The only way to keep yourself accountable is to make yourself accountable.

First things first.  My back is still causing me issues.  I was able to get in Four for Four in Florida and have not been able to workout since.  Sucks, sucks big time.  I am thinking that I am putting in too many hours in the nursery and bathroom remodel, but it has to get done is getting closer to being finished.  A couple more weekends and we will be set.  I will try and rest my back as much as I can and maybe take it a bit easy this weekend.

On to my goals and New Year's Resolutions for 2014.  We are now at the very last day of the year and what a year it has been.  This has been one of the most trying years for my family with the loss of my father in law, Giora, as a matter of fact today is his birthday.  Happy Birthday Giora, we miss you.  On a brighter note, we found out that we are bringing a new life into this world, and that has brought us more joy than we thought possible.  I am beyond excited for the life changes that are about to come as we prepare ourselves to be parents.

As far as heath and fitness is concerned I feel like I have been very successful in 2013.  I ran my eighth 10 mile race, The Army 10 miler, I competed in my first ever mountain bike race series, recovered from major shoulder surgery, and participated in boot camp class almost 4 days a week for several months.  I have lost more than 10 pounds and am still working on losing more.  I have had several injuries to contend with and it seems that this aspect has not gotten much better.  I have to remember in 2014 that I don't always have to be the hero and that I cannot do everything.  I need to take it slow and keep my body healthy.

As for my New Year's resolutions for 2014.  Some of these resolutions have absolutely nothing to do with fitness or weight loss but I want to write them here to help me maintain my goals.  The only way to keep myself accountable is to make myself accountable.  In no particular order here we go.

1.  The Abs Diet - This is a book written by David Zinczenko, the editor of Men's Health magazine.  I HIGHLY recommend that every man read this book.  As Editor-in-Chief, David has taken all he has learned from years and years of working with men's health issues and incorporated these ideas into a diet/fitness plan that focuses specifically on active men.  This book reteaches us how to eat.  How to eat like a man.  What it is that our bodies physically require and what we don't.  It explains the science behind why white flour is terrible for us, why "super foods" are good for us, and specifically how to flatten our stomachs (where men carry most of our weight).  I read this book before my shoulder surgery and was only able to somewhat include these ideas into my life as I was extremely limited in what I was able to do physically.  My only issue with this plan is portion control.  I am an eater, and most times an over eater.  Even though this books focuses on a six-week plan, I want to integrate the ideas in this book and the portion control provided by Weight Watchers to focus on weight loss while increasing my abdominal strength throughout the year.  What man does not want 6-pack abs???  I can tell you with 100% certainty that there is not one man out there that does not.  Not one.

2.  Fitness - I can explain this one with exactly two words:  Boot Camp.  What I mean is that this fitness program provides everything necessary to get physically fit.  Everything.  All you need to do is show up.  And by show up I mean everyday.  Nothing gets better by doing something once a week, it needs to become a habit.  Baring any injuries I will make to class everyday, Monday through Thursday.  With that in mind my goal for 2014 is to workout five days a week.  That means I just need to get in a Saturday morning class or some kind of weekend workout every week.  Very doable!  Check out a commercial about a "typical" day at CFC.  You may even notice a couple of star actors in this video, watch out Hollywood.

3.  Racing - I want to run some kind of race that I have never run before.  Not just a running race but something more interesting like a triathlon or something like the EX2 VentureQuest, which is a mix of mountain biking, running, boating, trekking, and navigating.  Maybe another Tough Mudder or mud style race, but I have run a couple of these already and am looking for something outside the box.  Something new.  I find more success if I am training for something specific.  It gives me something to focus on, keeps my eye on the prize.  I will keep my eyes open and see what is out there but at this point I am not sure which direction this will go.  I will let you know.

4.  Writing - Who knew that I would enjoy writing so much.  I know I sure didn't, not until I started writing anyway.  Already I have entered three different writing contests each for a different short story.  I did not necessarily submit to win but just having a reason to write pushed me to do so.  My first step is to take a creative writing class in January, which I have already signed up for.  If this is beneficial for me and helps me improve then I will sign up for the second part of the class which is later in the year.  I have not been to school in over 14 years so this should be interesting to say the least.  Now if I could just find my Trapper Keeper...

I am not saying that I will write the Great American Novel in 2014.  All I want to do is work on improving my skills, learn to write more creative stories, and put my imagination into words.  Then maybe one day retire to a house in Maine and bust out two or three novels a year.

5.  Blogging - I want to continue to write my daily posts.  Writing daily is much more difficult that is seems.  Some days not only do I find it hard to find the time I also find it hard to figure out something meaningful to write about.  This year I plan to do some additional research about health and fitness issues/concerns, maybe read a few books on the subject.  I can always write about personal meaningless dribble, but with my newly improved writing skills I now want to improve on these topics and touch on some of the more pressing issues we all face daily.  If anyone has something they would like me to look into please feel free to respond below or shoot me an email to delongbobby@gmail.com.

6.  Reading - With another hour of available time today (which I don't think I will get) I would finish my 54th book of the year (all 53 covers to the right), my goal was 52, that's a book week and I beat it.  My goal again is 52 books.  It will be harder this year with the baby but that's the plan.  I also write a blog about books, not sure if you have ever seen it but there is a link on the right of this page.  Mostly I write it to send to friends and family when someone needs a book suggestion.  I just started in August so at this point I have only reviewed 24 books.  I write a small synopsis (I never include any spoilers) and a review, then rate the book accordingly.  Need a book suggestion, check it out here at One Novel Concept.  Catchy name right?

Reading is another passion I didn't know I had until I started.  One day on vacation a few years ago I picked up Stephenie Meyer's The Host.  Literally could not put it down.  In my youth I was forced to read a bunch of books people stopped caring about a hundred years ago and never found the connection until I read The Host.  This one book changed my life forever.  While the book is absolutely fantastic, it was not necessarily the content or the story line, it was more that it opened my mind to the possibilities found in books.  It made me realize I was missing out on endless joy, endless entertainment, endless stories, endless adventures.  One quote that pretty much hits the nail on the head when it comes to reading is by R. R. Martin, "A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies...The man who never reads lives only once."

Never in my life have I so publicly shared my resolutions, nor have I spent as much time thinking about them.  I truly believe that by putting these out through the interwebs I will find more success in keeping up with them.  Most resolutions don't last past mid-January, my hope is that I can keep true to each of these the whole year and continue to grow as a man, husband, brother, son, and friend.  Happy New Year to you all, and I wish you the best 2014 possible.  One thing about the future is that so much of it is in your hands.  It is possible.

