An Introduction to the 40-30-30 Diet Concept

I do not know who originally wrote this but my coach at beachbody posted it in the forums and ironically enough my wife and I had just discussed this at dinner (sushi mmmm) tonight. So, I am posting this for archival of key information I am picking up along the way in my journey to be physically fit.

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Wouldn't it be great if you could take a simple pill that would improve your energy, control your weight, enhance your physical abilities and lower your risk of a multitude of diseases? All of these and no side effects? Sure it would! Unfortunately this pill does not exist but there is something that will do all this for you and you already have it: the food you eat!

Before I launch into this subject, realize this: I'm not a doctor and even though I have played one on TV, I am not AMA sanctioned and nothing that I say or write should be considered medical advice.

Most of us don't think of it this way but the food we eat, in addition to providing all the nutrients that our bodies need, also has far reaching drug-like effects. This comes as a surprise to many and to understand this we need to consider the hormonal effects of what we eat. Hormones dramatically affect the body, influencing many aspects of health and function. Everybody is familiar with estrogen and testosterone (and what they are capable of) but there's many more where those came from which are integral to the proper functioning of the body.

This is where eicosanoids come into play. Eicosanoids are the superhormones that control the production of other hormones in the body. Make no mistake that these are extremely critical to the function of the body. To make it simple, there are good eicosanoids and bad eicosanoids and the object is to maximize the good ones and minimize the bad ones. When you are talking about the very keys to the hormonal system that integrally controls your whole body and it's functionality, you're dealing with something very powerful indeed!

Here's the exciting part: The very food that you eat directly affects the production of both types of eicosanoids and by following a few simple rules you can increase your good eicosanoids, decrease production of bad eicosanoids.

Sorry, but this is the part where I'm going to leave out some details. I'm not writing a book (which is about what would be required for a thorough explanation), so for expedience let me just say that the protein/carbohydrate balance in your diet controlls your insulin/glucagon balance which directly effects your eicosanoid production. And here's the big secret for getting that balance right:

* For each pound of lean body mass that you have, you need to consume between .5 and 1.0 gram of protein per day (depending on your activity level)
* For every 7 grams of protein, you must consume 9 grams of carbohydrates.
* For every 7 grams of protein, you must consume 3 grams of fat.
* Fats should be mono-unsaturated whenever possible. Avoid hydrogenated oils.

Chances are that you're wondering, "Wait a second... where did the fat come from? Shouldn't I be reducing it as much as possible?" In a word, no. Fat plays an important part in the production of eicosanoids and in other bodily processes as well. Reducing it too much will foul up a lot of things. Contrary to popular belief, low fat diets do not necessarily make you lose weight and can have the reverse effect as well as causing other system deficiencies. Dr. Sears explains this very nicely in The Zone and if you are still skeptical about what I've just said about fat, read the book.

Now all this counting of grams of protein, carbohydrates and fat can be a real drag. To make this a little easier, a "block" system has been developed. A block of protein is 7 grams, a block of carbohydrates is 9 grams and a block of fat is about 3 grams. This system makes it easy to break foods down into their block components for very simple block to block to block ratio comparasin.

The ideal block ratio for most people is 1:1:1 but this may change somewhat from person to person. To accurately determine this ratio and your daily calorie requirement you will need to have a profile assembled based on some of your personal statistics.

Day 9 - Food

Here is the menu for today along with the nutritional data. I am concerned that this might not be enough calories and also am surprised that it isn't! This is actually a lot of food for me to eat in one day. I am forcing myself to eat lunch right now.

Day 9- Sweat 1-2

Whew! I am sore today. I now know that the workouts from yesterday really did work as I have the proof in the way I feel today :) The workout this morning was good. I did the full Sweat 1-2 and Ab Routine. I was a bit light on the energy so I could not do it with as much intensity as I would have liked, but I did do the routine. I have had some massive cravings for the holiday sweets that I smell in my house and everywhere I go!

