Its a Start

Well last week was definitely not perfect but I think it was a step in the right direction. I got 3 workouts in and several days of descent eating. Had some bad meals too and drank to much booze over the weekend. I am hoping I got threw the first workouts soreness where you feel like your body has been through a war. This week my goal is to hit at least 4 workouts and have at least that many days of good eating. I guess that wont get the wonderful fast results but at this point I am trying to build some momentum. I will try to report in again in the next few days to say how things are going.

Ripx180 Reloaded

Well I am hoping this is a start to a better me. Had a good day yesterday both diet and exercise wise. I got on the scale yesterday morning and it made me so sad and mad at myself. I have really let myself slide once again. So pretty much starting at square one just a few years older. Vicious cycle folks if you ask me. Anyway my wife and I are doing some ole school P90 videos to get broke back in. At this point I physically cannot do p90x and not feel like I am going to die. I am hoping to do P90 for 1 or 2 months and then move back up to the harder P90X. Not happy with how I feel or what I see in the mirror. I hope this time around its the real deal and not just another false start that results in a DQ and extra pounds. Wish me luck...

3 Years Ago

It all started with a few words from a 11 year old. We were playing volleyball at the annual 4th party and I jumped up to make a block against my brother in law. I sprung up and position wise I was right where I needed to be but the ball glanced off my finger tips just out of my reach. When I came back down I was feeling a little dejected and this 11 year old looks at me and says "3 years ago". Pretty much 3 years ago I would have made that block. I know we were all just kind of trash talking but I started thinking about it and he is right. 3 years ago i would have stuffed that. 3 years ago I was 20 pounds lighter, and 3 years ago I was on the south side of 35. Truth be told I don't think it has anything to do with my age, it has everything to do with me letting my weight and fitness slide. This morning as I type this my left ankle feels like its one fused bone and my right knee feels really weak and sore. Those are the nagging pains, the entire rest of my body feels like its been through a war too. So I guess its a combination of a sore aging body and a 11 years old words that has driven me to post this. I don't know if this is the wake up call I need or just another bump in the road. I want to get back to feeling better mentally and physically about myself. The one thing I have stayed true to is my pushing change resolution. The goatee has not come back even though I have wanted it to and I think my wife likes it too. I told her that I promised myself I wouldn't grow it back unless I was sub 200 and she is supportive. Its not much but to me its a little victory. The soreness and lack of performance in our annual volleyball game hopefully lit a spark.... only time will tell.

Pushing Change.

Well I have been rocking the 90s goatee for the last 15 years cutting it off on occasion to only grow it back shortly after. Well yesterday I decided it was time for a change and chopped it off making myself a little promise. For many of those 15 years I have been hiding my fat chin behind it using it's look to elongate my face. My promise to myself was I will not grow it back until I am back in Onederland and I plan to stick to that. If you cant give yourself your own word and stick to it than how good is your word? Its time to get back in and start pushing back.

I Got a Whole Lot of Nothing....

Well the last few weeks have been pretty much a wash. Haven't been hitting my workouts and my diet has been good off and on. Thought I had found the eye of the tiger but woke up one day with the eye of the sloth.

Well this last wed I had my annual physical. Doc says "looks like you have put on some weight". I agree and he asks why? Pretty much tell him that my diet has gotten lax and that I haven't been working out like I was. Anyway he goes into the usual I am not a nutritionist run down of what I should be eating and that I need to get more exercise. I agree and he tells me my blood pressure is up and that he would like to see it down where it was last year. Which turns back to diet and exercise talk. I am also supposed to go get a blood draw for test too and i am afraid of what that might say too. With that all being said I know what needs to be done but I am having a hard time putting it into motion. I think allot of people are struggling with this exact same thing. I mentally feel like I am missing out on something if I cant eat what other people are eating or drink beers with my buddies. So much in my family and friends circles revolves around food and drink. But alas I have said all this before. I need to find the thought process or mindset that says it doesn't matter and that my health and wellness is more important than living in the now.

Tonight I plan on getting some exercise in and I still need to keep posting more here. Sorry for such a long time between posts.

Wednesday Weigh In....

Well I am down 2.5 pounds in my first official week of working out and eating better. Doesn't seem like much but its something.

