Crazy Christmas Time:

6 sugar cookies (in 1 day) = 130 calories per cookie x 6 = 780 total... not to mention the other things I ate today.

Going to be an extra long day at the gym! Ugh - bad me, bad!

And the sad part is, I enjoyed those cookies sooo much! They were all left over from Friday's work christmas party. To think I did so well on Friday but blew it on Monday when the left overs were left out in the common area. For shame!

Been doing weighted pullups (about 125/day... with 20 additional lbs) Today I will attempt 30lbs.

Fathead

One of the blogs I like to read in the morning, when I'm having a slow day --> FITBOMB. I haven't read it in a long time, so yesterday afternoon I read about 30posts straight. Aside from my brain feeling a bit mushy, I was intrigued by a comment he made regarding Hulu and Fathead and how everyone should go watch it.

Well, after all that reading, why not spend another hour and a half in front of the computer? So I did.

I enjoyed the movie - it was a nice spin off of the Spurlock Super Size Me flick. Only this time the narrator lost weight eating fast food. Proving the point that Spurlock was going way out of his way to eat unhealthy at these places and that a level headed individual with a modest understanding of health/fitness can eat a fast-food diet with little health concern.

I liked some of the interview with doctors and scientists - and actually I think his personal doctor (the one who gave him the before/after screening) was hilarious! "Has anyone ever told you that you have a heart-murmur!?" "Uh... no" "Good, because you don't have one!"

It's a good film, mildly educational and certainly entertaining. If you've got an hour+ to waste this weekend (And I know you do). Skip over to Hulu.com and watch it. I just typed Fathead into the search bar and it came right up. Enjoy your weekend everyone!

*I weighed in this morning at 152 - down from my thanksgiving high of 156ish... I've been doing MASS PULLUPS (100+) with weight (17.5 + 20lbs) situp routines, pushup routines, and some max weight style lifting to build bulk and strength.*

Diet Kryptonite...day 28^3

Everyone knows superman has a weakness... but did you know that every diet has a weakness too? Perhaps some of you have been battling that one food (or perhaps food group) that really is more than just food, but some kind of evil arch nemesis. I know I have a few lurking in the shadows. Namely Pizza, Coffee, and Rum&Cokes.

So what should you do with these perpetrators that destroy your good deeds and leave you feeling miserable/guilty afterwords? It'd be a little too easy for me to just say "Avoid them" and it'd be too complicated if I try to explain the feel good chemicals in your brain that you associate with these foods.

The best thing to do is identify them. Knowing your weaknesses will absolutely help you minimize any collateral damage these badins will do to you. For me, it's best to stay away from Friday Lunches that are to Domino's Pizza or John's Pizza and Wings. If that means a couple fridays per month I'm bagging my lunch - okay. Does it mean I might have to sit at my office and eat, sometimes yes. As for coffee... my best defense against this evil foe is to get a good night's sleep and be well rested the next day as to not require that morning cup'o'joe. And as for alcohol...try to remember that the best feel good drug is having a good time - and having a good time does not mean having 3 drinks first.

Perhaps you have your own arch rival in your diet plan - your best bet is to identify it immediately and figure out your best approach to dealing with it, because sooner or later - if you don't stay on your toes - the bad guy might win!

Day 24^3

My new outlook on fitness. Probably something I've been meaning to post for a while now... ever since I have been on yahoo answers helping other people lose weight and formulate exercise programs, I've come to the conclusion that "Losing 10lbs" is not the only thing you need when it comes to fitness goal-setting.

Let's consider losing 10lbs as a destination. And everyone knows you need to travel to a destination, so let's agree that fitness/diets are the journey. My new outlook on fitness is that loving the destination/goal is not enough. If you're not prepared to embrace the journey, you're never going to reach your destination (or if you do, you'll likely find yourself somewhere else down the road once you've given up).

Fitness and being healthy are a lifestyle. And we all know that life in itself is its own little journey. So, to me, this philosophy makes perfect sense. Hopefully it does to you too.

So my message to everyone out there who is struggling to lose weight, or struggling to stick to a diet, or just trying to maintain a healthy figure - set a more interesting goal: "I will formulate a diet/exercise plan that will help me get to my destination AND will be something that I can embrace and do every day (or X times per week) with room for improvements and adaptations that I may perform for many years to come" NOW THAT'S A GOAL!

Day 23^3

Perhaps I've gone over this before... but food labels - in all their glory can be quite deceptive. I don't mean the nutritional facts on the back with their sly tricks for serving size and rounding down content... I mean buzz words and trends like "Low Carb" "Low Fat" "Reduced Fat" "Light" "Organic" "All Natural" "Whole Grain" and my personal favorite "Fat Free"

Lets take a look at what some of these mean - and DONT MEAN:

Low Fat: Low fat means a product contains 3g of fat or less per serving, and 30% or less of total calories

Reduced Fat: Reduced fat products contain at least 25% less fat than the original version. This does not mean that the reduced fat version is low fat (or even healthy). Take a package of reduced fat cookies, for example. If the original fat content per serving was 20g, and the fat has been reduced to 15g, it is still five times higher than the 3g per serving that officially qualifies as low fat.

Low-Carb: The FDA has not yet legally defined what "low-carbohydrate" means - so buying a low-carb snack, could mean abolustely anything.

Light: At least 50% less fat or 1/3 fewer calories per serving than the “regular” full-fat food cited on the label.

Organic: 90% of the food item is produced by farmers who avoided the use of bio-persistent nonselective chemical pesticides, fungicides and fertilizers. It does not ensure 100% organic - there is a 100% for those type foods.

Whole Grain: Are cereal grains that consist of the intact and unrefined, ground, cracked or flaked fruit of the grains whose principal components - the starchy endosperm, germ and bran - are present in the same relative proportions as they exist in the intact grain.

All Natural: According to the USDA, food can only be labeled natural if it contains no artificial ingredients or added colors and is minimally processed.

Fat Free: Each serving of food has less than 1/2 gram of fat - but not necessary completely void of fat.

Day 30^3 minus 8 PLUS Thanksgiving.

Today is day 30 of my "3rd Round" of P90X which is not actually P90X, but just lifting weights in a manor to build some bulk. Last week I took off (hense the Minus eight in my title), so I guess I can consider this day 22.

I meant to post this before the Thanksgiving long weekend, but I failed in doing so... but the advice can be applied to any major holiday... perhaps cristmas/easter/thanksgiving (etc.)

The question was "How can I stick to my diet over the holidays?"

The answers are:
1. You're in charge. You make the choices. You ultimately see the food, put it on your plate, re-pick it up with your fork, put it in your mouth, chew it, swallow it. Somewhere along that chain you need to ask yourself "Am I full?" and stop.

2. HAVE THANKSGIVING. Just be a bit prudish - take 1 slice of turkey, take 1 spoon of stuffing, take 1 serving of squash... but when you're finished - you're finished.

3. Most people eat until they are in pain. How many thanksgivings have you had where you just feel bl;oated because you're over-full? Don't get that way. There's no logical need to gorge yourself silly. Skip desserts and have a normal sized portion of food. You really only need 1 bite to get the flavor - the rest is all just going ot make you sleepy and crampy anyway.

4. Watch out for gravey. A little bit goes a long way. There is no need to drown your food in brown-liquid. It's super high in sodium and only excess calories to the already high calorie meal.

5. Don't let others serve you. They dont know your diet and passing them your plate could be the nail in the coffin. *More potatoes?* is a phrase you'll want to battle by saying "Sure send them down" at which point you take only a small amount.

6. If leftovers are offered - simply say "Thats okay" or suggest somebody else who has a bigger family that has kids.

7. Alcohol - most families (at least mine) tend to drink way more than normal on holidays. Wine, beer, liquors, etc... just go dry and if you're having a hard time - have a glass of wine with dinner but dont go overboard, not only does alcohol contain a lot of diet-busting sugars and calories, but you want to be able to drive home at the end of the night too. So keep it to 1 drink, maybe 2 at most.

8. Don't sit by the snack table. Youre going to nibble - it's the way it is. Stay clear of the chips, pretzels, cheese trays, fruit platters... they're all going to tempt you to no end.

9. Go for a walk! Get outside! Nobody's going to fault you for wanting to get some fresh air with the family all yelling/screaming at eachother (again another thing my family tends to do on the holidays - perhaps it's alcohol related?)

10. REMEMBER REMEMBER REMEMBER - if you screw up and you totally blow away your diet on Thanksgiving - don't give up on your diet and exercise. The faster you get back to dieting the better you'll be. Don't say "Oh Christmas is coming in 1 month why should I even bother" NO NO NO say "Tomorrow it's back to my normal routine and get myself back on track" Don't throw in the towel because you screwed up 1 night.

Day 12^3: Why friends are bad for diets

This is when the blog holds you most accountable, when something neat happens, but you can't be too proud of it because then everyone will know you cheated on your diet/exercise. Well, I did. So here's my story.

Friday lunch, at work, typically involves eating out at restaurants that are not P90X approved. So, I'm a stick in the mud 90% of the time and bag a lunch and take it to where we're going (obviously mom + pop shops are out of the question, but I don't mind plunking down a bagged lunch at McDonalds or Taco Bell or Pizza hut. And frankly they seem to understand). But today we went to My Tomato Pie.

