Archive Page 3
Day 14: X Stretch
The day didn’t start out very well. I ate my usual breakfast, one egg, egg whites, turkey bacon, a little cheddar and some frozen spinach. But my stomach had other plans and breakfast came right back up right after I had finished eating. I really have no idea why. It’s happened once before when I had cottage cheese for breakfast and realized that my body would prefer cottage cheese mixed with something as opposed to it just by itself.
I was afraid to eat today after that surprising incident, but once my stomach got better, I guess I made up for lost time and filled up with cashews, sunflower seeds, my glop and then horror of all horrors… cookies. Lost of them. UGH.
Yeah yeah, I know. I don’t even wanna think about it. Honestly though, I said I planned on giving myself a cheat day so I guess that’s what this was, although I certainly didn’t intend for it to be. It’s a little bit of a setback, definitely, but of course I shall press on and begin my third week looking FORWARD, not backward. Always a work in progress. Besides, I just spent $50 + on groceries for the next few weeks so I’m not playing around here, this is serious business. Eating well is EXPENSIVE, it’s really a wallet drainer. But this is just something I have to budget in, what I have to do to get to my goal so it is what it is.
Just finished X Stretch. This is the only workout that I don’t mind doing at night. I actually prefer it because it just is a nice way to end the day. Now granted that means that I’m actually HOME on a Saturday night to DO this which also means I have no life… but that’s another story for another time. 
This is actually a good thing for me too, with the PT and all. Tony does tons of hamstring sretches which are good for my knee since all of those muscles lead to the knee joints. So it’s a win-win for me.
I was just telling someone that the reason I keep pressing on is because when I lost 50 pounds I really felt as though my goal weight was within reach. I kept pressing on with Weight Watchers even though I wasn’t losing anymore because I didn’t want to fall short of this goal I had set for myself, it just seemed SO close, so attainable. I didn’t want to admit failure, even though there were many MANY times I wanted to give up. That’s where the frustration and binges came in.
The reason I keep pressing play and doing my absolute best to eat the right things every day is because I’ve seen changes in my body in the past two weeks, so I know that I’m back on the right track to my goal. I just want to make it there and THEN see what happens. I just want to get there. Then I’ll figure the rest out.
Tomorrow: Chest and Back. I hope I can crank out a few more reps on push-ups.
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Tags: Chest and Back, groceries, P90X, X Stretch
Day 13: Kenpo X
I woke up almost an hour late this morning (forgot to set the alarm!) but that didn’t stop me from crushing Kenpo!
I had good energy this morning, definitely better than I felt doing Kenpo last week. I will just attribute that to the extra 49 minutes of sleep I got this morning and an improved diet. It really is a solid workout, and I had alot of fun. Although I was late getting started, once I began I was even thinking about the time, I was just thinking about the task at hand and how good I felt.
One thing: I am not feeling the stretches in the beginning because I don’t feel I’m properly warmed up, just stretching a cold body. Which is kinda funny because in the other workouts Tony mentions not stretching a cold body in morning workouts before a little warm up first to get the blood flowing. Just thought it was a little contradictory. I might just do my own warm up for a few minuets then go into the stretches. And those things are HARD! I am SOOOO inflexible! Runner’s lunge sucks!
Not so hot weather-wise here today. But as I was on the bus on my way to work I really felt good. I felt in control of my eating again, I felt focused on a goal, and I felt good about the healthy things I’m doing for my body and mind. I just want to be able to keep this up and see where it takes me. As I’ve said before, every day is a work in progress.
Tomorrow will mark the end of my second week. I can’t wait to keep going, finish the recovery week, take some pics and see if there’s been any progress. I could almost beat myself up for cheating myself out of a true first week with my horrible eating, BUT… that is in the past.
