P90x Round 2, day 21 - X Stretch

P90x Round 2, Day 21 - X Stretch
Diet :
Breakfast: Italian Scrambled Eggs, Juice
Lunch: Leftover Lasagna, Garlic Bread, 1/2 apple
Snack: Small Pineapple/Chocolate Sundae
Dinner: Louisiana Steak from O'Charleys, Baked Potato, Caesar Salad
Unplanned Snack: None

Summary:
Stretched out today instead of resting. Felt like I really needed is and generally felt much better afterward.

Diet was a bit higher than the rest of the week but it was cheat Day and it was mostly planned.

Short blog today because it's late. Can't believe the weekend is over already.

P90x Round 2, Day 20 - Kenpo X, 5 mile run

P90x Round 2, Day 20 - Kenpo X, 5 mile run
Diet :
Breakfast: Gatorade 2, Protein Bar
Lunch: Turkey and Pepperoni Sandwich with baked Lays
Snack: Granola Bar, Yellow Rice
Dinner: Healthy Lasagna, Garlic, Berries and Whip Cream
Unplanned Snack: None

Summary:
What a long day. Woke up early this morning and hit the road for another 5 miles run. That's two weeks in a row with a good long run on Saturday. It's nice to get the whole run in and not have to walk and I think after another 5 mile saturday and next week's training runs I'll be ready to start my marathon training. It's hard to believe that in a matter of weeks I'll be running 6,8,10,12 miles at one time. Luckily it's getting slightly easier to run on a regular basis. I'm not sure if it's conditioning or losing the weight that I am, but I imagine it's some combination of those two.

I started a Kenpo workout later in the afternoon with my wife thinking I might be able to double up on it like I did last weekend but that didn't work out as well as last weekend. I was just too tired to put in another cardio workout. I was on the move from the minute I woke up and by the time the afternoon rolled around I was just out of gas. I got about 1/2 the workout in and then decided to help coach my wife and get her some encouragement to get that little bit extra out of her workout.

Diet was good today as there weren't any cheats planned or unplanned and we had some friends over for healthy lasagna. It's actually really good. Turkey, cottage cheese instead of ricotta, fat free cheese, whole wheat noodles, and then pack the sauce with TONS of vegetables. We haven't had it in a while and it was really quite delicious. Might eat it for lunch tomorrow.

I imagine if I hit the scale tomorrow I'd be pleased with the results but I'm going to hold off for next Friday and hope that I can give 100% this week and put up the best numbers I can for my first 4 weeks and new pictures. I'm really interested to see how the pictures turn out and I'm really interested in the Day 1 to Day 120 pictures as I imagine those will be the biggest change. I doubt I'll post them online, but if things keep up like they are I'm pretty sure I'll post the Day 1-Day 180 pictures at the end of this round.

Recovery week isn't my favorite thing, but I'm going to fight to give it my best effort. 2 Yoga workouts and no weights. And on top of that the Core Synergistics really taxes my back sometimes. But we'll survive I'm sure.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

P90x Round 2, Day 19 - Legs and Back

P90x Round 2, Day 19 - Legs and Back
Diet :
Breakfast: 4 Egg Whites w/ Onion, Peppers, Tomato, Diet Coke
Lunch: Salad with Turkey, Carrots and Celery, Cottage Cheese, Potato Salad, Baked Beans
Snack: Granola Bar, Jello Cup, Mixed Fruit Cup
Dinner: Chicken Burritos
Unplanned Snack: None

Summary:
Finally I got a good night's sleep and what a difference it makes. It's amazing how much better you feel when you actually close your eyes at night and open them the next morning with no interruptions. Amazing.

Today was was Legs and Back and while I didn't get the entire workout done, I gave it 100% for the 2/3 I did complete. I just slept in a little later than I wanted to and had to be into work for an early meeting so I got in what I could.

On the scale front I weighed in today at 234.5 which is 1.5 down from last week and a total of 11.5 lost for this round of P90x. I'm hoping to end this first phase having lost at least 13 pounds but I'm secretly hoping for a total of 15 pounds which is absolutely mind blowing and more than I could have hoped for. 1.5 total for this week isn't what I'd hoped for but considering my eating has been a little looser and my fitness hasn't been up to the same level as the previous two weeks I'm happy that I've lost anything.

Busy Saturday in front of me already so I'm going to make sure I get up early tomorrow and get my 5 mile run in. I'm sure I'll end up doing Kenpo too to give my wife some moral support, but I'm sure I'm going to want to rest instead.

Have a great weekend everybody.

