Willpower and Decision Making

I'm reading an article on the NY Times that talks about mental energy and how it relates to willpower and decision making. The gist is that you don't always make the same decision even if the subject in question is the same: it also depends on when you make that decision and what decisions you've made before that. In short: many decisions usually means that the last decisions were made hastily with the least effort because you've depleted your mental energy making decisions on the first few things.

A few pages into this article segued into willpower amongst dieters.

The discoveries about glucose help explain why dieting is a uniquely difficult test of self-control — and why even people with phenomenally strong willpower in the rest of their lives can have such a hard time losing weight. They start out the day with virtuous intentions, resisting croissants at breakfast and dessert at lunch, but each act of resistance further lowers their willpower. As their willpower weakens late in the day, they need to replenish it. But to resupply that energy, they need to give the body glucose. They’re trapped in a nutritional catch-22:
1. In order not to eat, a dieter needs willpower.
2. In order to have willpower, a dieter needs to eat.

As the body uses up glucose, it looks for a quick way to replenish the fuel, leading to a craving for sugar. After performing a lab task requiring self-control, people tend to eat more candy but not other kinds of snacks, like salty, fatty potato chips. The mere expectation of having to exert self-control makes people hunger for sweets. A similar effect helps explain why many women yearn for chocolate and other sugary treats just before menstruation: their bodies are seeking a quick replacement as glucose levels fluctuate. A sugar-filled snack or drink will provide a quick improvement in self-control (that’s why it’s convenient to use in experiments), but it’s just a temporary solution. The problem is that what we identify as sugar doesn’t help as much over the course of the day as the steadier supply of glucose we would get from eating proteins and other more nutritious foods. 

The article then goes into what brought up this essay in the first place which was a study done on the sentences of Jewish Israeli prisoners who were showing up in court. Similar to how we would always showed our parents our low test scores right after they ate in hopes that their full tummies would make them not get as mad at us (er.. at least I did, but I actually *got* low test scores, so you high-achieving Asians reading this blog may have no idea what I'm talking about), the prisoners had a higher chance of receiving parole right after lunch. Towards the end of the day more prisoners got denied parole proportionally for the same or lesser sentences, presumably because it was easier for the judge to avoid making a decision based on evidence and keep the prisoner in jail. So, food makes us happy. And you suck at making decisions when your stomach is empty. No-brainer. Back on topic....

I'm not sure how much exactly I agree with everything this journalist has stated. No doubt you get tired of making decisions and say, "fuck it, just take anything" after a long process of making decisions. But when it comes to self-control and repeat instances of "should I eat the cake or should I not," I feel like it becomes easier. For example: In January I decided to go mostly vegan for a month if any of you can remember. It was tough in the beginning, but once I got used to it, it became easy to avoid foods I told myself not to eat. And then 3 weeks into it I got a mini molten lava chocolate cake and I couldn't even finish it which amazed me so bad -- I didn't have the sweet tooth I was so familiar with. I always say that if you're going to avoid something you eat a lot, it's hard in the beginning, but it gets easier after the first few days. I stop craving those foods. In this example, using my willpower seemed like "practice" and it got easier with way less effort as the days went on. Of course, there is also a factor of addiction here too, as well as seeking out specific foods that didn't have animal products associated with them. Like my sweet tooth. I used to ALWAYS have to have something sweet after lunch but after a few days of forcing myself not to eat it, the urge is really really light after lunch.

“Good decision making is not a trait of the person, in the sense that it’s always there,” Baumeister says. “It’s a state that fluctuates.” His studies show that people with the best self-control are the ones who structure their lives so as to conserve willpower. They don’t schedule endless back-to-back meetings. They avoid temptations like all-you-can-eat buffets, and they establish habits that eliminate the mental effort of making choices. Instead of deciding every morning whether or not to force themselves to exercise, they set up regular appointments to work out with a friend. Instead of counting on willpower to remain robust all day, they conserve it so that it’s available for emergencies and important decisions.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/magazine/do-you-suffer-from-decision-fatigue.html?pagewanted=5&ref=general&src=me

All this not working out is really paying off

**EDIT:** I just realized that this is basically the same blog post from a month ago. So, apparently, not much has changed. Read if you're REALLY bored or forgot what I wrote in my last post. 

Lately I've been consistently between 117-120 lbs. Not really eating much in general... been kind of angry at food, I guess. Also I want to save money. Went on vacation to Chicago and when I came back my skin was super inflamed. I went to the dermatologist the day after I got back and he helped me a bit. My LATEST food gripe is bananas. I ate bananas while in Chicago and everyday when I got back for about 6 days, noticed that I started breaking out and tried stopping bananas, and my skin cleared up after a couple of days. Apparently bananas fall into the category of "inflammatory" foods. Fuck bananas, fuck peanuts, fuck gluten, fuck dairy. The list of foods I can eat is smaller than the foods I can't / won't. I have noticed though that I don't have to completely stay away from it; if I eat those foods sparingly then it seems to be okay. My self-control has worsened. I find myself "cheating" a lot more often, and it's not even at times where I am STARVING and there are absolutely no other options.

Previously I was eating for the purpose of getting adequate nutrition and building muscle. Now I'm eating for the purpose of not breaking out. This War on Acne has paid off, though: my skin is SIGNIFICANTLY better than it was in 2008 and because of this I am happier than when I ate anything I wanted and had acne. I have found foods that are like switches in my body that I can turn on and off (although the off switch is much more difficult to flip than the on switch). And I guess the other payoff is that I've lost weight. I wonder if I can lose 3-5 more lbs to get to a solid 115...

This morn...

I weighed myself this morning. 118 lbs. All that not working out is paying off!

In all seriousness, I don't know how much more muscle I can lose after the first couple of months of not working out. My waist was a good 26". Although, the bad part is that I haven't been drinking much water lately.

I've been slacking off food-wise. I ate like 4 quesadillas in the past 11 days. I finally caved and bought gluten-free tortillas. They are made from rice and are not as good as the flour kind.. of course. They get hard and not in a crunchy way. And they flake. I also ate some chocolate-covered almonds earlier this week. Boooo milk!

I hate to say it, but I am growing more and more hateful of food. The list of foods that I restrict keeps getting bigger. Rather than say what I choose not to eat, it's come to a point where it is much easier now to list the foods I DO choose to eat for environmental, moral, or skin purposes: fruit, vegetables, tree nuts, tofu, legumes that are not ground nuts, beans (although I suppose tofu goes in this category). Oh, chocolate, but I guess that goes in the beans category? The part where this hurts the most is cookies. A good vegan cookie isn't hard to come by, but it has wheat in it. I eat wheat sometimes. Like banh mi. Or cookies when I fold. Good news is my skin is under control. Well, under control in the sense that I know what causes acne and what doesn't for me, not under control in that my skin's completely clear, because it's not. I feel like if I screw up once I break out, which does if I eat certain things (like peanut butter or granola. Bread is hit or miss). So it makes me kind of depressed.

***edit*** just weighed myself to see my body fat percentage. 53% hydration = 23% body fat! Holy crap. I better water it up! I'm usually around 56% hydration. oigh.

I didn't exercise, but I'm updating my blog anyway.

So this new report came out from this stats company that does the stats of how fat everyone is by state, and the news is: we're getting fatter. Wait, that's not news! Well, the "news" is that we're getting fatter slower than we were last year, pointing towards an eventual stop -- and hopefully a stop-and-reverse -- trend of obesity. Stats: in 1995, no state had a higher than 15% obesity rate, but now, only one state has a less than 20% obesity rate (it's like 19.8% or something super close to 20). However, a few states reported no more people getting fatter than last year. The other good ("good" being relative here) is that the reports stated a steady obesity rate in children. Meaning the percentage of kids that are fat is the same as last year. Good job, parents, good job.

It's studies like these that usually prompt the divide: there's the side that says, government, step in, do something! The other side says, screw the government, they can't control me, I can eat whatever I want!

Hey losers (that would be those who say the second one), listen up. I'm all for government keeping their grubby hands offa my life and all, but a >20% (and >30% in some states) obesity rate affects me. Firstly, selfishly, the bigger the average person, the smaller I am in comparison, and the less that things fit bodies like mine. In addition, there is a REASON people are getting bigger. It will become harder and harder to avoid the foods that are bad for me. I mean, besides the fact that I'm picky as hell. If the food we're surrounded by makes us fat, that means *I* am surrounded by food that will make me fat. Again, the average: if the average Californian is fat, it's because she eats in a certain lifestyle, and I don't want to eat that lifestyle, but it's going to be hard to avoid if it's the norm. Well, I'm exaggerating. Everyone who knows me knows that I don't eat the norm. So this is a worse-than-what-is-currently-happening scenario, and actually more places now have vegetarian and even vegan offerings, so this most likely won't happen in CA. This may be the case in other states though. Also, everyone who knows me knows that I have a discipline that allows me to eat a way that's drastically different from the average. Not everyone has this desire to suffer everyday like I do (I kid, I kid) so this means that I do fear for those who I love.

I just want to make sure I'm not coming off as shallow. I mean, I am shallow: I am watching my figure and would prefer it if others did too. But ALSO, I believe that the VAST MAJORITY of what ails us today could be prevented, mitigated, or cured through weight management primarily and nutrition education secondarily: obesity, high blood pressure, many cancers (yes, I said it, cancer), heart diseases. Technology has helped us live longer lives so we can continue to enrich our own well-being, the lives of those who love us, and our very own Mother Earth, and we're challenging that by feeding (pun intended) into preventable diseases.

The society we have today is one that needs to be immediate satiated, and the thought of long-term effects hardly have any consequence on our actions today. We're also very protective of our rights. We celebrate eating and make competitions out of it. We tell overweight children that they should love themselves the way they are and to continue living the same lifestyle they are living. The fashion industry started to hire plus-sized models to accommodate the plus-sized population (not that I loved the anorexic ones; we just went from size -10 to size 10 models). The last two imply that this problem is okay and again we should continue living the same lifestyle we're living. Obesity IS A PROBLEM. It is a problem that affects every American, whether or not that American is obese.

