Get Hype!

So if you haven't noticed I haven't written here in, let's be real. Ages. I wish I could say that I am here with amazing news of change. That is not the story you will hear today. Unfortunately I have made zero progress. I mean sure I lost a few here and there but always gained them back. I writing now in an attempt to kick start myself again. So we'll see if talking or in my case writing will accomplish that.

Xbox Fitness, Can High Scores and Stat. Tracking Change My World?

So recently (this morning) I decided to try out the app I downloaded a bit ago called Xbox Fitness. I nifty little free app that may change my life, in a good way. It is what it sounds like it is a fitness app that if you have Xbox Live Gold almost all of the workouts are free, with more to be added later. Today I popped into ten minute cardio workout, just to see what it's all about. I will say it was a little more advanced than my body was ready for. I got to about 6 min of jumping and lunging, and moving before my lungs were feeling it. I had to stop and breathe, since going from a sedentary state to just going for it was rough. While I was doing my cardio thing, I was doing well score wise. Yes the game scores you if do the moves properly and tracks your body thanks to Kinect 2.0, and the more you do correctly the more your score multiplier goes up. Even though it's an app it scores you like a game. After you finish doing anything you can use Kinect to even check your heart rate which is cool when it worked (had to try it twice for it to detect my heart beat) I guess that could be useful if you are into that. Once I finished and got some water and took a breather I checked out the other videos they currently had on the app. They ranged from P90X to Insanity to the one I did one of the 10 min workouts. I will say most of them do seem less friendly do beginners, I may be wrong I looked but didn't dig too deep into it. I will have to check and see if there is a level setting so I don't jump into stuff well above my physical level of activity.

I also downloaded the demo for Zumba World Party, which the demo isn't that great in teaching but fun to try. I did do really well having like a 77 Zumba combo, I guess that means I was hitting the moves properly. Based on what I saw I may have to look into picking that up in the future. Since Zumba is fun and the music just makes you want to move.

One thing I didn't mention is that I earned achievements for getting up and moving. Which being an achievement whore that I am I was giddy to see I can get those for bettering myself. Throw in the fact that it keeps track of what I did and do, and shows my current scores for each workout as a motivator to go for higher scores, I can see that pushing the gamer in me to do better each time. Which should in turn make the body better as I go for the higher scores.

Below you can see an example of the interface I took an image from GiantBomb.com since I didn't take any when I played.

The one shown is from Insanity. As you can see it shows you to the right of the workout. Below that is shows the progress bar for your score, the better you do the greener it gets. It also shows the star count for the current session. It even has little motivational notes up there. So not bad for a free thing on the system, I know people are talking about the games but this little gem may be a game changer of sorts.

Old Habits Hit Like A Truck

Picture it you are walking through a store contemplating what to get, as you walk among the vast choices, you come to a realization; it's all bad for you. Everything my eye turned to was no good. I literally walked around the store with a jar or pasta sauce for what felt like an hour. Everywhere I turned I saw something that looked delicious but was going to be bad for me. I had what amounts to a mini panic attack and went back into old food habits. Instead of making smart choice I let myself fall victim to the stuff I have tried hard to avoid. What did I get? Well I am sad to say I got little party pizza's and some soda. Yes my little streak of being soda free is over, boy that didn't last long for me to cave. I felt gross drinking it, I really did. I felt bloated and unpleasant. Makes you wonder why I would even drink the stuff, the old habits die hard and this one came roaring back. I wish I would have just walked out of the store instead of buying food that is poison for my goals. I did not though instead I took a step backward in the form of a little cheesy pizza with a soda as disgusting dressing. The only thing about this that I can be happy about is the fact I only bought a 20oz one and not a fridge pack or 2 liter. So the bad decision stays a harsh reminder how easily I can succumb to the temptation, instead of a fleeting bad choice that sits in my fridge mocking me. I am not happy with this turn of events after I was doing better. I hope that I can steer this ship back on course and avoid the metaphorical iceberg that will sink the SS Josh. All ahead full!

Before Pics, So excited!

So it is that time, time for the before pictures of this journey of mine. If you don't want to see the disgusting mass that is my current state then why did you click this? As you can tell I took them myself since I don't trust anyone enough to see me in this form. I may not be excited for this but the best part of taking before pictures is that there will be an after set. So lets get this over with shall we so we can move on.

