As thousands of you know, we got to day 62 on our first round and life threw a big old wrench at us. One missed workout led to another, to us hitting 2 workouts in that week. So we decided to start all over (not originally my idea, but the best idea)

This round has been good, workouts are dialed in, and now tweaking the diet even more. Details to follow soon…. However, I promised the fans more photos…. and more photos is what they will get.

OK… after a little homework on what people are eating for breakfast that are on a journey to look/feel better. I found a recipe that seemed like something this boy needs to try. It is coined the “Power Breakfast”, and seriously, how can you pass something up with a name like that.

It consist of the following:

1/2 cup whole grain oats
1 cup water
Pinch of salt
Dash of cinnamon
1 scoop protein powder
and 1 tbsp. of natural peanut butter

Having all of those ingredients, I decided I would try that today… seems like I missed one important part of the whole equation. You should probably blend all of this up before putting it in the microwave.

The protein never had a chance to get mixed in, so it turned into something that had the texture of wet cardboard. Not to mention that it has a chocolate flavor, so we are going to have to see what we can do to help with that.

Attempt #2 coming in the morning… details, and photos to follow.

Wow…. after a rough run of sickness, life and my business just getting crazy crazy busy….. I am back on the horse and even more determined to keep pushing play. After reading a few forum post, and with the original idea from my little workout buddy, we decided to start all over bc we had just missed too many workouts (Only 3 times the first week, and then only 2 times the second week).

However, the horse was still waiting right there for us and now into day #2. Starting back up brought the soreness all back and wow how quickly my legs decided to weaken a bit. Plyometrics last night was a killer, but I thought I would wake up hurting worse than I did…. hmmm, maybe that is a good sign.  The good news is that we will be ready for swimsuit season and feeling wonderful.

This round is adding a little bit different twist on the diet as my wife has been learning more about Macrobiotic cooking and how to incorporate that into our daily routine. The My Big Reveal program teaches a whole new approach to eating and living.

So kids… it is time for round 2…!!!!!!!!

OK… I need to let my friends in on a HUGE secret. And no, I’m not on the juice or human growth hormones…. But I have been hooked on this recovery drink from 1st Phorm called Phormula-1 + Ignition. I am not going to pretend to know everything about the human body or get scientific on you… these guys do a great job of explaining why this combo works so well on this post on their blog. Seriously…. If you workout and lift weights, YOU NEED TO READ THIS ARTICLE.

I can tell you that after an hour of this workout completely kicking my butt…. this is like sending in a army of EXACTLY what my body is needing. I workout WAY too hard for me to not get the optimal results of putting my body through all of that. I’m not going to create any silly analogy (well, maybe I will), but by not feeding your muscles a high quality protein is like a Formula 1 race car running on low octane fuel. The time that we devote to working out is incredibly valuable. It is time away from our families, it is hard, it pushes us beyond the pain and leaves us initially very sore. When I was going to the gym, I wasn’t just going to provide eye candy for all of the ladies, I was there to see results. Why would you spend the money and time and not “Finish” the workout and give my body what it is starving for?

We all have our different reasons for working out. Health, vanity, looking good naked, athletically performing at your highest potential (or in the bedroom) It is way easy to fall out of this habit of staying focused with any routine. Life happens and it is easy to come up with excuses to not do it. I have done it a hundred times….. Quitting ANYTHING that takes us outside of our comfort zone is the easiest thing to achieve. So give your body a gift that it will be happy about…. not as happy as a surprise with thigh highs and a mini, but still pretty happy!!!!

Friday around lunchtime and I was getting ready to head to a client meeting and thought… “hmm, I am going to try the old college jeans on again” So I pulled them down, slid them on and I couldn’t believe what happened next. They buttoned AND the button didn’t go flying off like a ricocheting rocket…!!!!!!!

We fight the small battles here at Schoenig Inc. But this was a major victory, as these jeans have not been worn in over 14 years. They are a size 36 Abercrombie and Fitch (when “Loose” fit wasn’t “Baggy Fit”)  So I can officially say that I now own a pair of skinny jeans. Now, there are some styles that this guy should NEVER wear… and skinny jeans is one of them!!!

What an ass-kicking way to have to fight, claw, drag and kick your way to loosing 2 pounds/week… but it is working. The diet is getting tuned in and we are kicking it up one more notch here in the second half. I think calorically, I am not eating enough but eating well. Thanks to my friends at 1st Phorm, my supplementation is the best that it can be and their recovery drink Phormula-1 is absolutely incredible.

