Michael6835 wrote:P90x
5'9
started at 183.

currently at 153

I can see abs coming in and toned, i do have to admit with my schedule, I am working a modified P90 schedule. With me its more like P180x, but hey better to do something than nothing

That's how I started. My first round was right after the birth of my son so I really had no time. Modifying was definitely better then the couch sitting and potato chip eating that I was doing. I made sure to focus on my diet. I began to eat very well(of course I had my donut/Mcdonald's days like anyone else, but overall I ate very well). Instead of the 6 day a week workout I was doing 3 or 4. It took me almost 6 months to get through the first round. After about 6 months I was able to get in to a routine and can now do the 6 workouts a week. I normally will do them in the morning before everyone gets up. I'm not a morning person and it took me a long time to adapt to this schedule but now my body is ready to go every morning and I have tons of energy for the rest of the day.

The best thing about p90x is the ability to modify. With you doing P180x you aren't going to get results as quickly as someone doing it by the book, but just the fact that you are working out 3-4 times a week, if you are eating well you are going to see results. Keep in mind it's not a race. It's a lifetime decision to get yourself in better shape and to be healthier.

The biggest thing for me was the diet. Watching my calories and paying attention to what I eat and when is the most helpful. It is more helpful then the workouts. When I take time off I have no problem maintaining my weight through good eating habits. Plus the energy boost you get from good eating is very noticeable. Now if I eat Mcdonald's the energy sap is so obvious that it's no longer worth it for me. I love the food, but no longer crave it.

DrAlphaeus wrote:Damn, that's a hell of a dinner dude, I'm sitting here housing a bag of baby carrots. Maybe cut out the pasta? I also co-sign the handful of peanuts idea. There are a bunch of strategies: eating a handful of nuts, whole grains & vegetables make you feel full quicker, longer, and are great for your system. Eating slowly as well allows you to better monitor when you've become full. With a meal like that I bet that either 1) there's a point where you will get full and you are just continuing to eat on principle, or 2) there's a certain level of hunger you are still going to have after all of that because your metabolism is cranked and then it comes down to impulse control. I think the Chinese have a saying that you never want to eat more than 80% full... you always want to leave a little room in there. Good luck man!

It was a great dinner. And you're absolutely right about that 80% thing. I always eat whatever I put in my bowl/plate regardless of my "hunger" level. I tried cutting out pasta and rice from my dinners for a year in an attempt to keep my triglycerides down. It was tough. I still skip pasta half the nights I cook and just double up on vegetables. Only problem with that approach is that come 9 p.m. I feel hungry again and eat something like a bowl of cereal. Impulse control is difficult in general.

Panos wrote:How long does it take you to swim a mile and a half?

Just over an hour, though I don't usually swim that many laps. A mile goes down in about 45 minutes or so, depending on the pace. I swim faster when a triathlete is swimming next to me or when one of my boys is swimming with me (shame avoidance?). They are competitive swimmers and that definitely helps to keep me motivated.

Moonangie wrote:

DrAlphaeus wrote:Damn, that's a hell of a dinner dude, I'm sitting here housing a bag of baby carrots. Maybe cut out the pasta? I also co-sign the handful of peanuts idea. There are a bunch of strategies: eating a handful of nuts, whole grains & vegetables make you feel full quicker, longer, and are great for your system. Eating slowly as well allows you to better monitor when you've become full. With a meal like that I bet that either 1) there's a point where you will get full and you are just continuing to eat on principle, or 2) there's a certain level of hunger you are still going to have after all of that because your metabolism is cranked and then it comes down to impulse control. I think the Chinese have a saying that you never want to eat more than 80% full... you always want to leave a little room in there. Good luck man!

It was a great dinner. And you're absolutely right about that 80% thing. I always eat whatever I put in my bowl/plate regardless of my "hunger" level. I tried cutting out pasta and rice from my dinners for a year in an attempt to keep my triglycerides down. It was tough. I still skip pasta half the nights I cook and just double up on vegetables. Only problem with that approach is that come 9 p.m. I feel hungry again and eat something like a bowl of cereal. Impulse control is difficult in general.

Panos wrote:How long does it take you to swim a mile and a half?

Just over an hour, though I don't usually swim that many laps. A mile goes down in about 45 minutes or so, depending on the pace. I swim faster when a triathlete is swimming next to me or when one of my boys is swimming with me (shame avoidance?). They are competitive swimmers and that definitely helps to keep me motivated.

Its great that youre exercising so hard. swimming is tough and imo the best cardio. How many meals a day are you eating? If youre getting hungry again at 9pm you have you thought of scheduling a before bed snack to keep you satiated?

Moonangie wrote: If you do t too often (say six days a week)...

Never gonna happen. I could see at MAXIMUM 3x, and more likely twice.
I prefer to mix it up, and the hassle of the change, shower, swim, shower, change would really get old.