Did the spartacus workout on Monday night and my legs are freaking killing me. I wasn't able to make it through 3 rotations of the spartacus circuit either, I only did 2. It still clocked in at over 30mins and 400+ calories burned. I ran last night and this morning I am definitely walking a little funny.

Diet has been spot on this week thus far. Been a little hungry and that leads to weight loss in my experience.

This weekend is going to be really tuff. We have our annual Mt Bachelor trip with friends. I already know I will be eating some stuff off my diet so portions are going to be key. That's my plan and I am sticking to it. I am also planning to log some workouts while down there (most likely running).

Until Later....

Bad and Good

Well this weekend wasn't quite as productive as I would have liked it to have been weight loss wise. As for most people weekends pose increased social activities and more chance of bad food/tuff choices. Friday I had a guys night out with a couple buddies and Saturday was out for a b-day dinner with friends. So both nights I had some beer and some food that isn't on my diet. On the flip side (good) I did run 5 times this last week including both Friday and Sunday and I felt my diet was in the forefront of my head. When I did eat not the best I did take note of it and did avoid some damage making good choices that I wouldn't have a few weekends ago. This last weekend wasn't perfect at all but it was a step in the right direction. I just need to keep making the bad less and less. Weight loss wise I am not really up or down. That is tuff to swallow but hey I already know its hard for me to lose weight. Just got to keep on keeping on.....

In the spirit of fitness and tools I picked up a couple apps to try out on my iphone. I got the Nike+GPS which is supposed to use the GPS to track your runs etc. The other one I got is Mens Health Workouts. It has a series of workouts and moves all illustrated etc. I have a friend who is always shredded and in great shape and he swears by the Spartacus workout Men's Health put out. Looks like pretty intense circuit training along the lines of some of the workouts in P90x. I am gonna give it a go tonight. Cool thing is both of these apps were only 1.99 each so definitely wont break the bank.

Another thing my buddy who is ripped talked about is he is totally into heart rate training and the science behind it. I think I am going to start paying a little more attention to that too. Allot of the time when running especially I am over my zone (80%). Anyway the last few paragraphs are just food for thought and stuff I have been mulling over in my head.

It's Monday folks, lets make this a good week.

Phuk Being Phat!!!!

After being gone so long I really don't know where to start. My weight has re-spiked back up to about 10 pounds short of my heaviest and I feel its time to say "Enter title of Blog Post"... With the addition of the 35 pounds or so I have also brought back many things about myself I don't like. When I really slow down to look in the mirror and say "who am I?" I don't really know and don't like what I see. The guy looking back at me isn't who I want to be, how I want to look, or who I want my children and wife to see. I see a overweight, lazy guy who used to care about his health, appearance, and how he portrayed himself. In all truth you could go back to my first ever post (http://ripx180.blogspot.com/2007/06/introduction.html) and re-read, it all applies plus some, and now I am 4 years older. I have reached the low 190s 3 times to never make my goal of being Ripx180lbs. Usually about 1.5 years later I am knocking on fatties door and find myself in this very same spot I am now except older each time. How does one break the cycle, I ask myself that all the time. Anyway I could go on and on about the fat predicament i find myself in now but that's never been the focus of my blog so I will switch gears.

Over the last week or so I have felt a mental change for the better in my motivation to do something about it again. I think there are several things attributed to flipping the switch back on. The fact I don't feel comfy in my own skin, my clothes are tight, I get winded easy, I want to be a good roll model for my boys, a good friend of mine that I have worked out with in the past is getting his head back in the game, and the FAT coalition is starting to gather a head of steam (sorry for the largest run on sentence ever). So what's my plan you say?? In one word "basics". In the past I have tried to focus on loosing weight and gaining muscle at the same time. I don't think that works well for me, I spin my wheels too much. This time I am going to focus on diet and weight loss until I hit a desired weight goal. With that said I think I will be doing mostly cardio with a few weight workouts a week (to try and preserve the muscle mass I have). I really enjoyed P90x when I was doing it but I am in no shape to be doing that right now. I have a bike and a treadmill that I think I will be seeing allot of in the future. I ran (ok jogged and walked) the last two nights and i am pretty sore from that alone. Tonight I will be doing some video to get a sweat on and burn some calories while giving my running muscles a short break.

Anyway, I plan on posting here more again and look forward to reading some comments if you have a moment.