Other studies done on patrons at restaurants that have calorie counts in their menus have shown that either the calorie numbers have no effect or only have an effect on those who already watch their figure and try to eat healthy and do exercise. This means that there's apathy or lack of education among consumers. I think programs like that of Michelle Obama's Get Moving (or whatever it's called) Campaign and the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution (or something) help a lot. I also think we need to ditch that 2000 calories a day thing. That number is so subjective. I mean, firstly, I don't think the average American counts calories, and secondly, a female eating 2000 cals is different from a guy eating 2000 cals. 2000 calories in fruits and vegetables is different from 2000 calories in grains and meat. I'm not saying that Americans need to count calories at every meal or snack but I just think this is the wrong way to go about it.

I was at Mongolian BBQ earlier this week for lunch and a couple and their very young daughter were in line in front of me. The dad filled up the daughter's bowl with some meat and then moved down the line and asked if she wanted some vegetables (rhetorically). She said no. He asked her twice more, each time trying to entice her: "you want some vegetables? Look, they have snap peas!" Each time she said no. They of course put vegetables in her bowl. It also reminded me of a work event I attended a while ago, and one of the women brought her daughter, probably the same age as the kid I saw this week. She had a bowl of rice, vegetables, and meat, and she only ate the meat. Now I'm not judging the parents at all. Obviously, the kids think the meat is very tasty, and the vegetables yucky. There may be some biological intuition going on with what their bodies are craving... I don't buy into that since meat doesn't provide as much nutrition as plant food pound per pound, there's no biological reason for a human body to exclude plant food, and if you wanna go biological, hunter-gatherers didn't eat meat too often. But I had to throw it out there.

Everyone knows the early ages are the most influential. The future generation is what worries me the most. We need to celebrate fresh fruits and vegetables, and make them the center of the dinner, and use lean meats and refined carbs as side dishes.

This is where I'm okay if the government steps in. I'm all for capitalism, okay, but I honestly would be an advocate for getting rid of high fructose corn syrup as one of the first ingredients on an ingredient list. Sure, as the old commercial told us, it's "natural, comes from corn, and is okay in moderation," but the truth is, it's NOT used in moderation. That being said, government stepping in will only do so much and it will also make some sensitive people backlash and cry that the guys on Capitol Hill are trying to control their lives. Education to the people and empathy by manufacturers will make more of a difference. We need more widespread education about food and how it affects our bodies. We need the government to shift its subsidies from meat plants to the produce department and stop thinking about the revenue and more about its people. One of the reasons this is so hard to reverse is because sugar is an addiction. Refined carbohydrates is an addiction. When it's hidden in your food as a kid you grow up and stuff like vegetables that aren't laden in dressing and sauce taste like nothing. Your tastebuds are taught to like a certain type of thing and your body is trained to crave certain types of things from when you're a kid and what your parents and siblings eat.. The transition is difficult which makes me go back to the "immediate satiation" thing.

Lots of misinformation out there. You cannot go wrong with some discipline, fruits, vegetables. Maybe some lean meats if you're into that. Indulgences here and there, no big deal. Some grains. The initial part is hard, but it gets easier. Don't listen to the manufacturer label. Look at the actual ingredients. A cookie is still a cookie even if it's made from whole grains and dark chocolate. Then you don't even have to worry about your weight.

Last thing. And yes, it's going to be preachy. FYI: we are the only country (maybe Canada too?) that allows our cows to be injected with growth hormones. In Europe and Asia, growth hormones are outlawed. Think about it. Our cow farmers are injecting their cows to get beefed up quickly. And then you eat it. You're undoubtedly getting some of that growth hormone too. Just throwing that out there...

Back in action

OOOOOhhh.. Chloe has arisen from the dead!!!

Man, going clubbing in LA really does wonders for my self-esteem. There are WAY too many skinny girls in LA.

I always found it a little amusing that although Insanity is way harder than P90X (not to say that P90X is in any way easy), I was able to get 99% of the way through Insanity (damn you, last session of Plyometrics!!). I finally figured out why. It's because Tony Horton is freaking annoying. He talks way too damn much. And his sexual innuendos make him come off so pervy. Also, Insanity is more exciting than P90X. Although I wonder if I did the two in reverse order would I have finished P90X and not finished Insanity? I like the work outs in P90X (except legs... that sucks) though.

Two days ago I did arms & back without the dvd. This morning I did Cardio Abs from Insanity. I think I'll merge the two. HOLY hell am I in horrible shape!!! When I was doing arms & back, I used the same spreadsheet as I did before with the designated weights, and one of the first ones I wrote, "7.5 lbs <~ too light." I could barely do the exercise all 15 reps without collapsing using the 7.5 lb dumbbells! I lost so much muscle mass. Cardio Abs this morning was no walk in the park. There is too much jiggly going on over there. Yuck!!

I don't know why I keep doing this. Work out like crazy for a couple of months, stop for a few, start up again. Maybe I need to tone it down and go easier. But I feel like it shouldn't be this hard to keep up a work out regimen 4-6 days a week. I'm just lazy.

Food-wise, I'm okay. I have started to eat for my skin now and less for the shape of my body, but I guess they can coincide. But honestly if I had clear skin I would be way more lenient on my dietary standards. Also, that is a huge reason I put such a large emphasis on working out... if I don't have clear skin, at least I can have a nice body. So in addition to shying away from animals and cutting down tremendously from anything that came directly from animals, I've also cut down on many refined carbohydrates. This is mainly because most refined carbs in Western worlds come from wheat, and I don't think my face likes wheat. No oats or granola, including any bars. Obviously no bread or pasta. Rice seems to be okay. Peanuts / peanut butter also make me break out. This makes me scared because I don't know if it's all nuts or just tree nuts or just peanuts. I'm aiming towards a gluten-free vegan diet. Unfortunately all this eating means that if I slip up, I get bloated for a couple of days. Last night I ordered a gluten-free vegan pizza. It was the most expensive pizza ever, but it was good! Gluten-free, can't really tell the difference. It's just flour that's why. Been eating lots of mochi too (real mochi, not mochi ice cream) and I haven't broken out. I went to Costco and bought around $35 worth of veggies to juice and that is helping a LOT. I SWEAR by vegetable juice. 25oz a day will help your acne if you have it. It will also help a ton of other things.

Speaking of veggie juice I should get going to make that and head to work. Hope you hear from me soon...

P90X, Days 38 and 39: Lots of things.

Oy.. *shameful* I feel like I owe you guys an explanation. I know I've been MIA for the past three weeks. Unfortunately, waking up at 5AM and the horrible commute + other stuff ripped out my innards and left me begging for mercy. Okay, that *may* have been some sort of hyperbole, but I think the point got across.

The past couple of weeks have consisted of good/bad eating and 2 days of exercise. Looks like I've lost so much of my motivation. I've moved, so I'm a bit closer to work! My commute is around 0:45 - 0:50 each way so it didn't cut down as much as I wanted, but it's still a great improvement. Truth is I have time to work out now; I just don't. Also discouraging is the fact that I left my workout papers at home! I'll pick them up tomorrow.

Food-wise I'm doing.. okay. I have gotten accustomed to not eating too much wheat but I've been slipping lately with animal products. I had like 3 quesadillas this week! In good news, my skin is the best it's been since 2008. so FUCK YEAH! Peanut butter was indeed the last culprit so I won't be eating much / any pb in the future.

I want to say I'll pick up working out again after tomorrow. But I'm not sure if I will. I want to want to. I love the look of my muscles and I know I lost a ton in the past couple of weeks I haven't been working out. However... and I know I am going to get hate for this.. but it is hard to have motivation to work out when you are already satisfied with the way you look! In Feb I was unsatisfied. I worked out, ate right, lost some fat, gained some muscle, got to where I was a month - month.5 ago and while that wasn't my ideal body it was the best I've had in my whole life. I was in the grocery store the other day, caught a glimpse of my reflection in the frozen food section and said damn! I'm skinny! So, lack of motivation is there when I'm already skinny. But I know I won't stay this way if I don't work out because if I don't work out, I also don't eat right. All or nothing. I need to get my mindset to where it was a month ago: I looked good but I could always improve. And I also need to remember I need to continue to work out so I can stave off osteoporosis when I'm older + keep my heart healthy. I live on the 2nd floor so I can't do plyometrics (boo hoo). I don't know if I want to continue P90X exactly the way it's laid out. I already skip many things: many of the push ups, yoga, plyo, some of the other exercises. I also think I don't get enough cardio but my knee started hurting today which I felt when I was driving during the times I was releasing the clutch.

We shall see. I know I was a source of motivation for some of you out there... looks like someone needs a favor returned!!! :D

P90X, Days 33-37: Lots of things.

33 = Friday, rest
34 = Saturday, Kenpo
35 = Sunday, Legs & Back, ARX
36 = Monday, Shoulders, Chest, & Triceps, ARX
37 = Tuesday, rest

Wow, I have not had much time to blog on here. It is awful. I feel pretty bad. My core sleeping time is 11-7 and when I deviate from that and sleep from 10-5, things go south. I cannot work out at night because I won't be able to sleep after, not to mention my motivation to work out is way higher in the morning when I actually do get up. The result is me feeling tired all the time and slacking off in working out. I am seriously thinking about replacing Yoga with a rest day and work out 5 days a week instead of 6 so I can sleep in 2x during the week so I would work out Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. I am bummed I didn't do Plyo this morning but I got to sleep in an hour and a half. Oh, also bummy is that I only did 1/2 of the Legs & Back and I totally neglected the ARX on Sunday. I just was not feeling it and I was miserable. I hate doing leg exercises. Lots of pull ups too. That was disappointing. Yesterday's work out was tough: so many push ups, but I really enjoy the arm work outs because I want to get strong. I don't care if my legs are strong to be honest. I feel like the plyometrics (which I totally didn't do this morning, oh, right...) should be enough work out. This feeling is weird because I want my thighs to be smaller but I hate doing leg exercises... so, lots of work, long hours at work on many days, lack of sleep means loss of motivation.

I haven't been eating incredibly great, either. I've had tofu pad thai twice in the past week; so many carbs. and a couple of granola bars. Also on the menu for the past few days was salads, fruit, protein smoothies, nuts, all that jazz. Today I had 34g protein smoothie, banana, apple, lunch was a salad, 2 more bananas w/ pb, 2 pcs chocolate, 2 pcs mung bean cake. I think I need to diversify... and drink lots more water.

