travis' brain dump

Well, this is a little late since (as I stated in my previous post) I shunned technology for a few days.

Word to the wise. DO NOT SKIP DAYS OF EXERCISING.

I haven’t gained a boatload of weight or anything. I haven’t really changed stats much other than I gained a couple pounds over where I was at the end of week three… But what hurts was how I felt this morning. I haven’t felt this way since the morning after Andy’s birthday party two years ago. In fact, I think I felt better then than I do now.

So last week was one of those weeks where it was just too busy to get time in. Monday was a Yoga day so me being crappy at it only got in half the workout. *shrug* *sticks tounge out* Tuesday I skipped because, well I was lame. Wednesday we had a wedding rehearsal to go to which took up 4:45pm (right after work) until 9:30pm and included dinner, so naturally that got left out. Thursday morning I tried to be good… I did one of the sessions and figured that made up for Wednesday. Only problem is, I missed Thursday night as well due to a dinner out that night which followed up a busy day and I never got a chance to do my Thursday session. Friday… well we had a wedding to go to so the morning was crammed with stuff to get done and Friday night was the wedding so we didn’t get home until almost 11 from that. SO that leaves me with Saturday… I promised Arwen I’d finish the porch and the roof to her playhouse so that’s what I did… I was way too tired to workout Saturday night, especially it being another Yoga night… ugh… And then only having Sunday left, I wasn’t about to break the losing streak and workout then! 🙂

Now, granted this was a cool-down week so most of it was all stretching but holy crap I feel horrible today. I promise, I will never slack off this bad again. I somehow think I’ll just be repeating this workout routine over and over every three months as it rotates out. I’m terrified to stop again. LOL

SO, all in all this report is a failure report on my part but a huge learning experience none the less. I have also made a pact with myself to suck it up and complete the Yoga sessions in their entirety… even if I have to cry through it like a little girl.

So in this endeavor to get more fit and eat/live healthier I’ve come across many tools to help in the cause. Most of these have been sites which contain information about how to calculate various things from body fat percentages to calories in meals. The scariest? The calorie information sites.

If you want some terrifying information, take a trip out to a site like The Daily Plate or Calorie King and take a look at some of your favorite foods, especially those you eat when you dine out. You’ll scare yourself, I promise.

The first time I found out that one of my favorite sandwiches from Quiznos lands me a whopping 1220 calories with 71g of carbs and 78g of fat I almost cried. In taking a look at some other items I enjoy it was interesting to see what items were actually somewhat healthy and what was not. You’d be surprised what some of your favorite foods ring in at.

This and the obvious hit to the wallet dining out incurs, I have to say, is one of the biggest contributors to deciding to prepare meals at home rather than head out. Sure it’s easier, but you’re paying more to fatten yourself up. You know that sampler plate you love so much from Old Chicago’s? Try 4,000+ calories for that yummy treat. Sure you don’t eat the whole thing, but even 1/4 of it is still 1,000 calories on top of your meal.

Now, I’m not saying you have to cut out some of that food you love so much to lose weight… I’d be the world’s biggest hypocrit for saying such a thing. I still love my Prime Rib Cheesesteak and my Fettucini Alfredo but I don’t eat it all the time either.

Again, if you’re looking at changing the way you eat, I highly recommend checking out sites such as the ones I listed above. You might just be shocked at what you find could be the culprit to slow results.

Ok, so nothing too dramatic to report this time around. It’s been an overall great week with the program however. A plus side this week was the ability to complete all of the exercises in their entirety without stopping, exception Yoga. People who do Yoga are crazy in the head for the record. I’m not dogging on you by any means, I respect you but you’re still crazy. 🙂 Seriously though that has by far been the hardest thing for me to get through. Quite possibly because I am hardly flexible. I am getting better though. I can reach some lengths I couldn’t a few weeks ago for sure.

I think most of my lack of dramatic progress this last week has been mostly my fault. I’m definitely not eating the way I should all the time. hehe *shrug* what can I say? I’m still losing weight though so  I can’t really complain. How many workout programs do you know that can accomplish that if you stick to it?

I think it’s proof positive that you can still have issues with eating everything the way you should all the time and still find a way to get into shape. Overweight people who blame their failures on their eating have no sympathy from me as I’m living proof that the only way you can fail is to give up and there in lies the fault back on the individual.

This week has taught me a lot though and has helped to encourage me to do a lot better and stay more focused on the goals at hand. Getting through all those workouts (again, exception Yoga) taught me that a little application and commitment to a plan can roll out some pretty positive feelings not only about ones self, but even the world around them.

I’ve honestly been more focused this week than I have in a long time and I have a lot to be thankful for with this program and the support I’ve been getting while working with it. As you may have noticed, I’m not divulging the plan until I’ve completed it. Some of you who are smart like that or have found leaked info somewhere have probably already figured it out. Keep it to yourselves. One of my major reasons in doing this was to evaluate so-called commercial workout plans to see if this one in particular works. The only hints I’ll pass off are: the trainer is a mad-man and I have nothing but a world of respect for him.

Stay tuned. 🙂

Ok, so I have to say I’m quite impressed with the results thus far. I can’t really post this up as a ‘workout whine session,’ lol. After completion of a week of familiarizing myself with the program and doing some of the exercises then moving into the first full week of the plan I can already tell a difference. If I have this much energy after just a week or so of doing this, I can only imagine how I’ll be at the end of the 14 weeks. I’m actually looking forward to working out now instead of dreading it.

Overall the exercises are a little easier this week than they were last week so that’s helping out a lot. I expect them to get even easier this week… If I could ever get to the point I can do a decent round of pushups and pullups. Which for the record I’ve always had some issues with even when I was 185lbs and in pretty good shape in high school. So far I’ve dropped 2.25 points of bodyfat and lost an inch and a half off my waist. While I don’t expect the results to be this dramatic over the coming weeks it is definitely something that throws some promise to this plan. Even when the results slow down, which they will in the coming weeks, I could see it actually hitting my goal if not surpassing it. I can honestly say I believe the claim that I could be in the best shape of my life at the end of it. We’ll see how it goes though.  When it’s all done I’ll post up all the before and after stats and pictures. Even those are showing noticable changes already, lol. 13 weeks to go! 🙂