Starting P90X, Dropping P90

I am not giving up, I am moving on.

I got really bored with P90, even though I did drop 22lbs in 5 weeks with it. It is basically the same two workouts for 90 days. I ended up slacking off around the 5 week mark and have been in a half-slack-off mode ever since. So, I decided I need to either do one of three options: continue on P90, quit exercising, or ramp it up to P90X. I chose option three.

Here are some points I’d like to make on this decision to move to P90X.

• P90X is about double the workload that P90 provides, which is a bit intimidating.
• I also am not up to 100% of the fit test, which is probably a bad idea but it seems many people haven’t been able to pass the fit test either and still started it.
• I don’t have much in the way of nutrition outside of tuna, oatmeal, protein powder, vitamins and fish oil, and leftover Chinese food available to me at the moment. I won’t be able to go grocery shopping until next Friday. I should be able to cover the dietary basics, but not as well as I’d like. It will have to do.
• Will be using the resistance bands instead of free weights as I don’t have the cash to dump on weights. I have 4 different bands: 20lb, 40lb, 45lb, and 50lb. I probably should get the ones in-between 20 and 40lbs eventually. They will have to do.
• I won’t be able to get a pull-up bar till next week, which isn’t a huge deal.

These are some things that I think I’ll need to do to be successful.

• Publicly log my thoughts and feelings each day after each workout. I setup a Posterous blog for this at http://p90x-unixfudotnet.posterous.com/
• Will need to log my food and liquid intake daily. I’ll be doing it at the above blog.
• I need to make this a priority, over almost everything else. This must come first and I must make time for it, even if it means sacrificing other things I’d rather do.
• Join up at http://teambeachbody.com/connect/message-boards for additional support from others also doing P90X.
• Keep a paper and pen handy to write down what I am eating and drinking, thoughts and general attitude about the whole deal. If I try to keep it all in my memory, I will forget it very quickly.

I really want to start and finish this. My body is definitely in need for it and really need to do something good for myself. I am not getting any younger. I’m tired of being a fat kid.

Food and Exercise Journal – May 24, 2010

Note that I may be doing this in weekly doses after today, so I’m not spamming my blog and is easier to commit to doing.

Food

I am logging my food intake and believe it will help me be accountable for what I put in my body. I am also enjoying the fact that I’ll be cooking again and saving money in that regard! I can make my own food and do a pretty good job, if I say so myself.

I’m going to be eating about 5-6 times a day, with small meals. Dinner may be larger, but that is ok.

During the day today I had this chicken and organic whole wheat couscous dish I made up (not that complex) for breakfast and lunch, and also 3 bananas and some almonds. I also had a half gallon of water and 1 Cherry Coke Zero.

I made this chicken and veggies curry dish for dinner. It has 1 stick of celery, 1/2 a green bell pepper, 1/4 of an onion, a few chopped up sun dried tomatoes and 1 boneless skinless chicken breast. After the veggies and meat were cooked, I added a bit of this pre-made coconut chili curry sauce for more flavor. I’d guestimate that it was around 650 calories all together with low fat, good carbs and lean protein. It also had a bit of olive oil in there for the good fats and omegas.

Here is a some pictures before sauce added and after sauce added.

Before

After

I was pretty awesome, if I say so myself. I have a ton of veggies I have to use over the next few days or they’ll start to rot, so will need some innovation and spur of the moment ideas to implement. Looking forward to that!

Exercise

I’ll be for-reals starting the P90 (not P90X) workout system today. I have my pictures taken so I can view progress later on. I have all the food, protein powder, and creatine (optional) ready to go. After my food settles I’m going to pop the DVD in and give it a whirl.

I suppose I should list why I am doing this. Here goes:

• To just be in better physical shape, to be able to do things like go up flights of stairs and steep hills without feeling winded.
• For my clothes to fit better and to fit into ones I’ve grown too chunky for.
• To take control of something I let slip for a long time, stopping with excuses and taking charge of what I let happen to myself.
• To be more comfy in airplane seats.
• Not be so hot all the time. I’ve always been hot all the time, but losing the blubber would help with that greatly.

Goals for 2010

A bit of a laugh, sure… BUT THIS TIME I’ll do them… for longer than 3 months.