We make time for the things we want.

We make time for the things we want.  I have not had any time.  None.  Zilch-O.  Back to work yesterday, still busy as hell today.  But I started thinking that I had not posted since I was in Florida.  I needed to make time for the things I want, the things that are important to me.  I want to keep up with my writing, so far the only way I have figured out how to do that is to write.  So here I am making time to write.  Making time to express myself with words.  I have many thoughts running through my head all the time.  What I have found by writing this blog is that I now have an avenue to express these thoughts.  Not everyone has this luxury.  Not everyone can vent or express their thoughts to a group of people who are actually willing to listen to what you have to say.

So as this year comes to an end I want to say thank you to all my readers out there.  Many of you have come to me and said how one particular post has affected you or pushed you to try something new or do something you had been putting off for too long.  Words cannot express how that makes me feel.  I started writing this blog for myself but in a very short time it has become so much more than that.  I never would have thought that my words would help someone else.  I still write this for myself, to keep me honest, to make sure that I do what I say I am going to do but it is because of your support that I have been even more successful than I could have imagined.  So again, thank you all very much.  We will continue to work together and find success no matter how big or small that success may be.

I have many new goals to focus on in the coming year, I will share them with you all in another couple of days.  The New Year is just around the corner and 2014 should be an exciting one to say the least.  I have a baby coming just around the bend, and a wife that loves me. Who could ask for anything more?

As my weekend is booking up with plans for Home Depot, Ikea, scheduling bathroom remodeling with my brother, putting the finishing touches on the nursery, I need to remind myself to continue to make time for the things I want.  Yes, I want all the things I just wrote about but I also want to maintain my health and fitness.  I will find time, I will make time, in between these things, to fit in a run, get in a workout, something, anything to keep up.  The past week was tough as far as eating is concerned but we have been on track since the day we got home.  Now it's time to get back to normal, focus on the goals I have made and remember that Christmas is one day, no need to extend Christmas into New Years and have an even more difficult time losing weight and getting back on track.  Usually for me the party starts on Halloween and goes right through to New Years.  Those times have come and gone my friend.  If we all start now we will be one week closer to achieving our goals for 2014.  Sounds like a good idea to me!

Four for Four.

Christmas Eve and our last day in beautiful sunny Florida.  We fly home tomorrow to celebrate the holidays with my mom and brother.  I love coming down here for the holidays each year but am truly excited to spend tomorrow with my mom.  Because we come to Florida every Christmas I honestly cannot remember the last time I spent Christmas day with her.  I am thinking it has been at least six or seven years, that is too long.  But all of that will change tomorrow.  See you soon mom.

So I made a goal to workout every day while I was in Florida.  As of 30 minutes ago, I have one more gold star on my workout chart for the week.  Four days, four workouts.  It was not easy and we fit in the workouts whenever we could, like tonight.  We ate dinner, waited two hours and worked out in the driveway at 7 PM.  Gotta give props to the wife tonight because I was not feeling it.  We hung out with the family this morning, went to another family members house for a BBQ and by the time we got here I was just not wanting to workout.  Luckily the beautiful woman who sleeps next to me loves me dearly and helped push me to achieve my goal.  You know what they say, behind every man is a strong woman.  She was my strength tonight when I wanted to be weak and I am grateful, thank you Hila.

Tonight we made up our own workout from previous workouts we have done while away from home.  I will call this one The 1,000.  Five exercises with 200 of each, squats, bicep curls, jumping jacks, crunches and burpees.  I started with burpees and just did 20 of each until I hit ten sets.  We have done previous exercises like this, see The 1400 and 5-4-3-2-1, but with Hila being pregnant we modified some of them accordingly.  I think it worked out quite well.

Yesterday I woke up with a sore back (getting old sucks doesn't it?) so I had to modify the fitness trail workout we had planned.  Hila crushed out a leg day boot camp class while I did speed training on the trail.  The trail itself was two connected 1/4 mile laps, what I did was start with a warm up mile, then for the speed work I ran two 1/4 mile laps as fast as I could, then a 1/4 mile slow jog/walking lap, and repeated this for 4 rounds.  This was much more difficult than I thought it would be.  Hila did this while training for the marathon and I always just kind of assumed it would be easy since after every two laps you had a break for a bit.  Ha, I could not have been more wrong.  My plan was to sprint two then jog one but I was so exhausted after the two fast laps I was forced to walk.  Needless to say after this workout I was spent, and completely soaked.  It was pushing 88 degrees as well, so that is what I am going to use as my excuse as to why this was so hard, yeah that sounds good!

To recap here are my workouts for the week:
Day 1 - 4 mile run
Day 2 - Homemade workout class on the trail
Day 3 - Speed training on 1/4 mile track
Day 4 - The 1,000

I promised some pictures of the trail and here they are.  One of Hila and me working out and the other of just the trail itself.  Hila hooked me up with these Diptic pics, so once again thank you very much my love.

Floridian Christmas.

Posting from my phone for the first time so let's see how this goes.

So things have been going well so far. We are staying with my aunt who literally moved in the day before we got here. We have furniture, a TV, basic kitchen utensils and that is just about it. Ate dinner out last night and had sandwiches for lunch. Lacking vegetable intake immensely. Time to improvise. This morning after our 70 degree outside homemade boot camp class, I'll get more into that later, we made canned vegetable scrambled eggs with sausage and toast. Never made eggs with canned vegetables before but a lost can in the pantry equals our successfully healthy breakfast. As healthy as we could make it with what we have on hand that is. We will be making a trip to the store today and stocking up on some essentials for the next couple of day. Fruit, vegetables and wine...

Not going to lie we seriously considered pilfering some of the oranges and grapefruit from the neighborhood fruit trees. If the tree was not sitting square in someones front yard, in broad daylight... Oh man the possibilities. Ever had a fresh Florida orange right off the tree? Yeah its magical.

So boot camp. Yesterday I grabbed the watch and took off for a run. No clue where I was going or how far. Just off to where ever my legs would take me. Ended up running a loop around two golf courses with ponds and beautiful palm trees. Every other time I have I been so close to the edge of a golf course I have been looking for my ball... While on the run I saw a sign with two words that sang to me from the heavens "Fitness Trail."  As I ran by I said to myself "Bobby (I refer to myself by name in thought) that looks like a perfect place to try a boot camp class tomorrow." So it goes.

