Days 32-36: Catching Up

I've fallen a bit behind. Sorry folks! I ended up having to sit all of last week out because I was sick. Somehow, though, at the end of the week, I was down to 150.4 pounds! I don't know how much that has to do with "real" weight loss, or maybe just water weight or something else thrown off from being sick, we'll just have to see what the scale does next week!
Monday was President's Day, so I had the day off work. I spent the day with my husband doing some shopping and stuff (got some new running shoes!) We were both still shaking off the last of our symptoms too, so I didn't do a workout that day. I don't feel too bad skipping Monday, though, because we did a lot of walking around.
I got started on my workouts again on Tuesday. When you miss a week's worth of workouts, you can tell! The workout du jour was Cardio X, and it was tough! It was especially hard because I still had a bit of a cough that has been lingering ever since I first got sick. I got through it, though, and I was glad to get back into the game!
Since I'm starting Phase 2, Wednesday was a new workout for me: Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps. Oh wow. This workout is evil! The very first exercise we do after the warm up is slow motion push ups. Now, if you're like me, and not very good at push ups to begin with, doing them in slow motion reminds you of that fact VERY quickly! And Evil Tony makes you do them three different ways! First, arms wide, then normal, then really close in! My arms are already shaking by the time I'm done with these, and I still have about 45 minutes to go! Oh goody! ...Oh, by the way, I was being sarcastic! Anyway, there are various different shoulder presses, and tricep curls that we do to further pulverize my upper body, and I had no idea there were so many different ways to do a push up! Holy cow! Some of the exercises were kind of awkward to begin with, mainly because it was my first time doing them, couple that with my arms and shoulders getting increasingly exhausted by the minute, I bet it would have been amusing for anyone to watch me struggle through this workout... Of course I don't workout before an audience for a reason! Haha! I do get through the whole workout more or less, although some of the exercises I could only do, like, three reps, but that should improve with practice... but I realize that I'm not done yet... Yes, after nearly two weeks without it, it's Ab Ripper X again...
Crimony, I always seem to forget about that one! I decided to try something a little different this time. They do 25 reps of each exercise, but they go through each of them pretty quickly, especially the first three of four exercises. I used to just follow along with the video, but I usually have to take a break or two depending on the move we're doing. When the folks on the video finish a move, I finish, whether or not I've actually completed all 25 reps. This time, I decided to try pausing the video at each exercise. I went at my own pace, and still had to take breaks, but I made it a point to all 25 reps of the exercises. Then I would move on to next exercise, pause it there, and do the full set of 25 reps and so on... That lasted for about the first half of the workout.... then I finally got so tired that I just let the video run normally and I did as many as I could get through with the last of the workout! It was a lot harder to do it that way, and I didn't do it that way for the entire workout, but I will probably continue to do it that way and see how I progress!
I do have to confess that those are the only two workouts I've done all week. Thursday was just too busy. I got off work early, but my cousin was going through the Temple, so we were gone all afternoon and evening. It was almost 11:00 when I got home that night, so no yoga for me on Thursday. I was out with family all evening on Friday and didn't make it home till late. Plus, I've still had this cough that just won't seem to completely go away.
Overall, it's been a bit of a struggle so far this week to get the motivation to get back into the swing of things. Getting sick and having to rest kind of made me lose momentum. I don't want to quit though, I've made too much progress already to just throw in the towel. There are a couple more days in the week, though. I can still do the workouts I need to do, and start a new week next week and hopefully I can really dig in and get the most out of it!

Yet Another Sick Day...

I'm slowly on the mend today, but not enough to tackle a workout just yet, darn it. I'm starting to get kind of stir crazy. Hopefully I get better soon. This may sound weird, but I kind of miss the workouts! Plus, I don't want to lose my groove and fall out of the habit or anything.

Day 29-31: Disaster Strikes

Well, okay, maybe calling it a disaster is a little overdramatic, but it's definitely bothersome to come down with the flu when you're trying to do P90X! I woke up with a cough Monday morning, but didn't think too much of it at first, maybe it was just cold dry air bugging me or something. As the day went on, I was beginning to notice funny little aches here and there throughout my body, which I just attributed to soreness from the workouts. No big deal, right? However, Since my cough didn't seem to be going away by the time I got home from work, I wanted to be on the safe side, so I took it easy with my workout. It was core synergistics, so I decided to lay off on stuff that might get me breathing heavy and aggravate my cough, and just focus on the strength exercises. Hopefully, whatever this bug is wouldn't get too bad...
It didn't really work out that way. When I woke up Tuesday morning, there was no mistake that I was sick. Body aching, head pounding, head and chest congestion, coughing more than the day before, and just plain not feeling good. It's a big week at work, so this couldn't have come at a worse time. I medicate, and tough it out, and try not to breathe on anybody! I make it through the workday, but no workout for me on Tuesday. I hoped that I would be on the mend tomorrow
Well, tomorrow is now today, and I feel just as lousy as I did yesterday :P I was able to go home from work a little early today, which was nice, I'm skipping the workout again today though, ugh! I really hate skipping workouts, but right now, just thinking of doing one makes me hurt everywhere! Obviously, I need to let myself rest and recover, otherwise, this will just drag out even longer. It's good to know I can repeat a week if something like this happens. So for now, I will focus on resting up and taking care of myself, and when I'm better, I can get back to bringing it!

