First you eat then you get hungry

Read any P90x blog and you will eventually find a post about the how hard it is to eat all the food. So here is my token entry, but there's a twist.

That first breakfast is a real killer. For Level II your eating an 8 egg white omelet with 3 oz of cheese and 12 oz of cottage cheese with 1 cup of berries. It's almost painful eating that much. Especially since most people doing P90x have trained themselves for low calorie diets. That first week you feel like a 300 pound fat guy at an all you can eat buffet. My coworkers eyes went wide when they saw my shrimp stir fry because it looked like a meal for three. I was definitely anxious those first 2 weeks. I was right in between Level I and Level II and was wondering if I made a mistake going with Level II.

The key thing here is what your eating in the meal plan. It's a huge amount of veggies and protein and almost no carbs and low fat. So yes you are eating a ton of food but that doesn't necessarily translate to a ton of calories. The calories you are eating are all good calories from protein and vegetables and whole grains. Remember that calories are just a measure of how much energy something contains. You're bodies ability to convert a food into something useful depends on what it is (Protein/Carbs/Fat/Alchohol). Basically, to build muscle, Protein is what you want and stay far away from the alcohol which is basically converted to fat. This is why you can't just buy a bottle of vodka and be good for a week.

Well I'm almost through week three and can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The first two weeks my body was definitely panicking a bit. I felt over full the whole time and was worried that I was putting on fat. Now I think my body has figured it out. I'm hungry when I should be now and eating the meals is easier. My body fat is also down about 1%. I'm also happy that my weight is slightly up, 2 lbs, which means I'm gaining muscle as well.

So my advice to you is don't sweat the first coupe of weeks. It'll be a pain but by end of the first month you should see the results. My promise to myself was to stay on Level II unless I gained over 5 lbs and had higher body fat%.

Human Pretzel

Having been through all of the Phase 1 workouts for the second time now I'm starting to settle in. My 2 greatest challenges right now are flexibility and balance. I'd say those 2 things are what is really kicking my ass in most of the workouts (Although Chin-ups and Ab ripper X just kick my ass period). Unlike P90 many of the exercises rely on your balance (Kenpo/Yoga etc..). Ah just mentioned Yoga. I'd advise you to be cautious with the Yoga X. I definitely see the potential to injure your self pretty easily here. I'm taking it easy with the Yoga X and will be signing up for a group yoga class when I get the chance. I haven't done Yoga before and can definitely see the need for an expert critique on my forms and technique.

I faught the kitchen and the kitchen won

Wow, I was so excited about the P90x diet plan. different levels for different people. Phases depending where you are in the program, all awesome stuff. I figured I'd go extreme and do the extreme meal plan. I had no idea what I was in for. Cooking till 2am trying to keep up. Ouch!

I mean really: 5 different sauces, 6 different soups, 5 different salads, 15 other recipes on one week!! I guess if you're unemployed you can pull that off but then you wouldn't have the money to buy all the ingredients. That's another thing, these aren't "combine 4 ingredients and cook" recipes either (A feature of the P90 meal plan). Some recipes have as many as 14 ingredients and 5 steps and stuff like dicing shallots and doing stock reductions.

I still like the idea of the meal plan but it's way to much effort. My current scheme is to make a bit of a hybrid between the meal plan and the portion approach. Oh and since I mentioned the portion approach I'll mention why I'm not doing that instead. Honestly I'm a little too anal for it. I would go crazy guessing at portion sizes and trying to figure out what counts as what. Does a chicken sandwich with cheese count as a fat/protein/carb and the guide only lists fats that in oil form so I have no idea what a portion of cheese would be.

So here is my current plan of attack:

• Prep 3 different types of soups (prepared on the weekend and frozen)
• Prep 3 different types of sauces (prepared on the weekend and frozen)
• Have 2-3 different fruits
• Have 2-3 different vegetables
  
• Prep 4 cups of wild rice on the weekend
• Combine several vegetables in one meal into a larger portion of 1 vegetable
  

These steps greatly reduce the effort in the meal plan. The soups, sauces, fruits and vegetables are pretty interchangeable. Most soups count as 1 Vegetable portion, most sauces count as 1.5 condiments etc... The other menu items are a little more complex and hard to change without affecting the portion balance. Also an added benefit of restricting the variety a bit is that you won't go broke eating partial portions of things and watching the rest spoil in your fridge I.E. 1/4 of a grapefruit once a week. Sorry but the rest O that grapefruit isn't going to hang around for a month waiting for you to finish it. I suppose this is probably the conclusion they expect people to reach but could they just say "Lunch, Day 1, one Soup from the recipes" etc. This would have made it obvious from the start. Also having 1 Cup of Quinoa (That's a vegetable I can't even find) and 1 Cup of Snap peas for one dinner. Come on just tell me to eat 2 cups of Snap peas.

