Day 30 - Chest, Back, and Balance

I decided to try to start phase 2 today since it focuses a lot on building muscle.  Wow, I was amazed at the amount of pullups involved.  Definitely not a great area for me, but I guess that's why it make sense for me to focus in this area.  Doing phase 3 for 4-6 weeks is going to be really good for me based on what I experienced today.  It also includes Ab Ripper, so I did about half of Ab Ripper before I hit the wall.  I suspect I will feel some muscle soreness tomorrow (something I haven't felt for a while now).

Day 29 - X2 Core

Starting off a new week and I'm now doing the full routine without having to make any modifications as a result of the stitches.  So, no more excuses.  At the end I also did some bicep curls and some pushups. I'm feeling really good. 

Day 28 - Rest Day

Getting the day off, but looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow.

Day 27 - X2 Core

Good day of working out.  I did  the full routine and then did some pushups and bicep curls after.  Good workout and it seems that the stitches are holding up just fine. I also took my pictures to show progress for first month of working out.  I'm seeing some progress, but still need to lose some weight around the middle for the progress to really show. 

Day 26 - Balance and Power

Today would normally be yoga, but I still don't have my stitches out and yoga is not a good fit for keeping stitches in place.  So, I decided to do Balance and Power today and I'll finish up the week with work on the core.  It's good to be getting back into a routine, but I didn't push myself all that hard on the workout today.  I think it may be time to move up to Phase 2 soon so that I can try some new routines.

I'm doing better at focusing on my diet to increase the level of protein.  I ate a protein bar for breakfast, an omelet and salad for lunch and had chicken and vegetables over noodles (easy on the noodles) for dinner.  After workout I made a protein shake with frozen strawberries.

Day 25 - Full Body and Ab Ripper

I had a make a few modifications tonight like avoiding use of chin-up bar because I was concerned about it stretching my back too much.  Instead I did some curls with the dumbbells.  Got a good workout tonight.  I wasn't able to do a lot of the Ab Ripper workout because it stretches the back a lot, but I was able to do enough to get some workout on my abs.  It felt good to give the muscles a workout tonight.

Day 24 - Plyocide - Back at it

Today would normally be a rest day, but it's been a week since I've been able to work out because of a minor surgery to remove a mole from my back.  It;s healing up enough that the doc says I can start back to exercise as long as I don't stretch too much.  So, I decided to start back up with Plyocide to get things going again and I can tell you that I noticed that I've taken a week off from exercise.  I hope I don't have to skip a week again any time soon because I lost a lot of ground in the span of seven days.  But, my determination is not weakened at all.  I'm trashed from tonight's workout and I'm already looking forward to getting back into a rhythm by working out again tomorrow night. 

It's now also time that I get more in line with the nutrition plan.  I've been doing pretty well on calories, but too much is coming from carbs.  This morning I switched out my oatmeal for a protein bar.  Not exactly a tasty breakfast, but it provides the extra protein I need.

Day 23 - Plyocide

This is the fourth week that I've done this and I've determined that my cardio endurance stinks.  I was doing my best to do the full reps, but by the end I was taking a break in between each routine.  I have some concern about the fact that in a few weeks I'll be moving up to the next level of routines, but I just have to keep at it and see how things go.  I did more checking into the diet for this and it seems I', still low on protein, so I'm adding in more protein and reducing the carbs even more during this first phase.  I'm definitely seeing improvement in how I look when I stand in front of the mirror.

Day 22 (Start of week 4) - X2 Core

 Started out with plenty of sore muscles today.  Left elbow was sore as well as back and backside, so I did plenty of extra rolling before and after the workout.  I stayed pretty much on pace today until the very end.  I also added some extra dumbbell curls after being done to help the biceps a bit.  Wednesday morning I am having a mole removed, so I won't be able to work out for a few days after that because of the stitches, so I need to get the most out of today and tomorrow.

Diet today has been pretty good so far.  Oatmeal and a piece of toast for Breakfast.  Salad with chicken breast and some pretzels for lunch and a protein shake after the workout.  I'm now down a total of 20 pounds since starting to diet.  Size 34 pants are now very comfortable if not loose at times.

Day 21 - Rest day

Week 3 is in the books.  At this point I'm just under a quarter of the way through this 90-day "transformation" and I see some good progress, but 3 weeks isn't much time, so I have to wonder if I'll be where I want to be when I get to the end of 90 days.  Time will tell.  Maybe this will end up be P120X2 for me.  Whatever it ends up being, I am committed to keeping up the workouts.

Day 20 - Balance and Power

Today I started off by playing some basketball again.  It was a lot easier to run the floor today.  As it turns out my shot is starting to come back and I suspect that part of that relates to my legs not getting tired so quickly.

I went out and got the 10 lbs dumbbells today so that I would use them with my workout.  Well, they sure did make a difference.  I tracked my reps on the worksheet for the first time today with this routine.  I could really feel the benefit ans I went through the workout including the bonus section at the end.  I think I'm going to sleep well tonight.  After working out I make up a fruit smoothie with 1% milk, frozen strawberries and protein powder.  Yum.

Day 19 - Yoga

Buckets of sweat from the routine today.  I got a lot more benefit from the yoga this time around and was able to do most of the routines.  I came up short on time for only a couple of things, so I'm definitely making some progress.  I feel really good after finishing the workout. Before I started working out I knew I was out of shape and overweight, but now that I'm starting to shed the weight I realize there is a lot more there than I previously thought.

