R2D16 - Run

Last workout of the year. Ran instead of Core Synergistics, but my calf held me back again. Had to stop at 5 miles. Pretty frustrating.

L: slice cheese pizza 200, chef salad 300
S: cheese 35
D: new years party. Brisket 500, fruit 100, chapagne 250, southern comfort 250, wine 200, etc 200. 1500

2035

R2D15 - Yoga (Recovery week 1)

Since I am synced with Sheri and she is one week ahead, I am starting my virtual week four today.  This is the recovery week.

B: 5 wheat pancakes 200 +3 turkey bacon 150
L: Gumbo and sweet potatoes 400
S: PB Toast 150, nuts 150, Yogurt 80
D: Chicken 200, Veggies 50, Greek Salad 150, Grape Leaves 200
S: Popcorn 100

1830

R2D14 - Rest (Did Shoulders & Arm)

Supposed to be a rest day, but did Shoulders and Arms with Sheri. Got to use my 35s today and really brought it to the next level. God I love that workout.

B: Big Shake 250
BS @ 11AM 84 a little light
S: Oatmeal 100
L: Chicken Sandwich 320 + Butternut Squash Soup 150
S: PB Toast 150
D: seafood gumbo 300, sweet potatoes 130
S: popcorn 100

1500

I feel like I am pigging out, but I am still not getting enough calories.

Musing 8 - BMI, Body Fat and Weight - Obese @ 13% BF?

I have finally had it with the scales.  I have not moved an inch in three weeks.  In fact, I may have gained a pound.  I am currently sitting at 213#s.

When I go to the CDC & NIH web sites and put in my height and weight, it says I have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 29.7.  It goes on to say that the Overweight range is 25-29.9.  Obese is 30 or greater.  It is basically saying that if I gained two more pounds, I would be obese regardless of my body fat percentage.

THIS KINDA BOILS MY BLOOD.

So I went and dropped $75 at the Tom Landry Fitness Center today to get a DEXA scan.  A DEXA scan is usually used to check your bone health.  However, it is a great body fat calculator.  In fact, it is 98% accurate, and it can tell you exactly where your fat is.  Well I went in and did the scan.  It is like a Star Trek device that moves over your body, irradiating every inch with x-rays.  The results:

I am at 13.7% Body Fat!  That's right...  This "obese" guy is 13% Body Fat. Shapeup.com says that men under 39 should be between 8% and 19%.  I am right in the middle of that range now.

I found this chart online for professional athletes.  It looks like 13.7% is inline with athletic levels.

Average Body Fat Percentage of Athletes
Sport	Male	Female	Sport	Male	Female
Baseball	12-15%	12-18%	Rowing	6-14%	12-18%
Basketball	6-12%	20-27%	Shot Putters	16-20%	20-28%
Body building	5-8%	10-15%	Skiing (X country)	7-12%	16-22%
Cycling	5-15%	15-20%	Sprinters	8-10%	12-20%
Football (Backs)	9-12%	No data	Swimming	9-12%	14-24%
Football (Linemen)	15-19%	No data	Tennis	12-16%	16-24%
Gymnastics	5-12%	10-16%	Triathlon	5-12%	10-15%
High/long Jumpers	7-12%	10-18%	Volleyball	11-14%	16-25%
Ice/field Hockey	8-15%	12-18%	Weightlifters	9-16%	No data
Racquetball	8-13%	15-22%	Wrestlers	5-16%	No data

So, What have we learned here:
- Measuring weight alone is BS.  I could gain 10 pounds, but if my waist stays the same, I will be under 10% BF.
- BMI is BS period.
- DEXA is pretty cool.  I plan to do it again in 6 Months.

R2D13 - Core Synergistics

Sheri is back. Substituted out Core for Kenpo.

B: Shake 200
9AM BS @ 74. Little light
S: oatmeal an raisins 125 + turkey meatball 40
L: chili 250, nuts 150, raisins 25
S: bar 180
D: Progresso 120, Egg white Omelet 240, turkey Meatball 50, Nuts 150
S: glass wine 100 roast 250
S: Popcorn

1765

R2D12 - Legs and Back and Abs

No Sheri this morning :(

B: Shake 1.5 scoop 250
S: Toast w PB 150
L: Salad and Soup 500

3PM BS @ 104  Feel Good

S: Nuts, steak, yogurt 250
D: Lettuce Wraps 250, Wheat Spaghetti with Turkey Meatballs and Salad 500
S: 1/2 Popcorn 50

1950

Musings 7 - On Blood Sugar, Calories and Wheat

I finally got to the bottom of my blood sugar situation.  Over the last 5-6 days I have been tinkering with calorie intake and carb intake to keep blood sugar dips at bay.

I think I have figured out two things:
1.  I needed to add back more calories in general.  I have been eating too little and that is impacting me in several ways.  It is keeping me from being fully fueled for workouts and the normal daily activities and it is probably risking my body starting to sacrifice muscle because there is not enough fat in there to burn.  I think the right calorie loading now is about 2100-2300 per day.
2.  I need to get some wheat in early in the day.  Wheat carbs hang around longer and help keep the blood sugar leveled out.  So far I have had wheat toast and wheat pancakes.  They both worked great and I have not had any big dips.

