Day 75, a day of infamy?

Could today be a day that goes down in infamy? As I said earlier this week we are having dinner at a friends house tonight and I have no idea what is being served. I had to make the decision about a free day today and working hard this weekend, well I decided not to take a free day today and I have already ate once and got my upper body workout in. The question is will today's dinner (at 75 days of the 84 into Body-for-Life) be a cause for me to not follow the diet on a day that it should be. I guess we will just have to find out. It is not a big deal if that ends up being the case since even the book says not to dwell on it and just keep moving forward, but I think it would be pretty cool to say I made it all 84 days without a single slip up or missed workout. Yesterday I was faced with a challenge I had not had to face since starting this, we went out last night at the time I would be eating my fifth meal and then stopped for dinner after that. This was a total chance for me to fall off the wagon and not stick with the diet yesterday but thanks to my amazing wife (she was good enough to pack a sandwich and some carrots) I was able to eat at my scheduled time and when everyone went to dinner after the fact I chose not to order anything since it was not the time for me to eat yet and I stayed the course. I am pretty happy with myself for that one. Today's upper body workout was really good, I got to the little fitness room and when I was done with my first couple of sets of chest exercises I was feeling pretty strong. I still didn't get to the final 12th rep on the high points but I got closer and I was able to finish all the reps leading up to the high points so there is still progress there. When I was done with the workout I got ready for work and as I was looking in the mirror I could see a big difference in my arms and shoulders so that just motivated me more to work harder next week and finish those reps. When I sat down to eat and plan my workouts a thought came to me, when I planned and wrote down my upper body workout it was the last one for this 12 week program. When I do my workout on Wednesday I will be done with the upper body workouts and almost done with the program. I am so very excited to get to that point, not because I am tired of doing it (although it is wearing on me a bit) but because I will be able to say that I saw it through to the end and really accomplished yet another goal I set for myself since deciding to get in shape. As a matter of fact I am already starting to thing about what fitness goal I want to set for myself next year. Once I have them you can bet you will be able to read about them on here. One last thing, keep an eye out on the blog near the end of the year. I am trying to find a picture of how I looked at the start of the year and get a picture of how I look now so everyone can see the difference a year can make when you work hard and stay dedicated to what you want.

Feet hurt today

Well I woke up a little sooner then normal today so that I could run a little further than I have in a while. When I got to work I was shooting for a 6 mile run and wanted to get it done in under an hour. I got on the treadmill around 5:45 or so and started a 6.3 MPH run. As most of my treadmill runs go I started to waiver on how long I was going to go just before the three mile mark. I started thinking to myself, well I will just go 40 minutes again today, or once  I get to 5 miles that will be fine since it is almost a mile longer than I went last time. I had to continue to tell myself that I could hit the distance I was shooting for and to just keep pushing. I went past the 40 minutes and continued to go, next I decided that 55 minutes would be good enough and that it would be plenty of run for the morning. That is what  I decided to go with but then something happened, When I got to the 55 minute mark I had gone 5.76 miles and knew I would not be happy with myself if I didn't finish the six miles when I had come that close to getting there. I decided that I would finish the six miles and call it a day. I ended up finishing the six miles in 57 minutes so I get both the running goals I was trying to get to when I started. Now that I am done my feet are hurting a little bit and my toes are a little raw from moving in my running shoes but that is OK because I got it done. Thinking back on it I wish I had gone just a little bit further, 6.2 miles is a 10K and I was almost there this morning, I guess I will do that on Sunday weather permitting. I very much enjoyed going around the neighborhood last week and would like to do it again this week but I think it is supposed to rain on Sunday. If it doesn't and it isn't too cold  I will be running outside and shoot for three or four total laps around the neighborhood, we will just have to see how the legs and body feel after the Saturday free day.

To free day or not to free day

Yes, that is the question, I have a decision to make for Friday. We are having dinner at a friends house and I have no idea what will be served but I am willing to be it will not be something that will fit nice and neat into my Body-for-Life diet. This is the situation that I find myself in. Do I take the free day on Friday and enjoy my first day at the office in 11 weeks were I can eat what I want go out to eat where I please, and even hit the candy drawer. Do I stay the course and try and make what gets served Friday fit into my diet and risk not eating right if I can't, or do I stick as close to my diet as possible and let it come as it may. That is the question I have to think about and I guess it is a good thing I have the time to do just that over the next few days. Anyways, I did set my alarm for 4 AM this morning so I could get up and run before bible study, I did not however actually get up and do that. I didn't fall asleep until almost midnight last night and wanted to have more than 4 hours of sleep  before going into another long day today. I ended up using my lunch time to run, I decided to run for forty minutes and just go as far as I could in that time. I didn't make the pace all that bad, I went at 6.2 MPH and ended up running just over 4.1 miles. That is the longest that I have run in some time and it felt good to get it out of the way. Tomorrow is a lower body workout and it looks like I will be doing it at the rec center tomorrow as I have scheduled a new client visit close to the house in the morning it it would be foolish to drive all the way up to the office to workout so that I can turn around and drive 30 miles south for the visit. I am ok with the rec center as it will let me use some different machines to do my workout rather than doing the same squats and lunges that I do each lower Body-for-Life left. I am glad that I did it and know that I will get through it but I am looking forward to it being over.

Until next time

Day 71 done and a good start to the week

Well today was day 71 and it started off with an upper body workout since it is an odd numbered week. I got to work a little after 6 and got right to it. The first thing that I did notice is that I was able to do more and better reps than I did on Wednesday last week. I am betting it has to do with getting more than 4 hours of sleep before the workout. I am already beginning to feel the stiffness in my chest and biceps and am pretty sure I will be feeling it tomorrow. When I was finished working out and getting ready for work I noticed more of the same that I noticed last time I was getting ready at work. I am beginning to see some real defined muscles in my arms and a little bit in my chest. I still know that I am not going to be where I wanted to be at the end of this in less than two weeks but it is like a switch got flipped and muscles are starting to show where there was once no muscle at all. Tomorrow morning I am going to wake up early and go for a run around the neighborhood before bible study rather than fit a run in at lunch like I have been doing. There is a two fold reasoning behind this, the first being I don't have to get all sweaty and gross and wait to cool off at work. The second is my days have been getting so busy lately that I am afraid that I may miss it again and have to double up on a run and a weight train like I had to do last week and I really don't want to have to do that again after two days in a row of teaching. In just a little bit I am going to plan my Friday upper body workout, I don't see that I will be adding any weight to any of the exercises and it seems that I am kind of at a stand still but am still getting the reps I need to get in so as long as I can get the number of reps up just a little higher before the end of this I will be happy. My final goal is to get through all 12 reps on on the high points I have not made it to yet by the end of this. I guess we will just have to see how it goes. Keep an eye out tomorrow to see if I actually woke up early and ran before bible study.

Almost done

So today I woke up one of the first things I did was break one of my rules, what rule is it you ask? The "Only run outside if it is above freezing" rule. I decided that I do in fact live in a part of the country that does get cold in the winter and will continue to get cold each year. I got all kinds of layers on and headed out to run around the neighborhood like I said that I wanted to do earlier this week. Here is a run down of what  I was wearing, I had a white tee-shirt on, a long sleeve shirt on over that, and a sweat shirt on over that. I also had a pair of running shorts on and some sweat pants on over those. If that were not enough I had ear muffs on and and hat. It was still a bit cold but not as bad as I thought it would be. I ended up running four miles in less than 30 minutes so even though doing this Body-for-Life program has made my distance running fall short I has totally increased the pace in which I run so I am ok with that. I will just now need to work on getting the distance back up. On Tuesday I am going to go and run outside again before bible study, today I did two laps around the entire neighborhood and a third small lap around my block, on Tuesday I figure I will do three full laps around the neighborhood and slowly start to work the distance back into my runs. Tomorrow starts week 11 of Body-for-Life and this makes me happy for an number of reasons, First there are only two weeks left and I can say that I finished the program without breaking the diet, missing a meal, or missing a workout. Second this is the last week of school until after the new year. This means that I only need to take a lunch box of 6 meals two more times (Tomorrow and Tuesday) then I don't have to do it any more since I will be off the Body-for-Life diet. I know I have said it before but the last day of the 12 weeks is on Christmas day then I am going to take the week off. After that I will decide what I will do next to remain in shape. The folks I am on the B4L forum on are talking about doing another 12 week challenge but I don't know that I can do it again so soon. The eating started to really work on me at about week 5 and I don't think I would make it another 12 weeks. I figure I can eat well without being forced to eat just what B4L tells me to eat. I guess we will just have to see who Christmas goes and decide what to do. I am looking forward to the week after Christmas since I took the whole thing off, I won't have to work, teach, workout, any of that I can do whatever I want that week. Tomorrow is one of my last three upper body workouts, I am hoping that it goes better than my last one but I am sure that it will since I will have more than four hours of sleep this time.

