Translating Goals into Action

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           Through several epic fails and subsequent hard won successes, I’m finding that wanting to lose weight isn’t enough.  The whole feel-better-look-better-live-better thing is great, but translating those goals into success took more than motivation.

Photo by robertsinnett

            I lost weight because I wanted to be active and not hurt, and to get healthy for my son. I spent the better part of this evening playing with my precious Elliot.  (IT’SSSS MINE!  MY PRECIOUSSSSSS!)  Both Janet and I have parents and other relatives who’ve struggled with their weight, and I’ve seen myself heading that direction over the last few years.  I want my son to find out that your own lifestyle influences others.  It cleared up my priorities really quickly, but doing it for your kids isn’t enough by itself, otherwise we wouldn’t have overweight moms and dads.

            Having an overall all goal means nothing if you can’t meet daily goals.  I just started another round of P90, which requires workouts 6 days a week.  I love it.  It’s fun, but it takes serious dedication and usually requires working out at night.  I don’t really like working out late at night, since I have a hard time getting to sleep afterwards, but it’s sometimes the only time I have.  Between playing in a rock band, a Celtic band, doing my school’s pep band, and chaperoning Tri-County Honor Band rehearsals and the tour, I often don’t make it home until 10 or 11 pm.  I’m busy, everyone is.  So, I’m not going to stress out over a couple missed workouts so long as a couple doesn't turn into a lot, but it’s very easy to let one or two missed workouts turn into a week, then into a month, etc.

            I’ve basically decided this time around to exercise when I can, and I’m not going to stress out about having to miss a few workouts when I get home late.  On those nights it’s more important to me to get sleep than try to work out late at night.  This might slow down my overall progress a bit, but if I’m still making progress and not grinding to a halt, I’m happy.  Health is a lifetime goal, not a short term one.  I’m much further along health wise than I was a year ago.

            I want to be healthy, not only for me but also for my son.  I had to figure out a consistent workout schedule that jives with being a band director and weekly evening commitments.  I have all the motivation I need.  I simply have to keep putting into action.    What are your motivations?  What do you do to keep yourself going and accountable?

I Already Did This? Holy Crap!

So I'm just starting my second round of Power 90.  OMG!  I can't believe that at the end of the first round I thought this was easy!  Just finished the circuit and it's tougher than I remember it being.  I haven't really done a P90 routine since mid November and I'm feeling it.  I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow.  It's OK though, it will get easier.  I've done this once I can do it again.  Especially if I'm wanting to do P90X this summer!  Yikes!  Lots of work to do.  Though it feels good to being doing it again.  Tomorrow is aerobics.  Sweating time! 

Starting the Year With A Round Of Power 90

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I have always made a point not to make New Year's resolutions.  Mostly because I've never been able to keep them.  In fact the only resolution I was able to keep was a resolution not to make a New Year's resolution.  I was in college, thought I was being clever.  Anyway, I thought this year it might be good to start the year off with another round of Power 90.  I have already done one round last summer and lost a good chunk of weight doing it.  This time round I hope to lose the last 10 pounds or and gain some muscle mass and tone.   I am planning on upgrading to P90X this next summer but I can't afford to buy it right now, though I think another round of Power 90 will work just fine.  Last time a flamed out a bit the last month so hopefully this time I will not miss any workouts.  If anyone is interested in joining me in a round of Power 90 let me know.  It is a lot easier doing any workout if you have someone to do it with and keep each other accountable!  I would love to have some buddies to go through the program with.  Just leave me a comment if you're interested.  I'm starting this round of Power 90 tomorrow.  Hope everyone is off to a great start in 2011.  Happy year!

The Good, Bad and the Ugly on my diet!

The Good

The Bad

The Ugly

I have completed one round of Power 90.  I  enjoyed the process of it a great deal.  I was even able to lose 27 pounds.  I intend to continue doing Power 90 through the school year and then start P90X at the end of next May.  The one thing that I'm still really struggling with is eating well.  I could sit here and make excuses for why I haven't quite accomplished breaking my bad eating habits yet, but I'm not going to.  It's a daily struggle and I think I'm slowly getting better at making food descions.  Mostly.