I am going to keep with the two adjustments above for a week or so and decide then if I need to make any other adjustments.

R2D11 - Yoga

B: Big Shake 250
Felt a little light at 12PM - Did not take BS
L: Chili 200 + toast with honey and PB 150
S: nuts and raisins 150
BS @ 2PM = 115 Feel Super
S: Bar 200
D: BBQ turkey and brisket 300. Veggies 100, Beans-100
S: Popcorn 100, lil smokies 100, yogurt 50

1700

R2D10 - Shoulders & Arms & Abs (Merry Christmas)

Did it with Blake, Sheri and Grant. Lots of dumb bell sharing.

I got new lifting gloves for Christmas. It helped me push a little harder (and I looked cool).

I also got a pair of 34" jeans that fit slightly loose - Oh yea!!!

B: 3 Wheat, Protein and Blueberry Pancakes and turkey sausage 400
L: soup ham nuts beer 500
D: Game Hens 300 + Butternut Squash Soup 100 + Veggies 200 + 1 glass wine 100

1600

R2D9 - Plyo

Plyometrics with EVERYONE!!!

B: 1.5 scoop shake 250
BS @ 10:30 101 Feel Good
S: 1/3 bar 65 , banana 100, nuts 50, four turkey lil smokies 100
L: turkey sandwich (first wheat in four months) 235
BS @ 3:00 84. A little light
S: chili 200
D: Fajita salad and misc stuff + 3 drinks 900


1900

R2D8 - Chest and Back and Abs

Really brought it. Second round of Dive Bombers is rough still.

I am going to really focus on tuning nutrition and blood sugar today. I am trying to get really good at dialing it in. I got a BS meter just for fun to get smart about how different foods affect it.

I think most of this has to do with not eating enough.  I am going to go ahead and have faith and bump my intake up to 2100-2200 a day for a few days and see where we land.

B: Mike Shake 200
S: Bar 200 + 4 turkey sausage 150
Lunch
BS Before - 84 A little light headed
Mahi, veggies, a little rice, and gumbo 500
BS after - 111 Feel great

S: pb 100, rasins 25 yogurt 80

4:30 BS 90 started to get light

S: popcorn 100 turkey lil smokie 100

5:00 BS 109 feel great again

D: 2 cup chili 500

6:00 BS 104 feel great

S: bud sel 55


2110

R2D7 - Rest

I have felt a little low on blood sugar for a couple days and can't seem to dig out of it. Not sure if it was drinking Sat night or not eating enough. I am going to up the intake a bit for a few days and see what happens. There is a tight wire here that I am still learning to balance on and now that I don't have much reserve fat, my body gets upset when I Bonk.

B: IHOP veggie omelet and fruit 400
S: bar 200 almonds 100
L: sweet tomatoes (really chowed down) 600
I feel sooooo much better now. I need to stay out ahead of these glycemic dips.
D: grilled ckn wrap 400 2 select 55 110


1810

R2D6 - Core Synergistic

We subs Core for Kenpo.

B: Big Mike Shake 250
S: Power Snack - steak, nuts, raisins 200
L: Freebird Salad 400
S: bar 200 blackberries 50
D: various meats and veggies and fruit 600


1700

R2D5 - Legs and Back and Abs

A little hung over but still brought it. I need to keep it to 2 beers.

B: Shake 200
S: Couple handfuls of random stuff (raisins, nuts steak)150
L: chicken salad. 250
S: bar 200
D: party salmon 150 asperagus 50 shrimp 150 blue cheese 100 1/4 piece cake 100 one drink. 100
S: popcorn 100

1550

R2D4 - Yoga

B: eggwhite omelet veggie. Sausage. 300
L: Soup 250
D: sirloin 300 veggies squash soup 100
S: nuts and raisins 150
Party: 4 beer 500

1600

R2D3 - Soulders and Arms and Abs

I LOVE THIS WORKOUT! My arms are still shaking.

I was 213# this morning. It is still coming off, but slowly.

B: 1-1/2 shake with banana 250 (watching the kids eat donuts)
S: bar 180
L: Last of the Chili and sweet Potatoes 350
S: blackberries 100 popcorn 80
D: veggies turkey ham cheese southern comfort. 500

1460

R2D2 - Plyo

I got all the way through it, so my calf can't be torn that bad. It is just a little sore now.

B: Mike shake with banana (makes it so much smoother)200
S: Bar 180 + yogurt 60
L: Chicken breast and roast beef + green beans and salad 400
S: nuts and raisins. 150 + popcorn 100
D:Walnut and chicken salad 350
S: Misc BS 100

1540

Dallas Carter - Amazing

I just met this guy on Facebook.  Inspirational

http://beachbodycoach.com/esuite/home/DallasCarter?bctid=31836453001

Goals for round 2

1. Work out with Sheri and encourage her on her journey
2. Run a 1hr 45min 1/2 Marathon
3. Get real abs
4. Get under 200 lbs.
5. More measurable upper body strength
1. 25 pull ups (front grip) fresh
2. 100 push ups (standard width) fresh

Thats it.