Eats have been good. I tweaked things a bit and have been trying to more closely follow the fat shredder plan which is 50% protein, 30% carbs and %20 fat. Yesterday it was 44% protein, 24% carbs and 32% fat, so clearly I need to find places where I can eliminate some fat. I was under my cal intake yesterday too, around 1536. I’m okay with that because I think it’s okay to keep the body guessing. High end of the range one day, low end the next. It is a work in progress since this is a new way of eating for me, tracking this intensely, but I’ll get it right. It’s almost like a game now, since fitday’s got the little charts and graphs and things. It’s all about How Can I Improve my Numbers. Much better than playing the points game.
Apparently the fat shredder should only be done for 6 weeks since it’s so high protein, so I’ve gotta make the most of the 5 weeks I’ve got left. I know I read that somewhere on the MDB boards, but I can’t find it now.
Still up in the air about the recovery drink. Almost everyone I ask on the boards says it’s a must, but I don’t know if I want to put my credit card information in beachbody’s hands after hearing about their poor customer service and mixups, and really don’t know if I wanna spend almost 50 bucks for it.
But overall I’m pleased with my progress so far. I’m still thinking about an alternative to the bands for pull/chin ups (thinking about just sucking it up, buying one of those ones that install in the wall) AND seriously thinking about getting those powerblocks now instead of later. I finally got the last bit of my tax money and although it is supposed to be for a new bedroom set I might have to see if I can spend a little bit of it on the powerbocks. I don’t REALLY want to put anything on my CC, but…. well… I want them!!!
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Tags: P90X, Kenpo X, recovery drink, stretching
Day 12: Legs and Back/ARX
Still hating the bands.
But LOVING the leg portion of L&B! I really pushed myself and made the most of every rep. The only thing I had trouble with was the toe roll iso lunges because my sneakers kept slipping on the hardwood floor.
I did something a little different this time around. Most of the time when I work out I’ll open up the windows and/or turn the fan and/or AC on. This morning I left the windows as they were, just cracked, and left the fan off. And there was SWEAT!!!! Whoo hoo!
I had to pause a few times to get my heart rate in check. I’ve found that that is an issue when I don’t use the fan or open up the windows. Maybe the room’s too stuffy? Maybe I need to lower my intensity a bit?
I also upped my weight on a few leg exercises and used my blue bands for the lunges. I really felt good after it was over. I struggled through ARX though. It was a solid workout, but I remember doing much much better with it when I did it later on in the evening. But seeing as how I felt like I wanted to hurl after I finished, I won’t be doing that again.
Still having some issued with crashing after workouts, and having very little post workout energy. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m not getting enough sleep or not using the “recovery drink” than everyone swears by, or if it’s the lack of carbs in my diet. In any case I shall press on.
I decided to go with fitday.com instead of sparkpeople.com for tracking. I e-mailed a woman who’s doing P90X with me on the beachbody forums and she gave me some suggestions on what to eat and also where to track food. I had done fitday.com once or twice in the past, (I didn’t even need to sign up, I already had a username and password!) but I am pretty sure I was doing WW at the time and didn’t need to be tracking my food in two different places. Although sparkpeople.com has a pie chart you can use to track where your cals are coming from, fitday.com has a similar pie chart that’s right there on the front page. It also has reports you can print out which detail your calorie intake each day, week, month, etc. It’s a little more no frills than sparkpeople.com, but at this point, I’m just trying to get BASIC with it. No more mind clutter with all kinds of extra unnecessary nonsense.
She said that she usually does carbs early in the day so that her body can have time to burn them off. I’m thinking I might need to up my carbs in my late meal so that I can have a little bit of a store for the mornings workout. We’ll see. Tonight I think I’m having pasta. I kinda miss pasta.
I’ve already decided that I’ll probably start a second round of this when I compete this one. My plan is to get the powerblocks and P90X+ and incorporate those into a routine. I’ll be finished with this rotation before my birthday and almost two months before my cruise so I will definitely have time to start a new rotation. Maybe that will help me NOT overeat while I’m on the cruise. But I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.
Tomorrow: Kenpo X!