This always happens. Any time I see a little bit of progress -- in this case, SOME ab formation in a certain light -- I start to lose motivation. I am already skinny. But I don't have the body I want and in times like these I wish I were more of a perfectionist and less of a... "this will suffice"ionist.

P90X, Day 31-32: Rest, Back & Biceps + ARX

Yesterday morning I woke up and decided sleep was better than working out. I've been exhausted lately, and the fucking rain makes my commute an hour and a half in the morning. I've started to become really tired since mid-week last week, and last week was the first week where I've started to wake up at 5 due to my new schedule. The last time I had this schedule I remember being worn out too. I admit I didn't expect to be worn out.. or at least not this fast. I need better discipline to get to bed at 9; currently I'm doing 9:30-10, and by the end of the week I've racked up 5-6 hours of sleep debt, and I never make that up because I can't sleep past 7. Even when I "slept in" yesterday, I woke up naturally at 6:30 and couldn't sleep for the half hour that was left before I had to wake up. Things were feeling a particularly horrible for the past two days, mentally and emotionally, but this morning I made it to work in under an hour, so it's not so bad anymore.

Also, the day before yesterday I was super duper tired and at 2:00 had a $6.75 cup of soy chai tea (WITHOUT SUGAR!! This is why I love smaller coffeeshops -- they actually make the teas without added stuff and add the other stuff later. Other bigger coffeshops like Coffeebucks or Starbean make the chai teas with powdered mixes... so even if you get a soy chai, you're still getting powdered nonfat milk because it's in the mix and you can't get it sans sugar. Only thing is the smaller ones are super expensive!). It super surprisingly woke me up for the rest of the day! Coffee and tea (and caffeine in general) have unpredictable results on me. It can make me sleepy, do nothing, or keep me up until 3AM. Thank goodness it didn't keep me up too much and my melatonin kicked in only slightly later than it normally would have. I don't think I have ever had that kind of reaction ever from tea (or any caffeine source for that matter). I would either get super sleepy or nothing would happen. Guess the $6.75 was worth it? Well, I didn't pay for it, so it was...

Anyway, back to the exercises. This morning I did Back & Biceps + ARX. Many types of curls + pull ups. The video moves really fast. I had to rewind at almost every new exercise. That is one drawback of having adjustable dumbells: can't just put one set down and pick another up. Gotta put them down in the grooves and move the tab thing to adjust the weight! Plus the whole thing about how it was the first time I did this and I don't know what weight I should lift yet. It was difficult at some points because we would do 2-3 types of curls in a row and I was pooped from the last one. I started to slack off during ARX, but I caught myself and pushed harder.

Food: yesterday I ate an apple, 42g protein, asian pear, lunch was stuffed tomatoes again, dipped veggies in hummus, had a ton of sweet potato chips. It is AMAZING how fast my skin reacts to bad food. Last week my skin was on the verge of being awesome again. This week, not so much. I hope it is not the sweet potato chips. I think it started with the sourdough bread I ate on Sunday. Then, sad to say, it might have been the mung bean cakes. I would eat like 3 in a row. The second ingredient is in those is sugar. When I mess up once, it is hard to get back on track perfectly. My skin is bad. Ugh. Two weeks ago I was super excited to get clear skin and lose this layer of fat.. this week I am tired of being hungry and tired of restricting myself. Today I ate a ton of refined carbs already. It is crazy how I can basically flip a switch and get acne. The switch flip the other way is harder. I need more discipline. I wonder if I could eat super duper well to clear up my skin before mid-Summer.

I read an article from Yahoo! Shine that linked an NBC article that said babies delivered via c-section are more likely to be obese. Are you freaking kidding me? I actually read the article and it stated that out of some study 15% of obese ppl were delivered through c-section compared to 10% who were delivered through natural birth. Theories abound suggest that c-section babies miss important bacteria in the vaginal canal that affect their metabolism. The BIGGEST thing they did not account for was how heavy their moms were. Obese pregnant patients are less likely to have natural births. Hey, you know what causes obesity? It's not the fact that you were born via c-section. *gasp*, I know. IT'S BECAUSE YOU EAT TOO DAMN MUCH. Are we at the point where we are so fat and so out of control and so out of touch that we need to blame the way we were born for the current composition of our bodies!? Puh-lease. You're fat because you don't pay attention to what you eat. End of story. And for those of you crying about your thyroid problem, that less than 1% of you, this doesn't address you. But for everyone else, all the excuses -- you're fat because you're genetically predisposed to be that way, you're fat because you don't have time to eat right, you're fat because you don't want to spend more money on healthy food, you're fat because you were delivered via c-section -- cry me a river. Then swim in it. You'll burn off a few calories.

P90X, Day 30: Plyometrics

Nothing new really. I was really tired this morning, but I tried to push really hard. The thing about P90X's Plyo is that things get progressively harder. I toughed it out, though, and am really glad I finished!

Food: apple, 42g protein smoothie, lunch was tomatoes stuffed with tofu, jicama, and some other veggies, a banana, 3pcs mung bean cake, nuts, got home and ate swt potato fries + garlic hummus, veggie juice.

P90X, Day 28-29: Rest Day; Shoulders, Chest, Triceps + Ab Ripper X

My rest day yesterday consisted of me going pretty far off my norm:

1.  Apple
2. Banana
3. 2 pcs mung bean cake
4. Egg white veggie omelet with 3 1/2 slices of sourdough bread and some pieces of potatoes
5. Yogurtland
6. Vegetarian chili w/ veggie sausage
7. Sweet potato chips

Okay, maybe it was just #3 that was the farthest from my norm. It felt good to finally eat normally! But I woke up this morning with some new pimples... I don't know if it's the #3 for sure but once I finish off this bag of #6 (the ingredients of which are just sweet potatoes, oil, and salt) I'll be back to normal boring plain ol' fruits, veggies, and tofu.

Today I ate a banana, protein smoothie, apple, part of a nasty asian pear, some nuts, mung bean cake, salad, veggie chili w/ sausage, banana w/ pb, swt potato chips. I ate a lot today!

This morning I did my first day of Month 2. Started with Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps (and the normal Ab Ripper X). The push ups were TOUGH. There were 3 exercises that I didn't even do: the first was the tricep side raise and the other two were push-up variations. Every move was different, as opposed to Month 1's chest/arm/back work outs where you do 3-4 moves and you repeat. No pull-up bar today either. I chose weights that were too heavy usually, oops -- getting overachievy here! I feel shitty that I can't do push ups. They just discourage me from the very beginning. And OMG, the clap / plyo / airborne push ups? (And I totally saw the Asian guy laugh when Tony said "the clap.") Tony does a push up, then pushes all of his limbs off the floor and does a clap while his body is airborne. I can't even clap at the top of my push up!!!! And the push ups on my knees are hard because of the weight it puts on my accident knee. I guess that's the reason I'm doing this, though... so I can at some point be able to clap at the top of my push up.

My mom pointed me to an article in the LA Times' Health section today about the resting metabolic rate (RMR) and exactly what the difference is with the addition of more muscle vs. fat. I found it really interesting because the popular notion is that one pound of muscle burns a butt-ton of more calories than a pound of fat; this article says that while one pound of muscle burns more calories than the same amount of fat does, it's not nearly as much as we've been told.

An excerpt from the article quotes Claude Bouchard of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., who has authored several books and hundreds of scientific papers on the subject of obesity and metabolism:

"Brain function makes up close to 20% of RMR," he said. "Next is the heart, which is beating all the time and accounts for another 15-20%. The liver, which also functions at rest, contributes another 15-20%. Then you have the kidneys and lungs and other tissues, so what remains is muscle, contributing only 20-25% of total resting metabolism."

 This explains why you're exhausted after a test! :) Now, for the actual hard numbers:

So, if you slave at weightlifting and increase your muscle mass by an ambitious 20%, this translates into only a 4% to 5% increase in RMR. Since a 200-pound man has an RMR of roughly 2,000 calories, a 20% increase in muscle mass equals only an 80- to 100-calorie increase.

For fun, let's run the numbers in even more detail, adding the role played by body fat. Bouchard sent me a follow-up email explaining that — based on the biochemical and metabolic literature — a pound of muscle burns six calories a day at rest and a pound of fat burns about two calories a day, contrary to what the myth states. So, muscle is three times more metabolically active at rest than fat, not 50 times.

Then the author of the article quotes a few studies that show that more muscle doesn't translate to higher RMR. The end of the article had an extremely important point that I wish was brought up closer to the beginning: DIET plays the most important role in weight loss. I always thought that, based on my personal experience, that eating less is 75-80% of the formula for weight loss. The obesity researcher estimates that diet plays a whopping 90% emphasis on weight loss.

Speaking of being overweight, I just skimmed through a story about ob-gyns in South Florida turning away women who are obese (I got the link while I was on the above story's page: http://www.latimes.com/health/fl-hk-no-obesity-doc-20110516,0,7972289.story). The article quotes a number of reasons, but the main reason was that these medical offices are afraid of getting sued and being responsible for an obese woman's health (and her baby's health if she is preggers). Apparently it's harder to read an ultrasound as clearly in obese women and.. harder to deliver a baby? And the risk of complication is apparently higher? Oigh.. I think it sucks, but if it makes their job harder and a higher risk of getting sued, then I don't know if I can blame them. That is, if the reasons the article cited are true.

P90X, Day 27: Yoga X

Last night:
56.5% tbw
18.1% bf

WOW, I made it through  45 min without stopping!! I actually made it through all the billion warrior poses. The vinyasas are freakin hard and I get sloppy towards the end. I stopped after the poses where you stand on one leg and do different things w/ your hands.

I was badly yesterday: I ate an Odwalla bar. They are vegan, but the first ingredient in this one was brown rice syrup and the second was organic rolled oats. Tons of carbs. I ate it slowly, but I was starving, and I figured it was better than nothing. I left for work at 8:10am and I got home at 9pm; I had 1 banana, an asian pear, 42g protein smoothie, an apple, nuts, lunch was a salad of spinach, veggies, tofu, and fruit, and that Odwalla bar later that afternoon. When I was going home I was really hungry but I was so tired and for me, tired usually wins. Now this pisses me off: during the week I become so tired I can't wait for the weekend, but when Friday night rolls around I'm in bed by 9:30 and I can't sleep until 11. I woke up this morning at 7:30 and couldn't go back to sleep. That was way not enough to make up for the 6-7 hours of sleep a night I've been getting this week. So annoyed. I really really need to work on getting to bed on time next week.