R2D1 - Chest and Back

R2D1 = Round 2 Day 1

I am now onto my second round

B: Mike Shake 200
S: yogurt 60 raisins 25
L: sweet tomatoe salad and chili 500
S: bar 180 nuts 140
S: popcorn 100
D: butternut squash soup 200
S: raisins, nuts 100

1500

Day 90 + 2 rest

B: eggbeaters and turkey bacon. And yogurt. 200
S: bar 200
l: leftover sirloin, sweet potatoes and broccoli - 400
S: nuts 180, cheese 70
D: Taco Salad 400

1400

High Fructose Hell

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article6954603.ece

0-90 Pic

I wish I had taken better pics along the way.  Oh well.  You get the idea...

Day 90 Pics

I took these at night. I should probably do another set in the morning after the workout. Anyhow, you can definitely see the progress.  I probably should have taken off the goofy glasses too.

 

Portion Sizes. This is super helpful.

I struggle a little bit sometimes estimating the calorie count of my meals. I know I am usually off by a little. This page is super helpful in giving you a sense of what a 300 calorie meal looks like. Remember that if you eat three os these a day and then a bunch of snacks, you are still way low.

http://www.diet-blog.com/archives/2007/04/26/what_do_300_calorie_meals_look_like.php

X Day 90 + 1 Bonus - Kenpo

Kenpo is the ultimate running recovery.

My calf is super stiff and sore, but it should be ok within a couple days.

Tomorrow is rest and then start round 2 on Wed.

B: Light Mike Shake 180
S: bar 180, raisins 25
l: WW Salisbury Steak with veggies 200/19 (Like a protein bar)
s: cheese 50, nuts 150
D: Sirloin, Sweet potatoes and veggies 400

1235

X Day 90 - 1/2 Marathon and Graduation

I just finished the 1/2 marathon an hour and a half ago. I got home and had a really big shake and took a bath.

Now as I sit here to write my last entry for my first round, it just hit me that I did it. I mean it hit me hard. I am all by myself in front of the computer actually pretty choked up. I can't think of a time in my life I have ever cried tears of joy. I can't even type.

[pause]

[deep breath]

Anyhow, the 1/2 went pretty good.

Bob Jacob's marathon wedding was a very unique and touching experience. Here is his site. Hopefully they will post pictures: www.marathonwedding.com

Here is the dallas morning news article: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/running/stories/121409dnspowhiterockbriefs.3e85b81.html


Pete and I were on pace for the first 7 miles and I felt terrific. The 10K pace was right at 8 minutes. Then my left calf started twitching. I have had this happen before and it is a scary situation. There are only three things that will happen:
1. Stop before it gets worse and live to fight another day
2. Run through it and pull a muscle
3. Run through it and see if it loosens up

I let Pete run on and I stretched for about three minutes and then I started running again pretty slow. I think miles 8-11 were over 10 minutes. Then it started loosening up and I was able to pick back up my pace. The last mile was close to an 8 minute.

It kinda sucks because I really wanted to test my physical limit today and my calf kept me from really pushing it. I did not really even break a sweat and I never got my cardio up in the zone.

The articles say we don't know why this happens. It just hits randomly sometimes. My right side feels great. No pain at all.

Anyhow, my first goal was to break 2 hours. The Official time on the clock said 2:03. However, we did Bob Jacobs wedding after we crossed the start line and so the race committee is going to adjust down the time about 6 minutes, so I should be well under 2 hours.

Pete ran the race I hoped to and hit roughly 1:45. I am really proud of Pete. That butt head used to make fun of me for running and now he is crushing 1/2 and full marathons. The psycho dude is lifting weights this afternoon. It has been so fun training with him and reconfirmed to me what an important life long friend he is to me.

Back to P90X...

If feels really great to have the first round done. Tomorrow is the official last day according to the workout schedule. So like a good P90Xer, I am going to get in my yoga and then rest on Tuesday. I will then start Round 2 on Wednesday with my beautiful wife.

I will post pictures tomorrow.

Food for today:

I'm not counting the promax, bananna, and 3 GUs I had to fuel for the race.

B: Big Shake 350
L: Chef salad. 400. 4 beers at cowboys game. 400
D: chili cracker nuts 400

1550

Musings 6 - Plan and Turn off Your Brain

P90X has three key things going for it:
1. It is a canned program that you do not have to think about or plan for.
2. It is a relatively short period of time - 90 days is a reasonable period to get your head around.
3. The workouts have room to allow you to start slower and build up to higher intensity as you get leaner and stronger.

Of these three things, having the whole thing already figured out and planned was the most important for me. I was able to just turn off my brain and bring it every day. I never worried about doing the right thing at the right intensity.

Many mornings if I did not have that structure, I would have just gone on a low intensity jog or not worked out at all. With P90X I just put in the DVD and turned off my brain.

It would take a much more disciplined person than me to plan the variety of quality workouts without a program like this. I feel like now I could use the P90X and P90X+ workouts to build my own schedule, but I am sure I would do some stupid stuff like too much resistance together, or not enough rest or something bad like that.

Also, the 90 day goal period is perfect for me. A longer period would be overwhelming and a shorter period would not allow me to set goals for material results. I plan to continue to work in 90 day cycles whether I am doing P90X or not. I think you can set a goal like shave 20 seconds off your mile or gain an inch in your chest or get spartan abs for summer and attain that goal in 90 days.

