Before And After Results

Before (BF - 16%)

                                                                             After (BF - 11%)

Before (BF - 16%)

After (BF - 11%)

Day 21 of 21

Workout
warm up: 4 minutes of jump rope
wod: with a partner complete for time
2000m row
100 wall balls
150 situps

Food: whatever the fuck I wanted

Day 20 (Strength training)

The workout


Its down to the last bit so I decided to do some lifting. My gym has very limited equipment so I mostly focus on upper body strength training.
6 sets - bicep curls (1 super set) (peak @ 45)
6 sets - lat rows (peak @ 140)
3 sets - lat press (peak @ 140)
6 sets - chest press (peak @ 130)
3 sets - tricep extensions

Food
7 am - banana
9 am - protein smoothie with banana and blueberries
11. am - 1 roti with 2 egg omelette
12.40 - 3 roties with eggplant and 1 greek yogurt
2.30 - 2 scoop casein
6.00  - 3 chicken samosas + 3 biscottis
9.00 pm - 2 rotis + 2 cup rice + palak paneer + turkey keema + chicken curry + 2 rasmalais

Day 19 - Crossfit

the workout
750m row and light warmup followed by
20 Thrusters @ 75lbs
2 rope climbs
30 lunge steps

3 rounds in 18.14

the food
8.30 am - protein smoothie (2 scoops whey + water + apple juice and blueberries)
10 am - 1 wheat roti with 2 egg omelette
11.30 am - 2 wheat roti with chicken curry
2.00 pm - fage greek yogurt
4.00 pm - planters peanuts + and nature valley, oats and dark chocolate.
0.00 pm - 2.5 rotis with turkey keema

Day 18 - Crossfit

4 more days to go!!!

Workout
Strict Press 4X5 @ 75lbs
Run 400m 
12 Pushups
20 Air Squats
30 Double Unders

(4 rounds) + 400m run

Food

breakfast - protein smoothie with apple

snack - pasta

lunch - thai cashew chicken with brown rice and pad thai
snack - pad thai leftover
dinner - 2 rotis with chicken curry
late night - casein

total: 2,133
carbs: 241
fats: 73
protein: 139 

Day 17 - cardio

Workout
45 minute elliptical cardio

Food
Omelette with 2 slices wheat bread + banana
lunch - chicken salad
snack - 1 banana
dinner - tofu and veggies

Day 16 (Strength Training)

Workout - Upper body weight training at the gym downstairs.

Food - 
Breakfast - protein shake
lunch - 3 egg omelette
snack - 2 scoop casein
dinner - chicken salad + 0.5 cup rice
late night - chicken wings

Day 15 - Rest Day

A well deserved rest day, watching Oscars with family and friends :-)  Ommmmmmmm

day 14 (Interval on Elliptical)

Wanted to take it kinda easy today being a weekend and all. Had to do some running around but managed to squeeze in about 45 minutes of interval on the elliptical

Workout
Most machines offer the option to do interval training, I wish you could preset the duration of the interval since the standard is like 2 min on/off. With some light stretching I did 2min @4 (OFF) and 2min @ 12 (ON). It wasn't a bad workout, but compared to everything else, at the end of it I felt like all I had fatigued was my quads. I'm going to research this a bit more. But I'd assume I burned around 450 cals on this one.

Food
9am - banana
10.30am - indian chai + parle g + 2 egg whites
1.00pm lunch - turkey keema with 3 rotis
3.00pm apple
7.00 pm 2 rotis + keema
10.00 pm casein

Day 13 (Insanity Pure Cardio)

I had barely started to getting rid of the cold and at crossfit they made us run 600m out in the cold yesterday...suckers...It was freezing and raining too :-). So when I checked today's WOD, 800m run, I said Hell No!. So today I decided to do Insanity's core cardio. I had forgotten all about this workout. The video was a modest 40min. Played the video and a 15 min warmup later...I heard Shaun T whisper..."are you scared for whats about to come?" ......took me back in time....HOLY SHITTT...its PURE Cardio. This is not interval training with breaks...its 18 minutes of non-stop heart pumping cardio that will fry you silly. Well, I took plenty of breaks, I think this one is just impossible to keep up with. I'll keep this one in my back pocket next time I thing about cardio.
After finishing this, I did a round of p90x ab ripper x. My all time fav

Food
Breakfast:
8.30am - 2 scoop whey + blueberries + 1/2 breakfast essentials
10.am - 4 egg white + veggies omelette
12 pm - 3 wheat rotis + 1 cup okra
1.30 pm - 1 cup toor dal
2.30 pm - 2 scoops whey
3.15 pm - 0.5 top pot glazed donut (don't judge me)

Day 12 (Crossfit)

