Today was the day I do my measurements and it is always an exciting day for me.  I love to see the results I've produced and I've even learned to enjoy the discovery of bad results just so that I can modify my plan of attack if necessary. The results today are as follows:

This is the lowest my weight has been since my back surgery and my body fat percentage continues to drop.  The change I made in going to the Metabolic Surge nutrition plan is working for me.

I will be posting a new podcast tomorrow night.  Look for that.

Until tomorrow…

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I got up very early this morning, at 3:30 a.m., to handle my workout because I knew I had a busy day ahead of me.  I did 45 minutes of HIIT style cardio using Cardio Coach.  It is a great program that I highly recommend.

I made it a point to really plan out my meals today and that went well.  I was able to eat right all day long.  I believe that tomorrow when I do my stats my weight is going to be down a little again. 

I am honestly just very tired and can't think straight.  I am off to bed in an hour so this is all I have to say for the day.

Put your best foot forward every day.  Some days that best foot will be better than others, but as long as it is the best you have to offer you aren't cheating yourself.

Here's to great results!

Until tomorrow…

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Today I was involved in the final planning session for the 2008 fiscal year and it brought to light some interesting thoughts.  The team I was planning with consists of 9 executives (myself included).  We were tasked to come up with the Top 2 or 3 initiatives for our department and to plan out the milestones per quarter for those initiatives in the new year. 

As we went around the room talking about our plans, the sales director commented that he had two plans for increasing sales.  When pressed as to why, he stated that he didn't have alot of confidence in his first plan, so he had made up a contingency plan.  He was obviously quite proud of himself that he had done some contingency planning.  However, the president of the company spoke up and asked why he would need a second plan at all. He asked “If you think the first plan is going to fail, why not make your second plan your first plan?”  This got me to thinking about how planning works and I want to apply it to shredding fat.

You've all read (if you've been reading my blog very long) that I believe failing to plan is planning to fail.  I am very focused on my goals and creating synergy towards completing them, but at the same time, I am realistic and understand that no matter what, we are going to produce results.  These results are either going to make us happy or they are going to make us unhappy.  It is what we do with the analysis of those results that gets us closer to our goals.

Yes, it is possible to make a plan that doesn't work out, but you don't just switch to another plan, you make tweaks to the existing plan.  You change the ratio of macronutrients.  You can increase the amount of cardio you are doing.  You can decrease the amount of cardio you are doing.  There are hundreds upon hundreds of small tweaks that you can do to get your plan on target.  The key is to measure the results and make adjustments as you go along.  Don't stubbornly cling to a plan that isn't producing the results you want.  Be flexible enough to change your plan midstream.

I have personally done this on a weekly basis.  Sometimes it is harder than others to be flexible and make the appropriate changes, but eventually I get there and I'm happy when I do.

At the same time, be cognizant of how long something takes to be effective.  Completely gutting your workout program one week in is not very productive.  It takes time to see results.  You have to give the program time to do what it is supposed to do.  Be realistic as you consider the results you are getting.  Even if you think your goal is a giant stretch, don't shy away from it just because of that reason.  Make yourself stretch to reach the goal.  You will be proud of the results you get as a result.

My foot felt much better today and I was able to do a pretty intense workout.  I was amazed at how strong I was today:

Now if you follow my workout logs, you'll notice that the weights are the same as my 5 x 5 day.  I sat the night before this workout and thought about the intensity level with which I've been approaching my workouts.  I realize that I give it my all, taking nothing back with me after doing an exercise, but I also realized that I could push myself harder and that's what I did today.  Did it hurt like hell to do the squats or deadlifts at that weight?  Yes!  At the same time, I know that I really pushed my body to the limit.  I could not have done another squat or deadlift if I tried.  My legs and lower back were wasted!

If I want to get into the shape I am aiming for I have to do my workouts with this type of intensity.  I'm not alone in thinking that I couldn't up my intensity any more.  I challenge each and every one of you to do what it takes to get that intensity up another notch.  Don't sit back and relax where you are at.  Push yourself to new limits.  Blaze a new trail for yourself.

“Walked out this morning
Don't believe what I saw
A hundred billion bottles
Washed up on the shore
Seems I'm not alone at being alone
A hundred billion casatways
Looking for a home”
(Message in a Bottle, the Police)

Stop looking the other way and do what you know you need to do.  When we stop pushing ourselves we are only shortchanging ourselves.  Nobody else is going to care.

Until tomorrow…

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Today I woke up and my arthritis that is in my right foot was inflamed.  When this happens, all I have to do is take a couple of doses of ibuprofen and it goes away.  At the same time, I've learned the hardway that if I push it too hard, the arthritis gets worse.  When I make it worse it seems to last forever.  Thus, I reluctantly decided to follow my own advice and I listened to my body.  I took the day off from working out and let my foot recover and recover it did!

It was a good day for this to happen.  I lift on the schedule of Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, but if something happens on Thursday (like what happened this morning), I can still lift on Friday and make it back on schedule for Sunday.  I will lift tomorrow morning.

It is an important point to remember–always listen to your body.  It will tell you how hard you can push it.  When it is reluctant to work overly hard, don't push it.  It is only when it is your mind that is slowing you down that you should push on through.

My nutrition was great today.  I basically ate chicken breasts and lettuce all day long today.  My fat was extremely low.  I am doing the 7 day low fat plan of Metabolic Surge rather than the 5 day low fat plan.  I have my own reasons for this and it is working for me.  I'm really getting the hang of how the program works.  It is starting to become second nature for me.  I like how extreme it really is and I know that sounds odd.  I just like that it is addressing the issues I need addressed.  I will reassess this weekend after doing my stats. Adjustments will be made or I will stay the course depending on what those results do for me.  Stay tuned for that.

Until tomorrow…

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Today I did a 40 minute cardio session using Cardio Coach, Volume I and I found that the time flew by so quickly.  This volume had me do 6 intervals with a 20 second full tilt interval followed by a 40 second level 3 interval.  I was hitting 75% max heart rate on the level 3 interval and 85% on the level 4 (full tilt) interval.  Sean (the cardio coach himself) really pushes you to complete that set of intervals.  The next challenge is 4 one minute intervals at level 4.  The final challenge is 3 straight minutes at level 4.  It was a great workout.

The rest of the day was pretty intense.  I had a meeting in which we were discussing a policy decision.  I completely disagreed with how it was going.  Several members in the meeting kept asking me “So, do you feel better about that?” to which I would say “Nope” and it seemed to frustrate them.  However, I don't feel they thought out their decision.  They assumed an awful lot and didn't operate on facts.  I kept thinking about how that relates to my own way of handling my fat loss issue.  I track everything carefully and make decisions based on what I see.  I am analytical by nature.  It has really helped me because it is the reason I got into the Metabolic Surge program in the first place.  I saw that the nutritional plan would work for me.  I've honestly found it to be quite simple to stick to and plan to stay with it.

If you are trying to lose the fat from your body, take the time to learn what makes it work for you.  You have to learn what makes your body tick.  When you've figured that out, half the battle is over.

Until tomorrow…

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