Day 9

Day 9 complete! I'm officially 1/10 of the way through p90x! Haha.

Tonight was "the mother of all p90x workouts"- none other than plyometrics! I made sure that I drank plenty of water all day long and I didn't eat for two or three hours before the workout... but it still kicked my butt!! I really need to get a heart rate monitor to gauge how well I'm staying in my THR zone. I know for a fact that this workout is some serious cardio! I can tell that without a monitor ;] but I would like to be able to see just how high my heart rate gets doing this. I was able to keep up with the double-time jumps this week (which I couldn't do last week) so I felt pretty darn good! I'm not jumping super high, but man, I am getting off the floor and sticking to all the jumps. That's enough for me to work up quite the sweat! This week, I drank my Elite Recoup recovery drink during my workout and that helped. Speaking of which, I need to get some more Recoup... good thing this week is gold card week at GNC! I think I'm gonna try the fruit punch flavor next.

Things with the diet are about the same... It is super nice to be cooking again after this weekend, so I guess the diet is better than it has been for the past day or so. I had an egg white, spinach and low-fat cheese omelette with turkey bacon for breakfast- yum! I use my one carb to devour a bagel (medium, multigrain) for lunch- totally worth every bite! Dinner was a very disappointing 3oz steak that got too rough and done for my liking in the Foreman. I did, however, salvage the meal with some roasted acorn squash topped with cinnamon and a dash of pumpkin pie spice! So yummy! I'm thinking of doing an egg white, low-fat cheese and lean ham sandwich for breakfast tomorrow... I really like my breakfast sandwiches ;]  My discipline was slightly tested today by lots of goodies at work and candy all over the place due to Halloween. But I DO NOT RACK DISHIPRINE! (translation: lack discipline). I resisted the urge to eat unhealthy food and munched on my 12 mini caramel rice cakes instead :D

Tomorrow is arms/shoulders and ab ripper x again. Ahh, my arms are already sore! Honestly, my whole body is sore! Plyo killed my legs and butt tonight- owie! I'm gonna bring it tomorrow, though! No pain, no gain!

Days 7 & 8

Day 7 (yesterday) was my first rest day! It felt good to just take it easy and not worry about a workout last night... and it was very much needed considering our apartment lost power for about 26 hours! I felt a little like I was slacking off not bringing it last night but I still followed the diet so it's all good :]

Today, day 8, was chest/back and the ab ripper x, same as last Sunday. Difference is, this week it totally kicked my butt and made me ridiculously nauseous!! Not even kidding, it was brutal. I think part of the problem is that I didn't drink enough water yesterday and today... Without power and electricity, I was freezing! Freezing. And it's hard to bring yourself to guzzle 96oz of water when you're so cold you don't even want to move. Whatever it was, my workout tonight totally ran me down. By the time I was 10 minutes into chest/back, I started feeling sick to my stomach... by the time I started the ab ripper, I seriously thought I was going to throw up. I stuck to it, though! No breaks, no pausing, no cutting corners. I broughtttt it! Like a champ, haha. I'll tell you what, nothing could touch how amazing it felt to drink my recovery drink and take a long, hot shower after my workout was done! (Thank God we got electricity back earlier in the afternoon so I was able to workout and actually shower afterwards!).

Right now during the chest/back and ab ripper session, I struggled the most with decline pushups (well, pushups in general- I still do them on my knees, ugh) and the under the fence move (dude, I cannot hover myself over the ground to snake through and back into downward dog)... I'm really liking the resistance bands for the modified pull-ups. They definitely make me sore! I'm going to do pull-ups before I'm done with these 90 days! I'm gonna make it happen. As far as the ab ripper, I seriously struggle with the oblique v-sit crunches (or whatever they're called)... I can squeak out twenty of the twenty-five, but I have to bend my legs. Ab ripper in general is a killer. I did all the scissors tonight, though! My abs were on fire after that. But I think that was the first time I did all twenty-five of those, so I'm proud! Gotta celebrate the victories, right?