This fine little Italian place in the Northern region of Buffalo is pretty well known and has some of the best pizza around. Knowing pizza is my kryptonite, I decided I might just stay at work and eat my bagged lunch (which is still sitting on my desk - hence I ultimately decided to go). A couple people wanted to split a pre-ordered pizza so we wouldn't be waiting for hours to get our food and they needed me to complete the split... the long and short of it, I went and left my lunch at work.

Well we sat down, there were 9 of us. We each ordered our drinks (water for me of course) and then ordered our food. When our food came, 8 people got their pizzas and calzones... except for 1 person. The waitress came back and asked if anyone needed refills and didn't realize 1 person didn't have anything (it also didn't help most of us were sharing). Eventually he spoke up and asked "I was just wondering - what's the status of the small chicken finger pizza?" The waitress said she'd ask and came back very apologetic "I'm so sorry, it's just being cooked now, it must have gotten mixed up... we're going to bring it out as soon as we can, and by the way it's on the house. Would you like a soup or salad to hold you over, also free?" He accepted a soup.

About 10mins later, after everyone else was pretty much done eating, his pizza came out. it was presented by the manager, or perhaps the lead-waiter. He was holding some cards in his hand. Three $10-gift cards to My Tomato Pie. He apologized and said he hoped this would make up for it. At this point, my friend was sky high - sweet free food AND $30 to come back and have some more!

The waitress was about to bring us our bill and she said, with one final attempt to make sure everyone was okay "Just to be sure, I want to offer everyone at the table an opportunity for a free dessert, if you're still hungry" she then gave us the choice of two mightily sugary options: snicker + oreo pie or a heath + kit-kat pie. Needless to say 9 out of 9 hands went up for one or the other. Dessert was served, insulin spiked, and I was very content.

I'm letting everyone know about this experience for a few reason...

1. I know I stick to a pretty hard diet, but even the temptation of friends and free food get the best of even the strongest willed now and again.
2. Fun stuff like this is always nice to talk about and I hope everyone had some fun reading about it.
3. I think the service at My Tomato Pie is outstanding. The fact they went head over heals to make sure we were content with our meals definitely makes me want to return there, even if our order got messed up.
4. Remember, cheating on your diet is like skipping an exercise. If you don't confess and get back on your diet right away things can get really slippery. Admit guilt, get over it, and get on with your fitness!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I'm slipping into a sugar-comma...

Day 11: I'm still here!

Work has been busy, I apologize for missing some posts in the past few days. I haven't exactly been doing P90X since my last post where I swapped out YogaX for weight lifting + cardio. I've actually been hitting the weights a lot recently.

I've been asking around and a lot of people think I need to bulk up a bit more, so I am taking that advice to heart and I am hitting the weights more and more each day. I'm finding that the Jack3D is a huge bonus supplement to have right before a lifting workout. I find I can lift more, for longer, with less recovery time than if I just wing it on my own.

My current benchpress "Max" (I say max in quotes only because it's not a 1-rep max) around 195lbs. We'll see if I can get that number up to the 250range. I've gotten back on the chinup/pullup bandwagon. I've been doing brett's patented 100's. Which is 10 chinups followed immediately by 10 pushups until 100. I typically skimp a bit on the pullups, but I maintain good pushups the whole way through.

Last weekend I cheated a little on the diet. I had my parents come up to visit so we had some food that I wouldn't normally eat: Pizza, scones, muffins, etc. But my weight spiked, and then came down once I got back onto my normal diet.

Day 3^3: Would be yoga - but its not!

Since I am still going for the more-bulky, less-skinny, look. I think today I will pass on YogaX and perform one of the many other weight-lifting workouts today. I know I know, I'm bad. I keep saying I'm going to go back to the basics - legit P90X, but I just can't abandon my desire to get a bit larger muscles. I think that is still my "weakest link" so to speak.

I do want to incorporate some non-weightlifting activities again though, I don't think I will cut out plyo and kenpo like I did last round, since I do really want to solidify the six-pack that is kinda there, in the right light, from the right angle, if you know what I'm saying. So cutting the % body fat for this first month is still super important. I figure if I can drop below 10% I'll be golden. But it's definitely hard!

I don't know if I have talked about cold-water yet on this blog. I know I toot my horn all the time about REALLY COLD WATER and how good it is for you. Not only is water better than juice/soda/milk, but cold water is better than warm water. At least for the sake of dieting/fitness it is. Perhaps I shall explain.

It's quite simple in theory, the cold water being good for you stems for the whole definition of a calorie. Or as chemist and physicist think of it "The amount of energy it takes to raise 1cm^3 of water 1degC" And a Calorie (notice the subtle capital C) is the same but for 1000cm^3 of water = 1liter. So drinking 1 liter of body temperature water (37degC) burns 0 calories. But drinking a liter of water that's 1 degree cooler than the human body (36degC) burns 1 calorie. This is because your body cools down when you drink the water, and your body expends energy to heat everything back up to "normal" temperatures. Okay captain science, that seems pretty measly for 1 liter of water. I'd have to drink 50 liters of water to burn 50 calories...or, let's add a ton of icecubes to that water, shall we? That makes the water approximately 0degC. Which means for each liter of water you consume, you're effectively burning 37 Calories! Drink 2 liters of water a day? I know I do... that's 72 Calories burned! Drink 3... you get the idea. The point is, you never pee cold urine, so that water needed to be heated by something. And that something is energy, in the form of calories. Go and impress your friends, and tell them how many calories you're burning without lifting a single dumbell!

P90X Round 3! Bring it! Day 2^3

So yesterday I started round 3 of P90X. I did not put out a post, as recently I have been getting into work early to work with Germany/Belgium on some upgrades, and my work-load has been particularly high. It's amazing how hard it is to blog when you're actually busy at work! Who would have thunk?

I took a nice long, well deserved, 1-week off after finishing P90X round2... It was fantastic. I ate whatever I wanted, drank copiously, and I didn't once lift up a weight. Spectacular. Well, all of that changed yesterday. I started with a 30min run @6.5mph and then busted out a chest/back. Numbers were a bit lower than normal, but that's okay.

My diet has changed a little bit again. I am eating home made trail-mix (nuts+raisins) for breakfast instead of the regular almonds, instead of the powerbar, instead of egg whites. That's the breakfast progression. Almonds are PRETTY EXPENSIVE. So I'll have to see how long this lasts. But they're easy to prepare and are very portable for those swing-days when I need to come into work early.

I do feel like I should get back to the core of P90X and start watching the videos again. I feel as if my timing is getting too lenient and I'm not working as hard or fast as I could be, but I do prefer the gym weights and company that I have been getting at the gym, so again, it's up in the air as to how things will pan out.

Halloween? For Halloween I was a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger (the black one) I have pictures somewhere, I'll have to upload them for everyone to see. I think my costume came out really good, I put a lot of effort into it, so hopefully posting any pictures is justified.

My starting weight and photos are my Round 2 finish photos + weight (153lbs).

Pictures! Sorry they took so long to post

Picture pretty much says it all - you might need to click on it to see the whole thing properly.

Game plan is take 1 week off - celebrate - then back on the band-wagon, just as hard or harder than before.

Final Day 90+

It seems like it has taken forever to get here, but today is my last day of P90X round 2. As I sit here eating my almond and water breakfast, I'd like to look back and reflect at what's changed since the beginning of round 2.

Well... food wise, I've swapped out fruit on the bottom yogurt for plain yogurt. Which, by the way tastes nothing like flavored yogurt and is sometimes a challenge to eat (-25g sugar). I've swapped out peanuts for almonds (I don't know the real benefit, but it sure is costing me a lot!). I've replaced my morning power bar with almonds, also.

Fitness wise, I've increased some weight, but reduced in reps in many categories, namely biceps and triceps, most of the other weight stuff is body weight and I've stayed approximately the same size (150lbs). I had some gains earlier in the summer, but recently I have fallen back to my starting weight. Foolish me for not taking my weight this morning, I was late for work, so my final weight might have to be yesterday's which was 152lbs.

Exercise wise, I started out doing P90X+ but after about 2 weeks, I started to resort back to regular P90X. Then sometime in I swapped out Plyo + Yoga + Kenpo for all weight training. And then I enlisted about 4-5 people into P90X, 2 of which work out with me at the gym so I began to do the regular program again. But then I realized some of the workouts were too hard for "beginners" so I made my own workouts that were not easier, but certainly more diverse, allowing for completion. And very recently I have been adding 3-5mile runs to my workouts, not really considering it doubles because somedays I'd swap out ab-ripperX for a run. We'll call it even.

Overall, I can definitely say the 2nd time through I was not as disciplined and/or dedicated like the first time. I think a lot of that has to do with the novelty of a new fitness program. Having done it before, I wasn't quite as "Lets do it" as I was in round 1. Also in round 2 I kept my weekends workout free. Saturday and Sunday were both rest-days, and I tried to accomodate the schedule as such. Obviously losing out on those workout days could mean lost potential results. I was okay with that.