Workout
Warmup - 750m row
Strength - 36 back squats @ 115lbs AND 60 ring pushups
Then 3 rounds of
a. Run 200m outside
b. 12 Toe to bars
c. 15Kettle bell swings

Food... this might suck

Breakfast: 

8.45am 2 scoops whey + blueberries + breakfast essentials

10am - brown fried rice with veggies

12pm - grilled chicken and havarti sandwich @ El Gaucho

3pm - cup of fruit

4.30pm - oikos non-fat greek yogurt
6.00pm - 3 celery sticks with hummus
8pm - 3 wheat rotis + 1 cup okra + 1cup lentil soup
10.30 pm - 1 scoop casein


Total: 2014
Carbs: 279
fat: 59
Protein: 143

Days 10 and 11

Things picked up at work, and I just couldn't find the time or motivation to update my food and exercise journal. I've been keeping up with my workouts (although I don't feel I've fully recovered from the cold yet) and for the most part maintaining my calories

Day 10
workout: Insanity cardio power and resistance (45 minutes)

Day 11:
workout: Max Interval Plyo (1hr)

Day 9 of 21 (Strength training)

My biggest accomplishment to date has not been losing 40lbs, but actually keeping it off for about 9 months now. Per all the credible material I've read, "Sustainable weight loss" comes from 3 things
1. First losing fat
2. Growing lean mass to keep the fat off
3. Lifestyle change (thinking healthy, eating healthy and making it part of the routine)
Not sure why I'm just rambling right now, probably reminding myself of what makes a difference, also makes a difference :-)

The workout
Bicep curls
triceps
lat press
lat rows
chest press
shoulder press

Food
Breakfast - protein shake and bananas
lunch - left over pasta with veggies
pear for snack
pesto chicken with strawberry fields salad for dinner
casein right before bed

Total
Carbs: 164
Protein: 214
Fat: 51
Total: 1921 (YAY!, right on mark for the first time)

Day 8 of 21

Winners Don't Quit. Quitters Don't Win.


Set the 7am alarm to get some additional rest. Couldn't drag myself out of bed until 7.15. I wanted to get a sense of what I'd be able to pull through today. Crossfit was out of question, Strength training was out, so maybe some cardio. Now although I've been resting for 2 days, the body hasn't recovered fully. Have a mild fever too. Some people advise against working out, doctors don't have a fixed opinion. I like the crossfit lifestyle...when in doubt, just push through. And so I did. Picked up a less intense Insanity workout - Cardio power and resistance and decided to DIG DEEPER!

The workout
Cardio power and resistance is a part cardio, part resistance workout, all wrapped up in intervals. So you'll be jumping one minute and then doing moving pushups, followed by squats and then tricep dips. Its a manageable 45 minutes, but guaranteed to make you sweat and bust your chops. What a way to start the week :-)


Food
7.15 - banana
8.45 - 2scoops whey with water
9.15 - 1 wheat bread with 2 scoops cottage cheese and some fruit preserve
11.30 - left over veggies with small portion of pasta.
2.00 pm - 1 pear
4:30 - 2 scoop whey
7.45pm - spinach salad with pesto chicken
10.30pm - 1 scoop casein

Day 7 of 21 (Recovery Day)

Well in someways I'm glad I caught the bug right around my recovery day. I can use this as an excuse to get healthy and still have some hope of getting back onto my program. I've officially failed the challenge, but Life's all about falling down, hurting bad, but getting back up, right? The rules to restarting this program are 2, if you fail
1. repeat that week all over again
2. double up (add additional sessions)

#1. is not an option since my cousin from UK will be staying with me
#2. is an option, but will suck REAL bad. My body has not fully recuperated :(

As I kept thinking about what I wanted to do. I put a leash on the diet again. Got something tasty for the cheat meal (wife's palak paneer recipe) and something healthy at night

10am  - 1cup almond milk + 1cup kashi oat cereal
11.30 - 2 egg omelette on whole wheat toast
1.30 - 1 cup palak paneer (spinach with cottage cheese) with 3 wheat rotis/tortillas
4.00 - 1/2 cup palak panner with 1 roti
7 pm - wifey fixed an assortment of veggies like you would've never heard of before. Check this out
.............Deep breath
onions, carrots, brussel sprouts, asparagus, broccoli, mushrooms, and zucchini........Phew!!!!
that with some perfectly done pesto chicken. Perfect way to end the night! ....oh wait and there are leftovers for tomorrow :-)

Day 6 of 21 (Failed attempt!)

With only a few hours of sleep, there was no way I was going to be able to make it to crossfit on Saturday. I already had the day planned, workout, photo shoot with a friend, cheat meal. It was going to be tough to manage all this with the nasty cold that felt like brain aneurysm each time I sneezed. I knew I was going to cheat BIG time, but was hoping to not go too overboard.

