March Madness: Pause 2.

This morning, I awoke with a sore back. It wasn’t bad enough that I couldn’t move, but I felt it best to relax for a day. So, another pause. I’m being cautious so I don’t potentially injure myself. Even though it’s the third week of P90X, my body is still getting used to all the exercises and some areas are more prone to irritation than others.

Hopefully, I’ll get back on track and continue forward. I’m not a wuss, I’m just smart.

Exercise Plan

I planned to do P90X Shoulders and Arms, didn’t work out.

Food Plan

• Breakfast: pork and cheese bun and 1 blood orange
• Lunch: mashed sweet potatoes with 1 hard-boiled egg and blanched asparagus
• Snack: 1 hard-boiled egg
• Snack: 3 Girl Scout Thin Mints
• Dinner: 1/2 Chipotle chicken burrito bowl

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No photo today.

*Edit: I added the photo because I thought my lunch was so pretty. =)

March Madness: Day 16

Exercise Plan

P90X Plyometrics. I was determined not to let my previous failure get in the way of completing this workout. So, I did this before breakfast, started out easy, and increased my intensity as the the rest of the program continued. I’m happy to say I finished Plyometrics!

Though, I did most of the modified exercises because my right knee felt strange halfway. About 15 minutes before the end, my right shin started to tingle. I need to strengthen my right leg. For my bottom half, my right side is weaker than my left. I guess that’s what happens when you’ve played taiko for 3 years and practically stayed in a left side lunge the whole time. My right side never got as developed and it’s showing now.

Food Plan

• Breakfast: pigs in a blanket bun, 1 blood orange, and 1 cup lemon salt water “gatorade”
• Lunch: 1/2 ham and egg musubi
• Dinner: baby lettuce salad and green onions with lemon sesame vinaigrette and 1/2 ham and egg musubi
• Snack: 1 handful of melon seeds

I planned to have a big lunch today, but for some reason, I only wanted half the musubi. So, I saved the rest for dinner. Perhaps it’s because of Plyometrics and my 7PM nap, but I wasn’t feeling so hungry. So why force yourself?

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March Madness: Day 15

Today was a much better day. I went back to the normal schedule, but now, my rest days are on Mondays.

Exercise Plan

P90X Chest & Back and Ab Ripper X.

For Chest & Back, I did 18 reps of everything except for 15 reps of back flys. I used 10 lb weights for the weighted exercises and a green resistance band for the pull-ups. My right shoulder was feeling a bit awkward, so I eased up on it halfway. For the bands during pull-ups, I noticed that pull unbalanced…one side is slightly stronger than the other, so the band moves around. I’ll have to find a solution for that later.

Ab Ripper X. I completed all the exercises and for Mason twists, I did 75 reps without any weight. I still need to work on my form for a couple of the exercises and straighten my legs. But really, those sit-ups kill because I feel like I’m “kipping” instead of doing them properly.

Food Plan

• Breakfast: 1/2 green onion bun and 1 blood orange
• Lunch: rotisserie chicken sandwich with homemade bread, mayo, pesto, baby lettuce salad, and alfalfa sprouts
• Snack: 3 home-made strawberry veronas
• Dinner: beef, eggplant, black bean and garlic stew with rice and green onions

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March Madness: Pause.

Oh what a day. My low blood pressure tendency reared its ugly head. I got up this morning and felt super light-headed and dizzy. I lacked energy to do anything and I wasn’t up for working out. Bah!

I guess my body needs a break.

Exercise Plan

I planned to do P90X Chest & Back and Ab Ripper X. However, I’m not feeling so good so I’m pushing it back to tomorrow.

Food Plan

• Breakfast: 1 blood orange and 1/2 green onion/ground pork bun
• Snack: 4 Girl Scout Thin Mints
• Snack: baby lettuce salad with beets, alfalfa sprouts, sesame seeds, and balsamic vinaigrette
• Snack: 3 slices of home-made herb focaccia bread with balsamic vinegar and olive oil

I didn’t have much today, but hopefully I’ll be better tomorrow and have actual meals instead of snacks.

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March Madness: Day 14

Another weekend complete. I felt like making bread this weekend, so I found a recipe for sweet potato bread and herb focaccia. I didn’t do much today, so I wasn’t very hungry…hence, the lack of snacks. Still, I find myself quite satisfied at the end of the day.

