100 Push Ups: Week 4 Day 2 (Success)

So it only took 3 tries to get this one… And it was still a struggle. My sets were 25,29,25,25,36. Everything was good until set 4. At that point I was really feeling tired. Then for the final set I was absolutely dying. By the last 3 my arms were quivering like jelly; there was no way I could have made it past 36 and 36 was the minimum max out, so I barely eeked by.

Usually I would repeat a day like this at least once more so I felt truly up to snuff, but I’m really thinking of just pushing on to Day 3.

See more progress on: do one hundred consecutive push-ups

197 off of a small bowl of granola!

Cereal really does a number on me. This morning I had a small bowl of granola cereal for breakfast. It was right around 45grams of carbs total, so 3 carb servings. My recommended carb servings per meal to control my blood sugar is supposed to 4-5. Just one hour later I was up to 197! I high tailed it over to the gym before work and hit the treadmill for 15 minutes. Just that 15 minutes on the treadmill dropped me back down to 80.

I’ve played around with a multiple cold cereals and Wheaties seems to have the least affect on my blood sugar, but even that is putting me up to 160 at the one hour point. That is still too high.

This is always my worst point in the day. I really need to get up early enough to cook some healthy for breakfast or to workout after eating.

See more progress on: lower my blood sugar

Week 4 Day 2 (again)

My sets this time were 25,29,25,25,27! This was worse on my final set than last time! I’m not too broken up about this though, I took shorter breaks in between sets this time and I did a full upper body workout yesterday so I don’t think I’ve had enough rest.

This weekend I’m going to do some more ditch work, some cardio for sure, and possibly some leg work. That should give me time to recoup and for Monday so I can finally make the cut for Week 4 Day 2.

See more progress on: do one hundred consecutive push-ups

Upper body

I did an hour of upper body today. Chest, shoulder, back, triceps, biceps.

See more progress on: get in shape

Week 4 Day 2

My sets today were 25, 29, 25, 25, 32. I couldn’t quite make it to that 36 minimum for the last set! Week 4 has been really discouraging for me, but I am determined to keep at this until I make the hundred! So I guess Friday will be Day 2 again :( This is the longest week for me by far…

See more progress on: do one hundred consecutive push-ups

Week 4 Day 1 (Yet again...)

Sets 21,25,21,21, Failed on Max at 25 :( Added another set of 7 to make my “minimum 32”.

Then did 50 consecutive knee pushups for full exhaustion. I had already done V-ups and leg lifts so I’m surprised my core held out that long. Looks I will be doing Week 4 Day 1 again on Saturday…

See more progress on: do one hundred consecutive push-ups

3 Months and Adjusting

It's been 3 months since my last post now. During this time I've been making a lot of changes and just trying to adapt in general. I still have moments of weakness and sometimes general anger over what has happened, but overall I'm doing really well.

At my last blood test my A1C was down to 5.9. For those that don't know, this is excellent! 5.9 means my blood sugar average level is within range of normal non diabetics. I have taken this very seriously, and my lower blood sugar is owed to a combination of things.

1) Religiously taking my medications.
2) Tight blood sugar control.
3) Significant diet changes.
4) Increased activity.

Tight blood sugar control basically means I check my blood sugar often especially when trying new foods and adjust my diet accordingly to maintain a normal blood sugar level.

I have decreased my carb intake significantly. I have also reduced my intake of saturated fats significantly and reduced my trans fats to trace levels. I have all but given up on salt, and have replaced refined grains with whole wheat whenever possible. I have also been replacing fatty meats with more lean meats (chicken, turkey, fish). Gradually I have been making the switch from skim milk to soy milk. It's been difficult to make the switch to soy milk due to the total change in flavor and texture, but I'm confident I will switch over 100% some time in the future.

I am going to the gym usually 3 or 4 times a week and am loosely following the Body For Life program (exercise portion only). Additionally I'm doing the hundred push-up challenge from hundredpushups.com. I'm currently in Week 4 of that program and am doing a little over 100 pushups every other day.

I've been using 43things a lot lately to track my progress on some of these things, and am going to start using the blog publishing feature there so that my progress will get published here to the blog as well. Currently these are focusing more on my exercise program, but it does cover some of my diet slip-ups or achievements as well.