before and after

ok, I am a little embarrassed, and clearly David had better result on muscle tune, but here you are:

Day 89-90: Xstretch and Core Synergistics

Ha! We are done!

We finished our P90X program with a Ab Ripper on Friday and Core Synergistics on Sat. Overall, from July 13th, 2 weeks after I quit my job and started our workout, we finished Insanity and P90X.  I lost total of 13 lbs, 20% body fat, 4 pan sizes. David lost 15 lbs. We survived the challenge during the Thanksgiving feast and now are confident that we will be disciplined through Christmas and New Year. After all, as much as we focus on every single day, what we eat, what we do while we are in the program, it is really a life style change, and we are in it for a long haul. We are stronger mentally, and physically, we are more knowledgeable about health and fitness. The only down side coming out of these 5 months is that I somehow, developed some sort of allergic reaction towards Whey Protein powder, it causes stomachache if I drink the protein shake with empty stomach, bazaar problem that I never had before.

I will (might) post the before and after pictures. I know you all are my families and close friends, so although I am uncomfortable, I think I owe it to you ;-)

So what's next.

The plan is that we are going to do a P90X and Insanity Hybrid. I played with the idea of taking a break, but since we committed not only to the program, but to the life style changing, it makes sense to continue our workout everyday - I don't want to get floppy again, ever.

Here is the version that we will do:

Week 1- 3
1. P90X chest & Back/Cardio Abs
2. Insanity Plyo Cardio Circuit
3. P90X Shoulder & Arms/Cardio Abs
4. Insanity Cardio Recovery
5. P90X Legs and Back/Cardio Abs
6. Insanity Pure Cardio
7. Rest or X Stretch

Week 4
Insanity Core Cardio
P90X Core Synergistic
Insanity Core Cardio & Balance
P90X Stretch
Insanity Core Cardio
P90X Core Synergistics
Rest or X Stretch


That's for the PH1.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Day85-88: recovery week

I am doing it, I am doing it, I just didn't have time to write them down. So before I go off on another task, I am finishing my blog, so mom won't say I am a lion's head with a snake's tail :-)

I took Monday as my off day, since I play about 3 hours volleyball at night anyway. I seriously think I jumped higher and run faster. So I can't wait to start lessons with Jamie on hitting during her winter break. Tue was a hectic day, Yoga at 10pm was not as enjoyable as it should be. I was at verge of passing it off, since I now have both David and Jamie watching me like hawks, making sure I am finishing up the program without regret. Core Synergistic from yesterday kicked my butt. I wanted to do it, and wanted that DNA removal (not my term, Tony Horton's) since I was really frustrated with our POS system and was going to march to the shop to have a year end come to Jesus meeting.  I needed to go into my little work out world to calm my nerves.

Today is a whole new day!! Got the Kenpo done first thing in the morning. Had a nice breakfast with my protein shake. Jamie finished all her finals by 9 o'clock, finished the semester with yet another straight A, including an AP class, not weighted 4.0. I am so proud of her!

Nutrition
water after up in the morning, my famous vinegar/honey drink :-)
Breakfast: 1 piece whole grain bread, oatmeals with raisin and corn meal, protein shake
Snack: ate it with breakfast, I am about to barf right now
Lunch: I will have tofu, veggie and rice for lunch
Snack: fuji apple and nuts
Dinner: steak and asparagus (I think)

Day84: kenpoX

Completed my P90X workout for the day, Kenpo X. This workout flew by (like usual) and I had a ton of fun kicking, punching, jabbing, and blocking! I was also sweating like crazy throughout the workout. Today basically concludes week 12 of P90X!

I am really looking forward for the volleyball tomorrow night. Last week when I was playing, I felt that I jumped higher and hit a little hard. Now I am stronger, I am going to ask Jamie to work with me a little more on hitting and setting. My friend Rick really inspired me on keep improving the game, if he can do it, I can too.

Next week is the recovery week, I then will take my after picture. I hope the change is obvious, last time I did body for life, the change was not so visible, i was really disappointed. We will see. I did loose more pounds than last time, so I am very hopeful.

Nutrition
Water
Breakfast: yam, eggs and fruit
Snack: spinich protein shake and piece of bread
Lunch: Costco food tasting (really bad)
Snack: aaple
Dinner: Chinese food at friends party(prob not so good either)

Day83: legs and back

Just finished day 83, legs and back. I can hardly type. My whole arms are shaking and my legs are too. I am so glad that I worked out hard. For my back, I used 60lb on the pull down machine and same reps. For the legs, the single leg wall squat still burns my legs and the last move - speed squat really got my heart beat going. I think I have as high heart rate doing legs and back as the P90X cardio workout.

Jamie is at ACT test today, so this morning, she suddenly have stomachache, her hands are frozen, she ate too fast that she wanted to puke ... all these symptoms, but "no, mom, it is not because of ACT ..." yes it is, and you are going ...

so wish her good luck!

Nutrition
Water
Breakfast: oatmeal, raisin, boiled egg
Snack: protein shake with berries
Lunch: Chinese spicy noodles
Snack: nuts and apple
Dinner: Tofu, eggs and tomatoes and rice

Day82: YogaX

I fall asleep doing yoga. The first part of this routine were always good, that's when I sweat a lot and was challenged a lot. The second part, at the days like today, just got too relaxing for me. The exciting part was that I can hold crane for about 5 seconds now. Next week would be the last week to try crane, I have made lots of progress, I know that ...

I am really tired, keep fall in asleep, so I am going to hit the hay ...

Nutrition
Water
Breakfast: oatmeals, raisin, corn
Snack: Greek Yogurt
Lunch: Mongolia beef, rice and veggie
Snack: nuts and apple
Dinner: pork, veggie and rice
 

Day81: back and biceps

I was so stressed today, David had to stay home to help me out till almost noon. I again sat in the office all day long, by the time David came home from the shop, I didn't move much at all. I know I have to pull myself away from the endless work. We decided to go watch Jamie's practice, seriously, the second I walk into the gym, smell the dirty sokes from those volleyball girls, I felt a hundred percent better!

Here we are, finished P90x day 81. I didn't break a sweat, but my arms were exhausted. 9 days left, I told myself I need push forrward. Upped all my weight today, and I really tried hard. The corn knob pull up remain the hardest one for me. Guess what, I don't think I will do this routine for a while,that thought made me sad :-(

Nutrition
Water
Bredahl: oatmeals, raisin, beans, scramble eggs
Snack: Greek yogurt
Lunch: tofu, cabbage mad brown rice
Snack: skipped
Dinner: Chinese

Day80: Ab Ripper and rest

There was no way we can get it done in the day like this.

I suddenly realized that I probably enjoyed my stay home life too much this past 5 months, there are lots of work piled up, the truth is, if I don't do them, they won't go away ... So as year end approaching, I shift into this panic mood ... Woke up in the middle of night, couldn't fell back to sleep, the sun came and left, I sat in front of computer all day long, but my desk didn't seem to get any less crowded... I almost chose not to go to Jameie's concert.

By the time we came back from the concert, it was so late, I tried to suggest to switch Wed with Sundaupy, didn't think too much of it since Last time I did this, David put me right back to where I needed to be ... Guess what? David is almost too eager to agree, darn!

So we did our Ab Ripper, and stretch, called it the day

Nutrition
Breakfast: oatmeal, raisin, beans
Snack: Greek yogurt
Lunch: tofu cabbage, and brown rice
Snack: nuts and apple
Dinner: chicken legs in pepper sauce (yummy, so you know it is fattening)

Day79: plyometrics

I felt it. We have to stop right before Tuck Knee Jump to eat a piece of bread so we can get some energy, i paid price of staying up late ... I really had good time last night, so it all worth it :-)

I think this is my last plyometrics for this round of P90X. I won't come back to it for at least a few weeks, maybe longer since we are thinking of doing a P90X Insanity Hybrid afterwards. I really tried to stay within my heart rate range today, so I actually don't feel that I pushed myself as hard as normal. I defiantly am getting a heart monitor so I can workout smarter too.

