Day11: Yoga X

Ahhhhhh! Just finished day 11 Yoga X.

This is what p90x Crane looks like. Would that be nice if some day I can do the Crane? I didn't even come close to it. There definitely no peace of mind with this move when I tried it this morning ... and I don't know why I sweat so much while doing Yoga, it suppose to be graceful and quiet. Tony Horton mentioned "Yin" and "Yang", like fire and ice. You stretch and balance - quiet your mind, that's "Yin". You twist and reach and hold - use your muscle, that's "Yang". According to Chinese medicine, "Yang" in spring and summer, "Yin" in autumn and winter. Fall is the transition of your body from "Yang" to "Yin". You need to start to quiet down, and get your body ready for the cold winter to come. So I guess all these stretching, meditation should be good. And if anything, walking outside in the cold fall morning should help your lung function and prepare them for the winter, and what that has anything to do with P90x? I am not sure. All health and fitness come together, for a better life.

Nutrition for the day:
Made more Almond milk this morning, and with that fresh home made almond milk, I had my protein shake for the day :-) (I am wondering how they make low fat or fat free meat, milk or anything? David said they make cows or chicken or pig run on the treadmill. For a minutes, I actually believed him ... but really, how do they make fat free meat, or milk?)
Snack: home made Jun's famous protein bar
Lunch: chef salads with 6oz of meat/tofu
Snack: hammus with celery
Dinner: I really really want a big fat juicy steak, but, I think I will have some steamed pork ribs with veggi and brown rice. (Wonder if that pig ran on the treadmill or not before it got into my refrig).

Highland Ranch tonight. Go Titans!!

Day10: shoulders & arms, abs

I just completed day 10 of my P90x workout! Now 80 days to go! Today was Shoulders, Arms and Abs. It was a great workout. I was up on my weight and increased my reps. My arms and Shoulders are exhausted. I should feel it tomorrow. That thought makes me happy. Now I sound like a masochist. 

I couldn't do Abs for another few days. So I kept my abs tight through out the shoulder, arms workout. I am not looking to build muscle, so I tried to do more reps with lighter weight. David said for certain exercise, looked like I was dancing, so disrespectful. I am going to ask for wall mirrors for the entire basement walls so I can see myself.

My mom went nuts over the weekend. I decided to include her on my mailing list, and she saw the word "Yoga", and I truly believe that I hurt her feelings. She kept asking me why I don't do  Taichi instead. Now it is a battle between Chinese and Indian. Trying to explain P90X in Chinese?! I definitely felt that 20 years of living here in America.

Nutrition for the day:
Breakfast: protein shakes
lunch: chef salads with 3 oz ham and 3 oz tofu
snacks: string cheese, zone bar
dinner: beef stir fry with 1 cup brown rice and 1 cup veggie
snacks: recovering drink
 
got to go to make more Almond milk and more protein bars.

P.S. We had a tough loss to Heritage last night. Highland Ranch tomorrow. Jammer made herself a note card to keep her mind focused before the game tomorrow. Should be exciting.

P.P.S. for those of you who are doing the P90X, keep up good work.

Day9: Plyometrics

I met this woman Lisa almost 10 years ago. I remembered her really well, one is because she was my fellow woman, she was from the same city where I was born and raised; two, she also married a white boy who doesn't mind eating Chinese everyday. She was a fire cracker, funny as hell. She was big, same height as me, but bigger, especially around her tummy.

I remembered that I didn't see her for a few month, and then wola, here she was, her tummy was gone. Gone, gone. Her big secret ... She said: if you wanta look good, all you need, is to put up some moolar ($$$)!!  She patted her then flat tummy, said: eight grand, called "lipo" suction, no sweat, rice is ok! I didn't have 8 grand, I have to sweat, like a peasant, since I can't give up my rice, I figure I need to sweat even more.

I lost contact with her a long time ago. Though I thought of her here and there and her "moolar" supported body. The other day, I was at the mid autumn festival, moral-supporting my parents and their golden year friends, here is Lisa, in a pretty dress, singing her heart out on the stage, with her big tummy ...