Tomorrow is Sculpt 1-2 and I am already looking forward to it. I think I will likely start taking a little creatine in my water with the workout tomorrow. I plan on not skipping any days of exercise during the holidays but I will be eating a bit more food than my plan would allow. One thing I will be trying to do either way is to eat 5 times a day even on Christmas.

"Do Your Best and Forget The Rest"
I love this motto and today and over the next few days this seems like a wonderful time to keep this in mind. Whether it is with the meal plan, exercise routine, Christmas activities, work related, family related.. anything can apply. All YOU can do is your best and once you do that, then you should let everything else go.

These days will be busy for everyone I am sure. We should all try to take some time throughout the days to just relax, even if it is in increments of 100. One trick I learned a while back is that when you are really stressed, angry, frustrated, or having a negative emotion is to count backwards from 100 until I am calmer. Often just this alone can bring me back to reality and view the situation from a different perspective which causes me to see that it is not that big of a deal. Today will come and go either way so lets make the best of it and forget the rest of it :)

Happy Holidays!

//jsk

Day 8 - Food

This is my menu for today. I have just finished lunch so I only have 2 meals left. I calculated it out to see the calories and etc..

There are a few changes from what BeachBody told me to do. The changes are small but they are: 1) I added swiss to my sandwhich for lunch and 2) I only ate 1 cup of oatmeal instead of 1.5 for breakfast.

Day 8 - Power 90 - Sculpt 1-2 or Sweat 1-2???

Well this morning I got a little confused about which routine I was supposed to start with. I put in Sweat 1-2, started, and about 1/2 of the way through the stretching my wife came in to inform me that I was supposed to be doing Sculpt 1-2!! OOPS! So, then I started over in the Sculpt 1-2 routine.

The Sculpt 1-2 routine was just OK for me. Nothing overly exciting. I felt that some of the pace was too fast and some was too slow. I am sure that over time as I continue to do it I will figure out the pace that works best for me. Weight wise I mostly used 15 pound weights, although I did switch up for a resistance band (the lighter red one) for some of it. I did at least 8-10 reps on almost all exercises with some going all the way to 15. I did most of the push-ups and other exercises, but a few of the push-ups (during the 7-7-7) I did on my knees.

After Sculpt 1-2 I thought I was supposed to do the Ab Routine. So, I did. I later found out that the ab routine is for tomorrow! Oops again! I thought the Ab routine was easier than I had anticipated. I could not do all 10 of 10 but I did at least 90 of the total 100. I like this ab routine and feel that I will be able to master this in no time.

After doing Sculpt 1-2 and the Ab Routine I still felt like I had tons of energy and I had barely started sweating. So, after seeing my wife and son leave for the day I decided to jump back in there and do some cardio. I went ahead and did Sweat 1-2 as well!! I think this will be OK to do the Sweat + Sculpt in the same day although I do not planning on doing this more than once or twice a week as time permits. I thought this routine was quite a bit easier than the Fat Burning Express Cardio workout. I look forward to doing it again tomorrow. I have a feeling that I may need to move on to the next set of Sweat routines sooner than I had initially anticipated.

I have my meal plan all set for today. It does seem like a TON more food to me than I would normally eat, even before. I am hoping that the working out makes up for any extra calories I am ingesting. If I notice a lot of weight gain over the next two weeks then I might scale this back some.

Have a Great DAY!

//jsk

Day 7 - Rest Day - day after notes..

Yesterday was great. I got in my stretching first thing in the morning as I had planned and I generally felt great all day. I did not get my free meal of the week at Stonewood as it was closed, so I did not have steak. Instead we went to an Italian restaurant and I had a small portion of the brick size lasagna they brought to me. I ate mostly the tomato sauce, which had meat, garlic and mushrooms in it, with about a 10th of the actual lasagna. I also had a chili cheeseburger yesterday as I had been craving one all last week. The rest of my meals were mostly the same as any other day. Here is the breakdown:

Meal 1: Protein Shake - this time I added peaches. It was tasty but I am not sure if the peaches are OK so I will stick with the berries.
Meal 2: Small portion of Lasagna, Tomato sauce with meatball, mushroom, and garlic. Salad with goat cheese and Walnut Vinaigrette
Meal 3: Small Yogurt
Meal 4: Baked Salmon, Steamed Broccoli, Raw Cucumbers and Tomatoes
Meal 5: Chili Cheeseburger

I suspect I had way to many calories yesterday, but it was my rest day.

