Back in the Saddle

Day 2 of being fully back home from vacation. First day back at work in nearly a week.

I ate 100% on plan yesterday, albeit at the upper end of my calorie restriction. Got 20k steps in. Drank my water, took my vitamins Trained legs - almost died because they are still sore from walking along the beach so much.

Didn't get the best night of sleep (5.5 hrs), but I had a nap yesterday afternoon so maybe its not as bad as it seemed at the time.

Got up at 5:30am this morning and did my hour of fasted cardio. Kept the calories on the lower end for my 1st meal (at noon); eggs, turkey sausage, cottage cheese, an apple, rice cakes, and a few figs).

Already over 20k steps for the day... And I hit all of my other non-negotiables, same as I have done without fail for two and a half months plus now. Nearly done with my gallon of water.

About to train chest, shoulders, and biceps.

I made a pesto chicken salad that's chilling in the fridge, and a homemade bread boule that's cooling on the counter. Will make a sandwich and a green salad for my post-workout meal, which I'm very much looking forward to.

Weigh day tomorrow morning. Expecting another 2lb weight loss, just like last week. Wish it would be more but I'm doing this the right way, so its fine.

Gonna take time - a lot of time, and staying the course - to get where I want to be.

I might be ok, afterall

I went on vacation for the past 4 days, and still managed to lose a pound.

I stuck to intermittent fasting. Did fasted steady state (zone 2) cardio for 1 hour to start each day. Drank at least a gallon of water each day. Ate lots of protein (around 150g daily).

But I ate too many carbs/calories, got too little sleep, and missed 2 days of strength training.

I still got a ton of exercise in, between walking along the beach, playing in the gulf, and just plain ol' existing in the ridiculous heat. My legs are tight and sore in ways they haven't been in ages from tons of miles slogging through sand.

I had some amazing meals. Rainbow trout, redfish with creole cream sauce, an amazing triple stacked burger, spectacular street tacos, fresh icecream, a massive amount of sushi, and SO MANY FRENCH FRIES lol.

All of that while still managing a 24 hr fast in the midst of all that eating and the aforementioned activity?  Just crazy!

It ended up allowing for some relaxation of what has been a super strict regimen without letting the wheels fall off.

It wasn't all out of scope, though - I personally cooked the trout meal (with local fresh caught fish from a nearby grocery store), and I cooked eggs and turkey sausage one of the days for a meal. I got in some green veggies, fresh salads, etc. with a few meals as well. And everything was mostly whole foods based and pretty clean. That counts for something, right?

We got back last night, but I decided to shower and go to bed early vs. lifting weights. I knew I wouldn't catch up on sleep any other way, and it was worth it. 8 1/2 hours, and I feel good this morning.

Off from work today so I'm easing into things. Time for cardio, then a shower, a bit of a fridge clean out, and some meal prep.

Happy that I took some time away, but happy to be home now.

It finally happened

I did not lift weights yesterday.

Got a lot of steps. Climbed stairs. Spent a ton of time in the hot sun.

I also ate some amazingly great food, and more of it than I normally do.

But I got up early, got an hour plus walk in with the hot morning sun in my face, and I'm chugging water.

I needed yesterday. But I also need today, and the next day, and a return to routine.

LFG

My Program, My Plan

Why did I make it a point to make a post signifying day 75?

I admittedly got a spark watching so many 75 Hard participants on their journey through that program. Read quite a bit about the program itself, its founder Andy Frisella and his philosophies about fitness and life.

My assessment is that it is a solid concept, but leaves a lot up to the participant to determine. And while there is nothing inherently wrong with that, it seems as though the folks who got into the weeds at some point throughout the challenge struggled most often with loose daily routines and a lack of specificity.

Being able to dictate which diet and workout regimen you follow allows people of all fitness levels, dietary restrictions, belief systems, etc. to go with what works best for them. That's great - no problems there. But it is a double-edged sword, in the sense that the BYOB diet and workout approach inadvertently introduces a mindset that whatever you are doing will suffice, so long as the basic criteria are met.

It clearly has worked for thousands of people, and their testimonials were and continue to be inspiring. But ultimately, the deeper that I dug into Andy's podcast, the less I liked his opinions and the less I agreed with his philosophies. He seems like a very successful businessman, but he's not exactly not my cup of tea.

And besides - anything that resembles a cult usually turns me off, and I'll just leave that where it is.

So I still picked up reading nonfiction books on the regular again. Do at least 2 workouts, with one of them being outside. Follow a diet. Drink at least a gallon of water every single day. Don't miss on my diet and workouts, ever. 

I don't take daily progress pics, because that feels performative vs. practical. I do weigh daily, which has helped me better track how specific eating practices and activities affect my fat loss effort.

What I'm doing for my own life improvement movement absolutely has some parallels with Mr. Frisella's brainchild, and I give credit where credit is due for it providing data points for me to analyze and be inspired by. But 75 days - while a fine way to help someone kickstart healthy habit changes - feels like I've barely gotten underway, even taking into account that I'm down around 40 pounds total since starting this.

