June 2020 Ramblings: The Dystopian Present

Been a while since my last update. Nothing much has changed. Now that we're soon to be entering the month of June I'll say that 2020 has pretty much been a waste of a year so far. As a pro-teacher here in China, I can extend that to say the 2019/2020 school year has been a waste of a year so far to be truthful. Luckily, I've still been getting paid all along which can't be said for everyone.

As I'm writing this I am more or less on my ninth month of doing DDPY continuous. I started around this time last year but missed a lot during the summer break transition from working in the UAE to China and then a big adjustment related to that. All in all, I'm afraid it's not the magic pill that I was hoping it would be. I intend to stick with it as I see real "non-scalable" results--I can do a downward dog with both heels on the ground. I can do a broken hood ornament--which is very difficult. I can really do almost any of the moves or a modification thereof. Just today I tried a little Les Mills Combat--which I haven't done in the year I switched to DDPY and I can totally hit round house kicks and side kicks with both legs which even as a twenty-something I was only able to really do with my right leg. Still not pretty, but I can totally do it. Unfortunately, I'm still not losing the weight and that's what I really want to do. The problem is, has been and remains the diet. For June I'm getting back on the horse yet again.

The variant I'm going for this time is to pace myself for six weeks. I have a TOEFL class that I'm stuck teaching for six weeks. My daughter has a ballet class that lasts six weeks and I will be moving to Beijing in about eight weeks--I expect the last two weeks to be hectic as well as miserable whereas the prior six will be merely miserable. During this time I will use all of the willpower that I can muster to avoid:

1. Sweets--desserts of all kinds. Colas of all kinds. Even limiting my fruit or juice intake. I may still slip in some Peanut Butter here and there, but since that's a trigger for me, I will have to do so carefully.

2. Dairy--Again, pizza is a trigger food, cheese, ice-cream, all of these things. I don't drink much milk out here in China, so I can avoid it that way, but I'm not even going to add powdered milk to anything if I can help it.

3. Gluten--primarily to avoid drinking my calories through beer and to keep away from the bread and pasta. If I can't fully eliminate it from my diet--crackers with my chili, noodles in the soup here in China, or a breadstick here and there is a compromise I'm willing to make.

4. Fast Food--I plan to completely eliminate for six weeks. I'll go to a restaurant or let my wife fix a hamburger for me if I must, but for these six weeks none of the chain fast-food shops will be visited.

5. General Snacks--What wasn't covered above--chips mostly.

I'm going to try to double my workouts...one in the morning and one in the evening. As before with DDPY I want to hit the wake-up every day even if it's a day off. I'm also going to try to incorporate the Les Mills Combat program here and there. Finally, I intend to walk down the stairs every morning when I leave the apartment. I did that on a recent fire drill and it made me about as tired as the DDPY routine does. I dare not try to climb up every afternoon, but you never know where things may lead--I live on the 24th floor BTW.

Last but not least, melatonin. I've thought about it and even said it time and time again that if I can't sleep--due to my empty belly and love of food--that I should take melatonin and knock myself out. This time I'm going to do it. It's not supposed to be addictive and it does put me to sleep rather quickly own the occasions that I've taken it.

...and that's it. I'm going to try to update the blog daily even if it's just to repeat the same thing time and time again. I won't publish daily entries until the end of the experiment, but  I'll do a Twitter update daily primarily for myself, but I sometimes get a response or two that helps inspire me to keep going. Today's weigh in: 117.2 KG...258.38177 pounds...but that's only 18.4243 stone

DDPY: Beginner Program Week 13

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm not the most disciplined blogger when it comes to doing these things, and they are as much for me as they are for my loyal 15-20 viewers that I normally get. Writing just helps me to focus my scatter brain--publishing it gives me some accountability, and no topic requires accountability more so than my weight loss journey.