Today Hila and I woke up and went right out on the trail. I am guessing it's a half mile loop with about ten workout stations. Of course these stations are geared towards senior citizens, I mean it's a retirement community right? So instead of doing the workout listed at each station we did our own. One station had a pole that was supposed to be used for stretching, we decided on chest press and pull downs. One station had a long bench, we did dips and bicep curls. We only had 45 minutes today before the rest of the family was coming over so we did our 45 minute class and came home. Tomorrow I will get some pictures and show you how cool this little trail was. Oh I almost forgot, we saw something like ten people out there walking or running. Someone even came up to us and said "Now that's how you start the morning!" Yeay, go us!!

I loved this little workout, today we did arms tomorrow we will do legs. Had I been lazy and not run yesterday I never would have found this little gold mine of delight. I not only feel better because I got up and worked out I also feel like I made the best of a situation that was kind of out of my control. We got out there and did it. Two days in and two workouts under the belt. And at this point I am only two cookies in! That is a success in and of itself.

We are doing our Christmas dinner tonight since it's the last night with every family member here. Looking forward to sitting down with everyone for a nice meal and then opening gifts. I hope I finally get my official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle!

Eat, drink and be merry.

We are now approaching that interesting time when we have presented to us an abundance of high calorie food and drink at pretty much all times of the day.  Right this minute, there are two Christmas tins of cookies in the office.  A supplier brought lunch yesterday.  We fly to Florida this afternoon where I am expecting no less than six different types of cookies sitting on the counter, calling my name, awaiting my consumption.  For the first time in many years, I feel okay about this.  I always worry that I am going to gain weight on our annual Florida Christmas trip, and I worry because every year it happens.  I have no control over the food I will be eating for the next five days.  Again I am okay with this.  I will enjoy SOME cookies, I will enjoy my meals with my family.  I mean I only get so many opportunities to enjoy Grandma's home cooking.  I am okay with all this because I now know that this is life.  There are ups and downs, highs and lows.  All I can do is focus on what I can control.  What I can control is portion size and working out.

I will work out everyday in Florida.  I have a weeks worth of boot camp classes written down, I have resistance bands.  I also have two appendages on the southern half of my body called legs and they can take me many places I have never been.  I will run.  I love just going out and running with a GPS watch, you can literally go anywhere you want, see the world (well parts of central Florida anyway), it's glorious.  I will workout with my pregnant wife.  I will find a way to incorporate the holidays and my workout routine.  I am not saying it will be easy, I am lazy at heart, remember.  But I will make it happen.  Plus is will be close to 80 degrees everyday, umm yeahh, that's not going to suck.

I will focus on portion control and mindless eating.  I don't need six cookies in one sitting, but it's okay to enjoy one occasionally, they are delicious.  I can put away some food, I have, I do and I will.  I am just going to make sure I don't over do it.  I will make sure I have fresh vegetables at dinners, a side salad, something, anything than just gorging myself on unhealthy food.  I will beat the angry overeating monster most days, and I am sure he will get the better of me at least once.  All I can do is give it my best.

Enjoy the holidays, enjoy the time with family and friends, eat, drink and be merry, enjoy a cookie (not 10), eat a nice meal, drink wine but at some point get out there and go for a run, a walk, a bike ride, it's supposed to be nice for the next couple of days here, enjoy it (although not in the 80's where I will be, but they can't all be winners, am I right?).

Happy Holidays to all, and to all a goodnight!

I wish I wasn't lazy.

I used to think that most people did not want to workout simply because of fear.  Fear of pain.  Fear of others seeing your weaknesses.  Fear of pushing yourself beyond what you think are your limits.  While all of these are normal fears, some of which I still deal with today, each of them are able to be overcome.  I now think that the biggest reason (excuse) for not working out is laziness.  Lazy is not a fear but still infinitely more difficult to overcome.  Lazy is not just in your head it's also in your body.  It takes time, effort, pain to overcome laziness.  It takes winning, it even takes losing to overcome laziness.  Fear is something that once confronted is much easier to face the next time.  Laziness, not so much.  It's always lingering there, tapping you on the shoulder saying, "screw this, go home, do nothing."  It never, ever, ever goes away.

I want to be lazy everyday.  Every single moment of everyday.  All the time.  Right now.  It is always a battle.  To do or not to do.  Always always a battle.  And a battle that is often lost.  Saturday morning, it's raining but there are a million and one things I could do around the house.  None of which I want to do, I want to sit on the couch and read, next to my wife with Chow snoring in the corner.  That is what I want to do every morning.  But that is not a reality, things need to get done, runs need to be run, the garage needs organizing, food needs purchasing, nursery needs painting, the list is endless endless endless.  Sometimes laziness wins, sometimes it doesn't.

It takes weeks and weeks before working out becomes a habit, to even start and overcome the laziness.  It won't be easy, it's still not easy but it's worth it.  There are benefits.  Endless benefits.  We work because we need money, no money and eventually we are sleeping in a ditch off the interstate.  We don't workout because we are lazy, no working out and we are sleeping in a more permanent ditch sooner than we should.  If only we saw immediate results from working out.  No, that is not the right wording.  If only we saw our long term results immediately we all may be more inclined to workout.  Yes, that's what I wanted to say.  We don't see our longer, healthier life right now.  We live it for years to come.  We make small changes that lead to big results.  The results are there, they just take a while show themselves.  Make the change now to workout more and one day you will thank me, but more importantly your children will thank YOU.

Stop thinking and starting doing.

Each week I try to think of one aspect of fitness or weight loss to focus on specifically that week.  Counting all my points no matter what, adding time to my workouts, getting more runs in, whatever it may be that I feel I need to focus on at the moment.  This week is going to be a bit different.

We have started getting the nursery put together.  That involves several things, getting the room ready, painting, buying and assembling furniture, just to name a few.  Until last weekend this has seemed like an overwhelming task.  This "to do" list is an ongoing saga of items that seem endless.  Until now.  We started with one item, and just started crossing off a line at a time.  Really all we needed to do was start.  Just starting has put these events in motion and now with only two weekends of work behind us we have made substantial progress.