Busy couple of days

So the last few days have been a little bit hectic to say the least.Tuesday I ended up getting crushed with requests for my time from clients and ended up missing my run so I had to make it up yesterday along with my upper body workout. I just started teaching a new quarter at school so now my two long days are on Monday and Tuesday nights. Wednesday I had to be in KY very early in the morning and since I needed to fit in a run and a full body workout I had to wake up earlier than I normally would in order to get both in. How early did I wake up you ask? I was up at 4 AM after not falling asleep until almost midnight the night before. In case you were wondering I was quite tired after all that. I also got to find out that being sleeping during your workout has adverse affects to said workout. On just about all of the exercises I ended up getting fewer reps on pretty much every exercise except the triceps. I finished the upper body workout feeling like I completely wasted it, I am not feeling like that as much today, my triceps are pretty sore and so is my chest and back. When my upper body workout was done I jumped on the treadmill to run and I ran a total of 4 miles in about 30 minutes before then called it a day. 4 miles is the longest I have run pretty much since starting the body for life program so I was feeling it a little bit yesterday and a little bit more today when I was doing my scheduled run. I only went the 20 minutes and ran just a hair over 2 miles before I stopped so I could get ready to make it to KY again. Tomorrow is my next lower body workout then a run on Sunday, I would like to do it outside if it is not too cold outside. I do like the running but doing it on a treadmill begins to wear on me since there is always a clock to look at and it ends up making me feeling like time is standing still if I run outside I don't have that problem. I guess we will see how I feel and what the temp is like Sunday to decide where I am going to run. If I run outside I would like to do it around the neighborhood so I can try and do the 4.5 labs like I used to before starting Body-for-Life. I guess we will see what happens.

On the final bit

Today started week 10 of my 12 week challenge and I got to start it off with a lower body workout. I went into this workout knowing that I was adding weight to my lunges and my leg extensions. In case you were wondering I felt it pretty darn good and I expect that walking tomorrow will present a bit of a challenge. I will be moving up the weight on the leg extensions again on Friday so I should go into the weekend really feeling it. I was looking at my schedule today and it looks like I should be back on track to have my free day on Saturday and a run on Sunday. This week I used my yard work as my cardio, not something I normally do but I had such a great weekend with the family that I didn't want to miss out on any time by having to go to the rec center or run around the neighborhood. Since I used Friday as my free day this week I went to the rec center on Saturday morning to get my upper body workout in. Some of the exercises I was not able to get through all the reps of on Monday due to adding weight I was still not able to get through but I was able to more than I did on Monday. I don't know if it had anything to do with eating before working out, normally I eat after I workout, or if it was just that I am getting stronger. I guess we will know the answer to that on Wednesday when I get to the office in the morning to do the next upper body workout. I love looking at my little 12 week calendar and seeing that I am now less than three weeks away from being finished. As much as this has been a good experience and I am seeing great results, I am ready to have it be over, the one thing that is keeping me on track is looking forward to the last few workouts and pushing harder to finish them and add weight so I can see where I was weight wise when I started and where I am weight wise when I am done.

One last thing, I would like a moment of silence for a fallen brother....The binder I have been using since I started this whole thing took a fall off my desk and now the rings do not close correctly like they should. I am now forced to go get a different binder from the office and use it to finish my last three weeks. It is a sad day Mr. Binder started this journey with me and now he is not going to be able to finish.....These next three weeks are for you Mr. Binder!!!!! You will not be forgotten.

Not the cardio day I expected

So I got the 40 minutes  I was shooting for in this morning and ran almost 4 miles but I didn't do it the way that I wanted to. I was trying to go at 7 MPH for 30 of the 40 minutes but that didn't happen. When I work up this morning my legs were quite stiff and sore from yesterday's lower body workout. I ended up going 6.5 MPH for some of the run and 6 MPH for the rest of it. I am a little disappointed with myself for that but at the end of the day getting the exercise in is more important than reaching the goals every time you go out and try. I am feeling good this morning after the run and I have a lot of energy which is nice since I have a to do list for today of 14 items and that does not include anything that is going to come in while I am working on that list. I don't quite know I am going to get it all done  today but I will do my best since I am taking tomorrow off for my anniversary. I am also debating if I want to wake up in the morning before everyone else and get my upper body workout in then and do my planned split free day like I was going to do on Thanksgiving or if I just want to take the whole day off. I guess I will see how I feel in the morning and make the final decision. Well, I am going to try and get an early start to the day today so I can try and get it all done. Until next time.

Final milestone today

Not a huge one but one that makes me happy. Today I did my lower body workout and had to split time on the machine and the weights with a guy I work with but not all that big a deal. I look at it as giving me the chance to let my muscles rest a little more between sets so that I can get one or two more reps on the one that had more waiting. Now that I have finished the workout I will be doing my normal planning my next one, this is where the next milestone comes in. I didn't have any more pages in week 10 of my journal so that I can plan the next lower body workout on Monday so I had to go make my final set of copies to get the last three weeks of this program done and in the books. It feels nice to know that I am just about done. Since my co-worker was on the machine a bit today I had to go back to the lunges and squats that I have been doing. I was getting tired of them and a little board but switching them up the last few exercises seemed to have helped. I went back to them today and was able to get a real good workout and will be adding weights to a couple of the exercises. I would add weight to all the exercises but the weights in the office don't go any larger than 50 lbs. I can't wait to take a look at my fitness pages as I finish my exercises the week of Christmas and see where I started weight and rep wise and where I am finishing. I took a look at the calendar and I am thinking that I might take the week of the 26th off of work and just stay home and enjoy some time with the family. I don't feel like I have had the chance to do that since I started working two jobs and since both will be off at that time it will be nice to spend a little extra time with the. Tomorrow is a cardio workout so I plan on going for 40 minutes, 5 minutes 4 MPH walk to warm up 30 minutes 7 MPH run and 5 minutes 4 MPH walk to finish it off. I think that it is going to be a bit of a challenge but I know I will be able to push through it.

Adding to my list of X's

No, I am not having any relationship issues, this week is my five year anniversary and I am even happier now than the day I got married. I get to put another X on my Body-for-Life calendar. As I have said before Tuesdays I go to my morning men's bible study so I don't get to workout or run on those days so I get to do it during lunch. Today I was going to shoot for going 30 minutes at 7 MPH but then it turns out I have to make a client visit later today and I don't want to get all nasty before heading that way since I may not have had a chance to shower before leaving. I decided to go thirty minutes total today, I started by walking at 4 MPH for 5 minutes, then I ran for 20 minutes at 6.5 MPH, and finished with 5 more minutes at 4 MPH to cool down. Thursday I will be running in the morning at work so I can get as sweaty and nasty as I want so I will be doing the 30 minute run at 7 MPH. Today while I was on the treadmill I had the great idea to use my phone to stream Netflix while running to pass the time but I was not able to hear it over the running on on Thursday I will do the same but I will use my iPad with head phones. I figure that will make the run go by a little quicker. When I woke up this morning I was not all that sore, I expected to be quite sore due to the workout from yesterday, but as the day goes on my chest biceps and triceps are becoming a little more sore as the day goes on. Like I have said before it is just the muscles rebuilding and making me stronger so I am ok with it. Tomorrow is a lower body workout and I am going to be doing lunges and squats rather than use the machine. One of the guys that I work with will be in the fitness room tomorrow as well and he is doing pull down and back exercises and will need the machine to do that so I am not going to get in his way since I can do mine workout with just some dumb bells and squats. I am only going to need the machine when I do my  abs and even then I think I can come up with a way to do crunches with dumb bells if I need to. I think I will be adding a little bit of weight to my workout tomorrow but not so much that I shouldn't be able to finish my 7 MPH run. Keep an eye out tomorrow for the results.

Hard workout, good start to the week

Today I got up nice and early and took care of my upper body workout that I have been looking forward to since I set it this weekend. I added weights to my workout on the chest exercises, shoulder exercises, and the high points on my biceps. I did not get through all of the reps for a few of the sets on each of the exercises today but that is to be expected. I know that yesterday I was talking about trying to move up my weights one more time before I finish and I am still going to shoot for that goal but it is going to take a lot of hard work on my part to make that happen. I am not afraid of that I just know it to be true and getting it down here on the blog will help me to read that and remember it. I am going to be adding weight to my pull downs for my back exercise and will most likely be adding more weight to my triceps and 1-Arm rows for next Wednesday's upper body workout. I guess you will just have to come by next Wednesday and read the blog to find out how it went. I made a mistake looking at the body for life calendar and it turns out that the final free day of my 12 week program is on Christmas day. I can't think of a better way to celebrate completing the 12 week program than celebrating Christmas with my family. I have to say that I love looking down at my calendar and seeing there are only three Monday's left after today. Tomorrow is my bible study which I enjoy quite a bit each Tuesday and I will be shooting for my 30 minute run at 7 MPH, I don't think I should have any trouble doing it since it should only be a few more minutes longer than my 3.25 mile run yesterday. The only thing that might make it harder is my hamstrings are a little sore from pushing my running so hard the last few times but hey if I want that 16% body fat number to go down I am going to have to push harder on both my cardio and my weight training these last 4 weeks of the challenge. Until next time.

