Day 87-Everest

                My son again was more needy than usual but there was a ray of hope at the end of the night when he went down without a fight or a bottle in his mouth. And as someone once said a day that ends well was well. But I did not see the day ending well this morning; my son went through at least four outfits today, beginning with wetting the bed through his diaper at 4 this morning and all the way up to his pj’s. But besides that he did better on his own as long as he was not tired and even let me get a little work done. I am sure I sound like I complain a lot but understand I love my son and there is nothing I would rather do than spend each day with him.

                I managed to make it to practice today and I keep forgetting coaches do not actually workout. But I got to do my work out after practice and again found myself speeding through. I know I have not reached my physical peak or even gotten close enough to see the summit but I am afraid I have gone as far as this workout can take me. I am at the infamous plateau and again cannot wait until I can change things up next week. Who knows I might end up throwing some p90x back in the routine someday.

Day 86-Jumble jacks

                I feel like it was yesterday I was ranting about vaccines and today was what I think is my sons last round of them. I had to explain to them again which ones we were not getting and get looked at like I am killing my child, when the odds are actually better that they are. Anyway it actually went pretty well and Ben took it like a champ. He still is acting spoiled and that is thanks to the g-parents (who are readers, hi Mom and Dad). For the last 6 months Ben and I have developed a routine of play, sleep, eat, change, repeat. This was all ruined over one weekend and now he has everything in a jumble. I am trying to get him back on track but it is not going well. I did manage to get plyo done during one of his naps but I think I sweated more from fear he would wake up than the jumping. I am afraid I might be getting to use to the p90x and will be glad to switch things up next week. Oh and if you were wondering I ran out of stuffing so tomorrow will be my first real low carb day.

Day 85-Stuffing and smiles

                If you want to go low carb make sure you do not have a fridge full of leftover stuffing. I did really well with the new diet with the exception of the stuffing and as soon as that is gone I will be on track. Today my son decided he needed to play every waking moment which kept me from being able to do anything productive. But when it came time to do my work out I did it quick and from memory. I think I did a decent job but I am not about to go back and watch the video to check. I did do something new today though, I got family pictures. I cannot remember ever doing this so it was interesting. The clothes, the smiling, and then trying to get a six month old to hold still and not cry. For him smiling was bonus. Hopefully there will be a couple smiling ones and I am sure those will make the flickr, which needs to be updated badly.

Day 84-A new plan

            Sadly our holiday ended today and we spent most of the day on the road home. The car was packed to the hilt with the new food supply for the new menu. For a month my wife and I are going to attempt to go low carb. Not no carb and not even crazy low. But we are going to shoot for less than a hundred grams a day and count our calories and see what happed before Christmas. My biggest concern will be eating on the road, which will not happen mush this month, but it will happen when we travel for wrestling tournaments. I am excited to try new recipes and eat some foods my last diet did not like me to have. Welcome back dairy.

Day 83-Always something

                You would think that with the grandparents taking care of my son I would get so much done and there is no way I could miss a workout. You would be wrong. For some reason I saw this as an opportunity to get the food shopping done and work on school work. It was great to play catch up but I fell behind on my fitness and will have to hit it hard this week as it is the last one of the official challenge.

Day 82-Round Two

                For some reason I thought I was going to be able to have a relaxing day today, you know sleep in, eat, take naps, good vacation stuff. I learned this was not the case after a couple hours of sleep when my wife woke me up at 6 to announce she felt better and wanted to go Christmas shopping. I was less than excited but had very little options in the matter. So we heading into town on Black Friday but thankfully the midnight madness made the morning madness a lot less maddening. We still ended up spending most of the day running around town. Then because Kelsey was sick yesterday we had another round of Thanksgiving dinner at my parent’s house. Now this was great, two turkey days in a row. The big issue though is that I have now stuffed myself twice in a row and I am sure that has slowed progress down quite a bit. Do I feel bad? No way, the holidays come once a year and indulging on them will not kill me, and even if it did I could die happy not hungry.

Day 81-Turkey madness

             Todays holiday did not go to plan. It was supposed to be the first time we got both sets of parents together for dinner and family things. And in a way it was, but my wife being sit again put a damper on everything. She was only able to eat crackers and seven up and since she is the usual life of the party the party was short. But somewhere between turkey and pie it was decided that half of us were going to stand in line for the black Friday midnight opening of bestbuy. To sum up, we got a lot of what we went for but it was cold, wet, and tiring, as my dad said it was an experience. Now it is late and I am still full of turkey and disappointed I had to skip yogax to find an open store to get my wife things this afternoon, so I am going to bed.