P90 Extreme, Lets go!

So I started P90x last Monday. And here's the first evidence of the time commitment. Didn't have time to blog about it untill now. But before I digress here are my starting stats.

Here are my starting measurements:

Body Fat% 13.7 (Using Caliper)
Weight: 151 Lbs
Hips: 32 1/2"
Right Thigh: 20 1/2"
Left Thigh: 20 1/2"
Right Arm: 12 3/8"
Left Arm: 12 3/8"

Here are the results of my initial fit test:

Resting Heart Rate: 59 bps
Pull-Ups: 3 (I really suck at Pull-Ups and this is something that P90 misses)
Toe Touch: 0" (Yup I can touch my toes ... barely)
Wall Squat: 3:30
Bicep Curls: 15 at 22.5lbs
Abs: In & Outs: 40

I'm a smidge flabbier than I was after finishing the P90 program. I learned an important lesson about reaching your goal: Always have another one to take it's place. Otherwise it's really hard to resist that extra helping around thanks giving.

P90 It's been fun

So I'm done with the power 90 challenge. It definitely gave me the results I was looking for. I'm in the best shave I've ever been in.

The major critique I would have about P90 is the diet plan. The program is designed for weight loss while maintaining fitness and providing definition. The diet held me back in terms of my fitness goals. In the end I was doubling every meal (portion wise to maintain a decent caloric intake). 2X cereal/2x Lunch Sandwich/2x dinner to give me about 2500 calories. The plan stresses a calorie deficit but the default calorie deficit is way too extreme for most people 1300 – 1500 calories is a crash diet. Granted I'm pretty active in addition to the exercise I'm getting as part of this plan. Still if you're an adult and weight over 140 lbs 1500 calories is not enough. Because if all the adjusting I had to do for the diet it made it very hard to stick to it. I fell off the wagon a couple of times, especially near the end.

Here are my final measurements:

• Body Fat: 14.5%
• Weight: 149.8 pounds
• Chest: 38 1/2"
• Waist: 30 3/4"
• Hips: 32 1/2"
• Right Mid-Thigh: 20 1/2"
• Left Mid-Thigh: 20 1/2"
• Right Upper Arm: 12 3/4"
• Left Upper Arm: 12 3/4"
• Blood Pressure: 124/60
• Resting Heart Rate: 64 beats per minute.

I have already received my Power 90 Extreme and will probably be starting that program in a week or 2. While reviewing the P90x you really see the short comings of P90. For example in P90x they do a good job of splitting your diet among Proteins, Carbs and Fats and they stress that you should eat all the recipes in the plan. This is important to maintain a balanced diet. The P90 program states that you can eat the recipies you like. While all the recipies in P90 are pretty good I don't think that eating the toast, hamburgers and fries and Chicken Marinara every day for 90 days would be a great idea.

The best part of the P90 is of course the workouts. If you stick with it and eat a balanced diet you will get in shape. Now again here is a difference I noticed when looking at the P90x workouts and charts. I notice they stress that you record the weights and reps. Tony stresses that you should set goals and push your self. You see in the P90x routines where his companions are setting goals and pusing them selves with real weights. In contrast all the exercises in P90 are demonstrated with almost no weight. The girls are just using the 5lbs bars them selves. Now once I had mastered the Level 3/4 of P90 I stated to push my self by keeping track of weights and increasing them for the various exercises. Here is where you run into a major annoyance. Since they are demoing the exercises and not changing weights you have about 5 seconds inbetween exercises. Heck 5 seconds was barely enought time to stop the exercise and hit the pause button. Let alone figure out your weight, set the adjustable dumb bells and get ready. I was constantly pausing and rewinding.

Now if I had it to do over again would I go straing to P90x? The answer is no. P90 served the exact purpose I intended it to. It slowly brought me to a level where I can now transition to P90x. In P90x the workouts are 1hr or more. That really intensive if you've been a couch potato for a couple of years. So my advice would be to start with P90 but to keep my critiques in mind. Definitely do some research and be prepared to modify the diet.

Stay tuned for P90x which I will be starting in a couple of weeks.