Looking forward, I definitely want to continue with the diet. I've become 100% accustomed to it, which is fantastic because it's so simple. I don't cook anything. Ever! I'm eating mostly veggies, salad, nuts, and tuna. It's wonderful. As for exercise, I'll definitely keep helping the P90Xers that I convinced to start. Again, I still want size, so I might start doing weight lifting, we'll see. I still plan to do semi-regular or daily posts.

Tonight I will post some final photos. I'll have to take them after my final workout this afternoon which I think will be Run,Chest+Back,AbripperX "The gauntlet"

Day 88+ Keep it simple (apheresis today)

I love this cartoon. It holds a lot of truth to many of us. And it doesn't always reflect just a diet, and certainly not always all at once. But I find a lot of people lack the focus to stick with something for a period of time that will show results. Is this human nature? Is it the digital generation? I'm not sure.

I do know that many people often find themselves frustrated after a week or two of a diet (or exercise plan) and say "Oh, this and that don't work" or "It's not working for me" and quickly hop off the band-wagon or find another wagon to hop on that might be completely opposite.

Don't get discouraged people. Stick with the game plan. Often one or two weeks is not nearly enough time to see good results. Sometimes dieting takes months (depending on who you are and your dedication level). Just because it didn't work immediately, doesn't me quit or drastically change your strategy. It means figure out if you're really being honest about your commitment and say to yourself "Just a few more weeks... it's still early"

For those of you who have been following regularly (I KNOW you're out there, because my hits/page has gone from 1600 to 1770 since my last post, and I've been too busy at work to maintain daily postings...which I contribute MOST of the hits) today's P90X round 2 day is 88+ and I will ABSOLUTELY 100% be posting pictures on Friday. For whatever reason I have been slacking with photos (perhaps it's partly in fear that I haven't gained much muscle and that I haven't lost much fat) I almost feel like I am the same size. But let this be my confession to the world - FRIDAY OCT. 22nd, afternoon, I will have pictures posted, for better or worse.

And I will probably start yet another round or perhaps some kind of hybrid P90X/Training system with my co-workers who have been working out with me. I'll also continue to be very active on Yahoo! Answers. I really enjoy posting solutions to people's health problems.

Anyway! Apheresis tonight, so no workout schedule for this afternoon.

Day 84+ Wrist problems

I've been doing a lot of running + legs lately because of wrist problems :-( When I say WRISTS, I actually just mean my left wrist. It's just really tender. I don't know where it came from, could be driving, could be pushups, could be burpees, I don't know. But I think this week I'm just going to have to lay off the arms...

It's a rest week anyway for my final P90X week, so it's not a huge deal, but sorta sucks to round out the end of the 2nd P90X on an injury. I weighed in at 150lbs this morning, no news flash there. I don't appear to be much different than day 30ish... but I guess in 6 days we'll find out how different I look.

Other than that, I got top contributor on Yahoo! Answers again. That's always nice!

As for what I will do next, I might do 1-2 months of just training my co-workers at the gym. Sort of consider it as Carl's Boot-camp. I already pretty much work out with them at least 3 times a week. I could bump it to 5 and raise the intensity. The only downside to training is I spend a lot more time going over form and convincing people to KEEP GOING, and I end up doing less than if I were to do it on my own. So we'll see, it's certainly more fun... but I can't let all my hard work go to waste.

Day 80+ Ten days left!

Who doesn't look forward to the last 10 days!? I certainly do. It's a little more than a week away, but it should line me up nicely for a Saturday finish! P90X round 2 is nearing completion, but the Canadian thanks-giving is sneaking it's ugly head around the corner (next Monday). Let's hope I don't blow it in the final week.

Halloween is just around the corner. I'm thinking POWER RANGERS this year... I haven't started making a costume yet, but I think it will go over amazingly well. Last year, Mickey mouse... and the year before Sub-Zero.

Weighed 152lbs this morning, with clothes on. No major changes there. I'm going to start tappin' into my almonds on a more regular basis. Put the peanuts to the curb for a bit, even though almonds are way more expensive than peanuts...Circuit/Cardio today.

Day 79+ Arms+Shoulders

Does anyone know what the picture above is? If you're familiar with Italian food, you'll probably know that it's 3 Manicottis. Unfortunately, that was what I ate for dinner last night, actually I had 4. What a shame. To think yesterday, not only did I do a double (P90X + cardio), but I ate really really well... and then it came time for Tuesday Night Dinner (TND), which I have little control over.

Calories through the roof. Carbohydrates off the charts. All that hard work down the tubes. Oh well, at least it was delicious. I can't say I'm too proud of myself. But on the other hand, I really can't control what other people cook for their TND choices.

It had been a long time since I had Italian food though, it defeinitely went down the hatch without resistance. It's just the guilt I feel NOW that bothers me more than anything. Oh and did I mention garlic bread? *SIGH* Not the best role model, but I guess everyone's human!

Day 78+ legs and cardio

Yesterday I went to the grocery store. I was running low on yogurt, something I have been meaning to axe from the lunch menu for a while, but I am stubborn. Either way, I remember somebody asking about yogurt and plain yogurt vs fruit on the bottom yogurt. Turns out, there is a big difference.

I picked up the regular yogurt I get, store-brand fruit on the bottom low fat yogurt. 190 calories, 33g sugar, etc. etc. Picked up the same size plain yogurt container (checked the serving size and servings per container, see previous post), and it turns out plain yogurt is 160 calories and only 13g sugar. Plus it actually had a bit more protein! Don't quote me, but I think it was 2-3g difference. From 4g for the fruit version to 6g or 7g in the plain.

So I bought 8 and will be eating them from now on. I know I won't get the flavor rush I am used to, but it's better for me to reduce those unnecessary sugars.

I weighed in at 150lbs today - still not gaining. Hopefully not losing muscle mass. I haven't been doing nearly the same quantity of pullups I normally do. But I've still been workout out every day. And I'm still training/workout out with people!

Day 77+ Chest and Back + Nutrition Labels...

Oh how I love to read nutrition labels. They are as much of an art form as say a fine sculpture or a well-crafted painting. But it's not because they are beautiful on the outside, but because they are so crafty made to deceive and gain sales at the same time.

My favorite parts of the FDA nutrition label are the Serving Size, Servings per Container, Total Fat, and the Asterisk. Please, let me explain.

Serving Size: Whenever you pour yourself a bowl of cereal, do you consider it 1 serving? I know I do. It's about how much 1 person eats when they sit down for breakfast, so NATURALLY that seems like a logical serving amount. Until you turn the box of cheerios around and read the label. Hm... 1/2 cup of cereal is 1 serving. Before you pour that milk in your bowl, go grab a measuring cup (you know the kind that made of glass, and have a handle on the side) and pour the bowl you just poured in there. $20 says your 1-serving is actually 3 according to cheerios' suggested size. So all this time you thought you were eating 110 calories, you were actually eating 330 calories (or even more). Cereal has another downfall... it puts that column of w/1/2cup skim-milk. I actually use skim milk... but most people don't. Also, most people (myself included) don't use 1/2 cup. They use again, about 1 to 1&1/2 cups. Meaning anything you thought was moderately portioned... was not.

Servings per container: I love factoid for an entirely different reason. This is a number the manufacturer can manipulate in order to display or not display something legally on their label. By law, any food containing over 0.49g of saturated or trans fat MUST BE DISPLAYED ON THE NUTRITION LABEL... anything less, is optional. So a company which might have normally suggested 5 servings per container (but be forced to show 0.8g trans fats 100calories, might decided to double their servings per container to 10. And have the label show 50calories but 0TRANS FAT! At this point they can even put "Fat Free" on the label (assuming there are no other fats). How dastardly food companies are.

Another one of my favorites is Vitamin Water. Only 50 calories per serving. Oh wait... there are 2.5 servings in a 20oz container! Who stops at 2/5ths the way finished of a vitamin water?! NOBODY! So why put 2.5 servings? Because 50 calories looks healthy, when you're really about to drink 125calories.

Total Fats: Most people don't realize that there are lots of good fats. I believe fat is an essential food, because our body has a difficult time producing certain length fatty-acids (don't quote me on that). But either way, it's wise to stay away from saturated and trans fats due to their high calories and artery clogging capabilities... but mono saturated fats are "healthy" and they aren't even ON THE LABEL! So what we (as consumers) have to do is add up the saturated + trans fats and subtract them from the "total fat" to determine the monosaturated fat content. I almost think it would be better if they just had the three columns and omitted Total fat. But put Monosaturated fat in a good column, like protein or vitamin section.

Then we have the all mighty asterisk! "*" If you haven't seen this little bad boy on a food product, you haven't been looking hard enough. I don't think there is a single FDA food label on the planet that doesn't have this. Typically it's followed by *Based on a 2000 calorie diet. But not everyone should be eating a 2000 calorie diet...Body builders need more and little kids need less. Dieters also.

Its not only the label that bothers me. Some of these less-fat and fat free foods get me too. Fat free (like I mentioned above) just means the serving size is small enough that the grams of fat per serving is less than 0.5g. But tells you nothing about the TOTAL FAT in the container. Doritos are notorious for this. 6 chips per serving, but fat free! Hey hey! lets eat them all then.. Oh wait, there are 15 servings per container? 6x15 = 90chips... if the fat is hovering around 0.4g x 15 = 6g of fat. But because it's below 0.5g we don't even know what type of fat we're eating. And I doubt there's a person on this earth that eats 6 Doritos and stops.

