It’s time for another weight loss challenge update.

I’ll start off by mentioning Tyler’s stats so far.

As of this morning he was at 206.6lbs which is a total loss of 6.2lbs so far in this challenge.  Not bad.

My weight as of this morning was 212.6lbs which is a total loss of only 3.4lbs so far in the challenge.

I am definitely not on pace to hitting my 30lbs weight loss target if you look at things from a linear point of view.

Here’s a graph of my progress so far.

The blue line represents my actual weight.  The red line is a 7 day average of my weight.  The green line is my “pacer” line of where I should be at in order to hit my target of losing 30lbs by Sept 21st.

Now, if you look at that graph you can see that I’m not on target to hit my goal.

However, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

Firstly, let’s take a look at the same graph but instead of starting out on May 24th as my starting point, let’s start on January 1st, 2011 as my starting point.

I didn’t track my weight every day since January, but I did take my weight on several occasions and I tracked it in my spreadsheet.  Then, what I did is I drew a linear line between the different weight points.

It’s not exact, but it will give you an idea of what my weight has been like since the beginning of the year.

Now, when you look at the graph from January 1st till now, it paints a slightly different picture, doesn’t it?

As you can see my weight hit a low point in the first week of February or so, and then I began gaining weight from there until I started my challenge on May 24th.

Like I mentioned above, I’m sure the weight gain was NOT that linear, but since I didn’t weight myself every day I can’t show a more detailed graph.  What I do know is that I was 198lbs on Feb 12th, then I was 205lbs on April 19th and then 216lbs on May 24th.  Based on those numbers I drew the line linearly.

When you look at the graph from that point of view, even though I’m not currently on pace to hit my 30lbs weight loss target, you can see that I have stopped my weight gain since starting the challenge.

If I was to continue the graph outwards on the same trajectory as it was heading in before my challenge I would probably be weighing in at over 220lbs by now.

So really I’m probably close to 8-10lbs lighter than I would be if I didn’t start this challenge.

And the cool thing is that I have only just started making “physical world” changes to my exercise/diet plan in the last week or so.  Prior to that I was mostly working on the spiritual & mental side of my plan.

Speaking of exercise, here’s what I’ve been up to with that.

Getting Back to Running

Last week I got inspired to clean out my exercise room so that I can start working out and running again.

I don’t know why, but there’s just something about running on my treadmill that I really enjoy.

I know running is not necessarily the best fat-loss exercise you can do, but I don’t really care.  I enjoy it, so that’s what I’m inspired to do right now.

I did my first run on June 23rd.  I was super excited to see that Nike has put out a new app for the iPhone which allows you track your runs with no shoe sensor!

You can track your runs either on a treadmill, or outside, and it doesn’t even need the Nike+ shoe sensor anymore to track things.  It uses the sensor in the iPhone itself, which is really cool.

The app only cost $1.99.  I highly recommend it.

Besides tracking your runs, it also graphs them visually which I really like.

Here’s the graphs for my runs so far:

June 23rd Run

June 25th Run

June 26th Run

June 27th Run

June 28th Run

June 29th Run

After completing my 3.6km run today, I also decided to go for a brisk walk with my wife in the evening.  It turned out that our walk was just over 5 kms.

So far, since getting my exercise room cleaned out last week I’ve done 6 runs and 1 walk for a total of 25.25 kms and burned 1964 calories according to my Nike+ app.

If I just look at my weight of 212.6 lbs this morning, that is not a very encouraging metric to look at.

However, I feel really good right now.

Since I started running last week, I’ve been feeling like I have a lot more energy and I’m finding myself automatically drinking more water and eating less and less junk food.

I have yet to make any drastic changes to my diet, but I do feel that those changes are just around the corner.

I’m a bit surprised that my intuition has guided me to start running first, instead of changing my diet first, but I trust it’s purpose.

Inspiration

I saw something today that really inspired me.  Apparently, BeachBody is coming out with a 2nd part to their P90X program which will be called P90X2.

I saw the trailer for it today and it really inspired me to lose this fat so that I can go back and finish the complete round of P90X and then to one day do P90X2.

That would be sweet.

What would also be awesome is if BeachBody finally opened up their coaching opportunity to people in Canada.  I totally want to be a BeachBody coach.  I love their products.

Here’s the video.  This thing looks so hardcore.

When I first started doing my P90X workout last year, I searched all over the Internet for a p90x tracking sheet or p90x tracking software package of some sort.  However, I couldn’t find anything out there that was any good, so I created my own P90X tracking sheet in Excel and put it up on this Blog as a free download for everyone.

The P90X tracking sheet became very popular but I received many requests from people who were looking for additional features such as:

• Ability to track P90X Lean workouts
• Ability to track P90X Doubles workouts
• Ability to track P90X+ workouts
• Ability to schedule workouts on different days
• Tracking of P90X nutrition plan
• etc.

Unfortunately I was unable to add all those features into the excel spreadsheet, but I did finally find a really cool software package created by Workoutsoft called XtremeFit Tracker™ that does everything you need for tracking P90X workouts.

Here are a few screen shots and details about this software.