The result is awesome, I am thrilled with it.

Nutrition
Water with a piece of bread
Recovery drink( protein shake)
Breakfast: oatmeal with raisins and beans
Lunch: tofu, cabbage, noodles
Snack: nuts, aaple
Dinner: fish, veggie and rice

Day78: chest, shoulders, triceps and ab ripper

Finished day 78, and I can hardly raise my arms. I was so busy today that I almost forgot to workout. 5 o'clock in the afternoon is not the best time to workout either. I don't feel as energetic as I am in the mornings. The only good thing about working out at this time is that I can have a protein shake without worry about getting an upset stomach since I can eat dinner right away ...

Just got back from volleyball, well,drinking after volleyball and feeling sore of my arms. Had a great night tonight at the volleyball's. I actually had a few good jump and hit. I knew hard work is coming tomorrow for plyometrics, staying up late probably won't help.

Nutrition
Water
Breakfast: oatmeal with raisins and beans
Snack: Greek yogurt
Lunch: tofu veggie soup, whole wheat pasta
Snack: nuts and pear
Dinner: chicken breast with mushrooms and onions
Beer, 1 soft taco, oh, Jun!

Day77: Kenpo

I stayed in bed till 10a, surfing Internet, reading the news, cyber shopping, had a grand time (so I didn't workout this morning) Then I had to get up to make brunch, set up my new Mac, working on mails, then before I knew it, it's time to eat again (so I didn't get to workout again this afternoon), went to field house after lunch/snack for some volleyball, came home to get on face time with my little nephew. I just wanted to say hi, turned out to that he had a loose front tooth that he refuses to pull out. I had to confess to him that his dad pulled mine out with one end of a string tied to my tooth and the other end to the door. He finally asked his dad to do the same for him, and happily went to bed waiting for the tooth fairy's visit - that took me out of my plan of working out before dinner. Here I am, after dinner, very fiber of my being wants to go to bed. This is how two people working together would help: David gave me this famous evil eyes, sharper than the knife! I was so ashamed, so I worked out even harder ...

KenpoX, punch and kick to no end! I too had endless energy once I started. It was snowing outside, I was hot and steaming. It didn't even feel like working out. I so enjoyed it!

This concludes week 11!!!

Nutrition
Water
Breakfast: 2 pieces of whole wheat toast with peanut butter
Snack/Brunch: potato cake, scrabble eggs and breakfast chicken/tofu stew
Lunch/Snack: Nuts and banana
Lunch: veggie/ tucky pan fried noodles
Dinner: Enchilada (tucky)

Day76: legs, back and ab ripper X

What a great workout! I have not felt this great for a while. We had our breakfast and waited for an hour before we stated the workout. I pushed really hard, and the important thing is that I enjoyed it. I felt strong and energetic. My legs were wabblely afterwards, which is the result of working hard. I sweat a lot, thinking that I burned a few calories:-D my heart rate was up there too, which I didnt have before. Overall, it was an awesome start of my day!
Nutrition
water
Breakfast: oatmeals,raisin and eggs and beans
Snack: protein shakes (I found out that protein shake with empty stomach hurt my tummy really bad)
Lunch: turkey sandwich (yuck)
Snack: protein bar and apple
Dinner: steak and vegetabl

Day75: yogaX

David finally admitted that he thinks yoga is too boring for him, he felt it is too long and he doesnt really feel anything afterwards. Well, I do, and as we get oldr, i think we need more and more this type of mind and body workout, even it is borjng...and you know who is right!
I stayed for over 3 seconds on crane today!! I was so thrilled!
Nutrition
water after got up
Breakfast: egg english muffin
Snack: greek yogart
Lunch:spaghetti and meat sauce
snack: protein bar and orange
Dinner: veggie soup and tofu

Day74: Shoulders and arms, Ab ripperX

Happy Birthday Day, Dad!!

Finished day 74. As I got stronger, I started to like the upper body workout (except push ups). I could push myself a little harder and don't have to feel like a clown walking around with toy weight, I actually was using 10lbs dumbbell, and at several exercises, I was using 12lbs, that's up from 3 lbs when I first started. It was the first time too, for me to try the advanced version of ab exercises. I thought I would be hopeless, now I find out that I am stronger than what I thought.

16 days to go, hard to believe.

Nutrition
water after got up in the morning
Breakfast: oatmeals and scramble eggs
snack: 4oz Greek yogurt
Lunch: brown rice, turkey and veggie
snack: orange, nuts
Diner: spaghetti with meat sauce, with salads

Day73: Plyometrics

Hey, I did it. We finished our Plyometrics by 7p, and dinner was ready in the oven, so we even had our dinner on time :-) 

I didn't put 100% effort in today, knowing the limit of my body, it is to the best, I guess. I still got a good workout, sweat, heart rate in the zone. I am not sure how much calories I burned, but I felt good afterwards.
 
Nutrition:
Water after up
Breakfast: scramble eggs and whole wheat toast
Snack: banana
Lunch: shrimp pasta
snack:nuts
Dinner: pork chop, rice, and zucchini

Day72: rest

OK, David thinks that I should not do any plyometrics while I am wheezing even when walking around. I think he might have a point (of course first time in 10 years), so I took his advice (me? taking his advice? Now I do believe I must be sick). It also because I went to help out at the AF class and it really made it impossible to workout - I got out of the house at 6:15 in the morning, and didn't get back until after 7p. I will, however, finish my P90x in 90 days. I came this far, I won't fail!

I looked into the mirror this morning, I heard that people say your body stop growing after 20, but your nose and ears never stop growing. Mine is the head, seriously, I remember that everybody was making fun of my small head when I was young, and mine is proportionally too big right now, what the $*&%!

Nutrition:
Water in the morning
Breakfast 1: 2 pieces of whole wheat toast
Breakfast 2 :-) scramble eggs, stuffed potatoes skin (none P90X approved but free, I sold my soul)
Lunch: grilled shrimp, a little pasta promodoro
Snack: apple, orange, cereal bars x 2
Dinner: brown rice, salmon, salads

Day71: Chest and Back, Ab

My stupid cold became really stubborn, just won't go away. I slept an extra hour this morning and had to rush out to my annual physicals, so I didn't finish the Ab part of the workout. I will get it done tonight after volleyball.

I definitely see differences for my chest and back, or really, not see, but feel. I, again, upped all my weight, moved lower on my push ups, I think I definitely got stronger, other than I still can't breath, my muscles felt pretty strong. I am not sure how I will feel tomorrow, I am really happy how hard I was able to push myself today.

I told my doc today that I sometimes lost words when I spoke, sometimes, I have the picture in my head, but could not find the word (as simple as zucchini). It happens often enough for me and my family to notice, I guess, so is it considered that it got worse? He told me to go check my brain out with a Neurologist. I can't believe it! I am too young to that crap, or am I? That would suck!

Nutrition
16oz water right after go out of bed
Breakfast: oatmeals with raisin
snack: protein shake with banana and raspberry
Lunch: whole wheat noodles, veggie and turkey
snack: brown rice with veggie soup (yeah, I was hungry, really hungry, so instead fruit, I had a meal)
Dinner: I might have some fruit and Greek Yogurt

Day70: kenpoX

Finished the 10th week with the KenpoX. My symptom for the cold seems got worse but I actually felt stronger while doing Kenpo compare to last Sat. It really got me thinking that I actually started to get sick not this Wed, but sometimes last week even though I really didn't feel much at the time. I always hear people say listen to your body, I never quite get what that means. Now as I think back, if I understand what my body was trying to tell me when I felt weak doing my workout last week, I would start to take better care of it and I might never see these symptoms.

