Keeping it Real

Made it to another weekend. I have been way too busy to blog. This may become only a weekly thing that I can do. Last week, when I started P90X, I was able to blog more often because I had a very short work week. Only worked three days plus got out earlier than usual. This week was back to normal so I was extremely busy.

The new band I bought last weekend worked much better than the bands I had previously. I was very sore (again) from Monday's back and chest workout consisting of a million push-ups and pull-ups. It helped that I also got push-up bars which help align the wrist but also make the push-up more effective and challenging. I did pull-ups with last night's workout also. I don't know if I will ever be able to do a pull-up. The girls on the DVDs can do about a thousand of them. Hopefully, by the end of the program I can do at least one. That's my goal! One!

I made it through another Plyometrics session. It's pretty fun. My calves weren't as sore as they were last week. Thank goodness. Last Wednesday, I could barely walk in my heels I wear to work!

I already can see and feel some changes in my body. I feel stronger and leaner. Not sure if it shows or not, but it feels that way. It is very hard to resist all the temptation of food everywhere. I have this horrible sweet tooth I have been trying to ignore. It's not easy! for instance, yesterday at work, there was a plate of cookies in celebration of all the January birthdays. They looked so good! I was telling myself, well, my birthday was this month, why can't I have just one?? I thought and thought and really, really had to resist. I stayed strong and did not eat a single cookie. One thing that has helped is putting a scoop of peanut butter in my chocolate protein shake. It's pretty good and has the resemblance of a Reese's PB cup. Hey, it's what I gotta do!

It really is a lot of preparation to eat as well as I do. It's like, the better tasting and fewer nutritional value food has, the cheaper and faster it is. The more preparation and more nutritional value food has, the more expensive it is. It is really a big commitment. But that's not to say that everything I eat is gross. Actually, it is really good. The recipes are practically gourmet. It just requires hours and hours of shopping, planning, preparation and then cooking and cleaning. I probably run the dishwasher twice a day almost everyday. On the other hand, I could take 10 minutes, run to McD's, spend $3 on a double cheeseburger, fries and a drink, have no cleanup and a lot more time to.....watch TV? go drinking? get fat and lazy? spend more money on new clothes because I can't fit into my old ones? Hmmmm...no thanks! All this work is really worth it. I hope I don't get burned out though and my energy and confidence grow so that I won't. I tend to get bored doing the same things for a while so I have to make sure I plan some cool things to do to mix it up. Next week Paul Oakenfold will be at Firestone and I really want to go.

This week I have to do Yoga on Sunday instead of rest because I took a Thursday as my rest day. Not my choice, but something came up so that's just what I have to do. That's fine with me though. Yoga X is the longest DVD so it will be good to do it on a day off when I actually have more time to do it. Tonight is one of my favorites, Kenpo X. This is how I'm going to learn how to kick ass. :)

Round 1 Complete!

I have all weekend to catch up on. Friday's leg workout was really good. It's Monday and my butt is now just starting to feel better. No pain, no gain! Lots of lunges and squats. Along with the legs, it was also a back workout which was full of different kinds of pull-ups. I'd be surprised if I wasn't able to do a pull-up in 90 days. I'd have to say Saturday was my favorite workout. It was Kenpo X, which was basically a kickboxing cardio workout. It was really hard and really fun! Sunday was an hour long stretch routine. I kind of anticipated it to be hard like everything else, but it was really nice to get all stretched out and relax for a day.

I returned those bands that totally sucked and got a new one from Play It Again Sports. I tested it out a little bit yesterday and it seemed like it would be much better; stronger and better handles. I think I'll get to use them tonight with round two of chest and back. Another night of push-ups and pull-ups! Oh, and I also got a set of push-up bars. They are supposed to help you do better push-ups and help your wrists, too. So a couple new things to look forward to tonight.

I have to say, that the meals are all very good. Practically gourmet. For instance, the other night, was swordfish with mango-ginger sauce. To be honest, while putting together the mango-ginger sauce, I was a little apprehensive. I mixed red onions, mango, ginger, lime juice, orange juice and some other stuff. But it was sooooooo good! I was pleasantly surprised. It was delicious on the fish. Last night I even got to eat chicken thighs. I thought dark meat would definitely be off the healthy food list, but I was wrong. I baked them in a molasses, lime juice, and Worcestershire sauce mixture. Again, very good. So now, I begin the menu all over for the next few weeks. Three to be exact.