XtremeFit Tracker™ – P90X and P90X-Plus Tracking Software Review

When you first start the XtremeFit Tracker™ software, you are guided through a simple configuration process to customize the software to your personal goals.

Once you’ve configured the software you can track three different parts of your P90X Workout Progress.

Tracking Your Weight and Body Fat

The first thing that XtremeFit Tracker™ helps you track is your weight and body fat.  For each day you can record your weight, body fat %, max heart rate, average heart rate plus a few other metrics.

As you enter the data into the tracker, you can also see and print a graph of your progress.

Tracking Your P90X Workouts

The next thing you can track in XtremeFit Tracker™ is all of your P90X workouts.  The software has the whole P90X, P90X Lean and P90X Doubles workouts built right into the software so all you have to do is select which program you’re following and the start date you’re starting on and the software automatically generates the workout for you in the calendar.

The first time I ran the software I was a bit confused as to how to get the tracking sheet to load up, but then I realized that you have to first click on the workout you want to do on the left, then select the date on the right and then the workout will automatically load in the middle where you can enter in all the data.

As you enter in data, the sheet also shows you how much you did last time for the same workout which is pretty neat.

The software also allows you to graph and print your progress.

Flexible Schedule

The XtremeFit Tracker™ software also allows you full control over your schedule.  So even though the software pre-loads the standard P90X training schedule into the calendar you can always insert a rest day, insert a rest week, remove a workout or even change a workout to something else.

Tracking Your P90X Nutrition Program

Finally, the third part of the software allows you to track your P90X Nutrition Program.  It will automatically calculate the right nutrition level according to the P90X nutrition guide, and adjust your nutrition program phase as you progress through the program.

You can also graph your daily calorie intake.

Summary of XtremeFit Tracker P90X Tracking Software Features

Here is a list of features included in this software:

• Track P90X Standard Program
• Track P90X Lean Program
• Track P90X Doubles Program
• Track P90X+ Program
• Tracks your weight, body fat and heart rate
• Graph and print your weight, body fat progress
• Track all of your P90X workout stats right in the software
• Easy data entry mode
• Shows your reps/weight from last workout in data entry screen
• PaceSaver function helps you pace yourself during workouts
• Graph your progress for reps and weight lifted
• Show/Hide specific routines in the charts
• Full control over your workout schedule allows you to insert rest days, rest weeks, remove a workout or change workout
• Track your P90X Nutrition plan
• Automatically calculates your nutrition level
• Track your daily caloric intake and graph it
• Record pictures during your P90X journey
• Windows and Mac Versions available

I wish this software was available a year ago when I first started doing my P90X workout.  It sure would have life a lot easier to be able to track everything.  The only thing I didn’t see in the software was the ability to track your body measurements such as your waist, thighs, biceps etc., but that isn’t really a big deal.  Those are measurements that can be tracked once every 30 or 90 days so its easy enough to record those manually.

The software allows you to download a free demo that’s fully functional but doesn’t allow you to save your data.  The full version is only $19.85 and includes free software updates and technical support.

Click here to learn more about XtremeFit Tracker

Last week I started thinking about getting back on track with my plans to get in shape.  It’s been more than a month since I’ve put P90X on hold an I want to get back on it.  I haven’t yet decided when I’m going to start back up, but in the meantime I’ve been taking some smaller steps to get back on the bandwagon.

A week ago my wife and I went for a 75 minute walk, and this past weekend I also did about 3 hours of gardening on Sunday.  It’s not much but it’s a good start to get my body moving.

I actually haven’t weighed myself in the last month, but I just did and I’m at 207.8lbs and my Body Fat is at 26.2%.  It looks like my weight dropped a bit but I think it’s all been muscle.  That’s a bit depressing, but I have been on a break for a month and haven’t worked out at all so it’s to be expected.

One thing I definitely want to figure out very soon is my diet.  I think it is crucial to be eating properly if you’re going to be on a fitness program.  My problem is not knowing what I should or shouldn’t be eating, but making it a priority in my life above all the other things I’m working on in my life.

On another note, does anyone else here live in Canada and have any interest in becoming a P90X coach?  They are currently not accepting Canadian applicants, but if you contact me I have a contact that will be speaking to BeachBody in the next while who’s trying to get the Canadian market opened up.  If you’re interested, contact me and I’ll provide more details.

As I’m sure you guys have noticed, I haven’t been updating the site in the last week or so.  I’ve been going through a life planning process and really getting clear on my values and goals in life.

As part of this process I’m really re-evaluating my goals in the Fitness and Health category of my life.  As some of you who have been following this blog from day one have seen, I started off my plan on February 9th and for the first 30 days of the plan I was following the P90X fitness plan pretty much exactly as laid out in the system, and I was following the diet part about 80%.

In the second phase of the program (After day 30) I went back to eating my normal diet which isn’t as healthy as I’d like it to be, but continued on with my exercise plan.  Surprisingly, even though I ate crappy I actually lost some fat weight in the second phase of the program, but probably not as much as I could have lost if I was eating healthy.