Day 28: Progress report... well, part of it...

No workout today, but I checked my weight for the week. It didn't go down at all this week. However, given the way I had been eating most of the week, I'm just glad it didn't go up! I did really well with my workouts, and when I really think about it, even though I indulged quite a bit this week, I still ate healthier than I was eating, say, two months or so ago, before I started this thing! So I won't beat myself up too much... I just know where I need to improve that's all!
Oh, and I took my day 30 measurements! I'm down one inch on my chest and hips, and a half inch on my waist, arms, and thighs!

Day 27: Saturday is a Special Day

Well, I didn't do my yoga workout that was scheduled for today, but I don't really feel bad about because it was another really active day for me. I had the day off work, so I went to a Saturday morning zumba class with my mom and sister. After a nutritious breakfast (steel cut oatmeal, mmmm!) I went shooting with my husband, dad, brother and brother in law. Then we ran a few other errands here and there, some grocery shopping, that sort of thing. No, it wasn't yoga, but I think I definitely did plenty with my day!

Day 26: Cardi-OOO!

Friday night was another cardio night for me. I did my workout late at night again, because my family and I all got together for dinner and we went to this new fun center that just opened up for some bowling and arcade games and stuff. So overall, it was a pretty active evening, then I capped it off with a good workout!

Day 22-25: A little catch-up!

Sorry folks, I haven't updated for a few days! I'll recap what's been going on since Monday. I started week 4! Wow! Four weeks! I can't believe I've made it this far! Week 4 is a recovery week, which pretty much means no major strength workouts, but plenty of yoga and cardio stuff. The week kicked off with a good yoga workout, then core synergistics on Tuesday. Wednesday was kind of interesting this week. The past few weeks were always the arm and shoulder workout, so I would do that workout, get some good strength training in, then go to my zumba class with the gals and get some cardio. Well, this week, my Wednesday workout was kenpo, which of course, is also a really heavy duty cardio workout. I  didn't want to skip out on zumba though, because I really enjoy it, and it's a chance to get together with the girls, ya know? So I figured I'd go to zumba, really bring it, then maybe do part of kenpo to work my arms a bit extra. So I go to the class, really give it my all, get home, start my kenpo video; planning to probably only do about 15-20 minutes of it because I'm already pretty spent. I. Do. The. Whole. Workout. Holy crap, what's wrong with me?? I'm badass, that's what wrong with me!! Haha!
I probably won't make a habit of that, but honestly, I can need all the help I can get this week! It's been a somewhat hectic week for me, and I have not been eating very well the past few days! Breakfasts and lunches have been fine, it's dinners and snacks that I've been kinda fudging on... There was the whole Superbowl party thing on Sunday; then Monday we got together for a simple dinner for my brother's actual birthday. We had chili dogs and stuff like that. I tried to cut the extra carbs at least by having my hotdog and a little chili without the bun, and I had a little potato salad on the side. On the plus side, however, I passed on the chips and birthday cake that night! :) Tuesday I had a meeting for work in the evening and they provided dinner. The menu? Pizza & salad. I loaded up on the salad, but I still had two slices of pizza darn it! I was starving! I can't say no to Brick Oven! I'm only human! Wednesday was okay, we had dinner at home; grilled chicken and vegetables... but I may or may not have eaten a sugar cookie at work... just throwing that out there so I have a clean conscience (ha)! We had another work meeting tonight, and they catered in sandwiches from a local deli/bakery place. I had a turkey sandwich with just brown mustard (no mayo), lettuce and tomato. The trouble is, that was on white bread... big ol' thick slices of it, that you can tell they made in house and it was delicious dang it! So much white flour... Oh yeah, and I may or may not have eaten the chocolate chip cookie they gave us too... Yeah. I won't be too surprised if my numbers aren't what they could be when I weigh and measure myself this weekend. I am at least doing my workouts, and trying to push myself with those as hard as I can. I just need to regroup and refocus on the nutrition side of things, and I'll be back on track!
By the way, my workout for today was X Stretch. I love this one! I just feels great to do some good, deep stretches all over, I'll definitely be doing this one more often! Tomorrow is cardio X again, maybe I can get a little of this extra junk food burned off me!