The same applies to fitness and weight loss, it's never going to get better on its own, all you have to do is start.  Put the workout ball in motion and watch it gain speed.  It's a beautiful thing.  We all put things off for too long.  "I will workout tomorrow" or "I will start my diet after the weekend."  Believe me these two comments were a staple in my vocabulary for many years.  Until I finally started.  I tried the gym, I tried running, I tried taking classes.  Until I found boot camp I was a lost soul.  From the first day I started, I knew this was for me.  It just worked.  I found what I was finally looking for.  I no longer felt the need to make excuses not to workout, I wanted to workout.  Yes, partly due to the fact the eight girls were kicking my butt on a daily basis but that is part of the program.  Using others to push you even harder.  How easy is it to stop running on the treadmill at the gym, how easy is it to go and lift and give up after 30 minutes because you are tired or you just want to go home?  Very easy, it's too easy.  No one is holding you accountable for your actions.  With boot camp, there are others there that may ask, "where were you yesterday," not to be mean but over time you start to develop friendships with other classmates and they honestly care about your well being.  You have a trainer that cares about you and wants you to show up.  This can happen at the gym as well, but I doubt you spend an hour a day next to the same people at the gym as you would in class each night.  It's much easier to give up on something when you are by yourself than it is if someone is watching you, don't believe me, try it.  I have made some great friends in class and its conversing with these friends that has pushed me to get to class when I may not have wanted to go, I am sure I have pushed some of them to get to class as well.  All of these things I realized once I stopped making excuses and finally decided to start.

So back to my focus this week.  We are flying to Florida on Friday and have about a million and one things to accomplish before then.  So my focus this week is to make it to class everyday and take any extra time I have a put it into the nursery.  While I would love to add another 30 minutes to class each day, this week I just have to much going on.  I am not going to take away from my workout routine, I just feel that this week I need to focus "extra" time on other important things (AKA baby D!).

Hump Day!!

Even though it's Friday I am calling it hump day because I finally feel like I am over the hump of being sick.  I feel substantially better now than I did this time yesterday.  Sleeping for just about 14 hours straight may have helped a bit also.  Plus the lovely lady that sleeps next to me brought home a rather fantastic bowl of Pho for dinner.  Hit the spot, thank you Hila.

Only got in two workouts this week, and I still feel a bit weak from being sick and from sleeping for so long that I am thinking I will give myself one more day rest and make sure I get in a solid workout on Sunday.  A good long run should do the trick.  That will get me back on track for boot camp next week as well.  Maybe I will even add another 30 minutes to each workout again, that seemed to work out really well.  Have a great weekend.

Cold.

So Monday at class I felt a little bit off.  Just slow and sluggish, not my best day but and at the time I could not figure out why.  I felt hydrated, I felt good, I just could not push myself very hard.  Same story on Tuesday night at class.  Now I know why.  Head cold.  I woke up yesterday knowing I had a full on cold.  Today is bad.  I probably should not be at work today.  If I feel any worse at noon, I am out of here.  Not only do I need the rest but I fear that I may give someone else this cold and two weeks before the Christmas holiday is definitely not the best time to get sick.  The only exercise for me today will be exercising the mind when I read myself to sleep.

I'm the only difference between impossible and possible.

I learned a long time ago the importance of setting goals.  Small, large, short term and long term goals.  They all are crucial to success.  Goals give you something to focus on, they pinpoint your destination.  Without a goal we are just aiming ourselves towards an objective with the hopes of coming close to hitting it.  A goal makes the route much more direct.  If our goal is getting from point A to point B, the closest distance between these two points is a straight line.  A goal is what keeps this line straight.  Without the goal we end up making a lot of unnecessary turns to get where we are going.  Yes we can still get there but it may take longer and on a longer journey it's easier to loose hope and turnaround and go home.  

I started this journey with two main long term goals, all round improvement in fitness and weight loss.  Throughout this journey I have made many short terms goals as well, focus on food, run more often, stick to my daily point allowance, add additional time to my daily workout, show up to class everyday, just to name a few.  It is because of each of these two different types of goals that I have found and continue to find success.  What I have tried to focus on is keeping my eye on the prize of my long term goal, overall fitness.  But it is these short terms goals that keep me in check.  Yes I want to get in better shape, but how do I get there?  Without the short term goals the end is too far away, it's overwhelmingly far away.  Starting this journey several months ago, I could not even see the finish line, in fact it was so far away I was not sure it existed.  I wanted it to exist but fear of the unknown and fear of hard work made it seem very far away.  As I thought of the finish line, I tried to think about what ways would help me get there.  Baby steps, one baby step at a time.  Daily goals, weekly goals, monthly goals, all of these baby steps compounded equal large steps closer to the ultimate goal.  It's a process and take time, a lot of time.  Sometimes it's hard to stay focused on the long term goals because we are so slowly coming up on the finish line.  The key is to start with smaller goals first.  When I was in boot camp for the Marines I so clearly remember them telling us to not think any farther in the future then your next meal, or the next Sunday.  "Chow to chow, Sunday to Sunday".  13 weeks of boot camp is painfully long and tedious.  The first week there thinking about how hard the remaining weeks were going to be was too much to deal with.  There were too many open possibilities ahead where life was just going to be awful.  After breakfast, don't think about anything else except lunch.  That is only 4-5 hours to try and process not 13 weeks.  I can deal with 4-5 hours of something, it's the much larger picture that is overwhelming.  The exact same applies to goals.  If little Johnny makes a goal of losing 20 pounds, and after six weeks he has only lost three pounds there is a chance that he might get discouraged and lose hope, possibly give up.  Yes, its great that Johnny make a goal to lose weight, but equally important to this long term goal are his short term goals.  With the 20 pound weight loss in mind, also make a goal to lose 1/2 pound in a week, or two pounds in a month.  These are much more achievable goals with immediate results, and it is because of the minor successes that you may feel even more focused as the weeks go by.  

We are a people who thrive off immediate satisfaction.  Because of this we stop caring or get bored very easily if we do not find this kind of satisfaction as quickly as we feel we should.  I find that because of short term goals, we still get this satisfaction that we are craving, and because of this short term satisfaction we are able to find ways to keep focus on our long term goals.  Make a goal, write it down, make it happen, repeat over and over and over again.

Actions speak louder than words.

I was recently reminded of the saying that "actions speak louder than words."  I used to think that statement was a bit untrue or overused.  Call it naivety, or ignorance but in the past I would think that if I or someone else said something then it was true and had meaning behind it.  Not something stupid like the sky is green but something on a more personal level.  Like in a relationship where someone says something or says they will do something but they end up not actually doing what they said they would do.  This applies to so many things in life, actually it may apply to just about everything in life.  I often write on here what I plan to do and then end up not doing it for whatever reason.  It's a pattern, and it seems to be happening in more ways than just in my fitness or weight loss goals.  I want my words to mean something, no matter how trivial or significant those words may be.  I realize throughout my life that there have been many words said with not as many actions to back them up, not only on my part but by others as well.  As I have gotten older I see that words mean almost nothing.  They may make you or whoever you have said these words to feel better in the moment but in reality if they are not backed up by actions then they are meaningless, they are simply just words.