Overall, I've noticed my energy level as been much higher and I am always keeping busy. Kind of have to though with all the cooking, cleaning, loading and unloading the dishwasher this all requires! I had to set my alarm all weekend to get and eat my breakfast at a decent time so I could fit all the rest of my meals in during the day. Saturday afternoon I finally crashed and got a long nap in. Oh, well, I did forget to mention I was up late Friday night having a couple cocktails. A little cheat, yes, but very little. Hey, I have to realistic about all this! Plus, I went to Blue Springs and walked around all afternoon so I was exhausted. I think I earned it.

Not like I expected

I started the Yoga DVD with the mind set that it would be really easy. Just a bunch of stretching and relaxing music. Kick my shoes off and have an easy day of P90X. I was right about the music and not wearing shoes. But that's where my correct perceptions of Yoga ended. It was not easy at all! The DVD is about an hour and a half long. I could only do about 45 minutes of it before I had to turn it off. I had no idea the amount of strength and endurance that would be required. I felt nice and all stretched out by the time I was finished (well, more like quit). My goal next week will be to do at least 10 minutes more than this week. It was very difficult. But I guess that is why it's called Yoga X and not just Yoga. Braden made a good point. He said, "I guess that's why you don't see any fat people going into Yoga class at the gym!" No kidding!!

Dinner was actually really good last night. I just baked some chicken breasts in some salt and pepper. Earlier, I made a honey-chili sauce and toasted some pecans to sprinkle on top. The side was this stuff called quinoa, some kind of weird looking grain. By itself, it didn't taste like much, but I mixed in some of the honey-chili sauce and pecans and it was delicious! Now that I think about it, I forgot my V8. Oops!

For breakfast I had another variation of scrambled egg whites. This time with spinach and feta cheese. It was OK. I'll eat eggs, but they aren't my favorite. I look forward to the berry protein shake tomorrow morning. I'd rather have that everyday.

Tonight I get to work my favorite, legs. I am sure it will be excruciating and I probably won't be able to walk much for the remainder of the weekend.

I have to give a shout out to my friend Rebekah from work. We share lunch duty every other week for each other and she said she would do my special P90X diet for me. That's super nice of her to be so flexible (or really inflexible) so that I can complete this program successfully. Thank you!

Grrrr....

I got sooooo frustrated yesterday working out! Yesterday was the arm workout, which in itself, was fine. However, those stupid bands I go at Target suck!!! The handle was like grinding on my wrist every time I did a bicep curl or shoulder raise and today I have bruises on the outside of my wrists. I tried to stick out the pain as much as I could but I don’t think my workout was very effective. Plus, like I have said before, the bands are a little weak for me. I guess that’s what I get for going to Target for my workout gear. I had a gift card though! Now I know what to look for. Actually, it would be nice to just have a set of weights, like an 8 and 10 pound set. Just depends on the price, I guess.

Ab Ripper again after the arms. I really like ab burning for some reason. I usually push through the pain pretty good and just keep my reps up to failure. In a few weeks I’m hoping to keep up with the pace of the DVD. They are pretty fast.

I didn’t get to eat dinner until about 9:30/10 last night. That’s OK though. It was easy; halibut with pesto sauce and wild rice. Very good. Again, I don’t like the veggie (zucchini) so I had a V8 instead.

This morning at work I went to the nurse’s office and took my weight and body fat percentage. Found out my BMI, which is already in the normal range, so I was happy about that. Depending what Internet chart you look at, my body fat is either normal or fitness level. So it’s probably borderline. I am happy about that, too. I’d like to get down to 20% or less.

I’ve noticed, even just after a few days, that I am getting hungry much faster between meals. I eat about every 3 hours so I’m assuming that means I am burning more calories. I hope so!

Tonight is the Yoga workout. I have never, ever done Yoga in my life. Mostly because it is very trendy and for some reason I’m anti-trendy about some things. It will interesting

Jump up, jump up and get down!

Found out what Plyometrics is.... it’s a lot of jumping around and squatting. A hardcore cardio workout. My calves and glutes are killing me today. I stuck it out pretty well though, I was proud of myself. I only got dizzy twice and I had to pause it often to catch my breath. I just kept telling myself...this is the hardest it will ever be...my first time. I enjoyed it overall, though.

My abs are still killing me from Monday night. Tonight is Ab Ripper again. I think it's every other day.

My biggest challenge is part of the nutrition. I don't like very many vegetables. For instance, last night I was supposed to eat green beans and a cup of butternut squash soup with a tbsp of protein powder mixed in. I don't like green beans or butternut squash. Instead, I mixed the protein in with 2 V8 drinks and pounded it. I hope that is a good substitute. I don't see why not.