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Tags: P90X, Kenpo X, sparkpeople.com, fitday.com, legs and back
Day 11: Yoga X
Just one tip: NEVER do ARX after you’ve eaten dinner. NOT a good look. I thought I waited a sufficient time, but I did have a pretty big dinner (bigger probably than I should have eaten, looking back on it). I thought I was gonna throw up after it was all over. I did have more energy for it though, really took the time to focus on WHAT I was doing, and focus on engaging the ab muscles I was supposed to be working instead of just flailing my legs around. I even attempted the ones where you’re on your side and lifting your legs towards your elbow. Before I’d just lift one leg, but this time I lifted them both. 13 reps on each side. Not bad for my first time. I always thought I couldn’t do them so I never attempted to try, even when I’d seen them in the other DVD’s I did before. P90X is great in this respect because I’m really pushing myself to go beyond my comfort limits which is what this thing is all about.
Speaking of comfort limits: This morning I made it all the way through Yoga X. Yay me! I kinda got a little twisted around (literally) towards the end of the moving anasas, the half moon and twisting half moon. I kept falling over, even with the block, my legs were like jello at that point. I’m sure my form was pretty crappy throughout the first part, and I struggled with some of the more advanced balancing poses, but I’m sure it will get better with time. Hopefully I’ll get some flexibility in my hamstrings as well which are really really tight, as I’m discovering with P90X.
Yoga X was just what I needed this morning to clear my mind. I’m glad this one is in here because if I had to create my own rotations, yoga would never be in there. Over 400 calories burned in that hour and a half, so I must have been doing something right.
Yesterday was TOUGH to get through. I was at about 50/30/20 I think and my energy definitely suffered as a result, not to mention my headaches. I was also on the high end of my calorie range and probably a tiny bit over. Today I’m gonna increase the carbs just a little, ease up on the protein, and give myself a calorie deficit, just for today. I figure since I didn’t do any lifting today it will be okay to ease up for one day out of the week. I had some grits this morning and a little skim milk in my tea and already I feel better.
Today I’m wearing jeans that were very snug only a few days ago. I haven’t weighed myself, and don’t plan to for a while, but I can see small changes in my body when I look in the mirror, especially in my waist and stomach which is where I hold most of my weight. The jeans aren’t loose, but they are definitely not as tight as they were on Friday.
Tomorrow: Kenpo X! I hope the carbs I eat today will give me some energy tomorrow morning for this one because I really want to Bring It!
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Tags: P90X, Kenpo X, protein, yoga X, carbs, anasas
Day 10: Shoulders and Arms
I don’t remember if I’ve ever said how much I LOVE this workout! I know there are all these controversies about working biceps and triceps because those muscles are used to assist the bigger ones like your back or chest, and should really not be worked on their own, but WHO CARES! Doing this workout makes me feel strong, so I’ll take it!
I also like it because although Chest and Back is pretty intense as well, my upper body strength is limited, so I’m not really pushing out many reps on alot of the exercises. With Shoulders and Arms I can really bring it and do as many reps as I can with the best form I can. I even got down and dirty with it and used the bands for the some of the exercises in the second set, just to get a different feel and work the muscles in different ways. Totally loved it! Towards the end, at the second set of tricep raises I literally laughed out loud at how tired I was and how hard I was working. I was so spent (and I woke up kinda late) that I couldn’t do ARX, I’ll have to do it tonight. My hope is that the work I do in S&A will help me with the push ups in C&B.
I lost count on one set, and that was when I decided to exercise my music off option. I found myself counting my reps in time to the music, because that’s what I’m so used to, but I ended up still counting while everyone else was done and in some cases on to the next exercise. I don’t really mind Tony’s commentary, but between him and the music, I couldn’t concentrate. So I opted for music off.