Here, now, on TV, just a pill a day, no sweat, no changing eating habit, you'll loose 10, 20, 30lbs in 30 days, money back guaranteed ... the worst is that the same commercial was on the other day, until I gave her my famous evil eyes razor sharp gaze, Jammer was actually impressed and wanted to spread the words.

I don't believe any of that. Eat less, exercise more, is the only way, hope you think so too. So here we are, plyometrics, sweat like a Chinese pig. I wasn't sure what I was smoking last week, saying it was easy. Nothing easy today. With most parts of my body still hurting, I felt fatigue, and lazy. Tony was a little annoying this morning, he kept talking, I really just want to go back to sleep, but he kept talking. Then I thought of Lisa. I pushed forward, I actually finished everything with dignity.

I am going have to make some more bars today, but I am only gonna eat one, and one cups of rice for the whole day.  The house is nice and quiet, I am thinking of my previous life of being on the road, forgot what life would be around here. I am feeling content, very content at this moment.

Vs. Heritage High School tonight, Go Titans!

P.S. here is the link to the blog: http://junsp90xjourney.blogspot.com/ if you want to catch up the previous post as well as comment :-)

Day6 to 8 - Chest/back/abs

It is impossible to be in good mood with every inch of your body hurts. I can't stand up, I can't sit down, I can't walk around.  Yesterday, we dropped something on the floor, my husband had the nerve to ask me to bend down and pick it up > - ( why don't you do it!!

So we chose to have the 7th day the resting day, resting even from the food, which means we don't have to eat at all! So we skipped breakfast and lunch, had a big bowl of chips and salsa at 6p and we felt so guilty, so we had a bowl of ice cream after dinner - the green one, we made it ourselves, with non fat milk (gee, we really are brain washed by these P90x people already), nectar, protein powder, 2 cups of spinach and 2 cups of ice. Jammer again, did not complain about it.

As I promised, I was up on my weight this morning (8lbs). The fact that I can do a few more push ups and went down a little deeper than last week when I did it, made me really happy. Because my arms are so weak and I could not get too deep to get my chest workout, I added additional chest workout on the weight machine afterwards. This is week 2 of P90x, I felt a little depressed to think how many more weeks I have ahead of me, but maybe I am just PMSing.

We got back full force this morning on our food - messed up the perfectly cleaned kitchen in 10 minutes:
We made home made Almond milk: 1 C Almond soaked over night. 6 cups of filtered water, mix in Vita Mix for 2 1/2 minutes. No preservatives, no added gunk. We use this to make recovering drinks, and later on, maybe, some more that green ice creams:-) Mushroom scramble (6 egg white or 7/8 cups egg white substitute, 3/4 C mushrooms, 1/2 Roma, 2 Tsp green onions, low fat cheese). If you are in phase two, you can add a cup of oat meals with raisin to your breakfast.
Lunch: grilled chicken breast (6 oz for 2 Portion of Protein), 1 cup lettuce, 1/4 cup red bell pepper and onions, 2 Tsp low fat ranch dressing, wrap in whole wheat tortilla for David (I don't to get to eat carb during the breakfast or lunch).
Dinner: Turkey Burger (new recipe, I will let you know how this will turn out tomorrow).

Drop in volleyball tonight at rec center, see if I can jump higher and hit harder! Some of us were working on passing yesterday, see if others can notice that tonight :-D

day5: legs, back and abs

Kris, this is for you! I think we are going to pay a visit to Seattle next time Jammer has a no school day, between high school and club season, and hope you have a bedroom for her, maybe me and David too. Seattle University offered her a full scholarship. Of course we want to make sure she likes the school first before we accept it. I did tell her if that's where she is going, your house would be where she spends her weekend :-)


I felt dizzy at times this morning while working out. I am pretty sure it was because I had an early dinner last night and for the next 14 hours, I didn't have anything to eat before I started the workout this morning. There were a few times that I wanted to hit the pause and catch my breath and wondered if I was insane. Make sure you fuel your body before your workout to make the best of your time. I will start to add some Gaterate into my water bottle too tomorrow, especially it is the cardio tomorrow.