Doing it Reddit Gone Wild style we'll start with on, then off.

On

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And Drum Roll..................................Off

I know gross right.

How about a side view??

I wish I could smile so the after pictures would look somewhat similar expression wise, but looking at myself in the full length mirror I saw no reason to smile. As I said in order to get after pictures there needs to be before ones. As you can see 320 pounds does not suit me all that well, which is why is needs to go.

See you on the other side...... or when I post again!

Video Post?? Be Cool Everyone! It's Just A Test!

Remember it's just a test nothing substantial except for maybe my glorious face in motion, I know technology crazy right? So lets see how it goes.

Video Entries?

So I am tossing around the thought of doing video entries on this in the near future, as a way to get more out and save my fingers some work. It's up in the air as I have some kinks to work out with that, namely my speech speed. I talk very fast, faster when excited. I don't see it as a problem (I mean I can understand me) but people I know tell me to slow down constantly. So if i can curve my speed to regular human levels you may see video entries on this as the time passes. Don't be surprised to see some in the coming months.

1 Week Down, Not A Lot To Jump For Joy About. Well Maybe One Thing....Oh and Elysium!

So here we are just about the end of the first week of my self improvement project. I wish I could write about little victories and triumphs of self that I have made, but alas I have not improved much. I did Zumba that one time so far. No reason why I didn't do it every day or every other. have started to establish a little better eating habits, not great yet as instead of eating junk I barely eat now but maybe two meals a day. I know that's not healthy obviously but other side of the coin overeating I have not done since I started. I ate a little too much here and there but that's more misportioning my food. I was able to buy groceries without succumbing to any crap. Although I did find ot that some food labels are deviously deceptive. Example I bought these Marie Calendar pot pies, front of the box says like 581 calories. I am like score still tasty and should fill me up. Turns out the box is a two portion meal! So eating one is a good 1,000 cals. admittedly I was taken aback by this, as I was happy I found smart alternatives yet still found a way to almost ruin it. I doubt I will be able to eat half of it if I cook it, because lets face it thing looks delicious its even got bacon for crying out loud. While I was looking at salad stuff since i do enjoy salad from time to time, but I am no rabbit. I glanced over and saw a pizza. Damn you Walmart for placing cheesy goodness by the produce. I am not going to lie I strolled over, my mouth watered slightly as I was looking at the goods. I saw it the moment I walked over, the six cheese stuffed crust goddess beckoning me to grab her in the worst way. It was as if it knew I was about done with my shopping and saw room in my cart for it. I picked up the box, thinking to myself it can't hurt to cheat this once right? I flipped over the box and read the cal. information and laughed. Since I knew how I was with pizza and knew I would never be able to just eat one slice (at least not yet! goals baby!) I counted the calories I would ingest if I bought the tasty treat. All totaled it was something around 3,000 calories. My eyes got big for a second, I laughed and put the box back saying nooooooooooo. I didn't think it would have been so bad but where you add all the cheeses both topping and crust it gets bad. So I celebrated that little victory as I walked to the checkout, with a little pep in my step for I knew that I had chosen smart options over greasy delicious bad ones. I admit I did cheat a little at checkout as I was so hungry from only having a bowl of cereal and banana all day, that I bought a candy bar while I waited and devoured it while I loaded my truck. It was so good but so bad, but not as bad as the pizza would have been so that's a small victory that I can plant my flag in.

On a side note I have been good with my lack of soda, as of writing this I am soda free!! I feel better I don't look any better but physically I feel better so that's a plus. It has been tough going sticking with water for the most part adding in some crystal light from time to time. But I have been good so far not a drop of the devils nectar has touched my sweet sweet lips. Haha another win for the week.

Oh on a note to the side of that one up there, I know too many notes right? Anyway I picked up Elysium while I was shopping and sweet damn was it a great flick. Neil Blomkamp is starting to  to become my favorite director ever. With his first movie District 9 being so good, his follow up was superb. If you haven't seen it I for sure wont spoil anything but its good go see it. Rent it or buy it like I did either way experience it. I went in blind to a degree (I did see trailers a while back) and wow it's just good. Watch it!!!

So that's it for this week, small victories but nothing I would run down the street shouting. I have to think that building on these smaller victories will lead to greater success so we will see how it all pans out as the days continue to tick by.

Josh Out!