P90X - Week 6 - Wednesday

This woman is my new hero. I just discovered her blog today. I'm fascinated and insanely jealous. She is on Round #4 of P90X, and is mixing it with Insanity, sometimes doing 3 workouts a day. I have a lot more of her blog to read but holy hell, I am impressed. And sad to know that I could never do what she's doing.

I think I need a new transmitter strap for my heart rate monitor. This is the second day in a row I've had problems keeping a reading. I am positive the strap was clean and moist enough. I did Cardio X and burned 206 calories (earning 2 Activity Points). I really did not want to get up at 5 AM to do it - that first 5 minutes is really rough. Today's workout sucked even more because I think I pulled something in my glute last night. I couldn't do strong kicks with my left leg and bending over is somewhat uncomfortable. After cardio, I spent some time stretching my lower body, but it still aches. I'm glad it's not Legs & Back day! I did ARX after cardio, took my son to school, then came home to do Back & Biceps (2 more APs). I really, really need to force myself to split the workouts up properly. Doing them both in the morning (especially less than 2 hours apart) leaves me completely drained.

I didn't have huge improvements with Back & Biceps. Last week's weights were so challenging that I stuck with them, and still struggled. I am having problems with the corn cob pull ups and towel pull ups. With the corn cobs, you're supposed to move your body from side to side when you're up, but my pull up bar has rounded handles sticking out right where your body would to on those sides, so I can't really do them properly. I'm not sure how to get around that. I can fix the issue I'm having with towel pull ups though - I was using a regular hand towel, and it's just too thick for my little hands to grip. So next week I am going to try one of my microfiber dust rags. I am pretty sure that will be better for me. (Actually, I just tried it with the dust rag and it's perfect! I actually did one unassisted). The one bright spot in today's workout was during the switch grip pull ups - I managed one unassisted chin up and one unassisted pull up!

apple & cottage cheese [5 pts]

scrambled eggs w/ onion, green pepper & salsa, toast w/ reduced-sugar jelly [5 pts]

pudding [1 pt]

chicken breast, baked sweet potato fries [4 pts]

chicken breast, baby carrots & green pepper slices [3 pts]

yogurt [2 pts]

Four cups of coffee [1 pt] and 80 ounces of water.

21 points today. 23 weekly points and 12 activity points remaining.

P90X - Week 6 - Tuesday

I did Plyometrics today. My heart rate monitor went wonky a couple times - I think my strap needed to be washed. I burned 403 calories (earning 4 Activity Points). I was tired doing this workout. I didn't want to do it. Well, that's not really true. I never like to start the workout, but once I get going, I'm always glad I did it. Okay, that's not exactly true, either. I hate doing the workout, but once I'm done, I am always glad I did it. And Plyometrics always reminds me that I am absolutely not ready for Insanity.

banana & cottage cheese [3 pts]

omelet w/ onion, green pepper & salsa, toast w/ reduced-sugar jelly [7 pts]

apple & cottage cheese [4 pts]

baby carrots [0 pts]

green & red pepper slices [0 pts]

chicken breast w/ black beans, cheese, corn & salsa on a whole wheat pita [9 pts]

Special K Protein Plus cereal w/ skim milk [2 pts]

Four cups of coffee [1 pt], two cups of tea [0 pts] and 100 ounces of water.

26 points today. 23 weekly points and 8 activity points remaining.

P90X - Week 6 - Monday

Sometimes I wake up in the morning and question my sanity regarding the P90X Doubles program. I almost skipped (or at least put off) Cardio X this morning when the alarm went off at 5 AM. I'd been awake on and off for a good hour, trying to get back into a dream involving John Mayer (not THAT kind of dream!!). I got up and put myself to work. I hate doing jumping jacks as part of a warm up, but I love doing them well into the cardio. It was a good workout (215 calories, so I earned 2 Activity Points here), and I followed up with ARX. I continue to make progress with this one, as well. I can probably do half the exercises without having to pause. I fear I will never be able to do all the Fifer scissors in one shot. Ugh, those things are killer.

My weight workout today was Chest, Shoulders & Triceps. Holy hell, I do like this one a lot. I'm getting to be a pretty good pusher-upper! I am having a problem with the Pour Flys. I can get the fly part down, but when it comes to tipping the hands forward ina pouring motion, my wrists just won't cooperate. I can pour backwards, but not forward. If I use a lighter weight, I can almost get the pour motion, but then my shoulders are not challenged at all. I would much rather lift a weight that challenges my muscles and do an isometric hold at the top, than be able to do the pouring motion. The guy in the video who uses the bands doesn't do the pour move, so I'm figuring I can do the iso move like he does and it will be fine.

I'm doing more and more of them on my toes, and today, I even used the push up part of my Iron Gym. I must get some separate push up bars because the ones on the Iron Gym are fixed, and I can't do wide stance push ups. Push ups on the bars are a lot more challenging than the floor! I didn't use the gym for all the push ups but a few, and I can tell the difference already. My entire upper body is just shot right now, and it feels great! I was sweating my butt off and really, really worked to failure. I'll give myself 2 Activity Points for this, also.