By doing workouts that allow you to see material progress in your strength and capacity, you get a lot of interim motivation. Through this first 90 days, I have been able to basically go from zero performance in the following areas to being able to do what they do on the videos:
1. Crane
2. Wheel
3. Double Time Knee up Jumps
4. Pull Ups
5. Ab Ripper heels to the heavens
6. Warrior 3
7 Dips

Whatever workout I do going forward, I will set clear goals for 90 day success, wrap it in a 90 cycle, and will make sure the workouts have room for improvement.

Once I have my 90 day goals and plan set, I will just turn off my brain and bring it!

X Day 89 - Stretch X for 1/2 Marathon

Stretch X - Just for grins I did Stretch X. It is the first time I have ever stretched for an hour straight. I have to admit that I do feel much more limber and nothing hurts. Aside for a good night sleep, I think I am ready to go for tomorrow.

I am also going to do some carbs too to get my glycogen levels up. I am thinking wheat pancakes for breakfast, a little pasta and chicken for lunch, and then blue fish tonight. I will get fish, rice and some veggies.

I am not eating any hard to digest stuff today like beans, high fiber veggies, or steak.

I also plan to drink about 1.5 gal of water today and no coffee or tea.

Tomorrow I will down a promax bar first thing, a bananna 30 min before the race and GU during the race every 30 min. I plan to bring three GUs.

B: 3 Wheat Pancakes with sugar free syrup 300 + 1 fried egg 100

S: cheese 70, bar 160, 2 tangerine 100, apple 100

L: slice pizza 350

D: Blue Fish. I wlll keep it to 800 calories to finish the day at 2000.

2000

Check this guy out...

Musing 5 - Weight Loss Rates

Everyone told me when I started that I would drop a lot of weight at first and then it would taper off.  Although in the last couple weeks, I do not feel like it is melting away, I have continued to see sustained net weight loss.

Here is the graph of my weight loss to give a visual:

As you can see, the rate of loss has stayed pretty consistent over the last 100 days at an average .5 lb per day.  This really surprised me when I plotted it out because I really thought I would see something that looked a little more logarithmic.

So...  What does this tell us?

1. At .5 lb rate of loss per day, I probably have a net caloric deficit of roughly 3500/2 = 1750 calories.  If you adjust for muscle gain, I bet my net caloric deficit is more like 1900 calories per day.  I take in about 1400 calories per day, so that probably means my daily expenditure with workouts is 1900 + 1400 = 3300.  That is right in line with the beachbody caloric needs calculator.  It says 3320. 
   
2. I can only assume that if I stay at 1400 calories per day, I will continue to see a similar rate of loss until I get down to a really low BF% (probably 5-7%).
   
3. I assume a P90X workout is between 600-1000 calories.  So if I want to maintain weight on workout days, I can consume 3300 calories.  On rest days, I can maintain at 2300-2500 calories.   That just seems like a lot of food.
   
4. Since I have not seen a flattening in the curve yet, I am assuming there is still quite a bit of fat to burn off.  It will be hard to tell how far the floor is until this chart starts to flatten out.  I am still guessing that I can get into the 190#s during this next P90X round.

This really validates for me that weight loss is predictable, controllable, and measurable.  Weight loss is science, not magic.

Also, it confirms that the 3500 cal/lb deficit math certainly works for my body.

It will be interesting to chart this with Sheri over her journey.  She is running at a similar deficit right now, so I would expect to see her loose at a similar rate unless the math works different for women.

X Day 88 - Back and Biceps

I decided to do B&B with Sheri instead of Kenpo because I wanted to give her another resistance workout this week and I wanted to stay away from legs with the marathon two days away. My back is really feeling it as I really pushed my last resistance workout and ab ripper for the 90 days. I am going to take an extra scoop of protein today.

Sheri is really pushing hard and I can already see progress. She is starting to get in more reps on the pull up bars too. *tear to eye*

B: Mike Shake - 2 scoops 250
S: raisins 25, Nuts 150
L: Tialpia Creole 200
S: bar 180, cheese 50
HUNGRY TODAY...
S: 5 meatballs 150
D: chillis sirloin and chicken 400
S: cheese 60


1460

Musings 4 - On Aging

I have been thinking a lot lately about aging.  I saw my grandma at Thanksgiving and saw her on a oxygen tank taking 12-13 prescriptions every day.  She smoked most of her life and ate a pretty high carb diet.  That generation really got dealt a bad hand from a health stand point.  Prior to them, most people lived on farms and physically worked their butts off.  They ate natural foods like chicken, beef, veggies, cheese, eggs, and home made whole wheat bread.  Almost nothing was processed.  Basically they ate the P90X diet and did P90X level work every day.  They were ripped.

My Grandma's generation was the first to face the onslaught of fast processed food in the 50s.  They unwittingly reinforced the development of the market for easily accessible processed foods from the grocery store including the myriad of chips, cookies, twinkles, cokes and canned foods like chef boy r dee.  Also, they created the fast food industry.  Additionally,  almost all of them smoked.  Almost none of them realized at the time that these changes were going to lead to holocaust scale morbidity and mortality rates over the following 50 years.  Now our elderly are so sick that we need sophisticated nursing facilities to feed, medicate, bathe, and even breath for them.  Twenty years ago nursing homes looked like apartments with a few nurses checking in on the residents a couple times a day.  Now they look like mini hospitals with permanent patients.