Day 80-Turkey weekend tumble

            Today I realized it was not a good idea to have my 90-day challenge during Thanksgiving. This means my progress might go a little backwards after a weekend of stuffing. But regardless I am trying to keep up my workouts and take it a little easy on the deserts. Today was a traveling day and it went smoothly. I even got in biceps and back and abripper as my dad hung out with Ben. My parents are even taking Ben for the night and even though we will only be a room away it will be nice to sleep through the night.

Day 79-Slug style

            For some reason Ben wanted to get up at three o’clock this morning and he stayed up for a while. This is not a suggested way to start your day. I felt tired for the rest of the day and tried my best during plyo. I could not make practice again today because I had to supervise a game. But the game was sped up by the fact that my wife and son stayed and watched with me. Over all it was not a bad day just a sluggish one. Oh and if you are curious from yesterday, the fridge is officially empty and it is a good thing we are on the road tomorrow so we can get some new stock.

Day 78-Carb Counting Conundrum

            The Internet is back thanks to some quick customer service and I am back in business. I feel I owe a quick Sunday update to everyone because of the internet outage so here it is. Because it was the families first weekend to stay home together we took a friend up on an offer she made nearly a year ago and joined her in church. Now it may come as a surprise to some people but the current concept of church is not something I think very highly of. In other words I love Jesus and all that entails but the church is not exactly something I am even remotely happy with. That being said I did my pro and con list after church and this one ranked higher than any church I have been to in years, and I was quite the church hopper. Now it still had the “usual” cons that make my list but had pros in some areas where other churches fall flat.

            I also weighed in yesterday and the total came to 187.4. This is a number I am happy with because it puts me closer to a 20-pound total, which is a nice round number, and I like round numbers. Today got halfway through my chest, shoulder and triceps when my son decided I was done. But after wrestling practice I finished ab ripperx and did max pushups before and after just to feel better. After watching “Fat Head” the other day I have been trying to think low carb when eating but there has been a dilemma. My wife and I shop for food once a month and when we shopped I did not have low carb in mind so choices are few. This in combination with the fact that it is nearing the end of the month, where choices are few anyway, has left me sacrificing eating some carbs to get the calories I need. I am excited to go shopping for my new plan though and am excited to take it to the extreme. Ok calm down, when I say extreme I don’t mean anything stupid, more like steak for lunch and bacon with breakfast. My biggest issue is finding a quick lunch with low carb. A lot of things online say salads and such but I am looking for a grab and go option, even if I have to pre-make it. This leaves my idea compartment empty. I feel like I am rambling now but if you have ideas or links please send them my way, I am new to this.

Day 77-Internet down

Do to an Internet loss I am posting from my phone. Not easy. But it's my day off anyway.

Day 76-Santa’s in town

            This weekend marks the first time the family has not stayed in town together. So how does a family celebrate the occasion, we clean. After cleaning we did find out Santa was in town taking picture with kids so we had to head down and see him. Turns out Santa charges for pictures and my son will not smile when in his lap. But the picture turned out good and I am sure it will traumatize Ben for life as most childhood adventures do. I totally spaced on Kenpo until after wrestling practice, but I got it done.

Day 75-Earthquakes and inches

            There are two ways I consider not fun to be woken up now that I am not eight years old. The first is an earthquake and the second is too snow. I experienced both today first an earthquake shaking the house around five this morning which was a change of pace to the usual baby noises and then looking outside and seeing a blizzard. No forecast warning for either but by the end of the day there was more than six inches outside. If you knew anything about my driveway you would feel sorry for me, it is a mile long, very steep, and covered in loose gravel. Now that the gravel is covered in snow the road has become a death trap. Regardless both my wife and I made it up and down safely thanks to the recent car switch and tire upgrade. I was able to finish legs and back before leaving for practice but my son did interrupt me between abripper. I then got in some more cardio on the bike and then at wrestling. Loosing weight is a big deal in the wrestling world but thanks to some new rules it has become a lot safer. The only issue is that most of the guys do not know how to lose weight the safe way, so I spent my evening writing very detailed meal plans for them hoping it will help them avoid the worse options.