Right now though, I have very little energy. In the past few days, with limited carbs, I’ve found that I’m feeling a little listless and headachy. Nothing too serious, but definitely noticeable. I’m eating more frequently, like 5-6 mini meals a day and I find that I’m eating more than I was on WW and am getting in way more protein that I was before. I’ve found though that I’m having to train my body for a new eating schedule while I’m at work. I eat breakfast at the same time, but then I have a snack at around 10:30 then plan to eat lunch at around 1:30. Since my body is used to eating lunch at 12, 12:30 at the latest, I’m getting hunger pangs, but I’m trying to get my body used to eating later. That way I can have a snack at 4:30 and not be ready to raid the refrigerator when I get home because I’m so hungry. This is hard. But I really want to make this work and so far I’m happy I decided to try another method of tracking my food.
Tomorrow: Yoga X. I’m actually looking forward to this one, I need a little stretching and relaxation. Just gotta remember to get to sleep and get up a little earlier.
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Tags: Chest and Back, limited carbs, music off, P90X, Shoulders and Arms, yoga X
I could tell in the first 20 minutes that this wasn’t gonna go well. Last week was great, but this week for Plyo my energy level just wasn’t there. Last week though I ate breakfast first, and I waited probably an hour, hour and a half, so I’m sure that made the difference between last week and this week. This morning, about 1o minutes before I started I drank a glass of apple juice trying to give myself a carb boost before I started because I KNEW, as I was getting dressed, that something was a little off, but even that didn’t help. I was working hard, that I know, but I had to take really frequent breaks because I felt my chest burning. My HRM said I was at 93% of max heart rate. I couldn’t even tell you how many breaks I took, there were so many. I couldn’t even do the bonus round and I was SOOO looking forward to pitching and jump shots! I probably should have just subbed for Cardio X. I thought about it briefly, but something about the flow of that one doesn’t really work for me. You’re standing… then you’re on the floor… then you’re standing again… then on the floor again. Oh well. Just an off morning I guess.
I’m thinking I might try doing Plyo in the evenings when I might have more energy. Although I’ve read things that say it’s good to do cardio in the morning on an empty stomach. The reason I work out in the mornings though is because I find all kinds of excuses at night NOT to workout. Plus I’ve got PT tonight so I knew I had to get Plyo done this morning. Maybe next week I’ll try doing it at night and see if I have more energy for it then.
Eating is going well. I actually planned out what I was gonna eat today, so I’ll be hitting all my target ratios for the day. Just trying to discipline myself and get my mojo back.
Tomorrow: Shoulders and Arms.
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Tags: Cardio X, discipline, energy, heart rate, P90X, Plyo X, Plyometrics
Day 8: Chest and Back/ARX
I’m stronger! Hee!!! I love it!
This was my second time doing C&B and saw strength gains! I did more push ups this time around than last time and that makes me happy! I’m still struggling with those damn decline push ups - those are the hardest for me - and of course I’m still on my knees, but it’s a start. Depending on how I feel next week I might try starting some on my toes and seeing how I feel about those. I don’t want to rush myself, especially with the twingy shoulder, but we’ll see. I’ve got a little bit of confidence now, who knows what might happen.
I still hate the bands. I am not sure I’m doing the pull ups and chin ups right. I’m not even sure if there IS a right way. I’ve done what Tony says, just make sure I lean over and have my lower ribs on my leg, but I’m not FEELING a burn during the last few reps. I’ve thought about just continuing on even though the DVD has moved on but I’m not sure if I should. I mean I could be there all day pulling and pulling waiting for “the burn.” UGH! Damn these little ass doors! I’m still wishing for a pull up bar.
ARX even went well; I found that I could do more reps of certain exercises like that damn crunchy frog. I kinda bonked in the last 5 minutes, but overall I was pleased with my effort.