For nearly a year I've been working on the DDPY program. I really like it and I think it's going to be the way I finally make it to my goals. This report documents my results from the current campaign which only began in January 2020 when I bought the app. I have been working consistently with the program using the old videos and the free work outs DDP broadcasts here and there since September 2019 and off and on since last spring. Before that I've tried all kinds of programs with limited success. At one point going through the Insanity program  I actually lost--to hear the scales tell it--between 70 and 80 pounds, but it never looked like the dramatic weight loss that it might sound like. I think I was what real body builders call "skinny fat". I've long since gained that back, I don't think I've gained any additional. My body seems to have a hard time changing for good or ill. I have had a pot belly for as long as I can remember no matter what exercise  program I'm doing or not doing. There's an old American presidential debate wherein one of the burns is "...it's the economy, stupid!" well in my case "...it's the food, stupid!" I can at least identify the issue, the problem is doing something about it.

There is one more issue--at least one--that I see as a block to my goals. That's the teaching lifestyle. I work normally in what I would call three to four month chunks throughout the year before having a longer than average holiday. For the most part we get a winter break, a spring break, and an extra long summer break. The point being I usually behave during my working time, but then it falls apart big time especially during the holidays and summer months--Spring is usually only a week for teachers, so I don't fall off the wagon as much, but you'd be surprised. The break wouldn't be so bad, but when you come back from the break it also takes time to get back on track--at times, it's taken up to a month for me to ramp things back up...you start doing good again....then, here comes another break. I don't know if you've noticed, but at least for me a month of down time will go by in the blink of an eye vs. one week of consistent exercise that drags by wherein I think I've achieved some wondrous goal...and I expect amazing results from it. Again, good to be able to identify the problem, but how to address it is the issue. BTW I haven't been a school teacher all my life, I've found my civilian job even more detrimental to a regular workout schedule. Maybe if you were independently wealthy the workouts would be easier, but I imagine then you'd always be out enjoying your money and would never come back from vacation mode.

Beginner Program is Thirteen Weeks:

My weight stayed a consistent 113-114 KG. If my stomach is completely empty I can get it down to 112. To keep you from having to convert--that's still on the right side of 250 pounds but just barely. I have been working out 76% of the time--that is 60 out of 79 calendar days. Keep in mind the programs do offer days off, so I'll probably never have 100% and that I count a day as being successful as long as I at least do the 'Wake-up'. I try to follow the prescribed workout for each day, but often I will work out a bit on the 'day off' and I also switch out the prescribed workout here and there. Diet has been horrible. With my self-assessment I rated it...28% eating properly. I will also confuse everyone here by pointing out this progress assessment is "homework" given at the beginning of week 13, so technically I still have a week to turn things around--I'm including the last couple of weeks from December to do the full 13 week stats.

Positives:  (no-scalable) more flexible--although for a fat guy I was already pretty flexible, consistent exercise,  clothes fitting more loosely, overall better posture and focus. Stamina/Cardio seems better but it is inconsistent. Keeping my diet/exercise journal updated. Semi-regular accountability on Twitter--if not in the blog. One big thing was last Christmas we went to Disneyland HK and I fit on all of the rides. No walk of shame for me--which has happened at Six Flags a time or two.

Negatives: The scale. The dietary lapses. Sometimes I don't have common sense. I don't think too many people stop between work outs for a BBQ sandwich, but I have and more than once. I think it was French toast during a morning session. Very Bad. Drinking my calories.

To Do: Everything is about the big health picture with DDPY not just the scale. There are many things that I need to do. Redouble the dieting effort. DDP does no gluten and no dairy himself. Can't say I can do that, but I always wanted to try at least a month and see if it made a difference. I still need the heart monitor. I'm just going to get the Apple Watch, but I need to make sure it's in English so I can use it. Kind of risky buying in China. I listened to and read DDP's own suggested material during the beginner program, but there are several inspirational and informative movies that I haven't watched and I really need to do that for the emotional and mental game that goes along with the program.

Summary: I think it's a good start and when I go to intermediate for the next 13 weeks I really want to to focus on what I'm eating and drinking. I am keeping the food journal but I need to be deliberate with it and write these things down before I eat them. Just like you say out loud when you are formatting a hard drive, I need to say out loud--"I'm eating a Big Mac. This puts me further from my goal" and similar before I eat it. Even if I do eat the thing, at least I've fully thought it through and didn't just stick it in my mouth.

