With all the time I had on my hands while deployed to Afghanistan, I decided I needed to make some changes.  It had been too long of a time since I've committed to a regular physical fitness regime.  Ever since I left the Infantry, my motivation has slowly dwindled to near 0 with the addition of small tire around my mid-section.  Motivation, complacency, laziness, mediocricity, under-achiever...I'm not sure what to call it, but the fact remains, change was apparent and not for the better. 

I'm coming back to the understanding that quality nutrition is an elemant of health that cannot be overlooked.  After undertaking Advocare's 24Day Challenge and seeing how much of a difference I felt because of good quality nutrition, I'm convinced that my diet must change.  Unfortuneately, being in the middle of a desert doesn't help much, but once back stateside, dietary improvement will be made. 

I've been on a regular exercise program for the past 12 weeks!  I completed the workout program Insanity and all 9 weeks of it with improvements in each "Fit Test" exercise each and every time we took it.  My job as an ER nurse in a CSH means that I'm on-call 24/7.  When a page goes off for a trauma, I drop what I'm doing and get the the ER.  There were several times I had to stop in the middle of an Insanity workout and go the the ER, out of breath and sweaty.  In all, I think I missed maybe a weeks worth of workouts, but I'll take that for sure, especially after seeing the results I've gotten. 

Now that Insanity is pau and I've still got more time than I know what to do with, I created my own "Crossfit" workouts.  My boy, Ryan Hepworth, is now working out with me.  A big Mormon of a guy who works in the ER with me.  We've been hitting the gym for 2-3 weeks since Insanity ended.  Good guy, easy to be around and is a good workout partner.  I created 20 different workouts for the "Crossfit" sessions and we will still hit the gym as already scheduled, I think.  I just learned of the "Crossfit Endurance" program and am eager to learn more about that.  I think I'll just start when I get back stateside. 

Here are some results of my 24Day Challenge and Insanity workouts. 

Measurements first: 
Before: Wt: 176lbs              After 171lbs
          Neck: 16.75"                     17"
          Chest: 39.5"                 
          Abd:  36.5"                        33"
          Biceps: 13.5"                     15.5"
          Thighs: 22"                         23.25"
          Calf: 15.75"                       16.25"
          Bodyfat: 20%                    15% (according to Army measurements)

Now for some pictures: