August 30th 2010 Daily Update

First day of round 2 of P90X meant a new exercise! Some of the push up moves are real killers. My challenge for this week is to get back into consistency of exercising after last weeks limited success.

Morning

• none

Evening

• P90X Chest, Shoulders & Triceps: 370 kcal, 113/149 bpm, 45:34, 04:14, 00:00

Summary

Daily Total: 370 kcal
Monthly Total: 20,404 kcal

Week 35 Fitness Summary

Week 35 (August 23rd->August 29th) was the recovery week for the first round of P90X. So no weight lifting and exercise was more cardio based. However due to work and other reasons I struggled to complete the week, mostly due to time. I did manage to complete at least some cardio, a mix of P90X and elliptical trainer. Overall though my body went into the week very fatigued so the more restful week had probably helped overall.

Workout sessions this week: 8
Total HRM calories burnt: 2,478 kcal

Total time exercised: 3hrs 49 minutes

HR Zone 1 time: 1hrs 23 min
HR Zone 2 time: 1hrs 37 min
HR Zone 3 time: 0hrs 42 min

Weight loss: 0.6kg
Body fat loss: 0.5%

Weigh In - 29th August 2010: 75.2kg; 18.5%bf

Some further weight loss this week together with the first body fat reading below 19%. Looking good!

So for this week, I weigh 75.2kg and 18.5% body fat. I'd like to get below the 75.0 barrier this month however that could be tough with only a couple of days to go!

Total loss since 7th March 2010:
Weight: 10.3kg
Body fat: 6.9%

August 29th 2010 Daily Update

Morning

• Elliptical Sprint 8 reverse: 275 kcal, 150/161 bpm, 00:44, 08:32, 10:47

Evening

• None

Summary

Daily Total: 275 kcal
Monthly Total: 20,034 kcal

August 28th 2010 Daily Update

Morning

• Elliptical Sprint 8: 285 kcal, 153/164 bpm, 00:35, 05:52, 13:38

Evening

• Elliptical Sprint 8: 263 kcal, 146/160 bpm, 00:26, 14:50, 04:45

Summary

Daily Total: 548 kcal
Monthly Total: 19,759 kcal

August 27th 2010 Daily Update

Morning

• none

Evening

• Elliptical Core Synergistics: 470 kcal, 123/162 bpm, 37:51, 12:44, 01:44

Summary

Daily Total: 470 kcal
Monthly Total: 19,211 kcal

August 24th 2010 Daily Update

Morning

• Elliptical Sprint 8 reverse: 260 kcal, 144/154 bpm, 00:50, 17:54, 01:36

Evening

• Elliptical Core Synergistics: 420 kcal, 120/151 bpm, 36:39, 12:09, 00:00

Summary

Daily Total: 680 kcal
Monthly Total: 18,741 kcal

August 23rd 2010 Daily Update

Morning

• Elliptical Sprint 8 reverse: 274 kcal, 149/160 bpm, 00:47, 09:59, 09:25

Evening

• Elliptical Sprint 8: 231 kcal, 136/151 bpm, 04:55, 15:18, 00:00

Summary

Daily Total: 505 kcal
Monthly Total: 18,061 kcal

Week 34 Fitness Summary

Week 34 (August 16th->August 22nd) has been another challenging week with work encroaching. Overall I completed the P90X sessions, however not on the correct days, also the cardio suffered due to time constraints.

Workout sessions this week: 13
Total HRM calories burnt: 4,700 kcal

Total time exercised: 8hrs 48 minutes

HR Zone 1 time: 3hrs 42 min
HR Zone 2 time: 2hrs 42 min
HR Zone 3 time: 1hrs 15 min

Weight loss: 0.9kg
Body fat loss: 0.0%

August 22nd 2010 Daily Update

Sunday, the end of another week and a day where I need to catch up on my exercise. Aim for today is 2-3 cardio sessions, Yoga and then we'll see how time is going.



Morning


The morning started well, my elliptical kept an average heart rate of 155 for 20 minutes. That's a record for me I believe.