P90x Round 2, Day 18 - Yoga X, Missed Run

P90x Round 2, Day 18 - Yoga X, Missed Run
Diet :
Breakfast: Oatmeal, Orange Juice
Lunch: Salad with Turkey, Carrots and Celery, Baked Potato
Snack: Granola Bar, Jello Cup, Oranges Fruit Cup
Dinner: Pepperoni Chicken, Garlic Green Beans
Unplanned Snack: Skinny Cow Ice Cream Snack

Summary:
What a dreadful morning. I haven't slept well at all for about 3 days and even though I went to bed at 9:30 I laid there and when/if I did sleep it was terrible.

So I woke up this morning exhausted and did my best to do Yoga. I got 45 minutes into it and during a break actually started falling asleep. So I called it quits and went to eat breakfast.

I was pretty much exhausted all morning until lunch and even after that I was tired.

I skipped my morning run in hopes that after work I'd have the energy to finish it them. But I proved to myself why I do my workouts in the morning because life happened and I didn't get my run in.

Weigh-in tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get some sleep.

P90x Round 2, Day 17 - Shoulders and Arms, 2 mile run

P90x Round 2, Day 17 - Shoulders and Arms, 2 mile run
Diet :
Breakfast: 2 pumpkin muffins, orange juice
Lunch: Turkey and Roast Beef Sandwich, Carrots
Snack: Granola Bar, Jello Cup, Mixed Fruit Cup
Dinner: 6" Subway Club, Baked Lays
Unplanned Snack:

Summary:
I didn't sleep very well last night and it reflected this morning when I woke up. I almost skipped my workout and had rationalized it to the point of acceptance before I realized that it was fruitless to try and avoid it and got out of bed. I got a good workout in spite of not originally wanting to do it and then got a good run in.

I only got in 2 miles this morning instead of the three I had planned, but I felt pretty good after 2 miles so I'm sure I could have gotten in 3.

I'm not sure what is up with my diet for this week, but we'll see how Friday's weigh-in goes. Last two weeks I put up great results but had pretty low energy. So far this week my energy has been really high and I'm wondering if that means my results will suffer.

I can't believe it's only Wednesday this week is going so slow. Yoga tomorrow. I'm sure that will be even slower.

P90x Round 2, Day 16 - Plyometrics, 3 mile run

P90x Round 2, Day 16 - Plyometrics, 3 mile run
Diet :
Breakfast: 4 egg whites w/ onion and green pepper
Lunch: Turkey and Roast Beef Sandwich, Carrots and Celery
Snack: Granola Bar, Jello Cup, Orange Fruit Cup
Dinner: Leftover Chili Mac Soup
Unplanned Snack: Ice Cream

Summary:
Not the best workout today. Not sure if it was the Ab-Ripper or what from yesterday but I woke up this morning with a fairly sore back. I tried to rock out the Plyo but I could only get about 2 sets into it before my back was just bothering me too much. All the squatting and jumping was just really uncomfortable so I stretched out a bit and went for my run to see how that felt.

Run went great. It was sprinkling some outside which kept it nice and cool. It's amazing how 2 days off rests up the legs and makes running more manageable. I'm sure running tomorrow will be a chore.

Diet was about 90% today. Went well except for the stupid after-dinner ice cream. It's low fat blah blah blah, but still I didn't need it and I shouldn't have eaten it but it's done and there we are.

Looking forward to tomorrow.

P90x Round 2, Day 15 - Chest and Back, Ab-Ripper X

P90x Round 2, Day 15 - Chest and Back, Ab-Ripper X
Diet :
Breakfast: Raisin Bran
Lunch: Turkey Sandwich
Snack: 2 Mexi-Melts
Dinner: Chili Mac Soup and Tortilla Chips
Unplanned Snack: None

Summary:
Today was a day off from work but I didn't let that keep me from getting a good work out. I did slip a bit on the diet eating the leftovers from yesterday's cheat meal instead of throwing them into the trash. I should have just gone ahead and chucked them, but I didn't and there I am.

Chest and Back was today. I didn't miss an opportunity and gave it 100% today improving in a few repetitions on a few of the workouts. I will really miss this workout for the next 6 weeks.

Diet pitfalls are done for this week. I'm going to tighten the belt and get back in the saddle running and we'll see where we end up Saturday. I know the diet has skipped a few beats, but my energy is amazingly high.

Don't want to go back to work tomorrow, but can't wait to get back to the routine.