Here are my Day 1 and Day 7 Measurements:

Day 1:
Chest: 40.5"
Right Arm: 12.5"
Left Arm: 12"
Waist: 38.5"
Hips: 37.5"
Right Thigh: 19.25"
Left Thigh: 19.25"
Weight: 177
Blood Pressure: 152/83
BMI: 25.3
Fat%: 24.1

Day 7:
Chest: 39.5"
Right Arm: 12.5"
Left Arm: 12"
Waist: 36.5"
Hips: 37.5"
Right Thigh: 19"
Left Thigh: 19"
Weight: 169.8
Blood Pressure: 138/80
BMI: 24.4
Fat%: 22.4

Weight Lost = 7.2 pounds

I am happy with week 1 results. I feel the Fat Burner Express lived up to my expectations. I am expecting to put back on some of the weight loss over the next few days between just going back to a regular meal plan (according to the website I am supposed to be at 2k calories per day) and Christmas meals. Of course my free meal probably put back on one or two pounds right away.

Either way, I will Keep Pressing Play and doing the best I can with the diet/meal plan. I did sign up as a member of BB so that I can get the meal plans from them. My wife has been a great support in helping me to make sure that the meal plan is as exact as possible. Sometimes this is frustrating for me, but we are working through it. I fully believe that in one or two more weeks that we will have all of this down and it will be a LOT easier. If not, we might just quit.

JUST KIDDING :)

//jsk

Day 7- Rest Day #1

I have officially completed all of the Fat Burner Express - both the meal plan and exercise routine!!! I can say that I never would have thought that I would have gone through a meal plan/diet as stringent as the one I just did for the last 6 days. I posted each day with what I had and it totaled to around 800 calories each day. I have taken before and after pictures and hope to post those up later today along with the stats comparison.

I completed a stretch and power yoga routine this morning which is just the first 8 minutes of the Fat Burner Express DVD. I did this to help all of my muscles stretch out and get just a mini workout in today. For the rest of the day I plan to take it easy and "Rest" as is prescribed.

A special thanks to my wife for doing this program with me as well as helping by making sure that I followed the diet to a tee by buying, preparing, and serving just what the plan ordered. This took a bit of extra effort by her and I am very appreciative. She has already planned out our exact meals for this coming week as well!

I am very much looking forward to my "free" meal today. We are planning to eat a very nice restaurant named Stonewoods (http://www.stonewoodgrill.com) where I am sure to have a nice Filet Mignon :) I may also allow myself to have 1 chili cheeseburger as this has been one of my biggest cravings all week.

Have a Wonderful Sunday!

//jsk

PROTEIN ~ YOUR KEY TO NUTRITIONAL SUCCESS!

PROTEIN ~ YOUR KEY TO NUTRITIONAL SUCCESS! -by Mike French

One of the biggest mistakes many people make is that they don't pay attention to their muscle building nutrition with the same detail, desire and determination with which they pay attention to their weight training program.

If you neglect (or ignore completely) one or the other, whether it be your training or your nutrition, your results will only be a fraction of what they could be!

Look, you work extremely hard on your workouts. Don't screw it up by neglecting to be as dedicated to your nutrition program.

So let's talk about the importance of nutrition.
The truth is, no one will ever gain muscle without food. Nutrition for building muscle is simply a matter of eating. But that doesn't mean there isn't a lot to learn.

The Best Muscle Building Supplement

So here's the question every dedicated Fitness enthusiast wants to know.

What's the best muscle building supplement available today?

You might not like the answer. It's not sexy, it's not new, but it works.

Your number one supplement should be a high quality protein powder.

I know you probably already know this. But it's worth repeating because I get a ton of questions from people wanting to know what is the best new miracle supplement they can buy. And they aren't getting enough quality protein.

Before buying any other supplements, make sure you are always taking in a high quality protein powder.