Onward and Upward--who knows when I'll blog again, but I'm consistently on Twitter. The next update on DDPY might not be for another 13 weeks.

Chinese New Year--Year of the Rat

It is a tradition around Chinese New Year to give out red envelopes--usually with money inside of them--well, this past Thursday, I received a beige envelope--not with money inside--but, with a letter of intent. The letter consisted of my current employer's non-intent to renew my contract when it ends in July. To their credit, they did give me this much notice and didn't outright let me go before the break, but I can't say that it was pleasing nor a surprise to be honest. They should have never hired me for a position that I was not qualified for. I never pad my resume, so they knew what they were getting, I, on the other hand, feel a bit blindsided. At any rate, I still appreciate that they gave me a chance. I was undecided about going for another year in a position that was above my skill level anyway. My employer merely made the decision for me. Sticking with DDPY, you have to live 90%--nothing I can do about whether or not the employer likes me or what I do, I'm only responsible for my work ethic which they can say nothing negative about--and be truthful. Upward and onward I suppose, but I'm totally undecided about which direction this entails. It might be time to wrap up international travel and head back home.

So, on the DDPY front, I continue to be excellent in the workouts having gone maybe 17 or 18 days in a row as I'm typing. The diet is still more miss than hit. I have three weeks off for this Chinese New Year, so I'm going to try my hardest to get things in line while I'm away from distractions--here's the plan:

Two DDPY sessions per day.
No sugar.
No beer.
No fast food--hard to type that one.

Can't expect to do this beyond the three weeks, so I'm happy just to take the one session today, but if I can do this for three weeks, who knows what kind of amazing results I can get. 

2020--New Year...New Me?...maybe?

I just realized that I haven't posted a blog entry since before Halloween '19...and not you see by the clock on the wall that it's suddenly 2020. I guess the first update is that I did finish my DDPaDay workouts fairly strongly and have continued to work right along. It's been a solid four months.  Keep in mind--as mentioned in my earlier entries--looks to the contrary, there have been years--literal YEARS--where I was practically Mr. No Days Off, but nothing has really ever come of it. I hold food squarely accountable.

DDPY seems to be different. Nothing succeeds like success and although I'm far from the finish line, I can see myself getting stronger and my clothes are fitting better. I was always pretty flexible for a fat guy, but I'm even more flexible now. So, I imagine if I can do these things while still eating like a guy on his first day out of prison/last day before he goes back then what better results will I see when I start watching the diet?

So for January 2020--a mere 27 days before my 46th birthday as I'm typing this--I'm taking responsibility--if not outright control--over my diet. The journal--which I loathe to keep--will be hanging around my neck like an albatross. The way DDP suggests food accountability is to journal everything and if you eat something bad you write it in ALL CAPS. You also write it and therefore own it before you eat or drink it. It's like before you format a computer drive you must say out loud--I AM ERASING THIS AND I"M NOT GETTING IT BACK--for me I must say and write I AM CHOOSING TO EAT A DONUT RAT?HER THAN IMPROVE MYSELF.

So what's this diet going to look like. Well, for this month I'm just eliminating sweets--food and beverage--beer, fast food and other snacks. I'll try this up until my birthday. The next step would be to  get rid of the dairy or gluten. Final step would be to get rid of what remained--either dairy or gluten. I'll be doing it slowly and measuring each step to see if the reward is greater than the sacrifice.

Although I've managed to stick with exercise programs long term and even read through the Bible last year, I've never really given myself a real chance with a diet. I've never gone three consecutive months and I want to see what would happen. I'll also be continuing the DDPY exercise program, on which I'm somewhere between beginner and intermediate at the moment. 

