Gut-Bustin’ 101

Well, the P90X package arrived Saturday, and I ripped into it like a little boy at Christmas. Scanned the workout and nutrition manuals, and since I was scheduled for a back/leg workout, thought I’d jump in and do one of the dealies in the DVD set.

About 1/4 of the way through, I thought to myself, "What’s with all this balancing/core stuff? I need some heavy weights for my legs to grow!" To be honest I wasn’t feelin’ it, at least with the leg workout. Back was OK, and no, there was No way I was making it through the entire thing. I felt like a wimp. A wimp with muscles made of spaghetti. I tried making it through the Ab Ripper X routine - made it all the way, but seriously needed to stop MANY times during the thing for a rest-pause. That’s definitely gonna be a good one.

The next morning, I got out of bed and my legs KILLED. Total unexpected soreness. Not much in my quads, but my hams and tendons and everything around the legs area hurt. Alrighty then. Obviously there were some moves in there that worked my legs in ways I hadn’t in quite a while!

So, my initial thoughts: This thing is gonna kick my arse. There are several areas that concern me, especially since I’ve got crappy knees and the occasional lower-back flare-up, but I’m gonna try everything once to get a good feel for where I can take this and which exercises I can do safely.

The nutrition plan looks solid, and to be honest I’ve got the nutrition in place already, so that won’t be anything new.

I’m also hoping I can work this P90X thing into my normal gym workouts - I love those, and I don’t wanna give those up to just work this out at home, plus I don’t want to overtrain. I won’t be "officially" beginning this thing until September - I want to ride out the month with what I’m doing now, plus that’ll give me a chance to work a few of the P90X exercises into my current routines just to get a feel for them. I’ll be ordering their cool pull-up bar, esp. since it allows for wider-grip pull-ups at home, which I’ll really enjoy.

Y’know now that I think about it, I should start P90X BEFORE the end of August - that way I’ll finish up just in time for a nice Thanksgiving carb-up! hahaha I’ll keep ya posted.

A few people have contacted me wondering what my nutrition is like. Wow, I’m flattered - thanks for asking! So far my nutrition has helped me drop over 3 inches off my waist in the past several months.

A typical day consists of 6 small-to-moderate-sized meals though I’ve just started playing around with my meal numbers - I’m trying something out of curiosity: 6 meals on workout days (4 days), 5 meals on non-workout days (3 days). Kinda throwing in a little confusion so my body doesn’t get used to the same ol’ all the time. I’ve been eating 6 meals a day, every day, for the past 4 monthsand have had pretty good results. We’ll see if this change makes any kind of difference either way.

I drink at least a gallon of water every day, and have since late March ‘08. Usually more in the daytime, tapering off a bit at night since getting up several times a night to pee isn’t my idea of fun. I have two water bottles I alternate, that way I always have an ice cold bottle ready to go. They say ice water can burn extra calories, so what the heck.

A typical day:

Meal 1
(right after waking up): Whey Protein shake mixed in water, sometimes I add a piece of fruit into the shake like a banana or some strawberries, etc.

Meal 2
6-8 egg whites, plain, sometimes cooked in olive oil with some garlic and tomatos, with 1/2-to-3/4 cup of plain oatmeal topped with some kinda fruit, usu. blueberries or whatever’s in-season. I also add a few almonds or walnuts to the mix, and have started adding a half grapefruit as a substitute for the other fruits to see if that helps with any fat burning. Hey- at this point I’ll try anything

Meal 3
1 slice of wheat bread with 1 tbsp. natural, zero-sodium peanut butter and maybe some cottage cheese (low fat), and a piece of fruit if I’m feeling hungrier

Meal 4
This can be usually a turkey sandwich on wheat bread, or grilled skinless chicken with green beans and maybe a half of a yam now and then

Meal 5
Either more chicken, or a fish meal (I like orange roughy) with a salad, no dressing. (I squeeze a lime on top of the salad and that gives it a nice flavor without adding any extra crap). If I’m doing extra carbs I might add in some black beans too, but I usually cut the complex carbs out of the last two meals if my stomach lets me!