This weeks brings a “Rest” week. We are still bringing it 6 days a week…. but this week is more aerobic and core work. Hardly rest at all, but the workouts are getting easier and now you just push yourself harder for better results.

I need to tan and manscape

Half way through baby!!!!!

Ahh… the elusive 20# mark has been reached…!!!!! Stepped on the old scales this morning and got to my first goal. Now it is staying even more focused on the diet and not letting the little demonic treats interfere with my master plan. The hardest part of any journey is when you keep working your butt off and not seeing any major movement. And then, suddenly you wake up one morning and you are feeling great, the jeans are getting a bit baggy and like a mirage in the desert…. you seem to be seeing something that is not really there

Today is our 45th day, I committed to a 90 day program. Not 10, not 30… but 90 days to see if I could make a major change in my life. The problem is that we want it to be a easy and quick fix. Some people struggle to put weight on, some people can eat 10 pounds of McDonalds and never effect them… and then there are bodies like mine that swell up everytime I drive by the golden arches, not to mention Walgreens (inside joke)

All of the reading I did before jumping into this revealed that a lot of people did not see drastic results until day 60+. If that is the case, I am really excited to see what it brings. Which brings me to another point, we have yet to uncover anything about this program that is not accurate. I have soaked in the support from all of my friends, my family, my workout partner and those on facebook or here that I have never met. May all of your babies be born naked!!!!

Today is day 39 of the 90 day program and I have to say that it feels like I am finally turning the corner of not feeling super sore and noticing that I can push harder during the workouts as I am gaining more strength. Even though we do some of the workouts over and over… I am not finding them to be redundant or repetitive. 90 days is a very short period in the big picture, but there are still a lot of days where it feels like nothing is progressing. However, I can feel the difference in my clothing and especially in my jeans.

I doubt that I will be getting a phone call from Abs Weekly anytime soon…. but how crazy will it be to see my abdominal muscles for the first time in my life. I know that they are there, just hidden under a layer of insulation.

I am finding that I have a new healthy snack that is helping with a mid-afternoon gap between lunch and dinner. It is the funny looking, but very fast fish called Tuna (sorry to offend any fans that are Tuna).  But I learned that it has a very high content of good protein, affordable, quick and easy to make. I also discovered that I am pretty certain that the Jerry the Cat we recently adopted was fed tuna flavored cat food up on the kitchen counter top. I opened up a can yesterday and I thought I was going to have a mutiny on my hands. I am playing around with different recipes and will post my favorites sometime soon.

A little bit of progress….  :)

Everyone has those days when you just can’t wait to get into the gym and get to work… and then we all have those days when all we want to do is crash, lay on the couch and zone out. So, the question is how in the world do push through those times and get our butts in the gym (or in my case, over in front of the tv to push play)

For me, I have had a roller coaster coaster ride of commitment. There was a time that I would workout or run at 1:00am if I had not yet got it in…. and then there were times where re-runs of the Golden Girls kept me from going (ahhh…. Blanche Devereaux, the original cougar). I look back and can identify that it is always easier to get into the gym when the rest of your life is in order… finances, relationships, health, career. Being a small business owner, I know that my clients and workload has to be near the top of my priority list. Like everyone else, we have a family, a house and a crazy social life that can all throw reasons at us to miss a day or two. Now, I know that there are still going to be days that I just can’t get it into my schedule, or days that I just can’t get it in…. and that is fine.

I think the level of commitment also has a lot to do with what the goal is that you have set for yourself. Honestly, I think the reason why most of my endeavors have failed is because life gets in the way for a bit, and the focus on myself is lost. I have decided with this round, I am breaking things down in shorter goals. Yes the big picture is to lose about 50 pounds, get ripped and look good naked… but that is the long run. I have decided to break things down in 3 day bracket. At the end of those 3 days, if I have pushed the workouts and kept a solid diet, then it is time for a reward… a scooby snack if you will. Now, I’m not talking about ordering a XL Imo’s and a dozen wings (but DAMN, that sounds so good) but something that is still healthy, but not something that I would eat everyday. For me it could be sushi, maybe some chicken satay…. but probably sushi

But more than these little mind tricks, I think the biggest motivator for me right now is knowing that I don’t have to spend the rest of my life overweight. I know that I am in control of this ship and it can be done. I see all of these before and after photos and tell myself…. if this guy/gal did it, I KNOW that I can. I can feel a change in the first 30 days, all I need to do is stay on this track and it will take me to where I am wanting to go.