© Tim Pannell

We’ve had company for 8 of the last 9 weeks and it finally happened.  I caught my 2 year old nephew’s cold.  I was really sick most of last week.

I did P90X Kenpo X on Monday and that was it for the week.  The rest of the time I was just one big coughing, sneezing, runny nosed slob.

My wife Kim and I got back into P90X yesterday.  My brother in law Jon came over as well.  We ended up doing P90X Chest & Back.

It felt like I took more like a month off.  I was really drained of strength and energy yesterday.  I wound up pulling something near my right shoulder blade……probably over compensating for the muscle pull I’ve had in my right shoulder and tricep for over the last month.

I did a bunch of soccer and lacrosse images with my 2 sons last week so I wasn’t completely exercise free.  Even though I roll around a lot on the ground and move heavy equipment and lights all over the place……its still not P90X.

I’m going to be doing P90X plyometrics this morning by myself.  My wife had to head off to work early today.  It’s so much easier and more fun to work out with her……at least that will be something I can look forward to doing tomorrow.

I’ve been reading a lot about nutrition lately and am aiming at having a better defined diet over the coming weeks.  I’ll share what I come up with once I come up with it.

P90X Reviews – Spent Last Week Sick is a post from: Losing weight with P90X

Well……now we know why my sister in law was having trouble breathing the last time that she, my wife and I did P90X together a couple of months ago.  She was just diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer.  She never smoked a day in her life, she runs about 8 miles a day….5-6 days a week, lifted weights on a regular basis and taught PE.

The idea of her getting lung cancer is preposterous.  She is in good spirits and will give it all she has when it comes to overcoming this disease.  The odds aren’t great, but the statistics for this disease are overloaded with people who are 60 + years old, ex smokers, diabetics, drinkers, overweight…basically really unhealthy people.

I prefer to look at her as though she were a female version of Lance Armstrong.  She is strong, she is confident and I am convinced that she will find a way to manage this disease and live a long and healthy life in spite of what she’s going through right now.

This does give me pause as I think about how overweight I am and how fortunate I’ve been up to this point in my life to not have any serious health issues…..other than having really bad knees.

I’ve been struggling the last couple of weeks since Mel was diagnosed with this crap.  I feel good about her ability to rise above this…..she can do hard things, but I feel lousy about my ability to accomplish much of anything lately.  I’ve been playing racquetball for a few hours a couple of times each week, but I keep gaining weight.

I did the P90X Chest & Back DVD today, by myself.  My wife’s schedule is still not real conducive to working out together.  Eventually we’ll figure it out and get into a routine.  I haven’t been sleeping that well lately and have struggled to get up early enough to workout with her.

I’ve picked up more weight over the last month and am feeling again like a human blob….not so much fun, but it is what it is.

Business has picked up a little bit….at least there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.  These days, I have to hold onto whatever little I can find to be positive about.  It’s been a rough year and a half……time for things to improve.

I really thought that by now I would have reached my goal of weighing 210, but I’m worse off than I was…that’s discouraging.  This last month I’ve dipped into the comfort food and with the added stress of Melanie’s situation it seems like I’m automatically gaining weight.

It’s always been frustrating to me in the past when I would workout out regularly and eat right for several months and not really see any results and then in the space of a couple of weeks of not being vigilant I can pick up 10 to 15 pounds.  That’s what I’ve done this month.

I guess at the moment….I’m angry because I’ve gained back a bunch of weight……..but mostly, I’m angry that someone so healthy and fit as my sister in law could be affected by this bastard of a disease.  I learned a long time ago that life isn’t fair.  My folks getting divorced on my 9th birthday wasn’t fair.  I stopped expecting fairness when I was a kid, but this……this just pisses me off.  This has no business messing with my sister.

She should be the last person in the world to have to go through this.  Her situation does put things into perspective.  I have no right to gripe about my struggle to get my weight into a respectable zone.  She’s the one with the real struggle.  My problems are miniscule in comparison.  I have no right to be frustrated about my own situation.  I have to take control of myself and make better choices……no one to blame for past failures but myself.

So I did my one hour of P90X Chest & Back……that’s the beginning of my latest attempt.

I cannot fail this time.  I have to be strong for Melanie.  I have to get back my good attitude.  I have to do this for my wife, my kids, my family and for me.

Melanie’s in the hospital right now……she had an operation to keep her chest cavity from filling up with fluid.  She hopes to get home in the next couple of days.  We’re fortunate to be living in a large home that has plenty of room for all the family that has come and will continue to come and show their support for Mel.  I’m blessed to have such a wonderful caring family that truly loves each other.  We will all pull together and help Melanie however we can to overcome this cancer.

P90X-Getting Back to Basics is a post from: Losing weight with P90X



© Tim Pannell Photography

Today my wife and I did the P90X Chest & Back workout together.  We both love it!

