Norwalk: the worst way to lose weight

You know all those ads in magazines that promise that you will lose 10lbs in a week? I think they send you a bottle of the Norwalk virus. I bet those people don't know what they're getting into. I do.

So last night Dave and I were in the new GolfTown and I started to feel a bit nauseated. I thought it would pass so we left and went to my sister-in-law's place for dinner. Unfortunately it didn't go away so Dave went out and got me some gravol and ginger ale. We left after dinner because I was feeling progressively worse. We brought a plastic bag in the car on the way home (I had to use it!!). The rest of the night was just fubar. I'll save you the details. With all the water weight gone I weighed 5lbs lighter this morning. Craziness. It's taken me almost four hours today to eat a bowl of soup. Hopefully I feel better soon!

Off the wagon

I'm well into the "chip depression." Winter funk mixed with other stuff such as my thesis had compounded into a gigantic mess. On the upside eating has been delious. On the downside I probably can't do any manly pushups and I gained back all the weight I lost since christmas. I weighed in at 153.4lbs yesterday. It was the first time I stepped on the scale since I leap off the wagon.

I am planning to make next Tuesday back on the wagon day. Dave has promised to do a round of P90x with me. This plan is the goal. If I'm not ready then just some small steps in a postive direction would be good.

Winter done, bring on Spring!

So I actually learned a couple new things this winter in the department of fitness. I started hiking with snowshoes and I learned to snowboard! Snowboarding was great, except I have to learn to go faster! I have since found that it has made my ankle a lot stronger than it was before the surgery. I am pretty happy with that development.

Now on to Spring and Summer sports! I have already taken my bike out for it's first ride of the season! Did 11.97 km while Jim chased behind me on his rollerblades (it really wasn't fair but who is counting right?). He actually grabbed onto my seat at one point and dragged himself behind... that was a little tougher... made the legs burn!

I have been trying to do the gym at least 3 times a week, if not more. So far I have been succeeding... hoping to keep that up, but I am not sure what is going to happen once summer hits. I am going to want to be outside, not in a dungeon of a gym! No windows makes for a boring workout... more so when you get down there only to discover your ipod is dead... oh yeah, it happened. I am now doing this hybrid arm workout where I use the ball as well as a set of weights.

I also started Wii Activ. So I did a 20 some odd minute full tone workout last night on it and now it kinda hurts a little bit to walk. Basically if I did the exercise wrong it would wait until I got it right or it would make me redo it. So basically without screaming at me it made me do an entire workout properly. The music kind of sucks on it though, wishing I could plug some of my mp3's into it... but oh well. I have to admit I did swear at the virtual trainer a couple times... basically asking her in not so many words why she was making me do such an exercise. Gonna give it another try tomorrow night... maybe there will be less... or maybe more... swearing. Will report back with findings.

Mel

Good Riddance February!

February was not a super great month. I pulled my groin and skipped a week of workouts. Then I threw a temper tantrum and skipped another half week. Check out my workout schedule. Even though it's exactly half full, (which is great!) it's technically supposed to have only 4 days off. Oops! Due to my lack of effort in week 7 I am adding another week of P90x. A week 7 do-over.

My March resolution is to do much better. I want March to be pumped and as full of workouts as January was. Okay so at very least I will aim for 80% completion - honestly bad days are bound to happen.

Get "Beach Ready!"

Compliments of Failblog

Feeling Blah

I've skipped my workouts for the last two days. Monday I was feeling sore and tired. I just wanted to sit on the couch and watch the oylmpics. Last night I actually got through 10 minutes of Legs & Back before I threw a temper tantrum and called it a night. I did the stretching routine and then I tried to attach my resistance band to the door attachment. Well for some reason this took me almost 15 minutes to accomplish. My cat has this irrational thing for the hallway in my apartment building and kept going outside. To go get her I have to open the door wider to get myself through and then the attachment falls out. I was really frustrated. Then I went to move some big tupperware boxes out of the way to make some room for the workout and the top one fell on me. So I threw a hissy-fit. I've been feeling overwhelmed lately with my thesis and life in general. Apparently it's not taking much to go over the top. I stopped the video, put on my PJs and sulked the rest of the night.

Trying to summon some motivation to get back to it today.

New Toys

At the beginning of starting P90x I bought some cheap resistance bands. I did some searching and I couldn't find any resistance bands that were latex-free. I figured I would try some latex ones out because the handle was made of a different material. So after many weeks of periodic hives I found some latex resistance bands with covers (sort of like the one shown) at Akfit, a local fitness store. I hope they work out!! I got the extra-heavy ones so my back routine should be much more intense.

