Day 97 - The end!

This is it - my final post. I'm not ready to say goodbye!

Today I did Fountain of Youth. I have no idea what I was supposed to do, but I love the yoga so much I wanted to do it! I can't BELIEVE my flexibility. My hamstring stretches are so much better now than they were, even a few weeks ago! Sitting, I can reach around a yoga block at my feet. That's so crazy; I never dreamed I'd be able to do that. The results show it, too: a staggering 11 inch increase in my toe touch. I am so happy with my results I could cry. I posted my before and after photos yesterday, and as promised, I'm posting my final measurements today.

So, I guess this is it! For anyone interested, I'll be keeping a general life blog, which you can find here. To the strangers that have been reading and commenting on this blog, thank you. It's great to know that I am an inspiration for others, and the fact that I do inspires ME. To my friends and family who followed me through these 90 97 days, thank you. Your words and encouragement really did keep me going. I appreciate your support, so much. And to Christopher: my best friend, my motivation, my support and my rock.. THANK YOU. If it weren't for you, honestly, I wouldn't have had the results I have now. I loved your patience, and your gentle but firm reminders to keep pushing through. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

And that's all from me. I'm officially an X grad! Thank you, Tony! Goodbye, P90Xers, and keep bringing it!

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Weight
Day 0: 124 lb
Day 30: 123 lb
Day 60: 123 lb
Day 90: 123 lb

Chest
Day 0: 32"
Day 30: 31"
Day 60: 32"
Day 90: 32"

Waist
Day 0: 27"
Day 30: 27"
Day 60: 26"
Day 90: 27"

Hips
Day 0: 34"
Day 30: 33.5"
Day 60: 34"
Day 90: 33"

Right thigh
Day 0: 19"
Day 30: 19"
Day 60: 19"
Day 90: 20"

Left thigh
Day 0: 18"
Day 30: 19"
Day 60: 19"
Day 90: 20"

Right arm
Day 0: 10.5"
Day 30: 10.5"
Day 60: 10.75"
Day 90: 10.5"

Left arm
Day 0: 11"
Day 30: 10.5"
Day 60: 10.5"
Day 90: 10.5"

Pushups
Day 0: 7
Day 30: 11
Day 60: 20
Day 90: 21

Wide-grip pull-ups
Day 0: 1/2
Day 30: 3/4
Day 60: 3/4
Day 90: 1

Toe touch
Day 0: -5" (5" away from touching toes)
Day 30: +2" (2" past toes)
Day 60: +4" (4" past toes)
Day 90: +6" (6" past toes)

Wall squat
Day 0: 1 minute 3 seconds
Day 90: 1 minute 25 seconds

Chin-ups
Day 0: 1/2
Day 90: 2 1/2

Bicep curls
Day 0: 23 with 10 lbs
Day 90: 20 with 15 lbs

In and outs (the ab test)
Day 0: 21
Day 90: 50

Day 66 - Back and Biceps!

So, I did Back & Biceps for the first time! I loved it, of course, but I love all weight training exercises. My only issue with this workout is the stupid woman they have in the group - she's so annoying! "BRING THE PAIN, bring it!" "I'm upping my weight, Tony!" "What do you think, Tony?" Uggghhhh she couldn't suck up to him any more even if she tried. She was so irritating!

Anyway, the workout itself was great. I did the pull-ups using a chair, which I think I like better than negative pull-ups. Maybe because they're easier! Also, I love bicep exercises. I've said it before, but I love the workouts that make me feel like a huge manly gym-buff Hulk-type. Plus, I can lift heavier weights than I ever thought I could!

Yoga is next on the docket.. I love it when it's over, but I hate it at the time. It's so long! Oh, and speaking of that, Chris and I ordered Fountain of Youth, a 45-minute fast-yoga workout from Tony's One-On-One series. We figured the cost was worth having a shorter yoga workout, and it had been suggested on the P90X message boards. So whenever we get it and try it out, I'll keep you posted!

Day 61 - A day late

My bad. I forgot to post again last night. See, when anything happens outside of the norm (last night we went to a show at my school), I completely forget about posting.

Yesterday I did Legs and Back, and I'm getting better at this whole negative pull-ups thing. I have no problem with lunges anymore, which I guess is indicative that my legs are getting stronger! Yay! I love love love the calf workouts, they're definitely my favourite. When I work them really hard and they start to burn, it makes me feel like I have to pee! Hahaha it's the weirdest thing.

I ordered Christopher's Christmas present yesterday: a heart rate monitor! He already knows about it, so I didn't just ruin the surprise. He had to pick it out so I knew he was getting the one he wanted. He's very excited, and I am too because it'll be great to see how many calories we're burning during a hard cardio workout!

That's all for me - I'll be back tonight! :)

Day 47 - Donut.. D'oh!

I woke up in a fury at 0615 this morning because I was supposed to be at the hospital to shadow an RN for 0630.. Needless to say, my alarm did not go off. I threw on some scrubs, called a cab, ran a brush through my hair, tossed a couple protein bars and two packs of oatmeal in my purse, and ran out the door. (Then I waited 20 minutes for my cab, but that's another story.)

I ate a protein bar while waiting for the cab, which, I guess, could count as breakfast.. but I still had no lunch. So during first break I went to the horribly overpriced cafeteria and got a turkey wrap, a yogurt, and - for the first time in 47 days - a donut. I was feeling so sooky and sour that I was so rushed this morning, I got the donut as a comfort food. I know, I know, "it's one donut, it's no big deal". It wouldn't be a big deal if this whole program didn't mean so much to me. But, I can forgive one donut. And in my defense, at the time, I purposely chose a glazed donut (honey dip) over the cake donut that I really wanted (sour cream glazed), because I know they're lower in fat.