Diet MUCH better these past two days. I’m still tweaking things though, I’m trying to get 40% protein but I just can’t seem to get there even with the whey protein after today’s workout, a protein bar for a snack and ground turkey and cottage cheese glop for dinner. I’ve stayed w/in my calorie range today, but went a little over on carbs and fat but that was because I had two servings of cashews instead of just one. Tomorrow will be a test for me because I’ll be back at work. I’m just trying to stay disciplined, and not think about anything else but THIS: P90X, counting my calories and keeping myself disciplined. I don’t want to think about WW, or Beck or anything else. I think my brain is on overload with so much information, so I’ve made some rules for myself and this is what I’ll follow for the next 82 days:
1. Continue to crush P90X!
2. Eat clean, stay w/in my calories for each day, get enough protein, and have three meals and two to three snacks a day.
3. One cheat meal a week. I’m not sure if I can handle this yet, but I think the big reason for my binging lately is because I was feeling deprived of the foods I like to eat. This way I can allow myself a cheat meal, eat whatever I want in this meal, (not to excess) and get on with whatever it is I need to do.
4. Do not weigh myself until week 5.
And that’s it.
Tomorrow: Plyo X. I’m gonna have to modify this a little, I don’t want to upset my knee. Plus I’ve got PT tomorrow night and I have no idea what she’s got planned for me.
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Tags: back, bands, Beck, chest, chinups, eating clean, P90X, Plyo X, pullups, pushups
So I ended my week with absolutely NO energy. By Friday night I was DONE. Still had hurting legs from L&B and Kenpo and could barely get out of bed this morning I was so tired. I was also having some issues with my knee, it was really sore all day yesterday. Today it felt a little better, but I was still achy so I just I ran some errands with my mom (I went with her to WW, but didn’t go in, get weighed or go to the meeting; I just sat in the car and tried to rest), got some food for this weeks meals, came home and got back into bed. I ended up sleeping for 4 hours. I don’t know if it was my diet or the workouts or not getting enough sleep during the week or what, but wow.
I joined sparkpeople.com and have been tracking my food there. I decided on 40/30/30 and between 1600 and 1800 calories a day. I might tweak that though maybe 1800 to 2000. The HRM says I’m burning 600 calories on cardio days and around 400 on lifting days. I don’t want to starve myself, so I definitely need to be eating more. I think this week I’ll leave it at 1600/1800, just to see if that’s okay for me, then adjust if I need to. Since I didn’t get weighed today, I’ll have to pull out the scale tomorrow and just suck it up. After that I won’t weight myself again until the beginning of the 5th week.
I ate and did X Stretch tonight which was really relaxing. I had no idea it would be a whole hour and initially I grumbled about that internally, but it turned out to be a great thing. I’m tempted to sub this one for Yoga X, but I’m gonna stick with the yoga anyway. Some of the stretching poses were a little rough for me (that whole put your legs over your head business!) but I’m sure they will get better with time. I can definitely tell I’m more loose now and most of the achy-ness I was feeling is gone. I also completed the stretches my PT gave me as well.
Tomorrow: Week 2! I feel accomplished that I made it through this week with the workouts. Now I have to seriously focus on my eating. I don’t want to take pictures in three weeks that look the same as my before pics. I just don’t want to be wasting my time.
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Tags: calories, energy, P90X, sparkpeople.com, stretch, weight watchers, yoga X
Day 6: Kenpo X
My legs were still sore from Legs and Back so I could barely get through this one. The last 15 minutes I kinda petered out and just went though the motions. Which kinda sucks cause I really liked it, I just couldn’t muster up the energy. I’m sure it was a combination of just sore legs and my crappy diet this week. I almost thought about starting the week over, but decided against it. I already see little muscles peeking through the fat in my arms when I flex, but nobody will be able to see my fabulous new muscles if they are hidden under a layer of fat!
What else can I say about this one? I like kickboxing, I’ve done most of Cathe’s kickboxing workouts. Although this is kenpo which is a little different, more like self defense moves, of course the punches and kicks were similar. I felt a little out of sorts doing it, but I attribute that to it being my first time doing the workout and the fact that I really had very little energy towards the end.
