Weight Loss

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Aldeth, that situation is just your good-old, standard husband-wife compromise. You want it one wayand she wants it another. So you "compromise", which means you fflop like a fish and she gets what she wants. It is the unwritten law in all marriages. Just remember, you're the one that said "I do".

 

And such compromises work (at least for her) in most situations. Not only does she frequently do too many reps per set, but in many cases her form is wrong too. For example, she cannot seem to grasp the concept that when you're doing any type of tricep exercises, it is necessary to keep your elbow stationary, and that all the movement should take place in your forearm.

However, in this particular instance, she wants to do it her way, and she want to see the results you get by doing it the right way. And therein lies the problem. You won't get the results you want it you don't do the exercise the right way, and her way is not the right way.

On the dietary front, what do you guys think about couscous? We had some with dinner last night, and reading the ingredients it seems somewhat better than things like noodles, potatos and white rice. It's more grainy, so it has some fiber and protein in it, and while it is high in carbs (40g per serving), what the hell is it? Is that considered a whole grain, and thus somewhat better for you, or if I'm eating couscous, I may as well just eat white rice?

 

Couscous is a nice mix-in to your weekly planning of meals. A big problem many have with diets is the repetition of the same foods over and over. It's tiresome, boring and makes you feel like a mindless automatan. Mixing in some different foods makes it alot easier. Couscous is a nice choice as it has some dietary fiber to it.

 

White rice is horrible for you; if you want rice try brown or long grain rice. It is much better for you.

If you want a baked potato go with a Sweet Potato since it is healthier than a brown, red or yellow potato.

As far as pasta or bread is concerned both are not good for you in the least bit and if you do have pasta or bread make sure it is made with STONE GROUND WHEAT.

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I forgot to mention that yesterday was the half way point for me. I have now completed 45 days out of 90.

I have to say the more I exercise the more motivated I am in doing it the next day. I am now longer forcing myself to exercise, I just do it.

As for the food I have now been a good boy for 2 days without cheating. Hopefully today can be day three.

 

I know that. I was asking if couscous was essentially just as bad as white rice, pasta or bread. Apparently, the answer is yes, since it's basically pasta.

I'm the same way. I can see myself continuing with P90X after the 90 days are up. Afterall, the goal shouldn't be just to get in shape, but stay in shape. I imagine if I just suddenly stop doing the workouts, I'll get out of shape again.

 

I haven't eaten white pasta for some years now, as there are so many whole grain choices available. Some brands even have added protein, fibers etc., but they are kind of expensive for daily use, and I don't really need any extra protein with my current diet. I know I will have some digestion issues if I switched back to white pasta.

Whole grain rice is healthier, but some white rices aren't totally horrible. Basmati rice, for example, is somewhat better choice than the basic white rice. I've replaced rice couple of times with barley - a lot healthier choice and it didn't taste bad at all.

I started my own short term weight loss project last week, with some minor dietary changes and scaled down some meal sizes. At the moment I'm eating 6-7 meals per day (usually just one warm meal) which leads roughly to 3200 calories. In the first 5 days I lost 4 pounds, but it was mostly fluids. This week the rate has been steadier.

 

Only reason I'm going to be starting out with a partner, is that I don't have the enthusiasm to go on my own. Beyond that? Most the lifts I had back in high school required a spotter, or were joint workout type things (medicine ball toss sit-ups and the like).

 

Well, I did yoga yesterday so I'm sore again today. I'm not surprised that yoga is so difficult, seeing as how I've never done it other than the first time I did the DVD. If I'm being honest with myself, I would say that I did show improvement over the first time I did the DVD. However, I still have a long, long way to go before I will be good at this. Hell, I have a long way to go before I get to be not so bad at this.

Yoga is the only video that I have encountered that I have not been able to perform completely due to physical limitations. Sure, the plyometrics and cardio videos are very difficult too, but I can do everything that the instructors do. Maybe not as well, and maybe not as fast, but I can do them. With yoga, I can correctly do about 50% of the positions. I can do, but with poor form, another 40% or so of the positions, and about 10% of the positions I cannot do at all. My wife is the same way, although it's not the same positions that she has trouble with. She has trouble doing things like supporting her entire weight with her hands, as she lacks the strength. I am strong enough to get up on my hands, but lack the flexibility and balance to do much of anything once I get there.

And the last few moves of yoga all require you to balance on one leg. There's a routine that is about 3 or 4 minutes long, where you are supposed to be able to do the whole thing, including changing positions, without ever having your other foot touch the floor. (Of course, after that you repeat the same routine on the other foot.) Maybe one day, in the far off distance future, or in some alternate universe, I'll be able to do that routine. But for right now, it's hard enough for me to get into the position balancing on one foot. I'm certainly not going to be able to change positions without putting my foot down.

 

I'm not sure if I can go full steam today in my workout. I'm still trying to recover from taking my daughter to the ER early Sunday morning. I got about 11 hours of sleep the last two nights combined and I"m still tired. Hopefully tonight I can get caught up on my sleep.

 

Hopefully, your daughter is doing OK Munchkin. I hope for the best.

I think I'm gradually improving on some of the exercises. I'm fine with all the strength training ones, it's the flexibility ones I struggle with. We did kenpo again this weekend, and my second attempt I showed some imporvement. I can now do front and side kicks at waist level, and while I'm still struggling on the back kicks, at least that's something.