P90x Round 2, Day 14 - Rest

P90x Round 2, Day 14 - Rest
Diet :
Breakfast: Oatmeal
Lunch: Taco Bell (Volcano Burrito, Chicken Burrito) [Unplanned Cheat]
Snack: None
Dinner: Grilled Chicken Salad, Corn
Unplanned Snack: None

Summary:
Today was a little bumpy but I survived not that much worse for the wear. It started out fine with a good breakfast, but at lunch it went a little off the rails. The family went out to run some errands and we thought we might have had a little more time to get lunch but my daughter let us know that we were out of time. We looked around where we were and there weren't any sandwich places (those are our default emergency healthy eateries). It was pretty much between Dairy Queen and Taco Bell so we went with the Bell because we hadn't been there in a while. Now old me would eat ALOT of taco bell. And when I say alot I'm saying that it wasn't uncommon to order 6-8 items and finish them all. Well I ordered significantly less to eat this time around, and I could have ordered alot less. I ate one burrito and felt sorta full. I shouldn't have eaten the second burrito, but I wasn't bursting at the seams so I finished it. I tore off as much of the tortilla as possible because I always do that because I don't need the extra shell, but it still was an unplanned cheat meal.

I thought about stretching today but really didn't feel like I needed it and after running errands and knowing that I had some around the house stuff to do when my daughter woke up from her nap I opted for the rest part of rest/stretch. Hindsight I might have done things differently but I don't regret the decision.

I have Monday off from work for Memorial Day but I'm still going to get my workout done. Looking forward to another great week.

P90x Round 2, Day 13 - Kenpo X

P90x Round 2, Day 13 - Kenpo X
Diet :
Breakfast: None
Lunch: Turkey and Roast Beef Sandwich, Whole Wheat Goldfish
Snack: Granola bar, Jello Pudding, Pumpkin Muffin
Dinner: Steak and Shrimp Japanese Food, Spicy Tuna Roll [PLANNED CHEAT]
Unplanned Snack: None

Summary:
I was able to sleep in a little this morning and work up feeling like a million dollars. I got out of bed, stretched a bit and went out and ran 5 miles in just under 53 minutes. It was a pretty tough run but I finished it without stopping and felt pretty good about it afterward. It's still interesting to me how different every run is to me. I would assume that it'd be similar every run, but it's not. Some days 3 miles is a breeze, some days every step is a chore, I suppose that's part of the allure of running. I've got to repeat this same running schedule next week so it'll be interesting to see if next week's 5 miles is any different.

I almost called it day with the running, but the wife was doing Kenpo today and I figured I would be her moral support and do it with her to encourage her. Alot of work I didn't want to do but after finishing it I guess I felt better.

Cheat meal was today. I feel a little groggy after eating it with the additional intake, but I think overall the day wasn't off the charts. It'll be nice to get back on schedule tomorrow and stretch out and get to work again.

Feeling alot better today and I'm hoping I can ride this energy into better results next week.

P90x Round 2, Day 12 - Legs and Back

P90x Round 2, Day 12 - Legs and Back
Diet :
Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs with Kabob Meat and Veggies
Lunch: Salad with Turkey, Cottage Cheese, Carrots and Celery
Snack: Granola bar, Jello Pudding, Oranges Fruit Cup
Dinner: Chicken Cassoulet
Unplanned Snack: Skim Milk Protein Shake with Strawberries, Peaches, and Blueberries

Summary:
Today was not a great day. In fact today was probably the worst start to any day I've had in the last few weeks. I think it all goes back to last night's dinner and it being very very low calorie and clean. There wasn't very much substance to the meal. Add to that some poor sleep last night and I woke up with almost no energy. I got on the scale, and then tried to work out and it just wasn't working. I got about 30 minutes into the workout and was so exhausted I felt like I was about to just crash out so I cut the workout short. I wasn't giving 100% up until that point anyways so I didn't see the value of torturing myself when I wasn't going to get much out of the workout.

So after cutting the workout short I ate a little more than I usually eat for breakfast. It was still clean eating but the quantity was up. It took a while for it to kick in but eventually my energy level started to pick up and I felt a lot better. A LOT BETTER. I really think it was just the culmination of low calories and poor sleep that eventually ended with me having no energy to do anything. But I believe it's starting to turn around, after eating a bit more for breakfast I feel alot better today.

But back to the weigh-in. I got on the scale and weighed 236 this morning. That's another 3.5 pounds lost from last week and a total of 10 pounds for the first two weeks. I'm slightly concerned that those numbers are a little drastic, but I am getting 2-3 hours of work every morning before eating anything so calories I'm burning are all reserves from my stored fat and whatnot instead of burning off the food I've been eating. We'll see how my energy continues to go and if it slumps again I'm going to have to increase my consumption. We'll know more as the rest of the week plays out.

