Day 1 vs Day 90

After starting the program April 6, we finally reached the end.  Although it took us over 130 days to complete the program and realistically only did 3/4 of the workouts - it's over.

Luke lost 12.5 lbs and 3.25 inches off his waist.  I lost 6 lbs and 3.5 inches off my waist.  

Some of you have made comments about the "posing."  There are 6 recommended poses to do each 30 days - this wasn't something we put together!

We are going to do the program all over again, but with a new approach.  Each day we are able to do a workout will be the next scheduled workout.  No skipping, so by the time we complete this round we will have done all 90 workouts!

Final Week!

Day 82 - 90
The last week of the program is a Recovery Week which includes X Stretch, Yoga X, and Kenpo X, and Core Synergistics.  During the last week we were headed to MN and traveling, so we pushed it back a week.

The next Monday we thought we would start up the week as scheduled, but Monday turned into Wednesday, and the next thing we knew the week was over...  We did measurements and took our final pictures.  I will post them next!

Believe it or not I did yoga!

Day 81
Absolutely nothing special happened today.  I did yoga while the dogs slept and didn't do the last 10 minutes because I got so bored and had to shower.  Tonight I had an MREA meeting on campus, so I unfortunately caved to chips, guac, and enchiladas.  But I tried to keep the portion small and only had one eclair.  The plan was to go to Laguna for the ArtWalk and have some wine and apps as we walked around, but a neighbor called and said our dogs were barking non-stop.  We basically got to downtown Laguna and had to turn back around.  Oh well, at least that meant I didn't stuff my face full of anything else unhealthy!

10 more days!

Day 80
I wasn't feeling good yesterday, so I didn't do any jumping around for PlyoX.  Today I had to choose two of three: Plyo, Back and Biceps and Bellydance.  I went for a Back and Biceps workout and Bellydancing.  I wasn't able to match most of my numbers because my triceps were so sore during all of those pull ups and curls.  Not much going on in the fitness center except for the lady wearing flip flops doing cardio on the bike and a going-out-top while sweating.  All in all an uncomfortable look for the gym.

Bellydancing has been more entertaining the past couple weeks.  We are learning a new routine with a lot more belly circling and butt shimmies, so I feel like I am getting a better workout.  I don't break a sweat, but after Ab Ripper today my abs felt it.

where can you even buy a fanny pack?

Day 78
I can't believe this is our last week of resistance training.  It seems like it's been the longest program since we had to keep rewinding, but at the same time I can't believe we have been working out for so long!  I wasn't feeling great this afternoon and wanted to ditch out on Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps, but after a quick stroll with the dogs in the fresh air I felt much better.

I'm really glad I decided to wait to work out because I got to see some interesting people.  One lady was in the studio looking really good - both physically and what she was wearing.  She was like a commercial for nike with her gear on.  I was doing my free weight work, when this other guy creeped up behind me while I was jotting down my numbers.  I stood back up for my next exercise and he gave me this look like I was in his way in front of the mirror.  I was obviously there first.  This same guy then looks at me at the Asian guy next to me and asks if "we" are done using something.  As if we were together.  Why do white people assume when two Asians are near each other they are either dating/married or related??  Oh well, this white guy was wearing a fanny pack, so now who gets the last laugh?

here we go again...

Day 72 RE DO
Obviously we are not keeping on track here and decided to do Day 72 PlyoX all over again... not that I even did Day 72 PlyoX in the first place.  So Luke did his Plyo workout in the morning to help motivate me to get mine done before he got home from work.  This seems to work better than him waiting to do any workouts after work.  As long as he works out in the morning I am determined to get mine done before the after-work-fitness-center-rush begins.  Once again I jumped around our living room while the dogs tried to stay out of my way.

Day 73
I had a really weird shoulder pain on Friday where I could barely lift my right arm without getting a shooting pain beneath my shoulder blade.  I tried Advil and Luke tried to put pressure on it, which seemed to help a little.  The next morning it was much worse, but ended up loosening up during the day and was fine by Sunday.  Since today was Shoulders and Arms I was a bit nervous.  So far so good.  My shoulders were definitely more sore than normal and got tired pretty quickly. 

I was a little disappointed in how empty the fitness center was and the lack of activities. I thought something exciting would happen when a woman came in to do her workout with her baby.  I saw her push her stroller through the door and do a lap around the cardio machines and then whip around and leave.  It all happened so fast and I don't know why she was in and out so quickly, but I felt like the fitness center really let me down.

Why does butter have to taste so good?

Day 73
Luke jumped around this morning and I danced my belly instead.  I had a really bad headache all afternoon, but pulled myself together to go class.  I'm really glad I went because the instructor taught us a few new things and a whole new routine.  Apparently, she teaches a new one every 8 weeks and then they have a "show" to perform at the studio.

Day 74
I thought we would do Shoulders and Arms after work today, but as soon as I mentioned a movie to Luke our plan changed.  My caloric intake was awful today.  I forgot to eat before going to work and forgot to bring anything with me to work.  So I had to scrounge around for a dollar for the vending machine before my noon presentation.  I bought a bag of baked lays.  Luckily the lady who comes around selling lunches out of her coolers came by.  I tried to go healthy and opted for a fresh strawberry, granola, yogurt combo.  After I got home I snacked on carrots and croutons.  We made a healthy whole wheat spinach tomato pasta for dinner... you're probably thinking so far so good... then we went to a movie and got a free popcorn.  Movie popcorn = pounds of melted butter and some popcorn. It's a do it yourself button!

Only day 72?

Day 71/72
Monday Chest and Back?  Nope.  Tuesday Chest and Back.  Monday was a bad day for me with work and life, plus I was starving by 5 pm, so working out took a back seat and Luke was nice enough to not workout because him working out probably would have made me feel worse (what a nice guy).  We thought we would take Monday on a rollerblade until we got to the garage and found mouse poop and pee in our rollerblades.  That quickly turned into taking Monday for a walk.

Tuesday after work we pushed through our workout.  While we were in the fitness center we ran into a few of our neighbors who we had not seen in a while, so that was a happy surprise.  I upped my weights for my back exercises and did more push-ups than last time around.  Still eating pretty healthy these days which is a big plus since I've been slacking on the daily workouts!

I heart couch.

Day 67
Instead of doing Thursday Yoga X after work, we decided to give Monday some exercise and jog her around our complex.  It's 1 mile around the outside.  I hate running, but just seeing the joy on her face/tail she pushes me to go further.  By the time we were about 1.5 miles my chest started getting pretty heavy.  I haven't been using an inhaler for asthma in a long time, but the humidity and heat of the weather was a doozy.  I had to walk the rest of the way, but felt I got a better workout than I would have doing Yoga anyway.

Day 68
Since we were up so late Thursday night, Luke and I decided not to workout before work.  But then when I got up Friday I saw that Luke had already done his Legs and Back.  To say I was not happy was an understatement.  I thought we agreed to do the workout after work.  Once he came home from work he was full of all sorts of ideas about what to do that did not include any working out for me.  A friend came to stay with us, so we decided to make some healthy dinner and just catch up on some TV.

Day 69
The original plan was to get up and do some Legs and Back while Luke did cardio and then do Kenpo on Sunday.  However, we had to be in downtown LA at 9 am for a full tour of the downtown area - bars, restaurants, lofts, what's new, what's for sale, where to live, etc.  It was hosted by CREW-LA and we learned about how Downtown LA is trying to become a Work, Live, Play city.  That finished at 2 pm and we were exhausted.  By the time we got home, all we wanted to do was sit on the couch.  So we did.  We sat and sat and kept telling ourselves we were going to be productive since we needed to stop into Luke's work, go to the pet store, etc.  But we didn't.  We cheated and made a frozen flatbread pizza (which I don't regret) and sat some more.  We were productive in a stationary way - catching up on emails, organizing our MN trip and organizing more of our Awaycoming trip.

Our friend came and stayed with us again for the night (she was in OC auditioning for The Bachelor!), but we were all so tired we went to bed pretty early.

Day 70
This morning we had to rush around and prepare for the OC Badger's annual summer picnic.  I created Badger Bingo boards at Luke's work while he ran to the grocery store to pick up our contribution.  By the time we got finished it was time to get to Doheny Beach.  The picnic was great and for the most part I was in control.  Minus the red velvet cake slice that I couldn't resist.  I tried to manage the portion control and stick to 1 brat, which was pretty difficult!  In fact my mouth just started watering thinking about brats again.

We left the picnic around 5:30 pm and headed directly for the couch.  We sat on the couch so long that we ended up sleeping on it until about 4 am after watching a movie and some TV.

