Challenge V - Days 9, 10, 11

Assessment - Day 9-11 of 27 (Fri-Sun)

A great 3 days overall. After 10 days off caffeine and pop, I'm feeling really good. And, even though I went off slightly yesterday, I ate very little, as you'll see below, and this morning I weighed in at my lowest of the year - 209.4.

Of course, it took me 10 days to go from 210.8 to 209.4 - to lose a single pound. Mostly because I went off the day I was at 210.8 - and spent 3 days being bad - and gained 8 lbs. The first two days of being 'mostly good', I stabilized. I have really lost 9 lbs in about 6 days, by really focusing on not cheating, keeping my portions low, going to cross-fit, and playing basketball with my kids. Net loss in 10 days - well - 1 pound. But, it's a Monday, which means I am in the strong part of my week for the eating plan.

Basketball, by the way, has been something I've been extremely happy to put back into my life. We've had a hoop that has gone mostly unused for a couple of years. Two things shifted for me - in part thanks to the affirmations I am doing as part of 'The Morning Miracle' - one, I wanted to be more active, and two, I wanted to interact more with my kids. Playing outside with one or more of them with the basketball has been invigorating for me and for them.

Yesterday we went out as a family for a picnic, at a park with a basketball hoop that is actually near regulation, with a half-court, paved and flat surface (vs. the hill of a driveway with an 8 foot hoop at home). My goal was to play 4 on 4 - and it worked. Had the two youngest pick teams, and off we went. A lot of teaching went into it - what a double dribble was, taking the ball back, learning to pass - because, well, my family has never been all that athletic.

When all was said and done, my 14 year old daughter sat with me and told me how great it was to do this, and that we needed to do it more often. That she really felt like she was able to interact with her siblings, whereas things are normally so busy and segmented that it too often feels like we're acquaintances living in the same house.

Overall - the three days were three of the best I've had in the last few months. I'm feeling stronger and more optimistic than ever.

27 Days 'on Fire' Goals Review: 

Goal - 195 lbs
Day 1 - 211 
Start of Day 2 - 213 Went off diet, as outlined above. Steak, two KFC Chicken Breasts, M&M's, Snickers, stuffed potato burrito & some other one dollar spicy burrito from Taco Bell. I know - just horrible, especially after the good start, and the workout.

Days 2-6 - Got up to 218, down to 216.4 today....Day two is outlined above. Day three was chinese, with popcorn and a shake at the movies. Day four was pizza, ice cream & Twizzlers, Day five was bratwurst and chicken, today has been steak and chicken and three chocolate chip cookies.
Day 7 - 214.2 - Two Bratwurst, Two KFC chicken breasts, and then a major fail with 3 chocolate chip cookies, some popcorn. Which effected pretty bad this morning
Day 8 - 216.0 - beef strips and eggs, 1/2 Costco chicken, a handful of chips.
Day 9 - morning - 212.0 - which means the weight gain was a bit of a red herring. 2 pork chops, 2 KFC Fried Chicken Breasts, plus an hour of Cross Fit
Day 10 - 212 - 1/2 steak, pork chop, both grilled, chips (too many) and salsa
Day 11 - 211.4 - 1 1/4 bratwurst, 1/2 piece of pepperoni pizza, 1 double size Butterfingers Bar
Day 12 - (Today, Morning) - 209.4, probably due to basketball yesterday and Crossfit this morning.

Goal - Website Revised - continued playing with the website. Learning as I go.

Goal - Podcast Restarted - NP
Goal - Speak & Deliver book ready for printing - NP

Goal - Schedule 25 speeches - NP

Goal - Blog 3x week - 2x (Speak & Deliver & Win Anyway)
Goal - try out Periscope - which I did, and will be again today. Join me on Twitter @RichHopkins

Ancillary activities - Most of this is above. However, I did get some Amazon packages, with two major purchases - the Flash Omnibus - with several years worth of the beginning of Flash's existence compiled into a nice hardbound edition with slick white pages, and, finally a Kindle Fire, which I spent much of the weekend playing with as well. Sad it doesn't let me film for Periscope, but no matter - it'll happen soon. As a side note, I made yesterday a 'no electronics day' - no laptops, tv, or video games (though we did watch Master Chef as a family). It bummed 'em out for awhile, but it was nice see books and drawing paper being used again.

Podcasts - I'm going to list what I listen to, both to provide you with some listening material, and to track how much time I'm spending on podcasts.

Day 8 - Garrett J White- Daily Fuel 31 Sam Crowley- Every Day is Saturday
Day 9 - Garrett J White - Daily Fuel 31
Days 10 & 11 - None

Closing Comments:

I'm feeling stronger, more motivated, and more optimistic than I have in months.