I build and sell robots for dispensing medications in nursing homes.  It helps save nursing time and makes it safer for nurses to administer thousands of doses a day in a nursing facility.  That's how bad it is now.  We need robots to keep up with the level of care required to keep our elderly alive.

The greatest generation that defeated the Nazis was defeted by smoking and processed carbs.  What would they be like if they had eaten healthy, not smoked and had worked out?  I bet our long term care industry would be a shadow of its current self.  I bet more elderly would be able to age in their homes or at least in their children's homes without creating too much of a burden.

It will be interesting watching the boomers over the next 30 years.  Like my grandma's generation, the boomers were victims of the smoking wave and processed food revolution, but they also figured out working out.  In the 70s, and 80s most boomers were playing tennis, running, skiing, hiking, biking and having lots of sex.  Most of them were actually pretty fit.  You can talk to boomers who were doing protein shakes, eating wheat germ, and managing down carbs back 30 years ago.  However, the bad food and smoking won in the end and brought most of them down.  I have a theory that the microwave ovens played a material role in this downfall as it made it really easy to warm up vast quantities of highly processed and cheap foods in just minutes.  Just from personal observation, I think only 10% of boomers in their 50s and 60s are fit today.  The rest have big bellies, eat high volume high carb diets and are relatively slothful.  I bet the average boomer consumes 3500-5000 calories a day.  The good news is that most of them have stopped smoking, but heavy drinking is prevalent with boomers, so that may be a wash.

My guess is that boomers will see a similar fate to the greatest generation.  They will  have different morbidities though.  Diet related illnesses like diabetes will be more common than smoking related illnesses like COPD.  I plan to stay in the nursing home industry for the rest of my career because I think it is going to continue to grow and become get more complex for at least 30 more years and technology has a place in helping manage care.

Is it too late for boomers?  I don't think so.  Over the last three short months, I went from completely out of shape and obese to the best shape of my life.  It may take longer, but people in their 50s and 60s should be able to get there.  It will take dedication, diet changes, and a ton of work.  Most of them are retired or semi-retired at this point.  I cannot believe that they cannot dedicate 1-2 hours a day to getting fit.

My generation does not have any excuses.  We have known smoking is death since childhood.  We have also learned in recent years the dangers of bad diet.  Most people my age know that calorie intake is proportional to fat gain or loss and overweight people are generally less healthy.  We also have validated ways to work out efficiently to stay fit.  The biggest thing my generation faces is sedentary work life.  Most of us sit in front of a computer most of the day.

A fit person should be able to maintain their weight, strength and endurance with four thirty minute workouts per week.  Don't tell me that 2 hours of working out a week is not worth maintaining health.

The crazy thing I have learned through P90X is how fast you can get there.  90 days is nothing.  What else was I going to do?  Sit and watch TV?  That seems ludicrous now.  Almost every one of my peers should be able to get through a 90 day P90X round.  It will be really hard at first and you may only be able to do 1/2 of the workouts and need lots of breaks.  Thats OK.  It is amazing how quickly you can go from totally out of shape to fit.  Also, the diet side takes two weeks to get used to and then you do not want all the processed crap anymore.  Once you are fit, it is easy to maintain.

My hope for my generation is that we go into our 40s, 50s, 60s and even 70s still able to do push ups, pull ups, run, bike, sail, and ski.  The crazy thing is I feel like I did when I was 20 - seriously.  I literally erased 18 years of cruft.  So if a 38 year old can feel like 20, why cant a 70 year old feel like 52.  The reality is that it can be done and it is easier than most people think.

I love the idea of staying young.  I mean really young.  You know - goofy, playful, laughing, sporty, strong, quick, witty, alert and most of all durable.

I refuse to give in.  REFUSE!

There is no material thing in the world that will bring me any sustained happiness.  However, keeping my youthful body and spirit is like gold.

We only get one shot at this thing and none of us get out alive.

- Get fit now
- Stay fit
- Find positive people to play with
- Refuse to give in to aging - EVER!

X Day 87 - Core Synergistics

I really brought it today. Even did the dreaded Dreya Rolls.

B: Mike Shake - 200
S: yogurt 80 and 1/2 bar 90
S: cheese 50
L: Chili 250
S: Nuts 150 + 1/2 bar 90+ Raisins 25
D: Tialpia Creole and sweet potato 400


1235

Musings 3 - Psychology and Stress

I had a heart attack when I was 35. At least that is what the hospital said. I was totally and completely stressed out. When they opened me up, they did not find any blockage or weird rhythms and one nitro glycerine was all I needed to relieve the symptoms. Any how, the helicopter flight and the week in the hospital cost me $15,000. It took us two years to fully recover financially.

Starting three companies, having three kids and just living on this crazy planet had taken their toll. Most of all, I let negative, unhappy people in my life affect my mental state. I did not handle criticism well and especially did not handle unintelligent and irrational business leadership that worked with a mini-max mentality (Minimize other people's outcome and maximize theirs). I believe the pie can alway be made bigger and everyone can win. I have discovered that most people do not sign up for that though.