Rewind 7 days

Day 66/73
Well a lot has happened the last week.  Technically we should be on Day 73, but we haven't done a P90X workout since Day 65.  We ended up taking a full week off because I started Bellydance Class, we had to pack for WI, took a red eye to Milwaukee Thursday night, hung out in Madison and Wisconsin Dells all weekend and came back at about 3 am Monday morning.  Needless to say I ate, drank, and was VERY merry!

Good thing Luke and I took Monday off - we unpacked and ran errands like crazy and decided to start getting back on track after grocery shopping for some healthy, fresh food.  Tuesday we ran the dog and Monday and Tuesday we made some healthy recipes and I feel better already.

Back and Biceps went better than expected today, but oddly I felt like I was doing a hard cardio at the same time.  While I was doing Ab Ripper I found myself falling behind.  Did I lose my cardio ability in that short amount of time?  I don't even remember being this out of breath when we first started the program.

After bellydancing class tonight we met up with a bunch of classmates at Kimera - food everywhere.  We caught the tail end of a dinner and made it just in time for free apps.  I had enough french fries to feed 4, a slider, and snacked on someone's pasta shell leftovers like it was a bag of chips (keep in mind I already had a dinner salad).

I got to meet Tony!

At Muscle Beach near the Santa Monica Pier!

Is it day 90 yet?

Day 65
Once again I did not feel like working out.  By lunchtime I wanted the day to be over.  I get pretty bored sitting around at home all day working with no interaction except when Luke comes home for lunch.  Luke did his workout this morning, but didn't do abs.  I planned on working out in the afternoon as usual, but I volunteered to watch our neighbor's dog, Chloe, for a playdate with Monday while Chloe's mom went into work for the afternoon.  She thought she would be gone for a couple of hours, but it turned into more like 4 hours. I didn't want to leave for the fitness center and leave the two of them alone since I told her I was going to be home all afternoon. Instead I did a make shift workout in my living room using wine bottles for dumbbells. I was able to do almost all of the exercises except for the tricep ones.  The wine bottles didn't weigh enough so I resorted to chair dips each time I had to do a tricep exercise.

Neither of us did Ab Ripper today and agreed to do Back and Biceps tomorrow and do the abs then.  I'm feeling pretty good about my food today.  I ate healthy all day with a bowl of cereal for breakfast, a turkey sandwich for lunch, and grilled cedar plank salmon with corn on the cob for dinner with some healthy snacks in between.

A long weekend of failing.

Day 60/61/62
Luke did Yoga early Thursday morning.  Friday evening Luke and I were going to do Legs and Back, but I convinced him that we should do that workout on Saturday morning and do Kenpo later that afternoon.  Eric stayed with us until Friday, so I really didn't feel like working out much after playing host for the week.  Friday night we caught the movie at our complex theater and watched Fast & Furious at home.

Saturday at 11 am I went to the FOCHP event since we didn't have an event on Sunday due to the 4th.  People were asking about Tommy, so I wanted to make sure I got to the event on time.  We ran errands that afternoon and had a late lunch, but Tommy got adopted and I had to do the home check that evening.  Saturday night we ended up staying up until about 3 am beating Sonic 3 on the Xbox... There goes Legs and Back and Kenpo! 

Day 63
Saddleback changed their evening services to one service at 5 pm, so we had more time to squeeze in a workout after being lazy all day.  We finally did Legs and Back and good thing because I ate salad and breadsticks like it was my job at the Olive Garden for dinner.  Luke and I didn't feel like running around town, parking, etc to see the fireworks, so we sat on top of our complex wall with Monday and got to see about 6 different fireworks shows from around the area.

Day 64
My legs have never been this sore.  Ever.  I was sore just being awake getting out of bed was a challenge - physically.  I can't sit, I can't stand, I can't walk, I can't go up or down stairs.  Forget working out today.  We will do Shoulders, Chest and Triceps tomorrow since there is no way we can do PlyoX in this pain.  Instead we went to Yao's house where her mom made us authentic Chinese cuisine!  This was a funny 4th of July - spent it eating Chinese food made by a woman who doesn't speak English hanging out with the Lu's and neither one is a US Citizen.

This week will be a short work week since there was no work today and we fly out Thursday night to travel to Madison!

feeeeeed meeeeee

Day 59
My calves were really sore today and wearing high heels made them feel even worse.  Good thing I only went into the office for the morning.  This afternoon I did Arms and Shoulders.  I actually remembered to bring everything, including my new weight lifting gloves.  Can I just say that I am so excited that Luke thought it was a good idea.  They made all of the curls seem much easier because I was focusing on my muscles instead of trying to minimize the pinching in my hands.  The calluses are not attractive and I don't like the way they feel.

I started out eating better today since Luke and I split a shrimp stir fry for dinner, but then I just couldn't get full.  I snacked on crackers, strawberries, and string cheese after dinner to get that full feeling, to no avail.

Doot Doot.

Day 58
I woke up this morning pretty sore, especially in my chest from all of those push-ups.  Eric is staying with us and woke up earlier than I want to think about to do his workout and Luke got up at 5:30 am to do his PlyoX workout as well.  I woke up much later and did my PlyoX in the late afternoon.

I decided to do Plyo in the living room since I am convinced that I work my calves harder trying to stay "quiet like a cat" jumping around barefoot - but really it was mostly because I was too lazy to walk over to the fitness center only to probably forget something.  The workout was just as hard as I remembered and even harder since my chest was so sore.  Squatting jumping jacks hurt my sore body more than my quads.

Favorite line of the day came from Tony after the workout. "Double double."  The only double double I am familiar with is at In 'N' Out, but his version may be better.  It is a two handed fist pound twice while saying (in an awkwardly high pitch) "Doot, Doot."

Starting next week I swear my food intake will be better.  It didn't help today with chips and salsa at Taco Tuesday and butter with popcorn in it at the movies...

Phase 3 again for me!

Day 57
After passing out on the couch and stumbling to bed I didn't even set an alarm for this morning.  Luke gently woke me up and asked if I would be joining Chest and Back.  I looked at the clock, set it for 8 am and quickly fell back asleep.  After eating way too many cheese puffs with lunch I was pretty tired.  That called for a 2 hour nap to get me energized.

Ironically I walked into the fitness center and the only person in there was watching an infomercial on P90X on the cardio machine.  WOW, I forgot just how hard these workouts are, especially after taking 9 days off.  I definitely fell off the workout bandwagon and I felt like it ran me over.  Ab Ripper was even harder than I remember, too.  I think I had to take more breaks during Abs than ever combined.

The whole time I was watching Tony Horton I couldn't stop thinking about how I met him (and about how I gained like 9 inches on my waist those 9 days I took off).  Ugh.

Phase 3 Take 2

We just got back from San Francisco late last night after a 4 hour flight delay.  The friends visiting for the weekend plus San Francisco added about 4 pounds on me, so I'm ready to kick it into high gear.  Since Phase 3 has been a disaster both with the workouts and food intake, Luke and I decided to start Phase 3 over on Monday.  Over the weekend we will probably do a Kenpo and maybe a Yoga, but no lifting until Monday. 

Last weekend I met Tony Horton!!!  Pictures to come when I get them uploaded from a friend!

Just read the highlights

Day 72
After a full night's sleep I was glad we decided to do the workout after work.  But by the time Luke got home I just wanted to lay on the couch.  So we did for about 2 hours until we convinced ourselves to do Chest and Back.

We watched the Laker game for a while, but seeing they were smoking the Celtics we made our way to the fitness center.  Oddly, it was packed even though the game was on.  The cardio machines were almost completely full and a few other people were doing their weight lifting.  Tuesday night it's bootcamp in the studio, so it was plump full as well.

Highlights: 1. An Asian couple came in to do a workout - and brought their 3 year old girl.  She wandered around the fitness center like her dad's shadow.  Asian dad kept clearing his throat obnoxiously loudly - like the kind of throat clearing when you are trying to get someone's attention.  2. A boy walked in looking like he was about 16, but had massive muscles.  It was confirmed he was young when his girlfriend came storming in to give him a hug wearing her cheerleading jacket.  She then tried to storm out and pushed on the wrong side of the door (always amusing).  The boy then proceeded to text the rest of his workout.  3. The security guard who walks around the complex at night "stopped" into the fitness center multiple times (in order to watch the Laker game on the cardio machines).  In fact, as we were walking out, he was leaning on the bike watching the game and before we were out the door he was sitting on the bike seat.  Glad we are paying for him to watch the game.

Brah and Brats.