• Elliptical Sprint 8 reverse: 293 kcal, 155/164 bpm, 00:51, 01:36, 17:40

Evening

• P90X Yoga X: 374 kcal, 99/132 bpm, 52:47, 00:00, 00:00
• Elliptical Sprint 8: 262 kcal, 145/158 bpm, 02:58, 11:23, 05:49

Summary

Daily Total: 929 kcal
Monthly Total: 17,556 kcal

Weigh In - 22nd August 2010: 75.7kg; 19.0%bf

Last week's weigh-in showed a weight gain of 0.9kg. I'm happy to say that this week has removed that weight gain! Unsure if last week was a natural variation, or if work intruded upon my routine enough to ensure I gained some weight. 

So for this week, I weigh 75.7kg and 19.0% body fat. I'd like to get below the 75.0 barrier this month however that could be tough and this week is a less strenuous week with P90X. I'm happy to see my body fat has not crept up!


Total loss since 7th March 2010:
Weight: 9.7kg
Body fat: 6.4%

August 21st 2010 Daily Update

Legs & Back was today due to skipping Thursday. I'll complete Yoga and additional cardio tomorrow to get back on schedule. This will be the end of week 3 of the formal P90X routine and next week becomes an easier week in terms of less weights etc.

Morning

• Elliptical Sprint 8 reverse: 254 kcal, 143/155 bpm, 01:01, 17:36, 01:47

Evening

• P90X Legs & Back: 538 kcal, 124/155 bpm, 37:25, 19:06, 00:46
• Elliptical Sprint 8: 282 kcal, 152/162 bpm, 00:42, 07:10, 12:25

Summary

Daily Total: 1,074 kcal
Monthly Total: 16,627 kcal

August 20th 2010 Daily Update

Commitments meant Thursday didn't happen so my P90X has shifted by one day. I'll catch up at the weekend. Kenpo was today due to skipping Thursday.

Morning

• Elliptical Sprint 8 reverse: 274 kcal, 149/164 bpm, 00:49, 10:23, 08:49

Evening

• P90X Kenpo X: 557 kcal, 127/166 bpm, 18:42, 27:23, 05:25

Summary

Daily Total: 831 kcal
Monthly Total: 15,553 kcal

August 18th 2010 Daily Update

Morning

• Elliptical Sprint 8 reverse: 250 kcal, 142/151 bpm, 01:07, 19:05, 00:00

Evening

• P90X Shoulders & Arms: 280 kcal, 105/142 bpm, 47:55, 01:12, 00:00

Summary

Daily Total: 530 kcal
Monthly Total: 14,722 kcal

August 17th 2010 Daily Update

Morning

• Elliptical Sprint 8 reverse: 275 kcal, 149/160 bpm, 00:35, 11:34, 07:59

Afternoon

P90X Plyometrics: 686 kcal, 140/164 bpm, 14:06, 29:48, 14:08

Summary

Daily Total: 961 kcal
Monthly Total: 14,192 kcal

August 16th 2010 Daily Update

A start of a new week... slowly!

Morning

none

Evening

• P90X Chest & Back: 375 kcal, 114/150 bpm, 43:10, 05:55, 00:36

Summary


Daily Total: 375 kcal
Monthly Total: 13,231 kcal

Week 33 Fitness Summary

Week 33 (August 9th->August 15th) has seen a lot of variation on the weight each day. Overall I had 5 fewer exercise sessions than last week and burnt just over 1,500kcal less than last week. There is a slight discrepancy in the kcals recorded due to stopping the YogaX session after 25 minutes on the Saturday. On a positive note the ~3 hour difference in total time exercised compared to last week is almost all in Zone 1 or below zone.

Workout sessions this week: 14
Total HRM calories burnt: 4,992 kcal
Cardio HRM calories burnt: 1,643 kcal
P90X HRM calories burnt: 2,999 kcal

Total time exercised: 9hrs 32 minutes

HR Zone 1 time: 4hrs 18 min
HR Zone 2 time: 2hrs 43 min
HR Zone 3 time: 1hrs 18 min

Weight loss: -0.9kg
Body fat loss: 0.5%

Weigh In - 15th August 2010: 76.6kg; 19.0%bf

This week has seen my weight fluctuate up and down a lot, most likely due to getting out of my standard routine due to work commitments. At the end of the week the scales show I've gained 0.9kg but lost 0.5% body fat. I'll have to work on getting back into the routine this week and see what happens with the weight. Possibly I've put on some muscle and lost some body fat, or it could just be some natural variation. A little disheartening however overall I've still lost a lot of weight and body fat since March.