#DDPaDay 19-24 out of 31

Alright...the month is wrapping up, so I'm sad to say that I'm not going to pull off the no-gluten/no-dairy in any significant way this month. :( I am however elated to say that we're only seven days outside of November when I can try that half of the experiment again. I can also state emphatically that I have more than stuck to the beginner program for DDPY as far as the exercising goes. I'm probably one of the more bendy fat guys you're likely to meet, but unfortunately still a fat guy at the moment.

One of the more challenging aspects of working and living in China is that I'm doin' a whole lot of the former and not nearly enough of the latter. I haven't taken a day off from DDPY since the last entry and at the very least I do the "wake up" and "energy" and/or "fat burner". "Red Hot Core" came in last week and the first "Below the Belt" comes in tomorrow. I also work the free on YouTube "Sweating and Swearing" whenever I can. You may notice that I have deviated from my usual format and have gone to an even looser summary of my exploits. This is only because my internet service is sporadic at best and it happens to be kickin' right now, but I don't have my work out calendar near me. I write each day exactly what I do, but I can't always update it.

Goals:

Get the DDPY App and Use it--should be doable by November as I am setting up a bank account that has a joint American branch. As it stands now I'm using the free trial.

Get Heart Rate Monitor--I'm probably going with the Apple Watch because it would synch with all my other devices

Detail the Food Journal--As much as I hate to, I have to write it down somewhere. Times like right now when I've let my regular journal slip result in my not remembering my foul-ups, fumbles and even the occasional successes.

So, next week my wife will be out of China to celebrate her big 40 in the Philippines--her birthplace--and she'll be taking the daughter with her, so for nine days I will have a chance to REAALLYYY hit that diet without any outside influencers. I'll let you guys know if it gets better or worse.

#DDPaDay 16-18 out of 31

Now we've passed the halfway mark for the month. Unless I fall off the wagon, this will be the most successful two months of DDPY that I've had so far. Consistency is the key. Unfortunately, the diet is still kicking my ass and holding me back from what I should be, but as far as the workouts go? I think I've got this down.

Wednesday the 16th--

Workouts:

Wake Up
Energy
Fat Burner
Red Hot Core--"New" workout for me. I have tried this one before back in June, I've only just now caught up to where I was back then.

Diet Screw-Ups:
Beer and Chips--I didn't go crazy with either, but Wednesdays are my D&D nights now and although I can mostly avoid refreshments at the game...afterwords my mind is racing. I have to drink a beer to settle my mind down or I'll never get to sleep. This is a problem I'll need to address as drinking is a no-no.

Thursday the 17th--

It's a day off for beginners and my set day off due to the business from late the night before. For those elite few who are following me, this should show you that the beginner's work schedule gives many days off. Most of the time I just workout anyway, but Thurs. I do take for myself.

Diet Screw-Ups:
Beer--some will sit and drink a six pack at one go, while I only have the one beer with dinner, unfortunately, if I do that every day--which thankfully, I do not--I'd drink seven beers in a week instead of the six.

Friday the 18th--

Workouts:

Wake Up
Sweating and Swearing--The free live workout from a couple of weeks back on YouTube is getting a lot of play from me these days. I really want to get the DDPY APP which has lots of different workouts. So far I haven't been able to get it going in China in the form of payment. I've still got about half a month left of beginner before I'll try to change it up a bit in November.

The good thing is that--so long as I'm above ground--I can reset every month when it comes to the no-dairy/no-gluten thing. I really want to try it. I just have to discipline myself enough to ditch the beer and noodles...as always easier said than done.

I had a profound, almost zin-like thought, while doing my DDPY--I'm using the moves to get rid of my stomach yet my stomach is preventing me from doing the moves...