Kenpo was very enjoyable. I had my energy back, so I was able to push myself a little harder than last week. I did feel my nasty cold in my lung and wondered how I would do in two days when I do my plyometrics.

I am really curious to see my weight tomorrow morning when I finally have a scale. The holidays are worrisome to me, as much as I am trying to stay in control, sometimes, it seems impossible.

Nutrition
Water before greeting up
Recovery drink
Breakfast: Chinese pancakes
Lunch: bean chili soup, turkey and whole wheat bread
Dinner: brown rice, eggs, tomatoes, tofu and cabbage

Day69: rest

I guess all that feeling better crap was "JK", or maybe I just was not careful. We went to Beaver Creak Village to watch tree lighting ceremony last night. We sit outside in freezing cold for about 4 hours, and then after I came back, I watched this Chinese sitcom till 3 in the morning - not really smart while you are trying to recover ...

I felt the cold moved to my lungs, they are very tight today. I did not have enough energy to do anything, so we decided to take today off instead of tomorrow, and do the kenpo and stretch tomorrow. Of course when you don't workout, you tend to over eat ... we found this little Chinese restaurant name Henry in Edward, OMG, one of the best I've been too! If you ever come to ski in Vail or Beaver Creak, don't miss this place!

Nutrition
water before breakfast
Breakfast: Chinese pancake, veggie soup (I know, I know, sounds really nasty for breakfast, but that's how we eat our breakfast when I was little, sometimes, at least)
Snack: nap = skip
Lunch: pasta salads
Snack: Vail gondola ride = skip
Dinner: Henry's Chinese restaurant = over eating

Crap, not really good, now I look at it ....

Day68: Legs, back and Ab

I felt better today and seemed to have more energy when I exercise. Legs and back was not as hard as last Friday. I actually didn't feel sick till a couple of days ago, but started to feel weak when I workout over a week ago. I thought it was because I didn't eat right, and was really confused about it. Now think back, my body already was showing signs to me, I just didn't know how to listen. I could have take some preventive medicine back then and I could be fine. 

Legs and back were piece of cake to me today. I used weight on all the leg exercises, and I pushed myself on back too. I don't see much of definition on my back and leg muscles, but I know they became stronger than before. I have two weeks left, I don't think I will be seeing those this round :-(

Nutrition:

16oz water before breakfast

Breakfast: Oatmeals

Snack: orange

Lunch: Chinese spicy noodles

Snack: nuts

Dinner: Chicken enchilada, veggie soup

Day67: Happy Thanksgiving! CardioX, YogaX

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

I am sure everybody all have lots to thank for, and we all don't just wait till Thanksgiving to give the thanks. On this particular day, I suddenly felt that I might not say enough appreciation to all I love and to all those who love me.  You all make my life fuller, and happier and more meaningful. That's you, mom and dad, my unbelievable talented daughter, my wonderful husband; that's you my dear friends, who cheer me on, help me to stuck through thick and thin, enrich my life, challenge me, support me. Then here is the super power, that I learned to know and respect. The universe that made everything beautiful happen in my life ... and of course the dinner, all those stuffing, baked corn, cranberry jelly... mmmm yummy (I hate Turkey)!


We did a double today - cardio x in the morning and Yoga X at night. We didn't finish the whole Yoga because we were out of time before dinner, but I felt great that we actually made most of it happen :-D
The Cardio x is wonderful, combination of yoga moves and kenpo. I was out of breath doing it, now I know it might be because I am a little under the weather.  I have no clue how I got sick. I have been drinking water like crazy, hopefully I will flush this out by tomorrow.

Nutrition:
Where do you want me to start?
Water in the morning before getting up
1/2 whole wheat bagel before cardio x and recovering drinks after cardio x
Breakfast: oatmeals and raisin with scramble eggs
Lunch: while and black bean chili
Dinner: Turkey, backed corn, veggies, stuffing

Day66: Back, Biceps and Ab

The weight room at the resort was crowded this morning when we got there. They do have a whole range of free weight. David and I have to take turns on pull down bars, but we made it work. The cool thing is that since they don't have 8lb weight, I moved up to 10lb on all my biceps reps and on some of them, I used 15lbs, that's "hold my breath" weight :-)  We came up here to ski, the weather is so nice, we actually moved our last exercise out on the deck, in our shorts:

Vail opened today, we found out later this afternoon, it was too late to go ski, so instead we went paint poteries,

we might be going up to Vail on Friday.

Is it Thanksgiving yet?

Nutrition
22oz water right after got up
Breakfast: whole wheat toast
Snack: Recovery Drink
Lunch: Shrimp/Chicken Promodoro
Snack: pear
Dinner: Chinese Hot Pot (control, Jun, control yourself!!)

Day65: Plyometrics

So we finished our day 65. Plyometrics is the hardest workout of the week, at least to me. Usually after Plyometrics, I felt that I can just cruise through the rest of the week.  We were heading up to the mountains tonight, so we had no choice but finished it in the morning. Although I felt that I could use a few more hours' sleep. I run out of breath doing all that jumping and running. The knee tuck jump and pop star jump kicked my butt. I bet my heart rate was over 200+ (OK, dad, I am just kidding). My legs felt like noodles towards the end. With my cynical thought process, I tell myself that I didn't do something right, maybe not enough food, not enough sleep or just whimpy. With David's more forgiven nature, he thinks it is because I gave it all at the workout. I like the way he thinks.

I had so much to finish before the trip, the whole day was hectic. But now, up in the mountains, with such a beautiful night sky full of bright stars, with holiday music float far and close, with everybody, I mean everybody - Jammer, mom, dad, David, all safely tucked under one roof, I felt relaxed and amazingly content.

Nutrition
22 oz water right after woke up in the morning
Recovery Drink (after workout)
Oatmeals and Raisin
Orange and Nuts
Wheat pasta with meat sauce
Greek Yogurt
Subway grilled chicken sandwich
Chinese Cookies (after all, it is holiday, or the beginning of the holiday week :-)
Glass red wine (hehe)

Day64: Chest, shoulders, triceps and ab

I put it off till 9:30p at night to workout, and we definitely were feeling it. We didn't have enough energy to push hard and the whole time I was doing it, I thought of going to bed to sleep. The day went too fast, I had way too much to do before the trip to the mountains for Thanksgiving.

Nutrition:
drink water right after woke up
Breakfast: oatmeals, raisin and beans
snack: apple and Greek Yogurt
Lunch: seafood veggie soup
snack: nuts and crackers
Dinner: subway sandwich

Day63: stretch

Week 9 is over, Wow! We chose to rest today.

The challenge is coming! Next week is Thanksgiving week. We are heading to the mountains. I have planned out all the meals, and I wonder how we will cope with the thanksgiving dinner. I told David that unless we are skiing, we prob should follow the double schedule of p90x: cardio in the morning and weight at night. I am a little worried about holidays, as you can see here ...

The rules we set for ourselves are: still have our 5 meals a day no matter what;
remember portion size at our holiday meal; workout to burn calories.

Day62: kenpoX

I love kenpo, even with my sore butt and legs from yesterday.
The part I don't understand is that why I only eat two meals on Sat and Sun and I usually gain a pound or two, which I will loose by Tue with eating more meals on Mon and Tue. Very strange to me.

Half way through setting up my Mac at home, wow, how amazing that Mac can be, how come I didn't give it a chance earlier.

Nutrition
I drank half of the water what I usually drink today
I ate two meals - oatmeal and pasta salads
I had a recovery drink, but that's about it and I registered a pound and half gain, huh

Day61: Legs and Back, Ab

Just finished day 61. Legs and back were hard, I felt weak, maybe because the timing of my workout, or maybe because we went to the mid night premier for Breaking Dawn :-D and my body is out of system since I didn't go to bed until 2:30a. I know I know, I am a little too old for that, my routine life was interrupted by this out of routine activity so my body was paying for it all day today.

