Day 1 — Intro Time

Well, today might be the second day of January, but it is the first day of my exercise program and the first day of my 60 day INSANITY challenge. My coach Ashley and all the other members of the challenge will surely help me along the way and I can't wait to get to know them.

However, this is an intro to me. My name is Robert T Ivaniszyn II, and I'm from northern Illinois. I have lived here all my life, and up until January of 2011, I had been getting heavier and heavier until topping out at 250 pounds. When you consider that I am only 5'7.5", that is way too heavy. Since then, I have seen a low weight of 209 in November of 2011 after a bit of working out, a few failed INSANITY attempts, discovering a love for running, and watching what I eat.

However, 2012 is my year to step up and finally get my weight into the range I have wanted it to be in for years. So, as part of this challenge, I will be blogging every day that I can about my workouts and my eating habits, and I will be changing my lifestyle overall.

Also, for those of you who like sports, poems or short fiction, I will be offering links to my daily writing for BleacherReport.com or one of my many other blogs.

So, that being said, my goal at the end of the first round of INSANITY (9 weeks from now, March 5th 2012) is to weight under 205 pounds (preferably for a few days in a row before the end of that week because I know weight can fluctuate quite a bit from day to day). I don't care so much about what the scale says because of the fact that I have large legs and a lot of muscle mass (though not very toned muscle) below my waist, so I'm more concerned about how I look and feel. However, I am a Physics major, so I work in numbers and data, so I'll be tracking that as well.

Lastly, I will be using Libra weight tracking app for Android to track my weight (it is a fantastically designed free app, I recommend it to everyone) and iMapMyRun.com and its app to track my caloric intake/output. Also, since this seems to be a 90 day group and INSANITY is a 60 day program, I may do some running for the last 30 days, all of which would be tracked on iMapMyRun.com.

So, there is my intro! Thanks for tuning in and I'll see you all later after my fit test. Hopefully this will be one of my last fit tests without completing the program. I have failed so many times, I am ready to get over the hump and do this! I'm a strange case because I'm not a "health nut," I'm not looking to be single digit body fat, or any of that. But I accept the high blood pressure and heart disease that run in may family, I believe that my girlfriend deserves a better looking me, and I want to be able to enjoy myself physically in any way that I desire (running, snowboarding, canoeing, etc) without my strength, endurance or cardio limiting me. I'm 23 years old now and I'm ready to be in the best shape of my life—and stay there!

MapMyRun App

Libra Weight Tracker