Time to Make the Doughnuts

I had planned to do my workouts after work and before dinner/evening activities. So I discovered two problems with my plan. First is that consistently getting out of work at 5:30 pm just wasn't happening (surprise meetings, deadlines, yadda yadda). Second was my desire not to be a complete hermit (Hanging with friends, volunteering etc...). I constantly fought the first 60 days of Power 90 to get those workouts in. While the workout is only 45 minutes the time commitment is really just shy of 3 hours. Here's a breakdown of my post work schedule:

• 20 min to get home (riding my bicycle)
• 15 min to change/recover.
• 30 min take vitamin supplement
• 45 min workout
• 10 min wait to take Creatine supplement
• 30 min shower and prepare dinner
  
• 20 min eat dinner

That is a 170 minute time commitment which is just short of 3 hours. It's pretty hard to get all that in and then go out. There were several times I had some other activity immediately after work and had to do the workout later in the evening. Those days were really tough because I'd wind up working out at midnight and then was stuck having a late night snack for post workout recovery. In some cases I just couldn't do it and had to skip a workout. So after much struggling I decided that the best time to workout was first thing in the moring. Working out first thing in the morning has many advantages:

• No earlier conflicts to delay you
• Helps wake you up
• Schedule is much more consistent in the morning
  
• Don't have to take 2 showers a day
• All day to recover from your workout
• Evenings can be a lot more flexible

So here is what the time breakdown looks like with a morning workout:

• 30 min wake up, immediately take vitaming supplement and drink water
  
• 45 min workout
• 10 min wait to take Creatine supplement
• 30 min shower and prepare for work
  
• 10 min eat breakfast

As you can see put a good dent in the time commitment, only 125 minutes (~2 hours). I was worried about working out on a completely empty stomach but after some research that seems perfectly acceptable, even recommended. Granted the first time my body was definately not happy about the change. I learned it's important to drink at least a whole glass of water when you take the supplement (Now I know what bile tastes like ;-).

60 Day Checkin for Power 90

Here we are 60 days and and still going. Though thick and thin I've been sticking with it. Sometimes having to workout at midnight but I refuse to give up. I don't think these pictures really do justice to the improvements in my physique. Hum maybe the 60W ceiling light isn't the best lighting option for photography. In any case if you look at the front profile you can just see the beginnings of a six pack. I'm very excited. A six pack is one of my major goals. I've always wanted one but never even come close. So this is proof that I'm definitely getting in the best shape I've ever been in.

Here are my current measurements:

• Body Fat: 14.4%
• Weight: 148.8 pounds
• Chest: 38"
• Waist: 29 1/2"
• Hips: 32"
• Right Mid-Thigh: 20 1/2"
• Left Mid-Thigh: 20 1/2"
• Right Upper Arm: 12 5/8"
• Left Upper Arm: 12 5/8"
• Blood Pressure: 123/60
• Resting Heart Rate: 66 beats per minute.

Wow my body fat continues to drop 1.6% lower than the 1 month mark. There is a caveat here tho. I would say it might be a little higher than that since I did the measurement after working out. That's one of the things that can throw off that measurement. But I'm happy at the progress of the physical measurements. My waist size has plunged nearly 3 3/4" lower than when I began the Power 90 Challenge. Also my chest and arms have gotten bigger. I'm + 3/8" for the chest and + 5/8 for the arms, from when I began P90. Now when you consider the fat I've lost and made up in muscle the numbers are even more impressive. I've also noticed and increase in my definition.

Well so far so good. I'm happy with the progress I've made and have already ordered the P90x program.

Cooking for One: Tips

The Power 90 Challenge has a very nice meal plan associated with it. Some dishes are simple, others require a little more preparation and additional ingredients. Problem is how to you use all the ingredients cooking for one. So here are some tricks I've learned to reduce the amount of food I waste.

1. When possible buy frozen or freeze


• This works especially well for Meats. Buy the 2.5 lb bag of chicken and the 8 pack of frozen low fat Bubba Burgers (Yup they do exist).


• Repackage in Ziplock vacuum bags. These work just like those infomercial vacuseal systems except they use a hand pump which costs $10 instead of $90. They're great at preventing that funky freezer taste in chicken. When I buy the 2.5 bag of frozen chicken I immediately transfer them the vacuum bags (2 breasts each). Every couple of days, in the evening, I transfer a vacuum bag of 2 breasts from the freezer to the fridge. Next evening they're ready to cook fresh as the day they were frozen. Also since they're in the vacuum bag they'll last longer in the fridge as well.
  


