So as my "rest" week came and went by in a FLASH. I managed to log 34 miles of running for the week and finished SUPER STRONG with an 11 mile run on Sunday...
Yesterday, I officially started Round 3 of my P90X adventure. With anything, in order to finish successfully, you must have a plan. That includes building a house, starting a business, and even your P90X exercise workout plan. So, on Sunday, I spent the afternoon, going through my nutrition guide, and mapping out the next 30 days of eating habits. I broke down everything into the recommended groups, and then went through the list of foods to come up with a meal plan for the week. On my previous 90 days, I didn't really lose a lot of weight. In fact, I think overall I gained a couple of pounds. I didn't really do phase 1 of the eating plan, I stayed in phase two for the first 60 days, built some crazy muscle, and then went into phase 3.
This round, I'm going back to the basics. I'm going to start with the Fat Shredder phase, and really get the most out of the plan. At my 201.6 pounds, they recommend that I eat a 3000 calorie diet. Wha wha what?? Yes, you heard it right, 3 THOUSAND CALORIES. Well....I did that the first time, and I couldn't actually put that much food in my stomach during the day. So, I'm going to stick to the level 2 guidelines that put me around 2400 calories, still adhering to the 50/30/20 ratios of Proteins/Carbs/Fats respectively. To be totally honest, I need to lose some of that fat that I've gained over the past 15-20 years. Especially looking at the "after" pictures on Day 180 and me still having that same 'ol belly. Sure, it's smaller, but it's not GONE!
Well, in order for me to reach my next goal, of running a half marathon in under 1:40 minutes (beating my current personal best of 1:41), I need to shed 15-25 pounds. And right now, it's a plain and simple caloric deficit scenario. So, based on my caloric needs, I need about 2000 calories to sustain myself every day. (Weight * 10 gives you a BMR). That's the energy it takes to pump your blood, walk around throughout the day, breathe, and sleep. Next, I know you have have about a 3500 calories burn to lose 1 pound of fat. I also know that running I burn about 150 calories per mile when I run. So here's the quick scenario. Furthermore, P90X+ workouts expend about 500 calories per workout. I've seen as much as 600, but for my body, my heart rate monitor says ~500.
(2000 calories *7 day) + (150 * 35 miles wk) + (500 calories * 6) = 22,500 calories burned during the week.
2400 calorie diet * 7 days = 16,800 calories taken in.
That's a net weight loss of 1.5 pounds/week over the course of the next (at least) 8 to 12 weeks. Later on in the training program, as I ramp up my mileage, I'm going to have to up my calorie counts. But for now, this is what I intend to lose. My hope is that I can lose the full 18-22 pounds of fat along the way. If that goal holds true, I should be ~175-180 pounds on race day.
Now, the engineer in me also likes to equate how excess weight reduces your running times. Right now, I'm running my speed work sessions at an 8 min/mile for half mile repeats. They were faster, but I'm using 8 as my target. That's approximately a 1:47 half marathon. Knowing that my goal is sub 1:40, how will the lower weight help get me there. Well, studies have shown that the reduction of every pound equates to approximately 2 seconds per mile. If I was to lose 20 pounds by race day, that would equate to approximately 40 seconds/mile. That's a 7:20 min/mile. That equates to a 1:36 half marathon, and therefore meeting my goal of a sub 1:40!
So, now that I have my plan, it's time to EXECUTE and use P90X to get me to where I want to be!!!!!! Be sure that you click the follow button on the right hand side so that you can get updates as I post my results from each week here. BRING IT!!!!
