Categories
Non-Fiction

Book Review: You Can Be Everything God Wants You To Be – Max Lucado

You Can Be Everything God Wants You To Be - Max Lucado Have you ever had one of those moments where the events and circumstances in your life created a Perfect Storm?  This book did that for me.  In this book Lucado talks about finding your “sweet spot” in life, finding that thing you were meant to do.  Lucado discusses this concept in his usual inspirational, story filled, and extremely practical manner which has endeared him to so many thousands of readers.  I can’t say what decisions or ideas that came about because of reading this book, but due to me reading this book, a project that came about, and some internal heart stuff God was working with me on, I had a moment where I saw my sweet spot.  There will be a lot of prep to get there and it is not something that will happen right now, it may actually be years away but in that moment of clarity, I saw what I was made to do (for that, I am extremely grateful to Max Lucado for writing this book)Thomas Nelson recommends this book for graduates, a sentiment I would definitely agree with, but I would not constrain its use to that group either.  I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who has ever asked the question, “What am I supposed to do with my life?”  I can imagine that with the current economic situation there are a lot of people asking this question.  Do them a favor and buy them this book [amazon.com affiliate link].

celebrex online pharmacy
Categories
What's up

P90X – Day 1 – 30

Day 1-30 P90X Workout CalendarAs many of you know, I purchased P90X and have been on the P90X journey since April 19th, 2010.  Today marks Day 30 of my journey which in the P90X world means that you need to supply pictures.  First, let me say that as you can see from the image on the right, I haven’t been able to be as consistent with the workout as I would have liked.  Between 2 kids, owning my own business, being sick for a week, and traveling for a friend’s wedding I started off really well, but I haven’t been very consistent the last couple weeks.  The sad part is that I really wanted to workout, I just couldn’t.  I have never had a workout regimen that I looked forward to as much as I have looked forward to P90X.  We are currently traveling for a friend’s wedding and on the days I have traveled I have felt not doing my workouts and couldn’t wait to press play.  I worked out in my in-law’s basement today (sorry for the lighting in my 30 day pictures) and it felt great.  So now on to the pictures.

Front:
Day 1-30 Front

Back:
Day 1-30 Back

Side:
d0130-side

The front and the back pictures don’t really do it justice, but the side shots are where it shows how much I have improved.  I started my journey at 332 pounds and I have lost around 10 pounds total so far.  I have lost 3 inches off my waist (even after 30 days my pants are fitting looser!!!).

Nutrition Plan:
I can’t talk about P90X without talking about the nutrition plan.  I absolutely love it! I have never eaten this much, I

am on a 3,000 calorie diet.  If I get hungry it is my own fault (or the fact that my metabolism is in high gear).  I have tried to stay true to the nutrition plan even with everything going on that I have had going on but I will admit, I haven’t followed it completely.  However, I have noticed a few things:

  1. I feel great!  Like I said, I have never eaten this much, but I am eating really good, natural foods, and not a lot of carbs (on my current phase I am allowed 1 portion of carbs a day).  I have a ton of energy and just feel better.
  2. I can feel it when I deviate from the nutrition plan.  Mostly when I eat more carbs than I should, but if I deviate from the nutrition plan, I am sluggish and just feel altogether gross.
  3. I am craving junk food less and less.  This was a major revelation for me.  I haven’t given up soda (one of my biggest vices), but I am needing it less and less.  This also applies to sweets.  Mandy and Caleb will have ice cream every once in awhile and I have no desire to have any whatsoever because I know how it will make me feel if I eat it…and it is not worth it.
  4. Before P90X I was starving myself and that is why I was gaining weight.  I am a part of the P90X Fan page on Facebook (an amazing forum for encouragement) and I regularly see people who can’t believe how much food they are supposed to be eating because like me they were used to starving themselves which pushed their bodies into starvation  mode where your body stores everything as fat.

P90x Fan Page on Facebook:
I know they really aren’t called fan pages on Facebook anymore, but that’s what I am going to call it for right now.  If you are doing P90X and are not a part of the P90X Fan page on Facebook you are missing out.  The people on this page are amazing.  They are constantly encouraging each other and pushing each other to do better.

Equipment:
One of the first questions people ask when they consider P90X is what equipment will they need…here is the equipment I use.

  • Gold’s Gym 6-Piece Puzzle Mat – I really like these mats…I have duct taped them together by flipping them over and running duct tape down all the seams and absolutely working out on them.
  • P90X Pullup Bar – This bar has been tested up to 500 pounds whereas the other ones wouldn’t work for someone my size.
  • Gold’s Gym 40 lb Cement Weight Set – I actually have 2 of these sets so that I can switch between weights pretty easily.  On this trip I have weight bands with me, but I haven’t had a workout yet that requires them so I can’t recommend them yet.

Resources:
Besides the official teambeachbody.com site and the P90X Fan page on Facebook, in order to help keep myself accountable, I created a tracking spreadsheet in Excel to help me track my progress.  Check it out.

In my next P90X update (Day 60) I will post a picture of my workout area and why I really have no excuse not to do P90X which has helped me out a ton.  Hopefully, you are encouraged by my progress to the point that you join me on the journey.  BRING IT!!!