• Also freezing bread makes it last much longer with little affect. Ziploc says that bread will last 3 months in the freezer. Bread out in the open lasts me about a week. I used to only get 2 Burger buns out of an 8 pack before figuring this trick out.
  



2. Buy you're veggies at the salad bar
   


• Buying whole vegetables is really problematic. Are you really going to be able to use that whole head of broccoli before it goes brown? The salad bar is great because you can just get the portion you need for the next meal or two.


• Get multiple containers for multiple meals. You can organize right there with individual containers for individual meals.
  


• Salad bar veggies are already washed and cut.
  


3. Stock up on ingredients with a long shelf life
   


• Cereals, Canned goods, pantry stuff... You're going to be at the super market a lot getting ingredients but you might as well lighten you're weekday shopping by stocking up on stuff that will last on the weekends. Nothing annoys me more than being hungry for breakfast and realizing I'm out of Cheerios.


4. Weigh it don't measure it


• I bought a Salter Digital Scale for about $30, you can see the exact model here.


• Keep your measuring cups clean. You can all your weighing by putting your plate/pan on the scale and using the Tear feature. Put 4oz of chicken on then hit tare now add the 56g of Marinara Sauce (56g = 1/4 cup) etc...


5. Use Snack bags and Sandwich bags to pre-portion food in the fridge.


• Instead of dirtying a plate I use Snack/Sandwich bags to portion cubed chicken or sliced veggies.
  


6. Always have cubed chicken ready to go


• Many of the recipes call for chicken. I keep a bunch of cooked pre-cubed chicken in snack bags in the fridge. It really cuts down on prep time during the week. Just add cubes until you get the portion you want. Heat and eat.
  

Fed For a Day

So here's what I ate today:

For breakfast I had 2 cups of Cheerios with fat-free milk.

For snacks and lunch I brought the following to work:

Snacks:
Green peppers sliced (Eaten with Peanut Butter that's already at work)
Sunflower seeds
Clif Bar (Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch)

Lunch:
Makings for a Ruben (corned beef/sauerkraut/whole grain rye bread/mustard)
Yogurt
A large Fuji apple (not pictured)


For dinner I had whole wheat spaghetti with chicken and marinara sauce and a yogurt for desert (not pictured). This was a larger dinner than I normally have but I'm preparing for a long bicycle ride tomorrow evening.

All said and done a pretty well balanced meal plan. Most of what I ate came out of the P90 Nutrition Guide (which you can see in the 2nd picture). I've had to augment it slightly with some additional snacks and upping the portion size. The plan is designed to drastically cut your caloric intake (1500 calories). I'm assuming this is because it's designed with someone who is sedintary and wants to loose a lot of weight fast. Even so 1500 calories seems a little low for weight loss unless you were a 110 pound girl. The dinner is my own creation to attempt to carbo load before long or intensive bicycle training.

One month mark on P90

This is how I look today

• Body Fat: 16.0%
• Weight: 148 pounds
• Chest: 37 3/4"
• Waist:32"
• Hips: 33 3/4"
• Right Mid-Thigh: 20 5/16"
• Left Mid-Thigh: 20 1/2"
• Right Upper Arm: 12 1/4"
• Left Upper Arm: 12 5/16"
• Blood Pressure: ??
• Resting Heart Rate: ?? beats per minute.

My body fat is a little up but that may just be because of my hydration level when I weighed my self. I'm pleased to see that my arms are starting to get a little bigger. It's not visible in the pictures but the measurements show that it's the truth. Also my waist is a tiny bit smaller.

I'm finally done with all the long distance bike riding which was reeking havoc on my diet and exercise schedule. This means that I can now concentrate on P90 and achieving my ultimate goal of a 6 pack.

Till next time.

Jeans for fat Americans

So today I went shopping with my friend Megatron for Jeans. It's a long standing tradition. I bring a girl with good fashion sense with me to check out my ass in the Jeans before I buy them. This little trick has worked wonders for my wardrobe and fashion sense (Really I'm not gay!!).

Ok so I know that I have a 32" waist. I measured it with a tape and it says 32". Well in Jean's 30 is apperently the max I can wear now. I was pulling at the fly's of half of the ones I tried on and there was 1 1/2" gap. So that's like a 3" fudge factor. Come on America, retailers are now having to fudge 10% so you don't feel fat.

Also this really complicates things for me buying Jeans that fit. The department stores minimum size these days is FA 30" (FA = Fat American = + 3"). Hopefully my salvation will come in the form of international chains like H & M that carry Jeans for Europeans. I guess they got frustrated at not being able to find Jeans that fit too.