Then we have the all mighty reduced fat. All this means is that the product in question has 25% less fat than the previous product. Which may or may not even make it healthy.

So next time you're shopping in the store and you think something is healthy... take a step back. Does it come in a bag? Does it come in a box? Chances are it's not that healthy for you. It's not to say healthy food can't come from a package... it's just that a lot of manufacturers pay people LOTS AND LOTS of money to out smart you, the consumer and you know what - they do a damn good job.

Watch what you eat people. And be good!

Day 74+ Kenpo Cardio Plus

I think everyone can relate to this cartoon in one way or another. I refer to it as the slippery slope effect. Where you just start sliding and crashing to an eventual slump where you're not working out anymore. Often this is caused by a simple missed day (if it's exhaustion or a schedule conflict - it could be anything), but then the difficult part is getting back to the gym, or back pushing play, or waking up early to go for that morning jog.

If you find yourself on this slippery slope, the best thing you can do is GET BACK TO THE GYM. In all honesty, the shorter the time between missing days, the faster you'll get back on schedule and the less used to the "relaxed" attitude you had on the day off. If you miss multiple days in a row - it's going to be a lot more jarring on your body + system than if you just miss one or two days.

It also helps that if you're doing a diet + fitness program, that you don't give up on BOTH at the same time. For example, if every one's going out for pizza on Friday. You'll be better off making it to the gym and sacrificing your diet for 1 day, than throwing in the towel and saying "Today is a complete waste day" and forgo diet + exercise. Likewise, if you skip a workout because you're exhausted or because you have some kind of scheduling conflict, keep your diet on track. This will help motivate you to get back in the gym the next day.

One last note: Never start a diet/workout "TOMORROW" always start a workout today. And this applies to getting back too. Don't tell yourself "I'll start tomorrow" because tomorrow is always in the future. Start TODAY that's NOW time. If you start today, you have no excuses. Plus, you gain an extra day!

Day 73+ Dentist Appointment

Today after work, I have a dentist appointment, so it's going to be a hit on the schedule again. This is probably the first missed day in about 2 to 3 weeks, which I feel pretty good about. In all honesty, I probably COULD have gone after the dentist... but I'm just going to use it as an excuse to take it easy today.

I've sorta been on a "reduce sugar" parade. A lot of people have been asking me how to lose weight, at work, yahoo! answers, at the gym, and friends back home. And my best answer for them is to reduce the amount of sugar + carbs you eat and increase your exercise. And for the most part this is true. It's a bit more complicated than that though... There are hundreds of workouts and diet plans, and not all of them are super effective for everyone. So I guess the idea would be - find one that works for your schedule/lifestyle and give it a try... if in 3 months you don't see results, attempt a new one (I say three months because if you're only putting in 2 weeks of effort then slacking off, no diet plan or exercise plan will work. You need a somewhat long commitment).

Speaking of sugar - I wanted to let people know about SODA, POP, COLA, COKE, PEPSI, SOFT-DRINK, whatever you call it. I want to explain what happens inside your body when you decide to drink one:

In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.
20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat. (There’s plenty of that at this particular moment)
40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.
45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.
>60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.
>60 Minutes: The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.
>60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.

Day 72+ Legs and Back

Well, I have to be honest. Yesterday's TND (Tuesday night dinner) was fantastic. Two of the people who are regular participants had what they called a "MEATGASM" feast. This meant basically all meat. The official menu actually read "Meat, Meat, Green Shit, More Meat" (there was an optional salad, which nobody ate). The only down side of this mean, which I covet so much, was the chocolate dessert. Normally I would pass on such a thing... but this was "sexual chocolate" and everyone was being wimps and wouldn't eat the phallic one. So I told them to man up, nobody did, so I ate it. Thankfully it wasn't well endowed. So my consumption was minimal, but I really should be setting an example for the people I workout with, and keep telling "Not to eat sugary foods" because nobody likes to be a hypocrite.

On another note, I think I might flip back to having eggs in the morning. I will still continue to eat powerbars in the afternoon, but lately I have been having a sensation that I want my 6pack to be more defined (or return, or however you want to phrase it). So starting soon, I think I'll start cooking eggs in the morning and waking up a bit earlier to do that.

Aside from that, I weighed in at 152lbs this morning, not too shabby after the Meatgasm... The best "____gasm" there is...

Legs and back should be a challenge trying to get us all doing the moves at the same time especially pullups.

Day 71+ Arms/Shoulders

I have been terrible with the posts, but I assure you I am doing more physical activity that even I can possibly imagine. There are now TWO people from work, who I am working out with / training at the gym. It's not exactly P90X every day... some days it's straight out of the book, others it's my own personal concoction and other days it's a hybrid.

Take yesterday for example. I worked out a 14 exercise circuit. 50 seconds of an ezercise, followed by 10sec to set up the next... takes approximately 14mins to cycle through one, and we did three! I was so tired at the end I thought I would pass out. I obviously adjusted the weights accordingly for my pupils, as they can't squat with 40lbs on their shoulders for 1 minute straight, nore do regular decline pushups... so all said and done, I had three very distinct difficulty levels. But doing it with them (unlike most trainners who stand around and watch) gives me a more solid idea of how much energy a workout takes.

Today is just a straight out of the book P90X workout. I always try to get in at least 2 or 3 per week. as to not lose touch with my awesome pullup numbers, which have actually dropped a bit. I was doing about 30-35 now I'm in the upper 20's, but most times I now add legs-up (for the abs).

Work has been really busy so my post count has gone way way down, and I havent updated my link-calendar in about 2 weeks. FOR SHAME FOR SHAME!

Okay I'm about to go hit the gym.

Day 66+ Crazy Mixed up Workout!

Sorry for missing two posts (Tuesday + Wednesday) I have been pretty busy at work, and I usually make posts first thing in the mornings. I still went to the gym, I still did P90X, and I still have been 100% back on track (except for the blood donation - but that's always thrown me off).

Today I have a friend working out with me, who isn't exactly PLYO-X ready, so to speak. So I plan on doing a crazy mixed up grab-bag style workout from all sorts of different P90X exercise videos. We'll see how it goes. I plan on making them rapid-fire style get you exhausted, sweating bullets, "can we please stop now!" style...I'm sure Tony would approve.

My kitchen is nearing completion, which is good because I have visitors coming this weekend. I hope everything will be in order by Friday when they arrive.

I really need to confess my love for Creatine Monohydrate. It's so easy to take every morning, it's tasteless, and I am almost 100% positive it's working. I just look more cut, slightly larger, and generally perform better at the gym while taking it. I also get this placebo effect that tells me "You already paid for the stuff, and you're taking it every day, you need to do extra good work at the gym and get your money out of it" which is a huge bonus also.

I haven't taken Jack3D in a while. Perhaps I'll get back onto that in a bit. I was worried about the caffeine and the creatine. Considering one is an anti-diuretic and the other is a diuretic - you figure their contributions might cancel eachother.

Day 63+ Apheresis

I won't be working out today, because this afternoon I will be donating platelets at the Red-Cross donation center. I am proud to say my kitchen rework is 90% complete, the only part that remains is painting the trim and putting it back up. Otherwise, it's OVER! (Personal victory).

I weighed in this morning about 2lbs heavier than normal 153.0lbs. I bet it had to do with the Buffalo Chop House dinner I had on Saturday night. That meal was a beast! 32oz steak + asparagus/holindaise sauce + button mushrooms + dessert. To be honest, it was absolutely fantastic. I wish I could eat that every night. But at the cost of gaining 2lbs a weekend, I think I'd have to pass.

No other major news for now.

Day 62+ Icecream vs Sorbet

***WARNING TO DIETERS***
-Post may induce cravings-



I figured I'd start today off with a quick comparison of Ice cream and Sorbet. I think most people believe that Sorbet is a healthy alternative to the fatty dessert, ice cream. Which it kind of is. But there's a lot more going on behind that icy dessert than what you thought.

For my own curiosity I looked up the calories of some common household ice creams. Vanilla, Strawberry, Neapolitan, and for fun Bear Claw. The calories in each of these ice creams for 1/2cup (ya I know, who eats only 1/2cup of this?) is 100, 110, 130, and 150. So it looks like the more "stuff" you throw into regular ice cream the higher calorie content with some exceptions (french vanilla is 140 cals). But where do these calories come from? Mostly, fat. 60-90 calories come from fat. 6-8g of it in fact, half of which is saturated fat. The rest comes from carbs/sugars, about 16-19g total carbs, of which about half are sugar. So there you have it, a diet-kryptonite for most of the U.S. population. Spelled out in simple English. Now, lets go take a look at his cousin, that most people consider "better" for them.