Another eating issue is one of my snacks. I am supposed to eat 2 oz of soy nuts. If you have ever seen a soy nut, they are these tiny little things. And an ounce of them is like a million of them. It took me 35 minutes to eat them all today. That was with continual eating. Plus, after a few of them, they are just dry and plain tasting; not very enjoyable eating. I have to find something else. I'll do some research but I think if I just eat edamame it should cover it. I love edamame. It’s really cheap at Costco, too.

I couldn’t quite finish my breakfast this morning of a chicken scramble (made of 6 egg whites), turkey bacon and apple juice. Hopefully I am turning into a lean, mean, fat-burning machine.

I am also taking a supplement called Mytropin. I take two pills in the morning and two in the afternoon. I took it a few months back when I was working out hard at the gym and it helped me get over my plateau and lose a few more pounds I was trying to get off. I have since gained a few back with the holidays and my birthday, but now my goal is to really get tone and lean and reduce my body fat.

I think it’s the arm workout tonight. Not sure how effective it will be with my weak bands but I’m going to give it my best shot.

Day 1 Complete!

Made it through my first day of P90X successfully. I worked out my chest and back, along with my abs last night. As I was working out to the DVD, I thought "No wonder!" The entire chest and back workout was alternating between push-ups and pull-ups. I think anyone can get ripped if they do push-ups and pull-ups for 45 minutes a day! It was intense. I had to use a chair spot for my pull-ups because I can't do a single one at this point. I really never have been able to. For a while in college I trained myself to do pull-ups and I think I managed to do one single pull-up one time. Goal accomplished, I quit my self-training; never to do one since. So hopefully, I will be able to do another pull-up again soon.

I will need some stronger bands for my exercises. The bands I got at Target yesterday are WEAK! I will use them the rest of the week and then return them this weekend and hit up Sports Authority for a better set.

After the chest and back workout was the Ab Ripper workout. It was 15 minutes of intense ab exercises. I think 11 total at 25 reps each. I hung in there pretty good I must admit. I can't say I made all the reps. The pace was really fast and I just worked at my own pace. But I would guess I was at least 60%. Not bad for the first day. I would love to have a 6 pack. My belly has always been my biggest flaw (at least to me).

After breakfast yesterday I ate 2 oz of soy nuts for a snack. If you have never seen a soy nut, they are small. It was like a million of them in 2 oz. It took a while. Plus they are very dry, not much flavor. Lunch was great, a chef salad that had more meat and cheese than lettuce and dinner was salmon, wild rice, and red pepper soup (which I prepared this past weekend). Not bad even though after working out and everything I didn't get finished eating until about 9:30/10.

I forgot how much cooking and cleaning this program requires. Good thing I don't hate to do ether one. The amount of dishes it produces is insane. The dishwasher is constantly running and I am forever putting them away. I think they should put that as a disclaimer on the package.

Overall, I would say a very successful first day. Only 89 more to go! Tonight's workout is plyometrics, which I have NO IDEA what that is. Let ya'll know tomorrow!

The Beginning of the Beginning

Here goes nothing.

Day one of P90X. I spent all weekend preparing for this day. I had no idea how much prep work this would require. I was buying groceries, cooking, cutting, portioning food for hours upon hours. Not to mention the entire rearrangement of the downstairs living room to accommodate a workout area that we (Braden and I) won't have to assemble and dissemble everyday. I actually really like the new arrangement. It's new and fresh...inspiring.

It's good I have today off work for my first day of P90X. I had to wake up at a decent time, 9am, so I could eat my first P90X breakfast. I'm stuffed! A cup of cottage cheese, a cup of strawberries, and an omelet made with mushrooms, green onions, a generous amount of cheddar cheese and....wait for it....six egg whites!!! And I'm supposed to lose weight eating like this?!? I guess Phase 1, which is the first four weeks, is the "Fat Shredder" phase. So my diet will be high protein, low carb for now. Luckily, for the past year or so I have really changed the way I eat so I don't think the nutrition part will be too much of a challenge.

I have a few things I still need to pick up for my first workout tonight. I need some 8 or 10 lb dumbbells. It will be the chest and back plus ab ripper workout. I'm pumped. Took my "before" pictures last night. That will probably be something I'll post later, when I post my "after" pictures. Not exactly comfortable showing off at this point.

I said farewell to my dietary freedom (as Braden calls it) last night with a big calzone and some chocolate chip cookies. :) Yum! But it's not like I have been exactly depriving myself lately. It was my birthday last week and I think I had birthday cake everyday if not twice a day. Now I have to keep that sweet tooth in check!

On a side note, it's a nice day off work and I am really excited about beginning this workout program. I'll be all ready to show my new body come Spring Break! Betta watch out ya'll!!