I did add weight on most of the leg exercises. As much as I felt lack of strength, I stuck with it and didn't pause or rest in between. I also changed from band to the pull machine for all my back exercise, I was pulling only 50lbs for most of the back exercise for 16 reps each time. This would be my base line, I will check against it in two weeks when I came back to this routine.

The week is almost over, Kenpo tomorrow, which is my favorite. I keep telling myself that now I am up my carb in take, I should have more energy. Although I don't exactly feel it while I was working out, I definitely noticed that I am not as fatigue as before (it also could be because I am now a stay home bum, and not nearly work as hard as before). I do believe that by increasing carb intake, I need to workout harder, I am worried a little bit that I will gain weight because of more carb intake. We will see.

Nutrition
drink 16oz water right after woke up
Breakfast: oatmeals, raisin and beans, pineapple and strawberry
Snack: 4oz Greek Yogurt
Lunch: pasta salad (1 cup whole wheat pasta, 2 cups vegetables)
Snack: 1 orange and 1/2oz mix nuts
Dinner: spaghetti and Tucky meat ball
Snack: home made ice cream (banana, protein powder, skim milk)

Day60: YogaX

I lost track, I forgot how many days I was in this program. Day 60. I just finished day 60 of P90x, after 72 days of Insanity.

Yoga became one of my favorite. All the tweaking, pulling, tell me what will make your body uncomfortable? You will find it in Yoga. Sometimes, I understand that Tony just want to talk to help us to pass time, I was so twisted, and wanted to get out of the pose, I just want to tell him to shut up. In the midst of every thing, my crane actually came to me for a 1millunimth second :-D Can you believe it?! I am not sure what in Yoga makes me sweat. I was actually dripping to the 45 minutes mark.

I spend whole morning trying to plan my meals for today, and enter them info my fitness center to count the calories. So here they are

Nutrition
Drank 16oz ish water first thing in the morning, and vinegar honey warm water
Breakfast: Oatmeals, raisin and beans, cup of pineapple and strawberry
Snack: protein shake (1% milk 8oz, 1/2 banana, a few leaves of spinach, 1 scoop of GNC Whey protein)
Lunch: P90x Grilled Veggie Focaccia
             1 large portobello mushroom, 1 lg zucchini, 1 lg yellow squash, 1 1/2oz part skim
             mozzerella cheese, 2 slices italian focaccia bread
Snack: Greek yogurt and 1/2oz mix nuts
Dinner: Chicken Enchiladas

I am way over on fat and sugar today, and that's all came from the low fat milk I used for the shake and raisin from the morning :-( I need to add some multi vitamin too today. 

Day59: Shoulders, arms and ab

Phase III's meal plan is like holiday meal plan. So many carbs that I can eat, I was like little kid in the candy shop. So I told myself, with that reward, I really need to workout hard.

Shoulders and arms, not my favorite subject, but I did up my weight on every single exercise except one, and I made myself to do one extra rep compare to the last time I did it (which is 5 weeks ago). My arms are burning, even as I am typing right now. I still am feeling the back and chest from Monday, now my entire upper body will be sore tomorrow - exactly where I want to be.

I was looking at the calendar, didn't realize that next week is the Thanksgiving. We suppose to go up to Beaver Creek this Sunday, and none of us are mentally prepared. We are so content to stay where we are, the thought of going somewhere else, even for vacation, doesn't excite us at all. David is more concerned that we will be off track from our program. I have to agree. We worked so hard to get where we are, we really don't want to change a thing.

Tomorrow is YogaX. I am really looking forward to it.

Nutrition:
16oz water + vinegar/honey water
Breakfast: Oatmeals, raisin and beans
Snack: recovery drink (8oz almond milk with 1 pack Breakfast Carnation and 5g Whey protein powder),
Lunch: Spicy Chinese Noodles
Snack: nuts, Greek Yogurt
Dinner: steamed broccoli, Salmon, apple

Day58: Plyometrics

I didn't get my usual feeling of "high" after cardio workout. It was tiring. I wonder if it is because that we have not done much of cardio for 10 days, since last week was our recovery week. It was hard. I felt sleepy the entire time and it was early in the morning. I hadn't feel this way since the days we were doing Insanity. Either I couldn't get enough oxygen while working out or I didn't get enough sleep last night. The Jump Knee Tuck was hard, and once we get to Rock Star Hop, I was about to bite somebody's head off. It was 10 degrees in the garage (prob 20), we started out with stocking caps, layers of pans and warm-ups, by the time we are doing Twist Combo, I was in my sports bra and shorts. I probably finished 50 out of 64oz daily water quota by 8 o'clock and I did not have to run to the bath room. My arms are sore from yesterday, my back are sore, my shoulders are sore, it was like P90x day one again.

We suppose to go into the phase 3 on diet too, which means increasing carb and decreasing protein. Seriously, should I? The nutrition guide said: "An athletic diet of complex carbohydrates, lean proteins, and lower fat with an emphasis on more carbohydrates. You'll need this combination of foods as fuel to get the most out of your final training block and truly get in the best shape of your life!" Well ... when I look at the nutrition plan, I actually like it better, since I don't have to eat as much meat and can eat more carbs. Let me try it and we'll see.

Nutrition:

Phase III, level I
1,800 Calories/Day
2 Protein (only about 40g, that's scary)
1 dairy (8oz milk, Greek Yogurt, I can dig that)
2 Fruits (I really can dig that, I love fruits)
2 Vegetables (sweet, love vegetables)
1 Fat (well, fat taste good, hate the way it looks on my tummy)
3 Carbs (here we come rice!!)
Snacks (SGL, Bar and Drink)
2 Condiments

Breakfast: oat meal, raisin, 1/2 c bean
snack: recovery drink, 8oz Greek Yogurt
Lunch: pasta salads
Snack: nuts and orange
Dinner: Beaf Stew, brown rice, Onion Zucchini and tomatoes

Day57: Chest & Back

Day 1 of phase III. I definitely was up on my weight and reps. Mt arms felt like noodles, I know I am going to feel it tomorrow :-D Last time I did this workout was on week 4. I saw big difference today with the same exercise and I am amazed how far I came. I made notes last time when I did those push ups, to do them on the bar counter. I lowered them to the sink counter and my max was in average 8-10 reps more than week 4 (figure that!). I actually went down to the floor for a few of the push ups, although I stayed on my knees, it's still represented great improvement. I have to skip my abs today, but plan to get back on that on Wed.

Cheat days on the weekend really set me back. Although I didn't even feel that I ate that bad, it shows up on the scale :-( I guess loosen up on sodium, skipping meals, Starbucks coffee, Costco food tasting all added up (I didn't even eat all the things in Costco tasting, OK OK, I did have a hot wing, and that pump us to buy a bunch of chicken legs and had that for dinner). 

I am looking forward to get back on track:

Breakfast: Oat meals and raisin
Snack: spinach protein shake (whey protein, spinach and 1/2 banana)
Lunch: tofu and veggie, no carb
Snack: Greek Yogurt, nuts and orange
Dinner: turkey meat ball, home made spaghetti sauce with wheat pasta

Legend Choir performing with T minus 5 tonight, Jamie is accompany men's choir
1st practice at Front Range, drum roll - is Nicole Dalton going to be there?

Day56: Stretch X

Wow, we did it. We didn't skip today and went ahead did our stretch first thing in the morning. Now I am all satisfied and ready to go for Phase III tomorrow.