I think a lot of guys find themselves in leadership roles in companies in combination with kids and wife and become overwhelmed by their perception of everyone's expectations. From this, catastrophic thinking emerges. A tendency to focus on the worst outcome emerges instead of focusing on the best outcomes. The biggest example is - what happens if I loose my job. This then leads to negativity and depression. Depression leads to a need to find something that makes you happy. For a vast number of us humans, the happy drug becomes food. When stress sets in, we reach for food - especially bad food. The happy feeling lasts about as long as it takes to swallow the food, so you keep eating.

Then you get fat!

I bet this story has been repeated hundreds of millions of times in our society. We are stressing ourselves out to death.

You cannot fix your health until you fix your mind. I saw an executive coach this year. We worked a lot on professional tools and strategies and that was very helpful, but the best stuff was the work on the personal side which has laid the foundation for everything positive that is happening in my life now.

Here is what I learned:

1. The most important thing is that most people do not really care about you one way or another. Very few people ever think about you when you are not around. Most people are totally self centered and egotistical. As soon as you accept this, you can go to the next point.
2. Since few people really care about you, you can quit worrying about what they think about you. In reality, they don't think anything - except the really negative people that tend to fixate on negative things and cannot find anything constructive anyhow.
3. Once you quit worrying about what other people think about you, you quit trying to please everyone else.
4. Once you quit trying to please everyone, life becomes super simple, because it is really easy to please yourself and meet your own needs.
5. Once you figure out how to meet your own needs (self actualize) you can find real peace and will no longer look for things like food and alcohol to fill the void.

This is the path I have been on this year. There is no way I could have done this process without accepting the 5 points above. For the first time in my life I am truly content. I need nothing and have everything I could possibly ever hope for. Our messed up society tells us we need to keep consuming and keep up with the next guy. This is silly. Once you check off the food, shelter, and clothes boxes, the rest is just window dressing.

In fact, I am finding that as I get rid of stuff, I get happier. The less stuff I have, the more free I am. Freedom to me means less stress and more space to live.

I have also found a renewed love for work. I love working hard in the absence of stress. There are days when I have to work super hard and there are easy days, but there are no longer stressful days. I am finding that this attitude has led to me being much more efficient and productive at work and I am much less emotionally driven.

Now that I am here, I am finding I have time and space to help others. I want my close friends and family to get in mental and physical shape and find personal peace. I want to help my co-workers achieve their goals. I want my customers to use our products to make their lives (and their customer's lives) better. I want to model a way of living for my kids so they never ever go through what I did.

All of this stuff is interrelated. You cannot get in shape without chilling out. It is hard to chill out without getting in shape. For me, I had to work on it all at once.

4 years ago, I doubted I would live to 40. I plan to live a healthy life to 100 now. I will never let myself return to where I was. Here is my vow to myself:

- No More Catastrophic Fear

- No More People Pleasing

- No More Stress Eating

- More Working Out

- More Helping Others

- More Chilling Out

X Day 86 - Yoga

5am yoga with Sheri.

At 217 # today. It is coming off slowly now, but still coming.

I am going to stop the cleanse until after the Marathon. It was doing weird stuff inside me.

B: Small Shake 200
S: nuts and bar 250
L: Progresso 160 + Saltines 50
S: almonds 170
D: walnut salad 450

1230

Musing 2 - The P90X Workouts.

Other than substituting running on some days, I cannot really figure out how to improve much on the schedule or the actual workouts themselves now that I reflect back over 90 days.

The P90X program is based around variety.  It mixes up muscle groups and exercise types in ways that you will not get physically or mentally burned out.  I am at the end of 90 days and want to keep going and step it up - not take a break.

The key is to turn off your brain, trust the program and push it every single move.  Do not pace yourself. As I said in the last post, if you are bonking, eat a GU, wait 5 minutes and then BRING IT!

Legs and Back - At first I absolutely hated this one.  It is kind of awkward doing all those lunges and squats and then switching to so many pull ups.  At first I could only do about 1-2 pull ups at a time and the lunges hurt so bad.  Now, I can easily knock out 20 pull ups per set and I can feel the lunges and squats shaping my butt and legs.  Sheri and I call this workout the butt eraser.  Also, once you get to where you can really bring it, this is clearly the biggest calorie burn of all the workouts.  I burned 1400 the other day and did over 160 pull ups.  A note on pull ups...  Pull ups are the key to P90X.  They tie out the arms, back, shoulder and abs.  At first you will need a chair, but you will get past that fast.  If you really push it on the pull ups, you will see dramatic results.  Do not wuss out on the pull ups.

Plyometrics - This was my nemesis at first.  I dreaded this one each week and it was relentless.  Every week.  This one is a 1000 calorie burn and like Legs and Back will erase your butt.  In the middle I used to get to 170 bpm.   Now I can do double time on the knee jumps and still barely hit 150 bpm.  This is a good conditioning workout and I will keep it in my "quiver" for a long time.  I think this workout is why I am now running a 8:00 pace for 9 miles.

Core Synergistics - I think this is the best all around workout in the set.  It has everything and your whole body feels amazing afterwards.  If you only have an hour and you want to hit everything, this is your workout.  You do need one 10lb weight for one of the moves, but it is a great hotel room workout and worth hauling the weight on your trip.

