Still going!!!

     “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
― Leo Tolstoy

          

     Today is day 8 of my program and I'm doing well and on track. I have weighed myself once and it appears I've loast about 6 pounds already. I don't want to count that as an official weigh in yet though. I want to do that at the end of this 2nd week. So stay tuned. For now, a little recap....

         Day 5 and 6-  So the the load day on day 4 went well and day 5 got back on track without much of a problem. I'm feeling more energetic and less sluggish, especially after eating. The wife and I went out Saturday, looking at garage sales. Then we decided to stop someplace for some lunch. I've discovered it's not real easy to find things that can fit to the diet. I've never been one to be that picky guy at the restaurant who needs this and that special. So I am a little uncomfortable asking for substitutions and such. I ended up with a chef salad with no cheese and a french dressing. It was real good and all was well. I will work on the ordering thing and refuse not to eat healthy because of the lack of healthy food at a restaurant. 

         Day 6 was Mother's Day and alas this brings the Mother's Day brunch. We went to a local place who's head chef is a good friend of mine and a remarkable chef. I was able to get lots of meat, eggs and veggies and drank green tea and water. It was one of the hardest temptation days so far though. The brunch was offering stuffed crapes and en egg's \benedict  that my wife says was the best one she had ever had. And their were so me amazing looking desserts available, something my friend, Chef Niall Kerr, is amazing at creating. Might as well give my friend a little plug. His establishment is called Signature 22 and is located in the Ramada Inn here in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada. If you are ever in this neck of the woods, definitely check his place and his food out. You won't be sorry.

       The rest of day 6 went off without a hitch and we moved on to Monday. Ah yes Monday, the day we all dread. Well pretty much all of us. Day 7 was a good day. I had a good breakfast of eggs and sausage and was a normal day at work. I finished the day with my wife volunteering to go shopping with me and picking up some good foods for the house. I have to give my wife kudos for being supportive during this and also trying to do some better eating herself. My wife loves me and I love her too, we try and support each other in everything we do,but she is always better then me. 

      Day 7 also brought my week 2 episode of the program. I checked out the videos and the recipes for the after workout shakes. I ended up doing my first workout last night and also drinking my first workout shake. All went well and I felt almost like I was vibrating after all was said and done. I truly am feeling better.

      So to conclude this post, I am happy and feeling much better health wise. I feel energetic and I don't feel as sluggish after meals. I feel this program is working for me and I really have a drive to stick with it. Even though there might be bumps in the road, I will overcome and continue on my journey of #changetime!

        

Day 4- Load Day One

     “Change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
― Barack Obama


      Today is day 4 of my #changetime and  I have decided to make this my load day. Just to give everyone a quick definition of load da, load day is the one day each week persons on this program can eat whatever they want and however much they want. Now I know that you should put this at the end of the week cycle, but for my first week I started on a Tuesday and Friday is my wife and I's date night. So since we tend to go to steak night at a local establishment, or go for wings, appetizers and of course drinks this night, I figured this would be the best day to use for my load day. After all, from now on, the load day will be at the end of the week anyway.
     So day 4 so far is going ok but I am starting to not feel so hot since I ate 2 cups of yogurt and a big glass of fruit/veggie drink. Might turn out that load day is kind of a mistake if you aren't careful of what you intake. We will see as the day does on. I plan on eating some fast food for lunch today and then tonight's activities, so we will see how it all ends up by tonight and in the morning.

Change time starts....now!

               "Change is the law of life, and those that look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future", John F Kennedy.

             Two days ago I began my journey to change using John Cena's 10 week Body Change. I won't reveal any secrets of the plan, which there really aren't any, but I will try to relay to you my experiences on the program. So first off let me introduce myself and give you some background.

             My name is Lee Raymond, I am 48 year old man, married with 2 grown kids. I have been in pretty good shape all my life until the last few years ( I blame marriage). I have been married for 10 years, 11 years in November. I grew up in a small town in Minnesota, called Welcome. Just a small farming community in southern Minnesota with a population of 590. My father were good Christian Methodists and raised me as such, although I don't really attend church much anymore. I had one brother and one sister, both of whom were grown up and pretty much gone from the house before  I was in kindergarten. So I basically grew up as an only child which looking back on, I enjoyed and endured through. I was a very musically inclined kid, taking piano lessons at 5 and then trumpet in elementary band  and learning guitar around the age of 14. I played in a several bands over the years but never reached stardom in any fashion. Being involved in the music seen means you are surrounded by drugs and alcohol and as a result I've fought addictions of many forms. I have learned to fight my addictions on my own and with help from my Christian beliefs. Today I am clean except for alcohol, which I still drink socially. I use to weigh in the area of 125-130 pounds, standing 5'10", most of my life but after about 35 I started to gain. As of Tuesday, May 7th, 2015, I weigh 205 pounds and badly out of shape with slightly high cholesterol and pre-diabetic. I went to the doctor the other day for my quarterly check up to watch my diabetic state and when I weighed in, I was quite shocked and at that moment i knew I had to start working on myself. I looked at going to local gyms and the coast is outrageous and contracts, etc.  I really wasn't sure where to start. Then an email arrived in my inbox from John Cena's Body Change offering the program and a discounted rate. I decided it was a sign and I needed to do it. So the story begins....

       This system is 70% nutrition and 30% exercise and the first week is just the nutrition, to get you use to your new eating habits. I struggled with this at first because giving up many foods I love, is hard. I needed to do it though and I had made up my mind I'm going to try and try hard. John Cena's videos are quite inspiring and he just has this way of making you listen and feel comfortable about the program. I made it through the first day without too many issues and moved on to day 2. I had some feelings of extra gas and stomach upset, but I think it mostly came from my body getting use to eating good food again. I've been a junk food junky from way back and eats paid it's tool on my body.

      So here i am at day 3 today and I'm feeling really good today. Made one of the great breakfasts from the many recipes of the program and I just feel like i have more energy and drive. I've decide to start a blog to keep track of my progress and hopefully inspire others to start a change in their lives.
Change is never easy for anyone and I am no exception. I also struggle with self diagnosed A.D.D. It's extremely hard for me to stick to something for long periods of time. I'm always starting to adventures, new things to keep me interested. It drives my wife crazy at time. I am hoping I can stick this out and if anyone reads this and wants to give encouragement or advice, please feel free to comment. I'm gonna stop writing for now and I'll add more posts as time goes on. Thanks for reading.