I found it extremely difficult to follow the p90x diet without power... I couldn't cook ANYTHING! I was so furious, you have no idea. All I wanted to do was throw some chicken on the Foreman and heat up my broccoli soup! Alas, such a simple meal was too much to ask for. I settled for a salad from Cosi (which I hesitantly ate because I didn't know exactly how many veggie portions it contained) and a bland rotisserie chicken (which I shoved down my throat simply because I needed to protein portions). This morning I caved and bought a turkey sausage egg white flatbread from Dunkins and washed it down with a Wawa coffee. Don't judge, I had to eat! And the coffee was just so warm and delicious... 

Anyways, I'm excited to be starting week two! I'm still as determined as ever to stick to all the routines and the diet so I can get some results! Tomorrow is "the X in p90x workout"- plyometrics! That workout is exhausting like no other. But what will I do? I'll bring it! 

Day 6

WEEK ONE COMPLETE!!!

Words cannot express how accomplished I feel! I know it probably sounds silly, but I feel so great for getting through my first week! Honestly, I thought I was going to struggle a lot more than I actually did. Don't get me wrong, all of the workouts were extremely challenging, but I DID IT! I wasn't sure I'd be able to, but I did! Woo-hooooo!

Tonight was kenpo, which is hands-down my favorite p90x workout. One hour of cardio kick-boxing, throwing punches and banging out some kicks, is fun. A lot of fun! It goes by so fast, it stays interesting and you work up a great sweat! Oh man, I love it, haha. I wish I could cut out yoga and do kenpo twice a week instead :P haha. I seriously despise yoga. But at least I have kenpo to look forward to every Friday!

I also thought I would have a much harder time with the diet... It's very restricting, but I'm getting used to it. Today, I did not feel deprived at all! And I'm finding ways to make it fit into my lifestyle so it will stick even after I finish p90x. It's a beautiful thing, haha. I had the best dinner tonight- a lean turkey burger with a piece of low-fat cheese, some bbq sauce and a piece of turkey bacon. Yum. And I discovered the most delicious snack of all- 2 cups of sliced strawberries with 4oz of nonfat vanilla frozen yogurt! Oh man, I felt like I was cheating when I ate this!! But it counted as one fruit and one snack, so it was totally allowed ;] I'm getting better at planning ahead and figuring out what I'm going to eat all day in order to space out my meals and snacks and get all my portions in. I've got to admit, it's a little fun! I like challenges, obviously.

All-in-all, I am feeling GREAT! I'm expecting to hit a plateau in the next two weeks or starting "bonking" (as the p90x nutrition guide calls it, haha) from lack of carbs, but right now I'm feeling so good. I'm proud of myself for this somewhat minor accomplishment and I am even more determined to stick with it and bring it again next week! But for now, I will enjoy a well-earned day of rest tomorrow!

Day 5

Today was muuuuch better than yesterday! I actually enjoyed my workout today! :D All the leg work was definitely killer, but I felt good! I'm still using resistance band modifications for all the pull-ups, but I'm hoping to eventually gain enough strength to do them for real. As for legs, I want to work on getting super deep into the lunges. I can get pretty low to begin with, but Tony Horton and the back-up workout people (whatever they're called, haha) get so freaking low it's crazy!! At one point, you do a lunge sit against the wall and hold it for awhile... then later you do another and lift one leg then lower and lift the other leg... oh man, I was shaking!! My muscles were going spastic! It was so nuts. I felt really good at the end of the workout, though. I know I'm going to be sore tomorrow. Very sore. It already hurts to stand up. I think the workout should be named legs, butt and back because it definitely works your butt quite a bit, too.

Diet-wise, I'm still doing well. I decided to use my one carb today on a bagel :D I was so excited to eat a bagel, haha. I was hesitant at first because I've really been enjoying my egg white/turkey bacon/low-fat cheese on an english muffin... but this morning I decided to put some peppers and onions in my eggs, skip the english muffin and reserve my carb. Man, was it worth it!! I even made a special trip to Wegmans just to buy a fresh multigrain bagel. Om nom nom! I got creative with dinner and marinated tilapia filets in oil, lemon juice, garlic and a ton of herbs. Golden. It was a wonderful dinner, paired with one cup of steamed carrots. I also made my chocolate protein powder "hot chocolate" today and enjoyed that with some fresh strawberries. On that note, two cups of sliced strawberries counts as one fruit! I was thrilled to learn that. Too bad strawberries are out of season, haha. Now I'm not down to two snacks for the day, so I must choose wisely... I think this is the most I've eaten this early in the day since I started p90x. It's all good, though.

