I didn’t manage to start P90X last week. I intended to but late nights and no motivation to make an early start kept me from starting it again. I need to get the prerequisites out of the way. Body measurements and before pictures are both really nice to have.

I did my weigh in on Saturday as usual and I had an interesting surprise. I’m down to 168.6 pounds. I lost 1.6 pounds last week despite the fact I felt like I was eating like crazy all week. It seemed like I was ravenously hungry every evening and I was stuffing my face with something. I have lots of fresh fruit in the house since its summer and every time I get hungry I eat. I’ve been eating a lot of strawberries and cherries lately.

I’m a bit concerned about starting P90X over again with the weight loss that is continuing to occur. P90X is pretty rigorous and will require a good bit of energy. If my goal is putting on more muscle mass I have to figure out what to do about providing energy for that change. Continuing to lose a pound and a half every week isn’t going to work much longer if I’m trying to bulk up.

I saw a post on Nerd Fitness awhile back that talked about bulking up and his recommendation was to count calories and adjust caloric intake appropriately for your goals. Part of the reason I really like Paleo is I don’t have to count calories or watch what I eat. If I’m hungry I eat something off the “okay” list without regard to what or how much. When I’m no longer hungry I stop eating.

What Steve at Nerd Fitness is doing to adjust his calories is adding dairy I believe. I haven’t added dairy back into my diet yet and maybe that’s the answer. I think another part of the answer is to up my protein intake even higher. I already eat 4 eggs per day and probably half a chicken. That’s in addition to whatever I eat at dinner which is usually either pork or beef with some vegetables.

I’m also wondering if my body is working super efficiently now and because I’m not exercising I’m losing body mass and weight despite my caloric intake. That doesn’t make a lot of sense but something is happening and I’m not quite sure what.

Anyways, I’m hoping to get my second round of P90X started and in order to do that I need to make sure I get sleep at night so I feel like getting up EARLY in the morning for workouts. It’s really not that difficult if I get my schedule right but staying up late in the summer isn’t conducive to getting up early when it’s actually cool enough to rest.

Take care!

Joe

Speaking of travel, I’ve been doing a lot of that over the past month. June 21^st-24^th I drove up to Moscow, Idaho and drove back. That’s about 1100 miles round trip. I was sick that weekend for the first time in several years. I quite literally haven’t been sick in years and the day I needed to drive up there I got sick. The following Wednesday evening I drove up to Portland, Oregon which is about a 280 mile drive and hopped on a plane for St Louis, Missouri. I drove back from St. Louis which is an 1800 mile trip. Last weekend I drove back up to Portland for the premier of a movie called “I’m Fine, Thanks”. That was another 560 miles of driving. This weekend I had the opportunity to drive another 300 miles to see family and decided to stay home instead.

I finished P90X awhile back and am planning on doing it again. I tried starting it again last week but life got in the way and I couldn’t give it a serious shot. I’m a little strange that way and if I can’t do something all the way I don’t like to do it half way. It’s either all or nothing. Since it couldn’t be all I stopped so I can try again this week.

My weight loss has continued despite not exercising. On my last blog post which was June 13^th I weighed 174.6 pounds. I’ve been continuing my Saturday weigh-ins and I’ve lost weight every week. Yesterday I weighed 170.2. I’m down 4.4 pounds in the past 4 weeks so that averages 1.1 pounds of weight loss per week. I’m not really concerned with losing any more weight so I’m not sure how I feel about that. I’ve been getting quite a few compliments at work over the last couple weeks though and that certainly feels nice.

From a Paleo perspective I can’t say I’ve been good. As I mentioned at the start, I feel it’s a lifestyle change and from that perspective I’ve absolutely changed my eating habits. Most every meal now is Paleo and there isn’t any thought to it. It’s just the way I eat now. I can’t say I’ve been a perfect angel though and that I’ve maintained an 85/15 split every week.

I had two goals when I started this blog:

1. Lose weight
2. Add muscle mass

I’ve accomplished one of my two goals. I’ve lost about 31 pounds since starting this blog. While I’m sure I added muscle mass last time through doing P90X I’m not ready to cross that one off the list yet. That means it’s time to pick up where I left off and start working on goal 2.