#DDPaDay 13-15 out of 31

Oct 15th #DDPaDay day 13/14/15 out of 31:

…and here we are very nearly into mid-October. I think this part of the year goes by fast  o matter where I live because it’s the Halloween season and I enjoy it a lot. Out here we have had a bit more acceptance of ghosts and goblins than back in the UAE, but at some point I hope my daughter gets to experience Halloween—and the other holidays back in the States. That being said, I don’t know what celebrations in the States even look like now myself. The last time I visited over any kind of holiday was Christmas of 2010 just after my father passed away. Hard to believe we’ll be coming up on the tenth Christmas without him. Some of his health problems—I’d probably say most of them in fact—came from being a lifetime smoker. He too was overweight like I am, but you have to think that the smoking played the greatest role in his problems. That said, living to age 65 isn’t exactly young, but there are those who live longer and those who live shorter lives. My mom—who is still with us—should be celebrating her 76th birthday this coming November. She too has lived an unhealthy lifestyle both in terms of smoking, eating habits…and probably a little more drinking that she lets on, but she’s got nearly elven years and counting on Dad. It goes to show that lifespan isn’t something that we can predict. From my end I do want to live as healthy a life as I can so that I can stick around for my family. I really don’t want my daughter to have to bury me any earlier than she has to.

October 13 workouts:

Wake Up
Warm UP
Energy
Diamond Dozen
Fat Burner

Diet:

I didn’t do anything bad on the remainder of yesterday. Beer is something of a no-no, but again it’s just not a major concern for me

Diet Screw-ups….

Today I have had cookies and I tried a chocolate bar because it was hot-pepper and grapefruit flavored (?) That seemed to be a strange combo so it was worth a try. Still it’s too much junk food and if I don’t straighten out and fly right, I’m going to need to try the experiment over again in November. My wife and daughter will travel to the Philippines last week of OCT/first week of NOV which could help or hinder my experiences. The bottom line is that to get the most out of DDPY or any other exercise program, the diet must be reigned in. Eating what I shouldn’t does not negate the results from the workouts, but you cannot out exercise a bad diet no matter who you are. The process of rebuilding the body is a slow one and each time I falter in my dieting resolve it pushes me back from my goal. Owning it, typing it, publishing it, even if it is repetitive, will hopefully build my resistance to the poor choices that I make all too often—-even re-reading these things next month will show just how much I screwed up and how much “just one bite” of this or that adds up in a month.

October 14th workouts:

Wake up
Energy

Fat Burner

It seems repetitive sometimes, but the beginner’s workout scheme doesn’t get into anything new until the middle of this week…

Diet:

No real screw-ups today. I ate at Subway Subs, so they aren’t exactly healthy. I’ve taken to eating any of my hamburgers without the buns—these are home cooked by the wife, if I fall and go to McDonald’s again, I usually eat bread and all. I eat big salads with steak in them whenever the wife feels like making them.

A challenge for my Monday’s is that I put in an absolutely insane day at work and will want to east something after I leave…I then almost immediately go to sleep—as I should given how late it is and how early the next day starts—which I’d really like to stop doing. 

October 15th workouts:

Wake Up
Fat Burner
Energy

Diet:

nothing bad so far, but I do have one meal left to eat today.

I uploaded some pics to the DDPY Ap, but I haven’t translated those to the blog yet. I’m pretty flexible for a fat guy. 

#DDPaDay Days 10-12 out of 31

Steady as she goes. One of the "interesting" things about living in China is the government's take on the internet. A lot of sites--including this one since it's Google based--are inaccessible by normal means, so we all use VPNs and everyone knows it. Sometimes--like the recent national day celebration--the VPNs will be blocked no matter which brand you use. Meaning that if they wanted to , the powers that be could shut down the whole show whenever they wanted. Fortunately for us, they apparently turn a blind eye to it most of the time. Obviously, I don't know what goes on behind the scenes. Maybe it isn't cost effective to block us all or it's a pain in the ass to do it, but I like to think that our friends in the government are benevolent enough to treat their guests well in as much as they can. As to recent controversies--we really don't talk to them. I had one student notice that I was "acquiring" the Joker movie via ways and she told me that she'd like to see it, but probably would never be able to watch it out here due to violence concerns. Of course you can always go out to Hong Kong and watch whatever you want, but as you all know stuff is going on out there that is none of my business. On to DDPY talk...