Big day tomorrow, new goal for Tuesday

Today is a big day, I get to start the week with an upper body workout where I am adding more weight to a bunch of the exercises so I am sure it will be a hard one. I don't care if I don't get to the full number of reps on the high points and the weights leading up to them, the point of tomorrow is to begin the journey of getting more weight done. I am on the home stretch starting week 9 tomorrow with only a few weeks to go. I hope to move the weights up one more time before the end of week 12 so that I can really see some results and see if I can't get that body fat percentage number down a little bit more before I am done and go into Christmas. This week I will be taking my free day on Friday because it is my 5 year anniversary and we have dinner plans that are not going to fit into the body for life plan. That is going to make Saturday a bit harder because I have to try and plan my six meals and workout around church and family, but it will be worth it. So we now know that the added weight I am going to be using tomorrow is what is going to make it a big day now lets talk about the new goal for Tuesday. Today  I Went to the rec center to run since it was cold and rainy and there was no way I was running in that. The last time I ran on a treadmill I went 3.1 miles at 7 miles an hour and set a goal that I would make it to 3.25 miles at 7 MPH before stopping. I didn't go for that goal yesterday since I was running and doing a lower body workout so I went for that today and made it. The good part was that I made it the 3.25 miles before slowing down the bad part was I was really wanting to slow down with about a mile of that distance left but I push myself through it. So that brings me to Tuesday's goal, today It took me about 27 and a half minutes to run the 3.25 miles then I walked at 4 mph until I made it to 30 minutes to act as a short cool down before heading home. Tuesday I am going to shoot for running 7 MPH the full 30 minutes which should get to to 3.5 miles in that time as well. If I can make that time then I will shoot for 3.6 miles at 7 miles an hour etc, and continue to push the distance at 7 MPH before I start all over again by running a 5 K at 7.5 miles an hour and pushing forward until I can get to 40 minutes. I figure that is the best way to train for both pace and distance while in the winter months then see just how far and fast I can go when the weather gets back to where running outside becomes an option again. Keep an eye out tomorrow to see how the workout goes and Tuesday to see if I was able to go the full 30 minutes at 7 MPH.

Doubled up again today

Today I got to do my run and my lower body workout since due to the events of the day yesterday I didn't get to run. Thanksgiving was good and I had a great time not to mention I ended up using my free day this week for it so I got to just go crazy and believe me that is just way I did. When my in-laws showed up I started my grazing and nibbling before we sat down to eat right around one. Once we sat down I had some Turkey, Ham, stuffing, dressing, mashed potato, green bean casserole, rolls, and sweet potatoes with marsh mellows on top. I put so much on the plate that I ended up stacking some if it on top of each other. Then I went back for more stuffing, ham, and turkey. That was just the dinner, when it came to sweets time I had a 7 layer bar, some pumpkin pie, zucchini bread, and I think that is it if you don't count the coffee. Don't worry I didn't mention the hummus or sausage balls I was eating most of the day as well. Needless to say I got all kinds of eating done and felt like I could sleep for a week when I was finished. When I got back from the rec center today after running and doing the lower body workout I had a small protein shake then went to the shower. When I got out I had a tuna wrap and some broccoli and I am already feeling hungry again. I am hopeful it is because my body burned so many calories that I need to take in more calories and protein to help build up the muscles. I finally got a tape measure and measured myself to get a rough idea of my body fat %. I kind of wish that I had not, as it turns out I am in the upper 16% for body fat and the mid 22 for BMI. The BMI is good but I was hoping that the body fat would have been a little lower. I guess I am going to just have to work a bit harder when lifting weights and run a bit longer when doing cardio to help shift the muscle to fat ratio a little more. The final numbers were I am 125 lbs of lean body weight and 25 lbs of body fat. I would like to get the % down below 10 so it looks like I have something else to add to my list of goals for the up coming year. Keep an eye out on how I am doing on it. This week starts week 9 of Body-for-Life and that makes me happy since there is only 4 weeks to go and the odd number weeks are the ones that have two upper body workouts so I am looking forward to it this week and taking another week off the count. Well I have a forum I am going to post to real fast then I am going to eat something as I am beginning to get quite hungry. 

Feeling great after my workout today

Today was another upper body day and if you have been reading this you know that the upper body workouts are the ones I like the most. Today I went in the with the mind set of finishing the sets were my muscles would fail before I got to the 12th rep on my high points and to work extra hard due to the impending holiday. That is exactly what I did and it paid off. I was able to get to the 12th rep on most of the exercises and will even be adding weight to some of them next week. I love days that start like this because it puts me in a great mood for the rest of the day and it helps get me out of the mood I was in when I left work yesterday. I expect to have good soreness in my biceps and chest tomorrow and perhaps even a little on the triceps. I am already looking forward to Monday when I get to do the upper body again and try the exercises with the additional weight I will be adding. I finally feel like I am pushing through this little bit of a slow moving increase I have felt like I have been on for the last few workout. Not that I plan on it but if I do get to a store this weekend I am going to make myself get the tape measure so I can find my body fat % as well as start tracking the calories I am taking in each day to make sure I am eating the proper amount to promote muscle growth. After a workout like today I feel like I am on the verge of having a real break through and getting the results I have been trying to get. By the end of this week I will be on Week 9 of Body-for-Life with only four weeks to go. I can't wait to say that I have finished the program and to see the results that I got from it at the end. Tomorrow I will be running before the eating starts to break up my free day into two like I talked about a few posts ago. I am going to be taking the eating part of the free day off tomorrow and the no exercise part of the free day on Friday since none of the places I work out at are going to be open. The last challenge this weekend will be finding time to get my lower body workout on in Saturday between family pictures and church.

Perhaps not as good as I thought

Well today was another cardio day and I decided that I would run the way I wanted to run rather than the Bill Phillips run. If you recall when I went to the rec center this week I ran 30 minutes at 6.5 MPH and felt like I could have totally done another 30 minutes without any issues. That brought me to today's decision to run for 40 minutes at 7 MPH. Well, I didn't quite get there, as it turns out that pace is a little more difficult than I thought since it is faster than my normal comfy pace. I did stick it out and run 3.1 miles before slowing it down so I did a 5K in about 26 minutes or so then I did a slower pace until I got to 30 minutes. Trust me it was the most sweating I have done since I was running 8 miles in the mornings and I feel great now although my toes and the balls of my feet are tingling a little bit. I figure I will keep up with the pace that I am on when I decide to do the runs that I like and just try and push the distance a little more each time. I will either try and get to a further distance or longer amount of time before slowing down. For the next treadmill run I plan on going for the longer distance. I figure since I was able to get to 3.1 miles today before slowing down the next time I can push it the extra .15 miles and make it to 3.25 miles before slowing down. Once I see how I feel when I get to the 3.25 miles I will make the decision if I need to go for a longer amount of time or a longer distance on the next one. I know it is exactly how Bill Phillips wants it done but it is still reaching to increase the intensity and pushing to get past the possibility of hitting a lul in the cardio routine. After doing the race for the cure I realized that some of my ability to run distances has gone away and I want to get it back before I do another 5 K, the 10 K I want to do in April and finally if I am all trained up for it the Music City half marathon the next time it comes around.I posted my plans on the Body-for-Life forum that I am on to see their opinion of my plan and look forward to seeing what they have to say about it. After tomorrow I will be halfway done with week 8 and be entering the final lap of the 12 week program. I still don't think I am going to have the body that I envisioned when I started this but at least it will be a good start and I can move onto the next fitness routine after the holidays. Tomorrow my goal is to see how the exercises I am adding weight to on the upper body workout goes and to finish the 12 reps on the high points that I have not quite made it to yet. All this means is that I am going to be pushing really hard and expect to be all kinds of sore come turkey day morning. Keep an eye on tomorrow's post to see how it all goes down.

Mixed it up a little bit today

I got to the office this morning ready to start week 8 of my Body-for-Life (only 5 weeks to go) when I got to the office I was excited and ready to get underway. I was not feeling lunges today and had pretty much no desire to do them so I decided to mix things up a little bit. Rather than do the lunges I did standing leg curls to workout my hamstrings. I don't know if I did more harm or good in the way of getting a good workout but it was nice to do something other than lunges. I did work my quads by doing leg extensions on the machine and feel like I got a pretty good workout there. I also felt a lot more burn on my calves and abs today than I have the past few workouts. The funny thing is that I didn't move the weight up on either of the exercises because 60 lbs on the abs is too much for me to handle and there is not a dumb bell heavier than 50 lbs for the calves but either way I felt like I got one of the better workouts on each of those muscles. That makes me happy since my abs are one of the places that I look to in order to see my results and know that I have quite a ways to go before I get them to were I want them to be. I got half the questions answered that I have been wanting to answer. I weighed myself Saturday morning and it turns out that I have lost 2 lbs since starting this. I was hoping to see weight gain at this point but I do know that I am seeing results so it seems that I am just losing fat weight faster than I am putting on muscle weight. I guess that means that I am either going to have to eat higher calories of protein or just work harder on the weight training days. Honestly I am OK with doing both.

Easy 5K

Today I was going to run outside since the weather was not going to be all that cold. When I went outside the house to get started it was raining so I couldn't do it outside, enter the rec center. In an effort to try and keep this body for life program from driving me crazy I have continued to decide to do some of the things the way I want to and today's cardio was not exception. Rather than do the 20 minute run the way he wants it done I did a 30 minute 3.2 mile run at 6.5 miles an hour. I learned a few things during the run. 1. I have gotten in pretty good shape since I didn't even start to sweat until I had already gone a mile. 2. When the run was done I felt like I could have done another 3 miles with no effort so I guess I am going to have to go a little longer and a little faster. When I get to a treadmill on Tuesday I plan on going for 40 minutes at 7 miles an hour to get a bit further and work on my speed. Tomorrow starts week 8 as well as Thanksgiving week (the first of my challenges on this body for life.) I am going to take my wife's advise this week and split my free day into 2 days. I am going to use the eating part of my free day on Thursday (goes without saying) and will be using the no exercise part of my free day on Friday since the office and the rec center are both closed. The one thing that does not thrill me about that is that I am going to have to miss time with my wife and daughter two on both days of the weekend. I figure when I run outside on Thursday I will be doing a long run to try and make up for all the eating I plan on doing plus those long runs really put my in a good state of mind and there is nothing wrong with that on a holiday. Tomorrow is a lower body workout and I am adding weights to most of my exercises so take a look at my post tomorrow to see how it goes.