While at Akfit I picked up some 8lb dumbells. There are a couple routines that I find 5lbs too easy and 10lbs too hard so I thought something in between will help me transition better. Maybe in another month I'll pick up two 12lb dumbells to add to my collection.

Week Six = Sore muscles

After a week off I was really feeling week six.

Core: I was feeling pretty energized for this one and I was particularly happy with my improvement with "Superman/banana." My abs were sore for a few days after this one. Laughing hurts!

Cardio: I finished this DVD for the first time without any unscheduled breaks. I was quite proud of myself about that. The pylo section always gets me with the 'wacky jacks.'

Chest, Shoulders & Triceps: I was really not in the mood to workout when I pushed play on Sunday. I was feeling low on energy and motivation and this DVD is my new least favourite. I grunted through the whole thing. My arms were shaking. I could barely prop myself up for in/outs and bicycle during the ab ripper. One a positive note. I tried out 'manly' push-ups at the beginning and managed to get through a whole TWO!

Running: I ended up with really sore shins after this run for a few days. I suppose trying to push myself after a three month hiatus was not a good idea. I'll have to ease back into running more slowly. Which means that I'll be doing pylo this coming week. Oh no!

Rest day: Way too sore to workout. Sore everywhere. I need a massage!

Legs & Back: Performing this workout with sore shins was interesting. I went to bed covered with A535. I haven't done this workout in 3 weeks so it was tough to get through.

Kenpo: Who came up with putting Legs & Back right before Kenpo? My glutes were super sore. Kicking with a sore ass just sucks. I quite enjoyed the punches and blocks but any lower body sections were killer.

My first run since Athens

My time is Athens was so spectacularly sucky that I arrived back in Canada feeling particularly down. I felt like I had failed and it didn't help when dozens of people wanted to know how it went. Each time I told the story it got shorter and shorter. Now that I've written it down on my blogs, I can just say "It sucked - read the blog." My treadmill has sat annoyingly in my living room as a constant reminder. Mostly it has collected dust, clothes, and other exercise equipment.

Today I gathered the courage to actually turn on the treadmill. I went in with low expectations. It's been three months since I went for a run. I know I've been doing P90x but running is a whole different thing. I felt like for a 5km run I was at about 70% of where I left off. With that said I don't mean that I could run a half-marathon tomorrow. But I wasn't as winded as I had expected. Each time that I stop running and go back to it it's like starting at day one when I can't run more than 5 minutes at a time. Surprisingly I hit 10 minutes at 5 mph right off the bat. I really felt it towards the end though.

Conclusion: running is way better than Yoga X

Cheers,

Ouch!

Taking a week off might have been smart for my injury. But man am I sore everywhere. It's almost like it's week one again. Ouch. I need a massage!

Time out

Taking a week off - I've pulled my groin. Sadly I did it getting out of a car. Hopefully I will feel better next week and I won't reinjure myself.

Cheers,

Day 31 - Chest, Shoulders and Triceps + Ab Ripper X

It's official. I suck at push-ups. Actually since I started this program I suck a little less at push-ups. And by this I mean that I can do push-ups on my knees with proper form now. What I can't do is the crazy bullshit that P90x wants me to do in the "Chest, Shoulders and Triceps" DVD.

For example, the Plyo Push-Up: At the bottom of a standard push-up, explode up -- launching both hands and both feet up off the floor -- clap your hands in mid-air, and then landed in a push-up position again.

Okay. Okay. Technically that was the "advanced" version. The beginners version was the clap version on your knees with no exploding.

But seriously. Wide arm push-ups, military push-ups, one-arm push-ups...etc etc. There were way way too many push-ups in this DVD leaving me feel quite inadequate.

At least 3 of the 5 weeks in phase three don't have this DVD in the schedule...

Cheers,

P90x Day30 Results

Since P90x is supposed to be 90 days long there are three major milestones - 30, 60 and 90days. Each of which I have given myself rewards for not quitting the program. Because I met my 30 day goal today I get to go and have my first Pedicure ever! It also means that I got into my bikini and took some pictures for comparison.

If you look for it there are some changes in the belly and in the back near the bikini string. And I know I'm my own worst critic but I wish the back of my legs weren't so ... so wrinkly. Maybe that will go away...

On a positive note here are some of my results stats:

Weight: 152.6lbs (-3lbs)
Chest: 36" (-1")
Waist: 30" (-2")
Hips: 41" (-0.5")

Gives me a reason to continue to push myself through 6 workouts/week. Well that and the 60 day reward!

