Day 14

Okay, last night I went to bed with a muscle relaxant. Why? ( you might ask) because I REALLY strained a butt muscle (Yes, I know the proper name is the gluteus maximus, work with me) and it was spasming all day. The muscle relaxant helped, and with some additional stretching this morning, I am back to normal.

Because I will be unable to workout Monday and Tuesday (going away for a training, no, not a vacation), I did tomorrows workout today (Core Synergistics) and will do Cardio X (Monday's workout) tomorrow before I leave. When I return, I will push Tuesdays workout to Wednesday, and et cetera, until I can catch up next Saturday.

Also, I want to maintain healthy eating while I am gone, so I have packed healthy food that I can take with me and have already thought about what to eat when I go to lunches with my supervisors. Salad with protein, hold the extra fats.

Additionally, I have changed up my diet, in looking at available research on nutrition, I was REALLY eating WAY TOO MUCH food to lose weight (my intended goal). So, I have moved to a 40/30/30 diet (Protein, Fats, Carbs) and have moved my range to 1600 - 2000 calories per day. According to some formula ( I have the name somewhere), this should allow me to lose weight without burning out...or as they say in P90X - Bonking. I will try this for two weeks and see how I feel. If I feel like garbage, then I will up the cals, if I feel good and am losing, I stay put!

Just as an update, I am down 5 lbs to 235. Yeah!

See ya later!

Day 12

This morning started out great! I got out of bed, I ate breakfast (maple flavored soy patties on an english muffin) and I got to work. First I completed Legs and Back, challenging mostly because of doing SO MANY chin-ups. Fun because of moves like "Sneaky Lunges" in which you complete a series of 20 lunges on your toes ONLY, no putting your heels down in between moves!
I have been charting, and I am seeing some improvement with this disc; I saw a lot more improvement in the Ab Ripper X disc (Erin, these are the numbers I hinted about!).

During the AbRipper X disc, the hot shots on the disc complete 350 ab exercises in a span of 16 minutes. I am not there...yet. But I am improving! I did not track my first trial with AbRipper X, but the second day I did it (5/21/09), I completed 193 of the reps.

Today, 5/28/09, I completed...(drumroll, please) 258!!

How cool is that!?! Just a week later I am showing progress!

So, I went to work feelin' PRETTY good! I needed this as my clothes feel tight still and I have been feeling like I am not making progress. But there it is, in black and white...progress, uncontrovertably.

Then, as I needed to follow up on a family issue, I called my mother-in-law to learn than my 9 year old neice has been diagnosed with leukemia. She is having a biopsy today to determine type of leukemia and course of treatment. It is an understatement to say this is a major downer. She is my oldest neice and is such a precious little girl, not that I want this to EVER happen to anyone.

If you pray, please pray that her treatment would be swift and healing would be complete.

Thank you for hanging in for the highs and the lows in this blog.

Day 11 - frustration of lack of fitness

Lesson from yesterday...Ab Ripper X and menstrual cramps do not mix! That's okay though, because I still brought it and then chased my day with ibuprofen and a heating pad...

Moving on:

Today is Yoga X. I will get started in a few minutes (6:30 a.m.), but I wanted to get this blog started now...

(6:58 a.m.) I tried this today, but just don't feel comfortable/capable this morning... I feel defeated. I feel like I have given up, but my knee hurts and I keep falling out of the balance poses. I just don't feel coordinated.

(7:46 a.m.) After writing above, I read over what I had typed. I don't want to feel this way, so I quit balking and finished the workout. I am glad that I did, because at least I didn't give up. I pushed play. Now, time to prep for work!

Day 8

I enjoyed a fun weekend with family while maintaining healthy eating! YEAH! Of course, it helped that I had a partner in crime and my husband, who bought me P90X was here...

Okay, this morning was a WHOLE other story! I did not want to exercise, I just wanted to sit at my computer and loaf. Not Productive in the least! I pressed play, anyway. Not because I wanted to work out this morning. Not because I was going to see instant results. Just because I knew that if I pressed play today, continuing into day 8 of healthy habits, I would feel better. I would feel like I had accomplished something. I would know that I did what I needed to do for me.

I am not going to use a food log today, just don't feel like typing it, I am tracking my food on an other site, www.sparkpeople.com (it is free). I am a little low on calories, but I am only lacking 17 g carbs, 3 g of fat, and 6 g protein. If I consume them, great. If not, I am not going to die.

Day 5

Okay, so I didn't write yesterday...I was just too busy. I did YogaX for day 4 and spent A LOT of time falling down. Not what I consider ego boosting, but 90 minutes of yoga was almost like an off day for my muscles, it felt SO GOOD!

This morning, I got right up, ate breakfast, and...stalled. I struggled to transition from breakfast to the workout!

