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On Friday, June 14th, I had a really big eye opening conversation with a co-worker from the night shift (I am on days). This was the first time I have seen him since he went to nights about a year and half ago. He looked great. That is to say, as compared to the way he looked the last time I saw him. He lost a lot of chubby weight (80 pounds he said), and replaced it with a lean, energetic new him.
Intrigued, I asked what he had been doing to bring about these obvious changes. He said that he was on his third spring of doing the P90X program. (NOTE- I am neither promoting or endorsing this program. I have never done it and likely won't. I am only stating my co-worker's situation to highlight the inspiration I felt and feel from his very own testimony as to what it takes, really takes, in terms not only of one's determination and effort if one truly entertains the hope of achieving a better healthier vessel. That's all). I learned that the "90" has to do with how many days the routine takes to complete. He pointed out that he was not doing any weight training or bodybuilding as any part of his program. Instead, he said he stays focused only on Cardio. Burning fat, steady metabolism and endurance are his goals.
Well, needless to say, that, with my poor record at achieving any truly substantial weight loss or getting anywhere near my target weight, I found his journey compelling.
I asked if he had to eat, drink or take any special supliments associated with the program. He said you could, but all he did was improve his diet by changing his eating habits. Everything still comes from the grocery store. Only difference is what, how much and how often he consumes. When he opened his rather large lunch box I was somewhat less amazed at what I saw than what I thought I would see. A bunch of the little snack baggies you get at Walmart. Each hardly filled with carrot sticks in one, celery sticks in another, some peanuts, a banana, and on and on and on. It wasn't that he had any special "You Can't Succeed Without These" items in his lunch box, just plain old regular food, and a couple of what he called "energy bars". Okay, I thought, this must be the "Catch" product you always hear about when doing a "Program". Nope, you get them at Walmart too. No biggy.
He told me that he'll eat one of the whatevers every two hours. Sometimes he'll grab an energy bar instead. And every night at the end of his day, which is morning to the rest of us, he does his Cardio.
Now, it's at this point that I'd like to end anything else about what types of cardio he does because, well, it's just not relevant to me. You see, I was able to piece together what he had told me into something that I myself would be willing to consider without the fear of, OMG this is too hard or just something I totally could care less about spending my time doing. In fact, I realized that it seemed so simple that maybe I might not be willing to try. So I decided to give myself a Practice Shot at it, if you will.
Since I already had a bag of Sugar Snap Peas in the fridge, I divvy'd em up into several snack bags, along with a pasta dish I used to eat every day at lunch and went about my day:
2 Egg egg sandwich for breakfast, snack bag, snack bag, half of my pasta lunch, then the second half, snack bag, snack bag, then supper after work. Whew, I couldn't believe it. I felt overly full, but slightly energized when I'd usually be so beat that it was all I could do to not just simply pass out from exhaustion. Then I remembered something my co-worker had said. He said he tries to stay away from the carbs; rice, pasta and breads. And those energy bars were high in Protein not Carbs.
So, with the weekend off, that's Sunday and Moday for me, I did some thinking and some shopping. I found some great things I don't mind eating; carrot sticks, celery sticks, cherry tomatoes, green bell peppers (Note- I have since learned that the red peppers are the mature ones of the four bell colors with green being the least. Red is all I'll ever do from now on), mandarin oranges, green beans, bananas, etc., and some great 30 (and 20) grams of protein bars.
For the week starting on Tuesday, June 18th, I still ate my egg sandwich every morning with Nickles' 35 calorie MultiGrain bread, only now the pasta is out for lunch...no more. I had an "Eat" (that's what I call it now), as close to every two hours as was possible and found that if for no other reason, I could continue to eat this way for the rest of my life and remain unaffected by it as any form of intrusion on my daily routines. I noticed I had lost a couple of pounds, from 171.2 on the 18th to 169.4 on the 22nd. I wish I had entered all my weights here at my Fat Secret, but learned that I cannot enter weights for a date already past, sooo.....
For this past week starting on Tuesday, June25th, I went into the basement, located the disassembled parts of my old bike, which hadn't been used since sometime in 2001, put it at all back together, and began riding around my neighborhood. On Wednesday, June 26th, I used my car to learn how far it was to drive my entire community. 1.1 miles exactly, from leaving my driveway to returning to it. 1.1 miles. So, each night after my full workday is complete, I now bike for 5.5 miles each night. Great sweat. And improving my breathing as well as the overall toning and strengthening of my whole vessel. I enjoy it so much now that on one night I had to withhold due to a thunderstorm, and felt terrible about it. So I got onto the old Gazelle I bought years ago instead. For 26 minutes on the Gazelle it said I burned 111.4 calories. If that's even close to correct, it totally doesn't even begin to come close to what I'm burning on the bike. It did provide an alternative however.
On Thursday, June 27th, I became aware of Sam's Choice brand Fire Side Gourmet Black Angus Pub Style 1/2 pound Burgers. This is now the only thing I will eat after my biking. 41 grams of Protein, 0.00 Carbs and 600 Calories are perfect for muscle regen, support and rounding off a day of minimal caloric intake.
I will be entering the products that have barcodes in the near future for anyone who may be interested.
And from now on I will do my best to keep one thing in mind:
This is the only vessel I get for now, so it is my responsibility to help it become the best it can be, until that time when it and I are no longer intimately entangled...and then it's off to the next one.
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