I'm wicked excited for the workout tomorrow- KENPO!!! My favorite. Ohhh how I love it! For real, an hour of cardio kickboxing is insanely fun. And I'll be able to use that workout to blow off all the stress from my week and get ready for the weekend and my first day of rest on Saturday! I'm basically pumped and ready to BRING IT!

Day 4

I HATE YOGA X!!! And I mean HATE. Replace all the names in this video clip to "yoga x" and that's precisely how I feel. Especially the last one...

I was somewhat looking forward to yoga... I'd done half of it with my brothers and I mostly enjoyed it. Thing is, I missed all the crappy parts of yoga x and had just done the more fun stuff like the balance postures and the stretches. Come to find out, I hate everything else! It was a rough workout- very annoying and redundant. I like a challenge, but some of this stuff was near impossible! It was frustrating. Oh well, at least it's over with and I don't have to worry about it for another week. What really sucks is that the recovery week (the fourth week in phases one and two) has yoga in it TWICE. Sunday & Friday. Here I was thinking recovery week would be wonderful but now I'm dreading it more than our regular weeks. I would seriously rather do plyo than yoga! At least I feel like I've accomplished something after doing plyo. 

Okay, that's enough complaining. Other than that, I'm doing well with p90x. I'm excited that I'm two workouts away from being done the first week! Pretty sweet. I can't wait to see some results. I'm so anxious. I'm trying to be patient but I just want my body to change so much... I guess I just need to stick with it. Stay disciplined. Muscle through all my workouts. I'll make the changes happen. Tomorrow is legs and back! Should be interesting considering my legs are already sore from plyo and this is the second time working back this week (chest & back was day one)... I have a feeling I'll be limping on Friday, haha. I'm going to embrace the burn and bring it!

Day 3

Ugh. I'm a little frustrated today. I worked out later than usual and I hadn't eaten anything for almost three hours... needless to say, I was tired before I even started. The routine was arms and shoulders & the ab ripper. Again, I was reminded that I have a super weak upper body. Not gonna lie, it was a little discouraging to have that thrown in my face again... I know I can't let it get to me because these workouts are meant to push me and meant to make me stronger! I know it isn't going to happen overnight... It was just a rough workout for me. I struggled through the ab ripper more than usual, too. Freaking oblique v-sits will be the death of me! I pushed myself and got through it all, so I guess I can still chalk it up as a win.

On the upside, I'm handling the diet a little better. I officially love my egg white, turkey bacon, low-fat cheese sandwiches on an english muffin. YUM. Great way to start out my morning! I'm still having a hard time with balance but I did the best today that I have so far. I had two of my three snacks earlier in the day along with the second half of my carb and my condiment. Turns out it was a very good thing that I ate more earlier due to the fact that I worked out later and I can't eat within three hours of going to bed. Yeah, three hours. That's not easy to do! So tonight, since I didn't finish working out until almost 10pm, I'm stuck staying up until about 1am because I had to eat after the routine. Oh well, I guess I'll take a nap tomorrow...

Side note- I am definitely feeling plyo today! My lower body is so sore, it hurts to sit down! Haha. I don't mind, though. Being sore means I accomplished my task and worked my muscles hard. And I'm happy with that.

Tomorrow is yoga x! I'm looking forward to it. Yoga is a lot harder than most people think... I have pretty good balance so I'm decent at it, but I'm looking forward to improving my yoga skills! I've done some of this routine before, so I'll be interested to see how I do with the whole thing. I feel like yoga belly 7 is gonna kill me because the ab ripper really did rip me up tonight. Yet, I'm still ready to briiiiing it!

Day 2

Another day completed!

