If you’ve read “about the author” you know that my weight peaked at 235 — pretty huge for a 5’10” guy. I lost 50 pounds by restricting calories and walking and I thought I was stuck there, but then my brother turned me on to P90X and I found out I could lose even more fat while also adding muscle.
… HOWEVER …
While I lost 4.5″ off my waist after the first round of P90X, I am stuck at that waist size. I cannot seem to lose these final few pounds of fat.
Fortunately, my chest, shoulders, and back are all much larger, so that diminishes the waist fat, but, really, I’m not happy with that. Getting larger up top so my middle appears to be smaller is not acceptable.
I am at a bit of a loss on how to lose the waist fat. I’ve read all kinds of books on the subject, and I’ve experimented with my body. I am pretty sure that carbs are a primary factor in fat storage, but I also know that I feel like total and utter crap without carbs. Plus, as you may realize, I am not a fitness fanatic. I like my relaxation and I prefer to live my life without obsessing about whether or not I was able to get a workout in or whether or not I can eat exactly perfectly healthy all the time.
So here’s my plan:
PART 1: Eat lower carb (no more than 150 carbs a day), lower fat (not obsessively, just keep an eye on the fat), and high protein (aiming for 50% of calories from protein). When I started P90X, I was on their recommended eating plan, which was 50/30/20 (protein/carbs/fat). I lost fat fast on that diet, but I turned to a primal diet about six weeks into it after reading Mark Sisson’s The Primal Blueprint
I went totally off grains (no rice, corn, wheat, rye … nothing) for 6 months and increased my fruit intake. The fruit was not necessarily in keeping with Sisson’s ideas — he likes to get most of his carbs from veggies, with only some fruit thrown in — but it’s much easier to eat fruit, which I primarily do with frozen fruit in my protein shakes, than to eat lots of veggies. Plus, okay, I’m not a huge fan of vegetables.
The upshot is that I’m fairly happy with my diet, but it’s not getting me where I want to be. I’m not going to restrict calories — that just doesn’t work for me in the long run — so 50/30/20 (or thereabouts) is where I’m headed.
I also, however, feel that I need to step it up on the exercise side. That leads me to …
PART 2: I’m going to give Insanity a try. I bought it at the end of 2010 with this in mind. I checked out one of the DVDs a few weeks ago, and, whoa, it is tough. Yes, tougher than P90X. But I’m pretty sure it’s what I need, or, anyway, I’m pretty sure there’s no way to be sure without trying it, so I’ll give it a go.
After one round of Insanity — which is a 60-day program — I plan to go back to P90X with other Tony Horton DVDs thrown in to mix it up, keep the muscles confused.
I have to admit that I am a bit concerned about my knees. I have some weakness in my right knee and some arthritis in my left one. I keep the arthritis pain and stiffness away with a low-grain, high-activity lifestyle, so I’m not worried about that, but the right side may prove problematic. Still, one of my favorite sayings is, “There are always good reasons not to do something. Successful people often ignore those reasons.” I could just write off Insanity as impossible with my knees. But. Not. Gonna. Do. It. Is this a no-guts-no-glory attitude? Is it foolish? Perhaps, but I will never know until I try.
I still have another month to go on this current round of P90X, so I’m going to wait to start Insanity until after I’m done with that, but I’m really looking forward to this new challenge. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.