Little Dividends

I was hanging out in the city with some out-of-town friends and stepped back to take a picture of the group. As I framed the picture a car full of girls go driving by and in chorus yell "Cute!" I looked around to see who they were cat calling and one of my friends said "They mean you." I was flattered, in a random drive by flattering kind of way. It's funny when you start improving your body and you're the last to realize that your image will improve also. You have a mental picture of yourself and what you look like and even though you realize on some cerebral level that you're getting fitter you don't consider the social change until someone mentions it. Several of my friends have commented that they notice my arms are a little more cut. I don't see much of a difference but if they're noticing that's a great sign. The P90 Challenge highly recommends blogging and sharing you're stats with as many people as possible. I now understand that this is becuse their comments and feedback are part of the reward.

So make sure to comment ;-).

Diet woes

I'm still really struggling with the diet. I'm slightly annoyed that the caloric intake for the diet is so low. It's been a constant battle to increase things to a reasonable number of calories. My plan for tomorrow is to work on a meal plan for the rest of the week and prepare food accordingly. Having to prep food during the week is a serious time sink and can be pretty challenging after a workout. I'm also thinking of investigating the P90X meal plan as it is designed for someone trying to gain muscle rather than loose fat.

Higgins in vivid 2D

Well Here are some new revealing pictures of my self. I'm about 2 1/2 weeks into the program now. I did a comparison and you can't really notice that much of a difference yet. Although I do notice that my arms are a little bigger and that the exercises are getting easier.

Here are my current measurements:

• Body Fat: 15.6%
• Weight: 151. 2 pounds
• Chest: 37 4/8"
• Waist: 32 1/8"
• Hips: 33 3/8"
• Right Mid-Thigh: 21"
• Left Mid-Thigh: 20 3/4"
• Right Upper Arm: 12"
• Left Upper Arm: 12 1/8"
• Blood Pressure: 120/67
• Resting Heart Rate: 62 beats per minute.

I think the most impressive thing is that my Body Fat percentage is down almost 0.7%. My physical measurements are almost the same and my weight is a little less. I think what this indicates is that I'm losing fat and slowly replacing by muscle.

Can someone help me find my legs? I think they fell off.

Well I survived my Century ride. For those curious about my masochism here are the details

Distance: 105.2 miles
Average Speed: 16.9 mph (Grr this really annoys me. I could have pushed it and made it 17mph)
Max Speed: 43.6 mph (Wheeeeee!)
Time my butt was in the saddle: 6 hrs 12 min (.. ouch)

I'm really excited about my accomplishment. I was aiming for 15mph on my first Century Ride but 17mph 16.9mph (Grrr..) is awesome.

Riding my bike all day

Wow I just finished my training ride for the Century I'm doing next week. I have to admit it was quite an ordeal. I managed 102.15 Miles today 8-o. That's the farthest I've ever ridden my road bike and I think I'm happy with that record holding for quite a while. I averaged 16.4mph over the entire ride. I was physically on my bicycle seat for 6hrs and 13mins and amazingly don't have to get a new bottom. I have a professional bicycle fitting to thank for that.

Friday I went to a very elite bicycle shop that does professional bicycle fittings for athletes (Contes). It cost a small fortune ($150 + Addl Parts) but it was well worth it. I used to have all sorts of problems after a long ride; Ass I couldn't sit on, sore back, stiff neck, wonky knee. Also my road bike was real touchy. I wouldn't dare let go of the handle bars, even for my victory salute to the crowds ;-). 2hrs of professional consultation, a new seat, a new stem, 3 different inserts/shims in the shoes, many bicycle adjustments plus too much money and all is well. I believe I'm justified in the expense considering how much time I'm spending in that saddle.

On the down side my 90 Challenge pretty much got completely derailed today. My diet was completely in the trash because of me trying desperately to get enough calories to keep up my energy level. I calculated that I burt 4000 additional calories today 8-o. That's twice what the everage person eats in a day. I had 3 breakfasts and decent lunch and put away almost an entire large chicken supreme pizza for dinner and I'm still in the hole 2000 calories. And today was a cardio day for P90. Well I guess I definately met the cardio requirement. But since I'm anal and didn't actually do the DVD I'm not counting it.

Loong Day

Yawn. Just finished the workout for today. Obviously starting your workout at midnight is less than ideal. Sometimes there literally aren't enough hours in the day but I'm determined to keep this up. In other news my Diet was a little worse for wear today due to a previous dining engagement.