8am - 2 bananas
11 am - Indian poha (rice) with sweetened tea (emotional eating from the hangover)
late lunch 2pm - 4 colonel kebabz
5pm - veggie sandwich
7pm - chicken kebab roll

That and NO workout. Felt miserable this day. One week into my challenge and I'm beat. Not only that, I'm down with this nasty bug which feels horrible, body ache, constant sneezing and terrible headache. Fuck this!

Day 5 of 21 (Insanity Max Interval Circuit)

The Workout - 

1 hour of intense circuit training. Includes running, squats, hooks, moving push ups, drills all in intervals. First 45 second intervals then 5X45 second intervals and finally 3 minute killer intervals. During one of the workouts Shaun T will make you do hooks with squats, then you do a drill with in-out abs etc and finally 45 seconds in a plank position to work that core. This man is a genius. I didn't realize you could use your core in so many different ways.

My back is so sore that I can barely touch my toes. Talk about going from insanity to reality :-) Much love to Shaun T. I'm so glad I found you ;-) 

Meals

6.45 am - banana + water

8.45 am - 2 scoop whey with water + blueberries + 1 whole banana

9.30 am - 1/2 cup kashi cereal in 1/2 cup almond milk

11.30 am - lettuce wraps with turkey keema (yummm)

2:00 pm - 16 baby carrots with hummus 

4:00 pm - 4 bananas
8:00 pm - chicken breast with Quinoa (courtesy KG)


All was well until this point. Then I got together with some crazy friends in Seattle. And what was originally planned to be a quiet sober night, turned into a bunch of totally random events. A little alcohol and the next thing I know
my car was locked in a garage, I had downed 2 vodkas, maybe some wine and partied until the wee hours. Came back early the next morning to pickup my car and realized I had picked up a nasty cold along the way.
Arrrrrgghhhhhhhhhhhhh.....  I've officially lost my challenge. 

Day 4 of 21 (Self training)

The Workout - 

 

3 sets of bicep curls (8 reps) - 25/30/35

superset - 45/40/35

3 sets of tricep extensions (8 reps)

6 sets of lat pull-press

6 sets of chest press 100/110/120

6 sets of shoulder press 100/110/120

 

Meals

6.30 am - banana + water

8.15 am - 1 scoop whey with water + greek yogurt

12.00 pm - turkey burger with spinach

2:00 pm - 2 egg omelette
4:00 pm - carrots, broccoli and stir fry
7:00 pm - kashi cereal in almond milk

8.15 pm - turkey keema with 2 roti

10.30 pm - casein


Total:
Calories: 1963

Carbs:161
Fat:55
Protein:179

Day 3 of 21 (Crossfit)

The Workout - 
Every now and then I appreciate technology for making life easier. Today I want to thank my snooze button. The alarm woke up me @ 6.00 but I was demotivated and sore (not tired sore but swollen sore) and exhausted. About 10 snoozes later, I decided to just pull myself out of bed and not slip. Rushed to grab my banana and drove straight to xfit. Saw Regina from work who comes in @ 6am and drives all the way from Kenmore. That's it, put my head in the game right away. So this is what the workout was


Warm up and mobility work followed by this shit

12 Minute KettleBell cycle, DO NOT SET THE BELL DOWN!
(2 minutes a hand, then switch)
1 Clean
1 Squat Clean
1 Squat Clean Thruster
1 Clean and Jerk


THEN…
Run run run!
6x 200m
1:2 Work to Rest

Score equals fastest 200m Run

I'm not sure what kinda twisted mind (Rob) designed this. But a sprint interval training after a KB workout like that is just plain wrong. I finished it on the hour, with my best 200m Run - 34 seconds. Towards the end I felt like the screws in my acl were going to come ripping out.  I'm just glad I survived the damn thing. Thank you Mr Snooze :-)

Meals

6.30 am - banana + water

8.15 am - 1 scoop whey with water

12.00 pm - grilled chicken kebabs with sauteed veggies (wifey's recipe)

2:00 pm - 2 scoops protein shake
4:00 pm - carrots with almond butter
7:00 pm - 


Total:
Calories: 2051
Carbs:238
Fat:34
Protein:240

Challenges

1. Motivating myself to get up @ 6.30 am

2. Struggling to finish wod...sucked.

Accomplishments

1. Another day without slipping :-)

Day 2 of 21 (Cardio On Empty Stomach)

Happy Valentines Day!