If you want to make outstanding muscle building progress, you must put together a solid weight training program, train with a high level of intensity, add poundage to your exercises as often as possible, eat six high protein meals every day, and make sure recovering from your workouts so that your muscles have time to grow.

Protein powders make it extremely easy and convenient to eat six meals a day and to get enough quality protein into your body.

Using protein shakes will make it easier for you to consume enough calories and protein each day, as well as making it much more convenient to have 6 meals a day. Who has time to prepare six meals a day? Not anybody I know, that's for sure.

You may need to add or subtract ingredients based on individual taste preferences and number of calories needed.

When I was younger, more active, and had a metabolism like a furnace, I needed all the quality muscle building calories I could get. And protein shakes like this were the only way to get them.

You should eat every 2 or 3 hours.
When you have your post-workout muscle building protein shake, throw in a serving of creatine as well.

High quality protein, aka, "the real muscle building supplement" should be the center point of all your meals.

Intense exercise increases demand for protein, which support muscle repair and growth.
When you train with weights and you're looking to pack on pounds of quality muscle, you should try to eat a minimum of 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. If you weight 150 pounds, try and take in at least 150 grams of protein each and every day.

You don't have to have carbs or fat at every meal, but you must have protein. When I say protein, I am referring to high quality protein derived from animal sources.

For getting more fit and stronger, the only protein you need to be concerned with are those found in whey, casein (cottage cheese), eggs, beef, poultry, and fish.

Throw in a high quality creatine product and you are good to go. Stick with the dual muscle building protein/creatine stack for awesome muscle/Fitness gains.

A crucial time to get a lot of high quality protein is right after your intense weight training session.

One thing I've found that has helped my progress is to add a few more calories than I normally would and then drink part of the smoothie right before my workout, or even sip some of it during my workout so my muscles are constantly getting the nutrients they need, both to power my workout and to recover from it.

If you want to push your muscle/Fitness results forward and do it as fast as possible, you have to get your protein. There is no excuse to skimp in this area. You need plenty of protein. Nowadays, most protein powders taste great and many are pretty inexpensive when compared to food.

Mix your protein powder in Soy/Skim milk or water. Why? Quick muscle building!

The Importance of Post Workout Supplementation

I cannot overstate the vital importance of the post workout meal, or more specifically, the post workout drink.

You see, after a hard training session, your body is primed and ready to absorb all the nutrients it needs to help your body begin recovering from the muscle breakdown that has occurred during your training session.

Why a drink? Because your body is craving nutrients immediately following a hard training session and it needs them quickly. Your body will digest the nutrients in liquid form much more quickly than a solid fool meal.

During this time your body is ready, willing and able to quickly and completely absorb the protein that it needs. This will help to optimize protein synthesis, leading to a positive nitrogen balance, gains in muscle and strength, and the loss of body fat.

Of course, you need to constantly supply your body with the protein it needs to maintain and build muscle mass. However, the time right after a hard training session intensifies your body's ability to absorb the protein it needs.

Immediately after my weight workout I take my post workout drink. For this meal you want fast acting protein and fast acting carbs. This is one of those times you gladly want your body to release insulin, to help shuttle the much needed carbs and amino acids into the muscles.

Another great way to do it is to use a drink specifically designed to take advantage of the post workout opportunity as I mentioned earlier.

Day 6 - Power90 - Fat Burner Express

Day 6 workout is complete! I have now completed the 6 days of the fat burner express workout routine. Today I will finish up the diet/meal plan portion of that program and Monday I will be moving into week 2 of Power90. Once again today my muscles in my legs and arms are sore and they burned while working out.

Yesterday my coach at BeachBody informed me that this meal plan for this week is giving me about 700-800 calories a day!! WOW! What concerns me about that is I really hope that my body is not in starvation mode as then I am burning muscle. Either way today is the last day of it so I am going to push through. My wife has reported to me this morning that she is down 8 pounds for the week. Tomorrow is our official weigh in/stat day.