Oh! I got some of those interlocking exercise mats, the ones that are the hardish foamy stuff? LOL My brother had an almost complete set (it's missing two squares) and it's really going to help with plyometrics and kenpo. My landings are softer and I can twist my legs easier. The thing is filthy from being in his truck but whatever.

apple & cottage cheese [4 pts - it was a bigger apple]

omelet w/ onion, green pepper & salsa, multigrain English muffin w/ reduced sugar jelly [4 pts]

banana [1 pt]

green pepper slices & baby carrots [1 pt]

chicken breast w/ black beans, corn & salsa [5 pts]

Special K Protein Plus cereal w/ skim milk [2 pts]

chicken breast w/ romaine lettuce & light ranch dressing [8 pts]

Four cups of coffee [1 pt] & 80 ounces of water

26 points today. 29 weekly points, 4 activity points remaining.

P90X - Week 5 - Sunday

I did X Stretch today and it felt so good!!!

I thought a lot about WW activity points this morning and looked at the information on the slider. Even for light, not breaking a sweat activities, you get points. I was only going to give myself APs for cardio workouts and the Legs & Back workout (because it's high intensity for me), but I think I'm screwing myself if I don't take APs for the other two weight workouts, the yoga, and the stretch. If I exclude warm up and cool down, I get 2 points per (moderate) weight workout. I'd call yoga a moderate workout as well, because I do break a sweat, - so 3 points for that. Stretch gets 2 points. That's an extra 9 points I'm adding on that I could take this week. I was down to 2 before adding these in. I don't want to under eat and I know damn well I'm not over eating here.

I got an unofficial answer to yesterday's question about servings per day, and points. My friend Caity said, "It's per day. I remember we discussed it in a meeting once. If you eat more than one serving in a 24 hour period, you have to use the higher points." Thank you, Caity!

And I must rant about something right now. I've been using SparkPeople to track my calories for over 2 years. I trusted the nutritional information that was offered there (that was entered by Spark, not other users). Today, I learned that boneless, skinless chicken breast (which I eat tons of) has about 50 calories more per 100 grams than Spark says. I don't know why it's so different - the cooking methods I go by are always roasted with no added fat. My MasterCook recipe program and TheDailyPlate give the same information as Spark, but FitDay, CalorieCount, the USDA database, and CalorieKing all give higher numbers. I don't know what to go by. In terms of WW, the difference in points between the two sets of numbers is 2 points! That is a BIG DEAL.

cantaloupe & cottage cheese [3 pts]

scrambled eggs w/onion, green pepper & picante sauce, light English muffin w/ reduced-sugar jelly [4 pts]

yogurt & banana [3 pts]

green pepper slices & Canadian bacon [2 pt]

grilled pork loin & baked sweet potato chips [8 pts]

apple & mozzarella string cheese [2 pts]

cottage cheese w/ cinnamon & Splenda [4 pts]

Four cups of coffee [1 pt] and 80 ounces of water.

27 points today, with 5 APs to spare.

P90X - Week 5 - Saturday

Kenpo today. I read on the Beachbody boards to try doing the routine with light hand weights. As much as I'm opposed to using hand weights during cardio (because of potential injury to the wrists), I went ahead and used my 3 pounders. They were too heavy for this kind of stuff. I used them on and off throughout the workout, but I thought I was working better without them. I used the weights to try to burn more calories, and I ended up burning fewer than usual (328) but I think it's because my legs are still toast.

I'm very pleased. I took this WW point calculator and downloaded the web page to make it available offline, and transferred it to my phone. So now I can calculate points anywhere, and I don't even need to be online. Yay!

I need some help from my WW friends. As you know, I'm pretty compulsive about calories and such, and have always resisted WW because I didn't feel like it was a true account of what we really eat. Obviously, it works for many, many people, and maybe I just spend too much time thinking about stuff, but here's my problem. I'm going to use the Special K Protein Plus cereal as an example. Per serving (29 g of cereal, no milk), it has 100 calories, 3 g fat, and 5 g fiber. That is 1 point per serving. It's almost 2 points, but it clearly falls in the 1 point block. If I were to eat two servings at once, that's 200 calories, 6 g fat and 10 g fiber. That is 4 points. Barely 4, but clearly in the 4 point block. I realize that only the first 4 grams of fiber per serving count, and that's why the number is so much higher.