David spent "15 minutes" (clarification: Home Depot's time. On our clock, it was more like 10 hours) yesterday to install our water softener. I was really excited but some sort anxious to find out if our basement survived potential leaking from those cutting and reconnecting of our water pipe. Of course out of respect, I would never tell him my doubt about his handiness. I was trying to sneak into the basement this morning to check things out. On my way down, I bumped into him. I didn't know what to say for the first few second, and then I saw this biggest grin on his face, I heard: the floor is dry! I guess it was on both of our minds!

We had our usual big Sunday Branch that David and I cooked together. The princess of course emerged right after everything were put on the table. "wow, these are good" is all we need from the princess, we both smiled like two idiots. What a pity! (can't deny we secretly like it)

We also allowed her to tag along to our Sunday Starbucks date. I kept thinking of the book my good friend Rick gave me: Letting Go. How can I, even though she is such a pain in the butt sometimes.

Nutrition:
Meal 1: Breakfast potatoes, chicken patties, scramble eggs, water melon, pine apple and banana
Meal 2: Starbucks coffee (skinny vanilla late)
Meal 3: Chicken in pepper sauce
Meal 4: spinach, banana, protein ice cream

Day55: YogaX

Today is the last regular workout for phase II. Tomorrow is an optional day.

We did our workout in the upstairs bed room early in the morning. Yoga at sun rise, can't be any better than that. My arms were really tired, probably from yesterday's Core Synergistics. It seems like I have to put more energy in for each poses, and that really got my blood going fast. One of the good things about this whole workout program, Tony constantly challenging people to push harder and get better - raising your leg a little higher, straight your arms a little more, fight for inches while stretch ... each time you try harder, you make a little more progress, become stronger and more flexible, and mentally tougher too.

Ok, other than I sweat like usual, no big change on my part, but check this out on David,

Seriously,  this is him, not a picture I searched out from Internet - David the Almighty

I basically have 4 more weeks to get this!

Nutrition:
We started out alright, our usually oatmeal, raisin and beans. Then it all went to hell. We managed to have our protein shakes three hours later, but then, we really didn't eat until 6:30ish. David spend the whole day install the Water Softener. I can't bare to watch him any more so I took Jamie to the State Championship game in Collisium. By the time we are done (around 10:30p), he said he just got it done. Home Depot said it should take 15 minutes to install. Somebody was smoking ... at least, I have clean soft water now.

Day54: Core Synergistics

Just finished day 54, Core Synergistics. I have been mentally prepare myself for this workout. I told myself that I love it and it is my favorite workout. Either I am retard that I couldn't feel how I really feel or this little mental game helped, I actually liked it. I felt so great right now, not just physically, but mentally. That's the high that most people will feel when they pushed themselves to the excellence, and they conquered the weakness.

That's what this all about - fit and the sense of accomplishment.

Core Synergistics combines push ups, cardio, balance, core exercises all in one. The 60 minutes high intensity workout makes me sweat, I am sure I burned tons of calories, and got stronger. I used 5lbs weight on all exercises that Tony suggested to use weight on. I paused it once to put my shoes on during one of the exercise, that's all. It remained to be challenge to me for the Chaturanga Run, so I stayed for the Plank Run for the whole 60 seconds. I am however going to try to hold the Plank to Chaturanga Iso next time (in 5 weeks). Now I finished Core Synergistics, what's left for this week are pretty easy-Yoga X and Stretch. I think I am going to do the stretch on Sunday and also make that day a cleanse day. Any suggestion on what to eat on cleanse day?

Nutrition:
Breakfast: Oatmeal, raisin and beans
Snack: protein shake
Lunch: chicken breast
Snack: nuts and Greek yogurt
Dinner: Salmon, veggie and rice

I come across a good recipe for taco seasoning:
1 tbsp chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
mix and store in an airtight container
this yield 10 servings, Nutrition fact per serving: Calories: 5, Total fat: 0.2g, Cholesterol: 0mg, Sodium: 185mg, Total Carbs: 0.9g (Dietary Fiber: 0.4g), protein: 0.2g

Day53: StretchX

Finished Day 53 first thing in the morning :-D I wonder why we always skip Stretch X, it is such a good addition to the program. Since the 7th day of the week is an optional day, either rest or stretch, we always rest. Now I felt that we missed out. However, I amcsurprised how flexible I became over the time. Even with Camel stretch, I did it and although still very uncomfortable, I felt the difference from the last time I did it, definitely.



of course David's biggest win is still on the glute stretch, he not only can put his head down on the ground, but leave it there for the entire exercise.
 
Now I start to tell myself that I am looking forward for tomorrow's workout (Core Synergistics, wink, wink). Mind power, that's what what I believe.

Last night we were at Jamie's end of season banquet. They have two seniors the first time ever on the program. As we were watching the DVDs that has their pictures from when they were babies to now, I had tears in my eyes. Remind you that's not my own child, I was thinking next year, it would be Jamie's pictures there. It is going to be soooooooooooooooo hard for me. Thinking about it now bring tears to my eyes. Oh my oh my, what am I going to do?!

Nutrition:
Breakfast: oatmeals, raisin and beans
Snack: protein shake (I made another batch of almond milk, oh so delicious)
Lunch: tuna sandwich
Snack: orange, hand full of nuts
Dinner: turkey meat ball pasta with salads

Day52: Kenpo X

Just finished Day 52 of P90X. I love Kenpo X! All the punching and kicking, don't mess with me, I will strike back :-) I was surprised that my heart rate was in the zone but I didn't really feel it at all. My shoulders were a little sore from last night, or maybe from Monday's volleyball. It's been the common scene now for the past 5 months, that some muscles are sore from working out, I am used to it by now. I've read somewhere on line that by this stage, some people will start to add weight to this workout. I am pondering on that.

David ask me to start the training with him on Marathon after this program.  Me? Running? I run 100 meter hurdles, not 26 miles. My muscles were not built to run long distance. That's to run from my house to my mom's. It will take me a whole day. Last time I ran/walked that far was when I was in college, and we were protesting the government which ultimately led into the 1989 Tian An Men Square Massacre, not a good memory. I laughed at him to his face. Heck, ever since he said that thought, it's like a bug stick in my mind, shew, go away!

Nutrition:
Breakfast: Oat Meals with Raisin and 1/4 beans
Snack: protein shakes
Lunch: Tofu, tomatoes and rice
Snack: AAPL and Greek yogurt
Dinner: ?

Jamie's high school season banquet. I need to eat something before I go there so I won't be too hungry to eat whatever available there. Jun, no cheese cake tonight!!!

Day51: core synergistics

I don't like this workout, not because it is not good, I simply am weak with my core. So I told myself, I need to like it. If I hate it, instead of run away, I need to embrace it.

If I didn't write them down, I almost forgot, last time I did this (day 26), I was struggling with lack of energy. I had to hit the pause button several times. Wow, I guess I really did make progress, not only I did the entire workout without stopping, I used weight with almost every exercise that Tony recommended weight on. Only 3lbs, but I used extra weight, that's progress from day 26. I think I will use 5lbs on Thursday, just to challenge myself. We did all the bonus round too, although all I could focus on was "is it a minute yet?" I really Did my best, and forgot the rest (including my steamed asparagus on the stove).

Jamie said she finally got her eating down. She learned how to count the protein intake every day, planed her meals and snacks out and followed it (for the whole 2 days now :-d ) she understand the needs for varieties in her diet everyday, she made sure that's she would have plenty carbs, from good source, not from fat, protein, vegetables, water, fruit...

Nitration
Breakfast: oat meal with raisin, beans
Snack: protein, raspberry shake
Lunch: tofu and vegetable, brown rice
Snack: orange, a hand full of nuts
Dinner: steak and veggies

Congratulations to my friend Amy for her Day 1 of p90x. I am so proud of you!!