Yesterday I also purchased the membership to the BB site so that I can get detailed meal plans moving forward. It states that I should be consuming 2100 calories and my wife should be at 1600. What I hope to figure out soon is can I have a burger or higher calorie, less healthy lunch on some days as long as I still maintain under 2100 calories. I imagine the answer is no because I also need to maintain an specific ratio of carbs, fats, & proteins. So, maybe if the unhealthy lunch is still balanced in those categories then it will be OK?

This is what I consumed yesterday:

Meal 1: 1/2 cup Strawberries/1/4 bannana + Protein shake
Meal 2: 1 cup raspberries and Cottage Cheese (the raspberries were awesome!)
Meal 3: Chicken Breast Salad with green beans, red pepper, and celery - red wine vinegar
Meal 4: 15 almonds
Meal 5: Dijon baked chicken and steamed asparagus

One note about salad/lunch: 2 days in a row now I have not been able to finish my lunch due to it being hard to get down. I am definitely going to have to get some better dressing or none at all. It makes me nautios to even think about it and I am suppsoed to have one today too! A big goal for us is to find some homemade recipies for low fat, low carb, no sugar, low calorie dressing. With all that criteria it should be interesting.

I sure am looking forward to my cheat meal tomorrow :) At the begining of this I decided I was going to give myself one meal a week to eat outside the plan. For tomorrow I hope to have sushi but the place may be closed. Next week I have 2 meals planned for the holidays that will also take me off track.

Have a Good Saturday all!

//jsk

Day 5 - Power90 - Fat Burner Express

I had another great workout this morning. It was a bit harder to get out of bed and get in there to do it tho because I am feeling a bit sore in my legs and arms. I did manage to get through all of the workout though!

My weight was down 6 pounds as of yesterday morning for the week. It will not be official until Sunday morning, but I imagine I will be below 170 if I am not already for today. I weigh myself at the exact same time every day under the same conditions so that it can be as exact as possible.


Yesterday I ate exactly by the diet again. This is what I ate:

Meal 1: Protein shake with blueberries
Meal 2: 15 Almonds
Meal 3: Deli Meat Salad - Chicken Deli Meat, green leaf lettuce, celery, cucumber, balsamic vinegar
Meal 4: Turkey & Swiss rolled up with mustard
Meal 5: 4 ounces of lean steak (i think it was sirloin or flank, it was thin) and Swiss Chard Greens (My first time having these. They were OK with hot sauce and apple cider vinegar on them).

I drank the normal 8 or more glasses of water and my green tea last night before bed.

Today I am excited because I am supposed to have a whole cup of berries with my morning snack. I may end up going to the store shortly to get some fresh ones from fresh market.

One more workout and 6 day fat burner express will be over for me!! w00t!

Have a wonderful day all!
//jsk

Weight Loss and Starvation Mode in plain english

I am going to start posting other stuff that I find interesting to my blog here as well. I will attempt to quote the original sources when I can. If nothing else this will help me to consolidate a lot of what I am reading and discovering.

Here is a good example:

A guy on one of the beachbody forums responded to a question I had about starvation mode with this. "This info I found on an Mit website and spells it out in a very understandable way."

WEIGHT LOSS
In a nutshell, losing weight means that energy intake must be less than energy expended. Weight is most safely lost and kept off by decreasing calories by approximately 500 per day by following a good nutritious diet and exercising. Food intake should be timely. An athlete may exercise more or eat less but a balance combining the two is the best method of weight loss, that is; burning 250 calories through exercise while also decreasing food intake by 250 calories.

Weight loss is not easy to do and can add to a person's stress level and is even harder when suffering from sleep deprivation. One must be very motivated, disciplined, patient, have a weight loss plan, be able to follow specific and realistic daily and weekly goals, and be honest with oneself. In addition, other factors that may have positive or negative affects on weight loss are: heredity, age, your "set point" (a predetermined weight appropriate to your body), cultural habits, hormonal imbalances, emotional trauma (anxiety and depression), time management, sleep deprivation, level of fitness, type, frequency, intensity and duration of physical activity, existing body composition, and one's ability to obtain enough fresh fruits and vegetables and other high quality foods.