Exercise Plan

P90X X Stretch. I’m feeling more sore as of late, but I take it as a sign that I’m working hard and I’m not coasting. My hamstrings, quads, and glutes are tight, so it took some extra stretches to loosen them up and make them feel better. I love stretching!

Food Plan

• Brunch: 1/2 blood orange and 1 BBQ pork bun
• Dinner: rotisserie chicken pasta with homemade pesto
• Snack: lemon honey jujube tea

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March Madness: Day 13

It’s the weekend but it doesn’t mean I stop moving around!

Exercise Plan

Kenpo X. Since I tried to increase the intensity yesterday, my back was a bit sore. However, I did pretty well in Kenpo. I really should stick to keeping these workouts in the morning and for high intensity ones, no breakfast before. That was probably part of my downfall in Plyometrics.

Food Plan

• Breakfast: 1/2 cup yogurt and 1 blood orange
• Lunch: rotisserie chicken sandwich and homemade bread, pesto, alfalfa sprouts, baby lettuce salad, and mayo
• Snack: 2 Girl Scout Thin Mints and 1 Peanut Butter Sandwich
• Dinner: 1 cup chili, 3 potato skins, 1 strawberry milkshake

I went out to eat at a diner  with some friends and the food was surprisingly good. They do it old school: potato skins that taste like a real potato and milkshakes made with milk and no powder…Amazing! Silly how little things like that make me appreciate the establishment so much more.

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March Madness: Day 12

It’s Friday!

I’m in a baking mood, so I’m picking my up Bread Bible, looking for a recipe to try. I already made white bread a la Julia Child and that turned out wonderfully. You can see the results for my sandwiches and French toast. Plus, I was a bit nostalgic for comfort food, hence the mac & cheese. Since I didn’t exercise in the morning, my food consumption has been pretty low.

Exercise Plan

P90X Legs & Back and Ab Ripper X. I did this double workout in the evening today and I don’t think I’ll attempt that again. I was so tired at the end of the day, I wasn’t as excited to complete it, but I finished.

For Legs & Back, I did 25 reps for most exercises, 20 reps for pull-ups with a green resistance band, and 15 reps for the step backward lunges. For the exercises that added weights, I used 10 lb dumbbells. I know I need to go lower on the sneaky lunges and I definitely felt the burn during the calf raises.

My right knee was feeling funky halfway through on the lunges, so I eased up on it. It wasn’t anything serious, but I wanted to be careful just in case.

As for Ab Ripper X, I did all the exercises and did 50 reps with a 5 lb weight for the Mason twists. I had a mini breakthrough during the hip rock and raise exercise. It always felt awkward, but after reviewing the exercise a couple of times and listening more carefully to the directions, I finally know how to do it properly!

Food Plan

• Breakfast: 2 slices of home-made French toast with maple syrup and 1 hard-boiled egg
• Lunch: rotisserie chicken sandwich with baby lettuce salad, alfalfa sprouts, strawberry jam, and balsamic vinegar
• Dinner: home-made gruyere mac & cheese with almond meal and parsley
• Snack: 1 blood orange

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March Madness: Day 11

I think I’ve found a way to battle my light-headedness and my mid-afternoon slump.

I had lemon honey jujube tea yesterday and I didn’t need a nap. Plus this morning, I had the tea again and I wasn’t so light-headed and I kept up my energy throughout the day. It might be a placebo, but I take heart that it’s something simple, easy, tasty, and beneficial…even if it does nothing but add antioxidants into my system.

Exercise Plan

P90X Yoga X. I still haven’t been able to fully accomplish the twisting half moon or the crane pose, but I did better at the standing leg lifts, I attempted the wheel for 15 seconds before moving back to the bridge, and I lasted longer during the “yoga belly” section.

Since it was a relatively long workout session, I focused on my breathing and my muscles. During each pose and exercise, I did my best to stay low on the lunges, straighten out my legs, and improve my form. It’s nice to have that extra time to reflect, meditate, and understand my body better. Even for the simplest exercises like corpse pose and child’s pose, I was figuring out which muscles were being pulled and how they were stretching.