Day 74-Not my day

            Most workouts I can do with my son hanging out near me or even taking a nap, but not yogax. Yoga is simply too long and if I get interrupted it is difficult to start back up. This lead to a problem today because I again had to supervise which led to a late night and between dinner and homework I am now choosing sleep over yoga. I am not exactly happy about it but I also do not see much of an option.

Day 73-Supersized Fat Head

            Today i really got into my workout; I finished shoulders and arms and then jumped right on the bike. After biking for a bit I headed off to wrestling practice and got more involved than I usually do as a coach and got some great cardio. Over all I feel great from all of it and love when I have the time to do extra workouts. I also watched a very interesting film today called Fat Head. It is a documentary that rebuttals what was said in the film Supersize Me. I have seen Supersize Me and never thought to question the “facts” he said. I was pretty sure if you ate nothing but McD’s for a month and sat on your rear you would get bigger. Well this guy points out some major flaws in the film and then sets out on his out fast food diet challenge. The quick summary, he looses weight and gets healthier. His doctor is not a huge fan of this but some new, yet very old, theories come out it. If you have seen Supersize Me I would highly suggest you give this one a try. Fat Head is a much more rounded film and since the guy is a comedian and is not sponsored by anyone he is funny and unbiased. After watching there are a few things I might even change in my diet to see what happens, but I am not going to do a fast food binge anytime soon.

Day 72-No fly zone

            So much for the thought of an easy week, I finished plyo just before my wife got home and before she even parked the car I was in it and on my way to practice. But I only got 45 minutes into practice before I had to go supervise a game. Then I was not home until nearly nine. I do not think this kind of life is going to workout. I am a family man and only getting to see my wife for an hour at the end of the day will not fly.

Day 71-And Go

            Today was a long day, a very long day. Let me give you the run down. We left the coast this morning after breakfast and our GPS decided to take us on the scenic route. When we finally pulled into the driveway I only had to time to drop off Kelsey and Ben and head to wrestling practice where I was already over an hour late. I hate being late. Then I got home ate dinner a little to quick and did P90X chest and back. After showering I made a phone call and that has landed me here writing my daily entry. Somehow writing all that down just does not express the length of the day. I am glad that this week seems like it will be less crazy but I do not want to get ahead of myself because it is the first week of practice and I also have to start working other sporting events. But on a positive note we have no plans for the weekend, so we can stay at home and catch up on things that need to be done, like naps.

Day 70- Plan Change

            Woke up this morning and it was not along before my wife announced she could not make the game. Now most men would rejoice that they could go to a football game free of their wife but I do not see things that way. First of all I love spending time with my wife. Second and probably more relevant she is the biggest football fan in the family, and that is the extended family. So even though the game was good and always quite the event, it was not the same because she was not there keeping us involved with the game and yelling at players. Over all it was a good game despite her absence and the cold weather but we have decided next year we are thinking about an early season game. Now understand I have had a great weekend despite the setbacks and have eaten more than normal, so I am concerned about what the scale will have to say tomorrow.

Day 69- Shallow water drowning

            Today was supposed to be yoga day and it was but it turned into water aerobics and yoga day. I got invited to do water aerobics this morning and I say to always try things once so I gave it a go. It was quite the cardio workout and I felt like I was working just as hard to stay above water, as I was to do the right moves. The nice thing was though your body stays cool in the water and there is no pressure on your joints. I really enjoyed it and if my small town had this option I would seriously look into it. After some time hanging out after our morning swim I finished Yogax just in time for an amazing beef stew dinner. Now my evening was supposed to end out on the town but my wife fell ill with the flu and that has put a hold on all plans for the time being.

Day 68-One of many days we need to remember

            Veterans Day it is and I want to make sure to point out that I appreciate all the Veterans and what they have done for this great country. Now I am all about a special day set aside for the Veterans but I hope we do not forget about them the rest of the 364 days.

            Because today was Veterans Day and my wife had the day off we decided to get a head start on the weekend and get to the coast early, or should I say thought we would. We made it a hundred miles or so in the newly revived Subaru before the battery kicked the bucket, even though a couple days ago a mechanic assured me that my battery was perfectly fine. He will be hearing from me come Monday. SO 88 bucks later and some surprisingly good Chinese in a small town in the middle of the state we hit the road, arriving at our destination a few hours later than planned but safe nonetheless. We then enjoyed a great dinner and before it got to late I got to core synergetics. The workout almost went well but my lightweight band snapped like a, well, a rubber band half way through. Luckily I only needed it for a few workouts but this does mean a new item just kit the Christmas list.