Day 18 - Full Body and Ab Ripper

Wow, this is a great workout.  I got more reps this time on a couple of the routines.  I also made it through Ab Ripper this time with some modifications.  I suspect I'm going to feel the results of this tomorrow.  I had some muscle cramps in the stomach muscles toward the end, so I hit my limit by the end.

I had an off-site company meeting today with lunch and snacks provided.  I had salad, vegetable soup, baked fish, carrots and string beans for lunch.  Only snack I had was a few pretzels.  I had to avoid a lot of sweets and very heavy snacks, but I resisted the urge to indulge.  For dinner we had spaghetti, so I had to keep it to a pretty small portion before working out. I had a protein shake and a frozen fruit bar after the workout.

Day 17 - X2 Mobility and Recovery

I tried the mobility and recovery DVD for the first time and I enjoyed the amount of stretching and rolling.  Hurts so good to work out those knots.  I'm ready for tomorrow's workout.

Day 16 - Plyocide

I was bowling with some co-workers tonight after work, so I got a late start to working out.  Also, I had a couple slices of pizza while bowling.  That didn't completely kill my calories for the day since breakfast and lunch were pretty controlled, but I need to be careful to not fall back into eating too much unhealthy food. It would be really easy to become complacent about what I eat and I don't want to do that.  

I think I got a bit further on the reps this week, but the cardio work in this is still tough for me.  I took a number of breaks throughout the workout.  It seems my balance is improving a bit.  I'm really glad I'm doing this because it's showing me just how much I needed to get into the routine of working out more.  I'm making progress, but I still think it's in my best interest to keep on phase 1 for six weeks before moving on to phase 2.

Day 15 (Start of week 3) - Core

Today's workout was good.  I tracked my reps this time and was able to get pretty close to full reps for most of the routines.  A couple were still tough, but I feel pretty confident that I can get to full reps by the time I switch to phase 2 at the end of six weeks.  I had to take a couple of extra breaks after finishing the things that required more cardio, but still feel pretty good about my improvement compared to previous weeks.  I stayed within calories again today even with the protein powder and milk after my workout.  I'm starting to get pretty excited about the progress I'm seeing with my body.

Day 14 - Rest day

Just weighed myself again this morning and I'm now down to 170.  After all of the activity yesterday I could feel my body going into "burn" mode to recover.  I was tired so I went to bed early last night.  This morning I feel great, but I do not plan on any workouts since Sunday is a day of rest.  The pain in my mid-back is pretty much gone right now.  I have hopes that the relief will continue as I keep going. This program is amazing.

Day 13 - Balance and Power

Today started off with basketball for 90 minutes and then I went to help a friend unload his 30 foot trailer of stuff into his new house.  Got a good workout from hauling all of the boxes into his garage.  I was thinking about maybe not doing P90X2 today since the morning wore me out, but I decided to give it a try and see how far I would get.  I got through the workout, but some moves were pretty tough because my hips were screaming from the activities of the day.  I'm glad I decided to do it because it helped to loosen some muscles.

Day 12 - Yoga time

I can't remember the last time I sweat so much.  My balance is improving some and I am getting a bit further into the reps on yoga, so it seems to be working.  My son (who is 15) started following the program this week and he also found yoga to be a good challenge.  Tomorrow I need to go out and get some 10 pound weights.  The 5 pounders are too light for a lot of the workouts where weight is needed.

Day 11 - Full Body and Ab Ripper

Well, I weighed in yesterday morning and I'm continuing to lose weight.  I'm now down to 172 according to my scale, so 16 lbs off so far.   I'm fitting into pants that I haven't been able to wear in quite some time.  Very encouraging.  But, when I look int the mirror I still see a lot of work remaining (especially from the back). 

Tonight's workout was really good.  I printed out the tracking sheets and recorded my reps for the first time.  I ended up having to stop about 3/4 of the way through ab ripper.  My abs were fried.  I'm still really struggling with the pull-up routines in full body, so ended up using a chair to help after the first couple of reps.  Long way to go there to match reps.

I'm doing pretty well at staying within calories.  Tonight a had a very small piece of cake and a scoop of vanilla ice cream to celebrate my daughter's birthday.  It put me a bit over (at about 1800), but most other days have been pretty good.

Day 10 - Rest Day

Enjoying an evening of doing nothing.

Day 9 - Plyocide again - Oh the pain

Well, I was hoping it may be easier now that I'm into my second week, but no such luck.  I got a bit further into the routines though, so some encouragement there.  I still have a long way to go to finish the routine, but I'm now trying to get in more of the reps and then pause the dvd for a break if needed. The stretch routine at the end was really helpful if a little bit painful. 

Day 8 - Back to Core and then some

My day started out today with about 90 minutes of basketball followed by some soy protein and 1% milk and a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast.  Since it's a holiday I decided to rest for a bit before going rock climbing with my daughter.  We did that for about an hour and then came home and had some lunch.  I had 4 ounces of left over pork roast and a half of a baked potato (nothing on it).  I rested for another hour or so and then did my X2 workout that focuses on the core.  It was still a real challenge for me to try to match the reps, but it seems like this time around I did a better job of isolating the muscle groups.  I'm still struggling with workouts that involve the hips.  Mine are in really poor shape, so those routines are going to take a while.  After the workout I made up another glass of the protein mix with 1% milk and added in a bannana.  I need to be careful on calories since it's my daughters 18th birthday, so we're heading the Texas Roadhouse.  I doubt there is much there I can get away with eating, but we'll see.

 In spite of the holidays, I've lost another pound, so now down to 174.

Day 7 - Rest day (thankfully)

Still sore in a number of places, so the day off is very welcome.  I'm looking forward to getting back to it tomorrow.