Day 70
After struggling to get off the couch Sunday morning we summoned up the energy to finally do some Kenpo.  I'm so glad we waited until noon to do the workout for a couple reasons.  1. We got to the fitness center and had the studio to ourselves.  2. 'Brah" was back in full force (see Day 41) sporting his flip flops, shorts, unbuttoned button down, and a bonus - wait for it - sunglasses.  Today he was wearing his sunglasses while lifting.  Really?!  I didn't realize the fitness center changed their light bulbs to UV lights.

I found out there is a job opening at a company I am interested in, so we went back to Luke's office to work on my resume and cover letter.  We were there until 3 am.  So much for getting up Monday morning.

Day 71
To say that I was tired today would be an understatement.  I was in the office for a while and got pretty tired just sitting at my desk.  So I worked from home for the afternoon.  At lunch, Luke and I sat on the couch to talk about some stuff we need to get done this week and we both almost fell asleep.  Tonight we went to the Brewers vs Angels game and tailgated beforehand.  I. love. brats.  I tried to stuff myself full of yogurt, grapes, and carrots, but that brat and a half plus brownie were just too tasty!

Final = Epic Fail

Day 67
Let's not kid ourselves.  I didn't do YogaX.  Instead, I spent all day and night studying.

Day 68
Luke did Legs and Back in the morning and I tried to sleep and study.  I decided to take a 3 hour nap during the afternoon to rest up.  It was a good thing I did because we went to his office to concentrate and get my studying done.  I didn't finish studying and creating my page of notes until about 2:30 am.  By the end of the night I was super exhausted.

Day 69
I didn't even bother showering - just woke up, brushed my teeth, threw on some clothes and headed out the door.  Test day went well, but man was I tired.  Once I got back home I contemplated doing Kenpo, but napping won that battle.  Then we had to hit up the happy hour celebration, which pushed the lazy wagon even further.  I had onion rings and my mouth thought it was in heaven.  I can't even remember when I last had some awesome fried food.

I'm forgetful unless I write things down, unless I forget to write things down.

Day 65/66
I didn't have time to cram in a PlyoX day yesterday since I actually started studying for my accounting final and obviously didn't get up with the birds (and Luke) in the morning.  We did our measurements as of Day 65 and overall they were better than Day 30, but barely.  I'll post those this weekend.  I stayed up late last night, so I didn't even bother setting my alarm to do Biceps and Back in the morning today.  Instead, I did my workout during my lunch break.

I got all of my things packed up and got to our fitness center, only to realize that I forgot the laptop - again.  Ugh.  Fortunately, I skimmed the sheet of exercises I was supposed to do today and did it on my own going down the sheet.  Although, I had a hard time remembering the difference between Static Arm Curls, One Arm Cross Body Curls, and Concentration Curls.  How are these not the same?

Since I forgot my laptop and couldn't remember the difference between those curls I was too frustrated to lay down and try to remember the Ab Ripper video. I thought I would do that portion after going back to our place in the company of Monday and Tommy, but got distracted and forgot all about Ab Ripper until it was bedtime.

I'm still pretty sore from my workout on Monday and can't wait to schedule my next therapeutic massage!

toot toot

Day 64
I was so confused this morning.  I fell asleep on the couch after a long day yesterday and made my way into bed after getting ready for bed half sleeping at 4 am.  Dazed, I heard Luke say, "Are you working out?"  I was so confused since I didn't even think about setting an early alarm or think about P90X really.  I rolled over with a shake of the head and woke up at a more normal hour.  My back, shoulders, and calves are pretty sore today, which is great since that means it paid off to do that Kenpo!

When I got to the fitness center there were a few chicks in there and a dude jumping rope in the studio.  After I was about 10 minutes into the workout, an elderly couple came strolling in.  The guy was teaching the lady how to warm up and lift weights.  I don't know if she thought she was whispering, but when I was doing my pike push ups she leaned over to the guy and said, "Wow, that's impressive.  No, look.  That's impressive."  But the absolute best part of my workout was when I was doing some ballistic stretching.  I'm not sure if it was the guy or lady, but one of them let out a big fart and I looked out of the corner of my eye to see them both giggling.  Nothing like seeing a couple over 60 giggle at their own toots!

my neurologist tells me not to sigh

Day 63
We still haven't done our measurements and I'm really not sure I even want to post the pictures.  I weighed myself this morning after I did a makeup sesh of KenpoX while Luke was playing golf with the WI Alumni Tourney.  Although my weight is down, my waist is not. *sigh*

I tried to keep the food intake healthy today, but we need more groceries - no yogurt, one waffle, and not much else.  So breakfast was a whole wheat waffle and a string cheese.  When I volunteered at fochp today I told myself I wouldn't snack on anything - but then the donut holes came out.  I have no self control.  *sigh*  I ate two and really didn't feel so bad about it since I need some calories to function!  By the time I got to the golf tournament dinner I was so hungry I was the only one who went through the line twice.  *sigh*

I'm really frustrated with myself, but at the same time I'm not and I think that's the problem.  I justify everything and have been cheating too much the last 30 days.  All this sighing is bad for my health - literally.  Long story short, my doctor says my sighing causes my chronic headaches.  *sigh*

Oink.

Day 62
Saturday I woke up dreading class and knew we were going to take our 60 day pictures, so I tried not to stuff myself of breakfast.  That worked well until I got peer pressured into eating a cheeseburger at In 'n' Out.  We took the pictures and I am not happy with the way they basically look the same - just different lighting.  The bad eating choices really kept me from a successful Phase 2.  I continued the poor eating with some pigging out on potato chips after we made it down to Uncle David's for more good (bad) eating and wine.  We went to Vista to see Luke's cousin who was in town for the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon.

Ugh - I am a pig.

Yogurtland and Cake!

Day 61
I didn't want to get up on Friday morning since I was so tired and stressed, but wasn't sure when I would be able to do Legs and Back.  I've been waking up the last couple of days with a really sore jaw from clenching my teeth all night and usually wake up with a headache because of it.  All day I had sore triceps to match.

We had massages this afternoon and it felt awesome.  I could get a massage for 12 hours a day every day.  I told the doctor about my teeth clenching and he did some weird crazy adjustment on my jaw.  Right from there we had run around to get ready for a friend's surprise birthday party.  People brought snack items, so I tried to hold off on snacking since we split a meal from Boneheads and had Yogurtland after (with too many candy toppings).  I was doing really well until the cake came out.  It was delish!

Grumpy old man

Day 59/60
We were supposed to do Biceps and Shoulders Wednesday after class, but apparently my professor decided that he wanted to recap everything that we just did.  We had to sit through 11 group presentations (each at least 20 mins) for the last two lectures.  Technically our class is supposed to get done at 9:50 pm, but he keeps us there extra and tonight was no different.  Tonight we were there until at least 10:20 pm and by the time I got home I just wanted to sit around and go to bed.

Thursday morning I actually woke up to the 5:30 am alarm and made my way dazed to the fitness center with burning eyes.  Walker Lady wasn't there, but that personal trainer guy from 60 days ago was back with his "student."  At one point I got pretty annoyed at some old guy.  We had the laptop set up on one of the sitting bench chairs doing Biceps and Shoulders when he comes over and says, "When are you going to be done?" and as I was trying to tell him we had 20 seconds left he interrupted with, "You are kind of blocking the machine" at which point I just stared at him with a devil eye and grabbed my things and moved.  I understand that other people are entitled to use equipment and if I were in his position I would probably be annoyed, but I would never be rude about asking.  If I wasn't as tired I probably would have said, "when the video is over" and "you are kind of blocking my happiness."

Friday morning = Legs and Back since we missed Yoga tonight after a long school group meeting.  I don't think I could stand 90 minutes of Tony right now.  I'm hoping we can squeeze it in at some point this weekend though.

head.ache.

Day 58
I stayed home from work today with a major headache, but didn't want to skip a day of working out.  So after my lunch settled I slammed a few advil and started Plyo.  I did it in my living room and tried to land on my toes each time not only because Tony says I'm supposed to, but also because it didn't jumble my head as much.  Since it was such a nice day out, our living room got pretty toasty even with all of the windows open.  At least today was entertaining because the whole time I was working out Monday and Tommy wrestled and chased each other.  This Plyo seemed to be the hardest one yet for some reason.

We successfully ate healthy today, but I'm pretty sure I am going to bed hungry.

Phase 3 begins!