• Pray more: Something I really need and want to do.
• Read a lot more: I have many books that I’ve started and never finished. Of all the time I’ve spent catching up on shows and movies in 2009, I pushed books to the back burner. 2010 is where I’ll flip it around and read most of the time instead. During Lent in 2009, I mostly watched movies and tv shows (from “giving up” internet usage at home) during my idle free time. How much is “a lot”? I am not sure, but if it’s a time where I’d usually be watching a show or movie then it’s that time I should be reading instead.
• Eat better and exercise regularly: This is probably the #1 goal people make every year (of which gym owners love). I really need to do this before my weight starts being damaging to my health. Smaller portions, more “clean” foods (no processed foods), exercise at least several times a week of something significant, etc.
• Continue to learn Spanish: I really would like to speak and read Spanish. With the internet and learning materials available, it is really just a matter of applying effort.
• Journal more: This is a healthy thing. I also happen to love pens and paper, of which I have more than enough of both. Time to do something with all the fancy notebooks and pens I have.
• Work on personal projects more: I really need to use my personal time to better help myself. Part of doing that is to engage in my own personal software and other projects for my own good.
• Structure my life and time much better: I am one of those people that works really well in structured environments. I also am wide awake as soon as the alarm goes off. This just comes down to setting out a stricter structure for my life and what I spend time on, so that I can do the things I want and not just end up “wasting days” of my free time and wondering where all my time went with nothing to show for it. This is probably my most important goal for 2010 as it’s a foundational goal that only can help the others.
• Minimize my life more and keep things uncluttered: While much of my possessions are very minimal, I do tend to be very cluttered with what I do have. There is great value in just de-cluttering and minimizing my requirements and possessions more. I think this will have an overall good impact on not dragging/holding me down.
• Keep a food journal: This is something that may be a pain to keep track of, but it is a great idea. I will just have to develop a habit of keeping track of this information. This is not something that I intend to make public, it’s just for my personal health.

2009: Thankful For And My Life’s “Best Of”

2009 was a year of many changes for me.

Most are not physical. I haven’t lost any weight, in fact I’ve even gained some. I haven’t purchased many possessions, all the new permanent items I’ve purchased could fit in a backpack. I still live in the same place and I still do not have a car, which I am content with. I don’t require/desire what I don’t need (for the most part) and I am happy with that.

The most important possessions one can have cannot be owned or purchased.

Here is my personal list of things I am grateful for in 2009:

• Turning 31: After the shell-shock of turning 30 has passed, I am not comfortable in where my life is and the direction I wish to continue. I feel that I can achieve what I want from life. It is not so scary and uncertain, yet will be full of challenges and risk.
• Reception into the Catholic Church: Not something one would have thought 2 years ago, but here I am. On Easter Vigil in 2009, I received baptism, confirmation, and communion for the first time. I couldn’t be happier with this decision. I had a year before I could do this (my conversion story started on Easter 2008). This is the greatest thing to ever happen to me in 2009 and one of the best things to ever happen to me in my entire life.
• Joining the Knights of Columbus: This is a great organization. I love it. If you are a Catholic man, you should check it out (it isn’t just for old men).
• Friends: while I do live sort of an isolated life, I am grateful for the friends I do have. They may be few (mostly due to my lack of reaching out and making a solid effort to continue communication and such), but it is nice to have others out there that honestly care about what’s going on with you.
• Catching up on SciFi shows and movies: This one may seem sort of silly, yet part of my character and personality requires imagination fuel. I watching all of Star Trek: The Next Generation, all of Babylon 5, all of Deep Space Nine and season 1 of the original Star Trek series. I also watching other SciFi movies that I missed out on. While I still have two seasons of the original Star Trek series to watch, I can do it in 2010. I love imagination fuel!
• My health: true, I am overweight, but it hasn’t caught up with me yet. My complete physical shows I am in great health and even better than average. I still have never had a cavity and have no health issues. Hope to lose the weight in 2010 before it does catch up with me.
• My job: My employer is doing well, and so am I. The company is growing greatly, even more so in this economy and I am enjoying the ride along with it. With my job being a software developer that tends to make work processes require less humans, it does help the company grow without needing the scale humans at the same rate as revenue. I never meant to write code that replaces humans, but it is my job and it’s interesting.
• Social Networking contacts: I have met some really interesting and great people via social networking such as Twitter, Plurk and Facebook. While I may not categorize them as my real friends, it is a nice in-between of random people and friends. It is a community and I appreciate it. There is real value there.

Fell Off The Wagon Again

As is a pattern in my life, I start strong and then fall off the wagon and need to get back on. This is what happened again.

If anyone knows a secret to always stay on the wagon, please let me know!

So, will be starting over the 100 pushups program and also start using the exercise bike I purchased. I’m not really upset over it, and I’m not taking this failure personally. I’ll just get back up and on again.

100 Pushups: Week 1

This is my 3rd attempt at doing the 100 pushups in 6 weeks program. This time I will finish!

I did the first week without any problems and it felt good to do pushups. I suppose there is something manly about being able to do pushups that my inner man ego wants to have.

So, did week 1 without any issues. Have 5 weeks left!

Walking + Outside + iPhone Photography

Ok, this seems like a good idea: go outside and walk around, taking pictures.

This isn’t an original idea (there are a few social flickr groups even that do that), yet I think it’s something I can do to force me to get outside to exercise and also work on photography (3 good things). I don’t have a real camera right now, so I’ll be using my iPhone 3G.

Basically will be drawing upon the experience of Chase Jarvis, with his “The Best Camera Is The One That’s with You” blog post.

I am no Chase Jarvis or a pro by any means, yet every journey begins with a single step, right? Here are some below (excuse the post-processing, it is fun).