Day 23, Round 1, P90X

It's tough.  No, really, it has not been an easy 23 days by any stretch of the imagination.  And this is Day 2 of the RECOVERY week!! LOL  Well, that said, I feel amazing. I mean, my muscles ache.  They've been worked in ways that they haven't been worked in a really long time - at least since Boot Camp back in the late 80's. 

So, to update you on my latest achievements: I got a pair of body fat calipers and I used them.  On the 18th of this month, to be exact.  I was at 37% body fat then.  ONE WEEK LATER: 34.8% body fat! I don't know about you, but I'm impressed. I am looking forward to the 30 day mark, when I snap more pictures to compare to my starting ones.  I have no doubt there is going to be a rather amazing transformation.

One thing I will say is that I am actually sticking - mostly - to the eating plan.  Phase One is not my favorite part of it.  As a matter of fact, I hate it. I have always been a firm believer that I could survive on a couple loaves of bread and a pound of butter a week, but in Phase One of THE PLAN, that's not an option.  It's not even an afterthought.  In Phase One, you have to cut out almost all carbs and stick to high protein foods and lots of veggies.  I like a good steak as much as the next gal, but I sure do miss my side of baked potato (complete with all the other badness, like cheese and sour cream) followed by dessert. Seriously, no carbs. *pout* Did I mention lots of veggies? I'm not a fan. I've been told that most of the vegetables that I do like are actually the ones that I should eat less of. Go figure. *sigh*

BUT!! There is a bright spot in all of this and that is SHAKEOLOGY!

Click to read more about this awesome nutritional drink!

With this one shake, I feel better about not having a huge slab of chocolate mousse pie.  Seriously, it's deliciously yummy, even when I don't add in a tablespoon of all natural peanut butter or a few drops of pure vanilla or a banana or ... you can probably see where I'm going with this. It's versatile and really, really tastes great and pssst! It's good for me!! Who knew?

Anyway, I'm pretty excited about the changes I'm seeing in my body, both physically as well as emotionally. All in all, I have to say P90X is a rather awesome program. 

Day 9, P90X - Still "Bringin' It!"

I have to be honest; as I watched the infomercial for P90X, I thought to myself, "There is no WAY I would ever be able to do this." Let's face it, first of all, I am no spring chicken. I mean, yeah, I celebrated my 21st birthday (yet AGAIN) back in October, but, these people are jumping all over the place, doing pull-ups (!!!), push-ups and all sorts of other torturous looking exercises. I have asthma, bad knees, a congenital deformity of my spine, and I'm FAT!! *insert eye roll here*

Well, despite all that, I had reached a decision and that was that while Oxycise! is a fantastic program, it wasn't working for me the way that it had many, many, many years ago. (Do not start trying to do the math. I just got done telling you; I'm 21.)  So, I shelved the O! dvds, I moped for awhile, I cried over the fat chick in the mirror,  and finally, after watching Tony Horton and his cohorts for about the 12th time, I told Jeff, "I want to do this."  

Not ones to jump into anything half-way, we decided to become Beachbody coaches. The first week was not nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be. Don't get me wrong: It was NOT easy!  But I didn't die. One of the best things is that Tony is SUCH a fantastic person to listen to. He motivates you without sounding corny.  He reminds you that, hey, if you can't do it as hard or as fast or as long as we are doing it, that's OK.  "Do your best and forget the rest!" Sounds canned, but you know what? It is exactly what I needed to hear and the occasional reminders of that simple phrase keep me from coming down too hard on myself. 

Last night was Day 9 - Plyometrics (or "Pyrometrics" if you are a sweet man who I hope to meet in the future).  Anyway, when we did it our first week, we were gassing out well ahead of the folks on the video.  We hadn't heeded the warning not to eat too close to the workout and both of us came close to hurling several times. Last night, however, it became clear just how much our bodies were already starting to get into shape. Neither of us felt the need to hurl.  We only paused the video twice (to check our heart rates) and while we didn't do the exercises as fast as they do them, we did them until the clock ran out.  Below is one of the pictures I had taken of me so that I can keep track of the transformation.  It's rather depressing to look at, but I already see changes happening! So, yeah, we're "Bringin' it!!" 

BEFORE (taken 4/30/2011)