Three weeks into Health Happenings and the results have been fantastic so far. This past week, though, was a little bit of a flip. The week before I ate really clean. This week sticking with the healthy eating was a lot harder, so I headed into Forge Fitness wondering what the scale would say.

Home scale vs. gym scale

One thing worth knowing if you're tracking your own weight: I weigh myself at home first thing in the morning, before I've eaten anything, which is my lightest point of the day. At the gym I've already had breakfast. This morning it was a smoothie Alright Robyn made with spinach, blueberries, dates and cocoa powder. Same scale, same time of day, every time, is the only way to compare apples to apples.

The inches are coming off

The measurements told a great story. My chest started at 46.2 inches and it's now down to 43 even. My waist, which Zac says is usually the last place the weight comes off, is already down about 2.4 inches. The scale is one number, but the tape measure doesn't lie.

New workout: deadlifts and overhead press

Today's main movements were the barbell deadlift and the overhead press, in a rep range tailored to my fitness level. After that came accessory work for the full body: dumbbell shrugs, hammer curls, overhead tricep extensions and Russian twists to finish. I tried to sneak out of the last set of twists. Zac did not let that happen.

Thinking about time

Some nights my walks have been happening from 11pm to 12:30 just to get them in. So I asked Zac about higher-intensity workouts. If I can condense the time and still improve my cardio, endurance and weight loss, that's a win-win. We'll see if I survive the first one.

Watch the episode to see my retests on push-ups, the chin-up and the wall sit from Week 1.

Joe is not a doctor or a dietitian. This is his personal journey. Talk to your healthcare provider before making big changes to your diet or exercise.