Total loss since 7th March 2010:
Weight: 8.9kg
Body fat: 6.4% 

August 15th 2010 Daily Update

Another day without as much exercise as I would have liked. Next week will need to be catch up time. I did however complete the P90X Yoga.

Morning

• Elliptical Sprint 8: 273 kcal, 149/160 bpm, 00:40, 09:41, 09:48

Afternoon

• P90X Yoga X: 334 kcal, 97/126 bpm, 51:27, 00:00, 00:00

Summary

Daily Total: 607 kcal
Monthly Total: 12,856 kcal

August 14th 2010 Daily Update

Not as much exercise as I had planned, also tried to do the P90X Yoga in the evening, but after 25 minutes stopped as I was not "in the right mind" for it. Will need to Yoga tomorrow.

Morning

•  Elliptical Sprint 8 reverse: 285 kcal, 153/164 bpm, 00:45, 03:38, 15:44
  

Afternoon

• Elliptical Sprint 8: 260 kcal, 145/156 bpm, 00:40, 16:00, 03:27
  

Summary

Daily Total: 545 kcal
Monthly Total: 12,249 kcal

August 13th 2010 Daily Update

While it is Friday 13th it has actually been a pretty good day to end the work week! Key milestone is today being my 100th day of exercise since March 7th!

Mornings

• Elliptical Sprint 8 reverse: 280 kcal, 151/163 bpm, 00:57, 07:32, 11:50

Evening

• P90X Cardio X: 413 kcal, 127/162 bpm, 18:54, 17:52, 04:18
• P90X Legs & Back: 534 kcal, 124/154 bpm, 40:09, 18:05, 00:36

Summary

Daily Total: 1,227 kcal
Monthly Total: 11,704 kcal

August 12th 2010 Daily Update

Today has been another one of those days where I just haven't felt like exercising, work is definitely taking a toll this week however I've struggled through some cardio and the P90X, although wasn't really enjoying it. Can't wait for the weekend!

Morning

• Elliptical Sprint 8 reverse: 267 kcal, 146/158 bpm, 01:20, 13:21, 05:47

Evening

• P90X Kenpo X: 537 kcal, 125/163 bpm, 19:07, 26:59, 03:22

Summary

Daily Total: 804 kcal
Monthly Total: 10,477 kcal

August 11th 2010 Daily Update

Another long day in the office with back to back meetings. Came home just wanting to put my feet up and watch some TV or sleep, however completed the P90X. Need to catch up on the cardio...

Mornings

none

Evening

• P90X Shoulders & Arms: 353 kcal, 110/147 bpm, 53:11, 01:39, 00:00

Summary

Daily Total: 353 kcal
Monthly Total: 9,673 kcal

August 10th 2010 Daily Update

As expected the all-day workshops are having some impact although I'm keeping to healthy eating for the dinner afterwards.

Morning

• Elliptical Sprint 8 reverse: 278 kcal, 149/160 bpm, 00:33, 10:37, 09:13

Evening

• P90X Plyometrics: 683 kcal, 139/160 bpm, 14:24, 29:33, 14:04

Summary

Daily Total: 961 kcal
Monthly Total: 9,320 kcal

August 9th 2010 Daily Update

The start of another week and week 2 of P90X. A gentle start with no cardio in the morning due to the heavy weekend of exercise.

Morning

none

Evening

• P90X Chest & Back: 417 kcal, 118/155 bpm, 43:47, 08:06, 00:09

Summary

Daily Total: 417 kcal
Monthly Total: 8,359 kcal

Week 32 Fitness Summary

Week 32 (August 2nd->August 8th) has seen weight continue to decrease however with body fat remaining steady at 19.5% some of this loss could be muscle.


Workout sessions this week: 19
Total HRM calories burnt: 6,531 kcal
Cardio HRM calories burnt: 1,889 kcal
P90X HRM calories burnt: 4,642 kcal

Total time exercised: 13hrs 32 minutes

HR Zone 1 time: 7hrs 00 min
HR Zone 2 time: 2hrs 53 min
HR Zone 3 time: 1hrs 23 min

Weight loss: 1.0kg
Body fat loss: 0.0%

Pull Ups.... arghhh!

When it comes to pull ups.. simply put I am useless! On a good day I can manage perhaps 1 or 2 unassisted, while I have a goal of being able to knock out 10 or even 20 in a single session.