Tomorrow I'm supposed run 5 miles. It's scheduled to rain for the next several days, so we'll have to see how the running goes over the next week. I can't miss any of the runs, but if it's pouring rain in the morning I might opt to run after work instead. If it's still pouring then, I might be running in the pouring rain several times next week.

So overall It's a mixed day. I lost weight for the week and feel great about that, but my energy was really low today and I'm not happy that my workout sucked so much. Compromise I suppose.

P90x Round 2, Day 11 - Yoga X, 3 mile run

P90x Round 2, Day 11 - Yoga X, 3 mile run
Diet :
Breakfast: 3 Egg Whites, 2 Pieces of Turkey Bacon, Banana
Lunch: Salad with Turkey, Cottage Cheese, Carrots and Celery
Snack: Granola bar, Jello Pudding, Mixed Fruit Cup
Dinner: Pork Tenderloin, Green Beans, Rice
Unplanned Snack: Skinny Cow Ice Cream Snack

Summary:
Yoga today was as hard as I had imagined it would be. Not only that but it was LONG. The fact this is an hour and a half without anything else to break it up is never lost on me during this workout. The fact that I've actually completed it 2 weeks in a row is testimony to how hard I'm trying to turn the leaf and give 100% to this new round. I get one hell of a workout doing Yoga, but it just drags on. Then when I'm finished I had to go out and run 3 miles.

Running today was tough. If I hadn't stretched out with Yoga I'm not sure I would have made it but I finished it. I'm going to be so glad to not be running tomorrow. I need the day off from this week of added running before Saturday's 5 mile run. I'm worried that I might be pushing the envelope some with the running and bordering on over-training, but I hope not.

Eating went well today. I didn't get to eat before I left the house and had to eat at work. I usually eat terrible at our cafeteria but today I went for 3 egg whites and turkey bacon which for me in that environment is a big step forward. I'm still sorta hungry all the time so I'm thinking of adjusting my intake upwards slightly next week.

Can't wait to weigh in tomorrow. I'm really hoping for a good number. If it's the same as last week I'm going to really struggle with the "why the hell am I doing this" demon.

P90P90x Round 2, Day 10 - Shoulders and Arms, 3 mile run

P90x Round 2, Day 10 - Shoulders and Arms, 3 mile run
Diet :
Breakfast: Bowl of Raisin Bran
Lunch: Salad with Turkey, Cottage Cheese, Carrots and Celery
Snack: Granola bar, Jello Pudding, Oranges Fruit Cup
Dinner: Irish Chicken Breast, Broccoli and Cauliflower
Unplanned Snack: Granola Bar

Summary:
Today went by very fast. Waking up this morning seemed like a bit of a chore but I ended up with a really great Shoulders and Arms workout. I absolutely regret not keeping a workout log during my first Round of P90x. I honestly can say that probably cost me some results I could have had in the first go round. Today during my workout I referred back to my previous numbers several times to see what reps I should try to improve on or what weight I used last time and based on my log inputs from today compared to last week I can tell I got a much better workout overall. I've only got up to 20's right now for dumbells and I'm going to have to very soon make the decision to either buy more weights, or invest in something like the bowflex dial-a-weight.

Running was very difficult this morning. I wanted to quit running at almost every point along the way but I kept going and finished my 3 miles in around 33 minutes. Not the fastest time I've posted, but I could definitely tell that my legs were still feeling the 3 mile run from the day before. I'm suppossed to run 3 tomorrow as well before taking Friday off from running but I'm not sure how that is going to work out. I keep telling myself during the runs to keep going because the urge to quit is only going to be stronger as I increase the mileage and so far that's keeping me going when I really want to give up. I mean if I can't do 3 what makes me think I can do 5 this weekend, or 10 two months from now. It's not the best logic, but it's helping me at the moment.

Meals went good today. I went out to hang out with some friends tonight. I was feeling a little hungry when I left the house and I knew that bar food was going to be too tempting to not grab some fries off somebody's plate or something. So I grabbed a Granola bar from the cabinet before I left and ended up having to eat it when I was there to avoid cheese fries and nachos that my table ordered. But I ended up leaving only eating that bar and drinking water so I'm pretty glad that happened. I weigh in again this Friday and after last week's super amazing results I'm hoping to put up another week of good numbers and the closer I get to Friday the more I want to resist cheating. I'm still getting really hungry about 2 hours after meals and sometimes even after I eat I'm not really "full". I know alot of this is because my calorie count is low but I'm hoping as I lose weight this will sort itself out. So far it's not dramatically affecting my workouts or my overall energy so until then I'm going to stay the course. I would be easy to increase my snacks to something more substantial if need be.