This diet makes me tired... one serving of carbs a day does not feel like enough! But if it does what it's supposed to do and makes me burn a bunch of fat, then I don't care, haha. I just need to stay strong. I think my biggest problem with the diet as of right now is that I think I'm going to eat too much early in the day and have nothing left to eat at night so I conserve a lot of my portions then end up with a bunch to eat after working out! It could be worse... but I need to learn how to space my portions out more evenly. I discovered a wonderful breakfast today! Three egg whites scrambled with a little onion powder, three pieces of turkey bacon and one slice of low-fat cheese on a whole wheat english muffin. Deeeeelicious!! And surprisingly filling. I also bought chocolate protein powder today, so I'm excited to have some "chocolate milk" tomorrow (I bought the protein powder after I ate most of my dairy for the day and didn't want to mix it in water because that's nasty, haha). I'm still loving my Elite Recoup recovery drink! I bought the watermelon flavor and I swear it tastes like a drinkable watermelon jolly rancher. Om nom nom!

The workout was brutal tonight! Plyometrics, a.k.a. jump training. It was so intense and exhausting! Almost every move was only thirty seconds, like 5 or 6 in a row then repeat the whole circuit. Sounds relatively easy, but believe me, it was more than challenging!! But I did it all! I couldn't keep up with some of the double-time jumps, but I kept going and did my best (forget the rest!). I felt so thoroughly drained by the end. Yet, I felt incredible for getting through the entire workout! Tony Horton says that plyo is "the X in p90x" so I think I should feel good about getting all the way through it without pausing or taking extra breaks.

Day two has been conquered. Tomorrow is arms and shoulders & ab ripper x. Tomorrow is also my 10 hour workday so this is bound to be difficult. Nonethless, I'm gonna BRING IT!

Day 1

I started p90x today. The diet. The workouts. The whole shebang! It was rough and humbling and I learned a few things...

1) The p90x diet sucks. I've always been aware of what I eat, but the p90x diet seriously takes it to the next level! I kept track of everything I ate all day long (which is good practice to begin with and I was using an app on my phone to do so, but I wrote everything down today). According to the calculations, I'm on level one, meaning I don't get to eat much :P  Daily I get...

• 5 servings of protein
• 2 servings of dairy
• 1 serving of fruit
• 2 servings of veggies
• 2 servings of fats
• 1 serving of carbs
• 2 snacks (1 single, 1 double)
• 1 condiment
• 1 recovery drink

2) I'll be eating many english muffins for the next three months. I was happy to find out that one whole wheat english muffin equals half a carb! Having two english muffins today was definitely great. It stinks not to be able to eat cereal (1 cup equals my one carb for the day), since I used to eat cereal pretty often. I mean, I can still eat a lot of stuff I like to but I don't want to use all my carbs first thing in the morning. 

3) NEVER eat one whole serving of egg whites to fulfill a protein portion. Why? Because one serving of egg whites equals SIX egg whites!! Do you know how boring it is to eat six egg whites?! I put some low-fat cheese in it (goodbye second dairy of the day) and had two pieces of turkey bacon (another protein) and my second english muffin on the side... but still! Ahh. Never again. From now on, it'll be 3 egg whites and 3 pieces of turkey bacon. 

4) Snacks will be my favorite part of this diet. I thoroughly enjoyed my 12 mini apple rice cakes, so that's a keeper of a snack. I'm going to have a frozen fruit bar soon and I'm looking forward to that as well! I wish I got more snacks per day ;]

5) I will always be hungry. I had a protein shake for breakfast (1/3 cup protein powder and 8oz skim milk) and my first english muffin but that left me pretty hungry... Lunch was three chicken tenders grilled with 2 Tbsp bbq sauce and 1 cup of broccoli soup. Again, still hungry. I guess I better get used to that, though! I'll be hungry for the next 89 days, ha. 

Now on to the workout. Eeeek! Today was back & chest and the ab ripper x.

1) I have the weakest upper body ever. No, but seriously.

2) I hate pushups. Every other move is some variation of a pushup and they suck. They all suck! I even did them all on my knees! Ergfagagsha. See, again- weakest upper body ever.

3) I love ripping my abs. It's sick, I know. I have this beautiful love/hate relationship with the ab ripper x. It hurts so good. Yes, I know that sounds perverse. 

Either way, day one is complete!! I'm hungry and I know I'll be sore tomorrow, but I feel good. I'm so excited to get some serious results! :D I know it will take awhile but I'm staying committed and sticking it out. Tomorrow is plyometrics... bring it!