P90X, Day 26: Core Synergistics. + Food, Stats

Yesterday food: banana, 42g protein smoothie, banana w/ pb, asian pear, 2 servings of chili w/ veg sausage, chewed on a Trident, veggie juice, soy protein shake

Last night:
55.8% tbw, 18.8% bf

This morn:
120.0 lbs on the money

My chance at performing better at Core Synergistics was today. Haunted by the bad memories of not doing well when I did it earlier this week, I vowed to perform better. I worked up quite a sweat. Pretty tired near the end. I'm glad I did better though!!!

Tomorrow: Yoga

P90X, Day 25: X Stretch

I stretched this morning. Okay, this video is an hour, and I don't get how you can stretch for a full freaking hour. I stopped after 0:35; I would start complaining to myself about Yoga after about 5 minutes but the stretching one wasn't as bad. But omg -- Tony is SO pervy. The Dreya arm stretch or whatever is, first of all, completely useless for me, and second of all, having everyone stick his/her arms out in front and "imagine squeezing something"??? Ew. I was unable to do the stretch where you lie on your neck with your legs in the air; the farthest I can go is my upper back. My neck does not bend down that far!

Ok, work time. been very busy lately. and sleepy...

Food.

food today: banana, 42g protein smoothie, nuts, apple, gazpacho soup, raw salad, banana w/ peanut butter, tofu, meatless meatballs, veggie juice. stayed away from the chocolate layer cake. also decided to include veggie juice in this list from now on. today i ate, drank, and slurped a lot of vegetables. yummers.

so, since i started needing to be at work at 9AM, my schedule has been:

5AM wake up
5:15 or so get out of bed
5:30 or so start working out after brushing my teeth and throwing water onto my face
6:30 finish working out (this will be a problem after I get to 1.5-hr long workouts); make protein smoothie
7 get in shower, clothes, make up, hair
8:00-8:15 drive to work
9 get to work
6-7 leave work
6:45-8 get home, make veggie juice, eat something
10 bed

areas that need improvement: I NEED TO BE IN BED BY 9. like 0:45 ago. I need to get out of bed and working out more quickly so I won't be late to work next week when I have 1.5-hr long workouts.

i know this started off as an exercise blog, but that morphed into an overall health blog, and i started writing about food on here, and i found out exactly what i've been eating that's been causing my acne, so in a roundabout way the relationship between food and acne fits on this blog. since I should have been in bed 0:45 ago, the quick run down of food to acne is as follows:

1. foods that break down into glucose (including glucose itself, duh) will cause your pancreas to release insulin to stabilize your blood sugar.
2. the fast release of insulin causes an increase in androgens. (also it causes an increase in serotonin in your brain, which is what the "sugar crash" is.)
3. increase in androgens means more sebum excreted through your facial pores.
4. hello acne.

well, that's the thought behind it. it's obviously not agreed upon everyone yet. i just hate people who say diet and acne aren't related. they say acne is caused by hormones. well what causes changes in hormones?!??! gee, i wonder. FOOD, maybe!? anyway, this completely explains why my low-refined-carb diet is clearing up my skin; i thought it was just the sugar i was refraining from that made my skin clear up, but i think it's all of it: eggs, dairy, carbs (including the sugar). processed foods in general. i just need to eat food that is low on the glycemic index. it's been two days strong.

i am so, so, so excited to have clear skin. and abs. but really, clear skin. that is my motivator.

P90X, Day 24: Kenpo X

This morning I felt much better than yesterday. No headaches. I had a hard time balancing though; I don't remember toppling over this much. And I'm wondering if my back kicks are side kicks... however, I have finally gotten the hang of Star Punches. Anyway, nothing much new here, tomorrow is stretching and then Kenpo again on friday.

Hmm what I ate yesterday was in last night's post... It definitely gets easier to refrain from the food you want after time. Cravings are also easier to handle after the initial transition. I've been off eggs and dairy and I've been minimizing my refined carbs (especially sugar) close to nil except for two occasions in the past two weeks with the last week being more strict and where I want to be for the rest of my life. I still want sweets after lunch, but I don't keep any sweets at work and the sweets that ARE at work have milk in them. OH, that reminds me -- I haven't updated you guys on what I've found out with regards to refined carbohydrates and acne. I'll update you later when I can type with 10 fingers (as opposed to just one on my phone), but the short story is that it looks like I have another motivator to continue eating only fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans tofu, and air.

Food Today

I was really good today. Banana w/ pb, 42g protein smoothie, baked tofu in tomato sauce, another banana w/ pb, asian pear, nuts, raw vegetables in hummus, veggie juice, TJ's meatless meatballs. ~75g protein, no refined carbs, no refined sugars.

P90X, Day 23: Core Synergistics

Omg. Fuck rest week. This shit was freakin hard. I was feeling off this morning, though; got headaches at times. Disappointed that I wasn't able to push myself as hard as I would like. I am chugging water today because I am wondering if I didn't have enough water yesterday. Also I need a lot more sleep.

Core Synergistics was a lot of hard moves. And moves that require more space. Banana Rolls (not sushi rolls. ew) were so eloquently explained by Meg, so I shall save myself the time and copy and paste what she wrote:

you're curved like a banana - so lying on your stomach with arms+legs back to ceiling, then on left side with arms+legs to the right towards the ceiling, then on back with arms+legs forward towards the ceiling, and then on right side with arms+legs left towards the ceiling.....repeat....

And then there were the Banana Rolls where you just go straight from back to stomach. Superman Rolls? Or something. I have a hard time getting from my stomach to my back; I found myself pushing off with my arms for a bit. Dreya rolls weren't as hard as they looked although I'm probably not getting high enough: stand at the front of your mat, sit down on your butt with your hands in the air and roll back onto your neck and reach your legs toward the ceiling. Then come back up without using your hands. I found that Dreya (who I love, btw) kept her legs together the entire time whereas I kept my legs apart a bit to stand up. And anywhere where there were push ups... heck no. These parts were reminiscent of Insanity but I did some. Not as much as I should have. "Luckily" I'll get a second chance later this week...

P90X, Day 22: Yoga X

Skipped rest day, and went straight to Yoga. Woke up at 5, got up at 5:15, brushed my teeth and suddenly it was 5:30. Did 0:15 of yoga, got hungry, cut and ate a mango for 0:15 while the yoga dvd played, got back and did 0:30. The 0:15 I missed was all of the repetitive Warrior poses and when I got back I did 2 chair poses (it is really hard to keep your arms straight! I keep feeling like my shoulders aren't relaxed enough). Oh, and I can NEVER EVER get my foot to where my hands are when I go from plank to downward dog to runner's pose. I don't get how others do it. Like I don't even think I'm getting better at it. My foot reaches the same plane as my mid-torso at best and then I have to walk my foot up. Anyway, after the 2 chair poses were balance poses. I am better at balancing on my left foot than on my right foot which kind of surprised me. I toppled a few times, but whatevs, I'll get better. When Tony started talking about the crane pose, he kept saying don't land on your face and to put a pillow to where your face would be. Gosh, that wasn't intimidating! Then I saw that it's the pose where you put both hands on the ground and your knees onto the upper parts of your arms and keep your feet up. I put a big folded up quilt where my head would fall and tried to get up, but I couldn't. I couldn't even get one leg up. It was so awkward and it hurt because I was experiencing skin burn. I want to do it though! It looks cool.  By then it was 6:30 and I had to get ready: made protein smoothie, showered, put on make up etc and left by 8:05, awesomely got here at 9. I will consider today a success if I end up making veggie juice at night. A potential downside though (that I really shouldn't complain about) is my pants fitting badly. My hips are quite sizable, so I can't fit into anything smaller than a 4. However, with my size that my waist is, proportionally,... it's hard to explain but I've found my second pair of pants that fit funny in front of the crotch. Or maybe it always did this but I just noticed? There is just.. it folds over funny. Extra space there (and yes I'm sure I'm wearing jeans for women!) which results from a not-tight-enough waistband. And this is with my jeans that are my size; the jeans that I bought a size too large has this problem too. So, if anyone has any tips for where large-hipped-but-not-fat women shop, please pass the word...

P90X, Days 19 & 20: Kenpo and Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X

Remember last week when I wanted to kick the person who decided to have Kenpo after Legs? Since I switched things up this week, I did Kenpo after I did Shoulders & Arms, and now I want to punch the same person. My arms were tired during Kenpo but my legs were fine! About 6 minutes into Kenpo I got some work e-mails and then resumed Kenpo a few hours later at Armando's. It was risky because I was afraid I wouldn't work out again after I stopped, but thankfully, I did.

Today I did Legs & Back and Ab Ripper X. I really pushed myself on Ab Ripper X. I was hurting! Oh the pain involved in obtaining a hot bod.

Food-wise, yesterday I ate a mango, much craved Veggie Grill (bayou chicken on a bed of kale + swt potato fries), Yogurtland, tofu and black beans on tofu yam noodles. Oh and another mango. OMG -- I finally picked up these tofu yam noodles. I really wanted them because they have 3g carbs for half a pkg. (The yam isn't the sweet potato yam. I think the yam starch is part of the root or something.. totally not the yam potato.) They kind of taste like nothing but act like a great starchy carb. I will get more!! Today is Mother's Day and I had four small squares of chocolate cake. I also had a mango (my mom just bought a ton of mangoes and they're ALL ripe now), 30g protein smoothie, 6 veggie meatballs, tofu and salad.

On the low-carb no dairy or eggs note, my skin's cleared up a ton. I think I need to eat like this permanently for my skin to clear up permanently. Just gotta cut the crap. Very little refined sugar, refined starchy carbs, eggs, and dairy in my diet. I can't do any more of this "my skin is bad so I'm going to cut out eggs and dairy." That just sets my body off on swings which is less than enjoyable, and then I'm grumpy and crave-y for the initial period of the transition. I'm happy I live in Los Angeles where eating the way I eat is doable.