            As a final note I want to send a special thank you to one person in my life who served in the military and has been a great influence on who I am today, at least the good parts of who I am. So thank you Dad for all you have done for this country and me. I am proud of all you have accomplished and to say that you are my father and my father served.

Day 67- Uniquely Iowa?

            Woke up this morning and though my head still hurt a little my neck was in the most pain from sleeping in the bathroom the night before. I wasted no time eating my normal granola for breakfast and felt just fine. I even finished kenpox and did some time on the bike. Wrestling starts Monday and there are rumors we might have a decent turnout, which would be shocking but awesome. But I have other things on my mind like the weekend. The family is going on another road trip tomorrow and this time we are heading to Des Moines, not Iowa, Washington. It is one of the many “small” cities so close to Seattle you cannot tell the difference. We always manage to have fun over their visiting family and hanging out. But a few things will make this weekend unique. The first is that is a three-day weekend; this is good. The second is that it will be this year’s début for my car, which we use in the winter; this is not good. My car does not have the greatest track record for safety, reliability, or speed. But it had four wheel drive so it wins in the winter. The last thing that makes this weekend unique is we are going to an NFL game, Seattle vs Baltimore. I am always excited to watch football especially live even when it is not the Steelers.

Day 66-Porcelain Pillow

            So last night after dinner I had this feeling in my stomach that did not feel right. At first I thought it was stress or something then after a few hours of it getting worse and worse I threw up my insides. I then slept on the bathroom floor with my head next to the thrown. After waking up and my neck killing me I realized I have the flu. My wife offered to stay home but since it was only a half-day I said I could make it and take care of Ben until she got home. I have not thrown up since I woke up but have only had bananas, toast, saltines, and ginger ale. My head has been aching all day and has kept me laid up in my recliner doing jack and squat. I was hoping to rock out kenpo today and spend some time on the bike but now I just hope I am better before this weekends journey west.

Day 65- 180movie.com

            Today was a good day when it came to my workout. I did core synergistics, which is not my favorite workout but I finished. For lunch I baked a potato, I am still not sure why. I was pleasantly surprised with how filling it was and healthy. So a couple nights ago I was sent a video and I watched it. I would love to sit here and share with you all the details of the video but all I can say is it is a documentary and it won an award. Beyond that it is something you need to experience for yourself so I want to encourage you to go to 180movie.com and see what you think. If you get a chance to watch it please let me know about your 180 experience.

Day 64-Week mix-up

            Today I realized I was supposed to be on recovery week last week and have started phase three today. Instead of skipping it I am going to do my recovery week now and not end the program with a recovery week. My body is still adjusting to the time change but I spent my sons nap time on the stationary bike which always makes me feel better and then spent my evening doing YogaX. I plan on spending a lot of time on the bike this week to build up some more cardio because I am only a week away from the first day of wrestling practice.

Day 63-Veto daylight savings

            I hate daylight savings even though you get an extra hour of sleep. The sun was setting on my drive home at four o’clock. This is unacceptable and I hope we wise up and loose this tradition now that we have this thing called electricity. Anyway today was a good one, started with gun show church and then some errands before heading home. It was nice to spend most of our drive in the daylight. When I got home I jumped on the scale with actual hope this week had good progress and the magic number was 191.6. Not a bad week but I am sick of the 190s and hope I can be done with them next week but i have a feeling it will not be easy.

Day 62- The only way to live

            What a day, woke up early after a late night and headed towards the big city for the last home football game. Even though my main man was Big I was out on injury the game was a seat clincher and came down to the fact that our team could not kick a field goal. Upsetting ending but overall not a bad game. Then my the whole family wet out to dinner with some friends at our favorite restaurant Spencer’s Steakhouse. Now I am going to go off topic and share with you why I believe this is the best restaurant. First I have to tell you I would never have gone had a good friend of mine who is the chef forced me down their for an anniversary dinner. I thought the prices were just crazy and thought no food could be that good. I was wrong, I have never been so wrong. Now the place is pricey and because of this my wife and I try to go on big occasions a couple times a year and just go crazy. We are talking nuts ordering what ever we think looks good.

