Week 5 - Day 3

The chest/arms workout sucks. I hate this workout. HATE HATE HATE. Whew ok, now that I got that out, I will explain. First of all, if this was the first P90X workout I tried, I would have turned it off 10 minutes in and never tried another one. Tony is obnoxious, annoying, creepy - it's bad. He keeps going up with his face in the camera, all crazy eyed, barely explains or demonstrates anything, and is just generally everything I hate about workout videos. If that weren't bad enough, the exercises themselves are awful. Most of them are variations on push ups, which I can barely do anyway, but now you want me to do a push up and CLAP in between? Um, ok. I almost broke my wrists trying that. I was literally whining and on the verge of tears during this session. I felt like such a failure.

I do NOT look forward to next Monday. :o(

Week 5 - Day 2

Well, I took my pics and measurements yesterday... and the pics are ALLLL weird. Somehow, Brandon was like, tilting the camera or something and my head is all enormous and the perspective is bizarre and off. So strange!! I decided I would rather retake them next weekend than try to get them to work as is for comparison's sake.

Here are the measurements, tho!

• Waist - 31 (down 1.5)
• Hips - 38.5 (same)
• Right bicep - 11.5 (down 1)
• Left bicep - 11.75 (down .75)
• Right thigh - 21 (same)
• Left thigh - 21.5 (same)
• Bust - 39.5 (down .5)

So, there's definite progress but not nearly as much as I would like. The eating just needs to be way more under control. That's the bottom line. I feel great about the exercise but I know I need to really buckle down on the weekends. I have no excuses, just a horrible lack of will power! I had hoped that all the hard work I do exercising would make me not want to be bad with the food, but it doesn't seem to have curbed my desire for the dirty at all. Something's gotta give!

Phase 1: DONE!

I can't believe a whole month has already gone by! It seems like just yesterday I was starting. My last day was a bit tainted by a creepy little cold that has snuck up on me, so I wasn't really at 100% for my final day of Phase 1. Brandon was shocked I even worked out at all, but I persevered. Hopefully today's rest day will get me back to full "bring it" status by the start of Phase 2.

I will weigh in and do my measurements/pics tomorrow morning. Here's hoping for some visible progress! I feel good, so I guess that's important, but I want some good numbers and pics, too.

Week 4 - Day 5

All of my rest days have been busy days, so I had not been doing the X Stretch dvd, but I finally got to do it last night! I looooooooved it. It was so enjoyable and delicious. Doing a full hour of deep, intense stretching is probably the closest thing to getting a massage in the world. I was able to do it upstairs, which pleased Brandon, and it was really relaxing and refreshing. Two thumbs way up on the X Stretch! Any time I have a free Friday from now on I will definitely do it.

This morning I got up early and did Cardio X because I am going out tonight after work. I have really grown to enjoy this one. The amount of sweat I generate is AMAZING, and I feel so incredibly good afterwards. As with the legs and back workout, I feel empowered because I can do everything in the dvd and do it well, so I feel like I am getting the most out of the workout.

Tomorrow is the last day of week 4!! I will be done with the first month! I will take pics and measurements Saturday morning but probably won't be able to post till Sunday because I have a super packed day. Here's hoping for some good numbers!

Week 4 - Day 1

This week is the recovery week so things are a bit different. Yoga today, which I thought would be good first thing in the morning but was actually a bit rough. I was very stiff for a lot of the poses. At least I got to see Daniel again! Hehe! After this session I decided I need a little help so I bought a yoga block to use going forward. I think it will help.

I also weighed myself and was down! WOOHOO! 159.6, for a grand total of 4.2 lbs so far. Having neen ridiculously horrible the past two weekends, I am VERY happy with that. This weekend I am trying to be very good, so I have high hopes for my first phase results.

Special shout out goes to Julie - she's heading on vacation tomorrow and plans to bring her dvds with her and keep it up with P90X while she's in Canada. Good luck, Julie!!

Week 3 donnnnnnnnnnnnnne!

I did it!! Time for rest week. It really seems like it went by lightning fast. Yes there were days I didn't wanna do it, yes there were times when I felt like I was a giant loser because I couldn't do things as well as I wanted, yes I got beat down - but it feels SO incredibly good to finish another week. This week was a bit rough with that messed up calf and the extreme fatigue, but I pushed through and made it to the end. Tonight's Kenpo was almost euphoric - by the end I was on such a high! Hopefully I am able to keep up my enthusiasm next week. I will be doing the Stretch X workout for the first time and I look very forward to it. Also, measurements and weight! EEKS! I hope to have a good weigh in tomorrow/Saturday, too. I have been an angel this week. Today especially, I sat there watching 4 other people eat giant, incredible looking burgers and fries at Island's while I munched on a half a Greek salad with dressing on the side. That was rough, but I was very glad I stayed strong. I BROUGHT IT!! ;o)

Week 3 - Day 4

Not much to report for the beginning of week 3. As suspected my weight was the same, but I am ok with that. I soldier on. The fact that I didn't GAIN after the horrible weekend is good enough for me. I had another not so great weekend (well, it was a GREAT weekend but I ate/drank wayyyyyyyy too much), but I really have no excuses for the upcoming one so let's hope I am able to control myself.