Sorbet...right off the bat, the most interesting factoid is 1/2 cup of sorbet is across the board 130 calories. It doesn't matter which flavor, which color, or whose freezer it came from (arguably the colder it is the less calories it has FYI - perhaps I'll explain this in another post, why it's important to always drink COLD water). But RIGHT OFF THE BAT, the biggest difference is the fat content. 1.5g of total fat. Less than 15 calories from fat. Wow, those of you who are trying to cut back on fat - congratulations. However, cutting back the fat is generally NOT the problem. Especially when you're trying to lose weight. You'd want to be watching your CARBOHYDRATES. And here is where sorbet turns ugly. Sorbet has about 25-28g of carbohydrates, and typically over 23g of sugar. Nearly 90% of the carbs consumed are simple sugars. That's going to give your pancreas a heart attack (that is, if your pancreas had a heart). A sugar rush like that... well it's like going home and eating 5 teaspoons of sugar straight up, and in just 1/2 a cup! Like ice cream, who eats just 1/2 cup of sorbet? Even 1 rounded scoop is closer to 1-cup than 1/2 cup.

And lastly, the final big difference (especially for those P90Xers) ice cream typically has about 2-5g or protein, where as sorbet has 1g. It's not a factor you should really pay attention to, because frankly, I don't think people on a diet should be eating Sorbet or Ice cream. They are just too unhealthy in general. But for any of you who have been making the substitute, you're not doing yourself any good by eating sorbet over ice cream, they are equally bad, but for different reasons.

Day 61+ Chest/Back

Pulling out all the stops... finally looks like I'll be putting in a full week of exercising! Something I haven't done in a while! It feels good. I feel good. Everything seems to be in order. Nothing major to report except that yesterday's numbers were significantly less than a few weeks ago (recalling I've missed some days/weeks in the recent past). My blog seems to be a bit scatter brained. There isn't much focus or goal here. I've read some REALLY good blogs from some other P90Xers and Fitness Folks, and I'm very impressed by their linearity! How they can migrate from one topic to the other - where as I write typically about whatever comes to my mind the second I'm writing it. Perhaps it's more genuine? But I'm sure it makes reading multiple posts in a row a nightmare!

I've got a few people at the gym working out with me now. Mostly co-workers who go to the gym with me. I won't name names, but I don't think one of them is cut out for the routines. I tried to show them how to do pushups and I don't think this person has ever done a pushup in their life! It was so abysmal I was shocked. In short, it was more of a rocking motion from front/back on hands+knees. Not good. I tried to explain the importance of bending at the elbow and lowering your whole body to the floor... it just didn't happen. It's okay though, I know everyone has their own level of fitness and capabilities. So perhaps over time they'll start piecing it together... I won't throw in the towel on anyone who's actively trying to get healthy (or in shape). In fact I probably won't let them give up!! (and everyone who knows me in the real world will absolutely agree to that).

I've finished my "loading" phase of creatine. Which means next week (and the following 2 after that) I'll reduce the intake to just a single 5g scoop every day instead of two. I really think, of all the items I've taken the creatine is the most effective, and I've only used it for a month and a half now (and two of those weeks I was off). It's also very in-expensive. $20 gets you a container that easily lasts 3-4 months. I'm not even 1/3rd the way through mine yet.

Okay time to work! I weighed in last night at 151lbs (which means I probably weighed less than 150lbs this morning), but I didn't check.

Day 60+ 2/3rds the way there

66.6%

The final phase!

The big cheese!

Naw, it's just another day. But it reminds me I should take day 60 photos and post them on the site, I know everyone just loves to see me in my poster-boy pose. Haha. Okay enough pumping mysef up, I'll actually talk about something I have failed to really mention.

What happened to Plyo and Yoga? For the people who read my blog regularly, you've probably noticed that I haven't had (for example) Day 55 PlyoX or Day 57 YogaX as any titles. And I've done that in such a way to help bulk up. I gott way too skinny on P90X, and I was pretty normal sized to begin with. So eliminated Plyo and Yoga have given me the opportunity to substitute additional weight lifting/body weight workouts (mainly chest/back, legs/back, back/bicep, C/S/T, and arms/shoulders). I have noticed a slight increase in bulk and I'm still doing the diet, just not in seperate phases. I'm just watching the protein/carb ratio and sticking with what I would call phase 2 diet.

Speaking of diet, I have been reading www.fitbomb.com 's blog and I'm intriqued by the PALEOLITHIC diet "eating like a caveman" nuts, berries, dried fruits, meats, eggs, veggies and basically no carbs. I'm 85% there already with my decreased carb intake, but I'd have to give up some of my packaged food items like powerbars and yogurt. I'm tempted to give it a try and see how I do... I won't write a big long post like the guy at fitbomb did (which was awesome by the way, I highly suggest everyone reads it)... but I might give it a shot either for this last phase of when my 2nd round is over.

Arms/Shoulders today! Weighed in at 150lbs.

Day 59+ Chest and Back

Yesterday, I left work early. The night before, I drank a coffee way too late and I tossed and turned all night, only to discover my alarm clock going off and I was still awake. Needless to say, I took a well needed half day to rest up and regain some focus for both work and fitness. So today, I'm doing Monday's workout (chest and back). It also happens that I have two wrappers for the powerbar products I was discussing earlier. Perhaps they are of some interest to some of my readers? I'll put them side by side.

................Original Powerbar..........Harvest Bar
Calories.................240....................250
Calories f/Fat............40....................45
Total Fat.................4g....................5g
Cholesterol...............0g....................0g
Sodium...............200mg....................140mg
Potassium..........105mg....................200mg
Total Carb............44g....................42g
Fiber....................1g....................5g
Sugar....................26g....................20g
Protein..................9g....................11g
Vit A....................0%....................0%
Vit C....................70%....................60%
Calcium.................25%....................20%
Iron........................25%....................20%
Thiamin..................15%....................20%
Riboflavin...............10%....................10%
Vit B6....................25%....................20%

But keep in mind, the one on the right is way tastier.

Day 58+ Back and Bicep

Seems like a repeat title from yesterday. I ended up doing chest/shoulders/tris yesterday because I wanted to give my back a break, since I did legs and back the day before. So TODAY I will be doing back and biceps - my favorite workout.

Going to do more work on the kitchen this weekend. Hopefully we can get some primer up. It's going to be a bit of a challenge with the kitten running around. He already tries to eat just about everything smaller than him, lets hope he doesn't have an affinity for latex paints. I'm sure he does.

I've pretty much kicked my coffee problem at work. I think it was just a matter of getting it through my head that I didn't need it. Plus I reminded myself that for every coffee I drink, need to drink 2 more glasses of water to recoupe the dihurettic effects of the caffeine. That, and I know the water is filling my muscles and I'm TRYING to get bigger and if the water is being wisked away, that just means more work for me in the long run. So I'm trying to hold back on the coffee - it seems to be working. Eventually I'll crack down and have another. But I've been doing great all week!

Day 57+ Back and Biceps

Yesterday's leg workout was quite nice. I actually did it with a co-worker. Something tells me he'll be sore today. What is it with me not taking it easy on the rookies and then they're not interested in working out with me ever again? Perhaps I just get TOO into it.

I weighed myself this morning, after I fed the cat and myself (we ate different food, trust me). 151lbs. Right about where I thought I should be. Since being off the chemicals, I've lost a bit of weight. Partially because I was being so wishy-washy with the working out. But hopefully I can put some bulk back. Day 30 pics I think I weighed close to 155lbs, so gonna be hard to gain 3-4lbs in a couple days, especially muscle.

Without having too many posts about powerbars, I had a question about the sugar content. I believe the carb content of powerbars are 21g of sugar ~ 14% or 15% of one's daily sugar intake. I'm not sure if that constitutes high or not, but a yogurt is typically in the 18%-20% range, and I'm sure an apple is also in that 15-20% range too. Plus powerbars have 9 or 10g of protein, which is fantastic. Some of the Harvest bars have 12g, but I won't go into that until I do a more detailed post on their differences.

No I am not being sponsored by Nestle or do I have an affiliation with them. But it sure does seem that way doesn't it!? Maybe I should. I wonder if I'm photogenic enough to be their "poster child" Dreams of grandeur. In the mean-time, I'll keep plugging away at my 8-5job. I hope everyone is doing well in their own fitness world!

Day 56+ Back in the saddle

So I've been off and on for the past couple of weeks. Bachelor party, new kitten, starcraft 2, taking down wallpaper in the kitchen, you name it - I have an excuse for it. I've been getting to the gym hap-hazardly every so often, but there's no turning back today. I packed my lunch with the extra punch I need to get in a meaningful workout and my gym bag is all ready to go. The only thing I need to do it show up, and the rest will fall into place. Sounds easy enough, right? *Right* says my inner self.

Food update. Because I have been trying to bulk up, I think I told everyone I was eating a 2nd powerbar a day. Yeah... bad move. Original powerbars are not, by any means, a good tasting product compared to what's on the market, they do have more optimal nutritional benefits for my build - more protein. And if you have tastebuds, I highly suggest you look into another product and pay the extra $0.59 per bar for something more flavorful. Luna (for the ladies), Cliff Bars, etc all should do the trick. However, I'm a cheap sonofabitch so I stuck with the $1.00 powerbars, and TWO-A-DAY are killing me, even the better tasting ones are starting to no longer appeal to me. Thankfully the other day I saw a different product for sale that was $1.00/bar. It's a HARVEST POWERBAR. And they are REALLY GOOD! I would put them even above other energy bars on the market. I would have never even tried it had they not been on sale, but I stocked up on 20 of them. So I will eat a regular powerbar in the morning and a harvest one before my workout. Plus I can feel good that nestle is still getting my money, since powerbar was purchased by Nestle back in 1996 or something for 375million dollars. (when will I come up with a product that will sell for 375mil?). And the best part, is the harvest powerbar has basically the same nutritional facts, so still high protein, lower carbs, low fat.