Due to the aforementioned internet situation, it's almost impossible to report daily even if I was a constant blogger, so we'll probably just have recaps. I write something to myself everyday to keep my goals in the front of my mind even if I don't get to post. Currently I'm trying to purchase the DDPY App for my phone. I toured the place and it looks really good for the money. I also need to get the heart monitor of some kind and I think I'll be going with the Apple Watch because it's here and available. I also want to do a real weigh in as one means of progress and take pictures to share with you guys. No worries, until DDP comes out with a home electrolysis kit, I won't be subjecting anyone to the image of me shirtless. A Speedo top and regular shorts are not out of the question, but I do want them to be a little loose to show how far I can do certain positions. The small goal BTW is just to finish the beginner's program which I think I'm well on the way to doing. The large goal is to lose 46 pounds by age 46 which rolls around for me on January 29th. I think it's realistic, but only if I watch the diet problems.

Day 10

This is a scheduled day off in the beginners program. BTW if anybody is interested in trying it out for yourself, beginners level is almost easy enough for anybody to do, but if you are even deeper in trouble than I am, there are also workouts from bed, chair and standing only. When you see yourself doing these things the success you have will build up and up to more success.

Dietary Screw-ups:

Another one of those abomination hamburgers from McDonald's for lunch. I have to own it if I do it. I hope that I'm not done in by my love of pineapple on a hamburger, but I'm a sucker for it. The rest of the day was fine. 

Day 11

Workouts

Wakeup
Energy 
Fat Burner

Dietary Screw-ups:

A combo meal from Subway subs which included chips for lunch--a small victory, I chose water over soda

Midnight snacking...cookies...and I was watching AEW at the time, so I should have known better than to go beyond my boundaries when the very show that DDP is associated with is running. 

Day 12

Workouts

Wake up
Sweating and Swearing (free workout from YouTube)

It's still too early to call any screw-ups yet. If I have any, I'll at least own up to them. Also, cool that I got a reply from DDPY on Twitter. 

A long one today, but I don't want to close without speaking about some more upcoming challenges...

I have been recruited by and joined up with a local RPG group, so my D&D habit is rearing its head again. I must be careful that it doesn't steal too much time and beware of snacks and alcohol which seems to come with the territory.

Today I have a kids' birthday party to attend. All that good stuff that I shouldn't eat will likely be present.  I'll be concentrating on my breathing today for sure.

Unless you are actively keeping track of your diet and the temptations that come your way, you may not realize how many opportunities you have to blow it. It seems like a birthday, holiday season, vacation, free sample, or other chance for good tasting food that is bad for you is around every corner.  Another quick aside, cutting the dairy--even though I love cheese, ice-cream, and milkshakes has been fairly easy. Cutting the carbs....damn near impossible....I love noodles and beef noodle is like the best and I have access to it every day. I'll keep fighting it though.

#DDPaDay Days 5-9 out of 31

I really am an untrustworthy narrator as far as disciplined blog entries go. If my workout calendar followed suit, I'd give up now, but as it stands I'm doing fine on the workouts--not so much on the diet.

Day 5

For beginners--I am in the second month of the two month beginner program--there are days off worked into the schedule. It happens that Saturday and Sunday were both days off this week. Since I was out on the town, I took advantage of that...but the food...I didn't own my boundaries and there's no excuse. 

Dietary Screw-ups:

McDonalds--an abominable double burger meal. Some fried chicken at a Chinese/Thai fusion place, Beef Skewers--which would be perfectly allowable

Day 6

Again off from DDPY, but I'd argue that with all the walking I put in that I pretty much did a workout in and of itself...Unfortunately, the food...

Dietary Screw-ups:

Lots of Italian food...spaghetti, bread, pizza, and a dessert...later, spare ribs and lots of sushi with a little fried rice--again going heavy on the protein this was actually fairly sensible for dinner...unfortunately I also had a beer with it which I really shouldn't at this point. 

Day 7

Terrible...too tired from the traveling I actually missed my DDPY as scheduled and to make matters worse...

