Day 50

Week 6, Day 5 Incinerator done. Fifty days since I started this. It is really hard to believe that I have been doing this for fifty days in a row. It really isn't that long, but it is a drastic change from what I was doing. Fifty-one days ago I would grab 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at 1 am while watching a movie and then think I might get more after that. I have curtailed all that nonsense and haven't eaten past 10pm mostly 8pm, but I have eaten a later snack of an apple or protein bar closer to 10.

I would eat pizza at least once a week. I was eating ice cream every night. We might need to get milk or eggs or bread, but we would never leave Walmart without ice cream. We haven't bought ice cream in over a month. Grabbing fast food was a common thing, but now it is rare to nonexistent. It takes more effort to make your own food. You have to plan it out, go and buy the ingredients and then prepare everything. All of this takes time as opposed to just hitting the drive thru and throwing money at them for some food like substances. That is not happening now. I can only guess what my calorie count was probably around 4000 or even more. Now I know what I am taking in. I track my intake to as close to exact as I can. I don't actually measure each portion in a measuring cup, but I use a hand, palm, fist rule that teaches you how to measure foods by sight. Again, it's an approximation, but it is fairly accurate and all you have to do is be honest to yourself about what you are taking in. If you grab that extra portion, you better count it in or add it on top of what you already have been tracking. My calories have been in the 1850 to 2200 calorie range and I am actually trying to stay within the 2400 - 2500 cal range.

Nutrition is huge, but I have not just been eating healthy, I have also been doing a killer workout by Tony Horton. P90X3. I know if you have been reading along, you know this already. The workouts are 30 minutes long, but don't let that fool you. You get a good workout and really intense core work throughout the program. I know what I was doing before this.... NOTHING!! So even if I was just walking on a track 2 to 3 miles or 4 miles over 30 minutes, I would be exercising and burning calories. I am not just walking, I am doing a vigorous program and hitting many different muscle groups. I know I am burning calories and I can see the changes that are taking place. I have a lot of weight to lose, so at first, it will or should show more than if I only needed to lose 10 or 15 lbs. I am also gaining muscle so the fat loss vs muscle gain will show less total weight lost, but I don't have to have "Biggest Loser" type of numbers every week. I didn't gain all this fat over a weekend, and neither can I lose it over a weekend.

Even though I am not halfway through the program, I am happy with how things are going. Yeah I would love to see fat melting away like butter on a hot baked potato (delicious imagery but now I am hungry), but I have to keep in my head that this is a process and not a single event. The frustration that most of us experience in this day and age of now, now, now when we get our results later, can cause us to give up or get down and sink back into negative thought patterns. We have to really understand that weight loss, weight gain and muscle gain is not something you can get over night. You can't spot reduce fat so to see abs, you will have to get rid of a lot of fat all over the body. To see abs you will have to have spot on nutrition for more than one day. It takes time and effort both with nutrition and with exercise to see abs which is what most of us think of when we think lean and fit.

Don't be afraid of the journey. Be afraid of not taking it.