I said this week that I my goal was to add 30 minutes to my workouts everyday this week.  After only two days into trying to achieve my goal I had already begun to mentally retract those words and shy away from accomplishing said goal.  I did not want to stay and workout more last night.  Last night's class was hard, very hard.  I wanted nothing more than to go home and spend time with my beautiful wife.  We only have so many nights left when it will be just us, how precious another 30 minutes home would be.  As I was packing up my things to head home, I realized that yet again, my actions were speaking louder than my words.  I said I would do something and yet it was so easy to not want do it.  The reason that this statement is true is because saying is easy, doing is hard.  I can say anything I want, believe me it comes out quite easily.  It's the doing that I have struggled with my entire life.  All of this was going through my head in the few moments from class ending and the next one starting.  Luckily I listened to the little white angel this time and stayed for my additional 30 minutes.  It was not easy but the reward came to me this morning when I woke up and realized I did what I set off to do, even though it was as trivial as another 30 minutes of class.  Now the time has come to continue acting on my words, whether they apply to life, to food, to working out or to my family.  There is peace in actually doing what you said you would do, even when it's hard or don't want to do it.  The guilt or resentment that follows words unaccompanied by actions is much harder.

The meal where everything went wrong.

2 PM.  2 PM is the magical hour when the soreness settles in.  Today I can feel it coming on strong.  Sprints on Monday, legs and shoulders last night = SORE Wednesday.  Both days, 1.5 classes.  Again tonight and Thursday as well.  I'm sure I will be a stumbling mess on my hot date Friday night if I am able to get these jello legs to work properly.  I walked (using this term loosely here, more of a staggered shuffle) across the office and after seeing my less than stunning gait my receptionist asked me if everything was okay, I said yes, Tom just got a hold of me...

Last night my beautiful wife decided to make a delicious dinner, as she always does.  Shrimp Curry.  Delish.  So pregnant brain starts with sauteing the butternut squash and broccoli.  Issue # 1 - No broccoli.  Solution # 1 - Substitute asparagus instead.   Next add the shrimp to the saute pan.  Issue # 2 - Not enough shrimp for a full meal.  Solution # 2 - Make this amount of shrimp work by cutting them into smaller pieces.  Next, to get a jump on things, she decides to steam the rice.  Issue # 3 - No rice.  Solution # 3 - Quinoa instead.  Now to top off any curry dish the last important ingredient is none other than coconut milk.  Issue # 4 - No coconut milk.  Solution # 4 - Half and half.  Needless to say we are calling this "the meal where anything that could go wrong did".  Well anything except for the flavor.  Holy hell this dinner was awesome and only 8 points including the quinoa.  Somehow pregnant brain turned this around to straight magical brain genius and now I am calling this "the meal where everything went wrong but came out oh so right!"  It was fantastic, my only hope is she saved enough so there are leftovers for tonight!

Mind over matter.

Goal met for day 1.  I stayed for 30 minutes of the second class last night and I am feeling it already.  We ran wind sprints for 10 sets.  Essentially 100 yards (give or take) as fast as you can, jog back, repeat X 10, no that is not a typo I actually meant ten.  Of course we did this in the beginning of class, so lucky me, I got to do this twice.  Holy hell, my hammies are hurting today.  Last night was a really fun class.  Not overly hard, well let me clarify.  By not overly hard I mean that the class did not focus on shoulders or legs or something that by the end you can barely find the strength to drive home safely (kind of like the monstrous leg day on Thanksgiving morning, thanks Tom!!)  Class was mainly a focus on cardio.  Running, stairs, with some strength/stability exercises thrown in just for fun.  Or as Kristina puts it..."active recovery".  What a fantastic term!  I don't find much recovery in holding plank position after running stairs as fast as I can but hey at least it's recovery, active or not.

I may take a little break from the cold tonight and venture back to the old stomping grounds at the Sussudio...  It's been awhile since we have been there and seems as good a time as ever to head back.  Going to try for 1.5 classes again and honestly I am a little scared.  Tom has a way of beating you to a point beyond where you think you are capable of being.  Should not take too much inner convincing though, really it's just mind over matter.  Bring it on Tom...(I am going to regret that comment).  So much of working out is mind over matter, getting there is half the battle.  Once you are there you will workout, so get there and do it.  That is my plan anyway.

Don't reward yourself with food, you are not a dog.

I wish I could sit here and tell you that this weekend I made a plan and stuck to it but frankly that is just not the case.  Yes I ate under my allowed points and yes I probably lost weight but not due to my constant vigilance.  Somehow on Saturday I got some sort of stomach bug and have only eaten 2.5 meals in the last 56 hours.  I feel a bit better today but this did cause me to miss my scheduled workout yesterday.  I really wanted to get in a long run but that did not happen.  One perk, I slept for over 12 hours on Saturday night, which was glorious.  I definitely needed it.

So now to this week at hand.  My goals.

What I would like to do is add 30 minutes a day to each of my workouts, schedule permitting.  Maybe stay for part of the second class or get a quick 3 miler in before or after class each day.  I just want to do something to boost up the intensity for this week.  Obviously my other goal is to continue to focus on food.  One mistake people make is that they think just because they are working out more they can be more lax when it comes to eating.  Believe me, I still do that.  After a solid week of working out come Friday night I actually think to myself, "hey you have killed it this week working out, you deserve this extra slice of pizza, or three."  Unfortunately that is not the case.  I would say that there is about (on average) 300-400 calories to a piece of pizza.  Working out for one hour, intensely, you are lucky if you burn double that, real lucky.  So to reward yourself with food you may actually be causing yourself more damage when trying to lose weight, as you have just eaten all the calories you have just burned, if not more.  Someone once told me don't reward yourself with food, you are not a dog.  While this is a very blunt expression, I find it quite fitting.  We reward a dog with food for doing what he is told and he then knows that if he does what he is told again there may be a treat involved.  We humans, respond the same way.  The issue is that our reward is a healthier lifestyle and weight loss, not extra pizza on a Friday night.  Now, if we could only convince ourselves of that truth come the actual Friday night we may have a chance.  Thinking is the easy part, doing is what is hard.

Have a plan then stick to the plan.