Finally got to do yoga again last night! After the mishap with the dvd last week I was looking forward to doing the full routine (and seeing Daniel again, of course). Ugh. I was a mess. Aside from being overly tired (we went to a concert Monday night and didn't get to bed till 2am) my body just didn't want to cooperate at all! My right calf was still really sore from a freaky, intense cramp Saturday morning, and I was just shaky and weird overall. Both of my hips were really unstable and didn't feel strong at all. So, I had to go back to my yoga days and remember what my teacher always said: work with the body you brought with you today. Don't try to force things and don't get discouraged if you can't do the same things you did last week. It's so true! I put all of my balance issues out of my mind and ended up having breakthroughs in two other areas. The crane is a difficult position and is something I have struggled with forever, but I kind of locked into it last night and stayed up longer than I ever have. That was very exciting. Then, at the very end we do a straight up hamstring stretch, just leaning forward over our outstretched legs from a seated position and touching our feet. I was able to lay my body almost completely flat and interlace my fingers over the bottom of my foot. I have NEVER done that before in my life. The whole session got me so loose and stretched that my body just melted into it! So, even though those things may not seem all that impressive, they really made the 90 minutes worthwhile! Added bonus: my calf finally doesn't hurt after 4 days of pain. Thanks, yoga!!

Tonight it's my fave, legs and back, along with nobody's fave - ab ripper. I must say I AM getting better at it every time. It's rough but it feels really good afterwards. Here's hoping I am not so wobbly today! I really need to make an effort to go to bed earlier.

Week 2: DONE!!

Woo! Done with week 2! What a rush. I now really know I can do this 100%. Last night was the legs and back along with Ab Ripper X. I enjoyed the former again but really pushed myself a bit too hard with the latter. After getting so pumped up with the first part of the workout I got all aggro and didn't want to be a wimp on the abs, so I forced myself to do more than I probably should have. I ended up kind of overheating myself and spent the rest of the evening with a horrible headache. Live and learn, I guess. I won't stop pushing it but I will definitely dial back a bit when I hit the wall.

Then, this morning I had to get up at 4:45 and do Kenpo because I have plans right after work and probably won't be home till fairly late. I wasn't sure I could do it because I am not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination, but I did! It wasn't perfect - there was some slow going and I was a bit wobbly at first because I was still kind of out of it. However, by the end I was super hyper and feeling GREAT. I am totally wide awake right now, and if I crash it won't be till later. The one thing I didn't think of though was how freaking hungry I would be. It makes sense because I hadn't eaten in 12 hours, so I had my usual afternoon snack (this week it's grapes) this morning. Since I will be eating dinner earlier tonight I think I will be ok without my snack, but if I need one I have an apple or more grapes.

I don't have super high hopes for my weight tomorrow. I was worse than I should have been this past weekend and I completely own that. I was 90% good during the week, but I know I was casual at times (damn you Brian and your El Toro Bravo chips!!). Now that I am back on the exercise train, I am hoping I will get back into the super strict eating, even on the weekends. This weekend will be a good test: out with the girls Friday night, bbq Saturday and possibly dinner with friends Sunday. Can I control myself?? We shall see.

Week 2 - Day 4

Didn't get a chance to update last night because I was on the go go go and then totally forgot to do it when I finally got home for the evening. This was yoga night and despite the interminable salutation business at the beginning I was looking very forward to it. I was doing really well - full on upward dogs every single time (no cobras), stretched my legs SO high every time, really pushed myself on those damn half moons. Then, when we finally finished all that nonsense and were moving on to the balance poses, the dvd DIED. Just got completely stuck at the 40 minutes left mark, right before dancer's pose. I thought maybe it was the dvd player, so I switched to the other one. No joy. Went upstairs, hoping it would work there - froze in the same spot. B asked if there was something on the dvd so I flipped it over, and there was a huge jacked up spot on it, where the dvd was basically coming apart!! Boooooo! So, I sadly had to quit there and just rode the exercise bike instead for a while. I will get a new copy of that dvd from Julie for next week, but I am so bummed I had to cut it short, especially because I only get to see Daniel twice a week and that was one of his sessions! Ugh. Hopefully tonight is better. It was my fave workout so I imagine it will be a good night, even with the Ab Ripper.

Week 2 - Day 3

Shoulders and arms again, along with Ab Ripper X. I tried the bands for some of the moves and even used B's 15 pounders for some! W00t! I already feel stronger. I did the full version this time including the bonus round and reall enjoyed it. LOVED those side push-up thingees. Those will definitely be one for me to push myself on every time. Also, Daniel was back. Oh, Daniel. I think Julie and I definitely need to go down to the Sunday workout sometime just so I can stalk him. ;o)

I definitely felt some improvement in the Ab Ripper. Part of that is due to the fact that my period is over (sorry to be gross) so I am not so sore and crampy, and part of it is because I was just more energized today. This time I am not nearly as sweaty, but that may just be because the weather much cooler. I think I will wait till tomorrow for hair washing! Yippee! Hehe...