pushups I did on my knees so I could crank out a few more. Next time I have this workout (in two weeks) I'll go for real pushups. Overall this one went well. I lost some gas at the end and slowed down a lot. The final move is truly soul crushing - jump as high as you can, knees to chest, for 1, 2, 3...10. Yup, you do a lot of those in the final few minutes. I skipped sets 7 and 9, I was just too gassed, but pushed through for the rest. It felt really good to be able to push.

And then there's today. This morning I revisted Cardio Challenge from Insanity Max 30. This thing still kicked my ass, hard, but I did 1000% better than last week! Not too much that I can say about it that's new. Same workout, but I was able to push harder and longer. I was pretty soaked at the end.

So, now the bad news. I'm feeling good, yes, but weight wise I am not good. That Fat Free Jew is very much a Fat Jew right now. I got on the scale this morning, and I've decided that the number is not worth sharing. I thought I was about 35 lbs over my goal, but it turns out I'm more than 50 lbs away from my goal. Ya, that's a lot. The diet's been good for a week (minus a Saturday cheat day, but even that wasn't as bad as I was in December) so I'm thinking I was even heavier a week ago. But ya, it's pretty high.

So, ok, just means more work ahead of me. I was planning on getting into a bit more weight exercises after my 8-week challenge, but I might need a little (a lot) more cardio after this. Also I'm going to put some of the reading on hold for the moment (normally done at lunch) and focus on adding in a 30 minute walk at lunch listening to educational podcasts instead. I tried that out today, and this could totally be sustainable.

Best weight loss system I know (aside from diet and working my ass off, of course) is to try to lose .5 lbs every two days. How's it work? Well, I know what I weighed this morning. Goal now is to weigh .5 lbs less than that on Wednesday. I'll weigh myself tomorrow to make sure I'm on track (and if I'm not, it'll nag at me all day so I don't eat too much). And then, if I blow the goal out of the water on Wednesday (fingers crossed), goal for Friday is .5 lbs less than the Wednesday actual weight. I've tried this before, and it worked well. So, I'll let you know if I hit my weight goals or not, but probably will keep the numbers to myself until they're at a place where I can stomach them (no pun intended).

Alright, that's my jam right now. Still rocking hard on the Spanish. I'll see if I can figure out a time to read in there as well, but priorities are important and exercise and physical health need to take the priority right now if I want to set a good example for my little girl.

Until next time readers, adios!

Wrapping up week 1

I'm back. Boom! Told you I wouldn't be posting every day, and I nailed it. Yesterday was a busy day between meetings and a lunch event, so no blog post. But here I am, blogging like nobody's blogged before.

Ya, in a weird mood today, if you couldn't tell from the opening paragraph.

Anyways, yesterday and today were not excellent workouts. Yesterday was Tabata Strength. Just like Tabata Power, except more strength than explosive. And my strength is pretty diminished these days. I'm going to give the workout a D+, because at the end of the it that's the grade I decided to give myself, and then I never blogged about it.

Today? Today was Friday Fight, and I lost the fight. Hey, it's the challenge workout, and it's the end of the first week. I didn't except to be that great anyways. This thing kicked my ass though. It's basically Pure Cardio from the old Insanity. I think there's one break in here, for thirty seconds, but other than that it's 30 minutes of 30 exercises, 1 minute each. But for me, it turned into 20 seconds of exercise, 20 seconds of flailing in a motion that somewhat resembled the actual exercise, and 20 seconds of huffing and puffing. The latter two increased in the second half of the workout.

I was dead this morning. It was another D+ workout (C-, maybe) but I did it. And I was still soaked after. Just gotta look for improvement in week 2.

Part of my goal for 8 weeks, no breaks, just for 8 weeks. So tomorrow, which normally isn't a workout, is another round of P90X3 The Challenge (so, chest and back). Should be fun.

Diet's going well. Portion control, no fried foods, no sweets. Had a salad for dinner last night. I have another one planned for lunch today. Some protein shakes (powdered peanut butter in coffee) and a bowl of oatmeal too. All good stuff. Even the luncheon yesterday, I had a scoop of mashed potatoes and a steak. Pretty healthy, and again, portions.

So ya, probably weighing myself on Monday. Wish me luck on that one. Have a great Friday folks!

