Day 96 - Before and after pics

So! Today, as reported yesterday, was supposed to be Core Synergistics. Instead, we did a workout from Insanity called Max Recovery, and later, a workout from P90X+ called Total Body Plus. Max Recovery started out like fast-paced yoga, and I was really enjoying it. Then it got hard. Everything felt great though, and the 45 minutes went by in a flash. I was shocked when he said "time for the cool down!" It felt like 20 minutes. The Total Body Plus workout was a bit of everything; lots of push ups, squats and lunges. It also flew by. It doesn't feel like I did two workouts today, I feel great!

And on that note, Chris took my 90 day photos today, and I compiled my Day 0, 30, 60 and 90 day photos into one. And voila - before and after pictures! I'm so happy with my progress. I love my abs, and I'm definitely going to work to make them better. My arms and shoulders are so toned it's ridiculous, and I actually have calf muscle definition! Loving it!! We'll be doing measurements and weights tomorrow, so I will post those tomorrow - my last post!! I can't believe it!

Hooray!!

Day 80 - Christmas is coming..

With Christmas a mere 8 days away, treats and temptations are extra-hard to resist. A friend of mine brought by some homemade Bits & Bites and peppermint-chocolate cookies. My mom is in a baking frenzy at her house, having completed three full days of cooking and baking. And it is all sooo tempting! Starting P90X, Chris and I gave ourselves three "eating occasions": Thanksgiving, his birthday, and Christmas. For our Christmas dinner I'm not going to worry, but it's the appetizers and snacks and treats leading up to Christmas that I'm worried about! I'm really proud of myself for passing up snacks and treats for the last 80 days, and I know I won't let that all go to hell by pigging out every day around Christmastime. But still, something inside is telling me that something's gotta give.

I think the best thing is going to be moderation. It's unfortunate, but Christmas celebrations are a lot about eating, and the last thing I want is to a) come off as rude or b) feel like I missed out on the celebrating. So here's my plan: I'll have some Christmas treats, but in moderation. Far, far, far less than I would normally have. I figure that this way, I can relax more and enjoy my vacation, and at the same time, not doom my health and body and my hard-earned abs. (Plus, we're doing another round of P90X after Christmas - back on the wagon I go!)

We made tonight our rest day. Tomorrow will be Back & Biceps and Ab Ripper, followed by Yoga the next day (which will be the NEW Fountain of Youth disc that we received!). So, off I go to rest! :)

Seriously. How could you pass that up??

Day 76 - The countdown begins

T-minus 14 days! Two weeks! Eeeek!

We just finished up Legs & Back and Ab Ripper. I feel like we do that workout all the damn time! Good thing I like it. I had a hard time this time around, because for some reason I was really dizzy after each exercise. Like the kind of dizzy from standing up too fast. It usually passed within 10 seconds or so, so I kept going. Odd though. Chris said it could be from lack of water, which is true, but I didn't have any less water than I do on most days. Hmm.

I'm changing my diet tomorrow, shifting back to Phase Two. More protein, less carbs. I miss my protein! Namely, chicken bacon. Tony says that once you're in Phase Three, you can either stay in the Phase Three nutrition phase or go back to Phase Two, whichever works best for you. If the dizziness is from a lack of enough food, hopefully this nutrition shift will help with that.

On a totally different note, my abs are coming along nicely.. Still have a little ways to go to get to where I want to be: like her!

I will look like this!

Day 65 - Insanity!

So for the past few weeks, Chris has been doing Insanity workouts along with his P90X workouts. So tonight I decided that I would try the Insanity cardio workout in lieu of Tony's Cardio workout. The Cardio workout in P90X isn't really cardio as such, but more like an all-encompassing summary workout.. if you know what I mean.

Anyway, Insanity is a cardio-centred program that is, literally, insane. From their website: Your personal trainer Shaun T will push you past your limits with 10 workout discs packed with plyometric drills on top of nonstop intervals of strength, power, resistance, and ab and core training moves. No equipment or weights needed. Just the will to get the hardest body you've ever had. So, long story short, it’s Shaun T yelling at you and a group of other victims in some gymnasium somewhere.

I really believe Insanity is a great program. But, hating cardio as I do, it was hard for me to really get into it because my mind wasn’t in the right place. I find that happens with any type of cardio workout though, so it’s not any different than the norm. Still, it’s a fantastic replacement for Cardio X, which (don’t tell Tony) isn’t that great.

Exciting news – tomorrow I’m doing the Back & Biceps workout which I’ve never ever done! I’m excited to see a new workout after 65 days doing this program. A change of pace is always welcome!

P.S. After my workout, for the hell of it, I wanted to do some sit-ups... and ended up doing 80 in a row! The most I've ever done! Actual sit-ups too, none of those sissy crunches! ;) I'm pretty happy about that!

Get fit or get out!

Day 50 - DAY 50!

I'm 55% done P90X!

I know I say this at every "milestone", but I really can't believe it's been that long. I'm going into my second rest week, starting today. Yoga was scheduled, but by the time I got home and we got ready, it was 8:30 and we didn't want to have to spend until 10:00 doing yoga. So we switched it with Intervals, the theory being there's probably a similar calorie burn between the two. Yoga is an hour and a half of relatively calm, isometric flexibility and strength exercises, whereas Intervals is 40 minutes of ballistic cardiovascular exercises. So, in theory, the calorie burn should be similar. If only I had a heart rate monitor, then I'd know for sure. Maybe someday!

Two days ago we did a yoga workout which I blogged about briefly, but was too into posting about breakfast to share my excitement... but I can't contain myself anymore... I HAVE A SIX PACK!!!

I was doing table and Chris walked in the room and was like, "Oh my god, where's your camera?!" So he snapped this picture of me, and there is literally a six pack there. Mind you, standing up and in different light it doesn't look that crazy, but in the bedroom light in table pose, I have friggen' six pack abs!!! And I'm obviously very excited about this!! SO proud! :)

!!!!!!

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 8 - Core, encore!

Today's the first repeat day in my program.. Back to square one: Core Synergistics! I'm pretty sure that Core Synergistics is one of my least favourite, probably because I don't have good form for most of the exercises (like banana, and the sphinx push-ups). But they definitely work - I felt it most in my back and shoulders today. I find my abs aren't getting sore or tired, maybe this is a sign that I'm not working them hard enough? At the time, though, I can't hold them very long, but then I don't feel much from the workouts. Next week, I'll really push myself to hold the positions longer. Aiming for achy abs here.

I don't want to get all big and muscle-y, but abs are on my agenda, for sure. I want to have a great stomach. I saw a picture once of this really fit girl sitting, leaning over and doing a stretch, and she had no fat rolls. None. She had little folds of skin, but no underlying fat. That's what I want - maybe it's a little ambitious, but hey, maybe someday I'll have that!

I bought a new (pink!) sports bra today, and we found foam yoga blocks just like they use in the video. This really made me want to do yoga, but no yoga until Friday. I'm thinking that after the program is done, I'm going to look into some yoga classes. It's such a great workout, and contrary to popular belief, it's not relaxing. At all. On the P90X forums, the Yoga X workout is one of the most hated because it's so difficult. Personally, I loved it, and I can't wait to do it again.

Until tomorrow..

This will be me someday!