Going for another double dip

The events of yesterday caused me to miss my 20 minute cardio so I will be making it up today. I had originally planned on getting to work nice and early today and do my upper body workout then do my run. I woke up at 4:30 this morning and got to work around 5:40 or so. I knew this would give me plenty of time to do my upper body workout then to run and get everything out of the way before work started. The only problem is that I left my wallet at the house and was locked out of the building and got to sit in the car for 1 hour while I waited for someone else to show up so rather than being early I was behind for the day since I started my workout 30 minutes later than I normally do. Not a huge deal I will just plan on doing my run at lunch today so that I can be back on track. This is two weeks in a row where I have not hit every workout when they were supposed to be hit so I am going to have to work harder to make sure that I get all the scheduled workouts done on the day they are supposed to be done on next week. I don't want to start down a bad slope of making up workouts all the time because what will end up happening is that I will miss one and won't have time to get it made up and we don't need or want that. Today's upper body workout was a pretty good one. I was a little mad at myself because it felt like I didn't have the energy that I had last time and it felt like I was not getting the same number of reps I was getting on Monday. As it turns out when I compared my workout sheet from Monday to my workout sheet today I did get the same amount of reps and even one or two more in some cases. I guess sitting in my car for an hour caused me to feel more tired than I really was. I hope that the run today helps wake me up. Tonight my wife is going to see a movie and won't be home until late and I would like to be able to stay up and see her. Well, I am getting ready for my free day tomorrow and have to work so until next time

More harm than good today?

Well today I did another lower body workout and even though I was just a little stiff from the Sunday workout and run I was not all that sore so I figured I was ok to get through it. I also added some weight to the lunges and to the leg extensions this week so my legs to feel tired but not as worn down as they have felt in past workouts. I don't know if this is a good thing letting me know that I still have yet to add a little more weight or if I did more harm than good by not letting my muscles fully rebuild before working them out again. I guess we will know in the morning. Tomorrow I am going to at least start my day from the house if not work the whole day since our new couches are coming in and I would like to be there for that. We ordered them back in September so it has been a while since we spent the money on them. Tomorrow weather permitting I will be running around the neighborhood rather than on a treadmill. I am pretty happy about that because it will give me the chance to let me start building my endurance back up for long distance runs.  I figure two laps around the neighborhood will be just over a 5 K and I should be able to do it in under 30 minutes so I won't be straying from the Body-for-Life formula all that much. One thing that has had me confused is to why all day the last two days I have been getting hungry not just a little hungry but really hungry about an hour before my next eating is supposed to happen. Since getting off the planning of meals I have not strayed from the actual diet, I still eat six times a day and get a portion of protein and carb at each meal. I suppose that as my muscles grow so should my portion size. I am going to hit up the Body-for-Life forum that I have been following and see if anyone else has been going through this and see if they are thinking the same way that I am. I kind of hope that I need to add bigger portions but I am also a little worried to since I don't want to put on fat while I try and put on the muscle. Well tomorrow is going to be a good day and I look forward to the run as I always feel great after a run and start my day off in a great state of mind after a nice long run. I guess we will see if the rain has left and I can do just that. I am telling you now that I really hope so.

Getting closer

This morning I tried to wake up early to get my run in before my bible study but that didn't happen since it was raining when the alarm went off. To tell you the truth I am very OK with that because my grass seed and new trees and bushes all need water. As I have been doing the last few Tuesdays I ran at work on the tread mill. I started today with a 5.5 MPH warm up just like last time and finished up at 8 MPH. This time the run was not as hard as it was the last time I went those speeds so it looks like it is time to push the speed up a little bit. On Thursday morning I will start my warm up at 6 MPH and finish up at 8.5. I expect that will be quite the good run. When I finished this run I was sweating pretty hard and had to take 10 minutes or so to cool off so I could get my work clothes back on without ruining them. Even though I did sweat pretty hard I finished feeling like I could have gone faster which is why I will be adding to the speed next week. Tomorrow is a lower body workout and I will be changing it up a little bit since I didn't reach high points on my squats last time and there isn't a dumb bell heavier than 50 LBS here at the office. I will be using the machine for the hamstrings and finishing with squats. I don't know how the workout is going to go since I have not had all the recovery time I am supposed to have between workouts because I had to do the lower body 2 days late last week. If nothing else I should be able to cause a good amount of soreness after tomorrow. Today I am a little sore in my chest and arms so I can call yesterday's workout a success. I am always happiest when my chest is sore since that is the part of my upper body I feel I need the most work. It is nice to look at my 12 week calendar and but an X through the second day of week 7. There is only about 5 and a half weeks left and I can't wait to say that I got through the whole thing and look at the results when finished. I am also happy that my wife talked me through wanting to stop at 6 weeks. Now that I have decided to continue I am glad that I did. Making the few changes to the plan that I made has made a huge difference. I am not straying from it at all and I stick with the diet the only changes I have made are I don't sit and plan my meals for the entire week I just decide what I want the day before (two on class days) and one run a week I run the way I want to run rather than the 20 minute run the book says to do. I realized that after my last run that even though I am getting in shape I was losing my endurance on the long runs and doing the one run a week the way I want to run should take care of that problem. Also, pushing myself to run 3 miles during the 20 minute cardio should also help the endurance and push me to get further and perhaps do a half marathon by the end of next year. I think that is going to by one of my new years "goals" next year is to complete both a 10 K (there is one in April here at the office) and run a half marathon before the end of the calendar year. I don't think those are un-dooable but I think they will both require a bit of hard work. Perhaps that is the direction my blog will take once the new year starts I guess we will just have to wait and see. It will either go that route or will talk about how I feel each day while doing P90X or Insanity (depending on what I can borrow/ get for Christmas this year.)

Unanswered Questions and a Fitness Double Dip

Well I am going into today with unanswered questions but that is all my fault. I forgot to weigh myself yesterday and again this morning so I still have no idea just how much I weigh. As it turns out I don't have a tape measure at the house so I was not able to take some measurements and find out what my body fat percentage is. The next time I am at a store I am going to take a moment to go ahead and pick up a cheap little tape measure so that I can find that out. I am also going to wait until the end of the week and get on the scale Saturday morning to see how much I weigh. As for the double dip, I ended up missing my workout Friday as you know because the rec center was closed and it was too cold to run. Saturday I ended up having to work in the morning and since I missed that time with the family I didn't want to miss anymore so that left me with Sunday to get everything done. I ran shortly after breakfast which didn't go exactly how I wanted it to but I got it done. I decided to run the way I wanted to rather than the Body-for-Life run and I had a much better time doing it. Later in the day when Haley was asleep I went to the rec center and got the missed lower body workout in. I figured that between the run and the lower body on the same day my legs would be pretty sore today but they are not so far. Another thing I learned while at the rec center this weekend is that Sunday afternoon is obviously high school/Justin Beeber (sp?) hair cut day. Not all that big a deal but when you are trying to workout and there are a bunch of kids just sitting on the equipment watching football it gets to be a little annoying. Today brought me to my upper body workout and the first day of the second half of the program. I got a really good workout today and was able to add a few more reps to the exercises that I have not yet finished the total number for the set so I think one or two more workouts should get me there. I even have the chance to add a little more weight to one of my exercises for Friday and when I was getting ready I could see even more change  in my upper body so that put me in a very good mood. I am going to have to make the switch to machines for my lower body workout on Wednesday since the intensity is not there anymore but hey that is a pretty good problem to have. Right now my back and biceps are feeling pretty weak so I know I got some good muscle breakdown there and I should feel sore in my arms and chest tomorrow. I guess we will just have to wait and see. Tomorrow I may actually run before bible study rather than during lunch so I don't have to pack as much stuff with me in the morning but we will just have to wait and see about that. As much as I did enjoy my run yesterday doing it how I wanted to do it my feet were not feeling all that great when I finished so it seems that it is time for new shoes. As long as I have them to start the new year I am fine no real hurry right now for them I can deal but next year I was to try and train and run a half marathon so I am going to need shoes that don't hurt if I don't want to hurt myself. Well....until next time.

Guess I am going to have to change it up today

So today I am working from the house and woke up this morning so that I could get my lower body workout done at the rec center. As it turns out he rec center is closed due to veterans day. I totally understand that and wish that I had thought of it before I set my alarm early and woke up to workout but it is what it is. I was going to go ahead and get this week's last run in and then just do my lower body workout on Sunday but it is 27 degrees out this morning and I really don't want to run in that so I am going to do the wonderful idea that my wife gave me. Today I am going to stick with the diet and eat my 6 times today just not get the lower body workout in. Tomorrow I will either run or do the lower body workout and on Sunday I will finish. This way I don't miss out on any of the workouts and I still get to have a free day. This was my wife's idea for the week of Thanksgiving. I just get to give it an unexpected trial run this week. I guess I will just have to see how the weekend unfolds so I know what I will be doing on which day. I know it isn't exactly what body for life says to do but sometimes you have to adapt in order to stick with it right? I am excited because today someone is going to be the 1500th view of the blog. I know it took almost a year to get that many but hey the fact that I got to that number makes me happy. Since I didn't get to workout I don't have a whole lot to say this morning. I am going to get an early start on work so that I can finish up and head out this afternoon to spend some time with the family. I will let everyone know how the modified fitness week goes.