I mentioned in my first blog post that I got the idea to start doing Paleo from a friend and a blog called http://nerdfitness.com/blog/. I actually met Steve Kamb last week at the movie premier. He mentioned he’s now moved to Portland and is planning on doing a Nerd Fitness meetup on July 22^nd. I’m not sure I’m game for another drive to Portland but he invited me to swing by for the meetup. He also asked me “what my story is” and since I was headed out the door I just said “not much to tell”. Anyways, it was a pleasure meeting Steve.

So, where to go from here? There are some things that you do before you start P90X like take “before” pictures and take “before” measurements. I didn’t take “after” pictures and “after” measurements when I finished it so I guess if I do that now I can have a combined after/before post in a few days. What I do know is I have another goal to accomplish and it’s not going to happen if I don’t get started!

Take care!

Joe

The P90X went well this week again until the weekend. I ended up switching one workout for another last week and when I’ve done that in the past I managed to complete all workouts for the week just out of order. This weekend again because I was traveling I missed my work out on Sunday. I ended up walking a lot so it may be a wash but I still feel guilty for missing a day.

My weigh in on Saturday was good. I was at 174.6. That’s a loss of 1.4 pounds for the week. I’m sure at this point this is the lightest I’ve been since around 1988. I remember having a talk with some of my buddies back then about our weights and I believe I was around 176 at that point. I probably had more muscle because I was in the military at the time.

This post is extremely late as I’ve been busy with many other things over the last few weeks. I typically make the post on Saturday or Sunday but with the weekend trip that didn’t happen.

I’m in the final week of P90X. This week has an odd workout schedule and it feels weird to be almost done. The workouts this week seem to be mostly 60 minute workouts which are also odd after so many weeks of 90 minute workouts. I’m excited to be done but at the same time still trying to figure out what I want to do next. I may take a week long break and then dive back into P90X all over again.

Take care!

Joe

I’ve been on vacation again this week and I let myself get sucked in by the internet. I haven’t been nearly as productive this week as I was last week. I spent a lot of time looking at and bidding on auctions, none of which I won. I came pretty close on a few but lost them in the last seconds.

The P90X is going great. I went on a trip this week and had to move my “rest” day but that’s not an issue. I’m done with week 11 and moving into week 12. Tomorrow would typically be my rest day but I didn’t exercise yesterday so tomorrow will be Kenpo. I’m down to 2 weeks left in the program. This coming week will be the last normal week and the week after that will be a “recovery” week.

My eating schedule was off again this week. I doubt I ate anything like three meals a day all week. I’ve basically been eating when I’m hungry and I’m not as hungry lately as I used to be. I have less body to fuel and maybe that’s making a difference. I ate fruit salad most days this last week for breakfast. More times than I planned but that’s what happens when you make a big bowl of something and don’t have help eating it.

My weigh in today was good. I’m at 176. That’s a loss of 2 pounds for the week. It seems like the weight loss should slow down at some point in the near future. I was actually shocked by that number as I figured the weight loss would start slowing down this week. I guess the combination of eating Paleo, exercising and skipping meals as I’m vacation and eating sporadically made a difference.

The weather still can’t make up its mind what it wants to do in my part of the country. I have lots of baby plants outside that are starting to get scorched by the sun as they are still in their starter planters. I heard a rumor today that it may freeze again next week but I’m thinking I need to get them in the ground. Hopefully none of them are damaged enough they won’t recover.

Take care!

Joe

I’ve been on vacation this week and working my butt off outside. I built a complete hydroponics system for raising baby lettuce this week. I also did quite a bit of work on a truck I’m planning on selling. It’s been a very active week and it was nice to have energy to get lots of stuff done.

Since I’ve been on vacation my normal ‘work’ eating schedule has been off. I haven’t really eaten three meals a day most of the week. I’ve been having two meals a day most days with a few random fruit snacks here and there. Thursday and Friday weren’t very productive but that’s okay because getting some rest on vacation is probably a good thing.