Day 57
Today is officially the first day of Phase 3 and we actually woke up early enough to do Chest and Back.  The program during Phase 3 alternates the same weeks as Phase 1 and Phase 2, so today was all push ups and pull ups.  I upped my weights and felt a lot stronger during my push ups.  The best part was that when we walked in I saw a familiar walker - the lady who is usually there in her pink top and shorts in the corner doing her walking at 6 am was there at 8:30 am.  Do you think she was there for over two hours or just slept in because of the holiday?  After working out we made a trip to the mall to take advantage of Express' Memorial Day Sale.  I felt a lot better trying clothes on knowing we worked out in the morning.

After the mall, we headed to the pool to lay out to join some of our friends visiting from LA.  I didn't feel awesome in my swimsuit with other people around, but I felt much better than I used to.  After the pool, we cooked up some burgers and I tried to focus on the veggie tray.  I had a bunless cheeseburger so I guess I don't feel as bad eating all of those buttered potatoes.

I can't believe we are only 3 days away from the next update photos.  I hope to really focus more on food this Phase since we are nearing the end and I want to see some major results!

i love carbs.

Day 55/56
Saturday after class Luke and I laid out by the pool to get some color and then headed to the fitness center.  We completed Core  Synergistics since our schedule was all messed up.  This week, we ended up missing a Yoga X, Stretch X, and Kenpo X.  I really only feel bad about missing Kenpo, but at the same time, I don't even feel bad about missing that either.

There were only a couple of ladies in the fitness center while we were there, so the workout was pretty uneventful.  Although, we had the two TVs off and got to hear more of Tony and got to hear some more of his great one-liners.

Saturday night we had a great dinner at Leatherby's with friends and by great I mean a lot of carbs and then more carbs.  Good thing we did a workout today!

Sunday we thought we would do some Kenpo in the afternoon.  In the morning we headed down to Oceanside to go sailing with Uncle David and had a great BBQ dinner.  Unfortunately, we snacked all day on chips and veggies with a lot of ranch.  Not to mention I had a medium sized iced skinny vanilla latte fully caffeinated.  Once we got home, we were too tired to workout, but I was so wired from the coffee that we stayed up to watch the final 6 episodes of 24 to finish the season until almost 3 am.

Tony probably misses me.

Day 52/53/54
Recovery week is hard to keep up with.  When you think recovery, you think rest, but with P90X it just means no weight training.  But with my version of recovery week during Phase 2, it apparently meant take a 3 day break during the week.  Luke and I kept trying to reschedule when we would workout since we missed the morning workouts because we kept staying up late doing school work and trying to catch up on life.  Every night seemed to be filled with school group meetings, Skype sessions, and homework.  Blah.

Hopefully, I have been eating healthy enough to counter balance the lack of workouts.  Although, I did have pizza for the first time this week in 50+ days on Tuesday.  On Wednesday, I went to Starbucks and intended on purchasing a medium decaf skinny vanilla latte, but I forgot the decaf part and was wired until 2 am that night.  So maybe my eating hasn't been the greatest, but until this quarter is over I guess I don't care?

I hate bananas and now I hate superman.

Day 51
My alarm went off this morning and I wasn't too tired, but I felt a bit weak.  I knew that if I did the workout later in the day I would push myself harder - so I did.  Strangely I was at the fitness center all by myself.  Usually I walk into the double doors and expect to see at least one or two people in the afternoon if not more.  Instead I walked in and heard one of the TVs on, but no one there to watch.  I turned the power off and headed into the studio to start Core Synergistics.  As I started the warm up I was thinking it was too quiet in there - it was as if everyone knew of something cool going on and I missed the memo.

Today was hard.  Since it seems like ages ago that we did CS, I definitely don't feel like I am improving on some of the movements that I don't get much practice.  On the other hand, I think I did a lot more push ups and held my planks a lot sturdier.  The only thing I didn't like about being at the fitness center alone was that I could hear Tony think he was funny loud as day, "Banana.  Superman.  Banana.  Superman."  Barf.

Toga Doga

Day 50
Yay!  Recovery week is here!  Luke and I agreed to do Yoga together after work today.  Success!  Luke came home and changed and we rolled out the mats!  Typically, I really don't like YogaX, but today was a lot more fun.  I had someone to say my thoughts to (since I can't clear my mind) and it was nice to have a partner.  Although, I'm not sure what the best part was: Luke quoting awesome Tony lines all during the workout, or the two dogs weaving in and out of our legs and arms.  Either way - I fully enjoyed Together Yoga with Dogs!

P90X on the weekends DNE

Day 47/48/49
Luke did Legs and Back on Friday morning, so I thought I would do mine in the afternoon or evening.  That didn't happen.  I was so busy at work and didn't have a chance to start before Luke got home.  The fitness center is usually packed on Friday right after work, so I was completely unmotivated to do the workout.  Instead I decided to do Legs and Back on Saturday after class and a trip to the vet. 

Unfortunately, I forgot that after the vet I was supposed to check out some surf shops in Laguna for our marketing project.  By the time we stopped in there and watched the dogs run around on the beach for a bit we needed to head back home.  Once home, we both fell asleep on the couch and woke up realizing that we were late for a friend's housewarming party = no Legs and Back.

Sunday we got up and I had to get ready to try to get Tommy adopted out!  Our latest foster!

After the adoption I had to prepare for yet another school group meeting that lasted until after 10 pm, hence zero workouts all weekend.  I have lost a lot of motivation with all of the stresses of work and school and don't want to ever workout again!  But I promise to do Yoga tomorrow.

Noga

Day 46
I planned to do Yoga in the afternoon, but got so incredibly swamped at work and with school that I had to opt out.  Bummer.  I had to meet on campus with the previous MREA Financial VP since I took over this position, and then meet with my school group to work on Accounting.  At least this included a free dinner (although, the free dinner includes free desserts - brownies and cookies?  Fine.).  I am so sick of this quarter - a case study each week for each class is getting old.

My calves are still sore and walking up stairs is painful, but I feel like this is a good thing.  I'm getting worried that my quads are getting too big and my calves look too small, so I look like an awkward upside-down triangle.

My calves are moo-ing

Day 45
Last night was a late night after a group meeting and OC Badger Scholarship Meeting, not to mention more school work after that, so we decided to sleep in.  Yessss.  I woke up with really tight calves.  Apparently, I did such a great job landing quietly yesterday, that I really worked my calf muscles.  Today I had a lot of work to do and stopped into the office.  I guess my calves hate heels - it was almost impossible to walk without wincing in heels.  I planned to stop in yesterday, but only when I was already driving did I realize I didn't have my building and office keys.  Boooo.  I got a call from our receptionist yesterday and she told me an "edible arrangement" had been delivered for us.  Of course, I forgot to ask what it was, but I was really hoping for cookies.

Before I jumped on a conference call (btw-why do we "jump" on calls, and "shoot" emails??), I was able to squeeze in Ab Ripper.  For the second time I was able to complete the whole video without taking any breaks, but without my shoes.  With shoes will be the next step since it adds just that little bit of weight.  After the call I scurried to the fitness center and ran into Ryan again.  This time I remembered my laptop, but forgot water.  Ughhh.

Float like a butterfly

Day 44
Considering we fell asleep on the couch until 5:30 am I was not prepared to be woken up and asked if I was ready to get up.  "What?  Ready for what?  Where am I?"  Instead I did plyo in my living room in the afternoon after my lunch settled.  Tony warns you to eat at least an hour before you work out!

I think my downstairs neighbor works most days except Fridays and the weekends, so I didn't worry too much about the jumping.  Although, it helped to land lightly on my feet like Tony suggests.  I was pretty tired and my legs were checked out, but then I remembered that one of the guys in the video has a prosthetic leg, so I really shouldn't complain.

When I go out to eat I order with my stomach instead of my head.  When I eat at home I know what is in the cupboards and eat healthy, whereas when I am out potato chips always seem like the best option.  Oops.

Phase 2, Week 3 begins!

Day 43
I really thought I was getting up this morning at 5:30 am until my alarm actually went off.  After only 5.5 hours of sleep my body was not in the mood to shiver my way to the fitness center and then blankly stare at the screen for the first 10 minutes.  "Goodbye Luke and goodnight again!"  My workout was at 4:30 pm and the fitness center was pretty busy.  I ran into Ryan there - he decided to start his program over since he wasn't doing 6 workouts per week and did Day 1 today.  I wish I could go back to the Phase 1 workouts - they seemed hard while doing the exercises, but looking back they were easier than Phase 2.

The worst part of the day was when I got all the way to the fitness center after rushing out of our place and then realizing that I forgot the laptop.  I ran back home and back to the fitness center and considered that my warm up.  When I first started, a girl was using the 5 lb dumbbells and 7.5 lb dumbbells, which was annoying.  I really didn't want to ask her to share because I hate when people do that.  However, I didn't feel too bad because she was using these light dumbbells for chest and back exercises.  Most people need at least 10 lbs to make those reps worthwhile, right?  After standing there with the video paused I got impatient and asked her if I could borrow the 5 lb dumbbells.