I must be getting boring

I only say that because I am noticing the number of page visits I am getting to the blog a day are going down. I am really not all the concerned about it since I have not really told anyone that I write the blog but it is nice to see people are interested in what I have today. First off let me start by giving everyone a soreness update, I have some pretty good soreness going on today most of it is in my chest. I do have some soreness in my triceps and a little in the biceps but mostly in my chest. I am not too surprised by this since I was able to get a few more reps in my chest and biceps and I added more weight to my triceps. I am telling you I think the strength is starting to come. This morning I did exactly what I said I was going to do and started my treadmill run at 5.5 MPH and finished the run at 8 MPH. It was harder than the last run I did when I started at 5 MPH as you might imagine but still was not too bad. I finished 2.25 miles in the twenty minutes and when it was all over I had to take a minute to just lean against the machine and catch my breath. Still was not as bad as the very first body for life run I remember from several years ago but it was getting close. I know I have not stated this in a while but I have now decided on a new goal. I want to get to the point on the treadmill runs where I can get three miles done in the 20 minutes that I run. Today was a good start in that direction and now that I have a new goal I will continue to increase the intensity until I get there. I figure I will run outside on Sunday so I don't use one of my 7 remaining rec center visits on a 20 minute workout, and will get on the treadmill again Tuesday morning and start at the 5.5 MPH like I did today. If I feel like I could have pushed a little harder like I do today then on Thursday I will count on starting at 6 MPH and going up to 8.5 MPH and see how that goes. I want to get to the 3 miles in 20 minutes before the end of my 12 week program. I can say that I am pretty happy that at the end of this week I will be halfway through. If I remember I have plans on Sunday before I do anything to get on the WiiFit scale and see where I am weight wise. This is going to be the first time in years that I actually want to see weight gain rather than weight loss when I get on the scale. I am just going to have to remind myself not to worry about what the WiiFit says about BMI etc. since it is only going on weight and does  not take muscle to body fat into consideration. One thing that I am curious about is what my body fat percentage is. I have been reading all kinds of things online talking about body fat percent and calorie intake etc for getting larger but don't really have a baseline since I have not weighted myself in about 2 months and have no idea what my body fat percentage is. I am going to try and get those questions answered this weekend. The WiiFit will tell me my weight and I will have to try and find a tape measure somewhere, take some measurements, and put the numbers into one of several online calculators to see what comes up. I am shooting for 10 % but I am thinking right now I am around 15 % and would be happy as all get out  if I was around 12 %. Keep an eye out to see the answers to these questions and more Sunday or Monday.... One last thing, I am doing something crazy and having yogurt with breakfast this morning. Something I have never done in my life.

I should be feeling that one

Today I was back at the weight room here at the office so I could do my normal workout this morning. I knew that I would be putting some extra intensity on it since I had planned on bringing up the weight on a few of the exercises. Let me tell you, bringing up the intensity level today is totally what happened. My shoulders and triceps are what I added the weight to and both of them are weak right now. I have no doubt in my mind I will be sore tomorrow, at least in those two areas. I still have not quite gotten to all 12 reps on my high points in my chest and biceps but I am getting closer and each time I do my upper body exercise I am getting an extra rep or two in on those exercises so it should only be a matter of time. I just need to wait for my strength to catch up with my desire. That so far has been the hardest thing to wait for, I have never been all that strong to begin with and although this training program is working and I know I am getting stronger because I can see it and feel it I am still a long ways away from the build I am looking to get to. I am thinking that in order for me to get there, as long as I keep pressing as hard as I have been these last 5.5 weeks I should be there around July. That is the goal I am setting for myself at least. I guess I will have to see how many steps back I take come the holidays. I have been telling myself that I won't be all that bad this year but you never know. I guess it will come down to what I want more, the fitness or the yum yums. I still have to figure out what I am going to do for my scheduled workout on Black Friday. That week I am going to be using my free day for Thanksgiving (goes without saying) but then the office and the rec center are both closed that next day. I am thinking I will either have to find a gym in the area that will let you try it for a day or so or just double up on the cardio and whatever weight training workout I will miss on that Friday. I don't think that is what I want to do since I will have to spend close to an hour and a half at the gym that day and I don't want to miss that much time with the family. I guess I will just have to cross that bridge when I come to it. Tomorrow it is back on the treadmill, I have been starting those days at 5 MPH and moving up to 7.5 MPH at the high point but I think tomorrow is the day to move up the latter so as long as I can get on a treadmill at the office I will start at 5.5 MPH and finish off at 8. I am not going to kid myself I am sure it will suck but hey if you want results you have to push. Keep a look out tomorrow. I will let you know how it goes.

Already happy with my decision

I know I am only on the second day of laying off on being super strict on the diet part of my program but so far I am happy that I have done so. Yesterday I was still able to eat six times like I am supposed to and last night I just put a bunch of stuff in my lunch box that I felt like eating today so that  I can get my multiple meals in and stick with the Body-for-Life guide lines. Today is a run day and I have not done it yet. I will be doing it today during lunch then I will mark it off my calendar when I get home. Although I have gotten a little tired of the planning involved with the eating on this plan I still look forward to doing each day's exercises and look forward to my run today and my upper body workout tomorrow. I know the workout on Friday didn't go exactly how I would have liked since I had to use the rec center but tomorrow I will be back here at the office and doing my normal upper body workout. The only thing that I am really concerned about is that my right arm is hurting when I lift it and I can't think of why. The soreness from Friday's workout has been gone for a little while so I guess I just slept wrong. Well time to get a little work done keep an eye out on how my new nutrition is going and how tomorrow's workout goes. I am planning to really push tomorrow and get those one or two extra reps.

Making some changes

So when I finished my run yesterday I decided that I was going to make a few changes to the way I have been doing things with this body for life. I still enjoy the workouts quite a bit and I know that I am getting results I can just look in the mirror and tell. One thing that has worn on me is the eating and all the prep of food each week. That is the part that I am going to change. Now that I know how to eat and what is considered good and bad food I am going to not be quite so strict with what and when I eat. I still plan on eating correctly and eating more than the normal three meals a day just not quite the way the book tells me to do it. I think making this decision is going to give me the best chance to stay on track with the workouts for the remainder of the 7 weeks. My wife had the idea of trying to eat the way that I want to eat for the next week and see how I feel or if I still see the same results, if I don't then I can go back to the way I was eating before, if I do then I can continue with what I am doing and not have to feel so restrained on my nutrition. I have also been spending a lot of time reading articles about weight training and fitness on the internet to see if what I am doing it the best way to go about getting bigger. It seems that I am on the right track to getting bigger, just about everything says the same thing about taking in more lean calories and protein so that your muscles can grow. I feel like I have been doing that just fine. This morning I did my lower body workout and I had to do it at the rec center since I had somewhere to be first thing in the morning. The workout was not all that bad I just didn't get to do everything the way that I like to and I had to use a different machine than I normally use for my ab workout so I didn't get as good a workout as I could have. I also didn't get to switch workout for my high points on my squats because the machine I wanted to use was being used for a guy that would not get off. Tomorrow I am going to go to my bible study and then use 20 minutes of my lunch to get on the treadmill and do the cardio workout for Tuesday. I guess we will see how this change goes.

Got to or had to?

That is the question that I am asking myself today. Like I said in yesterday's post, I took today off so that I could get some things done around the house before the winter kicked in. Because of that I sucked it up and spent 20 dollars today to get a 10 visit pass to the rec center and used one of the visits to take care of my upper body workout today. When I got there it must have been the peak time for exercise before work. It was not all the crowded but there were a lot of people at the free weights and benches where I would normally do my upper body workout. Because of this I ended up having to use machines for my chest exercise and my shoulders. I don't know that the first few sets of the chest exercises were not a waste but by the time I got to the end I was putting up 110 pounds on the machine and went to failure just before 12 reps. The shoulder machine on the other hand gave me a good workout and tired my shoulders out so much that I am having a little trouble keeping my arms up to type this even though I am sitting at the kitchen table and rest my forearms on it. After I got my shoulders done a few people left and I was able to get to the weights and the benches to finish my workout the way I normally would. After today I will be adding more weight to my triceps which is a surprise since those are some of my weakest muscles and I made a note that I feel like I am on the verge of adding more weight to the rest of my upper body exercises. I can't really think of a better way to end my upper body workout at the halfway point of the program next week than adding weight again going into week seven. As I was driving home from school last night I was in a great mood and it dawned on me that I am completely out of that funk I was in the first part of the week. I am not going to let myself get into a mood like that again. I know what I am doing is working, I can see it everyday. The fact that I am doing it so that I like what I see when I look in the mirror is for me and the fact that I want to get and stay healthy so I can be around for the family for a long time is for my wife and child. I am so glad I decided to stick with getting in shape this year. My wife and I alway talk about how neither of us are going to have to worry about gaining weight again since we didn't go on a diet this last year we embarked on a lifestyle change. It is funny that I am not quite half way through the program I am on right now and I am already thinking about what I am going to do after the holidays and new year. Well I am off to eat and get ready to do my around the house stuff. I will let everyone know how that goes and how my Sunday run went when you hear from me again.