I've been researching the best ways to improve, options include:

1. assisted pull ups (either using a friend, resistance bands, more equipment or other means)
2. negative pull ups
3. mini-sets of 1 or 2 multiple times during the day and gradually increasing the number that can be done in a single repetition.

I've decided to therefore utilise a mix of 2) negative pull ups and 3) mini-set. I have an additional work sheet now to record progress with the aim to be able to be able to consistently complete some pull ups by the end of August.

Bring It!

August 8th 2010 Daily Update

Unsure why however didn't sleep well last night. However up at 8:15am for a morning cardio workout (thanks to my wife for the encouragement to not leave it for later in the day)

Plan for today on the exercise front is cardio and stretching. Likely some cardio on the elliptical, some P90X cardio and then a P90X stretch.

Morning

Absolutely tore through the reverse ellipticals. Considering I find the reverse direction more difficult and have yet to really have a significant amount of time in Zone 3 then the results below are startling. I had little of the awkward posture I usually find on the reverse direction and I can only assume the Yoga from the day before helped. Depending on how measured then this is my best elliptical result whether it is compared to the forward or the reverse direction! If I had just seen the results I would have sworn I was going forward on the elliptical rather than in reverse. Impressed!

• Elliptical Sprint 8 reverse: 314 kcal, 159/169 bpm, 00:36, 02:02, 17:31
• P90X Cardio X: 533 kcal, 140/172 bpm, 17:07, 08:06, 19:22

The P90X Cardio X went well, best result to-date for this exercise. I find it fun to do, not too long, and burns a lot of calories. The only exercise I struggle with (in terms of form) are the wacky jacks! By the time I get to the last two exercises (Squat Run and Superman/Banana) I'm pretty much all spent, although hope to see my stamina increase over the coming weeks.

Afternoon

• P90X Yoga X: 410 kcal, 101/136 bpm, 58:39, 00:22, 00:00
• P90X Stretch X: 122 kcal, 88/117 bpm, 13:54, 00:00, 00:00
  

Summary

Daily Total: 1,379 kcal
Monthly Total: 7,942 kcal

Weigh In - 8th August 2010: 75.7kg; 19.5%bf

Official weekly weigh in shows a 1kg reduction in weight and a 0% reduction in body fat. Hopefully we'll see a body fat reduction in this coming week. I have a feeling that I'm not taking in enough calories with my food, and that I'm burning some lean body mass as well as body fat. This coming week I'll aim to up my daily calorie intake by 100-200 kcals of food.

Weight loss continues to be visible!

Total loss since 7th March 2010:
Weight: 9.8kg
Body fat: 5.9% 

Almost up to 10kg of weight loss since March!

August 7th 2010 Daily Update

The start of the weekend, and after a work week of early starts and later finishes a chance for a lie-in. Up at 8:15am and on the scales showed a weight of 75.9kg. First time below 76kg so great news, however this week has been one of weight fluctuations on the daily weigh-ins, like due to the early starts. The official weigh-in comes tomorrow.

Morning

By far my best Yoga X workout to date. Not only did I burn nearly twice the calories of my previous attempt I actually felt like I was working out. I found wearing gloves/socks rather than bare hands/feet allowed me to hold the positions better.

• Elliptical Sprint 8 reverse: 255 kcal, 141/155 bpm, 02:39, 16:28, 01:11
• P90X Yoga X: 534 kcal, 107/142 bpm, 09:11, 02:56, 00:00
   

Evening

Also my best Cardio X, pushed myself much harder as shown by heart rate, kcals and heart rate zones. As Cardio X includes some Yoga and some Kenpo (in addition to Plyometrics and Core Synergistics) I'm finding my co-ordination and familiarity with the sequences improving and I'm also pushing myself much harder. I'm now finding that in both the Yoga and Kenpo sections that I'm having a much more elevated heart rate as I'm giving 110% rather than just going through the motions.

• P90X Cardio X: 510 kcal, 138/171 bpm, 15:28, 13:03, 13:57

Summary

Daily Total: 1,299 kcal
Monthly Total: 6,563 kcal

August 6th 2010 Daily Update

The end of a tough work week, some longer than wanted days, early starts and late finishes. While the cardio suffered I did keep to the P90X. Will need to catch up on some cardio this weekend if possible.