I'll tell ya man, I'm really still amazed you're putting in that much time in the pool and having
trouble shedding weight. I'd have thought with all that work, you'd drop weight no matter what you ate.

Moonangie wrote:The main reason I feel overweight is that I am a climber, and weight is a huge negative regardless of conditioning. It works with gravity to diminish your abilities by shortening the time it takes your grip strength to give out.

That explains it.
Me, I'm 40 this fall. But my genetics are such that I'll probably always be thin.
My uncles are thin and my grandfather was till he was 80.
Just lucky.

Panos wrote:

A 110 lb person burns around 7.7 calories/minute swimming at a 50/yard per minute pace. There are 1760 yards in a mile, 1650 yards in an official swim mile. So our 110 pounder will burn 271 calories at the above mentioned pace. Meanwhile, a larger swimmer, say 200 lbs at the same pace will burn 14.2 calories/minute. This equates to around 500 calories burned in the mile.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_calories_burned_by_swimming_1_mile

Interesting, never knew a swimmer's "mile" was different than standard.

...And 50 yards per minute is a somewhat slow pace. Mine is probably closer to 40 seconds per fifty. But I also swim in a meters pool, so the laps are a bit longer than a yards pool. Suffice it to say, it's doubtful that the calories burned in swimming negate the calories added due to increased appetite. Thus the need to portion control... and thus the dilemma.

Moonangie wrote:

Panos wrote:

Moonangie wrote:

Panos wrote:How long does it take you to swim a mile and a half?

Just over an hour, though I don't usually swim that many laps. A mile goes down in about 45 minutes or so, depending on the pace. I swim faster when a triathlete is swimming next to me or when one of my boys is swimming with me (shame avoidance?). They are competitive swimmers and that definitely helps to keep me motivated.

I recently started swimming, and really only do it once per week, but its been great for me.
Really works on my upper body endurance, which I don't get from biking or running, and its strengthened
up my joints so they don't ache when I get into the weight room.

It's really the best cross-training activity there is because it is resistance-based cardio (i.e., drag from water), and it has almost zero chance of injury. If you swim too often (say six days a week) you can get inflammation in your shoulders due to overuse. Competitive swimmers do at most 5 days a week (I think four is better as long as you have other stuff for the off days - I use a stationary bike for 45 mins), and always mix that with dry-land workout and stretching. Swimming without stretching can be really bad.

izybx wrote:Its great that you're exercising so hard. swimming is tough and imo the best cardio. How many meals a day are you eating? If youre getting hungry again at 9pm you have you thought of scheduling a before bed snack to keep you satiated?

Swimming gets much easier as you stick with it, particularly if you get some coaching to help you do the motions more efficiently (e.g., strokes, breathing, turning, etc.). One freestyle tip that helped me is to breathe on BOTH sides every third stroke, instead of every two strokes on the same side. This accomplishes two things: It makes your cardio workout better due to having a bit less oxygen per meter, and it makes your stroke more balanced as you won't overdevelop one side at the expense of the other. If you get out of rhythm or simply need a bit extra oxygen at some point, you just double up on one side and then resume breathing every third stroke once you regain a rhythm and feel more comfortable.

Inefficient swimming can be exhausting and makes you think you got a workout after those first twenty laps. Once you build up to a mile (took me two years before I regularly swam that distance) the first twenty laps will be the toughest because your muscles are tightening up before they loosen up. That's why competitive swimmers do a long warm-up (e.g., half a mile) before practices and meets.

As to meals, I eat four times per day:

- bowl of heart-2-heart an hour before swimming
- lunch (usually grilled veggie wrap with pesto, or leftovers from prior dinner)
- dinner (I can cook, so it's always a great meal - usually chicken or fish, with vegetables and pasta)
- snack around 9:30 p.m. (usually almonds and fruit, but sometimes bad stuff like ice cream)

I don't go to bed until around 1:30 most nights (night owl, read a lot and also play music... or work late). I prefer to stay up late so I can maximize my time with my wife and kids and still have time for my own stuff. If I could just find a way to eliminate that snack and reduce the portion size of my dinners, I'd probably be set. Sometimes I skip lunch and just grin and bear it until dinner. But that ends up making me eat more at dinner, which is probably a net negative.

I used to be a competitive swimmer and coach and I cant stress how important technique is. The biggest piece of advice I can give is that when you are swimming freestyle to think of it not as swimming on your stomach, but as swimming on alternating sides. Really reaching with one arm while the other is out of the water reduces drag and maximizes the amount of water you can push. Next time you swim, do a couple of laps where you try and get your belly button facing the wall. It will be slower and feel awkward, but it might translate to improved technique when you are swimming normally.

Also if you are breathing every 3 strokes, try breathing every 5 or 7 strokes for a couple of laps to improve your cardio and technique. Though it sounds weird as I am writing it out, breathing slows you down and throws your rhythym off. Its a common mistake for untrained swimmers to breathe too often.