Good run today

As the week goes on I am starting to climb higher and higher out of the rut I was in on Tuesday and today is no different. Since today was a cardio day and I planned on doing it at the office I was able to sleep in a little later than I normally would before coming in. When I got to the office I took my time and got something to drink and let my legs loosen up before getting on the treadmill. I can tell everyone right now that my legs are pretty sore from yesterday's lower body workout and it made for a harder run today than the run that I did yesterday even though it was the same run. Here is how it went down the last two times on the treadmill. I started at my intensity level of 5 by running 5 MPH for the first two minutes, once I got into the interval part of the run I would increase my speed from 5.5 to 7 MPH and when I got to the high point I was running 7.5 MPH. I got a good workout and got the heart rate up pretty good. At that pace I also ran just over two miles. The next time I get on the treadmill (Tuesday) I am going to start by going 5.5 MPH and finish at a top speed of 8 MPH and see how much further I run and how I feel at the end of it. I have been enjoying getting on the treadmill rather than run around the block, it is a little bit of an easier run but I feel like I am getting just as good a workout and now that it is starting to get colder each day I am more likely to run indoors and not hate it rather than run outdoors and dread it each time I have to do it. It is funny that it seems like the fitness bug is starting to set in around my little world in the office. All of this started with one of the help desk guys getting on weight watchers and losing a bunch of weight, then his manager entered the biggest loser challenge they had at the office that year and almost one, now he is working on strength training. After that I jumped on the wagon at the start of this year and if you have been reading this blog you know how that went and know that I have lost about 115 lbs, now my boss tells me he just started doing P90X to get back in shape. I do have to admit I am a little jealous of that since that is what I have been leaning toward doing next. I asked him to let me know how it goes as he gets through it since when the IT manager of the firm did it he really didn't share his experience or how it went. Well I am going to get my first meal of the day on, I am pretty hungry this morning, tomorrow I took the day off work to get stuff done around the house so I will go to the rec center for my workout then get started in the yard. Going to try and write a post about how it went since I am going to push myself harder tomorrow but we will just have to see what time permits.

Feeling much better today

After a tough day yesterday I am feeling much better today. It really is amazing how a good workout can change your state of mind. Today was lower body workout day and the first time I have done the LBWO since the run. Today was also the day that I added more weight to all of the exercises except the abs, although I did try, and I could really feel the difference. Today my legs feel a lot like they did after my very first LBWO so I can't wait to see how they feel tomorrow. If how they are feeling now is any indication and according to Bill Phillips sore is good than you can call me today the tiger because I am thinking I will be GRRREEEAAATT!!! Putting the X on my calendar today also helped my mood and helped get my motivation back because now I am halfway through the 5th week and will soon be starting the half way point. I am still starting to see muscle definition in my arms and in my legs but I don't think I am going to end up having the chest and ab definition I was looking for by the time I am done. I think I have too much of an up hill battle with the loose and extra skin I have from when I weighed 265 lbs. If that is the case I am going to just have to work harder. I don't know that I will be doing the body for life again after this, not so much because it does not work because it does, just because I don't want to have to go through another 12 weeks of the diet that I am on now. I like the food and I don't ever feel hungry it just takes so long to get everything together each week and I would much rather spend that time with the family enjoying time with each other rather than in the kitchen portioning tuna. I have been looking around on the Internet to see what I want to do when I am done with this program in case I am not happy with the body that comes out the other end and to remain in shape for years to come. Right now I am still looking at P90X and I have also started to do a little research into Insanity. Right now I think I am leaning to the P90X because it is more muscle tone where as Insanity is more cardio. Not that I have to make a quick decision and since I am cheap neither one may win that battle and I just might continue to use the weight room here at work. Whatever I end up doing it won't be until after the new year. I took a look at the calendar and I will be finishing up body for life the week of December 12th, I plan on enjoying the holidays, within reason, then make a decision on what to do next. It is funny just how addicting fitness can become if you really want it.

Trying to stay motivated

It seems that I am at a point now where I am losing my motivation to stay on this program a little bit. This morning I did something I have not done in a long time, I hit the snooze button twice and didn't wake up to do my Tuesday workout. I don't mind the workouts or the waking up early so much, I do mind the being cold which is what I am telling myself is some of the reason why I didn't get up and run this morning. The thing that I am starting to get tired of and not wanting to do anymore is the food. I have been eating the same foods for going on 5 weeks now and I don't like having to spend an hour a week with my wife prepping all the food for the week after I have spent 30 minutes over the weekend planning the meals to begin with. I know that I just need to push through this and I will be back on track but right now I just want to stop at 6 weeks and be done with it. I guess I will just have to see how I feel after the run today and how I feel tomorrow getting ready for a workout. Until then...


***Update***
I am starting to get out of the funk that I was in last night and this morning and don't feel quite so annoyed by the food as I did this morning. I used a small part of my lunch today to do my 20 minute run on a treadmill at work and now I feel better.  I think most of it had to do with disappointment in myself for not getting up and running like I have been doing for 4 weeks solid now. Putting that additional X on my calendar has brightened my mood up a bit and now I am looking forward to the rest of my day and coming home to be with my family. Tomorrow is a lower body workout with added weight on some of the exercises so we will have to see how that goes. I am not so concerned about the added weight on the leg muscles but more concerned about being able to hold it with my upper body through each exercise. I guess we will have to see.

Race for the Cure and start of week 5

Had a whole lot go on this weekend between how busy I was at work on Friday, which is why there was no post, and everything I had going on the days following I have been moving. Friday morning I got to work and went through my lower body workout, I was thinking to myself that I was going take it a little easy on myself since I was running the Race for the Cure the next day. Once I got into the weight room I decided that I wouldn't do that, I didn't want to do that to myself because I knew I would be upset with myself the rest of the day. I told myself push forward and deal with the pain the next day at the run.

The day of the run came and I got there just after 6 AM and it was about 32 degrees outside. I was not all that sore from the day before but as I stood in the 32 degree weather for an hour I started to not feel my toes and my legs were starting to hurt pretty badly from tightening up with the cold. After a while I finally decided that I was going back to the car and turning the heat on to get warm again. I got my picture taken with the firm's race team and eventually got in the starting line. The run started about 20 minutes late and I was able to finish it in about 26 minutes. I think I would have gotten a little bit better time but the amount of people bunched up at the start slowed me down while I was weaving through them to get up to pace. It felt good that I was passing a lot of people while I was running but at the same time I was getting passed every now and again as well. I did rally enjoy the run and will do it again next year. There is a lot more to take in other than the run when you go to the village and see the vendors and the survivors. Some of the teams get very creative with what they were wearing and some of the shirts were just funny. One thing I did get to do for the first time was drink a 5 hour energy, in case you are wondering that will be the last one I drink as well. It felt like it worked like it should by it does not taste good at all. The rest of the weekend was also a blast spending it with my wife and child and getting pictures of Haley in her costume was a lot of fun.

That brings me to today, got up this morning to start the first day of week 5 of body for life. I am now past the 1/3 mark and starting to get to the halfway point. This morning was an upper body workout and I think that I did a pretty good job of pushing myself further. I was able to do more reps on a lot of the exercises and one of the shoulder exercises I went up in weight when I was not planning to. I didn't compare it to the number of reps that I did last Wednesday because I don't know that it would have been a good comparison, someone else was in the room with me so I had to make some changes to some of the exercises that I did so not to hog the bench up. I still got the good burn I was looking for and this morning my arms, at least to me, look more firm than they ever have. I took Friday off work to get things done around the house and will be using the rec center to workout that morning. When I finish that workout I will compare weight and reps to Wednesday's workout. Keep an eye out of Friday to see how it goes.

Don't know if wasted is the right word

Yesterday everyone was talking about just how cold and rainy is was going to be today and tomorrow so  I made the decision to come to the office and use the cardio equipment here. When I got here this morning I was surprised to see that nobody was using the treadmills and I would actually have a chance to use one. I became quite excited by this because I have been wanting to really push myself on the cardio and I figured the treadmill would be the best way to do so. I happily jumped on it and started, that was the end of the happy. I did get an OK workout but it seems I started the speed I was running at too slow so when I was supposed to be reaching high points I was really just at an easy brisk jog. I still got an OK heart rate and a little bit of a sweat but I know I could have done way more. I was thinking I was just going to push up the speed so that  I did get the high points but the book says if something like that happens make not of it and adjust for next time. That is exactly what I am going to do. When I start next time I am going to start at a MPH faster than I did today and push up from there. This should be a lot better and I hope to feel like I accomplished more at the end of that workout. I just need to hope that I am able to get a treadmill again so that I can try it. My free day/ Race for the Cure is coming up Saturday and I am pretty excited about both. Last week I was really wanting some candy and it felt like the candy drawer was just screaming out to me all week. I got the smart idea to grab a bit of it and throw it in my lunch box so I could bring it home Friday night and chomp on it all day Saturday. The idea worked like a charm the only thing that was not good was the drawer didn't really have any chocolate in it so I ended up with skittles and star bursts. That is not the case this week, yesterday I watched the drawer get stocked with peanut butter cups, 100 grands, gooders, and chocolate covered raisins so each time I have been by the drawer I have grabbed a few and brought them to my office. I have quite the little pile building and look quite forward to eating them all down throughout the day on Saturday. And I am wondering if my wife thinks I have forgotten about candy corn somewhere in the house. When I find it I plan on helping myself to that as well. Tomorrow is my lower body workout the day before the race. I don't know how I am going to feel about it since there were some exercises that I could have raised the weights on but decided not to so my legs would not be too sore for the run. I expect to still get a good workout since it took until this morning for my legs to stop being sore from Monday. I guess we will see tomorrow.