Day50: Yoga

The extra hour from day light saving really helped. We got up in the morning early to start our 1st day of recovery week after Phase II. It is hard to think that we are almost 2/3 done whit P90X. I reached my target weight last week, which is same as my weight when I graduated from high school. I felt stronger too. Today at Yoga, when I was doing Chaturanga, I actually was able to hold my pose instead of crushing down to the floor. Even though I still can't see the definition of my arms and shoulders, I think my upper body muscle is getting stronger. I am continuing to try the crane, one of these days, I will be able to do it, I think.

We went to the good old Home Depot, ended up ordering both water softener system as well as the french patio door from them, with two of them, we still came ahead than just ordering one door from Renewal by Anderson, or one water softer system by Rainsoft. David said that by next week, I will have my soft water at the house. I am really psyched!

Nutrition:
Drink a glass of water 1st thing after get up.
Meal 1: Oatmeal with raisin
Meal 2: Spinach Shake (20g protein)
Meal 3: 1 cup raw vegetable, shrimp (6oz, 30g protein, 140 calories) with whole wheat pasta
Meal 4: orange

Meal 5: Chunk steak (6oz, 46g protein, 560 calories) with asparagus

drink lots of water

Day48-49: KenpoX

Kenpo remains to be my favorite, and this was the last day we do before we finish phase 2 and go into the recovery week :-D

Nutrition
Breakfast: whole wheat bread
Protein shake
Lunch: sweet potatoes, eggs, veggie patti and fruit
Dinner: ribs and chicken breast, salads

Day47: legs, back and Ab

I did my yoga late last night, after dinner and right before I went to bed. The reason I mention that is because after an hour and half yoga, I opt not to eat anything since I was going to bed, even I felt a little hungery - bad idea.

As I got up early this morning to get today's workout done, I was fasting for about 11 hours, and I did an hour and half yoga during that time. My energy was depleted. It was hard to push myself to workout hard. Matter of fact, it was hard to just keep up. Towards the end, I was about to threw up. So here is what I learned: before going to bed at night, eat a banana, or a spinach ice cream with protein or something. At night, when we are asleep, our body will go for those for energy to run through the night, otherwise, it will go to the reserves, or your muscles for energy. You actually is risking of your body breaking down your muscles if you don't have some protein or complexed carb in you before you go to bed.

The next bad thing I did today was that I went to the shop, while I was there, I was so busy, I didn't eat anything till almost 3p, that's 6 hours in between the meals, not good. This actually made me realize how hard it is for those who work and go through the program, and if any of you are doing it, I really admire you.

Nutrition
Breakfast: oat meals with beans and raisins
Snack: orange
Lunch: tofu, chicken breast and brown rice
Snack: protein bar
Dinner: I took pork chops out, so I think that's what we will have

Day46: YogaX

It felt so good to get it done, even though it is almost 11pm :-)

I love yoga, it is slow and calm, but still require tremendous strength. It combines strength and flexibility into one, and when you focus on your breath and stay present, you truly forget the rest. The down time, not only for the body, but for the mind.

Still can't do crane:-(

Nutrition
Breakfast: bagel, scrambled eggs
Snacks: avocado
Lunch: cucumber, tofu salad And brown rice (I know, it sounds nasty)
Snack: yogurt and protein bar
Dinner: Chinese stir fry, very salty to my taste, but Jamie's friends from Chinese class wants to eat Homemade Chinese stir fry, I have to accommodate to their taste

Day45: Back, Biceps and Ab

It is hard to believe that we are at the half way point.

I upped (is it even a word?) most of my weight for all the dumbbell exercise for this workout. By now, I am kinda use to the little aching feeling in my upper body. I tell myself that somewhere there, muscles are being built. I couldn't see them, but I could feel them. My six pack are still under a cake, a thin one. I dropped my body fat from 34% to 16%, I stare in the mirror too much everyday (Jun, go get a life), so I couldn't tell much differences. But several of you said I looked different yesterday, that's encouraging, indeed.

And for those who have concern about my health, your loving voices are well heard. Let me put your mind at ease: I am doing this not to loose weight, but to better my health. I think it is rather a life style change for me than anything else. I have been on road for almost 6 years, between traveling through different time zones which significantly messed up my sleep pattern, and hotel restraunte food, I steadily grew my belly (Jamie called it blubber) and blood pressure and heart rate. I was in bad mood constantly, and I bought a grandma swimming suite this summer so I can hide everything. I am in my 40s, I don't think the great health I inherited would last me much longer if I don't take care of it. Health and fitness has its own world, and it is so fascinating. I know sometimes I got carried away - to see the change on the scale, does give you a sense of accomplishment - but most of the times, I keep myself on a tight grip - exercise and eat right. Eat right is hard. I have specific target everyday as how much proteins,  carbs, veggies, fruit, dairies, even fat, I suppose to intake. They all aimed to increase the energy, better the performance, and improving the health and they taste gross. Instead of eating white rice, we eat brown rice (yuk), whole wheat bread instead of white bread, lean meat instead of fat, fresh fruit and vegetables instead of canned product, to name a few. I have been reading the book Super Food RX, and start to add beans, berries, broccoli, oats, orange, salmon, yogurt into my diet. I think I felt better, physically and emotionally. That's what these are all about.


Nutrition:
Breakfast: Oat Meal, raisin, protein
Snack: 5 Costco's dumplings, :-(
Lunch: 3oz tofu, 3oz tuna, veggies soup and corn bread (those corn bread tasted too good to be that healthy as they labeled them, I have my reservations, but it really did tasted good)
Snack: protein bar
Dinner: Chicken breast in pepper sauce, brown rice

Day44: Plyometrics

Wow, it felt so good to get it over with first thing in the morning. This isn't my favorite workout, but I told myself that I have plenty of energy to get through it, and I did. I remember the first week we did this, since I just went through the hard core cardio workout Insanity, it felt like a little baby version. Now good or bad, I have to work at it and I was exhausted. Especially when I was doing Jump Knee Tuck and the Rock Star Hop. I did not pause and took extra time rest in between, which makes me pretty proud. Push, keep push forward, how you do anything is how you do everything.

Halloween was fun. I borrowed neighbor's kids so I could have a legit reason to go to downtown Parker to Trick or Treat. I even took a pic with the Barney

ok, that Barney was Jamie.

Nutrition
Breakfast: Good old Oat Meals with beans, protein powder and raisin
Snack: Greek Yogurt
Lunch: Tofu and Brown Rice, veggie
Snack: Protein Bar
Dinner: Shrimp Pomodoro
Before bed: protein raspberry ice cream

Day43: Chest, Shoulder, Triceps and Abs

Happy Halloween!!

I know it sounds wired, but Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. The imagination people demonstrated in their costumes, the anxious looks from all the little kids, this is the only holiday that will get so many people out, and the streets are full everywhere ... and oh, all those ghost stories, that I never know whether it is real or just a fiction ...

I know I am going to be handing out cavities, so we got our workout done in the morning, well partially, David run out of time, we left the Abs for tonight.

This remained to be the toughest workout for me. My dinky arms just won't hold my body weight. I thought of pushing myself by increase weight, and twice I had to move back down. Can anybody do the one armed push up yet? I got on my knees and barely bent my arms, I got a face plant at the first try. I think, however, I will move from counter to the edge of the couch next time for my other push ups.

If anybody are interested, check out this website: www.fit2fat2fit.com. I start to get anxious for Nov 5th to come. I am interested to see how Drew Manning will transform back to fit.

Jamie's day 2 of her jump manual, and I am her trainer!

Nutrition:
Breakfast: protein shakes
snack: oat meals
Lunch: chicken breast and potatoes
snack: protein bar
Dinner: beef stew

Day41: kenpoX

We had to skip yesterday. The excuse was that we had to get up at 6:30a on Sat, dash out of the house by 7a to Jamie's district tournament. Then get back to her piano school at 3p for a piano lesson, dinner after that and back to piano school at 7:30p for the Halloween recital. By the time we got home, it was close to 10p. We both had something in our mind, I finally took the blame, suggested that we should do our workout on Sunday to replace the stretch (optional off day, anyway). David was almost too eagle to agree ... So here we are, finished our Day 41 on our off day.

