I’ve been hesitant to write this post for quite a while as it feels rather self-serving.  But as I’m ending phase two of my training program and now entering what I’m calling phase three I figured it was time for a little reflection.

Phase 1
If you’ve known me for more than 3 years you know I used to be fat.  Hey, let’s not dance around it, I was fat.  Fortunately for me I’d finally had enough and decided to finally get healthy.  This is what I call phase one of my fitness program or really fitness progression.  I tend to be fairly obsessive with things I care about and fitness has been no difference.  My first goal was to lose weight – and a lot of weight.  I did two very simple things to accomplish this: I ate significantly less and exercised significantly more (that is to say I finally started exercising regularly).  I cut my daily caloric intake to around 1000 calories and added in cardio work, mostly cycling.  I continued on this program for roughly 10 months to reach my first goal. 

I guess it’s time for some numbers huh?  Wow, these are pretty scary: (I’m 5’11” by the way…)

Beginning: 235lbs | 40” Waist | 32% body fat | 32.8 BMI
Ending: 145lbs | 30” Waist | 8% body fat | 20.2 BMI

So in those first 10 months I lost roughly 90lbs total, 10” off my waist, 65lbs of fat (and 22lbs of muscle).  It was that last stat that made me begin phase 2 about 3 months ago.

Phase 2
Ok, so I finally got myself thin and healthy.  After a few years at my new weight and loving it I decided it was time I finally got strong.  I’ve never been anything even resembling athletic in my life so I wondered, how hard could it be?  Could I do it?  Could I actually become strong?  I started going to the gym regularly and doing some weight training.  As I’d never used weights before I really had no idea what to do – until I found P90X that is.  If you’ve never heard of P90X before (you’ve probably seen the infomercials for it) it’s essentially an extreme home fitness system.  You only need a few things: weights (or bands), a pull-up bar, chair, TV/DVD player.  And really that’s it.  It’s a 90 day program that changes it’s routines every 30 days.  You do a workout 6 days a week with rest of the 7th.  I’m now in the last week of the 90 days and it’s been amazing what it’s done for me.  While I’m not done yet (doing a modified P90X for phase 3) I’m really happy with my results so far.

So here’s some new numbers:

Beginning: 155lbs | 31” Waist | 14% body fat | 22lbs fat | 109lbs muscle
Ending: 170lbs | 31” Waist | 9% body fat | 15lbs fat | 126lbs muscle

So that means in 90 days I lost 7lbs of fat but more importantly gained 17lbs of muscle.  On the first day of the program the very first thing you do are standard push-ups.  On day one I did 7 for my first set.  Uh, yeah, 7.  The last time I did that workout I did 40 for my first set.  I now do push-ups in sets of 50.  I could do 2 pull-ups that first day, now do them in sets of 10.

Phase 3
So what’ next for phase 3?  Well in short to get hyper-fit.  My final goal is to be between 170-175lbs at around 5-6% body fat.  That means I have 5lbs of fat left to lose but also 8lbs of muscle to gain.  This week I began my new training program for phase 3 which will be: Weights on Mon/Wed/Fri.  Boot Camp on class Mon/Thurs (very intense).  Spin or Run/Swim on Tues/Thurs.  Bike/Hike/Run on Saturday/Sunday.

I’ll obviously miss some of those workouts each week due to life getting in the way but even if I miss a few I should be getting in plenty of time to hit my goal.  I hope to finish up in the next three months ending on August 24th, my 37th birthday.  Hopefully this will be a pretty good birthday gift to myself.

Final Thoughts
I plan on blogging more regularly about this subject now that I’ve finally published this post.  I hope to write about thoughts on eating, exercising, and my journey through all this.  If you’ve got questions or comments please let me know, they can be very motivating.  And if you’re considering doing something similar to this START NOW.  There is no better day than today to be healthy.

Oh, and now to leave you with a picture that I’m still scared by.  Left is old, Fat Ross.  Middle is thin Ross from about 3 years ago.  Finally on the right is me a few days ago.  Just wait until you see me in 90 more days.