Day 20 & 21: A Flip Flop

Saturday night was supposed to be my third Kenpo workout, but it was a busy day, and I didn't really have any free time till late. By then, I was so tired, that I decided to have Saturday be my rest day instead, then I would be sure to do Kenpo first thing the next morning. Hopefully, switching the two like that won't mess anything up. I should be fine though. I mean, I'm not going to make a habit of it, and at least I'm not skipping the workout altogether. 

I started up on Kenpo as soon I got up this morning, as planned. I noticed, though, that I got winded more easily than the last couple of times. All I can figure is it's because I hadn't eaten anything yet that morning (or since about 7 the previous evening, for that matter). Despite that, I think I did a good job, and got a good workout in to start the day. Now I just have an idea of what "bonking" is, and why it's important to be sure I am eating enough, and eating the right stuff! 

Speaking of eating the right stuff... uh... I'm afraid I didn't really follow through with that the rest of the day very well! It was Superbowl Sunday, and my brother's birthday is tomorrow, so we did a combination Superbowl/birthday party. We had burgers, chips and salsa (the salsa was homemade, however, and had a ton of healthy beans and veggies!), birthday cake... yeah. I didn't do too well with eating right today... But tomorrow is a new week! Time to regroup, recommit, and get ready to bring it even more! Wow, I'm starting week four tomorrow! I can't believe I've already gotten this far!

Day: 19: Legs & Back Revisited

Since I missed this workout last week, this is actually only my second time doing the Legs and Back workout. I could tell... Some of these were still kind of awkward. The first one, the balance lunge, is the most awkward one for me for some reason. It's hard for me to get in the right position to get a good enough lunge and keep my balance at the same time. The 80/20 squats are brutal! Overall, however, it felt good to do that workout again, I'm getting a better feel for the pull ups too. I still need a chair to do them, of course, but I felt like I figured out how to position myself better to work my back and arms better than last time. The dreaded Ab Ripper X was today, too. It feels like every time I do that workout, I make more improvements! The oblique v-ups are so dang awkward! I don't feel like I can ever get the right set up to do them correctly! Next time, I should probably pause the video to take my time a little more on those.

Day 18: Yoga, yo yo yo yo Yo-oga!

My workout today was a little harder to get into, because I think I was still kind of zapped from my double-duty last night. I knew however, that the longer I put it off, the harder it would be to just get started and get it done. So as soon as I got home from work this afternoon (I love half days!), I changed and got started. Because I felt so fatigued today, I took things a little easier, mostly through the vinyasas. I didn't worry about doing the extra push-ups they incorporate, since they were optional anyway, that way, I could use my energy toward improving on the postures and stuff. I still got a really good workout in, I rocked the balance postures, and the yoga belly 7! I'm glad I went ahead and did the workout, I could have very easily made up some excuse to skip it, but I didn't, and I felt a lot better afterward too! I rewarded myself with a hot bath and some relaxing music. One of my favorite ways to unwind!

Day 17: Possible Overload

So today I decided to do both my Arm and Shoulder workout and go to my zumba class. I figured it shouldn't be too big of a deal, since I've done both workouts before. I hadn't gone to zumba for over a week, and I don't like skipping out on it all the time, especially since my best friend and her sister started going on Wednesdays. I had to get groceries right after work, so that left me with about an hour before zumba started. I got a little something to eat, and went to my class first, planning to do Arms and Shoulders right after. Last week, when I did both workouts, I did P90X first, then went to zumba. I think doing it the other way around today made things harder! If any of you have done zumba, you'll know that it's a pretty heavy duty aerobic/cardio workout (and really fun!). It kicked my butt today, and it sure made for a grueling P90X workout! I got through all of it okay; in fact, I was able to increase weight and reps in many the exercises, but I'm absolutely beat now! I may have to stick to doing any strength training before doing a tough cardio workout if I'm going to do one after another like that!
I was looking in the mirror after working out (sure, I'm vain like that, haha!), and it may be just me, but I could swear that my bicep has a little "bump" to it now that wasn't there before... Am I already showing visible results? Cool...

Day 16: So far so good!

I had my cardio workout today, all went well, nothing particularly out of the ordinary to report. I was breathing hard and sweating bullets, just like it should be! There is something I wanted to mention: I was thinking back on the past couple of weeks, and while I haven't been completely without headaches (I wrote about a pretty nasty one I had back on Day 3, I believe), I think I've had considerably fewer (knock on wood)! The ones I do get are pretty manageable with just some ibuprofen, instead of having to resort to my Imitrex. Could it be that my regular exercising and watching what I eat is having more benefits than just losing weight??