The best part of the workout involved LyeLyeGuy.  Not only was he there, but he was singing along to his iPod in the crowded fitness center as if he was by himself.

I feel like my triceps are getting too big - I think my arms look like unbalanced overstuffed sausages. 

I wish I could watch my fitness center like a tv channel.

Day 40/41/42
Since we decided to sleep in on Friday after too many nights of staying up too late, we got too lazy to do Legs and Back by night and agreed to do that workout on Saturday.  I'm glad we waited until Saturday after class to do our workout because we got to witness some awesome instances in the fitness center.

When we got there, there was one guy on the elliptical with his headphones in his ears and also watching the Spanish station on his machine.  The show he was watching reminded me of MTV's Spring Break show where someone famous stood on a beach talking and a DJ played music while people danced around in their swimsuits.  As if that wasn't awkward enough, just as we were mid-lunges we heard, "Lye, lye, lye, lye, lye."  I quickly shot a glance at Luke in the mirror to confirm that I did just hear this guy singing out loud.

But that was nothing compared to the guy who walked in wearing board shorts, flip flops, and a button down short sleeve shirt.  This "brah" started out curling some dumbbells in his beach attire.  First he had just the top few buttons unbuttoned, then upon second glance he had his whole shirt unbuttoned.  Unfortunately, it did not stop there - next he was doing some chest flies barefoot and walking around.  Just before he was finishing his last shoulder presses he started hissing his reps loudly and promptly removed his shirt.

Meanwhile, a couple jumped onto the ellipticals next to the LyeLyeGuy and apparently he decided he was trying out for American Idol right there.  LLG started singing some tune that I didn't recognize as I watched in the mirror reflection.  The guy next to him gave him a quick glance and tried to figure out what just happened.  Luke and I could barely keep a straight face.

Sunday was a failure since we didn't get up to do KenpoX and I was placing Melanie into a home for adoption at night after a full day of volunteering.  My thutt (this is what I call where the back of my thigh meets my butt) is really sore, so I don't feel as bad missing out on lame Kenpo anyway.

No double doga.

Day 39
I think I hate Yoga X.  Last night we were up late because a friend came traveling through and crashed here.  We stayed up chatting, so I was not getting up for Yoga this morning.  Luke went to the fitness center to do his this morning instead of in the living room and waking our friend.

All day I was dreading doing the Yoga and hearing Tony talk.  I sat around the house in my Yoga clothes almost all day in preparation, but it gave me no motivation.  I started the video with my yoga mat all rolled out and yoga block in hand.  I did the first 10 minutes and realized that I was just standing there watching for a minute.  Finally I laid on the yoga mat and just watched and listened while Monday and Melanie curled up beside me on the mat.  That's when I realized this was not happening today.  Ironically, yoga is about clearing the mind and focusing on breathing and I quit because I couldn't stop thinking about all of the other things I needed to do and wanted to get done!

the gun show is hiding in a layer of fat.

Day 38
Surprise!  I woke up at 5:30 am to do "Biceps and Back"!  It was nice to see the incline speed walker lady in her corner and the crazy couple who runs around (although today they weren't running around, which was weird).  The first few rounds of exercises were harder than last week.  I wasn't able to surpass any of my rep numbers and I think it's because I was too tired.  About half way through the workout I started really warming up and surpassed some of my rounds.  I feel like my arms are getting bigger, but still layered in fat.  So it looks like I just have big fat arms.

After sleeping 2 more hours after the workout, I had a busy day working and becoming a dog foster parent.  I think having two dogs will help my activeness because Melanie needs practice walking on a leash.  It will help me get off the couch since I have to take more walks throughout the day.

Dog Day Afternoon

Day 37
Do you think I woke up early this morning to do Plyometrics?  You're right - I didn't!  Instead I had a really busy day at work, drove up to LA for a luncheon (where I ate the chocolate dessert happiness), had a group meeting, and wrote a paper.  Ugh.  I only had time for a quick jog with Monday.  I always feel so guilty working out without her.  She used to get such great runs with us and now we never have time to run her!

All around my shoulders I'm really sore today, but unfortunately my chest and triceps aren't very sore.  Probably because I wasn't able to do the push-ups full out with my dumb elbow.  I'm getting worse with my eating habits and I have to remember that Day 60 is going to be here before I know it!  At least for dinner we had an artichoke and bunless burgers topped with spinach and mushrooms!

Tomorrow I will get up at 5:30 am for real.  We are fostering another dog starting tomorrow and I want to give her a lot of attention while I am home and won't be doing a workout after class at 10:30pm.  Get psyched now.

 Monday

 Melanie

Edamame has a dual purpose.

Day 36
Last night I had an awful night of sleep.  It took me about an hour to fall asleep and I kept waking up incredibly uncomfortable.  That is a formula for no morning workout.  I was actually awake when my first alarm went off, but ended up trying to sleep more and doing the workout later.  Since it was chest, shoulders, and triceps day there was a lot of strain on my elbows.  I injured both of my hyper-extended elbows in college which ended my cheerleading days and completely tore my left UCL.  While I was trying to complete the push-ups I noticed my left elbow start to give out and become very weak.  It was swollen and I didn't push myself as hard as I did last week to make sure I didn't injure it further.

Time for rest, ice, compression, and elevation of the elbow.  We have yet to purchase a real ice pack, but for now the frozen edamame package works great!  Healthy AND helpful.

fail.

Day 34/35
I stayed up until almost 2 am on Friday night and Saturday morning I had an accounting midterm.  Needless to say working out was the last thing I wanted to do.  Instead some of us went to the dog beach and watched our dogs get a work out.

Sunday morning there was no sleeping in, but there was also no workout.  We were up late Saturday night celebrating a friend's birthday and I had to get up early for a Skype meeting.  Boo.  After the meeting we tried to catch up on a couple shows and took a nap!  We had to volunteer at church and planned to do Kenpo after.  By the time we finished volunteering we were too hungry and lazy to workout and that was the end of that!

Hey neighbor.

Day 33
My Legs and Back day was fairly entertaining this afternoon.  As I approached the fitness center, the first three cardio machines were full - I thought that was a bad sign.  When I got through the doors I saw that some of the other machines were busy, but no one was on the one lat pull down machine that works - I didn't have to give any one the stink eye, phew.

I ran into two of my neighbors and chatted as I worked out, which made the time go by much faster.  I pushed myself hard as I was thinking about that delicious cheesecake I scored yesterday.  Luke did his workout in the early morning like a disciplined student and was already complaining about being sore.  I literally was so close to taking a break on the second floor as I went home (we live on the third floor, no elevators) because my quads were so tired.  Good thing I skipped plyos this week or I probably would have needed a rope and pulley to get up to our apartment.

Bonus Blog: Day 1 vs Day 30 Measurements and Pictures!

Luke's Measurements:

Weight: -7 lbs

Chest: +0.5"

Waist: -1"

Hips: -0.5"

Right Thigh: +1.25"

Left Thigh: +0.75"

Right Arm: +0.5"

Left Arm: +0.5"

 

Jax's Measurements:

Weight: -3.5 lbs

Chest: -0.5"

Waist: -1.5"

Hips: -0.5"

Right Thigh: +1.25"

Left Thigh: +0.75"

Right Arm: +0.75"

Left Arm: +0.5"

Mmmm, cheesecake

Day 32
Luke got up and did his morning Yoga.  I slept in of course and did afternoon Yoga.  The yoga is somehow getting harder and I think it is because I am beginning to be able to do the more advanced moves and hold them longer.  We purchased a yoga block - really helped some of the balance moves and lengthened my stretching.

I found that while I was doing Yoga planks and the chaturanga pose my shoulders wanted to give out from yesterday's workout.  My biceps were also so incredibly sore that when I walked, I looked like a penguin.  I was trying keep my arms from swinging naturally as I walked because when they swung around it stretched and pained my biceps! 

I still haven't been as great on the eating as I could be.  I have stopped monitoring my meals in MyPlate because after a few weeks I got a sense of what I was eating, how many calories I ate, burned, etc.  I un-regrettably had a half a slice of cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory from campus.  Did you know there is 95% of your daily saturated fat in ONE SLICE?!  Ew.

Day 1 vs Day 30 pics will be posted next - stay tuned!

Day 31 and still Bringing It.

Day 31
Well today I did not do my workout this morning with Luke, but surprisingly it wasn't because I didn't want to get up early.  It was because I had to be at a Real Estate event at 7:30 am.  Oddly I left our place before Luke was even out of the shower!