It felt great. We had plenty of energy and the day was just too beautiful to not to work out outside, so we did. I think it might be because the temperature was in 50s, I got warm, but didn't sweat much. we start our 7th week tomorrow, hard to believe.

Jamie's high school season is finally over. I can't say I was disappointed that they didn't make it out of district again this year. I became very anxious to start her jump training, but with high school season dragging on, it was impossible to add that to her plate. Now we are done, we started the training today. The girl was so driven, she did not complain at all throughout the whole training. Here is her starting measurement: standing verticle - 20 inches, approach verticle - 26 inches. I will measure her again in 7 days.

Day40: Legs, Backs and Ab Ripper X

Finished Day40. Hard to believe! I just kinda figured out how backward we are. Most people start to workout in January, they workout for 5 - 6 month, wola, summer came, they have nice body for the beach time. Here we are, started in July, and we will be done by 12/10, wola, Christmas comes! I have to come up with a whole new set of menu for Christmas dinner!

David wants to have breakfast with Jamie, so we broke our workout into two this morning. Ab Ripper X first, and Legs & Back after breakfast. I never wrote down the legs exercise before since it was not on the sheet, so I didn't know how I did or how many reps I did. Today, I took time to wrote down everything, hoping I will be able to reference it next week and see if I can push a little harder. One thing I realized: when you feel that you are at your limit, if you just stay one more second or do one more rep, your satisfaction level will go way high and you actually become tougher and tougher in other area of your life too. Mental toughness needs exercise too, and it will grow stronger  just like muscle.

Here is the inspiration for today:
Live Simply, Speak Kindly, Care Deeply, Love Generously

Nutrition:
Breakfast: Protein Shake
Snack: of course Hummus, the last day of these
Lunch: Chicken breast, tofu brown rice
Snack: brownie oh, no, protein bar
Dinner: fish with rice and veggie

District starting tonight. Cross my fingers. But either way, I am starting a jump training for Jamie next week. so if she increased her vertical by 4 inches in two weeks, I will let you know!

Day39: Yoga

I was surprised that David said he never sweats doing Yoga. How can you not to?! The first part which was categorized as the Yang part, requires so much strength, by the time I am down to the half moon, my legs are shaking, and burning. All kinds of crape came into my mind, and didn't have space to stay since I was hurting. I tried to breath like what Tony said, but my whole body was twisted in such a way, the breath couldn't go smoothly. At that point, my sweat pours down, to my eyes, to my face and to the floor ... and that's how intensified it is for Yoga X.

Of course, by the time we do our "ommmmmmm...", everything were cold, and you almost can fall asleep at that moment ... that's why I didn't write my blogs last night, I fell asleep :-D

Day 39, done!!

Nutrition:
Breakfast: Oat Meal - gosh I love them, I use to add salt and pepper to it and eat them with bacon (Thanks Christine Shen), not any more, just plain old oat meal, with raisin and protein
Snack: try to finish my hummus, I am not going to buy it any more
Lunch: tofu, and brown rice
Snack: protein bar
Dinner: steak and mashed potatoes with cauliflower (did I spell it right?), it sure stayed in my tummy all the way to this morning :-(

Day38: back, biceps and ab

Finished the 38th day of P90x. Today was back, biceps and abs. It was much easier for me than, say Monday since I have stronger biceps and backs in comparing to my arms and triceps. I stayed with the same weight, and really paid attention to my forms. I definitely felt it. My left arm is weaker than my right one, I was wonder if I should use different weight for different arms. I opt not to, hoping my left would catch up with my right one day.

I have not done abs for a few days, so today's Ab x was a little harder than normal. The whole time I was thinking - this is P90x, I need to bring it. I think the extra carbs I added to my diet since last week really do help. I seem to have more energy than before. The key is to eat lean and more completed carb, whole wheat, multi grain, etc.

My upper body hurts, in a good way, makes me feel accomplished.


Nutrition: drink lots of water, lots of them, you should be finishing your first glass of water before you are even up in the morning, confucius says.
Breakfast: oatmeal with beans, raisin and protein powder
Snack: hummus and carrots
Lunch: tuna sandwich
Snack: protein bar
Dinner: Spagetti and meat sauce

Day37: plyometrics

Just finished the 37th day. It was plyometrics - jumping, running, high intensity and I burned lots of calories - at least I'd like to believe so. My triceps and back hurt so bad from yesterday, to lift my arms, flex became chore.

I had hard time to catch my breath when I was jumping. My legs felt like noodles, I am surprised that I am not feeling stronger by now, or this again is by design the result for so called ,muscle confusion?! The storm is coming in to Denver, I really wanted to go out for a nice run in the cold rain afterward, but I felt weak legged, I opt not to. I am not looking forward to the 6 to 12 inches snow tomorrow. On another hand, people are rushing in to get snow tires, we had our busiest day ever, so they told me from the shop.

Nutrition
Breakfast: oatmeal with beans and raisin
Snack: banana, protein bar (finally, we made some last night, this batch was actually really good, since we switch over to low fat organic peanut butter)
Lunch: tofu, tomatoes, cucumber and wild rice
Snack: Greek yogurt and orange
Dinner: chicken breast baked in nonfat Italian dressing with potatoes and mushroom, it sounded ok, believe me, it's so nasty, if I have to eat chicken breast another day, I am going to kill myself; green bean

Day36: Chest, shoulder and triceps

Finished day 36. I can't lift my arms. They felt like jello. All 24 different moves, I pushed really hard, since I felt guilty that we took a day off yesterday even though it was an optional day. I Still have hard time to do all those push ups, some of the move I couldn't even do one, i.e. one armed push ups. However, I moved my push ups from the dividing wall to the counter, a little lower than last week, although I didn't add more weight, I did manage to do a little more reps on some of the moves. Those are the efforts that Made me felt accomplished after the workout.

I finally ate enough amount what I suppose to for the day. It seems like non stop eating, but because I have been feeling weak, I made a promise to myself that I would do better on eating every meals for the day.

Nutrition:
Breakfast: oatmeal with raisin and protein powder
Snack: hummus with carrot
Lunch: shrimp and whole wheat pasta
Snack: Greek yogurt, Banana and raspberry
Dinner: pork chop and cooked zucchini and bean sprouts

Jamie did her first session of career connection - visiting local hospital to find out what an ER nurse does, and decided that she can't sit there( personally, I don't think they "sit") and cut people open to do surgeries.

Day34: Kenpo

It was day 34, after I finished that, basically, I finished my 5 weeks of P90X.  We moved our workout back to garage for this. The coldness really felt good. Kenpo is still my favorite. You can channel any negative energy that you have into the punches, kicks, and jabs to get a really good cardio workout. This workout was a little more painful then usual because my legs (from my glutes all the way to my calves) were sore, and my back & biceps were somewhat sore. This week has felt like P90X week 1 from how sore I’ve been!

Didn't do xStretch today. It was such a beautiful day and we sneak out to Starbucks in the morning and walked around the outdoor mall in the afternoon. I spent lots of time last night and early morning today to research master cleanse. I was so totally want to do it but it is so controversial, I am not sure who to believe.

Nutrition:
I forgot what I had to eat yesterday and today, no bad stuff, but we were not on schedule at all. My tummy therefore is on fire right now. We watched Food Matters, great movie. Everybody should watch it.

Jammer's team made it to the district playoff.

Day33: legs and back

Did my day 33 yesterday. I often ask myself, I am 5 weeks into this now, why am I still struggling with all these moves, it seems that I didn't get stronger. But then, I realized the reason they kept changing the workouts everyday, is to create the muscle confusion, so your muscles never get used to any one move or pose, and therefore, each time you work on that pose or move, your muscle taks it as a new exercise and you felt that you never worked that muscle that way before. 