Overall things are going well. Yoga tommorrow. I'm sure that workout is going to drag on forever and then I still have to run. What a long morning I'm in for.

P90x Round 2, Day 9 - Plyometrics, 3 mile run

P90x Round 2, Day 9 - Plyometrics, 3 mile run
Diet :
Breakfast: Bowl of Raisin Bran
Lunch: Salad with Turkey,Cottage Cheese, Carrots and Celery
Snack: Granola bar, Jello Pudding, Mixed Fruit Cup
Dinner: Flat Iron Steak, Parmesean Potato Fries, Corn
Unplanned Snack: One bite of a brownie, Skinny Cow Ice Cream Bar

Summary:
Plyometrics is the worst and best workout in the P90x series. I end up at the end of this workout drenched in sweat and physically exhausted. I finished today's workout exhausted and still facing the demands of having to run 3 more miles before I was finished with my workout. I didn't know if I was going to be able to get out and run the full distance today but I found a way to get it done. After having 2 days without running it was really more of a struggle than I would have liked to run today, but it might have had something to do with the fact that it was unusually chilly outside this morning. I was so hot inside working out that when I went outside and it was so chilly I was actually really cold for the first 1/2 mile or so before I warmed up. This week is 3 miles during the week and 5 miles on Saturday. Saturday will be a tough run.

Eating still went well today. I'm starting to adjust I think to the eating and exercising schedule but we'll see Friday if the results are still there. I can't imagine cutting back even more on my diet so I'm hoping that's not needed.

Overall things are going well. My back is a little sore, but we'll keep and eye on that. If need be I can take a day off and stretch.

P90x Round 2, Day 8 - Chest and Back, Ab-Ripper X

P90x Round 2, Day 8 - Chest and Back, Ab-Ripper X
Diet :
Breakfast: Oatmeal, Apple Juice
Lunch: Salad with Turkey,Cottage Cheese, Carrots and Celery
Snack: Granola bar, Jello Pudding, Oranges Fruit Cup
Dinner: Chicken, Rice, and Green Bean Casserole
Unplanned Snack: None

Summary:
Today was the start of week 2. The challenging part of the second week is matching or surpassing the results and the intensity that you put forward in week 1. I'm feeling rested and ready for the week so Bring It On!

Today was Chest and Back. This workout is always good to see how well you're doing because it's actually an extremely basic workout. Pushups and Pullups. And none of the fancy variety that they use in the later weeks, these are the straight forward push and pull variety. I did much better this week than last week in regards to consistency. I matched all the numbers that I put up in week 1. And I matched all the numbers in round 2 of the workout that I did in round 1 which I didn't do in Week 1, so I've got that to build on.

Eating today was good. I found that my starving tendencies from last week are subsiding slightly from last week which I'm hoping is a trend going forward. I am well aware that the diet is where the progress comes from, but when you're hungry all the time that sucks. It's not surprising that the first week I was pretty hungry considering how much I used to eat. I had to get my stomach to shrink down to what normal people are used to eating.

Overall week 2 is going well. Plyo tomorrow and running. I have a feeling that will be the suck.

P90x Round 2, Day 7 - Stretch X

P90x Round 2, Day 7 - X Stretch
Diet :
Breakfast: Oatmeal, Pineapple Orange Juice
Lunch: 6" Turkey Subway sandwich w/ double meat, whole wheat goldfish crackers
Snack: None
Dinner: Beef Kabobs with Cherry Tomatoes, Onion, Green Pepper, Pineapple, Mushroom
Unplanned Snack: None

Summary:
I am stretched out. I used to skip this workout and instead opted to rest on the "rest or stretch" day, but I've decided in Round 2, like Yoga, I'm going to do the stretch every chance I can get. I really was good to get all the kinks worked out that I had gathered up during the week. My back is still a little sore but overall I think it's holding up quite nicely to the week's activity. I really thought my calves were going to be killing me today based on how sore they were last night but this morning I woke up and they weren't as bad as I had anticipated.

My eating this weekend was very good considering my usual weekends. I had my one planned cheat meal for Saturday and for the most part avoided all other deviations. We went and got Subway for lunch on Saturday and while I usually eat a footlong per meal I decided to stretch it out over two days instead which was a good choice. I usually struggle to keep it between the lines for the weekends so it was a nice surprise to get through the weekend with only planned deviations.