My weigh in today was good. I’m at 178. That’s a loss of 1.8 pounds for the week. It seems like the weight loss should slow down at some point in the near future. Almost 2 pounds this far in to a steady stream of weight loss is darn good. Not eating steady probably had a lot to do with it as well as all the outside activity.

I’ve been debating where I want to go with this blog. There isn’t a lot more to talk about from a Paleo standpoint. I’ve been working to get ready for some healthy eating by growing my own vegetables. I already have backyard chickens and my own grass fed eggs. I think I’ll add some vegetable growing posts to the blog. Healthy eating is certainly related to diet and exercise.

One of these years I’d like to be mostly self-sufficient for a summer. I think it would be nice to not have to depend on the grocery store for so much of my food. The food I grow at home is probably healthier than anything I get from the store. There are no pesticides in my home grown food and I don’t have to worry about things like e coli. The lettuce I’m growing this year will be both hydroponic and organic.

Take care!

Joe

This was my first full week in P90X training block 3. Friday I had a 6AM meeting and ended up skipping my work out. To make up for it I moved it to Saturday and instead of taking a rest day this week I’ll count Friday as my rest day and just keep going.

Ab ripper is starting to get easier. I’m happy about that. On the overall it was a good week for P90X. All of the workouts went well and I can see improvement from last week. Every exercise it seems like the reps just keep going up week over week. The only ones that stay the same are the ones that are a set count.

My weigh in yesterday was good. I’m at 179.8. That’s a loss of 1.6 pounds for the week. This is the first time I can remember being under 180 in about 20 years. I think I started putting on weight in 1993 and although my weight has fluctuated up and down I’m pretty sure I haven’t dipped under 180 since then. The sad part is I still see a gut when I look down. I’m wondering how much I’ll have to lose to look down and see no gut.

Take care!

Joe

The last two days when it’s time to do my morning exercise I’ve really just felt like going back to bed. I’m not sure if this is a motivation issue or a lack of coffee issue. I’ve switched to tea and tea also has caffeine so I’m really not sure.

Despite the fact I felt like going back to bed I’ve gone ahead and done my exercise daily. Today was yoga and I’ve liked yoga the last several weeks. When I didn’t feel like doing yoga this morning I was really wondering what the problem is. I also haven’t been sleeping well this week and I think that contributes to my lack of motivation.

Since I was lacking motivation that started me wondering about other things as well. At the start of this year I decided this year was going to be different than the last several years. I made good progress with weight loss last year but I still had a ways to go. I also have some personal goals outside of weight loss and physical wellbeing I’m working on.

I’ve dug in since the start of the year and all of my goals for the year are making progress. I want to look back on this year and be able to say it was different and I accomplished my goals. Without motivation that’s not going to happen.

I took a look at myself in the mirror this morning and I still have a bit of a paunch. I also don’t have the muscle definition I’d like to have. Those two facts alone are enough to tell me I haven’t accomplished my goal for the year. I’m pretty stubborn when it comes to lots of things and I’ll certainly finish one round through P90X. When that’s done I haven’t figured out yet what my next exercise goal will be. I’m still thinking at this point I’ll just be starting it all over again with some possible modifications.

Hopefully between reflecting on why I’m doing this in the first place and looking at myself in the mirror and realizing I haven’t met my goals yet I’ll be motivated tomorrow morning. Tomorrow will be a tough day from an exercise standpoint as I have a 6AM meeting at work. I’m still trying to figure out how that’s going to play out.

Take care!

Joe

This has been an interesting week from the P90X stand point. It’s my second rest week. This is the week before I hit Phase III of P90X. The workouts for the week were:

1. Yoga
2. Core Synergistics
3. Kenpo
4. Stretch (which I missed)
5. Core Synergistics
6. Yoga
7. Rest or Stretch (tomorrow)

I have a new nemesis in the P90X program and it’s Core Synergistics. I actually dread this workout more than any other at this point. For most workouts in the program I’m actually looking forward to them. For Core Synergistics I actually don’t even like to start. I had sore spots this week in places I don’t think have ever been sore before (even in military basic training).