Morning

none

Evening

• P90X Legs & Back: 495 kcal, 120/151 bpm, 41:34, 14:58, 00:00
• P90X Ab Ripper X: 93 kcal, 109/123 bpm, 16:21, 00:00, 00:00

Summary

Daily Total: 588 kcal
Monthly Total: 5,264 kcal

August 5th 2010 Daily Update

Morning

• Elliptical Sprint 8: 284 kcal, 149/161 bpm, 00:44, 10:38, 09:01

Evening

• P90X Kenpo X: 414 kcal, 112/150 bpm, 43:53, 06:11, 00:00
• Elliptical Sprint 8: 222 kcal, 133/146 bpm, 08:50, 11:17, 00:00

Summary

Daily Total: 920 kcal
Monthly Total: 4,676 kcal

August 4th 2010 Daily Update

Long hectic day in the office today, and a long work day tomorrow starting at 5:30am are going to make things tough and tiring. Skipped the morning cardio workout this morning as Achilles tendon still a little sore however completed the P90X this evening.

Morning

none

Evening

Having a proper dumbbell set makes a big difference on the P90X strength days.

• P90X Shoulders & Arms: 329 kcal, 107/147 bpm, 50:46, 01:46, 00:00
• P90X Ab Ripper X: 120 kcal, 109/130 bpm, 18:51, 00:00, 00:00

Summary

Not a high amount of kcals burnt as no cardio :-(

Daily Total: 449 kcal
Monthly Total: 3,756 kcal 

August 3rd 2010 Daily Update

Tuesday morning, no early meetings so a chance to do my 6:45am workout followed by breakfast. Tonight is Plyometrics (jump training) which is the toughest of the P90X sessions but also one of the ones I enjoy, I just have to be careful with my knees.

No aches or pains from last night's P90X Chest & Back so my body is adapting, not bad for a couple of weeks.

Morning

I'm continuing the Sprint 8 reverse in the mornings and it continues to be a lot more difficult than the forward direction. Left the lights switched off in the gym this morning in the hope of keeping the room a bit cooler and not having to put the fan on... big mistake, had to hop of and switch on the fan part way through.. have learnt my lesson!

• Elliptical Sprint 8 reverse: 270 kcal, 145/156 bpm, 00:57, 17:01, 02:28

Afternoon

Wow.. what a killer.. by the last few rounds I was hardly getting my feet off the floor.. could also feel a slight twinge in my right Achilles tendon. I'll need to keep a careful watch on it as I don't want to have an injury.

• P90X Plyometrics: 707 kcal, 139/161 bpm, 15:04, 32:10, 11:46

Summary


Daily Total: 977 kcal
Monthly Total: 3,307 kcal 

Perspective on weight and obesity

While my true goal is one based on a target body fat rather than weight, it is still easier to consider weight as I know the approximate weight that the target body fat would equal. Today I received the new dumbbell set and this helped me put some of the weight loss in perspective.

Back in March when I said "Enough!" to myself and started on this journey to get fit and healthy I would not have considered my 85.5kg weight to be obese (and technically I was not). Yes I was overweight with the fat having built up predominantly on my belly and chest. I also had the benefit of having been in good shape 4 years ago so I knew that my target stats were 70kg, 14% body fat and a 30" waist.

I have so far lost 9.2 kg in weight (using today's unofficial weight in) since March. That is the equivalent of 20lbs in weight or just over 9 litres of water. For those in the USA the small bottles of water sold in the supermarket are typically 0.5l or just over 1 US pint. Try lifting that weight when you're next in the supermarket or find a 20lb dumbbell when you're in the gym! I'm also only part way on my journey and expect my total weight loss to be over 30lbs or 15kg. So that would be 15 litres of water or 30 of the smaller size bottles.

This then helped me take the thought further in comparing this to the obese people I see every day, who are likely to be around 100 to 150lbs (45 to 68kg) overweight (or more!) it is astonishing that the human body can actually adapt and cope with this excess weight.. That's significantly more than my wife actually weighs that these people have as additional weight!

There are plenty of stats available, especially for the USA, and one of my prior posts included some. Once you get to this level of obesity it is not going to be easy (or cheap) to get back to a normal size. Unless very drastic (and possibly dangerous) action is taken it would likely take at least 2-3 years to safely lose the weight. What are the alternatives...