It has been a rare occurrence for us to be able to do P90X together . Her work schedule has been really difficult this last month.

She has to be at work by 6 am so she hasn’t been able to do any of the P90X workouts for over a month.  I haven’t been able to consistently workout for over a month either.

My big problems have been health related for the most part.  I did have 2 weeks when I was shooting photo assignments and was away from home and did a poor job of staying on top of my workouts.

I did push ups and crunches , but that was about all.

Once I got home i tried getting back inot the flow, but struggled this last week.  I finally went and played racquetball on Tuesday night just to try to jump start myself back into doing something physical.

It was fun to play again, although I pushed myself too hard and pulled a muscle on my right side.

It felt better this morning so I decided to put in the P90X Chest & Back DVD and do it with my wife.

Her sister can’t workout for a while since she just had her gall bladder removed.

It was nice to be working out with my wife again….it just makes the whole thing more fun to do.  We both noticed a drop in our ability to do the exercises.

My numbers dropped off by about 25% on half of the exercises and stayed the same on the rest, but I was a lot more out of breath than I was a month ago when I was doing P90X on a more consistent basis.

I know I will be sore tomorrow, but it’s a good sore.  I love feeling the muscles in my body and these workouts really do bring that about.

Kim might be changing jobs in the next week and we’re looking forward to being able to do P90X together every morning.

It helps us both with our overall attitude and well being.  We both have better outlooks when we’re working out and the benefits show up in just about every aspect of our lives.

Stress is reduced, we get some valuable time to spend together and everything else seems to fall into place.

I’m looking forward to next week……I really do love the P90X workouts!

P90X – Chest & Back – I Love This Workout is a post from: Losing weight with P90X

© Tim Pannell Photography

So I’m working out in public the other day and some guy yells out the window as he drives by…..”Hey FLABZILLA!” After I showed him he was “#1″ in my book………I started thinking.

Why should anybody listen to me about getting in shape? I’m still 60 lbs. overweight at the moment. Why listen to me?

I’ve actually seen this weight issue from both sides of the fence. I’ve been 185 lbs., with 6% body fat with washboard abs. I could eat anything and everything and not gain an ounce, even when I wanted to.

I’ve also weighed as much as 310 with 48% body fat with no abs in sight. I couldn’t lose weight no matter how little I ate or how much I exercised.

I know the frustrations caused by excess weight as well as the major roadblocks that keep someone in that forever heavy “state of mind.”

What was the main difference between the healthy me and the heavy me? It was attitude and expectations.

When I was fit I worked out because it was fun. I just flat out enjoyed it. No pressure, no life or death struggle, just the enjoyment of sweating and straining and trying to get stronger and faster.

When I got heavy it was a slow downward spiral that got more and more out of control as time went on.  My attitude changed. I turned working out into a life or death struggle

I was easily frustrated when I didn’t see immediate results and that caused me to slide backwards more often than not.  My self image took a beating. I was negative more often than I was positive.

I stopped believing in myself and got to a point where I actually reveled in my own grand mal sense of imminent failure.  Let me tell ya, this is no place to find yourself.

What turned things around?  I guess it came down to waking up one day and insisting that this just wasn’t good enough for me.  I did a lot of soul searching about who I am, not what I looked like.

I’m more than just my weight or body fat %. I have an amazing life, a great wife, 5 amazing kids, a great mother and sister. I’ve had a storybook career where I’ve met and worked with some absolutely amazing people.

I have great friends whom I love that actually care about me. There is, quite frankly much more to me than this stupid weight issue I’ve been playing around with for the last couple of decades.

I have turned a corner in my life. I have turned a corner with my health and fitness as well. I am no longer allowing my weight to define me as a person.

I am working out once again because it’s fun, not because I have to. It’s made all the difference in the world.

I’ve dropped over 8% body fat in the last 6 weeks, that’s over 26 lbs. of fat that I’ve dropped. I’m training my body to burn fat more efficiently for fuel. I’m eating healthier more organic meals. Life is good.

Today I rode the bike for half an hour and followed it up with the P90X workout. I held my own pretty well today. It’s a great improvement over 6 weeks ago when I was struggling to just breath.

Sure there are still days that I can get frustrated when the numbers on the scale don’t correspond with the effort I put in the previous day, but I’m no longer working out just to hit certain numbers.

I’m in this for the long haul. I’m not just feeling stronger, I’m getting stronger and I have more energy than I did just a few short weeks ago. It’s a fun ride and I’m enjoying every minute of it.

Thank you condron.us and everybody else for your support over these last several weeks, it has made all the difference in the world, you’re great friends!

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Tim Pannell – Big Fat Mama’s Boy! is a post from: Losing weight with P90X