Week one is in the books and so far I'm feeling pretty good. I'm ready to make it through the next week and see what progress I can make on next Friday. I'm hoping that my running goes as planned this week because I really need to start making progress on that front if I have any chance of doing my marathon training in June. It's taking alot of mental stamina to get through my runs now and I'm hoping that goes away or I can find a way to mitigate that. Otherwise running for 4-5 hours is going to be like pulling teeth.

Overall, week 1 going great.

P90x Round 2, Day 6 - Kenpo X, 4 mile run

P90x Round 2, Day 6 - Kenpo X, 4 mile run
Diet :
Breakfast: Raisin Bran w/ Skim Milk
Lunch: 6" Turkey Subway sandwich w/ double meat
Snack: Peanut Butter and Strawberry Protein Shake
Dinner: Red Beans and Rice w/ Sausage, Grilled Potato Salad, Caesar Salad, Hush Puppies
Unplanned Snack: None

Summary:
Today was a long day. I decided against waking up early to do my run favoring sleep instead, but I got it all done later in the afternoon. The wife and I are both doing P90x this time around in case I haven't mentioned that. She's doing the P90x "Lean" but after the first two days for the week we are on the same schedule which is nice. So today we worked out together and rocked out some Kenpo X. I love this workout. It's absolutely the best workout in the program and it really flies by and I barely feel like I'm working out.

Today was also my "long" run. I didn't know if I'd be able to get 4 miles finished because I should have been running that distance for the last 2 Saturdays but I wasn't able to get it finished. I was able to get it finished today though. It was brutally difficult and hotter than hell when I decided to run it, but I finished it. I'm not sure how I'm going to finish 5 miles next week though. I ended up sweating off about 40 gallons of sweat, but I finished it. I'm sure I'll be wrecked tomorrow.

Today was cheat meal day. We ended up going out to a local southern cooking place and there wasn't the healthiest stuff on the menu, but I ended up doing what I felt was ok. I didn't sweat it too much though because it was my cheat meal.

Anyways, I'm tired and my calves are exhausted but overall I'm doing pretty well and I'm looking forward to wrapping up week one with a good stretch.

P90x Round 2, Day 5 - Legs and Back, Ab-Ripper X

P90x Round 2, Day 5 - Legs and Back, Ab-Ripper X
Diet :
Breakfast: Raisin Bran w/ Skim Milk
Lunch: Salad with Ham, Cottage Cheese, Carrots and Celery
Snack: Granola Bar, Oranges Fruit Cup, Jello Pudding Cup
Dinner: Chicken Alfredo, Rolls, Caesar Salad, Ice Cream Sandwich
Unplanned Snack: Cup of Chicken and Rice Soup

Summary:
So I decided that Today (Friday) is going to be the day I weigh in. With Fridays and Saturdays being prime days for cheat meals I knew that Friday morning is my best chance to get consistent and good numbers.

I weighed in this morning at 239.5 which is down 6.5 pounds from last Sunday. You have to love the first week of the new fitness. You get to put up some big numbers and get that boost of momentum and positive reinforcement that you need to justify your first week of hell.

My diet might need to be adjusted slightly after the last few days. I had a feeling that I was lower than I might need to be in regards to calories, but today I was absolutely starving all day. I'd eat my meals and within 30 minutes I'd be absolutely starving. I know it led to some extra eating that I would have liked to avoid but there didn't seem like much I could do about it. I drank as much water as I could tolerate today but was still starving. We'll have to take a look at that next week.

On to workouts. Today was Legs and Back. I'm still not any closer to doing a pull-up, but it's good to keep getting 2 chances a week to work on this for the next 90 days. Legs day is really tough, it's ALOT of lunges or lunge-similar exercises. I can only take so many one legged squats and side/back/front lunges before my legs are screaming but I did the whole workout and felt really good about it afterward.

Tomorrow is supposed to be Kenpo X and a 4 mile run. I've got a busy morning already lined up so I'm not sure how it's going to work out. I know that I'm probably going to have to get up extra early and do my run before I head out for the morning and then do Kenpo later in the afternoon. We'll play it by ear.

Overall feeling really good. Just hungry all the time.

P90x Round 2, Day 4 - Yoga X, 1.25 mile run

P90x Round 2, Day 4 - Yoga X
Diet :
Breakfast: Oatmeal, Pineapple & Orange Juice
Lunch: Salad with Ham, Cottage Cheese, Carrots and Celery
Snack: Granola Bar, Mixed Fruit Cup, Jello Pudding Cup
Dinner: Garlic Shrimp with Pico de Gallo over Rice
Unplanned Snack: Potato Chips

Summary:
I believe that I owe Yoga an apology. 3 months ago on my first week back on the fitness wagon I tried this workout. That experience did not go well. I was tired and the idea of a extremely long workout didn't appeal to me much. Every muscle I had was extremely sore and I lacked the basic core strength and flexibility to complete the workout. Overall it was an atrocious failure and as a result of that failed experience I developed a hatred for that workout and never tried it again during my first round of P90x. I did other Yoga on my Yoga days, but never Yoga X again.