• a life plagued with more and more medical complications (high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, ...)
• a life plagued with even more medication and pills to control the medical complications
• a life likely to be short, maybe without the opportunity to see grandchildren (or at least see them reach their teens/twenties), due to stress on the body and increased chance of an early death
• .....

The list goes on, and on.

So while it is easy to snigger or joke at seeing the very overweight in the gyms, I have to applaud them for taking the first step towards better health and for taking responsibility for what they have done to themselves. Well done to all those who are trying, who have the courage to confront and improve themselves!

Dumbbells have arrived

This afternoon UPS arrived with my Body Solid SDRS550 dumbbells. Due to the weight being 640 lbs / 290 kg the delivery options are limited. On ordering the following confirmation was received from Body Solid.

Thank you for your order. Because the item you ordered is large or heavy, it is being shipped via Freight carrier. Please be aware of the following Freight requirements for delivery. The delivering company is responsible to bring the equipment to the end of the truck only. It is your responsibility to unload the freight from the truck into your home or garage. Drivers do not assist with unpacking or setup. Some freight companies may offer an optional lift gate service to drop the items off on the curb/or inside your home, for an additional charge- call for details.  Packages may be taken apart in the truck to ease with unloading.

I was therefore pleasantly surprised to find the delivery lorry had a lift gate and the delivery driver wheeled the pallet out off the truck and into our garage. I had visions of having to carry the dumbbells out of the truck and into the house one by one!!!!

Initial impressions are very positive, quality seems good.

August 2nd 2010 Daily Update

The start of a new week! Morning exercise was on the elliptical. Also weighed myself and surprisingly saw my weight as 76.3kg, 19.5% body fat. However official weigh-ins are at the weekend so will have to wait and see what happens between now and Saturday. The 0.4kg loss from yesterday is most likely to be natural variation.

Morning

• Elliptical Sprint 8 reverse: 269 kcal, 146/155 bpm, 00:58, 16:19, 02:50

Evening

Official day 1 of round 1 of P90X. Went well, definitely a little stronger now than 2 weeks ago although still need to do assisted pull ups and struggle on the diamond push-ups. Overall pleased with the first day. Felt tired on the evening's Sprint 8, guess I'm still recovering from the cardio sessions yesterday.

• P90X Chest & Back: 375 kcal, 114/150 bpm, 44:12, 05:52, 00:00
• Elliptical Sprint 8: 275 kcal, 148/159 bpm, 00:27, 14:21, 05:21

Summary

Daily Total: 919 kcal
Monthly Total: 2,330 kcal

The best yoghurt.....

Eating a yoghurt a day is typically recommended as a good source of calcium and other important nutritional items. However a quick look at the supermarket demonstrates that yoghurts come in all shapes and sizes, include various amounts of sugar, fat, artificial flavours and preservatives etc.

My yoghurt of choice is Fage Total 2% as it has a high protein level without being high in sugars and is all natural. My other yoghurt of choice is Weight Watchers which has more flavours, less calories however it also has less protein and many more ingredients.

Fage Total 2% Nutritional Facts
per 200g includes %DV based on a 2,000 kcal diet

Calories: 130
Total Fat: 4g (6%)
Cholesterol: 10mg (3%)
Sodium: 65mg (3%)
Total Carbs: 8g (3%)
Protein: 17g

Weight Watchers Nutritional Facts

per 170g includes %DV based on a 2,000 kcal diet


Calories: 100
Total Fat: 0.5g (1%)
Cholesterol: 5mg (2%)
Sodium: 110mg (5%)
Total Carbs: 17g (6%)
Protein: 6g (12%)



Now compare these with the yoghurt that you're eating and see if there is a difference....

Week 31 Fitness Summary

Week 31 (July 26th -> August 1st) has been a successful week. I've completed this week as if it was a P90X week 1 although I formally start tomorrow. As we're now into August I'm also using the new format for recording all exercises via the HRM.

Looking at the summaries below I've completed nearly 13 hours of exercise a week, that may seem excessive however it includes the Yoga and Stretch exercises from P90X. In terms of where I find the time.. well it is commitment and taking the benefits of a very short commute journey to the office which saves me around 9 hours a week in commuting, so my additional commitment on top of that is around 4 hours which doesn't seem too bad. I do however expect to reduce the time spent exercising once I've reached my targets as I'll move into a maintenance schedule rather than the current get fit and lose weight schedule.

