Its been a while since I’ve last written. I hope you all have been well. As I think back to the past long weeks with our Stay-At-Home order, I’ve seen tons of growth. When this all started out, I had a bad allergy outbreak. My throat was so sore I couldn’t swallow without lots of pain. I struggled teaching yoga classes since it hurt to talk. So I took a few days off from work. Then, the day I came back to work, Corona had started to take off and my Boss required me to work from home. I grabbed a few folders of work and my laptop and headed home. Never in my wildest dreams would I think it would be extended this long since the lockdown began.

To be honest, since this started out with me being sick, I was already in a sick mindset. If you know me, I’m still doing things when I’m sick since I feel good blood circulation and getting the lymph moving is important to health. Even if I’m just walking, light running, or even strength workouts, then that’s what I’m doing. I’m also taking hot Epsom salt baths and lots of soups. I don’t mess around when it comes to healing. It still took about a month for my seasonal allergy to be relieved.

The problem, when I started working from home, I wasn’t very focused. It was temporary, right? So I was making do with the time already expecting I wouldn’t be very productive. I was also working on a big contract so that kept me focused. But I wasn’t getting all the bang out of my bucket of time.

On the personal side, I was going about 3 days without a shower or shave. I wouldn’t really change clothes either. I was pretty gross. I chocked it up to being sick. But it was probably a little mental too. I was working out a little, but not very well. And I was eating like crazy. Every walk through the kitchen meant I stuffed something in my belly. After the first week, I realized I had to change something. I started into a more regular schedule of working out twice a day and taking a shower every day. I was lifting heavy stuff and I could feel strength and size increasing. I justified my eating as bulking. I even thought about reaching 200 pounds for the first time in my life. Then I’d cut back.

Native Americans are often predisposed to diabetes. Actually, I don’t know if I’d call it as much of a predisposition as a cultural lifestyle thing. But much of my family has been plagued with this disease. My younger brother and Dad both have type 2 diabetes. So as I was playing games about reaching 200 pounds, I started to think, "what if I got diabetes while playing this game?" And both of these close family members had heart attacks too. It was time to stop playing games. It was time to clean up my body and mind.

In the 2nd week of quarantine, my yoga studio, which had closed, also started broadcasting Zoom yoga classes and I was asked to take a day. So on Saturdays, I teach a 10am class. With my nearly 200# of bodyweight, I could really feel my yoga suffering. So two days later (the day after Easter), I decided to go strict [again]. I got back on the FatSecret app. Its one of many tools that I find incredible. I started tracking what I was eating. No more handfuls of GORP as I passed through the kitchen. No more eating a full plate of dinner then a full plate of leftovers the next day. No more adding a cheese Danish to my cart when I shopped for groceries. FatSecret hides no secrets. It tells the truth. And it also tells how many calories you burn with your various activities. I’ve been eating between 1,400 to 1,800 calories per day (kcal). I also try to include colorful veggies and healthy fats. I still try to restrict carbs and be a bit Keto. I feel better and have better clarity when I don’t have carbs (aka sugars) clouding my brain.

The other biggie is going back on the Zero app. I know most people can Intermittent Fast (IF) without a tool. But I find it helps me keep track. I’m an analytical person anyway. My minimum is 13 hours and I probably do that 80% of the time. Sometimes I fast up to 16 hours; not intentionally, but sometimes I’m just not hungry and I don’t eat right away. Now for people who Poo-Poo the idea of IF, its not about doing something that’s a fad. The bunny veggie people talk about eating many meals throughout the day. They say it keeps your metabolism up. That’s a crock!! For people predisposed to diabetes, its about constant insulin being cranked out through both eating frequently and eating carbs/sugars. The opposite is having big breaks in eating (IF) and very few carbs. That makes you more insulin sensitive and your system works properly. But IF also encourages fat burning because without glucose in your blood, your body turns to fats. And that’s an amazing side effect. Sometimes I’ll break my fast with something Keto, so I am really extending my insulin fast.

Now I haven’t even talked about working out. Kudos to you if you’ve made it this far. Like I said, I was doing 2 strength workouts a day the first weeks of quarantine. I was also following a split that was horizontal vs. vertical. Horizontal means things you do with your body parallel to the ground: bench press, flyes, bent over rows, cable rows, situps, back extensions… Vertical is: squats, deadlifts, overhead presses, dips, pullups. I still like this idea and maybe unintentionally follow this. I would always workout before I ate so I’m fully digested. I would do a strength workout before lunch and a CrossFit metcon before dinner.

So as I take you to current time and a few weeks of this, I’m 7.5 pounds lighter (maybe more since I haven’t weighed in for a couple days). I feel amazing. I am especially focused in the morning when I’m fasting and get so much of my work done. I’m doing a lot of yoga throughout the day. And my workouts are amazing. Before lunch, I do a fasted cardio of either weighted treadmill walking/running, ski erging, or rowing. Before dinner, I do a CrossFit workout. It follows this scheme:
Strength movement (Squat, deadlift, other). I try to stick to 10-20 mins.
Metcon – usually a 21-15-9 or AMRAP (as many reps a possible); 5-12 mins.
Accessory – often a skill movement or bodybuilding specific, <10 mins.

I have a Google Keep sheet on my phone. When I think of something or see something from YouTube or elsewhere, I jot it down on my workout list. I routinely review the list and move things I need to do right away to the top. Those ideas turn into workouts. I’ve had the best workouts of my life. I feel great. And I’m super productive. I’ll be happy to get back to the office, but I know what’s possible at home too. It has all been a growing process for me.

If you are at all curious about my day, this is how it looks:
Wake – yes by my Sleep App. It wakes me between 0445 – 0515 am.
Brush teeth, barefoot walk with dogs, coffee, watch news, social media.
0630 – work – usually reading, assimilation, the grind.
(frequent coffee breaks, loving my pups, get sunlight, fly my drone)
1130 – fasted cardio (if not a keto breakfast in the late morning)
Noon – eat with dogs & wife – often just a protein shake or salad.
1230 – work; or power nap 10-15 mins, then work
1530 – post work chill, drink iced tea, watch motivational YouTube fitness.
1600 – CrossFit workout; shave/shower; fresh clothes.
1700 – healthy dinner; often begin fast, or have a snack early, then fast.
p.m. – watch TV, yoga wheel, lacrosse ball self massage, yoga stretching.
2030 – go to bed; read either smartphone with red screen or use red lens headlamp to read a book. No white or blue light.