Week 12

Ahhh.....I've made it folks. I completed the last week of hard work-outs.  Tomorrow is the start of my (final) rest week, so a week from today, I'll have completed P90X. Whoa. Hard to believe it's been so.....amazing! I would say that I am so excited to never do this ever again, but alas, I have decided to take a double beating and will be starting my second round of it after a slight break, sometime in late January perhaps.

And here's why......give it up for this lady, she's incredible. Insane. Amazing. Astonishing. http://www.pressplayfitness.com/09/ab-makeover-in-30-days/   I mean, I'm around the corner from completing it, and in my opinion, I don't even look THIS good. ;) I mean, the woman is 51!! After some deliberation about what my goals have now turned into, I figure, why change something that works so well? And fast? Lets face it, I started at a point where I had much to lose, much skin resilience to gain back, and lots of toning that needed to be done. I have just now gotten back to the point that most people start out at. So as much as I'd like to say I've reached the point of ultimate physical achievement, this has only wet my appetite for more.  It just feels so great to be in good shape! It may take a month or two of a break to get back into another 90 day stretch, so in the meantime, Dane and I are going to join a gym for awhile, as he is an excellent and knowledgeable trainer.  Gotta switch up the monotony a little and get a new routine going. Does no good to get burned out, and that's the point I'm finding myself at currently, so definitely time to try something new for a little bit. But who can deny these fast results?

At the risk of sounding cheesy.....ah what the heck. This has changed my life! Taught me new things about myself, taught me to reach deeper. I'll admit, I have been surprised by what I've found. Strength, endurance, determination. I've never been one to work out.......;) So I now know it's all there.  The fact that it's now been ingrained for 3 months is a starting point.

I'll post a farewell, and some pictures next week!

Week 9, Week 10, Week 11--Day 2

Well I'm not going to make excuses for why I haven't posted. :) Nothing new in the neighborhood, still plugging along like a crazy person.  (I admit, I have now officially skipped a work-out. It was Thanksgiving! Yesterday,  I cooked all morning and due to the fact we had to leave shortly after to make Thanksgiving dinner at a friend's house, it was necessary. Hey people, Thanksgiving feast before working out. It'll win every time.) I have one inch to go to get to my waist goal (which was really my only concern coming into this), and with the holidays starting to round the corner, I'm getting a little iffy about the fact that I'll probably gain thirty pounds with the trip home.  There is so much food I've been missing!!! (Chipotle, Ameristar Crab legs, Zio's, I could go on?) Having said that, I do intend to be very strict (oh who are we kidding? Anyone that knows me knows my love for food. Moderately strict. That's better.) about my diet even after this whole thing is over with. Dane and I have solemnly vowed to each other that we are going to continue working out during our trip home. Sigh. There's no such thing as real vacation now.

This crazy ride is almost over!!! Week 11 is a significant point, because this is the last time I'll be doing some of these work-outs.  No tears being shed over that, trust me.  A little under 3 weeks to go to complete this, can we say, ecstatic??? I've never worked so hard in my life, and seen such amazing results after hanging in there and trusting for awhile.  It has taken a lot of dedication, and I have truly discovered things about myself, as Tony himself promised that I would. :) I'm a mom of twins and I can fit into my skinniest pair of jeans now.  That sentence should say it all.

Top 3 work-outs I still intend to do afterwards:

3)  Plyometrics:  Can't say enough good things about this one. You all know I started out hating this one more than anything in the world. I love it now. Love it. Love-hate it. Hate it. Mostly love it.  It's a killer! Great cardio, fun moves.

2)  Kenpo: Also started out hating this one, it's still not my favorite, but I get a good sweat. This will be for a less strenuous work-out day every now and then. I still look like a dork. No, I'm not posting a video.

1)  Yoga: A good stretch is always needed.  I dread it because it IS hard, but I feel amazing afterward.