Tomorrow is Recovery Week. I've gotten into the groove of things. With my new work schedule, I have had to work out super early, make protein smoothie, and try to make juice at night. I haven't succeeded in making juice at night yet, but I need to do it for my skin's sake.

P90X, Day 18: Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper X

I realized that I have almost no trouble waking up at 5:00-5:15 to do these work outs. It's refreshing looking forward to a work out -- especially one you'd wake up at the buttcrack of dawn for!

Today's was Shoulders & Arms and I am so happy I bought the weights. There was no chafing or anything; there was just my full range of motion and the appropriate amount of weight even on the way down. I had trouble doing the tricep dips because I couldn't go all the way down. I'm still sore in my shoulders from the chest & back exercises I did with the pull-ups and push-ups. Like the first time I did this, I had to figure out what weights work best for me, so there was a little bit of adjusting; also, there was time wasted in pushing the knob back and forth to get the correct number of weights I wanted. That's the setback about these adjustable weights: it takes time to adjust them. I'll admit I'm sure there are better designs than the one from Jillian Michaels, but for the price I'll spend an extra 4 seconds to get the weights I want.

Abs was good. I think I could have worked harder. Instead of oblique v-up things I did planks and did obliques there. I was wiped out by the end but still did the 50 of the end things where you raise your legs and twist back and forth. It is really hard getting your legs out there straight.

Yesterday I was pretty good. I drank my 42g protein shake, 2 bananas, asian pear, apple, nuts and lunch was vegetables and tofu. Oh, and I also ate an Odwalla bar. I didn't want to, but I was starving and the bars are vegan. I've been ravenous for the past two days. Some days I am just hungrier. I realized now I just have to cut, cut, cut the rest of the bad stuff out of my diet: white sugar, white carbs. Pretty good on that. Yesterday after lunch I was craving sweets but the only sweets here had milk in them so that was a no. I'm proud that I powered through the craving. It gets easier the more days you do it. I previously craved bread and other grains but I'm doing so much better now. It is just hard to get over that initial hump of cravings.

P90X, Day 17: Yoga

So that was Yoga fail. Got up at 5:15 surprisingly without hassle after a pretty bad sleep (fuck you, asshole who called me at 1:36AM. You have to double triple check to make sure you're not calling the wrong number after 9PM, okay? Seriously.). Did 0:15 of yoga. It was too boring. Too repetitive. Too non-exhilarating. Well I suppose it's supposed to be relaxing and calm but I hate staying in the same place more than once. Or, I should say, I don't like holding poses. Sometimes it's because my balance is off, but it's mostly because it's boring and I know I'm going to do it again and again and again. Don't get me wrong; I don't think it's easy at all. It's just boring. And the thing where you plank, get down very low on the ground and return face up is very difficult. I cheated there. I'm also pretty sore -- my abs and my upper back near my arms. I could never get sore like this using bands!


Happy Cinco de Mayo, and May the Fit be wit you.

P90X, Day 16: Chest & Back + Ab Ripper X

Yesterday I wasn't too good. I had 2 huge samosas, and they weren't even that tasty. Well I started off with 42g protein smoothie (with mango sorbet, mmmm :) ), then I had some mung bean cake probably... apple and 2 bananas some time throughout the day (the latter with pb of course), the 2 samosas, and then banh mi for dinner, which was atypical because I hardly ever eat after 6 or 7, but I was quite hungry! And then I went home and ate 2 mung bean cake pieces :)

This morning the fourth was with me. Or shall I say, the fourth wath with me. I did Chest & Back + Ab Ripper X. I suck when doing push ups. So bad. And pull-ups. So bad. My form is so off. I HATE DIVE BOMBERS. The weights are totally awesome, just as awesome as I had hoped. But I'm afraid I'll require heavier weights soon, crap. I used the max (12.5 lbs) on heavy pants and lawn mowers. 10 lbs on the sitting down ones. I pushed myself through the ab work out and now my abs are sore which is good. I tried my hand (stomach?) again at the oblique v-ups and I really think I will just do the move from Insanity where you get in a low plank and bring your knees to your elbow, alternating knees, instead.

Today I ate: banana, 42g protein smoothie, banana w/ pb, 1 pc mung bean cake, asian pear, and then cauliflower, carrots and broccoli with eggplant hummus. I ate a lot yesterday so I toned it down today esp on the refined carbs. I still sometimes crave sweets but I mostly only crave sweets after a big lunch. So if I don't have a big lunch I'm usually okay.

I'm a little bit in trouble. My boss requested I come in at 9. Lately I have been coming in around 11. I will have to wake up earlier (back to waking up at 5:30..) because I know I will not work out when I get home. Also I'm losing time due to coming and going at high traffic times. I'm so screwed. I am thankful I have a job, and I'm thankful for my able body. I must make it work.

P90X, Day 15: Plyometrics

Rest Day was Day 14, but since I didn't work out Wed-Fri I worked out today. My schedule is all off and I threw it even more off because I did Plyo today instead of Chest & Back + Abs. I decided to wait for my weights to come (today!) so I can do the weights training with weights and not bands. I am SO EXCITED to receive them. Speaking of which, I found a body tape measure on Amazon for like $5 + free shipping!! It's a little contraption kind of like a normal tape measure where you can pull out the (flexible) tape measure but this one allows you to insert the beginning of the tape into the contraption so it creates a loop. I'm going to measure EVERYTHING: biceps, thighs, waist, Armando's head...

I really pushed myself through Plyo today. I just kept thinking that summer is coming and I need to look good! I was pooped by the last 25 minutes which is... halfway through. I actually did some of the jump-touch-your-knees and some of the rockstar jumps which are SUPER hard. I almost tripped over myself doing the circle runs. You need space for the monster truck tires and the last thing which was the football thing.

I'm drinking this sample pack of creatine. I don't know what it is or what it does. Something about building muscle and it doesn't come from animals. Tastes fruity. I like it. I wonder if it really does help build muscle.

This weekend I had 2 birthday celebrations so I kind of fell off the healthy-eating wagon. Well, Saturday with the french toast + french fries, I was fine with; I think I also forgot to mention half a slice of ice cream cake. Sunday I ate 2 bananas w/ pb, some crackers w/ pb, 30g protein shake and then we went to the Stinking Rose where I ate two of the bread rolls ( :( ) and some roasted vegetables. And a lot of Armando's fries. Well, after I ate two fries that were fishy (they were part of his fish and chips) I stopped. Ew. Oh and there was taro cake too. Yesterday I had 30g protein shake, 2 bananas w/ pb (...when I get addicted to something, it's ALL I want to eat), like 2-3 potatoes' worth of sweet potato fries, some nuts, the rest of the vegetables I didn't eat from the Stinking Rose.

My skin is doing better but not as better as I had hoped. Hoping for it to clear up after this week.

I found this article on MSN's Fitbie section (their health and fitness section I totally never knew about) that describes the same thing as the article I mentioned a while back that described the tendency for people in relationships to gain weight, except this article takes it from the other side and describes why it's better (maybe I should say "easier") to maintain your figure when you're single (and without kids).

The majority of the 7 points in this article are, again, pretty much opposites of why people in relationships gain weight:

1. You're your own priority. No one else to suck up your time except your friends, who are always around and aren't jealous or as demanding.
2. You live alone. Just as people in relationships gain weight when they live together, people who live alone (or at least, are more in control of their food and share less) eat exactly what they want, how much they want, and when they want. "A study of nearly 7,000 young adults published in the journal Obesity revealed that cohabitating increases the odds of becoming obese by 63% for women and 30% for men, while marriage doubles the risk of obesity for both genders." The next part I have an issue with: "Moving in together often leads to more home cooking—including heavy meals like steak and pasta, says Manuel Villacorta, RD, creator of Eating Free, a diet and weight-management program. “It also means staying at home and watching TV.” " First of all, this is the first time I've ever heard of home cooking being worse for you than eating out. Secondly, you don't have to be in a relationship to stay home and eat. I thought you go out more if you're in a relationship. Thirdly, you don't have to be in a relationship to stay home and watch TV. If anything, I stay home and watch TV more when I'm single. Manuel Villacorta, RD (whatever that means), I am not ever subscribing to Eating Free.
3. You get more exercise. I've heard both sides of this one. Actually, Ryan Seacrest on KIISfm posed this question to the people at the radio station and the listeners, and I think it was pretty even: those who got in relationships didn't feel the need to stay looking good anymore either consciously or subconsiously (in other words, they only worked out because they were scouting, or they put working out as a lower priority because they had someone already) versus those who were encouraged to work out by having an automatic workout buddy. The part I do agree with though is that when you're single you have your own schedule, making it easier to work out more often.
4. You eat like a girl. Self explanatory. If you're around people who eat a lot (as avg guys typically do, not that it's "a lot" but it's a lot compared to what avg girls should eat) you will eat a lot too.
5. You don't sync schedules. Self explanatory.
6. You distance yourself from drama. This one is based on the decrease of mental health that occurs from breaking up leading to weight gain. This one is weird because if you're broken up with someone doesn't that mean you're single now? This one also cited stress being a trigger for more eating.
7. You don't share a bed. You have a higher chance of getting a bad sleep if you share a bed, and getting enough sleep is crucial for both weight loss and your health in general.

The studies show an overwhelming majority of females in relationships gaining weight. I wish it was the other way around -- that women stayed the same and men lost weight in relationships! haha. Unfortunately it's hard to eat less and easy to eat more. Armando's lost weight since we got together: he goes out a lot less (because he's not scouting). Me, I'm in the best shape of my life. It all depends on how you set and keep your priorities. Well, I always said I never wanted us to be the typical couple, anyway. :)

P90X, Day 13: Kenpo X

Whose idea was it to put Kenpo X right after working out the legs? My glutes and thighs are a little sore. Kenpo X was the normal kick lots and punch lots. The star punches were easier this time around, but I'm still super annoyed that there is NO introduction to the moves. I admit I started to get tired near the end of the workout and started to get a little sloppy but I did my best. It's a little boring but admittedly time passed by fast. I already ate a banana with pb (which i'm going to eat again in a sec) + 30ish grams of protein. Stinking Rose tonight. Garlic with veggies on it -- YES!