About a week ago my wife and I started using Shakeology as a substitute for lunch at our jobs.   We love it.  It tastes great and its really good for you. We both love dark chocolate and Shakeology does a great job satisfying that craving for us as well. We did the math and figured out that it's actually cheaper for us to use Shakeology than to eat school lunch everyday.  Our school lunch program is very good as far as school lunches go, however, I still don't believe it's designed to really meet good nutritional needs.  I've been pleasantly surprised by how good I've felt the last week simply by changing what I eat for lunch.  Then today happened.

Today I decided to eat lunch at school instead of taking the 45 seconds this morning it takes me to mix a shake.  School lunch today was pizza.  I love pizza.  In fact pizza might possibly be my favorite food.  In high school I ate pizza everyday at school.  I worked at a pizza joint in the evenings and ate pizza most nights as well.  In college I memorized Domino's phone number, I think I still know it.  Even after all of that I still enjoy pizza.  A LOT.  Which is why I didn't make my own lunch today.

By 2:00 I regretted my decision. While lunch was really good, I didn't particularly great just an hour and a half later.  I wasn't really sick, but I noticed the energy I had all last week wasn't there.  Also my stomach while not really upset just didn't quite feel right. Then during my prep period at school a stumbled across this article written by David Zinczenko.   Talk about guilt and bad timing.  Now I realize some of this could be psychosomatic, but I really think after having eaten healthy lunches for a week my body was yelling at me.  I realized the pizza wasn't worth how I felt the rest of the day.

This morning I took my son to the doctor for his 24 month well check up.  He did great.  While waiting for the doctor to see us I read over and over a poster he has hanging in his examination room.  It says, "People who don't make time for diet and exercise now will have to make time for sickness and disease later."  Talk about the world conspiring against you especially since I read that before lunch.

I'm really starting to make exercising a priority, now I need to make eating healthy all the time a priority as well.

Can someone please tell me about a really healthy pizza?  I don't think I can give that one up just yet.

The Editor Weighs in on Shakeology

Aaron and I broke down and ordered Shakeology, in a lovely shade of chocolate.  It is a bit difficult to mix, but I was immediately in love.  It tastes as chocolatey as my chocolate creme brulee (see "Custard's Last Stand), but it's not nearly as sweet.

After our first round was a bit lumpy, I whipped out the blender.  I mixed up several servings and kept the extra in the fridge.  Elliot, our toddler and I, had it for lunch while Aaron was playing a gig in Ennis, MT.  It was so thick that Elliot had trouble sucking it through the straw, so he dumped it out and tried to lick it off his hands and high chair.

I've already noticed a severe decrease in the munchies, which the literature said would happen after a while, but I didn't really believe would happen.  I'm able to walk away from everything but my problem foods.  Not only am I able to walk away, they don't even sound good.  That could also be partially due to finishing a very stressful job, or some combination thereof.  We'll see how I do during the week when school is back in session.

I'm reservedly hopeful.  If nothing else, each shake is cheaper than school lunch and tastes great.  It does seem to hold me, unlike Slim-Fast, which was a phenomenal flop for me.  The only thing that makes me leery is that it doesn't fix overeating.  Will the good effects last after you stop the shakes for whatever reason?  I don't know, but I'm willing to try it for all of the promised benefits and the ones I'm already noticing.

Power 90 results!

As of today, I'll have finished one round of Power 90.  I can't believe it's been three months already!

I've done fairly well, though not quite as well as I would like.  I've lost 25 pounds.  I feel better and I've thinned out a bit.  Honestly, due to a busy schedule in August, I wasn't able to keep up with the 6 workouts a week, which is probably why I didn't lose more.  I was able to keep up with doing 3 to 4 a week, though.  I'm trying to keep my results in perspective, as my journey towards being physically fit doesn't end at day 90.  I hope to still lose about 15 more pounds.  I haven't been under 200 pounds since high school.