Dietary Screw-ups:

Beef Noodle Soup--not bad at all actually...A second Abominable Mcdonald's double burger meal this time with  an ice-cream cone and a fried pie. This is when I call myself an idiot. All the working out goes down the toilet when you are stupid and the fact that I know better makes it worse. I finished off with a Spaghetti and meatball dinner from home and a beer to drink it down with. Thankfully the next day I got back on the wagon...

Day 8

Workouts:

Wake up
Energy
Fat Burner

No dietary screw ups yesterday...I didn't even drink the second beer yet. 

Day 9

Workouts:

Wake up
Energy 
Fat burner

No dietary screw ups yet, but I did have beef noodle soup for lunch again which isn't exactly what I'm looking for in the carb limiting experiment. Dairy is easy, the carbs are not. 

My biggest takeaways from the end of my vacation are that I should keep the detailed food journal no matter how tedious I find it, I should try to check in here every day; not just when I have time, but to make the time. I also need to take the pictures. It seems to help the people who do. 

#DDPaDay Days 3-4 out of 31

• Oct 4th #DDPaDay day 3 and 4/31:
  
  And just like that disaster struck on the evening of October the 2nd. I went out with the family to an area of China that we had not experienced yet, so food—and bad food at that—was in abundance. One doesn’t go into The Hello Kitty Cafe and expect to not eat ice-cream—especially when you have your daughter with you and she wants a sundae. I last went to one of these places around ten years ago in Taiwan. You can get diabetes just by walking in. On top of that I ate ramen soup at the Japanese place down the street and finished a bowl of rice from my daughter—she’s always making trouble for me. Then, I had a doughnut and some fried cheese. You have to stay out of the carnival lifestyle if you want to get ahead…no breathing exercises can save you if you head into a place like that. I may as well report that I also had a beer on top that. Fortunately, I don’t party like that every night or I’d never get ahead.
  
  The next day I got back on the wagon.  
  
  October 3 workouts:
  
  Wake Up
  Energy
  Diamond Dozen
  Fat Burner
  
  Diet:
  
  I stayed home after the disastrous night before. No shenanigans on October 3rd
  
  October 4th workouts:
  
  Wake Up
  Energy
  Fat Burner
  
  Diet:
  
  The day isn’t over yet. I probably have one more meal in me, but since I am staying home, I can control it.
  
  Tomorrow we’ll be going out again to the “big” city on my side of town—I’m sure there will be more temptations out there. I don’t need no stinkin’ Hello Kitty Cafe stops if I want to be successful.  

#DDPaDay Day 2/31

• Oct 2nd #DDPaDay day 2/31:
  
  As noted yesterday, there won’t be much to these blogs…at least not much planned and they are just as much for me as they are for my dozen followers. One thing DDP—and a lot of other motivational speakers say to be honest—is that if you write your goal down, you are a lot more likely to achieve it. There’s something about writing it down that makes you concentrate and focus on what you want to do. With food it’s especially true for me because by years of bad habits, I “forget” what I’m trying to accomplish. This and the breathing techniques that DDP teaches are what I think separates his program from a lot of the other ones I’ve tried.
  
  October 1 workouts:
  
  Wake Up
  Energy
  Diamond Dozen
  Fat Burner
  
  Diet:
  
  I really don’t like keeping a food diary as such, I find it too tedious, but I do want to list any questionable activities I engage in. For day one I didn’t eat or drink any of the no-nos, but I did eat too many mixed nuts while watching movies.
  
  October 2 workouts:
  
  Wake Up
  Sweating and Swearing—this was a recent live YouTube event that was like an hour long. Good stuff. Probably more intense than what I’m ready for, but I did it anyway.
  
  Diet:
  
  The day is far from over, but if there are any more goofs, I’ll talk about them tomorrow. Today my wife put cheese in my omelette—just from habit. I’m not the annoying type to say no or to eat around the cheese, so I ate it. On the plus side, it wasn’t very much and I could get away with it if I wasn’t experimenting with eating no dairy this month.
  
  While on that subject and in closing, I’m not going to turn down anything that may be offered to me throughout the month. One piece of candy or cake doesn’t hurt anything. I won’t be buying anything like that for myself though. 