It might be strange that I’m thinking so much during this yoga session, but it makes me more in tune with my body. I’m better able to balance and my posture has improved during the day. I don’t slouch as much and I can feel how my body dislikes my poor posture and how it pulls on my back.

To the core, I think yoga helps build that relationship between your mind and body…recognizing how far you can push your body and how to take better care of it. Yoga is so important that I feel that many of us discount it as a fad exercise, but really, it’s something that has stood the test of time and yet we Americans are only recently coming into contact with it.

Food Plan

• Breakfast: 2 hard-boiled eggs, raw carrots, and lemon honey jujube tea
• Lunch: rotisserie chicken sandwich with home-made white bread, mustard, mayo, alfalfa sprouts, and baby lettuce salad
• Snack: 3 Girl Scout Thin Mints
• Dinner: sweet potato veggie soup with steamed rice
• Snack: peach “crumble” with yogurt and mint

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March Madness: Day 10

I felt better today though I’m still a bit light-headed. I guess it’s just one of those days.

I was curious as to how my body is changing, even though it’s been less than 2 weeks, I did a bit of measuring. It turns out that I lost 1/2″ from my waist, hips, and thighs…Yay! I thought my thighs were getting bigger with all these lunges, but in fact, it’s shrinking. Hopefully this will continue as the weeks progress.

Exercise Plan

Shoulders & Arms and Ab Ripper X.

For Shoulders & Arms, I used a combination of the 5lb and 10 lb weights. For 5 lb weights, I did the tricep exercises, static arm curls, and shoulder flys for 15-16 reps. The rest of the exercises I used 10 lb weights with 10 reps. I did 20 reps for chair dips. And in the bonus round, I used 5 lb weights for 16 reps.

Ab Ripper X was slightly easier again. I all 349 exercises and for the mason twist I did 50 reps with a 5 lb weight. At the end of today’s workout, my belly button was tingly…I guess I was working out my transversus abdominus!

Food Plan

• Breakfast: 2 mini pumpkin pancakes, 1/2 cup yogurt with mint
• Snack: 4 Girl Scout Thin Mints
• Lunch: rotisserie chicken and blanched asparagus with pennette
• Snack: 2 hard-boiled eggs and lemon honey jujube tea
• Dinner: 1 chicken cannelloni, 1 small plate of seafood linguini

I went out to eat again. My friend called me out of the blue for dinner and I wasn’t feeling like eating the food I have in the fridge, so I went out to a local Italian restaurant nearby. Funny how we discussed food, exercise, and weight…he’s looking to bulk up while his roommate is trying to slim down. They probably shouldn’t be eating the same food.

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March Madness: Day 9

Today was the first day I got totally schooled by P90X…Plyometrics.

I was so disappointed I didn’t finish the full 60 minutes, but I’m glad I didn’t keep going because I probably would’ve hurt myself.

Exercise Plan

P90X Plyometrics. They weren’t kidding about this being hard. I was keeping up with them until halfway through the session when I noticed I couldn’t breathe properly and I had to stop. My body is fine, I didn’t pull anything, but…my lungs couldn’t take it. (how lame right?) My throat was drying up even though I was drinking water and my belly started filling up and weighing me down…so by the middle of the program…I was light-headed and slightly nauseous. Boo!

I need to work my way up to finish this exercise. I’m human after all. 😛

Food Plan

• Breakfast: 4 mini pumpkin pancakes, 2 hard-boiled eggs, 1/2 grapefruit, 1/2 cup yogurt
• Snack: raw carrots
• Lunch: 2 pork medallions with Trader Joe’s harvest blend
• Snack: 2 Girl Scout Thin Mints and 1 Girl Scout Peanut Butter Sandwich and handful of pine nuts
• Snack: baby lettuce salad with beets, alfalfa sprouts, sesame seeds, and honey balsamic vinaigrette
• Dinner: sweet potato soup with rotisserie chicken, black eyed peas, bitter and sweet almonds, ginger, and white fungus
• Snack: 2 Trader Joe’s Mini Mint Mouthfuls and 2 Girl Scout Peanut Butter Sandwich

Exercising every day is causing me to gradually increase my food intake. I need more salt, sugar, and carbs to keep the energy up throughout the day. I might need to add Gatorade or take salt packets with me…but that feels so strange. I guess I was “too” healthy…but not really because there is no such thing as being too healthy.

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