Still I've accomplished lots of things I wouldn't have had I not done this program.  I have started biking again, which has been an absolute blast.  I can do 55-60 push-ups during the course of an exercise routine, when I started 15 push-ups were really hard.  It's been fun pushing myself to see what I can do, even though sometimes it leaves me a quivering pile of goo.

I have noticed that I have quite a bit more energy throughout the day without the use of caffeine, which is awesome!  I'm able to teach an entire day of classes; 2 bands, 3 choirs, music theory, and a percussion class, without feeling completely drained at the end of the day.

The one thing I haven't quite got completely under control yet is my diet.  Man, that's hard.  I've started eating breakfast, which I never did before, but I don't think I'm quite getting lunch and dinner right yet.  (The Editor notes that he no longer eats like our toddler, so we can give him a bit more credit than he gives himself.  He has learned that veggies aren't just a colorful garnish.)  I think my portions have gotten better but, I don't think I'm quite eating all the right things.  I haven't quite been anal enough to count calories, but I probably should start so that I'll know for sure.

The bottom line is that I've loved the last 90 days.  Power 90 really is a legit workout program.  I can't wait until I have the time again next summer to dive into P90X!  My goal for the rest of this school year is to lose that last 15 pounds and maintain that weight until next summer!  Wish me luck!  I know I can do it if I can keep myself motivated.

Oh Yeah......I'm a music teacher

Today was my first day back teaching.  It went really well.  I think I have a bunch of great classes this year and a good crop of students to go with them.  Things should run smoothly.  At least that is my hope.

I"m 78 days into my 90 day workout program.  I've lost 25 pounds in the time.  I feel great and my stomach is starting to become flat.  Sadly no rockin abs just yet, though I hope to get there at some point.
I think my biggest challenge at this point is going to be maintaining a workout routine during the school year.  I'll finish my 90 days.  Then I need to make sure I keep going.  That will be tough with all of my extracurricular activities I do for my music program.  Hopefully I'm up to the task and with some great motivation from my wife,  I'll do my best.  That's really all I can ask for.

A Romp through Skeeterville!

A couple of weeks ago I invited a bunch of my students, both current and former ones, to a game of Ultimate Frisbee, the game traditional for band geeks, orch dorks, and choir goobers alike.  I set up a event on Facebook and got about 16 of us together.  After much debate, we decided to play at a place called the Experiment Station, which an agriculture museum and laboratory.  A lot of events are held there, and there was a nice, open grassy area on which we could play.  It was great to see some of my former students, one who just graduated from college.  That little fact is making me feel old!  The only problem was...mosquitoes!!!  LOTS of them.

We've had a wetter than normal summer and the bugs are loving it.  The moment I stepped out of my car I had at least 8 of them on my legs.  Of course these are the type of mosquitoes that laugh in the face of repellent and merely point and snigger at Skin-So-Soft.

They're all like, "Hmm what's that wonderful smell?  I know!! Human meat with a slightly tangy sauce of OFF!!"

"Watch out though," said Zippy the mosquito, "humans can pack a huge punch once in a while!"

"Naw, no worries," said Bob.  "There's only a few of them and oh, 16,000,000,000 of us.  HAHAHAHA!!!"

The game was a ton of fun, though, and I was able to keep up for the most part.  We play a non-competitive version, so we don't keep score.  Anytime one of the teams scored, we simply change sides and kept playing.  It's a great game for getting exercise because you run, and run, and run some more.  I played it a lot in college and H.S. and we introduced it to the Huntley Project kids.

Three years into my teaching career I took over the band program at my school.  We are part of an organization called the Tri-County Honor Band.  This group is basically an honors band made up of the best players from all of the small schools in the area.  It rehearses for three months and then goes on a week long tour.  The first tour we went on I found out that other students really enjoyed playing Ultimate.  This was also when I discovered how completely out of shape I was!  I played with them for an hour.  The next morning I could barely get out of bed, and my legs hurt for a week afterward.  This was when I realized I needed to change my lifestyle.  Granted, it took me another three years before I actually did anything about it, but that was the moment I knew I didn't want to be fat and out of shape the rest of my life. 