Day 75 of Working Out

Today was less than ideal in some ways, incredible in others, but lessons were learned.

Poor night of sleep, but didn't let it stop me from getting on the road for an hour walk at 5:30 am.

Got my 1st meal from a gas station. May sound sus, but the selections are actually impressive. Grilled chicken, hard boiled eggs, meat and cheese trays, fruits, nuts, and 2 kinds of Greek yogurt (one drinkable). It was a chore, but the macros were amazing and the calories dead- on. The only drawback was the price. Should have planned better and meal prepped at home, but it couldn't be helped.

The rest of the day was a whirlwind. By the time dinnertime arrived, I'd only gotten a little over 10k steps and hadn't done any strength training. The original dinner plan got screwed up, so I went to a grocery store to pick up a few things. Made a bunch of awesome food, but by now it was 11pm and I still hadn't worked out. So I did my full leg workout, finished a few minutes before midnight, and made the decision to skip dinner tonight.

It sucks. Loads. It really does. But as much as muscle building is a big, big focus, fat loss is my main focus. And, in the name of fat loss, tonight we fast.

Good thing my one meal today was a doozy. Already thinking about eating tomorrow around noon - 24 hr fast is the order of the day, I guess.

Weekly weigh in

Down another 2 lbs.

I ate too much last night. Not so much so that it wasn't on plan, but it was more than I needed. Too many carbs, mainly. Guts been blowing up all night into the morning, and I'm pretty sure that I left around 2 lbs of progress at the kitchen table.

A pitty. But I'll rectify that in the coming week.

 Lesson learned.

Take Care Not to Care

Don't ever let someone's negative and unwelcome outside perspective touch the goodness that you've got inside of you.

People often don't give a second thought to your fragility. They're not there for the planning, the execution, the trials and tribulations. They don't know about the countless ups and downs. They don't see your hard work, and their opinion of your results may not align with their own vision of success.

Harden your heart, dull your senses, avert your gaze and attention from those things which do not push you forward. Everyone is not a member of your circle, so don't give them the best seats in the house.

Your energy is precious. Use it to make your life and the lives of those who matter the most better.

It's worth it... And then some.

Morning follow-up

Woke up naturally at around 5am, 30 min before my alarm.

And I lay there, contemplating.

My tracker says that I got 5h 40m of sleep. Feels dead accurate, and that is less sleep than is ideal.

My knee is aching a bit more. It was getting better, but I seem to have tweaked it again, somehow.

I'm tired. And I anticipate a challenging day at work.

Seemingly a million reasons for me to stay in bed.

But when my 5:30 alarm went off, I did not hesitate.

I made a promise to myself to go all in...

So I'm going all in.

No shortcuts. No cutting corners. No missed opportunities. All gas, no brakes.

Time to get moving.

70 Days of Weights

Decided to food prep way too many lbs of chicken breast this evening - prior to tonight's strength training, and immediately after a 30 min walk in the hot sun.

Started on the grill but barely got 1/3 of it on, and my energy was waning fast. Got 1/3 in the air fryer and the rest into the oven. All 3 were tasty, but the air fryer might have been the best (my grill wasn't hot enough, I think. Live and learn).

I got in more steps before hitting the weights... Or rather, before the weights hit me, repeatedly, and with conviction.

I almost quit a few times. Going back to lifting heavy after a week of lighter weight was both physically and psychologically hard. But I did it, to the fullest.

It hurt. Taxed me to a level I wasn't sure that I could still rise to in the decades since I was last super serious about lifting and doing it with metronomic consistency, day in and day out.

But I went there, and I made it back out again.

Barely.

But I did it. I'm here, I didnt sell myself short, and I'm better for the effort of having done it.

I'm beat. But this chicken is making it at least a bit better.

Week in review

I made the decision a week ago today to lower the weights for almost all of my lifts, and concentrate on form, slowing down (particularly on the negative portion) and full contraction pauses during my reps. Probably going back to lifting heavy this week though, as I finalize a few more profound changes to my lifting program that will be coming soon.

All in all, it was good for my joint health, my mental health, and just gave me enough of a change so as to get me through some challenging times.

Food wise, I kept things largely whole foods based and clean as always. Did a bit more food prep, which was just what I needed given the hectic work week.

I restricted my carbs a bit more on most days than has been normal recently. Still ate tons of protein, tons of fresh veggies (especially tons of greens) and some fruit. Upped my fiber a bit more.

It was a nice cycle change that I may stick with this week, too.

Movement wise - I have been averaging between 140k and 170k steps a week for a while now. This seems to be sustainable and pretty effective as far as me achieving my desired fitness goals. I haven't done as much intense mobility work as in weeks prior, but I still did enough to progress in that area overall. I need to find more pockets of time to fit a bit more in, though.

I have a list of to-do's that I want to accomplish today. Went to bed really early, got up really, really early, and I'm kind of in a weird space right now. I need to just get moving and not think too much... 

Sometimes thinking just gets in the way of doing.