I'm sure I'll still use a bunch of them. But one I NEVER intend to do again is Legs and Back. Worst, unbelievably painful work-out. I'd rather have cankles for the rest of my life. No joke. I'm going to burn that dvd when this is over.

Anyway, been a good couple of weeks, hopefully the next are even better! Until next time readers!

Day 30 Photos- Day 60 Photos

Time for pictures again! Pretty excited about the results, because I didn't think I'd notice much of a difference this month.  The most noticable difference to me has been in the Abs. The first pictures are obviously the 30 day pictures, to compare to the new 60 day ones.


Day 30
 
Day 60

 
Day 30

 
Day 60

Week 8-- Day 54-56 Week 9-- Day 57 and 58

I have to say, this week was just what the doctor ordered.  Of course right after I posted my last thoughts, the weight started shredding a bit this week.  Which made me wrap my brain around exactly what I think is going on.  That in fact, most of the fat is being switched out for muscle from the inside out and now that my muscle is toned, my body is starting to take care of the excess fat, which is where the weight loss comes in. I'm feeling great, in shape, energetic, and completely awesome! I love this program! AND, because I was feeling so good this week, I sucked in my breath and decided to take a leap. I tried on and am able to fit into my skinniest pair of jeans buttoned and zipped! lol. Before, I could barely get them up past my hips! (Ah, hips, how you hated childbirth). That for me, was the greatest accomplishment yet! Such a great feeling, all you women can agree with me!

In addition to that, I circled back around today to the work-out that I started the first day (Chest, Back, and Abs. You take a break from that for 4 weeks during month 2.) and the amount of stuff I couldn't do before seems almost easy now in comparison.  Almost. Still pushing myself obviously.  I noticed a difference in my back strength especially, which is awesome to me because my back was so weak before and I had a lot of problems with it during and after the pregnancy.  I can now do decline push-ups with little struggle, where as before I couldn't do a single one.  Dive bomber push-ups where the bane of my existence because I had no strength, and now I can do several of those as well. This was empowering to me because I felt at a low last week.  It's very encouraging and if I don't notice much of a difference in the 60 day pictures I'm about to take, that won't deter me because I know my overall strength has insanely improved. Like I've said before, the goal of this was to gain strength, and to get in shape, not to look completely ripped. (After all, over-the- top expectations just lead to disappointment. That's just realism.) I have a long way to go before that's possible, but I'm much closer than before!

Self-improvement is one of the greatest natural highs! Love it!

Week 7-- Day 43-49 Week 8-- Day 50-53

Wow, good thing I'm not as bad about working out as I am about blogging! :)  Having said that....Ok, so obviously the last few weeks have been crazy, as I was preparing for my daughters' and husband's birthdays within a week of eachother.  I will admit, with preparations for the huge "1" birthday party, I had to skip a day of working out because there was literally too much to do.  It was only Yoga, and I just pushed the workout schedule up a day.  So technically, I skipped a work-out for the first time, but made it up the next day.  So I'll be finishing P90X a day later than planned.  So I felt a little guilty, but it was all too necessary with how stressful that day had been.

It's really getting hard to stay motivated with the diet with the holidays rolling around.  I love food so much...........I'm at a point where my tastebuds are grimacing when salad comes near.  It's hard to find a variety of dressings that are good for you and not full of sugar.  I've gotten lazy with finding new things to eat because it is so time consuming to prepare and hard to veer away from the simple meals for that reason alone. Alas, I'm still plugging along, just not enjoying what I eat completely.  Having kids and figuring out what they should eat is hard enough! Things would be so much easier if I had a cook and a maid..........