I started working out regularly on June 8th, 2010.  My starting weight at that point was 230 pounds.  YIKES!!  As of this morning I'm down to 208.  My eventual goal is 195-190.  Things are going well.  I feel great!  Except for the bug bites!

Ya Do Run, Run, Run; Ya Do Run, Run.

What Aaron didn't say in his post is that the Editor joined the Ultimate Frisbee game last night.  I haven't played since I was in college, but I was pleased to see that I kept up with the kids, thanks to the frequent breaks provided by Elliot.  He had found a slightly friendly bunny that would allow El to get about four feet away from it, then would hop away another six after Elliot got too close.  The little turd kept giving Elliot hope that he would get bunny snuggles, and then snatch it away in a most dastardly manner.  Even though it toyed with Elliot, it was way better to say that I had to go save Elliot from getting rabies, as opposed to telling the kids my quads were going to explode.

I love my son!  He's adorable, he's loving, he listens pretty well for a two-year-old, and is the most convenient excuse for getting out of stuff.  Go Elliot!

The last month!

I'm now 60 days into a 90 day workout program called Power 90.  I've lost 18 pounds, which is good though I want to lose about 12 more.  The program calls for six workouts a week with one day off to let yourself recover.  Things have been going very well up until a week ago.  My energy level has dropped way off.  Probably due to not getting enough sleep.  My family and I have been entertaining a large number of family members the last week or so.  I've missed a few days and it really bugs me.  I really want to finish this program strong.  It really works well, so long as I actually do it.  I'm finding that it is becoming easier to make excuses to keep from doing the workouts.  That needs to stop.  I really need to make sure to keep working out everyday regardless of how I feel or what's going on that day.  I owe it to myself and my family to make sure that I'm as healthy as I can be.  One month left of intense working out.

Tired Thoughts

Working out this past week was tough!  The program that I'm doing is called Power 90.  It's a six-days-a-week workout designed by a gentleman named Tony Horton.  It starts out nice enough.  You do three days of the sculpting circuit training and three days of cardio with one day off each week.  The program is divided into 8 levels.  Levels 1 and 2 aren't bad.  They teach you the moves and slowly allow your body to get used to working out six days a week.  I just switch over to levels 3 and 4 two weeks ago.  At this level the intensity and length of both workouts are increased.  I'm tired.

My time commitment has jumped from about 35 minutes each day to around an hour.  This really wouldn't be that big of deal, except that I've been working out in the evenings.  I'm a bit of a night owl and I can't seem to get my workout in before ten o'clock.  I should be doing it right after my son goes to bed at eight.  I can't quite seem to get myself to do it then, though I'm not sure why.  Anyway, I'm being a stay at home dad this summer and my wife is working at a hardware store.  My son is an early riser, usually 6:30 or so, but sometimes as early as 5.  I've been going to bed around 12:30 a.m.  Not much sleep time for Aaron.  I don't think I can sustain that for the rest of the summer.

On the bright side, I'm about half-way through my program, though I need to find one to do after this one is over that's a little shorter for when my schedule gets busy again when school starts.

From the wisdom of magnets comes this thought

My good buddy Steve has a set of those refrigerator magnets that you can use to spell out different sentences and words.  His happens to be a troll word set.  My favorite saying that we wrote out was, "You Are Suck!"  That is totally how a feel right now.

My Celtic band had a gig tonight for a bunch of kids.  It was a ton of fun, but two other groups that were suppose to perform backed out at the last minute.  So we went from warm-up act to main event.  Normally, I'd be thrilled about that.  Not today though.  I failed to mention that this was an outside gig, on a baseball diamond, in 106 degree weather!  So we played for an hour non-stop in blazing sun without any shade.  Yeah, you are WAY SUCK!!  In the end we had a great time and the kids loved it, so I guess that's the most important thing.