 

LMAO...

Kicking level was not my problem with the kicks at first. It was being able to do it more than once as I was truly out of shape. I always been able to kick pretty high almost to my head.

This weekend when I did sweat 1-2 I didn't sweat until the very last set of exercises which is about 20-25 minutes into the video. I'm very close to move onto the next DVDs.

 

I down a total of 3.8 pounds after 3 weeks, so I'm still averaging about a pound a week. Yesterday was X Stretch, and I was able to do one of the few stretches I couldn't previously do for the first time. It's a move that is in X Stretch and Yoga, so I'm particularly pleased. It's the one where you lay on your back, raise your legs straight up into the air, then you use your abdominal muscles so your legs are straight up, and all your weight is on your shoulders. (They refer to it as a shoulder stand.) After that you let your legs fall further forward, so they end up past your head. Like I said, I know it's not that hard to do, but it was a first for me.

Core Synergistics tonight - IIRC, it's difficult, but by no means the most difficult of the workouts.

 

Does anyone have any pointers on how to help me not get the munchies right before I go to bed. Usually about an hour before I go to bed I'm totally hungry and it is trying me nuts as I always fall to this tempation. I try to eat good food which I usually do but it is bad either way because I am consuming food right before bed time. Any advice on how to help me fight off this right before bed hunger?

 

Sure - just get high earlier in the day, and you'll get the munchies prior to late at night...

Seriously though, when my wife and I started P90X, we did the workouts sometime after I got home from work but before we ate dinner. That pushed dinner time back from about 6:00, to more like 7:00-7:30. I find that when I eat dinner later, I don't get hungry again before bedtime. Is there a way you can adjust your last meal of the day to be somewhat later?

I think I really like Core Synergistics. The difficulty level is such that I can just barely get through the workout, while still being able to do everything in the workout. With a lot of the chest, back, shoulder, and biceps workouts on the other days, I'm still increasing the amount of weight I'm doing to try to get to that point. With things like Kenpo, Yoga, and Cardio, I cannot get through the workout without taking several mini-breaks (like a minute or two), or in the case of Yoga, there are some things I cannot do at all (like the Crane position). The only other workout in the series where I get that same level of exertion while still being able to complete it is the Leg workouts.

The one exercise that is really, really, tough in Core Synergistics is where you get into a pushup position with arms extended, hold it for 10 seconds, then go down like you're doing a pushup, and stay at your low point for 10 seconds. So you repeat up for 10 seconds and down for 10 seconds for a full minute. The "down" part is much more difficult than the up part.

I also think that men have a distinct advantage over women in all workout routines. Not just in performance, but in results (which is probably tied to performance). We're now three weeks in, and in the initial DVD you watch, they say a typical result is losing 1-2 pounds per week. After three weeks, I lost 3.8 pounds, so I'm losing somewhere between 1-2 pounds per week. My wife has lost half a pound. I cannot help but think that this is because I do more reps on the whole body exercises (like pushups), and use a greater amount of weight for all the other exercises than she does. Heck, even for things like Plyometrics, because I weigh more than her, I probably am burning more calories doing the exercises.

 

I use to eat around 5:30 prior to working out; now I eat between 6:30 and 7.

 

Eating before bedtime isn't bad IMO as long as you stick with good food, maybe cottage cheese or something similar. Some vegetables might also be safe choice. In the long run the daily calorie deficit is more important than when you actually consume those calories, but I would avoid carbs in the evening.

Men normally have more muscle mass than women, so they burn more calories, even if they would have similar height and weight. According to consumption calculator, a woman my size (kind of scary) would consume 400 calories less per day without any extra activities.

Update on my weight loss: after 2 1/2 weeks I've lost 7 pounds, which is a little more than I planned. This week I started a different gym program and started working out only three times a week instead of four. I also started jogging again after a long break, short 30 minute runs once or twice a week.

 

Last night I moved up to the Sweat 3-4 video of P90. It is much more intense and has a much faster tempo, which I like. What I didn't like is that I'm sick and it took the breath out of me faster than I thought it would.


Tonight I'm going to be using Sculpt 3-4 video. I wonder how much different it is from Sculpt 1-2.

By the way, I hate being sick. It is taking quite a bit out of me and a ton out of me to do my daily exercise routine. I can't push when I feel like this; it stinks. Hopefully by Monday I feel good and get go full steam than.

 

Haven't posted in a few days, simply because there hasn't been anything terribly impressive to post. I'm still sticking with the program, and I am still losing some weight (about a pound per week). Last night was a good workout - I either did more weight or more reps (in the case of pushups) that I even did for the workout previously. I'm now on the third trip through the two-week series.

Sucks that you got sick Munchkin - that makes working out much more difficult. Not only is it harder to motivate yourself because you don't feel well, if your sickness is accompanied by any type of congestion, it's harder to breathe when you're working out.

 

Plyometrics still sucks - IMO it's the hardest video in the series. I can complete the video, but not without pausing after every few exercies. Basically, it's four sets of four different exercises done twice each. So you do exercises A, B, C, D and then A, B, C, D again. Then there's a one minute break, and you do exercies E, F, G, H twice, etc. I need a break after each series - I cannot do everything twice without taking a break.