Healthy Eating???

I will be the first to admit that I am probably the pickiest eater on the planet. If I could live off of Mac and cheese, pizza, Reese's peanut butter cups, and a lifetime supply of hot pockets, I would. As a matter of fact, I did for a while. It was great too! Well, until I was out of breath by just bending over to tie my shoes or noticed that the front of my pants had a permanent outward bevel because the waistline was stretched to max capacity. I love those foods, which is why it is STILL incredibly hard for me to not go back to it all the time, but I don't. I don't because I know I have a workout planned at the end of the day and my entire day's worth of eating will determine how hard I'll be able to push. Since I'm trying to do better then I did last time, I'd better eat right. Same goes with the alcohol. There is no way that you'll find me doing switch kicks and jump knee tucks, to push up jacks if I'd toss the sauce earlier in the day.

Many of you have similar goals as I do regarding your health and fitness. I knew that my intensity level was going to be there when I worked out so my "weakness" came to foods. Tony Horton talks about focusing on your weaknesses over your strengths because you'll get nowhere if you only work on what you're already good at. I could get stronger and leaner as I continue to workout but if I'm not eating right, then I'm still going to have the same clogged arteries and chest pains I used to get. And I just can't have that anymore.

So now I'm making smarter decisions. I'm planning my meals and my workouts down to the hour that I do them with just a little flexibility to move around. Plan your day like I do and it will do wonders to how much you get accomplished. Don't feel intimidated by this at all. It seems hard, but it truly is better for you. Besides, what have you got to lose?

If you'd like help in getting started you can email me at RyanCaswell@beachbodycoach.com
Don't be afraid to take charge of your life.

Ryan

Breakin' Personal Bests!

Last night had me face to face with the dreaded P90X Legs and Back workout. With most P90X schedules, the Legs and Back routine is something you do 10 times throughout the 90 day process. All I gotta say is... I crushed it last night. I cannot recall a time when I had ever done better on my form, number of reps of the variations of pull-ups, or that damn wall sit. Every single one of my pull-up numbers went up by almost double, FROM LAST WEEK! I don't know what it was that made last night special or different but it felt good. I woke up today feeling awesome for what I had accomplished.

For most of you, it's hard to imagine yourself getting excited about a workout or what "healthier" food you're going to swap out for the junk you were eating. It was so weird for me before all of this, that I didn't imagine it at all. I was content coming home and downing a bag of chips and dip. I was alright with the fact that I was too busy with family, work, and school schedules. I also WAS fat, had no energy, and ate junk food like it was an Olympic event. Then...
...I started jiggling when I'd brush my teeth (it sucked by I didn't care)
...I was feeling out of breath from bending over and tying my shoe (it was a shocker but not a game changer)
...All of my jeans started to bevel out front (that one actually made me laugh<---not so much now)

It started to hit me when...
...I'd tell my daughter who I hadn't seen all day that I couldn't play because I was tired and didn't feel good, because I truthfully didn't feel good (it made me feel like such a horrible dad)
...Stopped caring what the house looked like because I was too lazy to help clean up around the house (made me feel like a worthless individual)
...Noticed that even though I knew my wife loves me no matter what I looked like, she wasn't liking what she was seeing out of me (do I even need to say what that made me feel like?)

It's easy to fall into ruts and feel like that no matter what you do, nothings ever going to change. It's easy to give up. Fortunately I found a group of folks who were willing to help and listen to me whine and complain about changing what I ate and making all sorts of excuses about the workouts. They listened. They helped. They showed a genuine interest in showing me that it is possible to reach the goals that I had set for myself.

If you or someone you know is looking for someone to help you/them as they make these changes in their lives, leave a comment or email me.

Have a good day!

Few weeks in...

Well I'm back at it again. Trying to push the envelope a little further. So far so good. I started my P90X/Insanity Hybrid schedule on 12-18-2010 and I'll finish on 3-18-2011. When I was done with my first round of Insanity I didn't work out for a week as a promise I made to my wife. In that week I took off I went right into eating junk again because I hadn't in about 2 months. MAN did I feel like garbage! This wasn't a guilt, self-esteem, kind of feeling. This was an actual "I really just feel like laying down and not moving" kind of feeling. And when I did, I didn't enjoy it. It was such a shocker to me to realize how much my body changed on the outside AND inside. So the week turned into 2 weeks. Partly because there were some people from the office doing our own Biggest Loser type contest with the winner receiving a P90X One on One DVD from me. In those 2 weeks of eating junk food and working out I gained 10-12 pounds back. Yep. Not kidding. To be honest I'm shocked it wasn't more. 10-12 pounds may not seem like a lot to some of you, but when you've JUST lost almost 40 pounds in the 2 previous months, it gets to you more.

So I'm three and a half weeks into it now and forgot all about the scale until I accidentally tapped it with my foot yesterday morning and thought, what the heck, we'll take a look. Wouldn't you know, back down to where I was after Insanity. You can imagine how happy I was to see this considering I have 8 and a half more weeks left of this schedule to go and I'm staying true to my eating plan. There's going to be some major results. All this so I can be ready when Insanity Asylum comes out. It's going to be intense...and I can't wait!