One pound = 3500 calories. Decreasing calories by 500 per day for a week = 3500 calories lost or 1 pound. Increasing exercise expenditure by 200 kilocalories per day for a week = 1400 additional calories expended which is a little less than ½ pound. An example of 200 kilocalories expended can occur doing: 45 min. of walking @ 3.5 mph on a 1.5% incline on a treadmill. The heavier you are, the faster you walk, the longer you walk, the greater the incline, all result in greater calories lost. It is recommended that no more than 2-3 lbs. per week be lost. Weight loss greater than prescribed weight loss is unhealthy. Individuals requiring minimal weight loss (like 5 – 10 lbs.) should not attempt to lose more than .5 to 1 lb. per week.

'starvation mode'...
This mechanism, which is thought to have evolved as a defense against starvation, means the body becomes super efficient at making the most of the calories it does get from food and drink. The main way it does this is to protect its fat stores and instead use lean tissue or muscle to provide it with some of the calories it needs to keep functioning. This directly leads to a loss of muscle, which in turn lowers metabolic rate so that the body needs fewer calories to keep ticking over and weight loss slows down. Of course, this is the perfect solution if you're in a famine situation. But if you're trying to lose weight, it's going to do little to help you shift those unwanted pounds into lean muscle to burn more fat.

The website he was referencing is:
http://web.mit.edu/athletics/sportsmedicine/wcrwtloss.html


//jsk

Day 4 P90 - Fat Burner Express Meal plan + Exercise

Whew. I am covered in sweat from today's workout. It was mostly the same as yesterday although a few of my muscles in my legs seem a bit more sore than usual. I can see the light at the end of this 6 day tunnel! I am excited to see the final results on Sunday morning. I am also looking forward to next Monday as I can then do Sweat 1-2 and the Ab routine.

Once again, thanks to my wonderful wife (who is also doing this with me), I was able to stick 100% to the meal plan. Below is what I had:

Meal 1: 3 egg whites/1 egg scrambled using spray with low fat swiss cheese and scallions
Meal 2: Protein shake (no berries in this one, just straight water + protein mix)
Meal 3: Grilled Shrimp and Chicken (4 ounces), lettuce, carrots, red pepper, and cucumbers with red vinegar and spices.
Meal 4: 15 Raw Almonds
Meal 5: Grilled Tuna with scallions and soy sauce, 2 cups of broccoli

Yesterday I was actually full most of the day which is an improvement over other days. I also had at least 8 glasses of water and some Decaf, non-sweetened Blueberry Green Tea (this was really good). I have always lived in North Carolina where one thing we are famous for is the sweet tea. I have been hooked on drinking sweet tea for most of my life. This unsweetened green tea is actually really good to me. I imagine that even after this week sweetened tea (even with splenda) will likely taste over-sweet to me.

//jsk

Day 3 P90 - Fat Burner Express Meal plan + Exercise

Today exercising was easier than yesterday in that I had more energy to give the exercising more intensity. I still feel that it could be better and I am sure over time it will be. I am feeling a little sore today but not too bad. This Fat Burner Express DVD is really a good workout. Both my wife and best friend are doing this with me and have both stated that they like this routine as well. I have read that it is a bit tougher than Sweat 1-2. I have not done Sweat 1-2 yet, but will next week. I have read that some swap out Sweat 1-2 for this routine on occasion to break things up a bit.

Thanks to my wife, my diet yesterday was perfectly by the 6 day fat burner express meal plan. Later last night my stomach was growling a bit telling me it wanted more food, but I made it through it by drinking some green tea. That actually helped a lot more than I thought it would so I recommend that anyone that is eating less and still feeling hungry give the green tea a shot.

This is what I consumed:

Breakfast: Smoothie with 3/4 cup of blueberries
Snack: 20 Almonds
Lunch: Tuna Salad - consisted of Bagged Tuna, Lettuce, Cauliflower, Broccoli and just a bit of red wine vinaigrette with cayenne pepper.
Snack: Roast Beef and Swiss Cheese roll-up with mustard
Dinner: Garlic & Rosemary Chicken with Brussel Sprouts

I drank at least 8 cups of water and 1 cup of decaf green tea.