Today was another busy day at work, but I was able to squeeze the Back and Biceps day in.  I went to the fitness center at 4 pm and it was packed.  Annoyingly, one of the handles is broken on the cable lat pull down machine and I had to share with some sweaty girl and her friend.  This friend was giggling the whole time and couldn't figure out how to use the machine.  I stood there staring at them with the video paused and waited for them to finish, so I could continue.  The friend finally gave up and just went to curling the 3.5 lb dumbbells.

My biceps definitely got a good workout and I could hardly record my reps and weights since my hands were so shakey, but the most shaking took place during Ab Ripper.  I think the Ab video is getting harder now that I am able to work my way through the video with less breaks and more reps.  But Tony BROUGHT IT per usual.

Stressed, but at least I'm sore!

Day 30!
Yay!  We made it to the 1/3 mark (is that a mark?)!  Luke and I did a weigh in and our measurements.  We have each lost weight and an inch and a half around the waist.  Neither of us really felt like taking the "update" pictures, but when we do, I'll post the measurement stats as well.

Now for the bad news - I had to skip Plyometrics today.  When the alarm went off at 5:30 am, I wasn't feeling 100%, so I tried to sleep it off hoping I would get a chance to do Plyo sometime in the afternoon.  Well I didn't.  I ended up working a 9 hour day and was exhausted and extremely stressed thinking about the case studies due each week for both classes, plus the individual marketing paper due next week, plus the group project presentation, not to mention the group paper and along with that a midterm on Saturday and final somewhere towards the end!

On a final positive note - my chest and triceps were extremely sore, which makes me feel like I am making more progress.  I just hope tomorrow I can squeeze in the Back and Biceps!

Where is the soreness?

Day 29
Luke did his Chest, Shoulders, Triceps day as planned this morning - on the other hand, I slept until 8 am and did the workout this afternoon at 2:30 pm.  It was a great time to do the workout.  There were two girls in the studio and one guy on a cardio machine.  Tony and I practically had the place to ourselves!

I was really looking forward to getting back to resistance training and feeling sore again.  I was definitely struggling to keep up with this one.  This workout was the hardest for me so far in the program - my arms were shaking almost the entire time.  Also, my core was shaking when I would try to do all the different kinds of push ups (slow, fast, wide, one arm-what?!).

I was hoping to be sore by the time I went to bed, but no luck.  I hope I wake up with that aching feeling, is that weird?

P90minus this weekendX

Day 27/28
We were supposed to do Yoga on Saturday, but by the time I finished class and we ran all of our errands it was after 9 pm.  At that point we were exhausted and decided that Sunday would be YogaX day instead of Rest or StretchX.

Saturday night we ended up staying up pretty late, so we didn't get up in time to do Yoga before I had to go volunteer on Sunday.  Luke didn't want to do Yoga Sunday night and insisted he wanted to be "fresh" for Monday's workout, I naturally agreed.  After volunteering at church we got home around 6:40 pm.  20 minutes later I fell asleep on the couch, moved to the bed around midnight and woke up to my 5:30 am alarm!

I wasn't feeling well Saturday night and this morning, so I told Luke to go without me and I woke up for the second time at 8 am.  All in all, I slept for 13 hours last night!  I'm still not feeling quite right, but I will be doing my "Chest Shoulders & Triceps" later this afternoon.

Is fake kindness better than real rudeness?

Day 26
Our alarms went off this morning and I was hoping for a re-do of yesterday.  Unfortunately, Luke insisted on Core Synergistics at 6 am.  I insisted on sleeping more, hence my afternoon visit to the fitness center.  Today's CS was much harder than earlier this week.  My core was a bit sore, but it was my shoulders that really hindered my reps.

Some really tall chick was in the studio while I was watching my video.  I had the 5 lb dumbbells and she asked if she could borrow them.  In reality I was thinking, "No can't you see I am using them?!"  But instead I smiled and said, "Yeah, sure, no problem!"  I got to an exercise that I needed the dumbbells for and had to stand there with the video paused until she was done - annoyed, but with a smile.

Luke and I were craving sushi tonight and decided to try a place that got some great yelp reviews.  It was not so great, but somehow I managed to stuff my face anyway.

P90Xers unite!

Day 25
As Luke put it "we were best friends this morning."  My alarm went off this morning and I hit my normal 9 minute snooze button and rolled over.  About 2 seconds later Luke's alarm went off.  He turned to me and said, "I don't want to get up."  SOLD.  I turned back over, shut off my first alarm, snuggled up, and was back asleep in an instant.  Next thing I knew I was getting up 3 hours after originally planned. 

Interestingly enough, there were two guys in the studio doing YogaX when we got there.  They were only a half hour in and said they didn't mind if we did our KenpoX next to them.  We had a moment of "Yay P90X!"  These two guys were on Phase 2, week 3 (day 46).  It was a little funny to hear their frustrations.  More importantly, it was good to know that even after 46 days of P90X, Tony's yoga is still hard!  They had the most trouble with the half moon revolved (phew), but one of the guys was able to do the crane position.  I was impressed.  We did KenpoX muted - two Tonys in one room is two too many Tonys.

We are still a day behind, but have decided to skip StretchX.  We will be back on track with Core Synergistics tomorrow.

playing catch up

Day 24
Core Synergistics was much more successful this morning even though it was 6 am.  Although, it was a little like the twilight zone - the incline speed walker lady wasn't there pounding her steps keeping beat, the two who normally run around like they just robbed a bank were on stationary cardio machines, and the chick who is always doing sit ups on the exercise ball was no where to be seen.  Today was supposed to be Kenpo, so I guess we will do that tomorrow.  Today, some of these Core Synergistic moves were almost impossible and others were painful, but overall I am a fan of CS. 

On another note, I was so incredibly tired today.  I didn't go back to sleep after the workout and shower - big mistake.  I was in the car on the way to campus at 5:15 pm and could have fallen asleep on the side of the road.  Not only had I been awake for almost 12 hours, but I realized that I was on the way to listen to a 1.5 hour Real Estate lecture followed by a 3 hour Marketing lecture.  

I am not looking forward to KenpoX in the am and Stretch X in the pm (to catch up) post another event on campus and school group Skype session.  When am I supposed to do real work, school work, plan a SF trip, LV trip, and stay caught up on all my shows with this P90X?!

Total Bust.

Day 23
It felt awesome to sleep in 9.5 hours for the second day in a row!  Luke and I decided to try Core Synergistics after work.  After work kind of turned into later after work which then turned into a crazy run around.  We got to the fitness center at 6 pm and the place was packed.  People were everywhere, not just on cardio equipment and weight machines, but in between all of the rows on exercise balls, doing lunges, and admiring themselves in the mirrors as they used free weights.  Not only was the main room full, but also the studio room.  Bust.

We tried to set up shop in the corner of the studio since we needed the laptop plugged in (forgot to charge it).  Busto.  Just as we completed the warm up, the instructor came in who runs Boot Camp at 6:30 pm, so we had to leave.  Megabust.  We then moved into one of the courtyards near the main pool and plugged the computer into the outlet near a grill.  We re-sat up shop on the grassy area and set up the mats.  While doing these floor exercises I realized I was allergic to the grass and now had an itchy rash all over.  Bust.  I then tried to avoid the grass and do everything standing and on the mat only.  Well, the standing exercises all involved dumbbells, which we did not have.  Bustorama.  SO after about a half an hour of half doing all of the exercises we gave up and headed home.  And not a minute too soon, since we were exactly 1 minute late for Luke's birthday dinner reservation.  We didn't exactly eat very healthy with the two free desserts.  Oops.  Total bust.

We're going to try Core Synergistics again tomorrow morning.  See you in 5.5 hours Tony!

KenpoX > YogaX

Day 22
Kindof.  I did my workout very late tonight at about 10:45 pm after a school group meeting.  I knew that if I took another day off, I would fall into that cycle.  The I-really-don't-like-working-out-so-I-won't-cycle.  Although today's workout was supposed to be Yoga X, I opted for Kenpo since I missed that Saturday and I figured it was better to miss Yoga than Kenpo.  I thought Kenpo went much better this time than last - I pushed myself harder even though it was late and I was doing the workout in my living room.

I can't believe I will be taking update pictures in 8 days.  This week is recovery week, so no major resistance training, but I've heard this week is still hard nonetheless.  That means I really need to focus on my food intake this week as well.  I fell off the food wagon over the weekend and I'm determined to hop back on.  Today I eased myself back in with a whole wheat quesadilla packed with spinach, tomatoes, and some cheese.

