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 92 - I'm officially a Yogi

I. Love. Yoga.

I really can't stress that enough. I love it. I love the stretching, the holding, the pain and the willpower it takes to get through that pain. The shaking muscles, the huge increase in flexibility from start to finish. Love, love, love! I can't wait to start looking into yoga classes in town. I have no idea what it'd be like to do yoga with a room full of other people. Plus, I'm pretty stoked on learning new poses. P90X has turned me into a yogi! This is good since, according to Women's Health, yoga practitioners tend to eat mindfully, eating when hungry and stopping when full - they think it's because yoga teaches calmness in the face of discomfort, which might make it easier to cave in to cravings.

Speaking of Women's Health, their January issue has a few delicious looking soup recipes. I made one tonight, Savoury Moroccan, which has chicken stock, diced tomatoes, zucchini, chickpeas, artichoke hearts, couscous, parsley, raisins, scallions and spices. YUM! I added chicken myself, boiling it and cutting it into little pieces. The end result? To die for. We had it with a delicious Blue Menu whole-wheat baguette. WH says to make sure that whole wheat is the first ingredient (check), it has no trans fats (check), and it has at least 3 grams of fibre per serving (check!). This recipe definitely made the books. I can't wait to try the other four recipes - and I intend to!

This isn't my final result - I stole it from WH!

And a gratuitous photo of me in Warrior Two.

Day 64 - CST, baby!

Chest, Shoulders & Triceps has got to be one of my favourite workouts. I love how many pushups I can do. I just tried to do as many as possible and I got 14; mind you, that's after this CST workout. On weigh-in day I did 20 pushups. I can't wait until I can do more!

I love the tricep workouts too, and the weird burn I get from them. No other way to explain it but weird! I think I love this workout because I feel like a total hulk grunting and grimacing and watching my muscles swell. It sounds weird, but I love feeling like a man in this respect!

Our diet changed a few days ago, and it's been... meh. The nutrition guide advises that you can either stay in Phase Three diet or go back to Phase Two, whichever feels best. I definitely liked Phase Two better, but I'm sticking it out because I want to complete this program as it was designed.

On another note, I subscribe to Women's Health magazine and I often check their website for advice and stories. They have these 12 powerfoods that are good ab foods, but you have to submit your email in order to access it. Lame! So I'm posting it for all to see. It's not rocket science, but it's still pretty neat.

Click for full size!

Day 59 - Power Blocks!

Today was a good workout day, a not-so-good diet day. I went to a lunchtime conference where there was pizza and salad being served. I had a piece of BBQ chicken pizza (thinking that this was better for me than pepperoni or works) and a giant salad, fruit and water. Not so bad I guess, but this is the first time in over 59 days that I've had a piece of pizza! That's wild. Before this, Chris and I would order or make a pizza at least once a week!

As far as the workout goes, I did Shoulders & Arms. I like this workout because once it's over, there's so much blood flow to my arms and shoulders that I look HUGE! I don't want to ever look that muscle-y, but it's fun to see how much bigger my arms get when I work them out.

It's hard to believe I'm in Phase 3! I literally don't know what I'm going to do with myself when I'm done with P90X. Obviously I won't stop working out, but it's hard to say how often I will (likely 3-4x a week) or what I'll be doing (Yoga? Dance? Insanity?). I'm just enjoying this program and I'm making the most of it while it lasts. I'm even considering doing it over again, just minus the super-strict diet. Time will tell..

Oh yeah, and Chris got some Power Blocks! He found a used set on Kijiji (which is good because they're very expensive). Power Blocks are dumbbells with adjustable weights, so you can have a set of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50 lb weights with only one pair of dumbbells. They're huge space savers, which is great in a tiny little apartment like ours. Chris is loving them! I'll stick with my 5, 8 and 10 lb sets, thanks. :)

The Power Blocks!

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 13 - Working out with a (very!) full belly

Tonight, we had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner with family. Turkey, stuffing, potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots, cranberries, gravy, pumpkin pie, pecan tarts and tea. It was absolutely delicious, and I feel no remorse for breaking the diet today because a) it's Thanksgiving and b) I planned for this. Once we got home, we started right in with Kenpo. Seriously, how many people stuff themselves with Thanksgiving dinner, then go home and work out for an hour? Some people think we're crazy (and I think so too, sometimes) but I feel really great right now. There are still beads of sweat running down my back, because I just had to blog before I showered. Niiice!

I can't decide what I think about Kenpo. It's a great workout, IF I maintain my form and really push it. If I slack in the least, or don't give it my all, I'm just punching the air and looking foolish. Versus, for example, Ab Ripper, which leaves no room for slacking. So you can see how it would be easy to say "oh yeah, I did Kenpo tonight" and to not have done much of anything.

But! I'm not a slacker and I really do push myself to my limit. I see no point in maintaining the diet and scheduling the time to exercise, then doing a half-assed workout. No results will come of that.

I weighed myself this morning. Again, another disclaimer: I'm not doing this to lose weight, I'm doing it to become more fit. Starting out, I weighed 124 lbs. This morning I weighed 123 lbs (at the same time of day and on the same scale). Then - get this - I weighed myself after Thanksgiving dinner, and I clocked in at 128 lbs! I actually gained 5 lbs throughout the day, and after my massive meal. This gave a little insight as to why some people get so upset with numbers - consistency is key. Like my grandmother used to say, weigh yourself first thing in the morning, after you empty your bladder and your bowels, and once you're stripped completely naked. Only then will you get your true weight. I think she was onto something there.

So don't fret about numbers. Monitor how you feel, physically and mentally. And remember: muscle is heavier by volume than fat!

I found this quote online: "A woman weighing 150 pounds with 19% fat will look much smaller (and be much healthier) than a woman at 150 pounds with 35% fat. They weigh the same, yet the composition is different. Because muscle is more dense than fat the person with less fat and more muscle will look smaller." Gaining 5 lbs in a month doesn't mean your exercise isn't working; it likely means that you've lost fat and gained muscle. I bet you look and feel better, so forget the numbers! Those muscles have to grow before they start showing. 

Doesn't the muscle look so much more appealing?