As I did yesterday I am going to start spicing up the food a little more with pepper and/or lemon/lime juice. I am making sure that nothing that I add has any calories, sugar, or carbs so I should be good to go.

Tonight I hope to get 8 hours of sleep as I have only been getting 6. I imagine this will help with my energy level.

Day 2 - Power 90 - Fat Burner Xpress

I just finished my workout for day 2. Today it was much harder for me than yesterday. This is not because the exercises were hard or because my body was sore, but because of my energy level. I also have had a headache since around 4pm yesterday. My wife says that this is from the lack of carbs, I am not sure.

I did follow the meal plan exactly yesterday. Here is a brief synopsis of what I consumed:

Meal 1: Protein Shake with 1/2 cup of blueberries (this was supposed to be 1 cup)
Meal 2: 20 Raw Almonds
Meal 3: Turkey & Spinach Salad - This had 1 tablespoon of Red Wine Vinaigrette, spinach, turkey, carrots, cucumbers, and mushrooms (i did not eat these).
Meal 4: 4 ounces of cottage cheese and 1/2 cup of blueberries
Meal 5: Flounder and Asparagus
Late Night: 1 cup of decaf Green Tea- No sweetener at all!

I drank nothing but water all day and the 1 cup of tea near bedtime. I also took some Acai Berry extract in the morning as I have read that it helps to curb cravings and help with energy. I did have a lot of energy about 2 hours after I took it so I hope that helps again today!

I am hoping that my headache goes away soon as I have a lot of work to get done today! I am also hoping that my energy level rises as I am feeling quite lethargic.

I did weigh myself this morning and I was down to 175. This was before any water for the day and with my clothes on.

//jsk

Day 1 - Power 90 - Fat Burner Xpress

Today's routine was mostly cardio with a few strength/yoga moves built in. Overall I enjoyed the routine and look forward to completing it the rest of this week. For the entire first week of the Power90 program I will be doing this fat burner xpress routine. My plan is to start Day 8 with the actual first day of Power90. I may change my mind on this, but my friend is starting the normal Power90 today and I want to parallel what he is doing as much as possible. I am starting with this fat burner xpress so that I can really kick-start the whole process with the immediate success of dropping some weight fast. I will be following both the exercise routine and meal plan to the exact tee in an effort to get the best results. There is one exception. I do plan on one cheat meal a week. For Christmas I will likely have 2 or 3 extra meals and as a result I may either do more exercise or I might even decide to do a 2 day fast. We shall see..

I am really looking forward to the next 6 months as I believe this will result in quite the physical transformation. Tomorrow I will wake up on time and press play right away!

//jsk

Fat Burner Express Day 1

Today I have started a Fat Burner Express Day 1 routine which comes with Power90.

What happened to p90x? Well, the short answer is I stopped. The longer answer is that I started to have to travel a lot with my job and I let myself down by not pushing forward with p90x. I definitely regret not pushing forward with p90x as I would be super fit right now!

Moving forward....

More than a couple of months later I have decided to step back and try to get through Power90. A friend of mine decided to try the Power90 program first as he felt he was not in good enough shape to start p90x. I have decided to do it with him so that we could get through the program together. This is the main reason why I am going back to Power90 rather than push back into p90x. Also, a few weeks ago I tried starting p90x again and was sore for almost a week after day 1. This made me realize that maybe I should work back into p90x. Going through power90 should be a very good way to prepare me for the X!

So, since I am starting over I have taken all of my measurements and stats again for day 1.


I took all of my stats down last night and this morning for Day 1 and they are all listed below. I am going to include my blood pressure as I am hoping it will also come down. My height is 5'10" and I am 33.

My Stats on Day 1:
Chest = 40.5"
Right Arm = 12.5"
Left Arm = 12"
Waist = 38.5"
Hips = 37.5"
Right Thigh = 19.25"
Left Thigh = 19.25"
Weight = 177
BMI = 25.3
Fat % = 24.1
Blood Pressure = 152/83 (night before first day)