It also meant we got home late and I hadn't done my daily workout yet, though I'd argue that playing an hour in intense heat was a workout.  I learned a valuable lesson in  sticking something out tonight.  It's now 11:30 at night and I just finished an hour of cardio.  UGH!!  Every core of my body said go to sleep and skip your workout.  But there was this one tiny little voice in the back of my head saying don't do it.  You're doing well, don't start slipping now.  Thank goodness that little voice won out.  I proved to myself tonight that I can do this even when it gets hard and I don't want to.  That being said, I probably didn't workout quite as hard as usual, but I did it.  That's all that matters at the moment.  "You Are Suck"; maybe, but not tonight.

Aaron's Story

My name is Aaron Morgenstern, and I’m a 30-year-old music teacher in Billings Montana.  I’m married to a wonderful wife and we have a two-year-old son.  I play in two bands, one as a saxophonist in a ten-piece classic rock band, and as a guitarist in a Celtic/Bluegrass/Whatever-We-Want-To-Play band.  I also sing in a semi-professional vocal ensemble.  These three activities, being a father and husband, and my day job take up most of my time, much to the chagrin of my wife.

I have made very little time over the last eight years to take care of myself.  I wasn’t in great shape in college, but I was young enough to be able to rock climb on a regular basis and play ultimate frisbee with my friends twice a week, eat pizza, and still keep my weight reasonably low.

That all changed when I started my career.  Being a band director is a great job.  I love working with high school students, crazy, I know.  Unfortunately, music at the H.S. level is a HUGE time commitment.  It’s not uncommon for me to be to school by 7:30 in the morning and not get home until 10:30 or so in the evening.  Between concerts, pep band, and other music trips, the hours can be quite long.  I still love it, but it has caused me to pay very little attention to my health.

I weighed somewhere around 200 pounds when I started teaching.  This year, at the end of the school year, I tipped the scale at 230 pounds.  YIKES!  I didn’t feel all that well anymore, and when I would play ultimate frisbee or rock climb I could hardly move the next day.  There was also my my wife and son to consider.  Being a parent has completely changed my perspective on life.  I love being a father and I love my son.  I realized that if I didn’t do something now about my health, my son could potentially lose me to some horrible disease long before he should.  There is a strong history of type 2 diabetes on both sides of my family.

My wife has gently be prodding me to do something about my weight and health for several years.  (Ahem.  The Editor, I mean, wife, wasn't exactly gentle.)  My biggest excuse was not having the time to do it.  Sounds familiar, right?  My doctor has a great quote in his office:  “People who don’t make time for diet and exercise now will have to make time for illness later.”  That was me.  So, I finally decided to do something about it.

My sister in-law had a copy of Tony Horton’s Power 90 fitness program.  She lent it to me and I’ve been using it for about a month and a half now.  I was going to buy his P90X program, but it’s hard to say no to free.  I’ve actually been able to stick to it.  It was hard at first, I was a lot more out of shape than I thought I was.  I was pretty much constantly sore the first week.  I felt just like I did after I would go out a play a game of frisbee or some other physical activity.  But it kept getting better, each week I wouldn’t be quite as sore and I started to notice that I felt better.  I had more energy, which is good for keeping up with a two-year-old, and the workouts have gotten easier.

I’m not quite halfway through the program of 90 days, but, as of today, I weigh 215 pounds.  I’ve lost 15 pounds since June 8th.  I think that’s pretty good for 6 weeks of working out.  I still have a long way to go.  Figuring out how to keep healthy habits during the school year will be tricky between eating fast food on every pep band trip and trying to make time for workouts in an insane schedule.

But, I finally feel up to the challenge.  Getting in shape has become a bit of an obsession.  ("A bit?" the Editor asks, thick with sarcasm.)  My younger sister just ran a half-marathon.  I’m starting to think it might be possible for me to do that at some point in the future.  As of right now I’m very motivated and excited about how I’m feeling and starting to look.  Good luck to all of you on your own journeys.  Let me know how you are doing.

Aaron and Janet are Ready to De-Pudgy-fy.

The band geeks are doing fat camp, Beachbody-style.  We teach band, choir, and general music just outside of Billings, MT.  We were introduced to Beachbody products at our school and from our family members.  We had heard a lot of good feedback from several different people, some of them from the military, who use P90X to train while deployed.  We're here to tell you our stories and use you to keep us accountable.