This is my BGO for the day:-)

Happy birthday DJ

so, I said about last weekend, we were up in the mountains, eating really bad so I gained some pounds. Weekend is always very hard for me. However, I realized that my body has become a fat burning machine after paying attention to what I eat and when I eat for the past 3 months. It took me 7 weeks to loose 4 lbs at the begining, took me 3 days of disciplined eating to get back on my targeted weight this week. Kenny, lost 12 lbs in past 3 weeks, and Samere lost 4lbs since he started to join us a week ago. We all went to dinner last night to celebrate David's birthday, all of us except Cole had steamed fish of some sort. Cole is the last person at the shop who has not joined in, he had fried fish with fried onions. 

Nutrition
Breakfast: protein shake
Snacks:
Lunch: fried rice(brown rice) with veggie, chicken breast and shrimp, scallops
Snacks: Greek yogurt
Dinner: pan friend Halibut with spaghetti squash

Day32: yoga

I started out late in the morning and was behind the whole day yesterday. I was very happy to finished my Yoga workout first thing in the morning. Like usual, still dripping a lot, which means it was a heck of a workout, still could not do crane. Oh, David actually for a brief moment, did it, before he flip over. I was just hopeless, very hopeless at this pose.

Another hard pose is the half moon yoga pose, by the time I got there, my legs were burning, it was hard to keep the balance. I think this is what's so great about yoga, you need strength, flexibility, you get better on balancing, and you clear your mind by focusing on breathing the entire time (except I have a little sinus congestion and listen to myself breathing was a little comical)

Nutrition:
Breakfast: protein shake
Snacks: carrots with hummus
Lunch: spring rolls and a small bowl of pho (not sure if it is p90x approved meal)
Snack: orange and an appl
Dinner: veggie fried rice (another questionable meal, although I did put in the portion of wild rice and 2 portions of veggie and 1/2 portion of chicken breast to make it)

A heart broken loss vs Pondorosa high school last night, not the best way to finish the high school league play, wonder if the girls can redeem themselves at district. I hope!

Day31: back, biceps and abs

I felt weak, again. Not because of me needing more carbs, it was because I was just really weak. Small arms, thin shoulder and weak back. It was a new workout, 24 different moves, alternating between back and biceps. I got to the point that I couldn't or didn't want to lift my arms. As hard as I felt, I pushed myself, I didn't sweat much today. I am not sure if I did everything right. The frustrating part also came from that they don't show you what to do before the timer starts, I guess I shouldn't make it a big deal when I was behind a few sminutes, but it made me feel that I short changed myselfe. I know I know, but I am an accountant, my personality is to tie everything to penny.

Nutrition
Breakfast: oat meal, beans and dried fruit
Snack: Greek yogurt
Lunch: steamed chicken breast in torlias
Snack: orange
Dinner: chicken breast and yellow squash

Day30: Plyometrics

Finished day 2 of my phase 2 workout. I felt tired during workout, but thought about what they said regarding to increasing carb at phase 2 should give you more energy. I told myself all those oat meal I had this morning should make me feel energetic!  I therefore can't forgive myself even think about pausing the tape during the workout.  I seriously think that my heart rate got up to zone 5 for a brief moment. (hint hint, David, Christmas gift idea - a heart monitor)

I felt good though after all the jumping and running, especially since I pushed myself. I felt accomplished.

Nutrition:
Breakfast: oatmeal (super food), 1 tbsp protein powder, 2 tbsp crasin
Snack: lentils (super food)
Lunch: shrimp pasta pomodoro (yummy)
Snack: zone bar and orange (super food), protein shake with raspberry (super food)
Dinner: turkey burger and salad

(seriously, you will be surprised how your mood is associated with what you eat!)j

Day29: Chest, Shoulder & Triceps, Ab Ripper X

woooooow! It was hard, for me, extremely hard. I am also extremely frustrated - because of my weak arms, I can't get deep enough to work on my chest and shoulders. It was a new P90X workout, Chest, Shoulders & Triceps. I also had to do Ab Ripper X. During the Chest, Shoulders & Triceps workout you’ll be doing 24 moves. It isn’t like the Chest & Back workout where you are doing 2 sets of each exercise; you are actually doing 24 different moves. This makes the workout exciting since you’re not repeating any of the moves. For the majority of these exercises, you’ll mainly be doing different types of push ups, dips, flys, and tricep kickbacks.  You’ll need your weights or resistance bands, push up bars, a plastic plate, a chair, and water.

I got tired really fast, mainly from various push ups and after each push ups, I had to go to the lighter dumbbell. I guess it was same for David. At weighted arm circle,  he had to use my 8lbs dumbbell and  then change to 5lbs, LMAO!!!! ... and did I mention the one armed push ups? I can't even do two arm push ups, what the &$%^

Nutrition:
Really, I have McDonald breakfast this morning, noodle soups for lunch and pizza for dinner. The only thing I had remotely healthy, was salads. I did control my portion. So hopefully the damage wasn't too bad. I will get back on track on meals tomorrow.

Day27: Yoga

I said it would be hard this weekend. We came up to the mountains, and if you are out of your routine, it is very hard to keep to workout, and eat right.

We tried to finish our Yoga. Using "try" because we didn't really have good space to do it, it was very hard to find the quietness since grandma was busy cooking. Grandpa, on the other hand, was very curious about our workout, although at age 85, he wants to learn Yoga :-D

We were short for about 10 min today.

Nutrition:
Breakfast: protein shake
Lunch: subway
Dinner: Hot Pot, meet, veggie and Tofu

Day26 - Core Synergistics

From Marjorie:
10 Years ago, we had John Cash, Bod Hope and Steve Jobs. Now we have no Cash, no Hope and no Jobs. Please don't let Kevin Bacon Die!!

LOL!!!!

Finished day 26. Core Synergistics kicked my butt. I had to pause a few times, and didn't do the bonus round. I didnt feel having enough energy to push through, now I know it's time to add more carbs in my diet, a strange thought, but necessary.

Exciting news: I reached my weight target yesterday, on my birthday! It was not planned, funny how it just happened! I was thrilled!

Weekend is going to be tough. We are going up to Steamboat on Satuarday, just to relax and take it easy. The last two days of week 4 are Yoga and X Stretch, grandma and grandpa are expecting us eat a lot, hot pot is always my weak spot, Thank GOD I don't have to worry too much of sweets.

Nutrition
Breakfast: protein shake
Snack: protein bar
Lunch: chicken breast with potatoes
Snack: hummus, carrot
Dinner: tofu & rice

Day25 - X Stretch

That's kinda uneventful :-)

Wait, a development for David. When we did our first X Stretch, for the Glute Stretch, David had such hard time to lock both of his hand around his leg, and then, after he finally did it, he couldn't get his head lay back to the floor ... guess what, he did it this morning. It looked really painful, but he did it!


 
(this is not David, he had no hair)

Me, on the another hand, had hard time on Camel and Back Hero. Of course mine is a lot higher on the difficulty scale.




























So the things to add on top of my list with Crane, are Camel and Back Hero Stretch. By the end of P90x, I'll be able to do them, have faith!

Nutrition:
No recovery drink, since we really didn't do much
Breakfast: protein shake
Snack: hummus
Lunch: chef salads (When I have my lunch, I always thought about Linda McCoy and wonder if she  ever gets tired of her house salad for lunch every workshop days, and here I am, on chef salad for everyday going on 4 weeks now)
Snack: protein bar
Dinner: spaghetti with meat sauce (OK, whole wheat spaghetti and lean ground beef with fresh tomatoes and herbs, so don't give me hard time)

Legend vs Rock Canyon, go Titans.

Have a safe trip Rick!