I felt a little guilty last night by eating Debbie's oven baked potatos. It looked so yummy. I really don't know what she put in there, even though she kept reinsure me they were all low fat. I think I will skip Ro's birthday dinner at Margianos tonight so I won't be attempted by all those yummy gross food.


Speaking of gross food, Cottage cheese, the grossest food I've ever ate. Worst part is, it looks like rice, write rice! And for those who like salad, I think you are insane!I am going to eat my Shef salad the third time this week, but that's it! No more. P90x nutrition guide provided lots of great food, I just need to be willing to try them out.

I know I said if I can inspire one person to committ to this workout and healthy life style, I would be happy. So here you are, RICK, my dear friend, asking to join us on this workout, absolutely made my day! Give me a call buddy.

day4: yoga x

day 4, 86 days to go.

I always tell David that as I am getting older, I really don't care about the big muscles or 6 packs or skinny figure, I want to focus more on mind and body. Like my mom does Taichi every morning for the past 40 years.  If I want to be able to say I've been doing Taichi for 40 years when I turn 80, I'd better start right now. Because of Taichi, my mom can do things that I can't even do, all that flexibility and the balance. When she's showing off (yes, she still likes to show off every once a while, guess she needs to work on the mind part a little bit more), I roll my eyes (I definitely need to work on my mind part), but secretly hoping that I can do that. So this is today, Yoga X. I have to bend my body in the ways that I never imagined, and with all that stretching, I sweat like a dog! That should tell you something.

No part of my arms and shoulder hurts from yesterday. I need to up on the weight next time, for sure.

So I read yesterday on Internet the evaluation of P90X. It says: truthfully, if you think you would just do the workout and see the result, you would be disappointed! 125.5lb, this morning (from 134lb on July 5th) and 188lb for David. David didn't drop a single pound through the entire Insanity and here we are, 4 days later, he shredded 2 lbs. For him, it definitely is not just the workout, it is the food. We sweat more during the Insanity, and felt that we worked-out harder then, but we didn't pay this close attention to how we eat and how much we eat. David finally came to the realization and had a 180 degree change in his attitude :-) he actually was standing there measuring food with me last night. My major concern was that with a lot less carb in his diet (and mine), were we going to feel tired more. Not at all! His energy level is good, so is mine. His mind tricked him during the first couple of days that he had the urge to eat more. He stayed with the program, with an attitude towards me, and he is happy he did (I so want to say I said so ... mmmmmmm, mind and body, mind and body) I remember one of my dear friends told me his experience in the survival school when he is in the military - you are surprised how little food you need to be able to survive. The best part, you really don't don't miss the junks you use to put in your mouth ... and you don't have to eat flavourless. The pork chops we made was delicious, so was the asparagus soup. You'd pay $8.00 at the restaurant for a small bowl and here we are, we made all of them! We also started the migration to brown rice from the white rice, half and half for right now. It actually not bad at all, especially consider I am half way healthier, I am pretty excited! Jammer didn't complain either, that's the first time!

Got to drink more water, I didn't make my quota yesterday.

Homecoming game tonight, vs Mountain Vista. Go Titans!

day3: arm, shoulder and abs

So I think I went over board on food planning because David was clearly stressed over it since I won't let him eat his cereals in the morning, or his big snacks or his gazillion scoops of protein shakes. I also neglected to clean the kitchen, and go through mails. I am too precise on portion for him (I went to bought a food scale to measure how much meat I should cook for him and I, each separately) ... maybe a little to much, you think?

Other than that, I felt great!! I am having lots of fun, except have to deal with a grumpy husband walking around the house with his should slumped - all his workers, on the other hand, thought my protein bars are amazing, and want to buy them from me, hehe!

By the way, we have the entire shop to work out with us now. They cleaned up the little storage room at the shop, came to take our pull up machine over, added gazillion weights, even Kenny joined in this week.

