P90X at age 45 Round 4, Managing Stress & Energy Naturally

I am a psychologist-coach and I am a  beach body coach.

Managing energy on a daily basis is an area of overlap between all the things that I do.  I’m going to journal/blog about my process of changing my eating habits, solidifying my exercise routine (walking with my wife, a 4^th round of P90X and beyond), tracking my emotions, managing my anxiety and energy level.   I will do all this with the intent of improving my relationships with my family and friends.   I will also do this in a transparent (to a reasonable degree) manner.  My hope is that you can learn from this.

Like you, I like free stuff. As result I will alert you to tools that you can use for free if you follow along and create your own program similar to mine.  Also, please make comments on this post about what you are doing.  If enough people get in the game we can think about other ways to support each other.  Start with comments and by joining my fan page on Facebook here: You can join my facebook fan page here.

I will tell you about a free tool after I explain what I’m working on for myself (with the intent that you will learn something too).  I’ve done three rounds of P90X already. Each time I made great improvements in terms of my strength and fitness. However I’m a person who is athletic and relatively thin historically. So, a more challenging task for me is to manage my energy level without using substances like caffeine or sugar excessively.  Yes, I have a major sweet tooth.  Came by it honestly, mom, dad, and grandpa all had their sweet teeth!  Also, we had a lot of fun around getting and eating candy.  So, this will take some emotional work. But my dad has adult onset diabetes so I have some motivation.  But effectively managing energy is a greater motivator for me.

I was inspired by the fact that we have some babysitters who work for us who stopped drinking soda altogether (they are in their early 20s and have 2 or more soda-free years under their belts – one has 5 years soda free!). I decided in 2010 that I would also stop drinking soda.

I stopped drinking soda in 2010.

Easy enough…I have not had a soda this year…

However, I learned that I had associated soda with both managing my energy and having fun.  I really bought into that “Coke adds Life” slogan.  Somehow I was losing “life” and/or fun…I realized I would have to find new ways to do these things, have fun and more “life”.

I was especially using the caffeine in soda to manage my energy level. The problem was I was also getting all that sugar. Once I stopped drinking soda I went through a sequence of using caffeine in different ways to still manage my energy.  My intent is to do so consciously with less unhealthy forms of caffeine.  I hate coffee so I don’t drink coffee at all.   I used to clean my mother’s office when I was a kid.  I had to clean this disgusting coffee machine.  Positive side effect: I hate coffee!  So, I don’t have to worry about coffee.

Green Tea is one of my favorites. I have had a lot of Lipton diet green tea.  I am still confronted with this issue of energy management particularly in the early afternoon.  I hate to admit this, but in the name of transparency and honesty I will admit to you that I started drinking the “five hour energy drinks”.  Yes, I must sheepishly admit that I still have some (okay, many) of those available to me now (in a drawer somewhere…). However on the bright side, as a psychologist, I am fully aware that self-monitoring is a very effective way to change behavior. I have used it before. I will use it here.  I will both systematic and simple in this approach.  It is important that you realize that such changes need not be overly elaborate or complicated.

What I found with the “five hour energy drinks” was that I didn’t always like the effects that they had on me. For example, if I drank one late in the afternoon I would leave all my energy on my desk at work.  I did get a lot done at work, but balance was gone because so was my energy at the end of the work day.  When I came home I had no energy at all to play with my kids. Apparently I am one of their best buddies.  They don’t like it when I am not available to play.  (I tried the “My dad never played this much with me when I was a kid” argument.  It didn’t do much.)  Besides they are great fun.  So, I have to get back my energy so when I go home I have some left in the tank to play with my sons.  I’ve reduced drinking “those drinks” and I will actually monitor those beginning today. I have not and did not drink one today. I will keep you posted on a weekly basis (how many per week).

Each morning for breakfast I drink a Beach Body replacement shake or a Shakeology drink.  I do this routine consistently. My energy level to start the day is good and I am usually in a good mood. I will track this as needed.  Hmm, maybe I can add to my routine Shakeology or a meal replacement shake when energy dips in the afternoon?  I will think about this.

Lunchtime is what has gotten me into some trouble. I’ve tended to not pay attention to what I eat.

Here is my public commitment:  I will now closely monitor what I eat at lunch.  Simple system:  what did I eat?  Results:  low or high energy; sated or bloated.  That is my tracking system.  That’s it.

I will keep this simple.  What plagues me and many people is the after lunch early afternoon energy dip.  Why I will be observing is what foods cause me to feel low or high energy, and bloated or satisfied. My intent will be to begin to use food to manage my energy level along with managing my emotions, but my other goal is to manage energy using “natural methods” as much as possible.

Natural methods for managing energy include things like going for walks, listening to music, calling my wife and/or friends, doing tasks I enjoy, working for 50 minutes, taking a break for 10.  I will begin to compile for myself what things give me energy and which take it away.  This strategy is in stark contrast to what is typically done in America which is to use substances to manage energy level and feelings.

I will keep you posted. Today is the first day I am to walk with my wife. I will begin P90X for my fourth round tomorrow. This is partly because tonight I have to go to a meeting for two of my sons for football after work. This will take most of my time with the exception of having some time to walk my wife. Additionally, at least one of my sons and often two of my sons want to spend some time with me in the evening playing or shooting baskets. Given that we have to attend a meeting it will limit play time.  As result I will start P90X tomorrow.  At the end of this post is what I ate for lunch.

FREE TOOL: Emotions Manager 2000

Download this tool here.

Once you load this Emotions 2000 program onto your computer, you start by clicking “resolve”.  Once you click “resolve” it will ask you to record what emotion or feeling you are experiencing. You then go through the following sequence.

1. Date
2. Emotion
3. Arena of life
4. Event Before the Emotion  (Trigger)
5. The Positive way to look at the event
6. The Worst that could happen
7. If the Worst thing did happen, what steps could you take?

In later posts I will explain the importance of these data points gradually so as not to overwhelm.

After choosing an emotion you identify the area in your life in which you feel that feeling. Next, and this step is critical, the software asks you to describe the “event or thought you had just before experiencing the emotion”.  Why is this critical? The reason that this is critical is that it can be considered a “trigger thought” that relates to the experiencing of that emotion. Becoming more aware of what your triggers your emotions can result in you better managing them and thereby better managing your emotions.  You might think that this is not a very big deal. You are wrong. Self-monitoring has been found to be a very effective way to change behavior. This is self-monitoring. What we are doing is tracking our own behavior in a simple but systematic way. The awareness that you develop during this process is part of what helps you change. So it’s time to get back to work.

I will describe more of the steps of this tool in later posts.

Food for lunch: salad from Marsh salad bar. Lettuce, raisins, soy nuts, eggs, lettuce, ham, turkey, green peppers, olives, blue cheese dressing.  Drink: Gold Peak Tea. Green tea with other natural flavors.

1:35 began drinking Diet Snapple Lemon Tea, made from Green and black tea.  No sag in energy and feel sated not bloated.  So far, so good, but finishing is the focus here, not just starting…

Dr. Charles Shinaver

Located in Carmel, Indiana near Indianapolis, Noblesville, Fishers, Zionsville, and Westfield.
Host of And provider of
Clarity4Health.com Cogmed Working Memory TrainingTM

Life coaching, BeachBody Coaching and ADHD coaching through web and phone:
No matter where you are.

371-641-7794, clarity4health@gmail.com

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