The only issue is I cannot wait until special occasions for this food; it is just too good. This is when I learned about happy hour. From 4-6 everyday the bar menu is half price and this is no skimpy menu. It has burgers, salads, soups, smaller versions of the main menu steaks and the list goes on. The highlight is the Steakhouse Tots, I would love to explain these but words do not do them justice. Let me just say that tonight while we were figuring out what to eat we ordered a plate of the tots and when it came time to order they were again on the list. We ordered a lot of different things and even got drinks. At the end of the meal we could barely move but it was worth it when the bill came and because of the half off it was less than I normally spend at Red Robin. No offence to the red bird but that used to be my go to place. Then I discovered what quality is about. Now I use happy hour like life support it keeps me alive until those big occasions when I buy the house and live life, because there is nothing like a Spencer’s Steak.

Now this all leads to the dilemma of my workouts but I new we were going out so I tried to hold back just a little and made sure to eat my salad and veggies first then when I got home I hit kenpo hard and after spent 15 minutes on the stationary bike at 20 miles per hour (my parents bike tells me my speed!) I hope Spencer’s did not ruin all my hard work this week but I will not regret if it did. If you are still curious about the place check them out at: www.spencersforsteaksandchops.com/spokane/index.cfm

Day 61-Game night

            I bet you thought I forgot. But I was actually out at a game night where we played a new game that was very fun but took a few more hours than we thought. I rocked out P90X this morning and since we were eating at a friend’s house for dinner I had an easy lunch. Now I would love to stay and chat but as you can see it is already tomorrow and I have to get up and drive soon enough.

Day 60-Insanity the demise

            I have a confession. Since I felt so good on the bike I skipped Insanity again today. Even though there are only two days left in Insanity I think I might be done with it. So I am ready to give you my views of the insanity. First off it is an insane workout and you burn a ton of calories, but it has its issues. The workout is set up for people who are already fitness freaks. The warm up is not a warm up but just a crazy workout and the stretches do not stretch what you need to but instead he just has you do some crazy yoga moves that get you even more tired before you actually get to the workout. Now the workout itself is great and a super tough cardio workout but is sadly followed up with a two minute cool down. And as far as strength you better come with it because if you do not trying to keep up will suck. My best suggestion would be to do p90x then insanity because p90x will build muscle and insanity will make it ripped. The only issue with that is if you do not start semi ripped you will not see the crazy results they have on tv.

            Regardless I will probably do it again in the future with some serious modifications but for now I am enjoying the x and did yogax today and spent some time on the bike. I only hope I still have the energy to keep this up once wrestling season starts. I might have to slow the biking down but we will see and for the next ten days I might as well just work hard until practice.

Day 59-Accomplished

            I am not sure why but I just feel accomplished today. I spent the better part of my day working on dinner and playing with my son and it was not until late that I was able to do p90x. I skipped insanity because I have been feeling burned out after it and instead road the bike. I feel energized when I get off the stationary bike even though I am dripping in sweat. This is the way a workout should feel. But despite all of the things I cut short on today I just feet good. I learned that wrestling practice starts on the 15^th of this month and I am super excited. I cannot wait to get into the room and get working with this years team. I am glad that I have been working out for the last 59 days because I do not care how in shape you are wrestling tests your body in the most extreme way. To put it in prospective a lot of wrestlers will do cross country and be able to run miles and miles without wearing out only to make it to the first day of wrestling practice and gas out in the for two minute round. A match is six minutes and I can not wait to get the workout while training the team.

Day 58-Hand to Mouth

            Last night when I went to bed I was hoping my son would sleep through the night and then be happy through the day. And as I laid in bed around one in the morning, which is becoming normal, and my son woke up. He then woke up again around 5 just to be changed and eat more. But on the plus side he was as happy and as cute as can be all day. He has a new trick though and it is that anything he has in his hands directly goes into his mouth. This made for some fun around the house and when my wife got home and was standing him up by his arms and because he could not move his hands he opted to lick her face. Because of my sons positive attitude I was able to do p90x plyo in the morning and insanity plyo in the evening. Now plyo is not my favorite and when I felt like I was not giving a hundred percent I jumped on the stationary bike I recently moved to the living room. On one hand I could have finished the last few minutes of the workout but I would not have burned as many calories as I did on the bike. I am glad to finally get on the bike because I used to live on a stationary bike and it is nice to know that if all else fails I can jump on the bike.