Arms and shoulder for today: I started with 5lb weight, thinking that I have weak upper body, turn out to be: somewhere during the past few month, I got stronger, again, with SeanT, the Insanity. I had to switch to 8lb weight multiple times and I think I am going to try 10 next round. I really don't want big muscle, and the trick seems to be doing more raps. Again, I have to wait a few days to see if any part of my arms or shoulders' hurting to know whether today's workout did something to me. BTW, my abs is hurting, so do my legs from yesterday's cardio workout.

I think I adjusted to the low carb diet pretty well. I only have one cup of rice at night, and the rest of the day, only veggie and fruit and protein. I try to eat on scheduled time, or every two to three hours, lots of water (no water after 8p). The only thing I have not figure out what to do is that, I suppose to start to drink water two hours before work out, and that would be 4am, and I am not willing to get up to do that, just yet. I might go crazy and try it. The saving grace for my diet is that I don't mind to eat the same thing over and over, so once I figure out what to have for snacks, or breakfast, or lunch, I can stick with it for a while. That will help with the planning time and cook time. So here is a lunch recipe for a relative fit person with a goal of shed a few pounds:

Chef Salads:

3oz fat free turkey breast, chopped
3oz extra lean ham, low sodium, chopped (or substitute with edamame - yummy)
1 1/2oz fat-free mozzarella cheese, chopped (yuk)
1/2 roma tomato, chopped
2 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
1/4 cup hearts of palm, chopped
1oz avocado, diced
2 Tsp non-fat Italian dressing

2P, 1D, 1V, 1 Condiment

I had this two days in the roll, and it last me for 3-4 hours before I get hungry again, believe or no.

Better to go clean the kitchen to make my hubby happy.

P.S. Legend lost to Regis last night, not terribly (23-25, 17-25, 19-25), but enough to be annoying. Jammer said she was nervous all day yesterday. With tears in her eyes, she actually asked my advice at the end of the night (and of course got annoyed after I gave her my two cents). Ever since she made it to 18 black at Front Range, and Jim told her that she jumps high enough to compete at that level, her drive to jump higher diminished. She has not working on her mind power either, to cut off those negative thought and believe in herself. Talk to coach from Tennessee, a sports factory, do we really want that?

I am going to cook BBQ tonight for Make A Wish at the Legend after the homecoming parade, if you don't have anything going on tonight, come join us for a fun and soul fulfilling night.

day2: plyometrics

Boy I have so much piled up, I couldn't sleep.

Day 2 is cardio, definitely my favorable part of my workout. Now I start to feel a little tight on my tummy as well as my chest,  I knew the workout from yesterday worked.

I remembered that almost two years ago when I first attempt to do P90x, on the road, plyometrics was too hard for me. Surprisingly, I am totally fine with it this morning - thanks for the 60 days workout with SeanT. Compare to the Insanity, this is a piece of cake. I could breath! ... and my heart rate didn't get to the point that I couldn't open my eyes (you know what I am talking about if you did insanity:-) ... and the the best thing is that it is only 9am, and I am done with my workout for the day!

So, the bigger challenge of this program - food:
Recovering drink right after workout - Nestle breakfast carnation with 8oz almond milk (as close as we can get to 4:1 Carb/protein ratio)
I cooked my hubby and my child oatmeal (1c) with 1T whey protein and 1oz raisin (1C, 1/2P, 1/2F); David also had a bowl of fruit salads (water melon, cantaloupe and grapes - 1F); since I am on fat shredder phase, I had 1 bowl of fruit (1F), spinach scramble (6 egg white, 1C spinach, 1/2 roma, 1T fresh basil)

We made the protein bars last night, turned out to be delicious. So here is the recipe:
* 4 C oats (raw, not the instant type)
* 6 scoops chocolate whey protein (we used vanilla)
* 3 heaping Tsp Unsweetened baking cocoa (my silly hubby tasted it and said: it doesn't taste good at all, no chocolate flavor or sweet, I said yes, honey, it is UNSWEETENED COCOA ;-)
* 1/3 C sugar-free maple syrup
* 3/4 C no-sugar added applesauce
* 3 tsp cinnamon
* 2 C chopped/slivered almonds, toasted in a skillet until light brown
* 1 C low fat peanut butter or PB2
* 2 Tsp vanilla extract
* 1 C raisins or craisins
* water, added 1 T at a time

Mix wet ingredients together in one bowl and do the same for all the dry ingredients. Slowly mix the two together, mix well, use beater if needed, it is very very THICK. Add water 1 Tsp at the time until it is not dry and crumbly. Dump into some container that you can fit into your freezer later, press flat with wet hands. Cut into rectangles with pizza cutter. Makes 18 bars. Freeze them in baggies and pull them out as you go.