Let's say I have a double serving of cereal 5 times a day. That's 20 points, just 1 point under my daily limit, but only 1000 calories for the day. If I have 1 serving 10 times a day, that's 10 points, and still 1000 calories. In theory, I can still eat the same amount of cereal, but only use up half the points. Obviously, the latter method is the way to go, but where do you say, "Okay, enough time has passed since I ate that bowl that I can have another and it's still only 1 more point?" How much time has to elapse for servings to be considered separate? I could EASILY eat 4-5 servings of cereal at once. Four servings at once is 16 points. Another example, and this one is relevant to me, is milk. I drink 4 cups of coffee per day (usually), with 2 tbs (0 points) skim milk in each cup. That adds up to 1/2 up of milk (1 point). But I drink those 4 cups over an 8-10 hour period. It's "only" 1 point, but sometimes I need that point. Mathematically, WW is weird to me. The general rule of "if you consume 5 or more servings of a 0 point food, count it" confuses me, too. Count each serving as 1 point? Or count each serving after 5 as 1 point?

Special K cereal w/ skim milk, banana [3 pts]

scrambled eggs w/onion, green pepper & picante sauce, light English muffin w/ reduced-sugar jelly [4 pts]

chicken pizza pita [7 pts]

shrimp & scallops w/ whole wheat pasta & mixed vegetables [7 pts]

cottage cheese w/ cinnamon & Splenda [4 pts]

Two cups of coffee [0 points? Or half a point?] and 80 ounces of water.

25 points today. I still have 2 activity points for tomorrow. I'll have to eat like a bird.

P90X - Week 5 - Friday

I got up at 5 AM and did Legs & Back, followed by ARX. I tried to use the chair less for the assisted pull ups. As a result, I did fewer reps than I did the last time I did this work out, but I felt like it worked me better. Crazy me did Turbo Jam Cardio Party 2 (43 minutes and 320 calories) less than 2 hours after finishing my workout and it was rough. I probably could have handled Cardio X that close to the other workout, but TJ was tough as hell with wasted legs.

My son was a riot today. I was cooking dinner and he yelled, "Mommy, I'm doing sneaky lunges!" I walked out to the living room and sure enough, he was sneaky lunging across the room just like Tony Horton and the gang. Then Sebastian wanted to learn more exercises, so I picked out some of the funnier stuff - wacky jacks, Groucho walk, leap frog. Then he wanted to try some yoga. He's pretty good with the vinyasa. He does a fantastic downward dog, too! Child's pose - nails it ;p Then for good measure, he threw in my favorite Turbo Jam move - the Twist. Fun kid. I'm pooped.

Food sucked today, and I'm really disappointed in myself. I bought some candy corn and ate most of the damn bag. I'm completely out of weekly points, and I'm down to 3 activity points (I'll earn 2 more tomorrow) to get me through Sunday. Bummer.

apple & cottage cheese [3 pts]

chocolate milk & banana [4 pts]; I definitely needed a pick me after my P90X workouts this morning.

eggs & toast w/ light cream cheese [7 pts]

green pepper slices, chicken breast on romaine lettuce wraps [5 pts]

candy corn [12 points]; Yeah. Really.

banana [1 pt]

pita pizza [7 points]; We made pizzas with whole wheat pitas, onions, green peppers, turkey bacon, Canadian bacon & mozzarella cheese. They were delicious.

Two cups of coffee [0 points] and 80 ounces of water.

41 points today. Damn it. I can't even be sure of my math.

P90X - Week 5 - Thursday

Ahhhhh, 5 AM yoga! I still have trouble with the half moon stuff and crane, but I nailed that under the leg/behind the back grab thing!

Meditation is still going well. Mostly, I'm too tired at night to concentrate too much, but I'm making the effort.

I'm so hungry today. I used up all my daily points before dinner.

apple & cottage cheese [3 pts]

scrambled eggs & English muffin w/ light cream cheese [5 pts]

roasted chicken w/ mustard & romaine lettuce on whole wheat homemade bread [4 pts]

Special K cereal w/ skim milk, banana [3 pts]

mozzarella string cheese [1 pt]

ice cream [3 pts]

half a Hershey's Sundae Pie from Burger King [4 points - FOR HALF!!!]; So not worth it.

chicken fried steak w/ mixed vegetables [6 pts]; I have a massive Word doc full of WW recipes - I think I got it from someone on Babycenter. It's awesome - if you would like a copy, email me - rjwalker22@gmail.com

Three cups of coffee [1 pt] and 80 ounces of water.

30 points today, thanks to a couple bad decisions. I'm down to 8 weekly points and I have 6 activity points. I am not sure if I should give myself APs for my weight workouts or not. I'm not giving myself any for yoga/stretch, just the cardio workouts. I'm using the 100 calories burned = 1 point guideline. I have the slider (thanks, Mel!) and it's pretty close to that if I count Plyo (for example) as 45 minutes of high intensity exercise. Yeah, the workout is almost an hour but the warm up and cool down doesn't make me sweat so I don't bother. I do sweat with the weight workouts, but I'm no continuously in motion (as in doing reps). That is the same reason I don't wear my heart rate monitor during weights. So I'm not sure how to classify it. It's definitely high intensity, but what's the actual time of work? Certainly not an hour, or even 45 minutes.