Focus is the key element to the successes I've had lately.  I have attempted to raise my focus to a new level and I am finding it hard to get there now.  I have been focused on getting my meals in every 3 hours and on hitting the gym at the same time every single day.  While this happens pretty consistently, the meals are a difficult issue for me to deal with.  I give myself credit for hitting a slot as long as I get to it within 30 minutes of the planned time.  I would like to be more focused in this area.

I have always been a very focused person.  I have been a chess player most of my life and that requires a great deal of mental focus.  I've gotten myself to a very high level of play and attribute that to my focus.  I want to do the same with fitness.  I want to be so focused that people are in awe of my focus.  I want to live and breathe my plan. 

I mentioned that I am going to stick to my plan no matter what this time.  As a follow up, I am deadly serious.  I will not veer from the plan.  I am going to hit every workout hard.  I am going to eat the way I planned it.  I am going to do my cardio per the plan—no more, no less.  I am not going to panic.  If the results aren't exactly what I expected, I am going to ride it out.  I learned a lesson with my nutritional experiment that is invaluable.

During the experiment I tracked my weight and body fat percentage on a daily basis.  In my spreadsheet I had a listing for LBM and fat pounds.  What I learned is that I could start the week at 210 and eat nothing but protein shakes for an entire day and find myself at 213 the next morning (same exact weigh in time).  Without panic setting in, I would stick to the plan, doing my workouts as planned and eating as planned and by the end of the week, my results would show that I had lost pounds and body fat.  Over the long haul I managed to drop alot of fat.  My point is that I didn't overreact to the feedback my body was giving me.  I stuck with the plan because the plan was based on evidence I had gathered over time.  My normal reaction would have been to tweak the plan.

Now tweaking is fine as long as you are tweaking for the right reasons.  Perhaps you find that your high carb days are just too high in carbs.  You can always tweak the carb number down a bit.  It is still a high carb day so the plan isn't really changed.  My advice is to really think through your plans before you begin executing them.  If you've given them alot of careful thought, stick to them.  Don't let panic make you vary.

Accountability Log:

Week Begins 5/11/2008
	Sun	Mon	Tues	Weds	Thurs	Fri	Sat
Cycle spot	HC	LC	LC	LC	HC	LC	LC
M1 *	5:30 a.m.	3:30 a.m.	3:30 a.m.	3:30 a.m.	3:30 a.m.	3:30 a.m.	5:30 a.m.
M2 *	8:30 a.m.	6:30 a.m.	6:30 a.m.	6:30 a.m.	6:30 a.m.	6:30 a.m.	8:30 a.m.
M3 *	11:30 a.m.	9:30 a.m.	9:30 a.m.	9:30 a.m.	9:30 a.m.	9:30 a.m.	11:30 a.m.
M4 *	2:30 p.m.	12:30 p.m.	12:30 p.m.	12:30 p.m.	12:30 p.m.	12:30 p.m.	2:30 p.m.
M5 *	5:30 p.m.	3:30 p.m.	3:30 p.m.	3:30 p.m.	3:30 p.m.	3:30 p.m.	5:30 p.m.
M6 *	7:30 p.m.	6:30 p.m.	6:30 p.m.	6:30 p.m.	6:30 p.m.	6:30 p.m.	7:30 p.m.
Weights *	N/A	Lift	Lift	N/A	Lift	N/A	LIFT
Cardio *	N/A	N/A	PM	AM	PM	AM	AM
Abs *	N/A	NNMB	NNMB	N/A	NNMB	N/A	NNMB
Water *	240 oz	240 oz	240 oz	240 oz	240 oz	240 oz
Post-workout nutrition *	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Pre-sleep nutrition *	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Vitamins/Supplements *	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Accountability *	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Cals within 5% (+/-) *	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Target Cals	3400	3400	3000	2400	2700	3800	3800
Cals	3412	3404	2991	2411	2721	3621
Ratios (C/P/F)	30/50/20	30/50/20	20/60/20	10/70/20	20/60/20	40/40/20
Target Ratios (C/P/F)	30/50/20	30/50/20	20/60/20	10/70/20	20/60/20	40/40/20	40/40/20
Total Completed	15	15	15	15	15	15
Total Possible	15	15	15	15	15	15
Mission 2 Total Complete	1444	1459	1474	1489	1504	1519
Mission 2 Total Possible	1470	1485	1500	1515	1530	1545
* = Counts towards total
Success!
Failed
Not Counted!

Workout Log:

PACE Cardio on elipptical for 24 minutes with resistance set to 10.

Thought for the Day:

Plans are supposed to be well thought out and thoroughly documented.  Without both aspects it wouldn't be much of a plan.

Question of the Day:

Read the article:  4 Stages of Mental Mastery and then tell me what stage you are at.  Comment this article to give me your answer. 

Mission 1, Day 4: Even when life continues to happen...

Until tomorrow...GET BACK TO LIFTING!