Tomorrow: X Stretch and the end of week one!
I’ve decided to cheat on WW for a while and use the guidelines in the P90X nutrition guide and sparkpeople.com to track my food. The guide recommends that I eat around 2400 calories which I think is WAAAAAAYYY too much. I’m pretty sure the guide was designed mostly for men, not women. But I’m gonna track my food intake in sparkpeople.com for a few days, just to see where I am calories wise and make adjustments. I don’t think I’d be able to eat 2400 calories, I’d feel like I’m eating just to eat, not because I’m really hungry. I also want to know WHAT I’m eating - calories, fat, carbs and protein. I decided to start with 40/30/30, protein, carbs, and fat and see where that takes me. Right now I’m not even at 1000 calories and I just ate lunch, so I don’t know what that means. We’ll see what happens tonight when I prepare dinner.
I went to my first session with my new physical therapist this afternoon. I’m supposed to work on strengthening my leg muscles, which are quite weak and may be the reason my knee gets so sore after physical activity. She said my hamstrings, and ITB band are the main culprits so she gave me a list of stretches to do with those therabands. I’m actually looking forward to PT, it’s always nice to have someone stretching you out.
In the meantime I shall press on.
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Tags: weight watchers, Cathe, physical therapy, P90X, Kenpo X, nutrition, calories, fat, carbohydrates, protein
Day 5: Legs and Back/ARX
Legs and Back kinda rocked. I really think there should have been a separate DVD JUST for legs. Although this one is in every week that’s not a recovery week, so at least I’ll be working legs once a week. I’ve thought about doing a sepatate leg workout with just the leg parts of this one, but I’m not sure. That might be Tony overkill. Not that I don’t love him mind you, I’m just glad there is a “Tony OFF” option.
I liked L&B because it wasn’t the usual endless squats/deadlifts/leg presses I’m used to. Which was part of the reason I was so BORED with NROL4W. I wasn’t feeling too much burn, but I was trying to pace myself. Next time I’ll go a little harder and definitely use weights for some of the exercises.
I’m kinda hating the bands. But since there is nowhere for me to do pull ups I’m stuck with them. I was using the red band which I think is about 30 pounds, but I needed to do like mad reps in order to feel anything. I thought about keeping it that light just for the first week, but in L&B Tony says something about switching bands if you think it’s too light, so I did. Switching in the middle of the workout woulda been okay if I had known HOW to switch the damn bands before I popped out the red one. I spent like almost 10 minutes in the middle of everything trying to figure out how to pop in the green band. The secret: Step on the band, close to the end with the left foot, stretch out the end with the right hand, and pop the handle on with the left.
I might need more handles though. I’ve been using weights with the exercises that call for weights, but I want to do a few with the bands, just to get a different kind of burn. I guess I’ll have to do that with a workout that doesn’t require pull ups or chin ups so I can switch back to the red band. Either than or just change it really quickly now that I know how.
More band madness: Still hating them in place of pullups/chinups. Do I sit? Stand? Kneel? I’ve tried it all ways and I KNOW I’m not really getting my back as well as I would be if I could do pullups. Oh well, can’t do anything about that I guess…
Now if only I could get my DAMN eating under control. UGH! I don’t want to blow this. I don’t want to do all this work and not get really great results! Every day is a freaking struggle with food. I just can’t make myself do what I KNOW I need to do.
I’m thinking about purchasing a little gift for myself when I’m done with this. If I get to my goal of at least a 15 pounds loss I want to get some PowerBlock dumbbells.
$250 for the pair I want plus $60 for shipping. But it would be so nice not to have to buy any more dumbbells and clear up some space in my “fitness closet.” My mom would FLIP if I bought them now since she’d be the one to wait for the UPS man and then I’d HAVE to tell her what they were. But if I can complete these 90 days, and lost at least 15 pounds, that will be my reward.
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Tags: back, legs, P90X, powerblock, resistance bands