I’ve been getting really busy with some projects I’m working on for my businesses and it’s been putting a strain on my workout schedule and eating patterns.  In the first phase, I was mostly doing my workouts during the afternoons but lately I haven’t been making time to do my workouts until well after midnight which makes it really hard to stick with the program.

Probably the most frustrating thing has been that I’ve been working so hard on the exercise part of the program, but because my diet sucks I haven’t been losing as much fat as I’d like to and as much as I know I can, so it just feels like I’ve been getting “bigger”.

I need to do something about my diet.  It’s just getting too hard to keep exercising when I know that my diet is not up to par.  It feels like all the hard work I’m doing during the workouts gets wasted with the crappy foods I eat.

I think I need to work out a diet that’s not as strict as the P90X diet, but not as “loose” as what I’ve been doing lately.  I need something that’s going to give me the energy I need to complete the workouts.

My biggest problem is my addiction to sugar.  Almost everyone I know has this addiction to varying degrees.  I’ve gone off of sugar in the past a few times and always experienced “withdrawal” symptoms during the first few days very similar to those that drug addicts experience when getting off of drugs.  Most people don’t believe me when I tell them this, but that’s because they’ve never tried getting off of sugar before.  Some of the research I heard on white sugar suggests that it’s actually more addictive than Cocaine.

I’ve tried reducing my sugar intake before, but I find that it’s actually easier to just completely go cold turkey and just survive the first few days and then you’re no longer craving it at all.  Now, when I say “Sugar”, I don’t just mean the white sugar you put in your coffee or tea.  I’m talking about ALL types of refined sugars, like white breads, corn starches, breakfast cereals with sugar in them, white pasta, white rice, artificial sweeteners like Splenda or Aspartame etc.  Basically the only kind of sugars you’re allowed to eat is the sugars you find in whole fruits and vegetables.  It’s not easy to do this, but it’s a really good way to lose fat weight.

Anyway, I’m still working on deciding if I want to do this, or if I want to just gradually cut down on my sugar intake and just work on making sure I eat healthy foods in my diet and allow myself to eat crappy stuff too if I want, but only after I’ve had my nutritious foods.  For example, if I want dessert, I could eat an apple first and then if I still want some ice cream after then I can still have it but only after I eat my apple.

I’m working on figuring all the “mental” stuff right now, and in the meantime my workouts are on hold for a few days.  Also, the last few days I’ve been feeling like crap.  I’ve been waking up with a sore throat and feeling lethargic.  I hope I didn’t create a flu in my body with the crap I’ve been eating.  That’s another reason I wanted to take a few more days off, to let myself rest and recover from whatever this thing is.

Not much to report today.  I did my Plyometrics workout today, but for some reason my quads were really sore today so I only did about 3/4 of the workout and then I stopped and did some martial arts training instead. 

Doing that still burned a lot of calories, but it wasn’t as harsh on my quads.  I’m not totally sure why my quads hurt.  It’s actually my left one especially, but I can’t figure out why it would hurt more than the right leg.  I don’t remember doing anything in the last few days that would make my left quad so sore.  Weird.

Last week was “recovery” week.  I actually decided to take a break from working out even though I was supposed to be doing some cardio workouts like Yoga X and Plyometrics etc.  At first I was just going to take one day off, but then that turned into two and then three and then finally I decided to just get started again on Monday.

Today was the first day of the third phase of the program.  I’m almost at Day 60 now, so I’ll be taking some pics and updating some stats soon.  My diet for the second 30 days of the program has been crap compared to the first 30 days, so we’ll see how the stats look on Day 60.

Today I did Chest and Back again and found it quite challenging to do the pushups.  I’m not really sure why, but I think a large part of that is lack of a clean diet and I haven’t been taking my supplements either while taking my break.

Time to get back on the program for the final stretch – aka Phase III.

I’m really enjoying “rest” week.  Today was Kenpo X day, which is one of my favorite workouts.  It’s fast, it’s fun, and the 60 minutes just goes by really quick and before you know it you’re done.  That’s especially important when it’s 1am in the morning and you haven’t done your workout yet, hehe.

Not much more to report besides that.  I had a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch and fish and chips for dinner.

Today was a busy day so I didn’t actually get to start my workout until 2am in the morning.  I really need to find an earlier time to do the workouts as it’s not easy to be doing workouts at 2am.

Luckily, the Core Synergistics workout is not that hard compared to some of the other workouts in the program.  For lunch I had Sushi (California Roll + Assorted Tempura) and for dinner I had Spaghetti with Meat Sauce.

I went to do my workout today and just before I began, I realized that today was the beginning of “Recovery Week” for Phase II!  I totally didn’t realize that it was that time already.  I thought I had another week of strength training before recovery week again.

Man, time is just flying by right now for me and I can’t believe I’m already on day 50 of this program.  Yoga X went pretty well today, and I’m glad I got it done in the afternoon.  I’m past the halfway point now and I think things are going to accelerate even faster from this point forward.

Today was day 49 of the program and it was a rest day.  I chose not to do the Stretch X option.  Nothing really to report today, except that I now know of half a dozen friends and acquaintances that have either started or are looking into starting the P90X program.

It’s pretty cool to see other people making health and fitness one of their priorities.