My weigh in today was good. I’m at 181.4. That’s a loss of 1.2 pounds for the week. That is twice as much as last week. I noted last week that week’s I eat more fruit I seem to lose less weight. It looks like this week’s results confirm that. This week I had 1 or 2 pieces of fruit per day. Last week I ate about 3 pieces of fruit per day. Weight loss isn’t my major goal at this point but I still like to experiment and see what works and what doesn’t. Paleo advocates always say if your goal is weight loss then you should eat less fruit. This confirms their statement.

Tomorrow is picture day. I’m sort of dreading that because when I look at myself I still see fat and pasty. I’m wondering at what point I’ll look decent again. I guess you can’t come back from 10+ years of treating yourself poorly in 2 months’ time.

Take care!

Joe

Beans or legumes it turns out have a lot of the same draw backs as other items that are off the plate for Paleo. Beans are another food that is high in lectins. Lectins for those of you who may have forgotten, are a plants way of protecting itself. They cause issues in the stomach of whatever eats them to tell the critter that ate them not to eat them anymore.

Lectins cause an autoimmune response in many people over time. Wheat germ agglutinin is especially bad for this. It turns out that lentils and beans have some the highest concentrations of lectins of any food we eat. They will actually make you sick if you eat them raw. Red kidney beans have the highest level of lectins of all the beans.

Part of the reason we soak beans before cooking them is to reduce the lectins in the beans. It also helps to cook them for an extended period of time at a high heat. Cooking beans at 80 C for 2 hours will remove most of the lectins. Cooking them at any temperature under that will not remove the lectins.  Pressure cooking them for 15 minutes will also remove most of the lectins.

Another reason to avoid eating beans is phytic acid. Phytic acid or phytates are what is known as an anti-nutrient. In order to properly break them down we need phytase and unfortunately human beings don’t produce phytase.

Phytates bind to the magnesium, calcium, zinc and iron in your body and take them AWAY from you. The fact that beans take these important nutrients out of your body is likely causing iron-deficiency in modern populations. The removal of magnesium from your body can cause muscle cramping. On a personal note, since starting to eat Paleo my muscle cramps have seriously decreased.

So, next time I’m asked why I don’t eat beans I’ll have a response ready. They are high in lectins and lectins cause an autoimmune response in the body over time. They also contain phytic acid and this causes us to lose important nutrients from our bodies. As long as this diet is working for me I’ll stick to it. In the long run if I return to eating beans they will have to be cooked for an extended period of time.

Take care!

Joe

We had cupcakes at work on Friday and that was a pretty tough temptation to pass up. Some of them were stored in my office so I literally got to smell them all day. I did well though and avoided them.

For some reason this week has been somewhat low ebb from an energy stand point. I haven’t felt very motivated in the evening when I come home. I planned to do a mid-week post and by the time I got home from work, relaxed and maybe watched a show or two I was just ready for bed. I’m planning on doing a post regarding legumes since I’ve had some question about them lately from one of the guys I know.

This has been another great week for P90X. I can’t believe I’m already through week seven headed into week eight. Once again I saw good numbers on my sheets as compared to last week. Every week brings an increase in reps. Every week it gets easier to do each workout. I’m debating on what to do after P90X. I read an article yesterday that there is some indication that running 1 to 2.5 hours per week over 2 to 3 sessions can increase your lifespan by 6.2 years. That seems like a win win situation to me. I will probably do P90X all over again once I complete it but I may replace some of the cardio days with runs instead.

The results of this week are interesting. At my weigh in today I was at 182.6. That’s a loss of .6 pounds for the week. That’s a total loss this year so far of 18.2 pounds. One of my friends at work asked me this week if the weight loss is getting harder the longer I exercise. I think the results of this week show maybe it is. Another interesting observation I’ve made is that weeks I eat more vegetables I lose more weight than weeks I eat more fruit. This week I had about 3 pieces of fruit per day. Maybe next week I’ll switch to mostly vegetables and see if I can prove out that theory.

Take care!

Joe