Cheers,

Week 4 - "Recovery Week"

Week 4 is the last week in "Phase One" of P90x. It is also a 'recovery week,' which basically means I got an extra rest day and my strength training workouts got replaced by yoga x and cardio x. Since I passionately hate yoga x and curse constantly at the tv, for my mental well-being (and the well-being of my tv) I have vowed to never complete the yoga x dvd ever again. So that meant that I replaced yoga x this week with cardio x and that I ended up doing the same cardio x tape three times last week which was getting a little monotonous. So this coming week I think I will replace the yoga day with Pylometrics which is a dvd not done in the Lean version. There is a section in cardio x that shows some pylo moves and its basically jumping around alot. It's also the section of the cardio dvd that consistently kicks my ass. I'll let you know how it goes.

Cheers,

House Cleaning

Alright, so I have finally sat myself down at the computer to type out what I have been up to.

I got the metal removed from my ankle December 18th. This caused me to sit still for about 2 and a half weeks. It was, how shall I say.... frustrating. Over Christmas I wasn't able to move very fast, plus if I was seated at the table where everyone was there was always a TON of baking there to which I couldn't escape (well very quickly anyway). Will power is low over Christmas... that is all I have to say.

Back at work in the new year I went back to the gym. I have been going ever since! I am quite proud of myself for this actually. This past week I went Monday to Friday! I can't wait until February 14th until all the New Year's resolutioners leave. It is not that I wish them to fail, not that I wish that they wouldn't get themselves into shape, it is the simple fact that they are just very awkward in the gym. The people I have been dealing with have gone out and outfitted themselves head to toe in lulu or something similar. All matching, not a hair out of place, and brand spanking new sneakers. This is fine except for the fact that they do maybe 15 minutes on the treadmill or other machine, do about twenty crunches and then they are done! They leave and then I hear them complaining that they aren't losing weight.... well I wonder why? (I use my inside voice for this last one). The only thing is I am the one getting the dirty looks from these people! I am working my butt off! I do 30-35 minutes on the elliptical like machine or on the spinner (if I can survive that l

ong), then I do weights, about 15 minutes, I move on to either do a ball routine or I do my crunches and the like for the remainder before my stretches. Okay I am done....

Also new... We bought snowshoes!!!! They are GV, so Canadian made. They work r

eally well. We have been going out every weekend, except we missed this one cause I was tired.

So last weekend and the weekend before (both happened to be Sundays) we went up to the Gatineau hills to do some winter hiking. We brought Jim's Forerunner with us and logged how far we went. The first weekend we went up to the Wilson Carbide mill ruins. Last weekend we did a trail further up Meech lake. We decided to follow some other snowshoer's trails... we sorta came to a dead end two hours later and had to just turn back. Fun though! Thank god we had the forerunner though because

we took so many twists and turns that it would have been next to impossible to find our way back otherwise.

I have also gone skating twice now!!! Wednesday night and yesterday. Decided to get some skating in before it goes to +8 tomorrow. This winter kind of sucks for outdoors things. Skating was great, the canal is awesome this year. The only downside is my ankle is still healing and gets really bruised after a long skate. It isn't too bad now after the second time, but the first time took until yesterday to heal. I am going to keep pushing it until it gets back to where it was.

Keep going with your workouts and your thesis! You can do it! Proud of you for sticking with your diet even though you aren't at home, I know I couldn't do it... Let me know when you get back home and the thesis is next to being done ;)

Melanie

Week 3 - starting to lack motivation

In week three now. I'm starting to lack motivation. I ended up skipping three days in a row. I was just in a bad mental place. I didn't want to get out of bed let alone do an intense workout. To help me snap out of it I went to visit my cousin for a change of scenery. We've been doing our thesis work together and I've been doing my workouts everyday. To make up for my 3 day loss I am skipping the Thursday rest day and doing one of the missed workouts and doing two of them today (shoulders/arms/abs + kenpo). This way I *technically* only missed one day. Huzzah! Plus I'm kind of proud that I've still managed to track my diet and stick with it even though I'm not in my own kitchen.

Cheers,

Week 2 Update

The second week of P90x went by pretty quickly with not much to say. I redid the same schedule as the first week. I had to pause the video for breaks much less often and I was back to walking like a regular person again - sore but not crazy sore.

Cheers,

The Cost of Weight Loss

MSN Money had a feature today about how much it costs to lose 30 pounds. The results were somewhat startling.