Kenpo - At first, I thought this workout was silly and I did not like it because it is challenging from a coordination stand point and did not really feel like a big burn like the other workouts.  I have grown to appreciate it more over time though, especially now that I have added running back into my life.  The 15 minutes of stretching at the beginning of the Kenpo workout is the best running stretch routine I have ever done.  If I go on a big run over the weekend and then do Kenpo on Monday, I can feel it work all of the lactic acid out of my muscles and all the soreness is gone.  I now respect Kenpo for what it is - The ultimate recovery workout.

Yoga - I had never done yoga before P90X.  The P90X yoga is the only yoga workout I have ever done.  People tell me it is challenging and intense compared to what you will find at the strip mall yoga places.  The p90X yoga workout is 120 minutes, of which, the first 45 minutes are a hell of a good burn.  You do a ton a push ups and poses that make your legs burn and makes you sweat like crazy.  In the middle, there are some fun balance moves like crane and wheel that I could not even do at first.  At the end, the Yoga Belly moves are a great alternative to Ab Ripper.  At the end you should feel no soreness, but should feel like you got a great workout.  One big thing I learned about a month in is to use a yoga block.  I have horrible flexibility and the block made all the difference in getting the moves down.  You can still bring it with a block.  I see now why Tony calls Yoga the fountain of youth.

Ab Ripper - Ok I admit it,  I really really really really really want a six pack now.  The ab ripper workout is great.  At first I could only do 1/2 of it.  Now I add extra reps.  The beginning is rough on your legs, especially on legs and back day.  I could only do heels to the heavens in the last three weeks.  I could only do 20 mason twists in the beginning too.  Once you get your belly flat and strength up, this is a powerful 15 minutes that will really build your ab muscles.  I will do another post about six pack abs and what I have learned there, but I will just say here that you will not get a six pack unless you also do other core work, pull ups, and eat lean.

Bicepts - My favorite upper body workout.  I do this one in front of the mirror now without a shirt on.  I like watching my blood vessels pop on by forearms and biceps.  It is super motivating.  When I started, I only had 20# weights.  I have since had to add 25s and 30s and need 35s now.  I also needed a 50# for lawn mowers.  Bands are bullshit.  You need weights.  I know they are expensive.  If I were to start over now, I would buy the Bowflex dial in weights.  They are $250 but they will do any increment of 5# up to 50# with one weight.  My single favorite move in the whole program now is the curl strip set at the end of this workout - POW!

Chest Shoulders and Tricepts - The thing I like best about this is at the end I can barely raise my arms.  I love all the push ups now.  22 DIAMONDS (need I say more).  Also, this is where you will dial in the triceps.  I have those little diamonds on the backs of my arms because of this workout.  SO COOL!

X Day 85 - Rest Day

I think this recovery week is going to be a good taper for the 1/2.

Day 2 on Cleanse - Expecting "big things" today

B: Egg beater and turkey sausage 140
S: yogurt 110
L: Greek salad 200. Seafood gumbo 250.
S: nuts 100
S: bar 180
D: chili and veggies 370

1350

Musings 1 - Mike's Rules for Eating To Get Lean

For the next week, I am going to post one message a day about what I have learned on P90X.  Today I am going to cover my new rules for eating.

GOLDEN RULE - MAKE FOOD YOUR BITCH - Not the other way around.

1.  Determine a caloric window to hit and do your best to stay in that window every day

2.  Do not under or over eat

3.  Alway shoot to get 10g protein for every 100 calories you eat

4.  Do not get hungry - snacking is the key

5.  Keep a protein bar with you always

6.  When eating out at a nice place, eat fish and veggies (I love sea bass)

7.  DO NOT GO TO Fast Food - I have not been in a McDonalds in over 90 days

8.  Write down everything you eat and track the calories

9.  Take your protein shake right after your workout

10. Look for protein with a 20g to 100 cal or higher ratio for your shake

11. Do not limit your veggies - steamers are great!

12. Take time to cook big batches of chilli, chicken breasts, etc, so you have left overs.

13. If you are going to drink, drink martinis and stop at 2 max.  Once you have stopped drinking regularly and are lighter, you will definitely feel it and martinis are only 100 calories per drink.

14. Enjoy big dinners like Thanksgiving by going big on the turkey and veggies.  Skip the potatoes, corn, dressing and bread.  15 minutes after the meal, you will feel great and not all sluggish.

15. Life saver snacks (Keep these with you):

        A. 100 calorie popcorn

        B: 3oz tuna fish with mustard

        C: Almonds (I like wasabi)

        D: Yogurt 80 Calorie

        E: 50 cal white cheese

        F: Progresso Soup
        G: Protein Bar

16.  Have fun with shakes and get a good blender.  Use this as your time to get fruits (bananas and berries) early in the day so you have time to burn off the carbs.  Use yogurt and almond milk.  The Kitchen Aid has a liquify option that fluffs up the shake and makes if more filling.  This is my favorite meal of the day now.

17. Egg Beaters are good, but I have pretty much moved to shakes

18. Chili is key.  It is my favorite way to get beans in.  Beans are probably the best thing you can eat on P90X.  I use chicken or turkey and tons of veggies and 4 different kinds of beans.  SO GOOD!