The Workout-
Today was cardio day. If you think crossfit puts your through a wringer, try running empty stomach for 45 minutes. Whats worse is doing this workout a day after crossfit, when you feel the soreness the most :-)

Anyways, woke up @ 7.20, got ready, grabbed my water bottle and ran down to the gym for a 45 min jog on the treadmill @ 5.2 mph. First 10 minutes were tough and boring. Pulled out my handy phone, set it to my fav Iron Maiden playlist and started cranking it up each time I lost focus. Before I knew it, I was 45 minutes deep, 3.7 miles in and ready to call it a wrap. Yay!

If you're wondering why run empty stomach. Its been proven, if you do cardio empty stomach first thing in the morning, your body uses fat as its primary source of energy. I recommend taking some BCAA to prevent the body from going catabolic. I took a scoop of scivation xtend. The reviews are not encouraging, but I wanted to try it, see if it helped.

The Meals
9am - 1 scoop whey with whater
9.30am - 2 egg omelette with banana.
lunch - chicken curry with brown rice.
Dinner - sauteed veggies with chicken. I picked up the colonel kababs from the local halal store which is a decent substitute

Day 1 of 21 (Crossfit WOD)

The Workout - 
Woke up @ 6am, ate my banana and headed to crossfit amped for the daily wod. Its been over 2 weeks since I've been to the box, so came out with some cuts, bruises, soreness and a great feeling of accomplishment. Here's what they made us do today
3 Rounds for Reps of:

1 minute of Row for Calories
1 minute of Hang Power Cleans 75lbs
1 minute of Kettlebell Swings 35lbs
Rest 1 minute

Meals

6.15 am - banana + water

8.15 am - pro oatmeal

11.30 am - grilled chicken with spinach, brussel sprouts and broccoli

12:30 pm - chobani greek yogurt
3:30 pm - 2 scoops ON whey in water
8.00 pm - 2 cups chicken curry, 2 wheat rotis, 1/2 cup cooked brown rice.
10.30pm - 1 scoop casein

Total:
Calories: 2051
Carbs:238
Fat:34
Protein:240

Challenges

1. Waking up @ 6 am sucked.

2. Eating oatmeal as opposed to a nice omelette...sucked

3. Struggling to finish wod...sucked.

Accomplishments

1. Cut my finger from a tin foil that kept bleeding for about 20 min. I still managed to keep the barbell from slipping ;-)

2. My first oatmeal breakfast in over 6 months :-)

3. Made it to work on time :-)
4. hit the productivity wall @ 4 and was tempted to get my sugar fix (masala chai). Went for green tea + mint tea instead...yay!

Disclaimer and the NO-List

I"m no medical professional or a certified trainer. Just an average Joe who likes to learn by making mistakes and carving his own paths. If you choose to follow this, do so at your own risks. I do ask that you follow the NO-LIST strictly. It is there for a reason, and the reason is your good health!

1. The NO NO NO List - NO sodas, sports drinks, candies, baked goods, sweetened tea or coffee - NO Alcohol - NO Eating after 8PM - NO Fried Foods, baked goods - NO white stuff (white bread, white rice, muffins etc) - NO fatty salad dressings like blue cheese, cesar or thousand island

2. Eat before your workout unless otherwise specified (example cardio on empty stomach)

3. Buy these Postworkout supplements - ON whey protein, ON Casein protein, fish oil, multi vitamin

4. Limit dairy, if you must go with Fat free - milk, cottage cheese, yogurt

5. Get minimum 8 hour sleep

6. Drink minimum 125 oz water

7. Vegetarians may replace chicken with tofu

8. All exercises can be conducted at home. Please use good shoes, knee pads and yoga mats where applicable

9. Most will follow the exercise Level 1 journal. If you want to consider Level 2, please talk to me

10. Most dinners may be replaced with spinach salad + grilled chicken

What Is The Challenge?

At the crux, the challenge is
1. 21 days of eating clean (mostly paleo, but some grains and dairy included)
2. 21 days of intense workouts (based on workouts from P90X, Insanity, HIIT and Personal learning)
3. 21 days without alcohol, smoking and living stress free.

See the details here
21 Day Workout Details

Why The Challenge?

My life coach once told me, human mind is like the muscle. To grow you must push harder and take on challenges bigger than the ones before. For several months after my previous challenge Insanity challenge, I've been wanting to take on something bigger. After an extremely stressful week coupled with Binge eating, irregular sleep patterns, I've decided to embark on a small but significant journey to transforming myself again.

Motivated by friends and inspired particularly by a few, I've come up with a 21 day workout challenge. The challenge involves eating clean, working out every day, getting regular sleep and most importantly pushing through all the mental and physical obstacles that prevent us from meeting our goals.

My goal - beat the challenge and instill a sense of pride and accomplishment.