I think the solution to always having time to do the workout is to make sure I get to work at 9am or so and then I should have several hours between getting home and going out. Also this should allow me to follow the instructions for taking the supplements. The Performance Formula I will actually take at work before heading home (You're supposed to take it 30min before the exercise). Then the Creatine supplement I will take immediately following the workout (You're supposed to wait 30min to eat after taking this one).

So to summarize:

• Performance Formula at 5pm
• Workout at about 5:30pm or maybe 5:45pm to be realistic
• Creatine at 6:15pm
• Dinner at 7pm
  

Power 90 Challenge!! We're on!!

OK. P90 is a go. Here is my ugly before picture complete with slight grimace. If you notice people's before pictures always have them with a frown and then there after picture has them smiling.

For the internet stalkers out there here are my before measurements ... just in case you would like to order me a mankini that will fit me.

• Body Fat: 16.3%
• Weight: 152.4 pounds
• Chest: 37 5/8"
• Waist: 33 1/4"
• Hips: 34"
• Right Mid-Thigh: 21"
• Left Mid-Thigh: 20 3/4"
• Right Upper Arm: 12"
• Left Upper Arm12"
• Blood Pressure: 112/62
• Resting Heart Rate: 47 beats per minute
  

Hurry up and Weight

I got my technologically keen dumbbells in the mail the other day. When I approached my front stoop I was a little annoyed to see a large box sitting front and center. Normally the delivery guy will at least put large boxes on the back stoop so would be thieves aren't tempted. The box clearly had "Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbells " written on the front. I thought to my self, why don't they just write "STEAL ME!" in big red letters on it. I soon discovered why so little attention was paid to deterring driveby clepto's. The damned box wouldn't budge from where it was delivered. I huffed and I puffed and started chanting "I think I can, I think I can, etc ..." but my dumbbells seemed very happy where they were. So the "552" in the model number has some significance if you happen to be mildly dislesic. Each dumbbell is adjustable, via a fancy dial, from 5lbs to 52.5lbs. Well the package had 2 of those puppies for a grand total of 105lbs. Well luckily I only had to move it about 3 feet to get it in my front door so I just rolled it end over end. I pitied the poor delivery guy who had to drop that off. I should leave him some asprin or a card for a good chairopractor next time he comes around.

Well now that they're in and unpacked I'll be excited to try them out. These Dumbbells are really the bees knees because they really do replace an entire set of regular Dumbbells and are much faster to adjust than Dumbbells that use screw on plates. Basically each dumbbell has a dial at either end. To use then you simply turn both dials to the selected weight and pick them up. There is a mechanism inside that rotates and grabs the right combination of plates out of the stand/holder. When you lift up the dumbbell it takes the weights needed for what you have dialed and the rest remain in the holder. They were fairly expensive but I think that it's money well spent in terms of space saved and ease of use.

1500 Calories or How James Learned to Eat Air

So I've been trying the Power 90 Nutrition guide on for size and I'm glad I noticed the clause "If you are every active you may want to consider adding more calories". That's good cause if I'm only eating 1500 Calories a day I wouldn't be much of anything at the end. I'm sure that's done because they expect that most of the people using their program will be fat asses who have 60lbs to loose and who are going to cheat constantly. Well I'm pretty good about sticking to a diet plan so that would be bad. I tried a 1500 Calorie diet a couple of years back (when I was a fat ass) and scared myself by loosing 4lbs in a week. The maximum safe weight loss currently recommended is 2 pounds per week. So I'm definitely going to have to adjust this to something more reasonable like 2000 Calories a day.

The Daily Plate

So I've been in the habit of tracking what I eat and my exercise on thedailyplate.com. It's a really well done web application. It really helps me to see how many calories I should be eating. Especially with all the cycling I do. There've been days when I needed 3K additional calories :-o. So anyway for all my stalkers out there here's a link to my personal plate. I will also be using this as a sanity check for the "POWER 90 CHALLENGE!!!"

Moving in a Moving thing

Well I don't promise much. Knowing your faults is a key to success and I know I'm not good about keeping up with things like this but ... maybe I'll surprise myself.

This blog is going to center around my bad spelling health and my latest endeavor, the "Power 90 Challenge!!". I bought a infomercial diet/exercise program ... gasp. So whenever you see "Power 90 Challenge!!" realize that I'm using the cheesiest infomercial voice I can muster. Well to be fair I found several real world blogs about it and figured I'd give it a shot. It seems to be fairly well thought out and gives advice that I already follow.