Dr. Bernstein Health and Diet Clinics - $2,032.50 to $2,311.05 plus food
Herbal Magic - $1,958 plus food
NutriSystem - $1,435.96
Weight Watchers - $320 or $149.70 online, plus food
The Zone Diet - $3,264.09 to $4,348.79

I had some concept of the 1k+ weight loss plans but I didn't realize there were so many. When I was in Ottawa I went into LA Weight Loss. The experience was sad and almost comical. The ask you to fill out a questionaire that basically makes you feel bad about yourself. They go over the program with you for over 40mins just to find out it was around $1000 for the year. And that didn't include the highly recommended supplements. They were a bit confused with what to do with a vegetarian but they would work around it they said. For the program you were supposed to go in 2-3 times per week. That's a lot! And then they would weigh you. If you lost weight then they would ring a bell and everyone would cheer, if not then sad sad silence. wow. just wow.

Days 2-6: sore, very sore

Day 2: Cardio X
So this workout also kicked my ass. Many dvd pauses to catch my breath, although a few less than with core synergetics. Cardio x adds elements from the other p90x workouts. The one section that I appreciated was Kenpo. Because of my martial arts background I could go through the entire section without stopping and I picked it up really fast. It was nice to feel less pathetic for a 10min span :)

Day 3: Shoulders and Arms + Ab Ripper X
Since my legs were sore from the last two days I was happy to see that I would soon be sore everywhere. This workout was fairly straightforward with some new things to pique my interest. I was feeling pretty confident with the exercises until I began the ab section. Wow. I spent more time rolling on the ground in pain than actually doing the ab work!! Apparently if you successfully do all of the routines then you would do about 350 reps in 15 minutes! I maybe did 75 lol. But good news I found out that the "ins and outs" that were in my fit test I was doing totally wrong and that's why I failed the minimum 25.

Day 4: Yoga X
I hate yoga. I wasn't pleased to see that this workout was 90 minutes long. Seriously? The makes matters worse there are a million "downward dogs" - no really a million, I swear. I almost turned off the dvd in order to go for a run. Luckily it picked up have way through with some balance stuff and then onto more abs. I got through it but I probably told the tv to fuck off at least a dozen times. It's hard to take advice from a gymrat about yoga stuff.

Day 5: Legs and Back + Ab Ripper X
My legs were finally back to normal enough to even attempt this workout. Some of the leg routines were intense. There were a couple really cool ones too. The back workouts were mixed in between to give the legs a rest. Unfortunatly the back routines are all pullups. I don't have a chinup bar so I'm stuck with the bands. I also don't have a door attachment so I had to rig up something. The resistance bands I bought at Sears aren't heavy enough so the routines for the back were super easy. I think I'll have to buy the ones that P90x promotes.

Day 6: Kenpo X
I ended up eating dinner kind of late so I was still pretty full when I started the Kenpo X DVD. This was ultimately stupid and I spend most of the time feeling rather nauseous as a result. With some Kenpo teasers from other workouts I figured I would be good to jump into the routines. Actually there were a few times I had to rewind to figure out what the hell they were doing. The P90x editting guy likes to mix up different angles all the fucking time. So if you are trying to figure out what the move is it's hard when part of the move is camera head on, part from the side and the rest from an angle downward. I can't imagine someone who doesn't know what a cross or uppercut is trying to complete this DVD. Maddness.

Cheers,

Day 1: Core what?

Fitness: Wow. Apparently I am not fit whatsoever. I completed the first workout for P90x called "core synergetics." Actually 'completed' might not be the best term. I had to stop and pause the DVD many many times to catch my breath. I was wearing a heart rate monitor and many times my heart rate was in the 170s. You would think all that running would have helped my cardiovascular health, but no. There were a good range of moves that I won't get bored of because I think I will still suck at this in three months. It's hard to be bored when you're concentrating on surviving. Tomorrow is Cardio day. Oh dear.

Diet: As mentioned before P90x comes with a diet program which calls for high protein intake for the first 30 days laid out portion-wise (5 proteins, 2 dairy, 1 fat, etc). So I make a spreadsheet (I heart spreadsheets) with my meal selections for a week. Dave and I even went out grocery shopping yesterday and picked up a week's worth of food for my planned meal selections. Today I learnt some very valuable things. First, taking a multivitamin on an empty stomach makes me feel nauseous. Second, fake lunch meat is terrible and very hard to eat while nauseous. Third, the cookies and creme protein bar has this weird chalk aftertaste which wouldn't be so bad if you could wash it down with something other than water. Finally, the equivalent of 2 servings of protein in the form of firm tofu is entirely too much food for me in one sitting.

Modifications: okay fuck the high protein thing. Some simulated meat stuff is okay, but some is downright terrible. I cannot eat soy burgers and tofu en mass for that long. I have decided to revert to good old fashion calorie counting. As a picky vegetarian I really would appreciate more than 200cal from carbs per day. I mean who can go without cereal???

Cheers,