P90X, Day 12: Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X and Why It's Harder For Women to Gain Ab Definition

I can't believe the last time I worked out was Tuesday. I FINALLY got to working out tonight. Wednesday I was supposed to do something at night which made me have to go to work early; that didn't end up happening, but I still didn't work out at night. Thursday I had training class at night, so I went to work early again. Thursday I was also told to get to work early on Friday + bbq at night so that's 3 days in a row of waking up early, 2 days of getting home late, and 3 days of not working out.

Yesterday I had the rest of the oatmeal-date square, no smoothie, 1 banana, 1 banana + peanut butter all in the morning; then I had the longest meeting ever which made me have lunch 3-4 hours later. I had some nuts on the way to Subway and at Subway I got a salad: lettuce, spinach, red onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, and avocado. I wish they had corn. I escaped Subway before I could turn around and order a cookie (most likely 2). I got a side of sweet onion dressing and was dipping my fork in it until Dakota got a hold of it and licked it so that was over for me. Probably for the better anyway. That's our Dakota -- keeping me in check! At the bbq I had a veggie patty (no bun!) with tomato and guac and ketchup. I also had red and yellow bell peppers, both raw and bbq-ed. And more guac. I also ate a lot of corn chips.... oy. Oh and corn. And 3 stalks of asparagus. I just realized I'm a huge party pooper at bbqs: I am "that person" who doesn't eat meat or drink alcohol at bbqs. Oh well, at least I'm that "skinny" "healthy" person. Also escaped this bbq without eating the brownie bites. My discipline immediately becomes stronger when I set a hard, steadfast rule like "no eggs or dairy" rather than "cookies and brownie bites in moderation."

I *almost* got out of working out tonight but I just finished -- it's 10:40 PM. I'm so glad I did it. Today I had 42g protein, 2 pcs of mung bean cake, and chocolate french toast and french fries from 26 Beach (I didn't want to, but Meg made me... ;) ). I think we finished lunch around 2 and then right now I had 0g carb / 20g protein powder. I really pushed myself in this workout. Summer is coming soon, that's why. At the urging of Ab Ripper X Master I did the Oblique V-Ups. I managed to do like 3-5 on each side. I think I'll continue to do them; it's comforting knowing I'm not the only person who sucks ass at doing it. Er, I mean, Ab Ripper X Master told me she couldn't do it at first either, and that I just had to practice. I better eat well (continue what I'm doing now -- I'm eating fairly well), get more sleep, and continue to work out. The next half month is going to be challenging with a huge project at work but I better not freakin miss 3 days of working out again. I'm slowly phasing out processed foods and eating more raw foods.


I wanted to post this excerpt of an article Armando and I read from this month's issue of Esquire:

The thing I wanted to point out was something Keith said to me earlier: that women have a harder time obtaining ab definition. I just thought it was because men (are supposed to) have less body fat. But according to this article, hormones play a role in this too, in that estrogen increases the level of abdominal fat. I think this is weird because I thought men tend to get fat in their stomachs whereas women typically retain fat around our thighs. But maybe they're comparing skinny men and skinny women. Either way, this just means I'm going to work harder...

Last night and this morn...

WOW I think my scale is trippin. Yesterday I had:

1. Oatmeal-date square
2. 42g protein smoothie - 266 cal
3. Asian Pear - 100 cal
4. Salad with greens, green beans, mac nuts, yellow and red peppers, 1/2-2/3 a square of fried wonton skin, some tofu, maybe some other stuff. no dressing
5. Odwalla Choc Chip Trail Mix bar - 7g fat, 28g carb, 5g protein - 200 cals

I had my trail mix bar at around 4pm and I had lots of work for a bit and then had to rush over to Santa Monica for something. I didn't get home until 10:15-10:30 and went straight to bed. Well, that was after I weighed myself:

57.8% tbw
16.9% bf

My eyes nearly came out of my head. I weighed myself two more times and the measurements stayed within 0.3% of each other. I think I like drinking tons of water. :) I weighed myself this morning, and oddly enough, the pounds were the same as last night (119-119.2 lbs) but the water : body fat ratio was 54% : 21%. So that's pretty consistent of last week when I weighed myself and I was 54% hydrated and around 21%. I have created a contest against myself to see how hydrated I can be and how little body fat my scale can measure. I wonder if I can hit 75% hydration...

I've had to wake up at 5am for the past three mornings (including this morning) to go to work. I hope to make it to workout today but I'm not sure when I'll get home. I feel bloated and soft/weak and behind on my schedule. sadface

What I ate yesterday

Yesterday I ate:

1. Oat-date square
2. Protein smoothie - 42g protein - 266 cal
3. Asian pear - 100 cal
4. Nuts - 140 cal I think?
5. Raw veggie sandwich w/ 5-grain bread
6. Odwalla Mango Tango smoothie - 240 cals
7. Trader Joe's meatless meatballs + ketchup - 6g fat, 8g carbs, 16g protein -- it says 140 cals but this adds up to 150 cals... + i dunno how much ketchup
8. Soy ice cream sandwich 6g fat, 17g carbs, 2g protein - 130 cal

~1600 calories? I really could have done without the ice cream sandwich lol. I ate a lot yesterday.. I should eat less today. Mm, so still around 60-70g protein and 100+g carbs. Let's see if we could switch those numbers up....

OH OH OH!!! I bought dumbbells finally! I am so excited to receive them.

In my other health-related news, I won't be able to get 8 hours of sleep until Sunday I don't think, and I already have had less yesterday and today. Oy. Also I will be behind on my workout schedule by a day because of schedule conflicts... I hope to catch up next week.

What I ate yesterday

Two days ago was definitely a light day for me! Yesterday was NOT:

1. Oat-date square 
2. Banana - 27g carbs, 1g protein - 115 cal
3. 16-20oz of fruit smoothie w/ 42g of hemp protein - 266 cal
4. 1/2c of chili - 6g fat, 26g carbs, 8g protein - 190 cal
5. Soy ice cream sandwich - 6g fat, 17g carbs, 2g protein - 130 cal
6. Banana w/ peanut butter - eh i dunno how much more the pb added - 115 cal + ???
7. The other 1/2c of chili - 6g fat, 26g carbs, 8g protein - 190 cal
8. Another soy ice cream sandwich - 6g fat, 17g carbs, 2g protein - 130 cal
9. more oat-date square..and then more of it.

~64g protein
~160g carbs
~24g fat

Grr. MORE PROTEIN! I would say that's a heavier day for me while being at home -- probably between 1400 - 1600 calories (I don't know how many calories those oat-date squares have). Going out puts in a TON more calories. Anyway that's that. Onward!

P90X, Day 11: Yoga

Oigh! I made it through about half of it. It wasn't as bad as the first time, but I got hungry during the session, so I stopped to eat a banana, then tried it up again but it just didn't feel good. Ah well. Until next week.

Last night and this morn...

Last night...
55.6% tbw
19% bf

This morn...
26" waist
119.0 lbs

Compared to April 6, I've lost body fat. oh damn! Looks like P90X is working!

Yesterday was my ideal day for eating.

1. Ate an oat-date square (recipe here: http://ohsheglows.com/2011/03/28/5-ingredient-no-bake-vegan-date-squares/)
2. Worked out
3. Fruit smoothie + 21g hemp protein
4. Banana
5. Lunch (on the big side): a little bit of brown rice, lots of veggies, lots of tofu, in soy-based sauce
6. Asian pear
7. Apple

Drank 48-60oz of water. I ate mostly vegetables and fruit. Not much processed foods. No refined carbs or sugar. But not much protein either. I refrained from eating at night which was great. If I could have every day be like this, I'm sure to lose more body fat and tone up!

I looked up what people say about P90X Yoga and everyone says it's great and awesome and it makes P90X perfect. grumble grumble... I was looking for an "out." off to do 1.5 hours of yoga.

P90X, Days 7-10: Rest day, Chest & Back + Ab Ripper X, Plyometrics, Shoulders & Arms + Ab Ripper X

Rest Day was Friday. Loved it!

I wanna talk about motivation and priorities. I read this article in Fitsugar said that women in relationships gain weight, and the amt of weight she gains gets higher as she moves through the stages of the relationship, from 15 lbs over 5 years during just dating to 24 pounds for newlyweds. El Mando and I don't spend way too much time together, but this weekend we did :) We spent all of Saturday and Sunday together, and I can totally see how a woman can gain weight from being with a man. He eats more than I do, and when he grabs food, guess what I want to do? This weekend we kind of compromised, though; he ate pretty much my diet (vegetarian, whole foods, some grains) but just more of it. Like, the ENTIRE bag of vegetables save 4 cauliflowers. If it was "our" house we would have a lot more of HIS food there which consists of... potatoes. (Why do I date guys who like potatoes so much?) Additionally, his being there makes me want to spend time with him and not work out! Luckily, my priorities lie in this order:

1. Sleep
2. Working out
3. Work
4. Family
5. Social life

AND he and I have a deal where if either one of us gets fat the other has the right to break up with said fatty. On Saturday I sat him down in my room with his laptop while I worked out for 1.5 hours in the other room (Chest & Back, Ab Ripper X). He says he did work but he probably looked at girls. And cars. Anyway, you've GOT to be able to maintain your priorities if you're in a relationship and you want to work out. You also can't be too shy -- he didn't see me this weekend while I was working out (well except to pass a msg to me from my mom) but your sig other will see you if you're working out at home. At first I didn't like working out around people unless I was at the gym. A month into Insanity I felt confident enough to work out in front of very close friends (at Mammoth), so I'm more okay about it now.

Sunday was the same deal. He watched Community and I did Plyo. Plyo for me was harder this time around. I remember last week I was all braggy about how easy it was. It was tougher this time. Thighs a lil sore.

This morning I did Shoulders & Arms and Ab Ripper. Now that last week is over with, it takes a LOT less time to transition between bands. (I still want weights though.) Ab Ripper X is getting a little easier; I last longer through the beginning portion. I also skip 2 of the exercises because I hate them! One is the V up things and the other is the sideways sit ups that hurt my hips. I also do a modded version of the leg climb with one hand behind my head and sit up that way.