Workout sessions this week: 22

Total HRM calories burnt: 6,678 kcal
Cardio HRM calories burnt: 3,079 kcal
P90X HRM calories burnt: 3,599 kcal

Total time exercised: 12hrs 48 minutes

HR Zone 1 time: 5hrs 54 min
HR Zone 2 time: 3hrs 17 min
HR Zone 3 time: 1hrs 53 min

Weight loss: 0.8kg
Body fat loss: 0.5%

Looking forward to tomorrow, dumbbells arrive, formal start to P90X and another exciting week ahead!

I've also spent about an hour makes changes to the spreadsheet I use for capturing my progress. It will now be much easier for me to cut and paste information directly into my blog without having to re-type and also gives me much greater granularity and analytical options. As much as I like MS Excel, it can be a little bit of a pain trying to manipulate and format time numbers. Once you get the hang of it it is fine, however takes a bit of reading help files and trial and error!

Exercise clothing

Wearing comfortable clothing while exercising is a must. It's not necessary to spend a fortune however some of the hi-tech clothing now available really can make a difference to performance and endurance. While I'm not a big fan of Nike trainers, I do like their clothing line. With my exercise regime continuing to step up and a typical week consisting of 10-16 exercise sessions it was time to buy a few more sets of tops and shorts.

While longer shorts are the fashion, and compression clothing is one of the latest things I prefer light weight, breathable clothes. For my shorts I like them to be short so they don't catch on my thighs during stretches, yoga, lunges etc. I also have a 'hot' body (alas not in the Brad Pitt style!) which means keeping me cool is important while I exercise.

A trip to the local Sports Authority and an hour of so of browsing resulted in 4 purchases.

Nike Dri-FIT 2" Split Men's Running Shorts

2 pairs of  of these. They come in a 6 different colours so I have one black with grey and the other black with green. I wore them last night for Yoga X and they worked well.

For the tops I bought two different designs and I went for sleeveless as most of my existing workout shirts have short sleeves.

Nike Race Day Men's Running Shirt

The main appeal of this shirt was the sides and back are mesh which helps with cooling the body. I wore it for this mornings Sprint 8 and either I wasn't pushing myself as hard, or the shirt helped keep me from overheating! This shirt comes in either black or white I chose black (which includes some green inserts)

Nike Polygraphic Men's Running Shirt

A more traditional running shirt which includes a graphic print on the front to add some interest. Comes in 4 colours so I bought the grey.

August 1st 2010 Daily Update

The beginning of a new month, the end of a week means a few posts to write up this weekend.

Jumped on the scales this morning and was pleased to see that the weight/body fat measurements from yesterday were not an anomaly being once again 76.7kg and 19.5% respectively.

As it is now August I will be switching to the new style of measuring kcals. The main difference is I am using my HRM rather than the cardio machine readings and I am totaling up all exercise rather than just the cardio machines. Unfortunately this makes comparisons with prior months  a little harder however will be a more accurate measurement to use going forward.

Today should be a fairly quiet day, a bit of office work, changing the water for the tropical fish, making some room in the garage for the dumbbells that will arrive tomorrow. On the exercise front there will be a couple of Sprint 8 sessions, a P90X Stretch X and then we'll see after that what happens.

Morning

• Elliptical Sprint 8 reverse: 266 kcal, 145/157 bpm, 02:37, 13:09, 04:23

Afternoon

The afternoon was a chance to really kick out some cardio with a mix of P90X and Sprint 8. The Sprint 8 was one of my best sessions to date with over 17 of the 20 minutes in Zone 3 (80%-90% of Max Heart Rate) which for me is 152bpm to 171bpm.

• P90X Cardio X: 459 kcal, 131/166 bpm, 19:25, 15:21, 07:44
• hula
• jump rope
• Elliptical Sprint 8: 313 kcal, 159/170 bpm, 00:38, 01:56, 17:34
• P90X Ab Ripper X: 203 kcal, 118/141 bpm, 24:09, 01:49, 00:00
• P90X Stretch X: 170 kcal, 96/123 bpm, 33:59, 00:00, 00:00

I completed a P90X Ab Ripper X as I skipped the session on Friday evening. I found the session easier (that is not the same as easy!) and I think it makes a big difference doing this session standalone rather than straight after a P90X resistance session. The day rounded of with a stretching session.

Summary

Daily Total: 1,411 kcal
Monthly Total: 1,411 kcal