Meal 6
Usually a small salad with leafy greens, cucumbers, nuts, a few of those sweet grape tomatos, and for protein maybe some cottage cheese or turkey on top of the salad.

ZERO salt, ZERO sugar, ZERO sugar substitutes (unless that sucralose crap is in my protein shakes then I can’t avoid it). I rarely if ever drink milk, and have only recently added lofat cottage cheese to the mix as an extra source of protein. But that gets the boot if my fat burning suffers because of it.

Coffee? Yeah - but only about 2 small cups a week now, and it’s black, nothing in it. Though I’m thinking I might experiment with drinking a small cup about half an hour before I do cardio to see if that has any effect on my fat loss. I’d rather do that than take a supplement - I want to go as natural as possible.

Once in a while - and I assume this is because I haven’t eaten enough good carbs during the day - I’ll get to around 8pm and have this massive carb craving. that’s when I start eyeing my daughter’s Oreos in the cabinet hahaha  But I keep a box of lo-fat graham crackers handy instead, and usually one or two "sheets" of those will satisfy me without blowing the food plan. I try to also eat a little protein with them if I’m gonna do that so my insulin doesn’t spike too badly from the simple carbs.

Do I cheat? Yup. But it’s only once on the weekends, and when I do it’s usually just a dessert to have with my black coffee. If it’s a holiday? Sure, I’ll enjoy a burger (no bun!) or maybe a small slice of cake on someone’s birthday, but that’s very rare, and I’m proud of myself for that.

Supplements? A whey protein shake. Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and a Multi. Just starting to add in EFA’s. That’s it.

That’s about it. I’m trying to add in a little more variety so my body doesn’t get too used to the same foods all the time. So far, I think I’m eating pretty clean. Hope this satisfies those of you who asked! If you have any questions, fire away - I’m happy to help!

I’m continuing to see progress in my waist reduction, finally got down to a solid 33" last week,and today the tape wanted to go even a little lower - it’s right on the cusp between 33 and 32-7/8 hahaha - When you’re desperately looking for more progress, even the tiniest change in measurement is a reason to get excited!

Took some progress photos today and posted a few, but was a little disappointed that there wasn’t a huge difference from last month. I keep reminding myself that it’s gonna continue to be a slow process - hell, I spent 9 years packing fat ONTO my body, I guess I can’t expect to lose it all in just a few months!

Nutrition has been solid - this is definitely the longest I’ve ever stuck to a nutrition plan - just over 4 months of eating with the occasional planned cheat on the weekends.   That feels great. Zero alcohol (but I rarely drink anyway), a gallon of water every day now, and my coffee intake has gone from 4 large mugs a day to about 2 small cups a week. Still gotta have the caffeine lol - it’s in my blood. Don’t mess with my coffee man!

Workouts have been consistent, though I stepped up the weights too much a few weeks ago and started losing my form - I’ve backed down to a decent level where I can use solid strict form, and the pain is back. Never thought I’d say I missed the muscle soreness after workouts hahaha  On a down note, I was doing weighted lower ab exercises a couple weeks ago and must’ve tweaked something in my lower back cuz I had major pain in my sciatic nerve for about a week and a half that kept me from doing cardio. Feeling great now, so I’ll be able to get back on the HIIT this week.

Getting bodyfat readings taken at the gym in a week or two so I’ll be able to update that soon. I also ordered the P90X program today - I’m seeing some great results from other Bodyspace members (LovnLife4NSR and deweydw thanks for the inspiration!) and I’m curious to take it on myself. Gotta be honest though - with all the minor injuries and pains I’ve got from years past, I’m scared as hell to open that P90X box lol But hey - face the pain, face your fear, and make it happen ,right? Have a great week everybody.