Weigh Day

4 more lbs down.

I've had to remind myself a few times lately to stay in the moment, that this is a long journey, and not to project my thoughts too far into the future, and not to dwell on the past.

It's hard sometimes. But I'm managing to stick to that mindset more often than not.

I want to not only make this progress stick, but I want to take it further than I ever have.

But that only happens one step at a time.

Time tracking

69 days of eating right.

66 days of exercise.

100% committed, focused, and determined to take this as far as possible for as long as possible.

Marking this down to look back at later to see how well I've maintained this level of effort and consistency.

This close...

It was 10:30pm when I began tonight's strength training session.

Yes, I'd already gone past 20k steps for the day hours ago. Been active. Eaten the correct foods in the proper amounts. But I opted to have an earlier than normal dinner with the fam vs. lifting first then eating alone. Chilled a bit, took a short nap. Almost stayed down, considered saying I'd been very productive and deserved to skip a day.

Nah. Not gonna do that.

I haven't cut a corner this far in, and I'm sorry but today was NOT the day for it.

Killed a leg workout. Pushed my step count even higher. Did my daily core training.

Already up later than is ideal, and it'll be a couple hours before I wind down enough to go to bed. But it was 100% worth it to keep the streak alive.

LETS GO

Focus

It is super important to stay focused on your goals, and to carefully manage what you devote your time and energy to.

Sometimes, what appears to be innocent - even beneficial - can be an element of chaos as far as the efforts that you're taking towards self-improvement.

It is a work in progress to learn the lessons that our lives try to teach us. Sometimes it is easier than is at other times to navigate the path we've set for ourselves. Sometimes you encounter an influence that alters your path.

Honest internal discourse and not losing sight of the future that you wish to live in can help you remain aligned with your vision. Your intentions should be geared towards keeping the water flowing, and to help you to avoid that which might poison your own well.

Rising

To be aware of and contemplate the seemingly infinite, while attending to and remaining rooted in the seemingly miniscule.

This is the way.

Weigh in

2 more lbs down this week.

In dealing with my knee issues over the last couple weeks, I've done 4 recovery focused things.

1) Kept my step count lower (still over 20k but minus 3k per day average this week vs last week)

2) Eaten on the upper edge of my calorie allotment to give myself some extra fuel to promote healing.

3) Limited some mobility work and stretches that put too much stress on the injured area.

4) Modify a couple of leg exercises to both give the injury some space to heal properly and to strengthen and engage more of my stabilizing/accessory muscles.

Knee still isn't 100% but it getting better every day. And I still haven't missed a workout, cheated my diet, or slacked off on steps and cardio.

2 lbs down? I'll take it.

Lets GO.

Disruptions

Be stronger than the forces that would serve as inhibitors to your goals and intentions.

Block that shit out, Baby. Stay on your path, obstacles be damned.

Reloaded

Time to kick the week in the teeth.

LFG

Rest, recovery, and pain management

Really feeling it today.

Truthfully, this has been building up to this point for several days. Knee pain, ankle pain, hips/lower back pain. Feeling a bit inflamed. 

Might be dietary, as I've had more red meat over the last week than I have in the month prior. Had a bit more refined, high-glycemic carbs also. Neither of those are a smoking gun, but not much else would be different as far as eating goes.

Movements might be to blame. I have dropped dumbell leg curls from my leg workouts for the time being, as I first felt the pain during that movement. My hamstrings already get a lot of work via traditional squats, 45 degree lunges, the eccentric half of cable leg extensions, and Romanian deadlifts - all done in sequence via a superset, repeated 3x, twice each week - plus the 20k plus in steps 7 days a week.

Could absolutely be overwork. For now, a bit of ibuprofen, some mobility training, some ice therapy, and maybe less intensity as it relates to getting steps in will get me feeling right again.

I thought today would be a cakewalk with no weight training, but I've got some work to do in order to be ready for tomorrow.

Weigh Day

Down 4 more pounds this week.

That is more than I expected, and a welcome sight, given how hard this week was to navigate. But I'm still batting a thousand - no cheat foods, sticking to the plan, working my literal butt off, and showing up every day throughout the day.

LETS GO

Sleep breakthrough

7h 5m of sleep last night. That is a big win.

This comes after days of trying to regulate my nighttime routine and lock in on a set bedtime. Too early to tell if this'll stick, but here's hoping...

Also hit a new step count high of over 28k. Getting them in throughout the day really is the key to ramping up one's overall activity level.

I ate a few more carbs yesterday than was ideal. Still within my margins, and they were good carb sources, but not the best practice for me to have the best results for fat loss.

My muscles love it tho. Full glycogen stores have me feeling big and strong right now.

I practive progressive overload religiously, but I'm thinking it might be about time to switch up my training programming. It'll still be 6 days on and 1 day off, and the muscle groups trained on a given day will stay constant, but the movements, total sets and total reps may change.

Still mulling it over... We shall see.

Weigh day tommorow. Hoping for more positive results. I'm working too dang hard for anything less than consistent progress towards my fitness goals.