19. Tilapia with stewed tomatoes is stellar and easy.

20. Turkey meat taco salad is good.

21. Sirloin once a week is a nice break from turkey and chicken.  Just keep it under 6 oz.

22. Do not eat within 3 hours of bed time.  This burns up the residual sugar in the blood stream and lets you burn fat all night long.

23.  Do not eat before morning workout, but if you feel weak or tired, down a GU as soon as you know you can't keep up the intensity.  A 100 cal GU and an intense workout is much better than no cal and bonking.

24. If you have a business dinner or something later in the day, plan ahead and leave yourself 700-800 calories so you can enjoy the meal.

25. Only eat until you are not hungry - not till you are full.

26. If you need GU or bananas to get through the workout, do not count them against your day.  You ripped right through them in 15 minutes during the workout and should not be penalized for bringing it.  Never be afraid to add sugar and carbs during a hard workout.

27. To get lean, do not eat - Bread, Pasta, Rice, Beer, Chips, Crackers, or Cookies.  Get your carbs from Veggies and beans.  Make veggies your friend.  It takes about 2 weeks for your taste to change, but once you have gone that long without breads, veggies start to taste sweet and fruit is like candy.

28. Be willing to throw bad foods away, even if they are a gift.

29. When you are putting something in your mouth, alway think - How is this going to help me?  What will this do to my sugar levels?  Is there enough protein here?  If not, how can I balance in some protein?

30. Fat Free is totally bullshit - Just ignore fat content for the most part.  Focus on calories and protein and everything else will work out.  That said, if you can choose fish over ribeye, do it!

31. When you eat, especially after a hard resistance workout, listen to your body and see if you can feel the carbs and protein in the shake doing their thing.  For me, I can feel it in about 20 minutes for about an hour.  The more you listen to your muscles and energy level, the better you will get at eating efficiently.  I am still not as good at this as I want to be.  I think it is a learned skill that takes time.  The key is you have to keep your body right on the fueled side of the balance between fueled and empty.

32. Up your protein on big resistance days.  You want to get 80% of the protein synthesis done in 3-4 hours.  I do 50-60g of protein after the big resistance workouts.

33. Try not to have a bad day, but if you do, move on.  I shoot for 1300 calories per day.  Some days I hit 2000 or more.  My total daily caloric burn is 3500.  So, even on bad days, I am way under my caloric burn.  I have not exceeded 3500 calories in 90 days.

A lot of people tell me I am not eating enough, but I seldom get hungry and I am seeing big time results, so I plan to keep going until I get under 10% BF and then will level out to around 2000 calories on workout days and 1500 on rest days.

X Day 84 - Kenpo

Started new cleanse with Sheri

Kenpo with Sheri at 5:30 AM

B: Mike Shake - 1 scoop  180
S: Yogurt 120 + 2 turkey sausage 60
L: Early lunch - Chili 300
S: Nuts and such 140
S: Popcorn 100
D: Taco Salad 400

1300

X Day 83 - Leg and Back

First Day with Sheri. Last Resistance workout for first round. Brought it on pull ups. Did 150+

B: Mike Shake 250
S: 1/2 protien bar 100/10
L: salad with chicken 300
S: nuts. 150
D: sirloin 200, asperigus soup 100, beans 100
S: grapefruit 50 cheese 70

1320

X Day 82 - 9 mile run with Pete @ 8:26 pace

Ran WW in 76 minutes (fastest ever). My GPS said it was 8.8 miles, but Google maps says 9 miles. Thats 9 miles in 76 = 8:26 pace. And that includes breaks. If you take out about 6 minutes for breaks, it was a sub 8 minute pace!

We are going to smoke the 1/2 next week!

B: Big Shake - 300
L: 3 lettuce wraps 180. Green beans 70
S: Nuts 100
D: tuna veggies gumbo 600


1250

X Day 81 - Biceps & Chest & Abs

Last BCA for the First Round. I only have one more resistance workout.

I plan to start my second round right away and Sheri said she is going to do it with me for real!!!

B: Mike Shake 250
L: FB Salad with Mom - 400
D: III Forks Filet Veggies, and salad 3 drinks 1000
1650

X Day 80 - Plyo

Plyo was easy today. I was trying to step it up, but never got over 135 bpm. Weird

It's been 15 years since I could dress like this:



For perspective, here is one from before:

B: Mike's shake (small) - 200
S: turkey sausage + cheese 150
S: yogurt 80
L: tilapia veggies gumbo salad. 650
D: chilli 250
S: popcorn 100

1430

X Day 79 - Chest, Shoulders, Abs

Tons of push ups. Everything is shaking.

B: Mike's Protien Shake 250
L: Protien bar 170/15
S: another bar 170
D: chilli + veggies 500
S: nuts n stuff. 250

Butt load of pull ups before bed

1340

X Day 78 - Rest

Day trip to Minneapolis.

I feel like I was bad today even though I ate OK.  I think my body does not like rest day now.

B: turkey sausage 150 + opti shake 160
S: protien bar 190/19
L: bad chicken strip 50+ nuts 150
D: first class - 4 oz steak, green beans, salad, nuts, 1 glass wine. 600

1300