Nutritional info compare to P90x bar:
Calories: 294/260, fat: 15.3g/7g, carbs: 29g/31g, sugar: 12g/23g, protein 16.7g/20g

P.S. if use PB2 instead of peanut butter, it will cut down fat a little bit.

P.P.S.  totally on different food from the bars - when you stir fry veggie, instead of use cooking oil like what I use to use, I use non-fat chicken broth, with some garlic and jalapeno (if you like spicy), heat them up and add veggie in with salt and pepper to taste, delish!

The lunch is chef salad with non-fat Italian dressing and dinner would be chicken breast with veggie and potatoes!

Can't wait for the high school games tonight vs Regis High School. We are going to get our butt kicked, but I hope that we at least can put up a good fight! Go Titans!!!

1st day of P90x

wow, it was intense to get ready. We (my hubby and I) just finished the Insanity and took the last week off ... and ... here we are! P90X.

I want to start this blog, not sure if anybody would ever read it. You probably have already detected some accent from my writing, I promise you, that's only because English is not my first language, I am not illiterate. I have my advanced degree with 18+ years of schooling, had my fair share of life adventures ... and here I am, my new adventure - P90x.

I had come across lots of blogs regarding to P90x. I really poured my heart and soul in this, from learning the workout to learning the diet.  If what I posted here can help one person or inspire one soul, I will be happy!

... and did I tell you that I never wrote a blog before? I am not sure how this works, really :-)


So, up to this point -

We finished our Insanity on 9/10. I lost 6lbs and 10% of body fat. (I started at 134lb @ 5"7, I am 128lb and still 5"7). I spent a whole week to get myself familiar with the diet part of the program. If I say I read it 2-3 times, I am not kidding. It can be confusing, but believe me, it gets easier. There is a very good blog out there that you can check out: myp90xnutritionplan.com, the only thing is that it seems that the lady quit posting since the summer of this year - her husband must had finished his program, and she decided to fold.

I have read a lot about the nutrition plan. I think the best approach for me would be to get myself grasp the concept of portion control, and understand how to measure the portions for my meals. The advantage for that is that I then can create my own recipes, and use my own food and ingredient.

We got up at 5:45 this morning to start our workout at 6. According to the nutrition plan, we suppose to drink water 2 hrs before the workout, that did not happen, but we did hydrate ourselves as soon as we were up this morning. (oh, here is another thing I started a few months back, even when I was still on the road travel with my job: at 6a-7a time frame, I mix 1Tsp honey, 1Tsp dark vinegar, 4 oz water (room temperature) and stir to mix well, drink. This is my secrete Chinese remedy for soothing your digesting system, especially if you are irregular, cheaper than those Activia (too lazy to check the spelling)yogurt, and works wonder)

Day 1 is Chest/Back/Abs. I was using band and my hubby was using the flex machine. I think because my upper body is so weak, the push ups and pull downs are more of a work for my arms instead of my chest and back, i.e. I could not get down too deep on push ups, therefore, my chest and back didn't feels like got much of a workout. I will wait a few days to see which area will be hurting to tell you which muscles I worked on (geeez Jun, get your act together, will you!)

I had mushroom omelet for level I, phase I (1P, 1/2D, 1V)+12oz water. Yuk! I cooked Oatmeal for my hubby, add 1Tsp protein powder and 1/2 oz raisins (1C, 1/2P, 1/2F). I am going to make the bars instead of buying them. Got the recipes from the site I mentioned above. If it tasted good, I will post it here.

For the recover drink. We simply used the breakfast carnation from Nestle, with 8oz almond milk. Since I can only have one portion of carb, I am going to save it for dinner :-( (rice baby, rice!)

Better get some real work done now.