My buddy's doing some sections of P90X when he has time. He gets ripped fast (and gets fat fast) but he also knows how to eat right (probably part of how he gets ripped fast). I made the resolution on Saturday to stop eating crap and eat better. This means no more eating after 6 or 7, lessen the sugar intake, NO eggs or dairy (minus Yogurtland of course), less carbs. Also what is motivating me is how I compared pictures from this weekend to pictures from before I started Insanity. Not much change.. a little, but not a huge amount. Granted I was facing the window both times so there's no shadowing to highlight any muscle definition but I think I look a lot better in person. That being said, I want the change in my body to be reflected in pictures, and as my last blog post stated over and over, I must eat well!

"I work out, so I can eat whatever I want" is a stupid thing to think.

Some excerpts of a Times article are here. Basically says that you can't lose weight working out alone. More changes need to be made. Isn't it interesting that we are in a period of time where we have BOTH of these trends going on simultaneously:

1. We are the fattest we've ever been
2. We have the most gyms and weight loss programs we have ever had

Seems like if #2 goes up, #1 should go down, right? No. Somewhere along the lines we got convinced into thinking that if we exercise we'll lose weight and we don't have to worry about anything else. Ever see guys who are buff and fat? It's because they eat like shit. If you want to lose weight, eat less. At the least, even if you eat shitty food, but not a lot of it, you will lose weight over time (minus when your body going into starvation mode, but eating less will work for most people.). Ideally you would eat nutrition-rich food with everything in moderation. Exercise alone will not change your body fat composition that much.

I've gone through the different combinations of eating and exercising:

1. 2nd half of 2006: gave up (actually weaned off of) land animals; nothing else changed including physical activity and high prevalence of ice cream and cookies: lost 10 lbs in 6 months, went from 132-122 lbs; gained some of it back in early 2007 when I found a wider variety of vegetarian food
2. mid 2007: I signed up for a gym, exercised and ate a lot. no weight change or fat loss.
3. end of 2007: weight loss competition: ate healthy and ran 3x a week. Lost 8 lbs in 3 months, from 128 - 120
4. Aug 2008: I went to China where EVERYTHING I ate went right through me. Also walked a lot. Lost 2 lbs in 2 wks. Gained it back plus a few pounds more.
5. 2009 weight loss competition: I was back to going to the gym regularly and eating better. was counting calories and keeping calories to around 1200 calories a day. no change. I only did this for about a month or so which isn't enough time to see results. Was too discouraged to stick with it. counting calories was a good experience, but made me super hesitant about going up in calories. made the change to not count calories (although I don't regret it at all; it's really good experience to measure your intake) and just eat healthy instead
6. sept 2009: got hit by a car while walking and hit the lowest point in my life emotionally. Lost the drive to eat healthy. The only thing I had an appetite for was sweets. Ate only chocolate and Yogurtland; lost 2 lbs in a month (which actually made me angry because I can do all sorts of things and not lose 2 lbs in a month!!!). but you can only eat so much chocolate and Yogurtland (and this is coming from ME!!!) so I wasn't eating much, but was probably malnourished. This goes in the "even eating small amounts of nutrient-lacking food made me lose weight" bucket.
7. 2010: stayed in the low-120s and eating healthy was a habit. Was running and swimming sometimes (Thanks Mike!) -- proved to be very effective in maintaining my figure.
8. 2011: Insanity and currently doing P90X, eating healthy, although not my best. Best shape of my life. Probably the lowest body fat percentage since college.

In conclusion the best way to lose fat is to eat healthy and exercise. End of story. I don't know why people follow weight-loss gimmicks more than this tried-and-true (and cheaper) method. If you eat healthy, you don't even have to watch your intake that much. It's the intake of other things that are categorized in the "eat only in moderation" foods that you have to watch. I don't think you can eat too much of fruits and vegetables, but you can eat too much of starches, fat, sugars, and meat (the last is subjective to me of course as I am a staunch believer in vegetarianism). Okay, before anyone goes off on me, you can probably eat too much fruits and veggies, but I don't think any one of us is in danger of that, including me and I love vegetables. Variety matters. If you wanna be able to eat more, then yes, work out. But think about it this way:

1. Running 1 mile burns roughly 100 calories.
2. A Krispy Kreme donut contains about 500 calories. And that's the regular one, not the one with added chocolate or sprinkles on it. 
3. If you say you will eat something "healthier," such as a banana walnut muffin or any other empty-starchy-non-filling food, it's almost the same deal.

You're better off NOT eating the donut and NOT running. In a sense, if you run and feel "entitled" to that donut all the time, you will get fat.

And for those of you who still say, "I work out so I can eat whatever I want," I know that line is usually followed by, "...to a certain extent." That is NOT "whatever you want." And if this isn't you, then you're blessed with the lack of desire to eat more calories than you expend.

An excerpt following a study done on 4 groups of obese women who were told to exercise in different amounts, with the control group being no exercise:

The findings were surprising. On average, the women in all the groups, even the control group, lost weight, but the women who exercised — sweating it out with a trainer several days a week for six months — did not lose significantly more weight than the control subjects did. (The control-group women may have lost weight because they were filling out those regular health forms, which may have prompted them to consume fewer doughnuts.) Some of the women in each of the four groups actually gained weight, some more than 10 lb. each.
What's going on here? Church calls it compensation, but you and I might know it as the lip-licking anticipation of perfectly salted, golden-brown French fries after a hard trip to the gym. Whether because exercise made them hungry or because they wanted to reward themselves (or both), most of the women who exercised ate more than they did before they started the experiment. Or they compensated in another way, by moving around a lot less than usual after they got home.

The difference between having muscle and fat in your body, even in the same amount (respective of weight). Also, as a side note, muscle holds more water than fat does, so if you have more muscles, you'll be more hydrated than someone of equal weight with equal water intake with a higher body fat percentage. And since water makes up 2/3 of our bodies and, well, the earth, we all know how important water is.

According to calculations published in the journal Obesity Research by a Columbia University team in 2001, a pound of muscle burns approximately six calories a day in a resting body, compared with the two calories that a pound of fat burns. Which means that after you work out hard enough to convert, say, 10 lb. of fat to muscle — a major achievement — you would be able to eat only an extra 40 calories per day, about the amount in a teaspoon of butter, before beginning to gain weight. Good luck with that.

Here's something we all ask: Why is it so hard to eat healthy and exercise?? And the potential pitfalls of being a gym rat: You'll move less later, neutralizing your work at the gym because you could have just moved more throughout the day and skipped the gym.

Self-Control Is like a Muscle
Many people assume that weight is mostly a matter of willpower — that we can learn both to exercise and to avoid muffins and Gatorade. A few of us can, but evolution did not build us to do this for very long. In 2000 the journal Psychological Bulletin published a paper by psychologists Mark Muraven and Roy Baumeister in which they observed that self-control is like a muscle: it weakens each day after you use it. If you force yourself to jog for an hour, your self-regulatory capacity is proportionately enfeebled. Rather than lunching on a salad, you'll be more likely to opt for pizza.

...

Because exercise depletes not just the body's muscles but the brain's self-control "muscle" as well, many of us will feel greater entitlement to eat a bag of chips during that lazy time after we get back from the gym. This explains why exercise could make you heavier — or at least why even my wretched four hours of exercise a week aren't eliminating all my fat. It's likely that I am more sedentary during my nonexercise hours than I would be if I didn't exercise with such Puritan fury. If I exercised less, I might feel like walking more instead of hopping into a cab; I might have enough energy to shop for food, cook and then clean instead of ordering a satisfyingly greasy burrito.

I dated a guy who told me he'd rather take the escalator and not the stairs because he pushed himself hard during his cardio routine earlier that day. I believe him when he says he pushed himself hard, but I didn't think that was a good excuse to NOT take the stairs. But what do I know? He has a 6-pack.

Thoughts? What works for you?

Original article here: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1914857,00.html

P90X, Day 6: Kenpo

Kenpo! Never heard of it before. Overall, it wasn't that tough. Medium-toughness I would say. It reminds me of a lower-intensity version of Turbo Kickboxing at 24 Hour Fitness: punching (meaning jabs, uppercuts, hooks) with kicks (forward, sideways, backwards). It doesn't look that tough, hell, it doesn't even feel that tough, but I needed to take a breather while I both caught my breath and figured out what the next move is supposed to look like. There is coordination involved in some of the combination stuff but I fared well in most of them. The only one I really had trouble with were the star punches but that's also because I had no room to walk forward and backward that much. I am surprised I held out through all of the horse stance ones (stand wide and bend your knees a bit).

I've recovered from much of my soreness in my arms thankfully! I woke up this morning with sore glutes and slightly sore calves. I think P90X is working... my stomach has stayed a consistent 26" which makes me happy. I think I'm eating okay; I am not really that hungry but lately I have found myself wanting to eat for the sake of eating. I hate that. I feel like I'm eating too many carbs and that my last layer of fat might go away if I lower that intake. (Typed right before I eat a pizza for lunch...) My skin's not great -- I might resort to a vegan approach on eating again soon.

Rest day tomorrow, then Week 2 starts with Arms & Back and Ab Ripper just like Day 1.

P90X, Day 5: Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X

My arms are still sore. It's my biceps on the other side of my elbow. It's gotten to the point where it's no longer the "feel good" type of sore; it's getting really annoying how sore it is. The soreness has oddly moved down to reach the top and inside of my forearm as well. I'm excited to not be sore anymore.

This morning was legs and back: many lunge and squat -type things plus variations of pull-ups. I need to clean up my room! There was a bit of the cramped feeling going on. During the calf raises, I thought I could go on forever but my calves started to feel like they were being tickled from the inside..? I can't explain it. But people who know me well know that I'm weird about my calves so that had something to do with it. The calf raises were interesting: first you do it wide-toed, then straight-footed, then pigeon-toed. By the time we got to the pigeon-toed ones I was shaky and tickly so I had to quit. There were also wall squats. You do a higher-than-90*-angle for 15 seconds (or 10?) and then you go 90 degrees, then up again. Those were really hard. The other one was at 90* but one legged and switch legs after ever 10 without getting up. I only stopped on one of them. But I don't think I was exactly at 90* though.

Abs again. Man, I am really not liking sit ups. The one where you lie down and sit up and touch your alternating toe is super annoying because for some reason I end up inching up my yoga mat. The sit-up v-ups are almost the worst. The side sit up things are THE worst. I started to skip that part now. I did all 50 seconds of the thing in the end. I'm not sure how upright I'm supposed to be though.