Oh the demands of the demanded.  I have received several complaints/concerns that I have not kept up with my blog posts in the last two weeks.  What is interesting and ironically enough is that the less I have posted the less I have been successful with both fitness and weight loss.  I am just going to chalk up last week as a loss, kind of like the Redskins do each week.  I overate, I missed workouts, therefore I gained weight.  I did not go to Weight Watchers on Monday night, frankly I did not want to see the damage I had done, I felt it in my body, but I know that I gained.  One week of veering off the path and it affects everything.  My stomach was upset, I felt sluggish and I just generally felt bad, physically and emotionally.  One reason I write this blog is to keep me honest and to keep myself accountable.  If even one person reads this and asks me how's it going I feel like it is working.  I need someone/something to keep me in check or I naturally get lazy.  "The path of least resistance" was once used to describe my actions in life.  While that may be partly true it does not define me.  I am strong but I do have moments of weakness.  Life is hard, even harder at certain times.  For me, last week was hard, very hard.  I was beyond busy and consumed with both work and after work activities.  It all caught up to me on Saturday about mid day when my body just shut down.  I did make it out for a run and I think that only made matters worse, because after the run all I wanted to do was climb in bed and sleep and that is exactly what I did.  I was still feeling off yesterday but today I feel great.  I got my eating in check and went to boot camp last night.  Now I only gave an easy 85% last night in class.  I listened to my body and I feel like it is paying off.  My goals over the next few days are easy, boot camp tonight, Wednesday and Thursday morning.  (Come out and try our Annual Thanksgiving Day Charity Boot Camp, believe me it's worth it, especially on Thanksgiving morning.)  Eating on plan all days except Thursday, I mean let's be honest, there is pretty much no way to eat on plan on Thanksgiving.  I will enjoy dinner, and that is where it ends.  That does not mean that Thanksgiving lasts Thursday through Sunday, which for me it usually does.  I need to enjoy dinner and get back on it after that.  I really don't want to feel the same this coming Monday as I did this past Monday.  The hard part will be getting in workouts Friday through Sunday.  Definitely want to get in another Burke Lake run and maybe even a Saturday morning boot camp class.  Regardless that't the plan and I will do my best to stick to it!

Challenge accepted!

I think I am safe in saying that the past 72 hours have been 72 of the busiest hours of my life.  Two birthday dinners, two out of state meetings, three mornings up by 5 AM, one 12 hour work day, one boot camp class and not one night in bed until after 11 PM, oh and a partridge in a pear tree...

Needless to say I have had exactly zero time to post a blog or do much of anything else other that the monstrous list of things listed above.  Anyway tonight is not much better, I am able to make it to boot camp tonight but then I have "Learn to read Hebrew" class immediately following.  I will definitely be crashing out early tonight!

With all that said, I have not done well with eating or working out this week.  I am actively trying to get back on track but things being as they have been have made that quite the difficult path.  I hate missing boot camp, it throws everything else off track but sometimes it is just unavoidable.  And from what I hear it sounds as if I have missed some pretty killer classes.  Bummer!  Well, fear not kiddos, I will be back tonight and ready to bring it.  I am also excited to get in a long run this weekend, it has been entirely too long.  There is just something about a run that fixes all the issues you have going on.  Saturday will be my fix it day!  Probably Burke Like for 4.5 miles, yes, yes I think that's it.

So to recap on last week.  Its amazing what one week of eating perfectly within my points does to my body, go figure I lost 1.4 pounds at the weigh in Monday night.  BOOYAH, easy peasy, just like that.  In total that is over a 10 pound weight loss so far.  This week I may have negated some of that but we shall see.  No need to cry over split milk, pick the glass up and pour another one!  Or something like that...or was it don't cry over spilled milk, it could have been beer.  Maybe that's the one.

Anyway it's good to be back after a little sabbatical, now time to check my issues at the door and get my butt in gear.  Challenge accepted!

Save the weekly's for the weekend!

Day two of complete food tracking in check.

I am going to share with you one of my vices, because you are my friends.  I friggin love this Coffee-Mate French Vanilla coffee creamer and yes it's sugar free!  This is just about the only thing I eat/drink that has artificial sweetener in it.  I think this may even be one of the most processed food items out there but I still love it.  I actually go through times where the realization kicks in that I am not doing anything good for myself and resort back to half and half with real sugar but nothing kick starts my day like this cup of coffee.  Actually drinking some now, wow...it's good.

Breakfast:
Coffee - See above (4 points for two cups)  As you can see in the picture we weigh just about everything.  So when I say I drink two cups of coffee I am really using 90 grams of creamer in each cup.  Same applies to the cheese below, a 1/4 cup is equivalent to 30 grams.  I find that you actually get more food when you weigh it out as compared to measuring with measuring cups.  Most nutrition facts list the servings in cups or partial cups so it just translates easier to use cup sizes, plus most people just don't have digital scales.
Egg wrap - 2 eggs (4 points), 2 pieces of Canadian Bacon (1 point), 1/4 cup part skim mozzarella cheese (2 points), and mushrooms, onions, zucchini and spinach (0 points) all served on a whole wheat flour tortilla (1 point).  Grand total of 8 points.
45 - 12 = 33 remaining points

Snack - Banana

Lunch:
Exact same as yesterday.  Soup and sandwich for 12 points.
33 - 12 = 21

Snack - Apple

Dinner (due to pure excitement and absolute ravenousness I forgot to take a picture...again):
Homemade burger with blue cheese, lettuce, tomato on a Big Marty's Bun (made by my sister in law, Sarit).  Wow is all I can say.  I so wish I took a picture because this burger was awesome.  The blue cheese added a saltiness and flavor boost that was redonkulous.  Soo good.  Thank you Sarit, this was an excellent burger. (13 points)
Baked French Fries - from Trader Joe's I believe (5 points)
Asparagus - 0 points
21 - 18 = 3 remaining points

Dessert:
Vanilla pudding cup with some M&M's added in - Delish (3 points)
3 - 3 = 0 = Success

Another 6 activity points earned at boot camp.  Up to 12 for the week.

Day two done and both days exactly within my daily points.  No weekly's used yet, which is good, since the weekend is where the real damage is done.  Save the weekly's for the weekend!

If you bite it, write it.

Here is a breakdown of how food and I work together throughout the day.  I start with 45 total points.

