Day 64

Week 8, Day 5 CVX done. This is along with Incinerator one of my top two favorite workouts in this program. I can't say which one is more my favorite, but if I had to choose it might be Incinerator. I know a lot of people would say The Challenge or MMX and I get that, but based on my workout history I love how Incinerator is arranged. I used to workout well just similarly to this and I always saw good gains when doing this. While The Challenge is a great push/pull workout, it to me is stagnant in how it is arranged. Just working chest and back which I got out of that "only" mentality of working out after I left high school.

Planking before this was important too as the shoulder work in this one is crazy at the beginning, and I was wrecked after it so trying to do plank now or even in a few hours would be a waste of time. Still need to go my pushups, but that will be no problem. Today is the 5th day of the 2nd transition week and only one more workout which will be yoga tomorrow then Dynamix then on to Block 3!!! Woot!! Woot!! Today is day 54, tomorrow will be 55, Sunday 56, Monday 57, Tuesday 58, Wednesday 59 and Thursday 60... I thought it was going to be Wednesday.. but I knew it was coming up. So Thursday I will be taking 60 day pics and measures after my workout of course. I will weigh, however, before the workout as your weight in the morning(after visiting the bathroom) is your true weight and it can fluctuate daily up to 10 pounds based on food and water intake. Remember to alway weigh in the morning after the first trip to the toilet.

Yesterday I got my 21 Day Fix and Chocolate Vegan Shakeology in and boy oh boy is it cool. I don't know if you understand or can fathom what this will mean for me for the rest of this round of P90X3, but I sure do. I have to have breaks in typing as my shoulders are still burning from CVX...

First, I got shakeology, which is as they say the healthiest meal of the day. I am going to continue to have my shakes in the morning for breakfast, and instead of using the protein powder, I will use shakeology. Huge bonus for me. I decided to go with vegan, while I have no bias against meat and yes I am a meat eater all the way and will never change, I wanted to add something with an all vegetable basis. I know that the only real difference is just the protein and it is a soy protein instead of a whey protein, but with that it allows my body to rest from dealing with that in the digestion. I really don't know or am even sure if it really matters. I do know that sometimes it might be better to choose the vegan option, but for shakeology it might be more of an issue with dairy for some. It surely can't hurt. So that is the deal with shakeology at least for now.

Second, I got the 21 Day Fix in. For all of you who don't know what that is, it is a new program similar to all the other programs in that it is designed to help lose wegith (when we say weight we really mean just fat) and be healthier and workout. It has a nutrition guide/plan and a group of workouts on DVD the foundation of what Beachbody does. Not just nutrition or not just exercise, but rather both combined to give that total body wellness that we all so desperately need. Ok so Autumn Calabrese is the trainer for this and came up with a great food portioning system. Why is portioning so important? It's simple. We all know that calories out = calories in = maintain body weight. We also know that calories in > calories out = weight gain. Finally calories in < calories out = weight loss. Easy enough when you think about it.

What happens when you exercise at minimum 30 minutes every day and eat healthy foods, but you still take in more calories than you put out even with exercise? YOU GAIN WEIGHT. What if you exercise at least 30 minutes a day, eat healthy but your calories in = calories out? YOU STAY THE SAME WEIGHT. What about if you eat healthy with smaller portions and exercise at least 30 minutes a day and take in less calories than you put out? YOU LOSE WEIGHT!!! It is just that simple. So what Autumn did is create a portioning system to gives that visualization that we all need to maintain proper portion control. We all see it every day in just about any restaurant we go to. Portions that are the size of your head on a plate. Grande, XXL or Super Sized is that smart consumer in us trying to get the biggest bang for out buck. With food, that is not the best strategy we can use. Smaller more "human" sized portions are what we need. Now let's take the foods that are being super sized like Fries and sodas.... EMPTY AND USELESS FOODS PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! They give you calories? Sure. They fill your stomach? Sure. Are they nutritious? No. Are they in any way healthy? No. Do they even benefit the body for any reason? HELL NO.

I will pick on McDonalds because it is easy and they are the model for all fast food establishments in this fair country. Typical value meal: Big Mac, fries and a soda. What is the healthiest part of this meal? The less than 2 oz of lettuce on the burger. Next would be the almost one ounce of diced onions and then we will count the 3 pickle slices if you get 3. After that it all goes down hill. Secret sauce? I don't know what it is, but it seems like its a mix of mayo and ketchup and maybe mustard with some relish in it. Not really sure about that. American cheese which is most likely not cheese, but a cheese food. What exactly is a cheese food? It isn't cheese or they would just call it cheese. There are 2 beef patties. This beef patty is a 1oz frozen 70% lean patty at best, but at least you get 2 of them. Sesame seed bun with that little bun in the middle. Great white refined flour stripped of all nutrients made into a bread with some seeds on it. French fries. Take the best part of the potato off and throw it away then dump that mess in grease. Then smother the fries in so much salt, they should have a warning label about sodium levels in the blood after eating them. Now to wash it all down with that tastey beverage. Coke! Isn't that what Michael Jordan drank? No he just promoted it along with Gatorade for money and he probably drank water. You eat all of this then hope to God your pancreas works well, because you are now on the blood sugar roller coaster from hell. Diabetics be warned this food WILL kill you. Everyone else it WILL kill you too, just later.

What I am getting at without all the fast food theatrics is this. Portion control may seem like an easy feat, but it isn't if you have never really tried to do it. Hardly any of us can eyeball a plate of food and say we understand how much or how little that really is. When we eat, our stomach tells us what is enough, too much or too little. Our problem is we don't have a good enough short term food memory to recall that wow I feel full but not over full and I remember exactly how much was on my plate. We never can do that. This program shows you how to control your portions and not be hungry at the same time. I did it yesterday and my dinner was large and satisfying. I made a mistake and ate something they want you eat by 6pm after that time (7pm), but I understand and will implement that tiny change today. If you can get a workout, a nutrition plan and a way to show you portion control within that nutrition plan, why wouldn't you want that. Take the guess work out of eating and enjoy.

That is what I am doing and I bet over the next 21 days tracking from today, we will see a weight difference. I will weigh and measure tomorrow, but I will hide the numbers until it's over. I don't want to confuse my 60 day results with my 21 start etc... I will be doing the P90X3 workouts, but I might also throw in some of the others from the 21 Day Fix. When I complete the P90X3, I will start a 21 Day Fix Challenge group and do only this for 21 days and see what happens... It's only 21 days, why not join me (in March).