Sweat Intervals, and other fun things

I'm going to open with nutrition, because it's lunch time and I'm eating a salad. I'm currently munching on spinach, beans, tuna fish, black olives, dried cranberries, bacon, cheese and ranch dressing. The last three in moderation, of course. So far, so good today. I did have a snack, a small portion of leftover mac n cheese with a little bit of bacon in it. Yes, I love bacon. It was bacon bits by the way. Point was, when I was leaving for work this morning I knew I'd need a snack before lunch, and this is what we had. Portions are the key there, I guess. Also I had a coffee/protein shake for breakfast.

Last nights food was a tasty pasta bake my wife made. Not on the healthy side, but I had a single serving and no seconds. Again, portions. Tonight is leftovers, and I plan on the same. Again, so far, so good.

So you're probably wondering about the workout. Go ahead, ask me about the workout.

::waits patiently to be asked::

How was my workout? Well, thank you for asking. It was meh. I'll give it a C+. That's college passing, and the only reason I'll give it that high is because I did, in fact, sweat. Not so much in intervals, as the title (Sweat Intervals) suggested, more of an ongoing, profusely sweating thing, but if you saw me afterward you'd definitely know I had worked out. Sleep was rough last night. We went to bed later than normal and the baby wasn't really digging the sleep thing (which means no one gets to sleep). 5.75 hours later, my alarm goes off. I got up, baby got up, and we got her fed and got her day started. She ate like a champ, and then she watched me work out.

So, this workout is basically just like Cardio Challenge, except different moves. I think....I can't remember the format from Cardio Challenge all that well, it may have been 3 minute intervals instead of 5, not sure. Anyways, this was 5 minute intervals with 30 second rests included. The warmup was the same warmup as Cardio Challenge, and I got through it with moderate struggles. That's about where I knew my energy was dragging, but I kept going. After that it was 3 moves, each for 30 seconds, repeated 3 times.

I did like (not sure if that's the right word) the up and down. I think every set of 3 moves, one of them was on the ground. Not that I can do as much as the folks on screen, but I've learned from other workouts that constantly going from standing to floor to standing is an excellent way to kick your own ass.

Finished a little later than normal thanks to a late start. Got some work done, then hit the shower and headed into work. Passing morning, but not the effort I wanted.

I'm considering adding in an energy pre-workout drink. It would have to be literally the first thing I do in the morning, but it could work and might help me get an extra boost on my workouts. Right now I'm taking a fat burner, but that's it.

Spanish practice is complete (the other half of my lunch today). All in all, good, but I'm finding there's more and more words I'm forgetting. We're venturing past what I learned in high school and getting into the wilderness of the language unknown. Good times.

Also I didn't start my new book today, because I forgot it in my wife's car. That's ok, I decided to spend most of lunch writing this blog/practicing Spanish, and the rest I'm going to spend watching a taped webinar on global economics. Yup, I'm super cool, you can be jealous.

Adios Internet stalkers. See you tomorrow probably.

Day 2, I guess - I did Tabata Power today

Ya, the title's weird. Is today Day 2? It's the 5th day of the year, the 4th day of working out, the 2nd day of the official Insanity Max 30 schedule, and the second blog post. Screw it, titles are made up on the spot from here on out.

This morning, decent workout. Not great. Not bad either. Woke up groggy. Baby kept us both up. It happens. She also woke up in the perfect time for me to feed her. I'm totally cool with this, she just needs to wake up within +/- 15 minutes of 5:30am. She did. So I got her changed, got the bottle, and she and I sat in my office/gym watching Bloomberg News while she drank her bottle.

Side note - day trading is a goal hobby for 2016, but I want to learn a lot more before I open that door. Hence, Bloomberg. No, this wasn't the first day I've watched it. I've been studying for a few weeks. Especially after the big hit on Monday, though, I want to research a lot more. No time crunch.

Anyways, back to the mission at hand. Exercise. Baby finished her bottle, got strapped into her chair, and she watched me flail around with Tabata Power for 30 minutes. This is the first time I've done this workout, and overall I wasn't ready. My explosiveness and endurance are both out the window, not to mention my strength is super super lacking these days. All of those skills are what you need to get through this workout.

The warmup was good. Different than the other warmups, felt more like a quick wakeup than it did a normal Insanity warmup. The actual thing though, I guess I just got gassed quickly. It's on for 20 seconds, off for 10. Almost all of the exercises are strength/power related, like jump squats, jump/switch lunges, jumping pushups (just, jumping pushups), and overall I just wasn't ready. But I did my best. It ended up being a blend of the modifier exercises and the actual exercises. Slightly more modifier toward the end.