So there.

I got back on track once I got home. We had pork chops and salad for supper, and I had a second protein bar at 1500 when I'm actually supposed to have one. Speaking of breakfast (well, I was), we don't have any chicken bacon, so I don't know what to do about breakfast. I can have oatmeal, I love oatmeal.. but that's two protein servings lost. I guess I could make egg whites.. Ooooh, I just thought of something: an egg-white omelet with chicken, peppers and salsa. YUM! See, this blog is good for something!

I'll be taking pictures of this breakfast. Can't wait!

Oh, and about the workouts: We did Legs & Back, skipping Ab Ripper again to do tomorrow morning. Chris is a maniac and has started doing intervals on weekend mornings, with his regular workouts in the evenings. I might join him tomorrow, but probably not. Let's be honest here. Anyway, for the chin-ups, Chris was reading that it's really effective to do negative chin-ups if you can't do a lot of regular ones. That'd be me. Negative chin-ups are half of a normal pull-up: the down part. You get your hands in place, stand up on a chair, then step off the chair and lower yourself down. And repeat. It really works, but I was a little disappointed because I had mega strain in my upper abs, to the point where I just stopped because they felt like they might get hurt. Chris says it's probably because it's working my body in a new way, and I hope he's right, because that means it'll go away with time. So I'll keep trying these negative chin-ups, and I'll keep ya'll posted!

Day 20 - 22% done!

I have a confession to make. We have a small apartment, so from the beginning, we've taken turns doing the moves in Ab Ripper. Well. Let me tell you something. Doing the moves back-to-back, as they were intended to be done, is so much harder than taking breaks in between. I mean, duh. I just never realized that I was making it so easy on myself. At the bitter end, during Mason Twists, I really thought I was going to vomit. And just sitting here now, my abs hurt. So what did I learn? Do the workouts properly!

Because we skipped our workout yesterday, today we did yesterdays workout, which was Legs and Back. Easily my least favourite. I love the whole thing, except the wall squats, which makes me dislike the whole thing. We finally figured out a way that we can use the chin-up bar with a chair without it sliding all over the place, so I did more chin-ups and pull-ups (with chair assist) than I've ever done. That felt good. I find I can push myself harder now too, which I think is a combination of getting stronger and knowing when Tony will say "that's it, we're done!".

By the way, I know too many of Tony's lines. The pterodactyl line is one of my favourites.. CAAAAWWW!

We went grocery shopping today. It was successful, which means it was expensive. We got a small chicken for the slow cooker, a pork tenderloin, some pork chops, a few ingredients for turkey chili and the chicken recipe, and some regular stuff like avocados, tomatoes, onions, garlic, broccoli, brussels sprouts, and so on. My credit card took a beating, that's for sure!

That's all for now. We're doing weigh-ins, measurements and picture-taking in a week, so in preparation for that, a photo from tonight:

Grrrr!

Day 17 - I can do 2 chin-ups!

It is very late, so this will be a short entry. Sorry!

I just finished Shoulders & Arms and Ab Ripper. I love the stiff feeling my muscles get with weight training - likely a result of the increased blood flow to the muscles, but it feels great. The one exercise I can't do well is the lying down triceps extension. I can tell it's working at first, but my elbows get sore and painful long before my muscles get tired. I compensated by switching to a lighter weight and doing them a little faster, but it's still a little discouraging.

But, on a positive note, I can officially do TWO reverse-grip chin-ups!! Someday, I would love to grab onto a chin-up bar and just give 'er, doing 5, 10, even 20. Maybe 20 is a little ambitious, but just imagine how good it would feel to pump out 20 chin-ups. What a high I would get from that!

And on that note, I must head to bed. Yoga tomorrow evening - bring it!

I bet she can only do 1!

Day 5 - Oblique V's are my nemesis!

I just finished my first legs and back workout, and one thing is clear: I suck at chin-ups.

Well, in my defense, this time last year I wouldn't dream of grabbing on to a pull-up bar. I can only do one, but it's better than none. And on good days, I can do two! Not exactly a number to boast about, but hey, I'm happy with it.

I also did Ab Ripper for the second time, and my movements were a little more coordinated since I knew what to expect. The oblique V's still kill me, but I managed to get about 10 in on the left side.. Right side wasn't so good, so I did a plank instead. Someday I'll get those damn oblique V's.

Today was beautiful, so Chris and I had a nice day together about town. We went into this grocery store here called Planet Organic, and I was overwhelmed since I'd never been there before. It was much bigger than I was expecting (and smelled strongly of patchouli). We wandered, noted some soy cheese cake, and left with a bulk bag of soy nuts and some pesto flavoured veggie crisps. I've already sampled them, and they're delicious. Then we made our way to our regular grocery store to buy some soy cheese to try.

We had those veggie sausages for lunch today, and they were amazing! They tasted more like hot dogs than sausages, but they had a smoked taste and they were delicious. I'm very impressed. I also made chicken scrambled eggs for breakfast, which was a great change from plain old scrambled egg whites. But I have a confession: I really, really, really miss my cereal. I used to eat cereal for breakfast every single morning, and I'm surprised at how much I miss it. In Phase II, I get two carbs a day, so I'll be having cereal some mornings.

Besides that, not much else to tell! I haven't noticed a huge increase in my energy levels, but I'm definitely getting stronger. My abs look pretty good right now, which makes me very excited to see them in 85 days. And at the end of the day, when I'm eating my frozen yogurt and relaxing, it's great to know that I ate clean and did my full workout. Since I'm doing P90X, I may as well bring it, and it feels phenomenal to know that I  gave it my all!

Sweaty and poor quality, but there's some progress there!