Inside the numbers

As always, I look the most forward to my upper body workouts and today was not exception. As I was going through the workout I felt like I was pushing myself pretty had and was bringing my muscles to failure on just about every exercise. When I finished and got ready to show and finished showering it was taking me a bit of effort just to lift my arms to wash and dry off. I figured with all of this effort and how my upper body is feeling right now that I did great. When I was done with all of that I did what I always do and sat down to plan my next workout. When I finish planning my next workout, if I didn't get to a point where I was finishing reps or adding weight to the routine I will check the workout against the last one I did. This is where my feelings of accomplishment went away. I think on one set of reps I did more reps than the last workout, most I did the same amount of reps, and on a couple I actually did less reps. Needless to say this did not make me feel all that great, as a matter of fact it is kind of the opposite of what I am going for. I am working this hard to build strength and muscle mass and when I see results like that I can't help but to feel like I failed in the respect today. I am sure that is not the case and come Monday when it is time to do the upper body again I will do better. I have to think that I perhaps lied to myself a couple of times when writing down the number of reps I completed when I had to stop and do half reps as my muscles began to fail. I had some good muscle burn throughout the entire workout and am already feeling it this morning and am sure I will feel it even more tomorrow so I just need to get out of my head. With today's workout finished I am now halfway through week 4 and only have 8 weeks to go after that. I know that it is going to be hard but I think that starting a 12 week program for fitness right before the holiday's was a good idea and should help keep me from gaining all kinds of weight as food will be flowing a plenty here shortly. Tomorrow is a cardio day and I think I am going to do it at the house to make up for not going four laps yesterday. I guess we will just have to see how the weather is.

Found a great way to wake up

Tuesdays are always my busy days, I have a bible study that I go to today that starts at 6:30 which means I have to wake up a little early in order to get my workout in before I head out. Tuesdays also happen to be my 20 minute cardio day so I know there is no chance that I will want to do the 20 minute run after working which is why I choose the morning. This morning it just happened to be 41 degrees outside when I went out to run, so I had a couple of options, 1. suck it up and run in the cold 2. go to the rec center and run on a piece of equipment in a nice heated room. I went with the first choice, let me tell you a run in that temp will wake you up pretty fast. I did the distance of 2 and some change miles again today but I didn't do it all in laps since I didn't want to end far from the house and my legs are a little sore from yesterday's lower body workout. It was nice to cross off yet another day on my calendar, it is fun to think that after tomorrow I will be halfway through my 4th week on this. Tonight I will be putting together my food for Thursday and Friday then I will be all set for the rest of this week. Today I am spending a full day at a client so I need to put what I am eating and when on my Google calendar so I don't forget what and when to eat then I get to go home and go to a Halloween party with the wife and kid. I can't wait to see the fun we are going to have there today. Well, don't have a whole lot to say today but keep an eye out tomorrow, I have another upper body workout and I am going to push myself hard to try and get to the 12 reps I have been falling short on with some of the exercises.

Already on week 4

These 12 weeks are going to fly by if the first three are any indication of how the last nine are going to go. I woke up and got to work this morning to do my lower body workout and when I was done and showered I grabbed my calendar and put the next X through today's workout. As I looked at it I couldn't believe that I am already a quarter the way through the 12 weeks and am starting on week 4. I was excited about this workout today since I had added a little bit more weight to most of the exercises and I wanted to know how it goes. I ended up getting a really good workout and I feel like I achieved what I set out to do. One thing I am noticing and I was telling my wife yesterday is that I may need to bit the bullet and join the rec center. Some of the exercises I am doing in the morning I will be needing to up the weight again after the Friday or next Wednesday lower body which isn't a big deal but at the pace I am adding weight two things are happening. First, the room at work only goes up to 50 lb dumb bells so when I need to go over that they won't be there, and second my lower body has always been much stronger than my upper body so even though my lower body can handle the weight my upper body won't be able to hold it through the workout. I guess we will know what to do after next week. When I was done with my workout today I was thinking that there may have been an exercise or two that I could go up on the weight with for the next one but as I sit here and my legs start to recover I decided not to increase the weight since I have to run the 5 K on Saturday and I don't want to be too sore to do it when the time comes. Tomorrow's 20 minute cardio will let me know for sure if I will be able to add the weight for Friday. If I can get through the cardio a day after the workout I just had the 5 K will be a cake walk. I guess I will know more tomorrow. Well off to eat some sauteed turkey with scrambled eggs, oatmeal, and an 8 oz protein shake. I will let you know how the legs feel tomorrow.

Week 3 in the books

Yesterday was my free day and I think I took much better advantage of it this week than last week. I got through all the cravings that I had this week, mostly candy, but didn't go so overboard that I felt like garbage this morning like I did last Sunday. I still feel bad about how my free days affect the rest of the family, I don't think that it is fair to them that they have to eat the crap that I eat on those days so I need to do a little thinking to figure out the best way to take care of my cravings without ruining their healthy eating. I don't think it would be great if my getting healthy caused my wife and child to get unhealthy since it was my wife and her weight loss that inspired me in the first place. After dinner at five guys yesterday we went to a halloween party at a childhood friend of my wife's house. One of the people there baked candy corn cupcakes so I had to try them and trust me they were good. They also had Oreos there so I decided that I would have one. I don't know that I have ever mentioned it but Oreos are my all time favorite cookie and I have not had one in almost a year. Let me tell you when I had the first one it was like an addict getting back on the stuff. As soon as I at it the flood gates opened and I had 5 more before I left the part 30 minutes later. Today I had to do my 20 minute run after I ate some scrambled eggs and waffles for breakfast. I can't tell you just how glad I am that the cardio workouts are only 20 minutes because I really don't like them. I would rather do an hour long 8 mile run than the 20 minute body for life run because it is much harder than just keeping the same pace for an hour. Next Saturday is the race for the cure and I am getting pretty excited about it and can't wait to see how it goes. Keep an eye out for the post from next weekend to see how week four went and how the run went.

Great workout today

I woke up a little sooner than I would normally wake up on an upper body workout day today because I have been looking forward to today's workout since Monday morning and had full plans on pushing myself to the limit going into the weekend. I tell you what, that is exactly what I did today. I took a look at my workout sheep from Monday and compared it to today and I was able to add at least two reps to each of the high point muscle failures from Monday so it looks like some muscle building got done over the week. As I sit here and type this I am suffering from a major case of noodle arm. When I was taking a shower today I was having to work just to keep my arms over my head so that I could get clean. I have already planned my next upper body workout for Wednesday and am hoping that when I am finished I will be able to add a little more weight to an exercise or two. This morning when I was done with the workout, shower, and planning I took a look at my first planned meal and saw that it was hard boiled eggs and an orange. I woke up this morning a little hungry and when I was done with the workout and shower I was starving because my body was wanting fuel after that workout. I went ahead and added an 8 oz protein shake to my morning food so bringing my first meal protein intake to about 48 grams (just about as much as a myoplex ready to drink shake). Going back through Bill's book that would count as a meal protein portion so I don't have to think I cheated and I may start adding an 8 oz shake on other workout mornings to really fuel the rebuilding process. Just like every morning I am still excited to be doing this and loved crossing out day 19 on my calendar. I am starting to see more definition on my arms and upper legs this early so I am even more motivated than I was when I started two Monday's ago. Tomorrow is my free day but I really don't know how I will use it. I have not really had any cravings this week but I am sure I will take full advantage of the day as the opportunity arises. Funny my next free day on the 28th I will be spending running a 5K, do you think I would get some looks if I was running it holding a bacon cheese burger from 5 Guys?

Day 18 and still going strong

It is a pretty cold morning here in Middle Tennessee, when I woke up and took a look at my weather app it showed me that it was right about 43 degrees outside. I am sure that running in that type of cold wakes a lot of people up and feels great but I was in no mood to find out first hand...enter plan B. I got ready and headed off to work to run on the treadmill since as anyone that has been reading knows I have been trying to use the treadmill for my cardio workout since I started this thing three weeks ago. That was not in my cards this morning, when I got to the workout room, just like last Thursday, there were two of my co-workers on them so I found myself using the elliptical again. Not a big deal, with the resistance that thing can offer I get a really good cardio workout from it so I just jumped on and got started. I was huffing pretty good when it was all said and done but also made a note that if I find myself on it again it is time to push up the intensity level. I am getting pretty excited that there does not seem to be any type of flatness happening in this program, when you start to see and feel the the exercises are getting easier you just make a note and plan your next workout for more weight, or a faster pace. I am at a stage now where I am adding to my intensity level after each workout so I know the results are there. Right now it is what is really keeping me honest and going on this journey. I still have 66 days to go before I am finished but at the pace I am going and the hard work that I have been putting into it so far I know I am going to be happy with how I come out on the end of this. I am starting to get my energy back again and am able to get right out of bed and get started on my days like I was the first few weeks of this. I am guessing that the rest of the junk I put in my body this weekend has found its way out and I am back to myself again. Another thing I am happy to say is that I didn't wake up this morning nor did I go through any of my day yesterday absolutely craving something so it looks like I pushed through that first challenge. I am sure more will come but now that I have pushed through it once I know that I will have no problem doing it again. Bring it on, I am stronger than the cravings.

