Week 9 Update

Hey all,

This is my week 9 DDPYoga update. The last week has been an interesting one. After the hype and excitement of last weeks 60 day update, and recovering from Easter. This was probably the toughest week I have had in a long time.

Doing my workouts wasn't an issue. Week 9 of the beginner DDPY workout program is certainly a step up from the first 8 weeks. It's a great workout, and I killed all of them this week. So from the stand point of exercise and staying active, it was a great week.

This week was killer when it came to staying on track with my nutrition. For the first time in a while now, I had some seriously bad cravings for some seriously bad food. With a little timely support from some very encouraging people, I made it through without a slip up.

It was not easy. The truth is, nothing worth having is easy. I know that. I also know that my will in that department is getting stronger. Which is possibly the coolest revelation in this journey so far.
I tend to talk an awful lot about DDP Yoga on this blog, and rightfully so, but I can't stress enough just how important nutrition has been. I have always had horrible nutrition. The things that I ate, and the sheer amount of food I could, and often would consume.

There have been a lot of people that have asked Amy and I how we have changed our food. I just want to touch on that for this blog.

I can't stress enough that we are not on a DIET. Diets DIE.(ThanksDDP) It's true, typical diets are not sustainable long term. They are restrictive, and in many cases they eliminate one certain thing from your diet.

There is no magic pill that you can take. Outside of taking a daily vitamin, we don't use any supplements at this point.

It is NOT easy. It's hard and it sucks.

We have made our changes to our diet gradually. The first month we didn't actually change what we ate at home. We just simply stopped drinking all soda, and stopped eating fast food. After January was over, the results were pretty amazing. From that point on, we just started swapping in healthier options for each meal we made. For spaghetti we started by switching to lean ground beef, and whole wheat noodles. Tacos were changed to chicken first, then we doubled the amount of fresh ingredients we used, and cut back on the cheese and sour cream.

The point I'm trying to make, is that it has been a very gradual process. It has worked tremendously for us. We never could have just made all the changes we have in one week. We literally would change something little every week. We continue to find ways to cut some of the junk out. We no longer eat ground beef at all. Almost everything we eat has either ground turkey, or some type of chicken. We eat a ridiculously awesome amount of fresh fruits and veggies. Amy has started learning how to cook with fresh herbs and spices. So we can eliminate pre-made seasonings. So we know EXACTLY what we are putting in our food.

I eat close to NO processed foods. My body is thankful for that.

Just know this. As hard as it will be, you CAN do it. You just have to make the honest decision
to OWN YOUR LIFE.

I continue to be amazed at the progress that Amy and I have both made in the 4 months since we changed our nutrition. As amazing is DDP Yoga is(and it really really is) the results I have seen would not be possible if I didn't face down my addiction to food.

Just like any addict, I will continue to fight against those urges. After the last week, I feel like I may be one step closer to beating it forever.

Thanks to everyone who has been, and continues to be so supportive of me. You all have no idea just how much it helps.

Until next time.

-BigMatt