Breakfast (no picture):  

Coffee - Two cups, two points creamer in each cup (4 points)

Cereal with almond milk, 8 points for 2 1/4 cups cereal, 1 point for a cup of almond milk (9 points)

45 - 13 = 32 remaining points

Snack:

Banana - 0 points 

Apple - 0 points

32 - 0 - 32

Lunch: 

Sandwich - 4 points for Big Marty's bun, 4 points for 4 oz of ham, 1 point for reduced fat provolone cheese, 1 point light mayo, 0 points for large heirloom tomato from the farmers market and a few lettuce slices (10 points)

Soup - 2 points for Giant Brand Spring Vegetable soup

32 - 12 = 20 remaining points

Snack:

Grapes - 0 points

Cheese - Trader Joe's Mini Brie, 1 point

20 - 1 = 19 remaining points

Dinner (of course I forgot to take a picture):

Chicken sausages - 2 links, 3 points each (6 points)

Quinoa - 1/3 cup (2 points)

Green beans - 0 points

Salad - Iceberg lettuce, tomato, cucumber, homemade balsamic vinegar (all 0 points), feta cheese (2 points)

Red wine - 1 glass (4 points)

19 - 18 = 5 remaining points

Dessert:

Red wine - 1 glass (4 points)

Reese's Pieces - With one point left for the day I gorged myself on a whopping 11 pieces, that's right 11.  While that may not seem like much, who am I kidding that's nothing, I can eat 11 Reese's Pieces before I even have to chew, it was still a nice treat at the end of the day.  Along with the glass of wine I was happy, very happy.  

5 - 5 = 0 remaining points

Boot camp - Earned me 6 activity points

I feel great on days when I eat exactly what I am allowed.  I could have done a lot of different things with my points, for example some people don't want to waste points on wine.  But I find it a nice treat at the end of the day and I was by no means hungry when I went to bed.  If the day had gone differently and I had more points for lunch or an additional snack throughout the day or more points for dinner I would have skipped the second glass.  It's all about making the plan work for you.  Start with 45 points, or whatever you are allowed, and work it out.  Sometimes I write down for the whole day, since most of my meals are planned and figure out from there how much is left for snacks, treats, wine, whatever.  I am by far the most successful when I write down everything.  BLT's as they are called in the business, Bites, Licks, Tastes.  If you bite it, write it.  That's the plan.  

Food, Food, Food.

My focus is food this week.  Last week and this past weekend got a bit out of hand.  Frankly it just got plain stupid.  I pretty much just ate what I wanted when I wanted.  Not the way to lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle at all.  Now don't get me wrong, what I ate was fantastic, dim sum, sushi, Szechuan Beef Noodle Soup, Pho, and Italian.  I know kind of went a different direction there at the end, what can you do??  Now that that is out of my system, time to checkity check myself.  I am on point from here on out.  I think the best way to handle this, other than wiring down in weight watchers is just tracking all my meals right here.  I will think on that and try to take pictures of my meals.  I have soup and sandwiches on the books for lunches this week and I am sure some amazing dinners planned and cooked by the brain genius that is Hila DeLong.  I will report back tomorrow.  Focker out.

The RealAge Test.

So after the post yesterday, my trainer Tom sent me another "Fitness Age" test to take that takes into account many more details than age, fitness level, pulse, etc.  This test took me about 10 minutes to take and I tried to be as honest as possible.  There were definitely a lot of questions but worth it.  Hey look my real age is one year younger than my actual age.  Helloooo 33!!  I feel younger already.

Try it here.  Let me know what your RealAge is.

Of course one of the reasons my body is not as young as it could be is due to my diet.  I was already well aware of these issues but now I can see specifically where my faults may be.  I definitely don't eat enough whole grains, frankly with Weight Watchers grains are higher points and I just avoid them in hope to lose weight.  Looks like I need to find a balance between eating more whole grains and still losing weight.  The same applies to nuts, I just don't eat them.  I find I can eat a substantial more amount of food for the same points as I can a small handful of nuts.  So while they may be very good for you I find I don't just eat a small amount of nuts, they are usually shoveled in by the handful, negating the good benefits they contain.  

Next is weight.  Damn you BMI.  I have always been overweight, always.  Now I don't feel like I am fat by any means, I just am not as thin as I want to be.  Since I am exactly 6' tall, per this test my BMI (28.61) is pushing the obese category.  Really??  How can this be?  My issue with this is that it does not take into account my muscle mass or my generally large stature.  Not every person who is 6' tall weighs the same.  Yes I have weight to lose but for me to get less than 180 I would be stick thin, I don't want to be that thin.  Per this chart the lower section of a healthy weight is 140 pounds.  I could get to 180, cut off my right leg and still not weigh that little.  I guess everyone is different and all we can do is strive for the best everyday.  I may never weigh 180 pounds but I will try my hardest to make sure I am the healthiest weight I can be.  

Respect your body, it's the only one you have.

So I came across an interesting tool today that roughly calculates your "Fitness Age".  While I have not done much investigation as to how it works or how accurate it may be I still find this to be a good tool to determine how your fitness age compares to your actual age.

Calculate your fitness age here.

Younger than 20!  I like it.  Too bad I don't actually feel younger than 20.  I am so sore today I have a hard time getting out of my chair at work.  On a sore scale of 1 - 10, 1 being no pain and 10 being death, I am pushing a solid 37.  Yeah, that's sore.

I like the fact that my fitness age is much younger than my actual age.  That shows me that I am fit and I push what I think are the limits of my body.  We watch the Biggest Loser and I am amazed when they do the "Know Your Number" age difference of these people that are double their weight and internally they are 20 - 30 years older because of all the strain their body is under not just from weight but from all the health issues that come from being overweight.  I want to make sure that I am healthy and so is my family.  I have a child coming into this world and I will do everything in my power to make sure he/she learns early in life the importance of eating healthy and working out.  I did not learn this until I was well into my 20's, really into my 30's and now I have to work even harder to maintain my weight and my fitness level.  Regardless I will never go back, I will always be fit and I will always take care of my body, it's the only one I have.

The 1400!!

Well that is what I am calling it anyway.  Last time we did this workout it was 250 of each.  Push ups, sit ups, burpees, squats with a row, and overhead claps, 250 times each in any order you wish in 50 minutes.  In August I was only able to complete 220 of each.  Last night I finished all 250 is 49 minutes and decided to stay for part of the second class and do another 100 of each for a grand total of 1400 exercises...  350 burpees, what the hell is wrong with me??  Actually today I feel great.  Of course last night was hard but I just pushed through doing 20 reps at a time until I was finished.  Two girls in class still beat me.  Well done ladies, well done.  Just two months of boot camp and I was able to improve my sets by more than 20%.  Not bad, I'll take it.  Ohhhh now I get it, hard work actually does pay off....