#DDP_A_Day 1/31

• I’m not a very disciplined blogger—except for the month of August when I do one entry per day for RPG A Day. This month in October I want to follow that spirit and blog each day in what I’m calling DDP A Day.
  
  For my nearly one dozen followers, if you’ve been around, you know that I am overweight and almost every year I’ll start a campaign, but for reasons it falls apart before any tangible results are seen. One of the problems is that I am a teacher—and an overseas one at that. Each year I get several breaks and during those breaks I tend to eat too much and and exercise far too little. I’ve blown a year of progress in the two summer break months only to start again—usually around this time of year—and make progress until the winter break at which point I blow it again. Over and over this has been the cycle for around seven years at least.
  
  Why will this time be different? I think it will be different with DDP Yoga because I’ve seen results already and I’ve only been “ishing” it so far. I was doing great with the program from about April to June of this year—only working out not embracing the diet plan—but then we had to make the  big move  to China, so true to pattern I fell off the exercise program and back into the overeating program. My excuses this time may be legitimate, but excuses and reasons don’t change facts.
  
  China Month One: We’re finally settling down in China, although I’m afraid I’m in well over my head on the job, I’m once again able to exercise and only one month in I can see improvement. I’m also getting the benefit of China being more of a walking environment than the UAE and the USA have ever been. The humidity makes for a lot of sweat and I have to walk five flights of stairs at least once per workday in addition to generally walking around campus and staying on my feet in the classroom.
  
  The set up: Continue the DDP yoga beginner routine which I started last month.
  
  From today until Halloween I’ll be attempting to avoid the following:
  
  
• Sodas of all kinds
• Sweets of all kinds—fruit is permitted
• Fast Food—may make exceptions for “meat” but no bread or pasta
• No Gluten—see above with the no bread or pasta
• No Dairy—cheese and milk will be off until Halloween
  
  I will be reporting every day success or fail. I won’t list everything that I eat as it gets annoying—unless I blow it and then I’ll shamefully let the twelve of you know. The hope is that by writing something everyday—more than the checkmark on my workout calendar—will help me to stay focused. A lot of times I’ll stuff food in my mouth without even thinking about it or buy something that I shouldn’t eat when it would be easy to avoid it if it weren’t in the house. 

Challenges: Portion control. On DDP’s program you can have all the vegetables that you want. No limit…but that’s a trick because nobody wants vegetables. I’ll need to be careful with the meat even though it is allowed because you really can’t eat it to one’s hearts content—or discontent as the case may be. Also, preparation of food as it shouldn’t be fried and the sauces and dressings have to be moderated or else the salad will have more calories than a pizza. Fruit and fruit juice also has to be moderated because the natural sugar is still sugar. Being in China—and in fact maybe vacationing in HK over the next few days—where the noodles are so good may prove to be the downfall of the no gluten. In point of fact, I am only cutting the gluten to see if it makes me feel noticeably better. The “detox” seems to take thirty days to kick in. Then there’s my five year old. Now, I don’t want her getting fat like me, so I am planning to limit her exposure to a lot of the bad foods, but she’s still young. If she wants ice cream or McDonald’s, I’ll let her have it. Unfortunately, that tempts me. There’s already a Pizza Hut visit in the works for this Saturday. Fortunately, they serve steak and salad at the China Pizza Hut, so I should be okay. At least there’s a better chance of being okay here than there would have been on such a visit to the States…but that pizza do….

Full Disclosure: For purposes of monitoring this stuff over the next thirty days for real results I must point out that appearances to the contrary, I have been doing regular exercise off and on for seven years, and of late have just finished the first month of DDP Yoga beginner’s program—doing more than what was suggested. It should also be re-noted that the new Chinese lifestyle that I am adjusting to involves a lot more walking than the UAE or USA previously. So I’m not starting the experiment completely cold and my exercise program is not exclusively DDP Yoga—it’s just the only “intentional” exercise program that I’ll be doing. This one was a long one, but I’m sure the rest will be quite short.