No high points today and lesson learned

Today was my next lower body workout and I was out of bed and at work by 6 AM to get it done. I had a really good workout this morning but did not hit any high points so it looks like it is time to add weight again. I am feeling  a little tired in my legs after the workout so I expect to see a little bit of soreness in the morning when I wake up for cardio. After I do the next lower body on Monday I am going to compare my weights used on that first workout and see how the progress is going. I am starting to see some change in my arms and a little bit in my legs so that is making me happy. I also got to wondering today just how far I am going on my cardio runs in the morning so I plotted the run from this morning in RunKeeper and it turns out that the four laps around my neighborhood came to 2.24 miles in twenty minutes so the cardio is adding to my run speed and I am running a sub 9 minute mile. Can't wait to see how the run with tired legs goes tomorrow. One thing I will be honest about is that I am only halfway through the third week and I don't quite have the energy that I did when I was waking up the first week and it seems like temptations for cheating are showing up more and more. I don't know if that is really the case or if it just seems that way since I am getting deeper into this. I guess this is the phase in the book Bill writes about crossing the abyss and staying strong to remain on the plan. I am planning on doing just that and to continue to ignore the temptations and push forward. I guess I will just have to make sure that  I am taking full advantage of the free days, making note of the cravings that I am having though out the week and hitting as many of them as I can on that free day. The one thing I don't want to do is affect the eating habits of those around me when I am eating all that I want on those free days. Wish me luck in staying strong.... only nine and a half weeks to go.

Almost made it to the goal

I woke up this morning and went on my 20 minute cardio run before getting ready and heading off to bible study. I told myself that I was going to push a little harder today and try and make it around my block 4 times in the twenty minutes which would be right around 2 miles. I did a pretty good job of it and only fell short by about 10 feet or so. Depending on how the legs feel Thursday after tomorrow's lower body workout I am going to push myself even harder to make it that last 10 feet. I am feeling good this morning and can feel the muscles in the upper part of my body rebuilding after yesterday's workout, which makes me happy. Yesterday when I had a few minutes I compared the weight I was lifting and the number of reps I was able to do on my very first upper body workout compared to the one that I did yesterday and I am happy to say that on some of the exercises I am lifting more weight than I was on that first workout and on the exercises that I am not lifting more weight I am completing more reps so I can feel that I am getting stronger and am seeing my arms and shoulders getting more defined. I can't wait to see how tomorrow's workout goes since I will be doing just about every exercise with more weight than the last time I did them. I guess we will see.

Starting week three on a high (points)

This morning was the upper body workout I have been looking forward to since Wednesday. If you don't recall I decided that it was time to add a bit of weight to some of the exercises for this mornings workout. Turns out that adding the weight was a great idea, I hit every high point that I was shooting for this week. On some of the high points I didn't finish all twelve reps before I had a muscle failure but hey that is what Bill Phillips says is a high point, the point where there is no way you could do one more rep. I am going to keep the weights that I used this week the same for my workout on Friday and see if I can't get more if not all of the 12 reps completed on some of the high points in each of the exercises. I figure this will be a good goal and keep me on track for these next few workouts. I have to first get to all 12 reps on the high points I didn't get to that number to then I have to get to the point that the 12 reps are no longer giving me an intensity level of 10. Once I get there it is time to add more weight and just continue gaining strength and muscle mass. I expect that I will be feeling this morning's workout tomorrow as my biceps and triceps are both weak now and it was a bit of a chore keeping my arm up long enough to finish getting ready this morning. I have planned my menu out for the week and already have today and Tuesday packed and ready to go. I plan on getting the rest prepped and packed up tonight or tomorrow then I will be in the same good shape for this week as I have been the first two weeks. It was nice to put the X through the next workout this morning and seeing that day 15 is done. I already have a goal for my run tomorrow and will be pushing myself to complete it so I can know there is progress there as well. Wednesday's lower body workout also is going to be a new one with added weight so I hope that I finish it feeling as good about that workout as I did about this one. Keep an eye out tomorrow to see if I made it to my cardio goal during tomorrow's run. I am starving since my muscles seem to want to eat right now so I am off to have some scrambled egg whites and a apple for my first meal. 

Feeling all kinds of bloated today

Yesterday was my free day and trust me I took every advantage of it I could. I pretty much ate whatever I wanted all day long, I started with two chocolate chip via tops, some zucchini bread and an apple for breakfast. I don't remember what I had but I know I snacked my way through Sam's while we were shopping there. For lunch I had some brown rice and two and a half chicken enchiladas and finished it off with the cup cake I had been thinking about all week. I also finished the frosting off of my wife's cup cake and my daughters cup cake as well. For dinner I had pasta and meatballs, a salad and something like 5 cookies to finish it off. I went to bed feeling quote full and pretty uncomfortable. When I woke up this morning I was not all that hungry but had to eat since I am on the last day of week 2! I ate some whole wheat eggos and hard boiled eggs now it is almost time for my second meal. After breakfast I waited about a half hour and went for my 20 minute run, this time I pushed myself a little harder than the last run and almost made it around my neighborhood 4 times before the twenty minutes were up. I really got the workout I shot for this morning doing that. I am starting to feel a little more like myself but I think it is going to take the rest of the day to really get there. I have to make a few changes to my menu today since when I planned it I didn't plan of finishing the leftover enchiladas yesterday and forgot that we were leaving the house for a family adventure. Not a huge deal since I already have planned what I am going to do to still get my six meals in today. it is almost time for my next meal and I don't know that I feel up to eating it yet but I have to so I will start making it soon. In the body for life book Bill says he wants us to have the free day so that our bodies know there is always food available so that it does not go into starvation mode and to remind us how we felt when we were not eating right and exercising like he has us do in his program. I can tell you I feel like I used to when I was overweight today and I don't like it one bit. I am looking forward to the week moving forward so I can get back to the high energy Justin I am used to feeling like and not this bloated uncomfortable Justin that I feel like now. If I learned one thing from yesterday it is that I don't feel worried that I will slip back into my old habits and put the 115 pounds that I have lost this year back on. In order to do that I will have to feel like I did at the end of yesterday and the first part of today a lot more often than I would care to. Tomorrow is my next upper body workout and I have added more weight to a lot of the exercises again and plan to really push myself, come back in the morning and see how it went. I am hoping for some big results.

Week 2's weight training done

Today was the last bit of weight training for week two. I did my lower body workout today with the increased weight that I had set. I did pretty well on each of the exercises and feel like I got a real good workout. I should be a little sore tomorrow but nothing like I was after my very first lower body workout. I always feel full of energy and ready for the rest of the day when I start my day out like this. I am so excited about how things are going that this morning I made the copies and set up the next three weeks of pages in my Body-for-Life binder. I know that it is only week three coming up but this weekend I will be planning my food up until the Monday of week four so I wanted to make sure that I was prepared. I have been very happy with my decision to start this program, each morning I wake up with more energy than I have had in a long time and I am already starting to see a change (all be it a small one) to my upper body. Today I am going to be at a client site pretty much all day I have set up Google calendar events so my phone will let me know when it is time to eat and what it is that I have to eat. I am sure I will get a few weird looks while I am there since I will be eating every few hours but I would rather have the looks than miss the meals and perhaps start a slope of falling off the program. Tomorrow is my free day and I have been looking forward to it since about Tuesday. Right before I started this I had a taste of a cup cake I bought my wife and I have been thinking about it pretty much ever since so I am going to see if the shop has any tomorrow and if they do rest assured I will be having one. If they don't I may just got o Sweet CeCe's and get some frozen yogurt either way I see sweet yummyness in my future tomorrow. Thanks again for checking it out.

Day 11 in the books

Had a little bit of a change of plan this morning, when I got to the workout room this morning I was quite surprised to see that there were two other people in the room and both of them were on the treadmills so I didn't get to use them like I had wanted to. I ended up getting on the elliptical machine and using that for my 20 minute cardio today. I was quite surprised to find that I think I nailed the intensity setting for it on the first time that I used it, each time I had to bring the intensity up I would jump the resistance on it up two notices by the I was at the peak of each intensity level it felt like I was trying to walk through mud. Before I knew it I was huffing pretty darn good and had a good sweat going on. So far as the morning has been going on I have started to get a little tender in my chest and arms so it looks like I broke the upper body muscles down better than I thought yesterday. I am already looking forward to my next two weight training workouts since both of them are going to have added weight to them. I am totally expecting to have a solid week of soreness in my legs again this week but this time I am hopeful that it will not be quite as intense as it was last weekend. After that it is FREE DAY, I do look forward to my Saturdays when I don't have to worry about when the next meal is and what I am scheduled to eat. Last week I went to Newks which is a cafe that I enjoy and had a BBQ chicken pizza with bread sticks and a couple of bites of caramel cake. Don't know what I am going to do this weekend but I know I will be doing it with the family so whatever it is it will be great. 

Yep time to add more weight

So I got my upper body workout in this morning, I have been looking forward to the workout since last week so when it came I got right out of bed and headed to the rec center since I have a client visit this morning. I didn't hit any of my high points this morning which is a good and bad thing. The good thing is it is time to add more weight to the exercises, the bad thing is I didn't get the best workout I could. What I look forward to is adding the extra weight and comparing the weight I started with to the weight I end with at the end of this month. It is nice to have the rec center as an option for mornings like this where I have to be somewhere, it saves me from having to miss my workout or try to fit it in at lunch. I made a mistake today and left my binder at the house when I rushed out the door since I was so behind but it was not all that big a deal since my wife was good enough to text me my meal for the day. One of the most satisfying moments each morning for me is putting the X through the next day when I finish my workout and now I am already half way through the second week, before I know it the 12 weeks will be over and it will be the holidays. Tomorrow morning begins my new intensity push. As long as nothing unexpected comes up I am going to go to the little workout area here at the office and use the treadmill for my 20 minute run so I don't have to worry about running up and down hills and I can focus on adding the intensity by adding the speed. The last time I did the cardio on a treadmill (several years ago) I thought I was going to pass out when I was finished. I am in a lot better shape now than I was then so I don't think it will be that bad but I do hope it is intense. Keep an eye out for tomorrow to find out.