Well today I did Yoga X. I went in with a fresh slate and the "I'm going to give this another chance" mentality and guess what. I finished Yoga X. Not only did I finish it, but I dare say I enjoyed parts of it. It's still a bit repetitive in the first half during the "strength" portion. I don't mind the workout, but it's frustrating having to start all over from scratch for every step of the series. It's still very long and I can tell that on days where I'm not feeling 100% motivated it's going to be a chore finishing a workout that long.

I didn't get to my running this morning and instead did it tonight. It wasn't the best run and it was hot and humid so that wasn't the best situation either. I went about 1.25 miles before I had to pee so bad that it caused me to cut my run short. I was a bit disappointed but I don't have any concerns that I could have finished 2 miles.

Meals today went as planned except at lunch. I went to eat with a friend and he didn't finish the chips that came with his lunch, next thing I know I'm eating potato chips. They weren't too awful nutritionally and the bag was only 130 calories with I imagine helped me to justify eating it at the time.

I haven't run the specific numbers on my new diet, but I know they are at or lower than where I want to be. I need to keep an eye on it overall because the last two days I've gotten pretty hungry at weird times and I'm worried that's going to cause me to crack down the line.

My back is kinda sore today. I have back and legs tomorrow. I'm hoping that I don't aggravate it any more.

Overall still feeling pretty good. Thinking I might weigh in tomorrow and make Friday my weigh-in day because Friday or Saturday are usually good candidates for "cheat meals" and I don't want those to throw off my weigh-ins.

P90x Round 2, Day 3 - Shoulders and Arms, 3 mile run

P90x Round 2, Day 3 - Shoulder and Arms
Diet :
Breakfast: Sausage Sandwich, Apple Juice
Lunch: Salad with Ham, Cottage Cheese, Carrots and Celery
Snack: Granola Bar, Pineapple Fruit Cup, Jello Pudding Cup
Dinner: BBQ Chicken Breast, Broccoli and Rice
Unplanned Snack: Impulse eating of French Fries

Summary:
Got a great arm workout in today. I think I've figured out the trick to the weight workouts to keep me from skipping or shortening workouts. It's the logbook. I didn't keep the log of my workouts the first phase of P90x and I regretted it, so I made sure to get it set up this time. And so far it appears to be keeping me in line.

I can already feel it in my shoulders and upper arms and I'm sure tomorrow I'll be sluggish. Tomorrow is the worst day of the week... Yoga. P90x Yoga is the hardest most sadistic thing ever. I hate it so much and last round of P90x I skipped most of them. Can't do that this time around.

I missed Ab-Ripper today. I simply ran out of time in the morning with lifting and running and would have been late to work if I tried to shim in another 15 minutes. I'm disappointed, but I get 3 tries at it a week so hopefully I can make it up to myself.

Eating was pretty good today, but I can tell I'm burning off what I eat because I found myself eating french fries today while out playing cards and I didn't even want them. They were way to salty and not that good but I kept finding myself going back to them. I tried drinking alot of water to keep my mind off it and I'm actually still starving now which means I probably should have something to eat before going to bed, but I'm likely to just try to get to bed.

Running today went really well. Got 3 miles in which is the first time I've gotten that in the last few weeks. I'm still not sure this weekend's 4 miles is going to come very easy, but I'm going to give it my best. Right now my legs and body seem to be handling the running well, but if I'm going to try to run some distance I need to get my breathing and my mental game stronger. Those were the two areas I kept noticing today.

I haven't decided if Fri, Sat, or Sun is going to be weigh-in day. I usually try to get my weigh-in recorded before any cheat meals so the numbers look better so maybe that leads me to weigh in every Friday. But the "week" ends on Sunday so maybe that's better. We'll play it by ear.

P90x Round 2, Day 2 - Plyometrics

P90x Round 2, Day 2 - Plyometrics
Diet :
Breakfast: Sausage Sandwich, Juice
Lunch: Salad with Turkey, Cottage Cheese, Carrots and Celery
Snack: Granola Bar, Pineapple Fruit Cup, Jello Pudding Cup, 3 Orange Slices
Dinner: Pork Tenderloin, Broccoli and Cheese

Summary:
It's a day 2. Plyometrics, or as they say "Death by Jumping". This is the only workout that if I give 110% to I feel like I'm about to throw up after the first 15 minutes. I've given Kenpo X more than I could have given and never gotten ill, I've done the same with just about every other exercise at some point and plyometrics by far is capable of getting the most out of me.

