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!