It's late.  Thank goodness I convinced Luke that we should do our Core Synergistics tomorrow after work.  Hopefully I will have some better stories to tell tomorrow since we will be going to the fitness center at a prime workout time.

Birthday weekend

Day 20/21
It was quite the relief that we decided to switch Saturday and Sunday, so Saturday was our rest day.  Unfortunately, it also became a major cheat day.  We went up to LA to the 1st 8th Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational and ate our faces off.  We went last year, but this year was much better, more organized, and just as tasty.  I probably sampled at least 25 different kinds of grilled cheese sammiches with all different kinds of breads, meats, and cheeses.

On top of the Grilled Cheese, I threw a 28th birthday party for Luke and our friend Eric at our complex.  We grilled for 3 hours and then had brownies and cupcakes!  I don't even think I could complete the MyPlate for the day because I don't even know what I was eating majority of the time!

Sunday got switched to Kenpo X day, but after volunteering at church we were too hungry and exhausted.  Instead we grilled up some burgers and topped them off with cheese, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, lettuce and ketchup!!

Debbie Downer

Day 19
Believe it or not I woke up at 5:30 am!  AND I didn't even go back to bed post workout and shower.  Granted, I was tired pretty much the entire day, but I had too much to do to sleep.  The Legs and Back day was hard - it was as if someone had drained all of the life and energy out of me.  I was hot, uncomfortable, and annoyed.  One of the cables on the lat pull down machine was broken.  Why were there 11 people working out at 6 am on Friday?  Why?  The daily incline speed walker lady was there in her corner, this couple who runs around like they are practicing a fire drill was doing some sort of circuit training, the chick who is always doing sit ups was in her usual studio spot on an exercise ball, but then there were extras.  Two Chatty Cathys on the bikes, not really working out, but slowly peddling while gabbing.  Solo Asian man jamming out to his iPod.  More lady walkers.  And then some other randoms just sweating at 6 am.

Abs were a pain today, too.  I was so tired and really didn't want to do any abs.  Not to mention I hate hearing Tony prep each ab exercise countdown like it's a song, "5-4, 3-2, aaaaannnd go."  This day is already too long and it's only 5 pm.

Doga

Day 18
Yeah, you're right.  My alarm went off at 5:30 this morning and Luke was all ready for YogaX.  I shut my alarm off and went right back into my dream where I left off.  Apparently I got so excited about shutting off my alarm that I accidentally shut of my second alarm as well.  I rolled out of bed at 9 am (another 9 hours of sleep) and vowed that I would wake up tomorrow at 5:30 am.  It is kind of nice to have the workout done early on Fridays, so we can try to catch up on the week of TV in the evenings.

YogaX seemed to go a bit faster than last week, but maybe it was because I knew what to expect.  The best part about doing Yoga in the afternoon is that Monday does Yoga with me.  She weaves between my arms and legs as I do the poses, cuddles next to me or plays in my hair when I am laying, and sits and stares at me with a cocked head when I "ohm."  Maybe we should enroll in Doga.

I am not ambidextrous.

Day 17
Oops.  I didn't get up as planned.  I decided to do my workout at 9 am, when normal people should do active things.  Luke did his Arms and Shoulders by himself at the crack of dawn, but I'm glad I did the workout with Ryan again.  It is much easier to do the videos with someone else - I push myself harder, as well.

I upped all of my weights today and found that my left arm is much weaker than my right.  The past couple of weeks I couldn't really tell the difference, but now that I am lifting heavier weights it is quite clear.  It was actually kind of sad watching my left arm struggle in the mirror reflection while my right arm was nonchalantly lifting the weights.

Tonight in class my arms were starting to get sore.  At one point I had to raise my hand, but had to keep switching hands because my arms were getting too sore to support my hand.  When I got up at the break I could barely walk.  My quads had really tightened up, so I gave up and just sat back down.  Who needs walking anyway?

YogaX tomorrow - I'm going to get up tomorrow at 5:30 am - I think.

Somebody call 9-1-1. There is a fire.

Day 16
Yes, 10 hours of sleep.  The original plan was to go to 4:30 TKB in Irvine again, but it's a bit of a rush when my school group meets over here at 6:30 pm.  Especially when I promised to make my group sweet potato fries!  Over lunch Luke convinced me to just do Plyo X in our fitness center.  Fitness center = Less effort, so I agreed it was a good idea.

The fitness center was pretty empty at 4:30 pm besides a few ladies getting their walk on, on the treadmills.  I definitely had more energy than those early bird workouts when I started the warm up.  My triceps were still sore, but I figured my legs were all rested up from last week's Legs and Back day.  I was clearly wrong - before I even finished the warm-up my legs were burning.  This was going to be a loooong hour.  Surprisingly, the time passed pretty quickly, but not fast enough.  My quads were on fire the whole time, especially during the moves that involve both squatting and jumping.  I pushed myself through the burn and my face decided it wanted to join in on the flames.  By the time it was time to cool down my face matched the color of my Badger red shirt.

After walking back to our apartment I remembered why I hate plyometrics.  1. I do not care about my athletic performance (I am more interested in aesthetics really).  Tony should stop hyping up my football, baseball, or basketball ability - although I am improving on my rock star moves...  2. My legs gain muscle mass quickly and it brought me back to the college cheerleading days - when jeans became impossible to fit.  Skinny waist + big legs = confused jean sizes.

I guess I'll just have to monitor my quad measurements and make a substitution on future Plyo X days if necessary.  Although, Tony tells me that "this is the x in p90x."

Already half way to the first "update" pics! Eek!

Day 15
Week 3 has officially begun!  It began a little later than anticipated since my alarm did not go off.  Luke was already up and taking Monday out by the time he shook me awake at 5:40 am.  I only slept for 6.5 hours and my eyeballs said no thank you.  I convinced him that I would do the work out later and ended up sleeping for 3 more hours.

I got to the fitness center around 9 am and it is definitely a different scene.  When I first walked in I was hearing this loud babbling noise.  I couldn't figure out where it was coming from until I saw a big lady walking on the treadmill with a baby stroller next to her machine. Ummm, what??  If you are simply going to be walking on that treadmill, just push the stroller around the block lady!  But she proved me wrong because she continued to make her way around the fitness center pushing the stroller around from machine to machine.  The baby was pretty good for the most part, but when he started crying I almost wanted to say something until I realized that I would probably be crying out loud during my Chest & Back day if I wasn't 27 years old.

In addition, to lady-with-the-baby there were these two other guys - one was clearly the personal trainer and the other was his student.  As I continued on with my laptop program I could see the personal trainer periodically amble over towards me and watch the video while counting at his sweaty Asian student doing his decline push ups.

When I had just about finished my program, another guy started using the cable machine next to me and quietly asked me what I had on my computer.  He then told me I was a genius for basically having my own personal trainer downloaded instead of paying "whatever that guy was paying" (as he motioned to the swAsian guy).  We had our own little laugh about that and it made me work even harder.  It made me feel like I was getting paid to work out.

Volunteering = trEAT poorly?

Day 13/14
We switched our Saturday and Sunday of the program because we didn't want to do Kenpo (lame) and only found a TKB at 24 Hour Fitness that worked for us on Sunday morning.  Saturday night we went to a potluck birthday party and my eyes were in heaven.  My ultra sore left butt was able to steer clear of the pizza and fried chicken, but those empanadas, tortilla chips, and guac really called my name.  I'm pretty sure they were also telling me to eat enough to feel stuffed for the first time in a long while.

This weekend was not so great as far as eating goes.  I have been using a free site called MyPlate, that tracks my workouts along with my food intake on a daily, weekly, and longer basis.  I am able to see how I am doing not only in calories, but fat, cholesterol, sodium, sugar, carbs, fiber, and protein as well.  Another helpful tool is the pie chart that shows you how much fat, protein, and carbs you intake per day (which is something P90X stresses.)

Sunday I woke up feeling awesome - I slept for 11 hours!  I was kinda bummed that TKB was so-so today.  The instructor was new (TKB instructors can really make or break your TKB experiences) and she was ok.  But I pushed myself without her help as quite obvious by my tomato red face.

By the end of today I realized just how much volunteerism I did this weekend - Rebuilding Together Orange County with the OC Badgers, pet adoptions with Friends of Orange County's Homeless Pets (FOCHP), and teaching All Stars Sunday School at Saddleback ...so I treated myself to some more of those tasty homemade sweet potato fries on top of that doughnut I had for lunch.  :-)

I think I'm actually excited for tomorrow's workout.

Aetna, I love you.