Okay I need to work now but, it's a happy day!

Day 55+ Weekend's over

Happy day after Labor Day everyone. I'm a bit surprised that I am as cheerful as I am considering I spent the early part of my weekend completely plastered and the latter half recovering. Plus, my kitten left a present on my comforter while I was gone and it's Tuesday and I'm back in the office. HOORAY *while shaking head*

I had a good time at the bachelor party, the most memorable part was the part I can remember - my arrival. The rest is sorta a half-hazy, half exhausted, half piecewise mesh of stories people were telling me. For example: "OH MY GOD CARL, do you remember drawing on Jim's passed-out face last night?" "Uh... no..." "You did it right after you were passing around the Jack Daniels and everyone was taking hits, you took like 4! You're a champ!"

So basically the only stories I know were the ones that people told me after the fact. Supposedly there are pictures and videos. We'll see how that goes. I do know that the rafting was fun! We got matched up with a bus of kids from Ithica College - I think it was all the RA's but we really didn't talk to them since we had our own boat (Get on the boat...the bachelor boat. Get on the bachelor boat). We got the oldest most experienced raft-guide. He was hilarious. He let us do crazy stuff like wrestle, swim, horseplay, he even went to get us beer when we finished, what a guy!

Overall a pretty smashin' weekend. Definitely not something I could do every weekend, but once a year or twice a year, definitely worth it.

UNFORTUNATELY FOR ME... not going to be able to hit the gym today. I need to help the bride+groom bring items to their reception hall for setup and then going out for dinner afterwords, leaving me without sufficient time for the gym. I'll be there tomorrow though with bells on.

Day 54+: Bachelor Party

It's a Friday before a long weekend. Aside from the office being completely empty and for those that show up, they'll probably participate in a lot of chit-chat, it means I get to forget all about fitness for a few days. It's sad, I know. I've been so good in the past to stay on track, but long weekends are killer, especially when you go away for the weekend for a friend's bachelor party. I expect there will be hordes of drinking and pizza. And besides the occasional outdoor activity, I doubt I'm going to be "exercising"

However, Labor Day is also the last good weekend of summer... well at least it is up here in NY. Plus, kids go back to school, parks and librarys go back to regular operating hours, and I've already noticed it's a lot darker in the morning! Oh well, I'm an all-season kinda guy, so once fall sets in, I'll be glad it did.

I hope everyone is enjoying the little exercise/fitness cartoons I have been adding. I think they are very clever and cute. This one really doesn't pertain to anything I can really relate to, since I don't own a recliner... but I can see where he's going with it ;-)

I weighed in at 151lbs this morning, actually LESS than where I thought I would come in. I have been spending a lot of time on Yahoo!answers giving people fitness advice and guidance. I actually got top contributor again.

Day 53+: Back and Biceps

I like this cartoon. It says a lot about "quick-fixes" and "miracle fat-loss" I think it's all rubbish. You wanna lose weight? You wanna be healthy? Put down the twinky and pick up a dumbbell. It's that simple. Speaking of twinkies... turns out they don't last forever and actually have a shelf-life of 25 days! I've been duped! You're trying to tell me there's actual food in there? All this time I thought it was some chemical by-product that resembled a pastry. But hostess does produce 500million of them every year, so they might as well be infinite.

Okay, that was random. My apologies.

Coming up on Day 60. Only a week away. I don't feel this phase 2+ has been my best (by any means). Took a lot of days off, slacked a lot with the diet and coffee (mainly coffee).

Going to a bachelor party this weekend, speaking of which, since when did bachelor parties start lasting 2 and 3 days? From my understanding it was a drunken night of men doing stupid stuff often times with hired female entertainment. If by the end of the night, if you were sober enough to drive home, that was the end of it. Otherwise wake up in the morning, shower, have some scrambled eggs, shower again, drive home feeling like you want to vomit, and then sleep until 4pm. But seems like everyone I know has been doing these Go to Vegas bachelor parties or spend the weekend at my cottage/summer home deals.

Okay, that's enough complaining for 1 day. I am back on the creatine monohydrate. I haven't re-started taken the hulk drink yet. I want to kick my coffee habit first.

Day 52:C/S/T

I still haven't kicked the work-coffee habit that spawned a few weeks ago. Ever since I've been having a coffee or two a day in the office. It's not killing me, but I feel it's not right. I don't put any sugar/milk in it... it's just that I'm trying to be habitual about drinking water and the coffee just ruins that whole aura - even if it's not doing any "harm" persay. Don't worry, it makes sense in my head. And what's really perplexing, I don't even ENJOY the coffee here at work, it's absolutely horrid.

The joys of making sesnse!

Update on my friend Jake, who has failed at blogging, yet again... Has gotten back on the bandwagon with two recruits to P90X. Turns out with all the moves he's been going through, work and home, he's put fitness on the side-lines. Well, I guess his new building has a big open gym in it and they're asking for suggestions and some of his co-workers are getting "wall-to-wall" chin-up bars specifically for P90X. Should spark some interest back into his fitness program. Weither or not he'll be back to the blog world, I have no idea.

Day 51: Kitten photos

I figured I'd let everyone see my new kitty. I know it's not fitness or P90X related, but who cares! A little background story... I offered to accept this cat from a co-worker whose parents were deathly alergic to him. But between the time I offered to take him in, and the day he arrived at my house... my childhood cat (cuddles) passed away at the age of 21. Thus making the arrival of this kitten that much more special to me. Also, I didn't know this when I accepted him, he LOOKS a lot like my old cat, granted about 20 years younger. Enjoy the pics! I'm sure you'll be hearing a lot more about him in the future.

Currently he is without name:

Day 50+ Took a few days off - Kitten has arrived

Sorry for anyone who reads my blog on a daily basis, I missed a couple days (Mainly Thursday through Sunday). I was pre-occupied, lazy, and just not motivated to write anything. But now that I'm back I figure I should let you know what happened over the weekend.

1. I took a well deserved 4 days off working out! I'm not upset or proud about this, I just needed some non-workout days. I'm on week 8 of P90X+ and I haven't had any real rest days since the new program started.

2. I went out and purchased some new clothes. I didn't buy any pants, which are the worst fitting clothing items I have, but I did buy some new dress shirts and such.

3.The kitten is here! He came over the weekend. From the picture I posted, I thought he was going to be grey. It turns out he's an orangy/white mix. I didn't see that one coming. He's very cute and friendly.

4. Continuing the kitchen renovations. The cabinets and trim were finished quite a while ago. But we started taking down wallpaper and plan to soon paint the walls/doors, completing the project.

5. Back on the chemicals for another 28-30 days.

I'll try to target some posts around the new kitten in the near future. I've got some photos and stories alraedy, just need to get them online...

Legs and back today.

Day 49+ And we're back

Yesterday's TND was delicious. I had never cooked ribs before, but they were wonderful. Unfortunately, no opportunities to workout yesterday, so we'll just forget about that today and press forward like nothing happened.

At work I have been consuming more coffee than normal, perhaps I should blame Starcraft 2 for being up a little later than normal each night, or perhaps I'm just getting "cravings" regularly, but I have discovered it's not crappy coffee at work (although it still isn't great), it's actually crappy creamer. So I've axed that portion of my coffee and switched over to just plain sweetner (sucralose/splenda). Even though it's not water, I guess you could argue it's not BAD for you... I'm at one or two cups a day. Perhaps I should kick the habit before I go back on creatine - which suggests not consuming many diuretics.

Next week will be kitten week. I hope to still be able to hit the gym, but I think I'll be excited to head home early to check on him and play. I'll play it by ear.

Day 49+ Going to have to skip :-(

I have a lot of housework that needs to get done prior to the arrival of my Tuesday Night Dinner (TND) friends. On a normal basis, I would be going to the gym for about 1hour then heading home to start cooking, today I have at least an hour's worth of organizing/cleaning to do. Which means I will have to put today's CST (chest/shoulder/tri) workout off til another day - or just scrap it all together.

Yesterday's photo of Tobias did not come out very well, so I will try it again here:


I weighed in at 151lbs this morning. Down a few lbs, but I think I've actually lost a bit of muscle mass in the past few days, since I haven't been hitting the weights as rigorously as normal. Hopefully when I get back on the supplements I'll get back up to speed and this funk that I'm in will end.

Day 48+ Legs and Back

It turns out that 30% of Americans have a blog, and 20 years ago nobody did... it's a random factoid. I heard it in the radio as I was coming to work. I haven't verified it but I have no reason to dispute the claim.