It's funny though, because it starts out easy. I little squat jump, some heisman, a bit of this, a bit of that. And next thing you know you're dog tired and sweating like crazy and can barely pick your feet off the ground let alone rock out the "rockstar hops".

Feeling pretty good so far. Definately not like the first round where I couldn't even straighten out my arms after Day 1. I can definately tell the difference between using the bands for my back workouts and going back to the pull-up bar. Granted I'm still no where close to being able to do a pull-up but I can tell that I got a heck of a back workout and I think long-term this will get me closer to being able to do pullups than the bands could.

Meals are going ok so far. I went out to eat with a recruiter friend of mine today and while he would have picked up lunch without issue, I ate what I brought. I hope I can keep up that resolve for a long time, but to be honest I think it depends on what the scale says on Sunday. If I do perfect eating all week and do my best on the workouts and running and the scale barely moves I can't imagine I'll be as motivated to keep it going strong. But I'll try my best to keep it up for the first 30 days and then re-evaluate if needed.

Running went well today. Got 2 miles in without much issue. I can tell that as I increase my runs on the weekdays I'm going to have to solve the eating before running issue. While my run didn't have any issues I could definately tell that I had less in the tank than I usually do in the afternoons. The problem is with doing P90x and then running I'm not sure where that leaves eating. I might have to get workout gels or something and eat them after I finish working out while I'm getting my running shoes on and whatnot. That'll only give me 5-10 minutes between working out and running to get some more energy. But maybe that'll be enough.

Anyways, Shoulders and Arms tomorrow. I need to get than in and run 3 miles and still somehow find out a way to get Ab-Ripper done. It was so much easier skipping Ab-Ripper most of the time in Round 1. I wish I hadn't made the goal of not skipping Ab-Ripper during this round.

P90x Round 2 - Day 1 - Chest and Back, Ab-Ripper X

P90x Round 2, Day 1 - Chest and Back, Ab-Ripper X
Diet :
Breakfast: Oatmeal, Juice
Lunch: Salad with Turkey, Cottage Cheese, Carrots and Celery
Snack: Granola Bar, Fruit Cup, Jello Pudding Cup
Dinner: Chicken, Rice, Dinner Roll

Summary:
Round 2 of P90x has begun. I know that there is alot ahead of me having gone through this before but I'm optimistic that this time I can achieve what I wanted to during the first round. My weight during the first round got got down to as low as 242.5 and I started today at 246. I have overhauled my eating habits and I really hope that I stay motivated enough to keep eating healthy and workout out at 100% for the next 90 days.

I have a few goals for the second round of P90x. I want to eat healthy every week, with only having 1 cheat meal every week. I want to do all my Ab-Ripper workouts to the best of my ability. I want to not skip a single Yoga workout. I want to do X Stretch every Sunday and not just "rest".

I believe if I can stick to the goals above, I'll get everything I want and more out of the next 90 days.

During this phase I will also be running and training for a marathon later this fall. I hopefully will be able to balance both of these out. I don't want to burn out or run out of energy so we'll play it by ear.

We'll see where it goes from here. Day 1 was a success so far.

P90x Round 1 Wrap-UP

So the last part of my P90x journey didn't end as well as I would have hoped it would have. For the first 2 phases of P90x I was a rock, I didn't miss any workouts and I felt really good. Then a few different things happened and between injuries and apathy my last 30 days were terrible.

But from what I have been able get out of the program. P90x works. My core strength is much better than what I started off with.

But it's not a miracle program. It's a lot of blood and sweat and you can only get out what you put into it. It's asks alot, but it gives back alot too. The infomercial shows you the absolutely best cases that they can muster, but it's not fake. There are some programs like the thighmaster that say use this for 30 days and you'll look like this 6-packed model. That's a load of crap. But with P90x the basics are there. The eating plan, the viscious workouts, the structured program. The basics are all there. I can't say that you will end up like the television commercial, but if you give 100% to the program, the program will not fail you.

However, I didn't give it 100% for the first 60 days. I gave it 85% of the fitness front, but unfortunately I only gave it 60% in the eating. And I really believe that is what prevented me from losing the weight that I wanted to lose.

Overall the program works. Hopefully this next round that I am about to start I will be able to build off the success from my first round and achieve everything I hope for.