Day 12
After only 5.5 hours of sleep I really thought about not going to the fitness center.  Ryan was meeting us there again and we had to do legs and back today, so we would need to share the lat pull down cable.  Thinking logically (not for my own benefit or anything) I said to Luke, "Maybe I should just do mine later, since there are only two lat pull down machines."  He just laughed at me as if it was a joke.

I honestly don't know if I was fully awake walking over there this morning and doing the workout.  It was like I was sleep-sweating.  Today was really hard and I found that I was unable to complete some of the movements due to tightness, not necessarily due to fatigue.  I was looking forward to showering and sleeping, but when we walked back into our place we were greeted with an embarrassed looking dog.  Monday puked on the floor.  Needless to say, I got to make-shift clean it up since we ran out of  paper towels as an ashamed Monday watched from under the table.  Poor girl.

Thank goodness for Aetna!  My insurance plan covers alternative medicine, which includes acupuncture, chiropractic adjustments, and 1 hour MASSAGE THERAPY all for a $20 copay!  Luke and I had appointments and it was heavenly.

Tonight was an awesome dinner night - everything was homemade - garlic mashed red potatoes with spinach, sauteed zucchini, and chicken noodle soup! YUM.

Xtremely hard Yoga

Day 11
Luke got up this morning and did yoga in the living room while I was fast asleep.  (Good thing I decided to do YogaX in the afternoon - it ends with a few minutes of corpse pose and fetus pose - hellllllooo Sleep II!)  I decided to do my first Yoga X in the afternoon in my living room before a meeting on campus and I figured I wouldn't really even break a sweat.  Wrong.  I could not believe how advanced some of those yoga moves were!  The first half was a pretty intense struggle full of moves I couldn't do - half moon was hard enough, half moon revolved?!  Try it, it's hard! 

The problem with YogaX is that I find the first half extremely hard (how on earth are you supposed to do the crow pose and dig your knees into your triceps when it hurts bad enough just touching them?!), but at the same time it is somehow really boring. I prefer the second half since it is a lot of balance poses and stretching. 

I didn't know why Luke wanted to watch me complete the end of YogaX until it got to the Ohms.  I could not do the Ohms because I kept laughing - it was just so loud, and awkward!  Maybe by the end I'll be harmonizing ohms with Tony, but for now I'll just keep those to myself.

Oh man, I am waking up in 5.5 hours...

What to eat?

Day 10
I swear I was blinking in bed and all of a sudden it was time to wake up. A million excuses came across my mind of why I couldn't workout this morning. Last night I met with my MBA group to work on our Accounting and Marketing case studies and by the time I got home and had some tidy-the-apartment-time it was almost midnight.

For Arms & Shoulders, my classmate/groupmate/neighbor/carpool buddy joined us in the fitness center. I think his eyes fell out of his head when I told him to meet us at the fitness center at 5:50 am. But he was there before we were! Today I really tried to push myself since I don't think I tried hard enough last week. I was puffing by the end and those last side-raise-lay-down-weird-tri-cep-things were much harder this time. Although, for the first time I made it all the way through the In and Outs without stopping or modifications, so I think I'm getting better already.

I played domestic wife this morning and made Luke a lunch and fed Monday breakfast, so I didn't get a chance to jump back in bed. Plus I woke up to my frantic boss (who believes everything is a fire drill) emailing and texting about the audit at work. No big whoop, all was solved, but it was too late to get back in bed. At least tomorrow I will be doing Yoga in my living room at a sane hour in the afternoon.

I was hungry all day yet again. I realized I haven't really talked much about food. There are some good recipes in the P90X book, but most are meh on flavor. So far I have made some of the salads, the balsamic vinaigrette, the shrimp stir fry, and gazpacho soup from the book. I have also made other recipes on the fly with the ingredients from the book's "approved" list and a couple others from my Health magazine. Before we started P90X we completely revamped our fridge and pantry with all non processed foods and a lot more organic greens from the Farmer's Market, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's.

I have also heard that people get sick of the food during P90X, but I think I've been changing it up quite a bit. Right now I'm loving yogurt, frozen fruit bars, string cheese, and strawberries for snacks. Meals are harder to stick to since it takes a lot more prep work, but my favorites so far are homemade sweet potato fries and beef stir fry. My mouth just started watering just thinking about them. Right now I have to head to my Marketing class and eat who-knows-what-they-are-serving for dinner and try to steer clear of the desserts and the mid-class cookies at break.

TKB works for me!

Day 9
I kept waking up this morning before my alarm went off (I hate this more than waking up to my alarm) since I was sore and uncomfortable and realized that it was 6:22 am - BUT Luke was still next to me. I was confused and poked his arm without saying anything, pointed to the clock, and rolled back over. No morning plyo for Luke. I planned on doing my workout later in the day (no thank you morning dew) and ended up going to 24 Hour Fitness to do an hour of TKB instead of plyo. I don't want mad ups, so goodbye plyometrics.

The TKB class was really interesting this afternoon. I could not stop staring at 3 people. 1. There was a chick who was major preggo - her due date is in 7 weeks and she looked like she was going to pop at any moment. I was literally expecting her water to break right there in the middle of some cross, jab, hook sequence. 2. Then there was this unusually tall Asian guy who must have slammed ten 5-hour-energy-drinks before he arrived. I felt like I was watching a one person rave in the front of the class. 3. There was this bigger blond chick who was miraculously not breaking a sweat. Just walking into this packed room I was practically sweating. I kept looking at her in amazement during that hour of TKB and I don't know how she did it. Although without putting much effort in, maybe that's why she hasn't shed those pounds?

I wish this was called P9X.

Day 8
WOW. The alarm went off and I contemplated doing the Chest & Back work out later in the day, but knew that if I put it off, I would not want to do it at all. Surprisingly people were at the fitness center at 5:45 am once again. I don't think I will ever get over the fact that people are there under their own free will. Luckily, since it was so busy in the fitness center, we could barely hear Tony talk about his "shakers." I'm not sure if my abs and legs are this sore from the P90X workout, or if my body is reminding me why I do not play softball on a regular basis. This time around I tried to surpass my numbers from last week and succeeded in most cases.

After my shower, I was back in bed and sound asleep before Luke even left for work. When I woke up from Sleep the Sequel, I felt as though I had been run over by a truck. I've also noticed that I am constantly hungry. No matter when or what I eat, I want more. I guess this is a good thing and means I am burning a lot of calories, but the problem is, I love instant gratification (thank goodness for digital cameras, the days developing a roll of film were stupid - even the Polaroids before that were better). I want to see inches fall off and pounds drop immediately and get a bit frustrated that I don't see this. I know it is only Day 8, but I want Future Jackie to let me know that on Day 30, Day 60, and Day 90 I will see results and it will all be worth it.

Who doesn't love a BOGO?!

Day 6/7
We were planning on doing both Yoga and X-Stretch today to catch up on the first 7 days. It was hard enough just to make it up the stairs (we live on the third floor)! My quads and hamstrings were aching.

After 2 games of softball, Luke and I decided that X-Stretch would be enough for today. I can't remember the last time I swung a bat or sprinted and my body warned me to take some Advil after today, but I didn't listen.

Chocolate milk was a goood choice

Day 5
After my MBA class this morning the last thing I wanted to do was Legs and Back, so naturally I took a 2 hour nap first! We powered through the workout and my legs were definitely tired by the end. We decided to start drinking chocolate milk and take vitamins after each resistance training work out after Luke did some research online about the P90X Recovery Drink (see comment 3).

After our own recovery drink, we planned on sitting in the hot tub at our main pool. Luke insisted that we walk there in our robes. Now I felt awkward about this - I mean, this isn't our pool in the backyard. I'm not waking up to make a pot of coffee. I'm not grabbing the morning paper off the driveway. Or any other reason people typically wear robes in public. When is the last time you saw someone walking around your apartment complex in a robe at 4 pm? Well needless to say, just as I was burying my face into Luke's back out of embarrassment on our walk over, we were heckled. I laughed it off and started to scurry to the tub.

We sat in the hot tub (awkwardly with another guy who was silent and kept going under water for what seemed like minutes at a time) to try to loosen up our muscles and it seemed to help. Although, I found the best remedy was immediately after the hot tub. I was so tired and relaxed after sitting in the hot tub, that I laid on the pool chair with my feet dangling off the end while I waited for Luke to dry off. It was then that I realized that if I bounced my feet up and down, there was a cross bar hitting just perfectly on my upper calves that gave me the "good hurt." Back we walked in our robes - this time sans heckles. Although, I was hoping that guy was still out there because I do want to ask him where he got his flower boxes! Tonight was date night, but I was so exhausted that I went to the movies in my pajamas.