Facing 40 (Minus 1): DDP Yoga 30-Day Update

DDP Yoga

By Chad Smart

@chadsmart & @my123cents

Technically this is the 36-day update from when I started doing DDP Yoga, but 30 days sounds more official.  I started DDP Yoga with the same goals as most who use the program. I wanted to lose weight, get in shape and become healthier. I’ll admit that given my track record with these goals, I was skeptical if I’d make it to the 30 day mark, or if I’d get bored and distracted after one or two weeks. There were a few days during the third week that I hit a wall and had to force myself to continue on with the workouts. Thankfully that mental wall was quickly demolished.

So here we are with the first update. First, I want to get the “negative” out of the way. When I decided to start getting healthy, I wanted to lose 20-25 pounds. I’m not really overweight. I’m more skinny fat, as Triple H would say. So I don’t have a lot of weight to lose as much as I need to build some muscle definition. Also, because I have a bad hip, due to not having the upper part of my right hip bone, losing excess weight would reduce the stress put on the hip which would hopefully then lead to less hip and lower back pain. With the annual Wrestlemania trip coming up at the start of April and DDP appearing at WrestleCon, I set the goal to lose the 20-25 pounds by the time I arrived in New Jersey. Figured ten pounds a month wasn’t setting the bar too high.

Last night, I did my first weigh in since the day I started. My starting weight on January 25 was 194 pounds. My current weight as of February 28 is 188.  Instead of hitting the ten-pound goal, I only lost six pounds. At first I was disappointed that I hadn’t hit the goal but the more I thought about it, I questioned why I was disappointed. It wasn’t like I hadn’t lost any weight. I reminded myself I’m not running a sprint. This isn’t like The Biggest Loser where I have three months to lose as much weight as possible and then hope I can keep it off when the cameras stop rolling. If I continue on the same trajectory all it means is it’ll take me four months to get to the goal weight instead of two. Pretty sure I can handle sixty extra days.

Order it!

The other factor to consider is I didn’t set out just to lose weight. I wanted to improve my life and overall well being. Over the past 30 days, I’ve noticed I am sleeping better. I used to go to bed around 11 and would be awake at 2 and every hour after that until finally getting up for work. Now I sleep soundly until 6:30. I spend a lot of time during the day sitting at my desk at work. 

Over the past six months or so, I had noticed whenever I would get out of my chair, I would stand slightly hunched over with pain shooting through my lower back. In the last few weeks that pain is gone and I can stand up straight. If these positive changes are what happen after only a month, I can’t wait to see what happens over the course of the next year.

In addition to the body benefits which come from DDP Yoga, when you follow @DDPYOGA on Twitter, read the forums on the DDP Yoga website or follow people like Ben Miller (benfromdonatemyweight) and Slim (slimtronic5k) on YouTube, you take on a new positive outlook towards life.

For anyone on the fence about trying DDP Yoga, I would say get off the fence and own your life. It’s an addictive program that will have you looking forward to the next work out instead of dreading it. I can’t recommend it enough.

More information can be found at www.ddpyoga.com. If you sign up, tell them My 123 Cents sent you. Probably no one will know what that means but we could use the extra publicity. If you have any questions hit me up on Twitter or click on my name in the header to email me.