My weekends remain lazy. Granted one of the days is a rest-day anyway, I just always feel that my weekend activities and eating don't really conform to the exercise/nutrition P90X suggests. It's not really a bad thing, but I just feel a bit guilty.

This will be my 2nd week off the chemicals. I plan on getting back on them either late this week or early next week. I look forward to it, I think they really do help me get in those extra reps.

**There is a bundle of joy on the way** No I'm not having a child, but I will be adopting a 5mo. old cat from a friend whose parents are deathly allergic to cat-dander. So I'm sure you'll be reading about the mayhem and the mischief my new friend will be getting into. I hope he behaves.

Day 46+ Kenpo Cardio X

Today I get to do one of my favorite workouts - KENPO. I don't know why I like it so much, but it's just fun and easy to do and the next thing you know, it's over and you're all gross and sweaty. The only downside is I never get to do it at home, since I'm always moving around on the weekends. But throw in a couple 3lb weights and you got yourself one fun, yet serious workouts.

I mentioned this before, but the creatine monohydrate and JACK3d have really motivated me to keep up the workload. I'm finding this week has been rather lazy (both at the gym and getting to the gym) which makes me wonder if these chemicals actually HELP in motivating me to workout.

No ab-ripper tonight. I've been doing it pretty much daily during the work week up til today. I think I need to start adding resistance, because I'm no longer getting skinnier (I don't know how much more I can lose), but the abdominal muscles aren't getting any more defined. Perhaps a medicine ball or some additional moves are in order.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Day 44+ and 45+ Half Way - Day of Caring and Platelets

Yesterday was the anual Day of Caring, where companies all over Western NY get volunteers together and go work on community projects throughout the region and help clean things up or accompany kids to the park or train unemployeed people how to act in an interview. Depending what your skill set is, and what you sign up for, it's a great opportunity to reach out to the community. It's also a great way to take a day off work! So yesterday I spent my whole morning cleaning up Gallagher Beach, picking out trash from the rocks and raking up sea weed (interesting side note: what are the rules with sea-weed? If it's from a lake... is it still SEA weed? or is it LAKE weed?) It was physically demanding, it wasn't P90X, but I'm going to consider it as a workout day, only because I would have otherwise been sitting on my butt for 8hrs at work, not getting any exercise.

Immediately following my Day of Caring activities, I went to the red cross to donate platelets - I racked up some big points on the charity scale yesterday. So workout out really wasn't an option anyway. They're offering "A netbook-a-day" for platelet donors. The staff at the clinic already told me "Enter on a Sunday... that way you have the best chances of winning." Hopefully they haven't been telling everyone else that... it would be neat to win something!

Today will be another P90X at the gym day. My schedule is a little messed up since I did the trainer's exercises so perhaps today I'll take it easy and do shoulders/arms. Who knows, I guess I'll do whatever feels good when I arrive at the gym.

My weight has been around 151 recently. This morning I was 152.5lbs, but yesterday I was 150.0lbs. Being off the chemicals, I've noticed that I'm less EXCITED about going to the gym. But that's probably all plaecebo effets, I can't imagine creatine making me want to work out, more than the fact I'm taking creatine so in my mind I SHOULD work out... or maybe it's the Hulk Drink, who knows. Either way, it's a difference.

Day 43+ Was that a train or a bus that hit me?

Does it matter? I was hit by a trainer, a far worse scenario. So 1 hour with the trainer, and this is after I made him do about 120 pullups/lunges/pushups. He knows I can take a beating, and he came back with a vengeance.

(I wrote down all the moves we did... but I left it in my gym bag)

For starters we did about 5minutes of stretching and quick chatting. Then he reached into his bag'o tricks and pulled out a 20ft long (what looked like sailing rope) but was actually a bungee. He had me first go through a series of Judo moves "Grab'n throw" style stuff 15 times over each shoulder. Then into swimming, skiing, curls, extensions, flies, press with no rest in between and each exercise he kept taking a step back making the bungee even more taught.

Then, he throws me the heaviest medicine ball in the gym and says "Squat-jump-shoot" and when I shoot, he'll pass me a smaller medicine ball and catch the heavy one. Making this an alternating weight squat-jump-press. 20 reps. I was already dead. But we went straight into lunge-twists, holding the medicine ball. 20 each side. How I survived, I'll never know.

Without a stop we went down to the floor, pushup-tear downs (here comes the revenge for the large amounts of pushups I made him go through), except these tear downs were 5 second rest between sets of 25, 20, 15, 10, and 5. The 15's and 10's were my worst. But it totalled 75 pushups straight.

I think I at this point I grabbed some water. I was pretty sweaty. But then we hit the floor for some abs. We did jack-knifes 4 ways, but the one that I remember most vividly was the medicine ball in my hands (heavy) and the smaller one between my ankles. Then going full extension and then curling up to the ceiling. But I also did 1 leg jack-knife, side jack-knife, and alternating 1hand-1leg jack-knife.

Balance lunge on ball - yeah finally something I'm familiar with. This one was actually okay. He had me hold + curl 15lb weights, which I was okay with. Following that I did super-skaters holding a 12.5lb weight then doing a knee-lift press during the up-swing of the super skater. I actually took this time to catch up with myself, because I am pretty toasty at this point.

Then we hopped back to abs. Plank/sphinx/knee-tuck on the ball for 90 seconds. Then to plank 60 seconds. 1 leg plank 30sec each side. to mountain climber (alternating fast-feet in from a pike-position).

Then we rounded it all off with some super-sets on the exercise ball 15lbs(heavy) 10lbs(light) 20reps each time for each exercise... Arnold-Press (shoulder press with a twist at the bottom) 20x15lbs + 20x10lbs, to bicep curls 20x15lbs + 20x10lbs, to alternating shoulder press 20x15lbs + 20x10lbs, to alternating bicep curls 20x15lbs + 20x10lbs, to peck-flies 20x15lbs + 10x15lbs, to triceps extensions 20x15lbs + 20x10lbs, to finally close-grip press 20x15lbs + 20x10lbs. Please let it be over...

Thankfully it was. It took about 50minutes and we took some time at the end to stretch and go over all the moves we did. I think we totalled about 25moves. But a lot of them were LONG! But man o man I was pooped at the end.

I think I'll do legs and back today.

Day 42+ Paintball weekend

Saturday, I went paint balling. I even have some welts to prove it. But it was a lot of fun. It's a shame it only lasted for two hours, but if it were to go any longer... I'd need to find a second job because, unbeknownst to me, paint balls are pretty expensive (in the ballpark of $0.10 per ball). I guess they are actually much cheaper - but when you buy them on-site, they raise the prices on you.

Today I get to workout with the trainer again, this time he'll be training me. I look forward to learning some new tricks. Nothing terribly new to report... Except for maybe: Starcraft2 is slowly taking over my life, and I've only thus far played the Terran race. See, now even my fitness blog is talkin' about it! Oh this is bad, I need help.

Day 39+ Kenpo Cardio Plus - au naturale

Yesterday's training went well. The only snag I ran into was the loss of the pullup-bar which weighted heavily on legs for the first 10minutes or so and then weighted heavily for the back in the last 10 minutes. At least the middle was relatively normal. The trainer was very impressed with some of the more coordination oriented moves. He said that he'd likely try to perfect them and teach them to some people, which is cool. He also said that after seeing my workout today, he has Monday's training session already planned out - I think I'm going to be doing a lot of pullups, because I think he got the vibe I'm really into them, which I kinda am.

Paintballing this weekend. First time actually going paintballing with a group of people. I've shot the guns before and played capture the flag, but never together at the same time. Should be pretty exciting.

No More Chemicals:
These next two weeks or so, I am not going to be taking any of my workout enhancement chemicals. No creatine monohydrate, no JACK3D, no protein shakes. This is all because I want to avoid dependency. When you're on a product for a long period of time, your body can 'forget' how to produce those chemicals naturally (or produces it but at a reduced rate, since you have an external source). So the next two weeks will be me doing all the normal workouts without help and my body will have to figure out how to function on its own again. I'm also a bit concerned with the caffeine dependency from JACK3D. Every Friday (when I don't workout immediately following work) I have an afternoon lull that kicks in right around when I would be taking Jack3D, and since it's loaded with caffeine, it's like I'm missing my morning coffee. With that, I'll be shelving my products - also known as: The Hulk Drink, Juice, Roids, etc. I'll keep you updated when I'm about to get back on them - plus if I notice any major differences... next couple posts could be very interesting.

Metal vs Physical?

I've been answering a lot of yahoo answers (top contributor diet/fitness). And I find more often than not I answer people's diet questions with answers that involve mental strength more than physical prowess. Why? Well think about it, pain is in the mind, scheduling, goal setting, ambitions, your ideal physique... are all in the mind. So when you work out, if you're not mentally prepared to change the way you eat/take care of yourself, you'll never make it. So I've decided to share that with some people here. Diet&Fitness - its more than just getting your body in shape, it's getting your mind straightened out too!

Day 38+ Tony Horton wanabee?

Today's the day I get to train somebody! Not just anybody, but somebody who knows a thing or two about fitness. It almost feels like I'm taking an exam or a competency test, but the bright side... I'm prepared. I put together a list of exercises for he and I to do, I did weigh it heavily on pushups/legs. But I've got some random abs and other strange goodies in there. Then I finish off with my modified Ab-ripper-X (which is basically the same thing but with scisor climber instead of leg-climber).