I had a pity party for myself yesterday.  This month has been hard with all the festivities in my life that somehow ended up all in October. For whatever reason, I feel like I've hit a wall and am not seeing all the results I want. It seems I'm maintaining my size and weight instead of continuing to lose.  (And like I knew I would, it's hard to not measure the progress in your weight due to the fact that muscle weighs more.) This makes it difficult when I am working as hard as I am every day, (ahem, I'd prefer to call it, busting my ass) because all it really does, is make me want to stop.  I keep going though, because I know this happens, it's just frustrating.  I cannot comprehend how at this point the results are not smack-you-in-the-face obvious every day I look in the mirror.  Hopefully I'll push through the wall soon.  A little under halfway to go until I'm done, so why quit now? If nothing else, I'll walk away being in much better shape than when I started.  This was my gateway program, so it'll be a lot more fun to spice up my work-outs by picking ones that I like, and switching it up when I feel like it.  Hard to get out of the box much with P90X.

On a brighter note, I really enjoy a few of the work-outs that began as the bane of my existence! Plyometrics is an insanely fabulous work-out.  I highly suggest this for anyone who thinks their work-outs are not challenging them.  There is still always something I need to take a break from for a split second, or cannot finish all the reps. Such a work in progress but I love that work-out!

Hopefully it won't be weeks before I get back to this! Hope everyone is doing well!

Week 6--Day 38, 39, 40, 41, 42

I don't know why it's gotten hard to post, but it has.  The newness has worn off I suppose. ;) But nonetheless, I still feel accountable to myself to keep posting, so I can look back on these when I'm done and breathe a big sigh of relief that it's over.

I'd say the biggest part about this experience is how time consuming it is.  The food aspect alone can be exhausting. The shopping for specific foods, preparing and eating the same meals, counting servings, etc can get a little annoying.  An hour and a half work-out a day alone has you wondering where time is flying to. I feel like I have literally lost about 4 hours (if not more) out of my usual schedule.  This can cause some insanity with the personal life and relationships. (So beware...) You definitely need a supportive spouse to be there mentally and to pick up the slack, emotionally, physically, psychologically....(I could go on?). Definitely has invaded all aspects of my life.  I have to say though, it has been worth it.  Yes, it's trying, but I feel fabulous!

I have really started to notice the fatty parts of my body slimming down, in some spots there is no longer any (at least visibly) ;).  Muscle is amplifying a ton, especially in the legs, arms, and back.  I can only imagine where I'd be now if I hadn't had to lose that extra nagging baby weight.  Due to that, I don't think I'll be carrying around a six pack when I finish necessarily, but that was never exactly my goal either. 

It's encouraging to be able to do some of the moves that I started out thinking, "*Scoff* Yeeeah, riiiight".  I do dread a few of the work-outs still, but there are a lot that I look forward to.  I would definitely get weights instead of bands for this, because the bands are not giving me enough resistance at this point.  (Ah, to be able to have a full gym and weight-set in the house.....)

And yet again, I've been pondering what my work-outs are going to be like when this is done, because as wonderful as it's been, I have a hard time imagining doing this program again.  Although, I'll definitely use some of the videos in my daily routines. Anyone have suggestions for a well-rounded work-out schedule that they like to do?

Week 5--Day 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 and Week 6-- Day 36, 37

You may wonder why when I post, I don't just do 31-37....Well I work hard for every one of those days so they deserve their own number. ;) Since it has been so long, and the work-outs are nothing new, I will go ahead and just post about the overall performance this week.  It was a little harder to work on my diet, as we had some family in town, but I still worked out every day, I have yet to miss one.  It is my personal challenge, and so far have yet to disappoint myself.  I guess that's not hard when you lead a life of monotony. ;) I can now do regular push-ups, and finish pretty much every work out, doing all the moves.  I figure if I still sweat a ton through all the work-outs, they must be working! It's getting easier to push myself a little more each time.

As you can see, I posted some progression pictures, and I am pretty happy with the results so far.  Not where I want to end up obviously, but I wasn't expecting to see so many improvements yet.  They're obvious to my jeans and I at least, must be working at least a little. 

It's hard to believe I'm almost halfway there.  It seems like it's taking forever, but it is definitely becoming my way of life now.  I don't really have anything specific to add currently, but that's pretty much because my mind is currently blank from exhaustion.  This is why I usually post in the morning! All I see are Z's.  Hope everyone is doing well!