Oh, two gripes I forgot to mention about P90X:

1. Tony Horton doesn't show you the move first. As a n00b it's most annoying because I have no idea what anything is. And even after I get to know the moves, I won't remember the names (except Heavy Pants. That name is funny!) so it would be nice to be able to have a refresher without a finger on the rewind button.
2. The image on tv isn't a mirror image (...yes... like in Insanity).

Overall from what I can tell 5 days in it looks like P90X is pretty well-rounded. Lots of strength training with a few cardio days. Where's my beach body...

P90X, Day 4: Yoga

Ugh.. oh boy. Still super sore this morning especially in my bicep area. I can't lift, push, or pull anything! My triceps aren't so sore but my biceps are and unfortunately when you push you still use a little bit of your biceps so everything hurts no matter what. It was not easy yesterday to get out of cars even, because of my legs but mostly my arms. You never know how much you use different muscles until you are unable to use them!!

Yoga was this morning. I must admit I already dislike yoga but Tony Horton convinced me that doing yoga will help in all aspects of life. Ok, I exaggerated, but I do believe that yoga is great for the body and mind, as cliche as that sounds. Which is why I was really disappointed when I turned off the DVD after half an hour (1/3 of the way through it).

Why I hate yoga:

1. It's boring.
2. It's repetitive.
3. Many of the moves are uncomfortable.
4. I'm sure #3 goes away with time but getting there is a pain. Kind of like how beer and wine are "acquired tastes." I don't want to go through the trouble of acquiring those tastes because the means of doing so suck.
5. It's worth saying again it's boring and repetitive.

Don't get me wrong. I give mad props to people who are super duper flexible and can do crazy moves with crazy balance. Also, I'm still sore which added to the pain of some of the moves. That was really only the beginning though. I became able to completely straighten my arm without any pain whatsoever, but now the pain is back all over my muscles. I just very much dislike yoga. Oh, and the fact that it's 1.5 freakin hours is discouraging!!! I think I *might* be able to pull of 40 mins of it. MAYBE an hour. But 1.5?! I want to be flexible but do I really have to go through plank, cobra stretch, plank, downward dog, leg lift, runner's pose, warrior pose 1, warrior pose 2, then all in reverse, 100 times for each side?

I have a confession to make: sometimes when I'm not good at something I quit right away because it's not enjoyable. Other things I work through (like snowboarding and ping pong). Yoga definitely belongs in the former category. When I'm unable to do certain moves and other people can I get discouraged easily, even though I know those people in the video have been doing it for a while, AND they made sure to include people who have different ranges of flexibility, from being able to put their entire palms on the ground to needing to use yoga blocks. So.. I don't know. Time was an issue. Maybe I can plan ahead next time....

P90X, Day 3: Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper X

WOW, k, very sore. Arms, back, chest, abs, quads. Worked out this morning, a couple of hours has passed and I am thoroughly sore. I can't even straighten my arms out tall the way because my biceps hurt. Definitely underestimated the plyometrics from yesterday because my quads are sore. I'm not nearly as sore as I was when I started doing Insanity (here I go comparing again), but when I did Insanity I was more out of shape. Issue is I thought that I was way more in shape now so I wasn't expecting to be sore at all. I guess a two-week hiatus (even if interrupted by 3 days of boarding) really does contribute to muscle loss huh!?

Anyway, back to this morning. Shoulders & Arms has no pull-ups; only uses weights/resistance bands. I have resistance bands just to try them out (...and because they're cheaper than weights). Problems with resistance bands include:

• chafing on my forearms and wrists during most moves
• smaller range of motion
• inconsistency because I can't always remember how big I made my loop
• Indian skin burns under my bare foot as the resistance bands contract
• the feeling that resistance bands aren't as good as weights because on the way down I have to do very little work as the bands retract on their own

Since this was my first time doing Shoulders & Arms and first time using resistance bands ever this was kind of a trial. You want to cap out at 8-10 reps of heavier weights if you wanna build size or 12-15 reps of lighter weights if you wanna get lean. I didn't know exactly what my strength is on all the different exercises so I found myself switching bands a lot. It was annoying but necessary, and I didn't really see any other way around it. I made sure to record all my progress and take notes on the bands.

The only pros of resistance bands are that they are great for travel, take up very little room, and are cheap. The cons listed above outweigh the pros for me. Now I want weights, but they are so darn expensive. I have chafe marks on my arms which is not cool... and will eventually start to get raw and hurt. Guess I gotta save up huh?

Ab Ripper X was good. I was able to do more of the exercises despite how sore I was. Haha, I guess Ab Ripper X isn't MUCH worse than Insanity if I was still sore yeah? haha.

P90X, Day 2: Plyometrics

I heard that P90X's Plyo is NOTHING compared to Insanity's Plyo. And word on the street is consistent with mine. In this Plyo you do everything for 30 seconds but it's way easier than Insanity's Plyo. (If you remember, Insanity's Max Plyo was the one I skipped because I hated it that much.) That's not to say that it was a breeze for me. It was still work and I didn't last through all of them. But the basics are there: variations of squats and different kinds of jumps, including these weird squat jumping jack things. I started to sweat near the end of the warm-up but that's NOTHING compared to not even being able to go through the entire warm-up of Insanity at first. I should really stop comparing!!!

P90X, Day 1: Chest & Back, Ab Ripper X

Finally! Time to start P90X. Wanna get ripped. Starting off with:

119.2 lbs
26" waist
19% body fat

My main goals are to gain strength (especially in my upper body), define my abdominal muscles, and lose fat in my stomach and thighs. Specifically I would like to do an unassisted pull-up, a real push up (5 if I can), and get at least a solid 4-pack (right now it's only if I haven't eaten and if I stand in a certain light).

I heard Tony Horton gets annoying, but I didn't understand why ...at first. He is a little bit weird. He is constantly talking throughout the exercises, which is fine and encouraging but sometimes he touches the "annoying" line. Just, meh, some of the stuff he says that would sound weird and out of context on a blog. I started to miss Shaun T REALLY badly. But thankfully either I got used to it or it's not too big of a deal.

Chest and back is mostly alternating versions of push ups and pull-ups. You do everything for either 30 seconds or a minute or so. I used the pull-up bar for the first time today. Had to use the chair of course, and I can't even get my chin over the bar. For push ups, I used a mix between the pull-up bar on the ground and using my hands on the ground. I don't like using my hands on the ground because it hurts my wrist, but not sure if using the bar is better, either. And the issue of not being able to go deep enough on the ground the regular way is a non-issue for me. If anything, doing push ups on the bar is easier because I'm higher off the ground.

Ab Ripper X is not too bad. Insanity helped... and I think I like Insanity's more. Insanity's is tougher in that the moves are harder but you don't do any crunches or sit-up-like moves. In P90X you definitely have moves where you are sitting and you are reaching for your legs which always puts strain on my neck. I don't get how other people do it more comfortably. There is one move that is IMPOSSIBLE for me to do, and that's the one where you lie on your side and bring your knees to your chest to work your obliques. I would seriously rather do power jumps!!! I can't get there, and when I'm close to lifting off the ground my hip bone hurts.

Anyway, that's it for Day 1. 69 more to go!

last night & this morn

So I re-did my weight and stuff.

Last night:
56.1% TBW
19.1% body fat

This morn:
119.4 lbs
26" waist

So I still gained a couple of pounds..and... a couple of percentage points of body fat since before Insanity. Ok. I think my scale is off. Or, I hope so! That's annoying.

Insanity, Day 67: Fit Test and IT'S OVER!!

Ok, Day 66 was supposed to be Plyo, but I pussied out and didn't do it because I hate it. Armando said he was going to keep P90X from me if I didn't do Plyo, but I told him then I won't do plyo and I won't do P90X and he's the one who has to look at me, so.. he surrendered. :) I feel kind of bad for not doing Plyo, but yes, I hated it that much.

Let's look at results, shall we!

Date	1/27	2/10			3/30
Move	Fit Test 1	Fit Test 2			Fit Test 5
Switch Kicks	52	90			103
Power Jacks	43	57			57
Power Knees	77	80-90			110
Power Jumps	38	35			38
Globe Jumps	9	13			13
Suicide Jumps	14	20			21
Push-Up Jacks	20	22			25-26
Low Plank Oblique	23	55			65
Measurements
Weight	117.4	118.8			120
BMI	20.79421	21.04218			21.25472
Body Fat %	19.7	17			20.1
Neck	12	11.75			12
Waist	26.25	26			26
Hips	36.5	36.5			36.5
Right Thigh	20.5	20.75			20.75
Left Thigh	20.5	20.75			20.75
Right Calf
Left Calf
Right Bicep	10 1/8				10.25
Left Bicep	10 1/8				10.25
Right Forearm	9				8.75
Left Forearm	8.75				8.5

So for the first half of the chart, I see that my fitness level increased significantly between weeks 1 and 3 and then kinda stagnated or got a little better for most of the exercises between week 3's and today's. I'm slightly surprised I was able to get that many more switch kicks in, and a little disappointed that I couldn't get more power jumps, but then again, whenever we do power jumps I usually opt not to push myself on those... so... I guess it makes sense. Globe jumps, I dunno if I am going up all the way, but I still made it to 13! I had to take a rest after that one, and a rest after all the ones after that. Like I said before, this is not for the faint of heart! The push-up jacks... oigh. Totally not going down all the way. And then the low-plank obliques after that! I think that could have been better planned -- like, not having to use your shoulders and arms twice in a row. Just like I think power jumps and globe jumps should have been spaced out. Lots of thigh muscle work going on. And I didn't feel nauseated this time! Well.. until the end. After the low-plank obliques. Had to lie down and keep my food from last night down. I did notice though, that even though some of my numbers up there aren't much higher (or at all higher) than in the 2nd fit test, I lasted longer and was stronger and was able to make it with fewer breaks.

Measurement-wise.. nothing changed too much. It looks like I gained a couple of pounds and.. either I gained body fat or there is something wrong with my scale. Not sure. But I do know that I feel stronger and much more fit. My lower abdomen significantly shrunk with Insanity, and a little bit of definition has started to show through. My thighs didn't shrink like I thought they would... although they are a bit more shapely, I'll admit that.

Overall, glad I did it! Onto P90X and get those abs :) Starting.. next week, after I go to Mammoth.