Go figure I lost weight last night as well.  Exactly .8 pounds.  Which is exactly what I gained last weigh in so essentially in 4 weeks I have only maintained my weight.  I know why though, as mentioned yesterday... comfort.  Time to focus on eating well and working out at least one weekend day.  Its easy to get to all four boot camp classes, it part of my routine, all I need to do it show up after work.  What is not part of my routine its getting up on a Saturday or Sunday morning and working out, that is is the hard part...where the magic happens as they say.

Side note, probably part of the reason for the above weight maintainingness (yes I made that word up).  Do yourself a favor, on a Cheat Day, and stop by a BonChon Chicken for dinner.  Only item you need to order is the chicken, fine treat yourself to some fries as well, but remember my words, all you will want is the chicken.  It's fantastic.  Double deep fried, covered in soy garlic sauce, it's heaven on a plate.  Feeling frisky, try the hot wings if you dare, they are hot, very hot (매우 뜨거운).  This might possibly be the best chicken I have ever had in my life!!  This is a must try as soon as you can and by the way...I will be accepting thank yous through any of the universally accepted means of communication, yeah it's that good.

I've gotten a bit too comfortable.

I don't feel I have done anything wrong I just feel like have not done things exactly right.  I have not written down one single thing I have eaten since Friday.  I have not worked out since Thursday night.  If I were to grade myself on Monday through Thursday I would give an A++.  Now my grade for Friday through Sunday a D-.  Yes I have made semi-good decisions when ordering and eating food but did I go over my points?  Probably but by how much?  Will I lose weight tonight at the weigh in?  Probably not.  A few bad days will definitely negate four great days when it comes to weight loss.  I have been so focused because I have had goals in mind.  Working out and running to prepare for the 10 miler.  Eating well to lose weight and get things in check for some life insurance testing I had recently.  Now all these goals have passed and been achieved and now I am getting lazy.  I've gotten a bit too comfortable.  I could have worked out this weekend, gone for a run, jumped on the bike, done a number of things but I was comfortable being home and not working out.  I need to change that.  I am trying to push myself beyond the limits of my comfort zone and what I am doing is not working.  Stop being lazy, focus on the plan.  Get out there and do it.  Then do it again, and again, and again...

Music is what feelings sound like.

I have made it to all four classes for the last two weeks, fitness goal in check.  And I definitely feel it.  I have decided that I just stay sore, Monday through Sunday, then start the process all over again.  It feels great, I love it.  I also somehow managed to only consume a whopping six M&M's (female) last night, can you guess what makes and M&M male?  I decided to completely avoid the ever delicious frozen peanut butter cup....mmmm peanut butter.....  I was briefly an unbeliever myself but yes they are infinitely better frozen.  You're welcome.

I don't feel like I am too passionate about a lot of things, but a few things I find I am very passionate about.  My wife, reading, fitness and music, oh sweet music.  Anyone who knows me knows that I have loved the Dave Matthews Band for years.  I have been to 31 shows in something like 9 states and have a plethora of shirts, posters and DMB memorabilia.  Second in line to Dave is Third Eye Blind (my first love).  And tonight for the 15th or so time I will be seeing them live on stage.  I am giddy with anticipation.  There is just something about music that is good for the soul.  It brings me peace, it lifts me up, it is just the perfect soundtrack to life.  I believe in loving all music and not limiting myself to one genre.  Rock, Pop, Blues, Country, Metal, Jazz and even Broadway musicals.  I do go a bit bonkers for a good musical.  I mean watch Moulin Rouge or see The Book of Mormon on stage and tell me they don't make life a little bit better.  Literally my love for music has changed my life, it has opened doors for me I never thought possible or that I didn't even know were there.  I have felt many feelings in my life, but nothing has expressed those feelings quite like music.  To me, music is what feelings sound like.

Well done ladies.

So something strange happened to me yesterday in class and at this point I still don't have an explanation.  I felt fine before class and I felt fine after class but the entire time during class I felt light headed and could not exert myself at all.  I feel like I just kind of went through the motions and did what I could but after five or ten exercises in a set I hit a wall and just wanted to sit down.  This has only happened to me once or twice before and I can only assume dehydration.  Literally right after I stopped pushing myself I felt fine but during the exercises I wanted nothing more than to stop.  I will be drinking plenty of water today with the hopes of catching back up and being fully hydrated.  Don't want another class like last night.  While I am glad that I worked out I by no means had a good workout.  Oh well, at least I am feeling better and today is a new day.

So this Sunday was the Girlfriend 5K that Hila planned with all her girlfriends.  I think there were 14 girls total.  I could not be more proud of these girls.  Some are lifetime runners and others this was the longest they have ever run in their life.  Hopefully they will continue to run these races and pick up the running bug.  Well done ladies.

Let the countdown begin.

The dreaded weekend.  While I love the weekend for more reasons then I can count, I also know that this is the time where the damage is done.  I will eat and workout every single day of the week, but come Friday night/Saturday morning is a 48 hour countdown to absolute destruction.  Dinners, parties, boredom, get-togethers, wine, whatever it may be, I can easily mess up everything I have done over the past 4 days in the few short hours of the weekend.  My goal this weekend is to focus on not overeating and counting everything that I do eat.  As they say at Weight Watchers, "if you bite it, write it."  That is my plan, no cheating, no making up eating calories by working them off.  All it takes is one night, and yes its easier than you think to put down a good 100 point meal.  Believe me I have done it several times.  And that one meal can be the difference between weight loss and weight gain come Monday night.  Last week I gained .8 pounds and this week I want to lose that plus some.  I need to stay focused and keep my eye on the prize.  The prize = SUCCESS.

Babies don't sleep this well.

Last night was hard, really hard.  I didn't want to stay but I knew I should.  My shoulders were killing me, the cadio wore me out.  Even with all the physical pain, it's the mental struggle that's the hardest.  That little red devil on my (oh so sore) shoulder says "you just worked out hard, really hard, go home, rest, eat".  It's so easy to listen to him, he sounds so right, he makes perfect sense to me, I want to listen to him and most times I do.  Last night though I left that devil sitting on the curb and paid him no mind and stayed for the second class.  Let me tell you I feel it today.  Sore...all over.  Sitting up to get out of bed this morning, yeahhhh I was slow going for sure.  Sitting here typing my arms don't quite move the way they should.  Pain is good, it's weakness leaving the body, pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever, we have all heard it before, a thousand times.  Until you experience it do you really even begin to understand.  I love working out, I love being sore but today I love it even more.  I get it today, I feel it today, actually it's more than that, today I understand it.  I pushed myself beyond what I thought was the limits of my body and I loved it.  Let me tell you...babies don't sleep this well.