Day 12

Another milestone!  My wife pointed out last night that she was proud of the recent decisions I have made and that she is excited to join me on the journey when the baby is out.  She did point out that she looked forward to the day I could wear those nice black jeans she bought me a while back.  When she got up this morning, I was wearing them.  She didn't believe it at first.  When I returned home from work, she asked if I had to unbutton them anytime through out the day.  I got to proudly say, no.

The 30 Day Challenge | Lesson 4:  Start Where You Are

This is the only life you have. How you live it depends on you. - Dr A.

In today's email, Dr A points out that I am on a journey to optimal health. And as with any journey to reach our destination, we need to know where we started and evaluate where we are. He expresses the importance of understanding my current health status right now and how it plays an important part of building my personal health plan.

Day 12: Lesson 4: Start Where You are

Direct Link: Day 12: Lesson 4: Start Where You are

Starting next week we will be evaluating my current health score.  If I had to guess what my health score was for the old me I would say 45.  If  I had to guess what it is now, I would say 80.  I was presented with three questions in preparation for the Monday morning questionnaire.

1. Is my health improving every day?

2. Are my daily habits creating health and vibrancy, or are they draining my battery and taking me further down the path toward disease?

3. Am I already in a state of non-sickness?

My answers:

1. Absolutely, my goal is to move towards an optimal health range.  Once I am there, I have intentions of seeking the Ultrahealth score.  My transition includes continuous review and configuration changes that will ultimately find me in the desired ranges.

2. This is definitely the case with the new me.  I feel great, better than I have in years.  I am more mobile, have more energy, I am excited about the future, I have a sense of control in my life.  This is great!

3. I am not in a complete state of non-sickness.  The important thing to do in the transition period is to reflect on everything related.  That is why this blog serves a very important role.  I know I will be revisiting it months and maybe years down the road.  The material contained with in is specific to me, making it that much more valuable.

FOOD | Protein for Health

Brian had a talk to me today about my protein levels.  He suggested I increase them to at least 1 gram per pound of body weight per day.  So, if my goal weight is 200, I should be eating about 200 grams a day.  MyFitnessPal is recommending between 60-70.  This value was auto-calculated based on their goal building app.  Once I start doing strength training, my protein levels will definitely increase.

Here are my results for the day:

Brian provided me with a list of healthy snacks and meals loaded with protein  I look forward to incorporating them into my meal plan.  I will be spending the weekend constructing a weekly meal plan and building a grocery list to match.

Food Log Entries:

6:15 - Got up at 5:15 this morning and ate my Egg Beaters scrambler on my way to work.

8:50 - Bananas and Fat-Free/Sugar-Free Pudding, very good snack.

11:15 - Mexi-chicken and green beans

1:40 - Chicken with mustard and almonds, so very good.

5:15 - One 1/4 cup of Vanilla Yogurt Raisins, have not talked to the wife no dinner planned as of yet.

6:00 - Green beans, cottage cheese, and fish for dinner, feeling a little under energized.  Not sure why at this point.  Lack of fruit today?  Not enough carbs perhaps, lots to think about.

Eating breakfast an hour before I normally do threw my daily schedule off a little.  I was hungry when I got home.  This may be because I had a low carb option for meal 4.  Perhaps the fat-free/sugar-free pudding is the culprit, not too sure.

EXERCISE | Morning Stretch

I got up at 5:15 this morning and immediately did my morning stretch!  It felt great.  I was not rushing myself through anything this morning.  This new routine is going to me great!

I did not record any exercise other than the morning stretching.  I will be tacking on some strength training to my usually Xbox routine tomorrow.