Day 30 Photos & Measurements

It's amazing how quickly 30 days can go by. I was astonished at how quickly I started to make physical changes. When I started this thing the main thing that I was hoping to do was to get rid of the fat that I had managed to accumulate on my sides over the last year. That goal was accomplished by the end of the second week. My secondary goal was to get back down to 145 which is my normal in shape weight, my homeostasis if you will. That goal to was accomplished by the end of the 30 days. The combination of clean eating and multiple workouts a day definitely worked in symmetry to fire up my metabolism.

I even scheduled a physical for the end of the 30 days to see how this program has worked for me on the inside as well. I don't know why I never thought to check it during my 30 days, but my resting heart rate went from a lifetime average of 72 BPM down to a new record of 64 BPM thanks to all Dax's interval work. My blood pressure was 120/64 which again was a pretty good number. I don't have my blood report back yet, but that is the one that I'm most interested in seeing.

I did learn early on that this program would be a lot easier to follow if my daughter was older. I was able to get most of my workouts in but it was never easy with a two year demanding my attention at the same time. Luckily the workouts are never longer than 20 minutes so she never had to be distracted for too long. Sleep was a big enemy of mine during this month. I rarely got to bed before 12:00 so I know I wasn't able to recover as much as I could have. With long work days, and taking care of my daughter when I got home I just never was able to manage my time as well as I hoped I could. This is still a work in progress though and I'm not going to give up on it. I know I need to get to bed earlier and it will happen...and very soon...maybe even today :)

I was following ED at level 2 and was able to stick with it almost 100%. Before the 30 days my stomach frequently felt cramped and bloated, however during the ED I always felt great...except for the last week when I came down with the flu. I also realized that I didn't have near as much energy on my low carb days as I did on my carb days. I generally tolerate carbs rather well (not gluten however) and my body really seems to enjoy using natural carbs as energy.

Rather than continuing to ramble on, here's my numbers:
                        Day 1             Week 4
Body weight:     155.2 lbs        145.2 lbs    (- 10 lbs)
Chest:              40"                 39"             (- 1")
Waist:              34.75"            33"             (- 1.75")
Upper Arm:       13.5"             13.5"           (same)
Hips:                38"                36.5"           (- 1.5")
Thigh @ 4":      17"                17.5"           (+ 0.5")
Thigh @ 8":      21"                20.5"           (- 0.5")

Some of the measurements actually went down as I lost fat and then increased again as I built muscle.

This last picture is actually day 1 and day 20 (forgot to have my wife take one on day 30) but I figured I would include it as it shows some pretty good improvements in muscle tone.

Thanks Dax for putting together such an amazing program and making it available to us and thanks Deb for all the time and motivation that you've given us during this month.

Day 30

Wow day 30 already! That went by a lot quicker than I thought it would. Got in my first workout of the day and felt pretty good. It looks like I might have able to finish this thing strong after all. This afternoon I have my annual physical scheduled. Can't wait to see if all this crazy exercise and diet has had a positive effect on my blood chemistry.

Day 29

I'm back in action! I woke up feeling like myself this morning so I was able to get in a workout this morning. I was glad to be starting the day off with PC, it was a nice way to ease back into things after 3 days of feeling horrid.

Day 28

Well I was bad, but ended up learning something that I was suspecting out of it. After tbree days of not feeling quite right and having a sour stomach I decided to have something I shouldn't of had. I don't know about anyone else but when I'm a bit on the nauseous side I don't really feel like meat or vegrtables, I don't think I could tolerate them well....however while growing up, one of the first solid foods we were given when sick was usually dry crackers. So even though I shouldn't have I reached for a package we had in ghe cupboard and began to eat. At first it helped to settle my stomach abit having something in it but shortly after is whefe I learned my lesson.

Before going on the ED I wad suspecting that I might have gluten intolerance and in this moment of being bad I confirmed my suspicion. Not long after my stomach bloated up and I've been feeling horrid ever since. This was a feeling that I hadn't had in the last month and I forgot how bad I used to feel on my old diet. Well lets just say my lesson was learned.

Day 27

Slowly starting to feel a little less sick. I was able to eat a little today but my appetite hasn't really returned yet. I still wasn't well enough to get in any exercise but I'm hoping tomorrow will be a better day for me.

Day 26

Well I'm not going to be finishing this challenge well. My daughter came down with the flu a couple of days ago and now its my turn. I'm not even going to be able to enjoy my carb day :(

 

I haven't been able to eat anything all day, I've felt to nauseous. I didn't really want to do a fast right after a low carb day. Needless to say, if I feel any better tomorrow I will not be fasting tomorrow, I couldn't handle two days in a row...unless my body tells me I have to.

On a brighter note, I did enter the 12 week transformation contest I had mentioned in a previous post.

Day 25

Finished my workouts for the day. It was a pretty good day all together. It's just hard to believe that our 30 day journey is almost over, it's amazing how quickly the time has gone.

Breakfast was the last bit of my holiday fritata, lunch was a hamburger minus the bun with a pile of steamed broccoli and cauliflower, and dinner was a chicken and veggie casserole.