1. Military Pushups (25)
2. Wide-front Pull ups (20)
3. 80-20 Speed Squats (15/15jump)
4. Diamond Pushups (25)
5. Corn-Cob Pullups (10)
6. Super-Skaters (20/side)
7. Dive Bomber Pushups (20)
8. Warrior Bows (20/side)
9. One Leg Deadlift Squats (20/side)
10. Wide-Fly Pushups (30)
11. Close-Grip Chinups (25)
12. Balance Lunges (25/side)
13. Spiderman Pushups (20)
14. Switch-Grip Chinups (14)
15. Sneaky Lunges (20)
16. 1-arm balance pushup (20)
17. Max-Rep Pullups (your choice)
18. Plyometric Pushup (12)
19. Calf Raises (15slow/10fastx3ways)
20. Heavy-Pants (40lbs/16 times)

**AB WORKOUT EXTRA**

1. In-and-Outs (25)
2. Bicycles (25)
3. Crunchy Frog (25)
4. Wide-leg Situps (12/side)
5. Fifer Scisors (30count)
6. Hip Raise (25)
7. Heels 2 Heavens (25)
8. V-up Roll-up (26 total)
9. Oblique V-up (25/sdie)
10. Scisor climber (25count)
11. Russian Twists (50)

Then on Monday he's going to give me a 1hr free fitness instructing - which is kinda cool. So next two workouts at the gym will be strange, to say the least!

Day 37+ Training the Trainer...

Let me explain. So previously I had told you that one of the trainers at the gym wanted me to become a trainer. That's cool. Well now a different trainer wants me to show him some of the things I do for 1 hour on Thursday. In return he'll show me some things (without a trainer fee) on Monday. So that's kinda cool. But now the question becomes, what do I show him?

I was thinking I would do a mixed version of all the best P90X exercises that don't require weights. Things like super-skaters, corn-cob pullups, 80-20 debie seiber squats, widefly-pushups, diamond pushups, divebomber pushups, side-tri-rise, side to side pushups, balance pushups, plyo pushups, chinups, pullups, deadlift squats, who knows? Whatever I put together needs to last about 1hr though. And they've gotta be good!

It'll be my turn to be Tony Horton for a day! WOOHOO. That means I get to say random nonsensical gibberish "DIAMONDS OF GOLD!"

Day 36+ Something

For some reason the blog was busted for a minute or two... It seems to be working now. Today will be Legs&Back. My weight today is 150.5lbs. Up 4lbs from day 110.

Day 36+ Chemical Carl + Pictures

So let's see how these chemicals that I have been taking have added or subtracted from the overall P90X experience in picture form... What we have here are day 1 P90X+ photos and Day 30 P90X+ photos. I can clearly tell I have bulked up, hopefully you can tell too.

Day 35+ Pics on the way Chest&Back

I took the day 30photos yesterday, I was too lazy to put them up in a post and now I am at work. So tonight I'll throw the photos up from Round 2 - Phase 1. I think the results are reasonable, I'm definitely a bit bigger.

What's going on these days? A guy at the gym on Thursday asked if I was "shredding"? I didn't know what that was, so I told him I was doing P90X. I haven't really determined what shredding is, but now that I've had some time to think about it, I bet it's just losing a lot of weight. "Fat Shredder" phase? perhaps he was referring to P90X the whole time and wanted to know if I was in phase#1, who knows? Regardless, I'm out of phase 1 now and into phase 2. Bring on the pain-train.

Because I have been doing the P90X+ program so willy-nilly, it's difficult to say if I will see much difference between phases. But maybe I should get my trolley back on the tracks and start pounding away these PLUS programs? Abs Core +, Kenpo+, Upper+, Total Body+...

Day 32+ Kenpo Cardio X plus

Here goes my 2nd round with Kenpo Cardio X. It should be fun, last time I really enjoyed it. But I was sweating to the oldies like Richard Simmons! Speaking of which, I wonder where Richard is these days. He was super popular in the late 80's early 90's you could consider him the Tony Horton of his time. Oh well, I'm sure he's out there somewhere comforting fat women and maintaining his afro in his pile of money.

Yesterday's workout was fantastic. You know, really all the workouts this week I felt very pleased with. Pushed myself really hard, did all the reps I had previously done, and sometimes I even increased the weights. I'm definitely thinking I'm gaining some bulk... It's been very difficult for me to dip below 150lbs, which means at minimum I think I've gained 3-4lbs.

Sunday will be a bit of a challenge. I won't have a pullup bar or access to the gym, so I might miss a day. But tomorrow I plan on taking day 30 photos and post them up on the blogosphere. I've got my fingers crossed for some decent results. My day 110 photos were awesome.

One final note... I got a wedding invitation the other week and in the response line there was this M____________________ section. I didn't know what it was for, so I looked it up, it was a place to put your name down, but it was too late, I already filled it with the most appropriate M-word I could find: Maritodespotism, meaning "Tyrannical ownership of a woman by a husband". Yay for having too much free time!

Day 31+ Back and Bicep

Random story I heard on the news on my drive to work: 5hour Energy has taken on a lawsuit of $105million because there is a claim that the energy drink has caused a heart attack in a young-man. Insane! I always see the ads on the internet and see them at the checkout counter as I'm leaving the grocery store. Hard to imagine those little bottles of vitamins + caffeine could give somebody (without a pre-condition) a heart attack. That's like having a morning starbucks coffee give you a heart attack... could you really file a lawsuit against coffee? Oh wait, they did back in 1994 Liebeck vs Mcdonalds for 2.86million, and that didn't even involve a death. The joys of the judicial system.

In other news, trying my best to bring my weight down back to normal P90X graduate weights (below 150). I'm hanging in there from my binge weekend, but only by a thread. The last two days workouts were tough ones, although I thought I did an exceptional job yesterday with CST. One handed pushups anyone? Managed to muscle out 12 per side, a new record.

I've swapped out leg climber for scissor climber in abripperX. I learned it from Ab-core Plus. You do a leg climber, then while in half-boat, swap legs and come down with the opposite leg up in half-boat. It's quite nice. Very ab-tastic. And I have been adding some hanging leg-raises to the tail end of the AbripperX, just because I think they are good for my lower abs, which have been the last things to really show. We'll see how that all works in a couple weeks.

All my fallen trees/branches have been picked up. Thank you town traffic department.

Been playing starcraft 2 in the late afternoons, been a lot of fun so far!

Day 30+ Chest/Shoulders/Tris

Thankfully, work really puts me back on my eating schedule. If it wasn't for the structured daily habits of waking up at 6:45am, having lunch at 12:00pm, leaving work at 5:00pm and eating dinner after the gym 7:30pm, I don't know how I would even be able to maintain a diet at all.

Legs and back yesterday was pretty rough. It's amazing how a couple lazy days really makes you remember how hard some of these workouts can be. All the more reason to stick to the program I guess.

I saw some kids at the gym doing AbripperX, I know it was abripper because they started doing the V-up roll-up, and seriously, who's going to do that unless they're doing P90X. So I talked to them and asked what week they were on. Turns out they were on week #3. So good for them! I hope they make it through!

I somehow managed to become a top-contributor on yahoo answers for Diet & Fitness. That's never happened to me before, but it's cool that I got that little orange bubble so people will actually read my responses! But it probably also means I should be doing more work at work and less answering people's fitness questions (doh!).

It's already Wednesday, and I am 30 days into P90X round2, but I want to keep everyone waiting for day 30photos because I have taken so many days off in the past week. I'll post them on Saturday! But it's amazing that I'm already 1/3rd done!

Day 29+ Vacation is Over

I'm back from the Beach-House. I feel fantastically relaxed and happy. My liver, on the other hand, seems to believe it needs another vacation to recuperate from the previous 5 days. I certainly did not exercise or follow any nutritional guidelines over the long weekend... in fact I drank more soda, ate more chips, and consumed more carbohydrates than the whole of 2010. Sad to see the scale tell me I was 153.5lbs this morning, well over my previous weigh in, but we'll see what happens tomorrow after I workout today and get back on track with eating healthy.

I'll definitely have to tack on a few extra days at the end of the program to make up for this weekend's antics. I'm starting to feel a bit nervous about day 30photos being worse than day 1 photos after this weekend... Perhaps I'll wait till Saturday to take the photos, as usual. At least that way I'll give myself 4 days to get back into shape. I want to be accountable for my actions... but not THAT accountable! Plus nobody wants to see pictures of a fat-guy (we had this discussion at the beach - how fat men can go without a shirt...)

My chili peppers are LIMP AND DYING! I though I had a watering system figured out, looks like I did not! All the leaves are limp and wilty, I'm hoping that by this afternoon, they'll perk back up from this morning's watering... but who knows? It might be the end for them!

Oh and Starcraft 2 is out and installed on my computer! I didn't play it at all this weekend, but the intention will be to play it at least once a night! Pretty much everyone I know has it now so there will be lots of opportunities to play with friends! Yay!

Now I need to convince myself to work... Legs/Back Today