Hey, however it went, I was still pretty sweaty afterward. Having the baby in the room (who fell asleep in the second half....lazy bum!) helped me stay on track a bit. Remember, this is about being a role model for her, so if that's what it takes to squeeze out that extra 1 or 2 reps (and believe me, it was hard enough to get that many more) then that's what it takes.

Nutrition today has been decent. It would have been great (protein shake for breakfast, black coffee, granola bar for snack and tuna salad for lunch, so far...) except it was my boss's birthday and I indulged with peanut butter pie. Just gotta keep it clean the rest of the day.

Spanish practice at lunch was good. Learned a bit more, refreshed some skills. Also I finished my book, Raving Fans by Ken Blanchard. Excellent read, I'd definitely recommend it for anyone with customers (which, admittedly, is everyone). That's one book down for the month. One more to go, even though I'm thinking a third this month might be in order considering we're still only 5 days into the month/year.

Alright, that's enough fat-free-jew ramble for the day. Talk at you soon Internet world!

Ok, 2016, let's do this.

Well, you can see a clear change in commitment from me over the last four years. Back in the day I was doing P90X, Insanity and other programs like it was no one's business. But since then, I've gotten busy. Life, work, life again, work again...it's a lot.

So, I'm starting this blog, again, but no promises. I'm going to do my best. That's all I can do. But I'd like to think, on this 4th day of the new year, that I can do it. Let's go for 8 weeks. And no daily blog posts - just frequent blog posts. Fingers crossed for me.

Alright, first update, and most important: I have a baby girl! She's amazing and I love her. With my amazing wife and amazing daughter, life is in a good place. Also I'm in a new position with a company that actually allows me some time to focus on myself (big change from past years), and with that in mind, I want to better myself. Physically and mentally. And yes, I'm doing this for me, but I'm also really doing this for my daughter. I want her to have healthy habits, good work habits, understand the importance of hard work, of committing to a goal, and especially the importance of being physically fit (something I was not during my youth, and still majorly struggle with now).

Now, limitations. Commitment wise, I can only give myself 30 minutes a day to working out. That's not bad, but it's not what I used to do. Fortunately, BeachBody has released several programs focused on 30 minute workouts. Which brings us to the current workout plan. Today I started Insanity Max:30. It's exactly what you'd think, Insanity, but only 30 minutes. However, me being me, I'm adding on two additional workouts per week, making it a 7-day/week program instead of a 5-day/week program. The two additional workouts are P90X3's upper body stuff (because I still like doing some lifting) and a Bas Rutten workout on Sundays (because any reader of this blog knows I love those workouts). I'll probably post the full schedule on here someday, but for the moment here goes:

Saturday, I did pushups and pullups. The pushups I was on my knees and the pullups involved the help of a bench, but I did it. My upper body felt good and still does today.

Sunday, I did Bas Rutten's kickboxing workout. Good times. I really like shadowboxing and Bas gives a great workout. I did all 10 rounds, but after round five my "bum bum bum bum" became "buuum buuum buuum buuum" (do the workout, you'll know what I mean). Hey, something to get better at, right?

Today, Monday, I did Cardio Challenge from Insanity Max 30. It was an Insanity workout. Not much to say about it, other than it was really really hard, just like all of them. I really enjoyed it though. It's go go go, you never do the same moves too many times, and I think I did ok for the first time. I've tried this workout a few times (I did some prep in December) but never really went all in like I did today. I was pretty gassed by the 15-minute mark, but I'll get there.

Up next is the diet. I'm not totally sure what I'm going to do with this, mainly focus on portion control I think and cut out the sweets, but we'll see. The holidays were rough and my office has had a lot of baked goods in it. But I'll get moving on that this week, too. Baby steps.

Oh, I'm also going to keep a few other updates on life going in this blog. A few other things I'm working on, I'm trying to get some freelance marketing work going (a few good leads in the fryer), and I'm doing some cool volunteer marketing work around town as well. One of my projects is coming to fruition this week, which is pretty exciting.

I'm also reading more. My goal is two books per month. Right now I'm reading Raving Fans, a Ken Blanchard book. I really like his stuff. It's super short, and I'm halfway through. I'll give a review at the end, but overall I'm super impressed with his take on customer service and how it impacts bottom line.

Finally, I'm also trying to teach myself Spanish again. I'm using Duolingo, and so far I'm really enjoying the program. I'm not sure how to really post an update on progress on that, but I feel good about it. More updates to come.

Alright, good first post. See you when I see you Internet world!