This meant that I got started a little later than I intended and spent much of the workout trying to convince myself that I did not need to finish the disc, the second set was just a repeat of the first...I am going to be late for work...et cetera... I did not, however, stop the workout. I did finish Legs and Back and THEN moved on to Ab Ripper X. (Let me just say, what a beast!!!).

I am sore, but doing okay. My friend who is in this with me left me a message saying that menstrual cramps have NOTHING on Ab Ripper X! I wouldn't go that far, but I would say that is not far off...

So I am tracking my progress on my own workout sheets as the ones provided by P90X do not cover ALL the moves. As I am not able to complete all the reps, I am tracking on my own.

Here is today's food:

B: Protein shake with strawberries and a banana
am snack: chocolate milk with protein powder
L: 10 oz turkey burger, 2 c roasted red pepper soup, 3 T protein powder
S: 10 oz cottage cheese, 1 oz jerky (beef, couldn't find turkey jerky)
D: 8 oz flounder, 1 artichoke, 2 lite whole wheat english muffins

Off to preview Kenpo X!

Day 3

Woke up and did "Arms and Shoulders" followed by "Ab Ripper X." Definitely need heavier weights for Arms and Shoulders. Definitely need a healthier body for Ab Ripper X! I actually cried in the shower because I felt defeated by the minimal number of reps that I could do on the movements and that 1-2 of the movements, I couldn't do at all! Then I remembered Tony's intro to Ab Ripper X, that this is not the first or second version of this program, but that this has been honed to seriously challenge ANY athlete, him included. So, reframe, I have a long way to go, but others are walking the same path.

Food Log:
Breakfast: Chocolate protein shake with skim, strawberries and a banana
Snack: 1c chocolate milk and soy nuts
Lunch: salad greens with homemade chicken salad
Snack: 12 oz cottage cheese, 1%
Dinner: Planned for fish with dill sauce, zucchini, and rice however; only ate some of the rice and 75% of the fish...

Okay, last night was tough too. I had a nerve pinch in my left shoulder that was not letting up. I spent the evening nauseated, dizzy and pinning my head to my left shoulder (a slightly less uncomfortable position than any other). I went to bed at 8 with light meds, hoping it would remediate. Then woke at around midnight with more pain. I stepped up the meds and returned to bed. This morning, I am well rested (sort of), in less pain, and ready to go to Yoga X! Woo Hoo!

So, I am doing this with a friend and with a couple of teams on the message boards for P90X. My friend asked me to call her this morning to wake her up, so I did. I started breakfast (I supposed to have a protein shake with berries and a banana in it, but I subbed the other half of the mushroom scramble from yesterday and 8 oz juice). She called in the middle of breakfast to tell me that I am not supposed to eat for an hour prior to todays' workout...well, that's just not going to work. So I am starting my post before my workout so that my food has SOME time to settle...not an hour, but, at least some.

(later)

Today's workout was Cardio X. My FAVORITE movement was the wacky jack... it is more like childhood play than working out, still a challenge, but fun!

Today's food:
Breakfast: 1/2 mushroom scramble, 4 oz OJ, 4 oz cranberry juice
Snack: chocolate milk (to replace recovery drink from beach body; message board members claim it is just as effective)
Lunch: island pork tenderloin on salad with homemade cumin viniagrette.
Snack: most of a 4 oz bag of soy nuts and 2 oz string cheese
Dinner: shrimp stirfry and a chocolate caramel protein shake with water

Many many glasses of water!!!

glub...glub...glub...I am floating away!

Day 1

Okay, this is Day 1 of P90X. My DH gave it to me for graduation after I expressed interest in trying it out. I am going to use this blog to post my progress, my workouts, and my meals. So, to get started, here are my measurements (and initial goals):
Chest: 46.5 (40)
Waist: 42 (36)
Hips: 54 (50)
Upper Arm: 15.5 (14)
Thigh: 29.75 (25)
Weight: about 235 (I will weigh myself tomorrow)

Today's workout: Core Synergistics
I was challenged by the workout, that I expected...I am surprised that I was predominately able to keep up! I did not do the bonus section, but that is okay, it is a goal AFTER I am able to complete the entire REGULAR workout.

Todays food:
Breakfast: 1/2 Mushroom Scramble, 6 oz cottage cheese, 1 c strawberries
Snack: Chocolate protein shake with skim and peanut butter (1T), creatine
Lunch: Chef Salad
Snack: 6 oz cottage cheese with 1 c strawberries
Dinner: 10 oz flounder, 4T lemon dill sauce, 2 c roasted red pepper soup with protein powder, 1 c wild rice, 1 artichoke

What I am most challenged by, however, is the amount of food I am supposed to consume at each meal. The only meal I have ACTUALLY been able to finish was lunch! Half of my morning scramble is in the fridge for another day and the second half of my cottage cheese and fruit mixture was an afternoon snack. I am so accustomed to trying to eat as little as possible (and overeating anyway), that I am having a hard time eating everything in one sitting... I have noticed, however, that I am hungry every 2-3 hours...