One Weekend Gone

How YOU doin'?

















Well, it looks like I'm in place and firmly on track 5 days in. I've been able to eat about 1200-1400 calories a day the last couple days and I haven't had an alcoholic beverage since last Wednesday. I think that's probably the first weekend that I've gone without having a drink since...since probably about a decade ago.

It's good to know that I can quit any of my vices whenever I please.

I'm actually a little irritated by how easy it was to quit drinking. It was much easier for me to quit drinking than it was to quit eating pizza. I have little doubt that most rehab organizations would consider me an alcoholic due to my habitual 4-10 daily weekday drinks, so I'd just like to say, "Fuck you," to all of them.

There was no withdrawal, no craving, no nothing.

Sure, I understand that drinking, especially hard spirits, can eventually cause liver failure. I also understand lung cancer and the arguments against smoking.

But really, are we expected to sacrifice immediate pleasure in our younger days just so we can add on a few final, painful, last years to our lives? If I'm going to deprive myself of something fun during the first half of my life, it sure as hell better be in exchange for some wonderful heavenly reward, not an extra 5 years in a fucking nursing home carting around an oxygen tank.

I'll be back on the sauce once I've shed a good amount of this excess padding.

As far as the workout routines go, I haven't been able to make it beyond 30 minutes in any of the hour long programs yet, so I plan on using this week as a sort of introduction until I'm strong enough to complete the full hour.

















"When Schwarzenegger entered politics, he referred to the sketches himself, using the phrases "girlie men" and "pump you up." He even used the "girlie men" term during the 1988 Presidential election. Accompanying then Vice President George H.W. Bush he attacked Bush's Democrat opponents by saying to the crowd: “They all look like a bunch of girlie men, right?" He used the phrase again to attack California state legislators in speeches during his election campaign for governor of California.

It really is a physically demanding, strenuous program. Hopefully it will make a big difference in the upcoming hockey season.

I grabbed my Foreman Grill from the parent's house and have started grilling chicken and salmon on it. The 50 protein/30 carb/20 fat diet is a crazy ratio and nearly impossible to maintain without eating two meals with a shitload of protein. That means I'm eating a ton of tuna, salmon, eggs, cheese, and chicken breasts.

As a former vegetarian and person who is generally not crazy about getting meat stuck in his teeth, this is a bizarre diet. My typical diet mainly consists of soup, pizza, sandwiches, or similar foods where the meat is an afterthought to all of the delicious carbs and vegetable matter surrounding it.

I have had to start doing the complete opposite to maintain the appropriate ratios of this diet.

So it goes, on to another day.

Science Damn It!

My initial impression is that the P90X workout is no joke. I no longer have any doubt that it is scientifically proven to either get me in shape or eliminate me from the gene pool. I attempted to complete the "Chest & Back" routine, which clocks in about an hour. I made it through 35 minutes before my entire upper body had succumbed to exhaustion. I nearly fell on my face while trying to pick myself up off the ground. My arms went to jello.

They hammered me with about 5 varieties of push ups and a few different pull up grips. There may have been a few other things in there, but I doubt my mind was functioning well enough to remember. It was tough.

The instructional video works like circuit training. There are a few one minute breaks, but most activities transition to the next one within about 10 seconds. It really kept the heart rate going and I worked up a decent sweat considering that I was "performing" strengthening exercise more than doing cardio work.

Rather than giving up immediately (a 35 minute workout isn't a bad place to start), I popped in the "Extreme Abs" disc as they recommended. I was proud to make it through about 5 of the 15 minutes before my lower back said it was time to quit.

I showered and went grocery shopping...I haven't researched the p90x protein bars/powders that they recommend for post workout recovery. I imagine that I can find a cheaper, better alternative that isn't associated with a money-making DVD enterprise.

Note the lack of beer


























After that it was dinner time, and time to tally up the caloric intake, which looks insanely low when I don't drink. This might explain how I was able to lose weight in the past without giving up alcohol.













Salmon, one yellow onion, broccoli, soy sauce, 3 cloves of garlic, and a V8.

That puts my estimated caloric intake for today at 817, which means I'm going to have to start eating breakfast and snacking a bit. My Protein/Carb/Fat distribution was 49/30/21 vs the 50/30/20 recommended. It feels strange eating so deliberately, but it's kind of fun...for day 1 anyway.

On to day two...