Tummy Be Gone…

Two weeks ago, I caved in and bought P90X. I’ve been looking at those commercials for the past two years and I always thought about getting it. Well, after finally figuring out that working out at 4 am would work better than a half-ass attempt to go to the gym after class (which never happened by the way), I finally bought P90X and it is, "Oh My God!"
Yesterday was my first day and it was Chest and Back aka push-ups and pull-ups to the max and I sucked BIG TIME! I couldn’t do most of it. I could do a few of the push-ups, but forget pull-ups. Oh gawd NO! This morning I woke up early to do the Plyometrics DVD before class and OMG! It was so hard! They don’t call it X for nothing I guess. It was uncomfortable and I really had to dig deep to get through most of it. I couldn’t finish it, but I’m not feeling too bad about it. I just have to keep at it and keep pushing myself that’s all.
Honestly, I keep wondering this… If I do these workouts and eat clean, will I lose the weight and look good after 90 days?
I hope I do!!!

It’s Saturday morning and I’d thought I’d write about how my first week of dieting is coming along so far.

At the beginning of the week, I was pumped. I cooked lots of chicken and cooked veggies and even made muffins out of my egg white and oatmeal breakfast just so that I could microwave it every morning instead of making it all over again.

As Tuesday rolled around and classes began, I really got a feel of how hard this is all going to be. I packed my snack and lunch to take with my to classes, but I would end up coming home so late that it took everything in me not to cave in and eat "whatever" was lying around. It was hard eating chicken and veggies, but I did it.

On Wednesday, my day was insane. I was in either in class, or in the library from 8 in the morning and when I got home at 5, I just ate cereal and went to bed at 6.30 pm and woke up the next morning at 6 am! I slept for 11.5 hrs!!! Forget working out; I was just so tired.

Thursday morning started off on a positive note. I worked out immediately after waking up and had a very good breakfast. But, when I got home from classes (again late in the afternoon) I was drained! I just didn’t want to do anything anymore. My little sister, who lives with me, is also watching her food intake. It’s great that we’re both in this together, but since she eats pretty much what I’m eating, I ran out of chicken! Uh Oh! So, I went grocery shopping and loaded up on the chicken, but didn’t cook because I was again, pooped out.

Yesterday, I didn’t have class, but I went to the library and read anyway. Then, we went shopping and what was supposed to be a brief trip to the mall, turned into a marathon shopping experience. I didn’t buy anything much because when I saw my middle in the Macy’s fitting room, I felt kind of gross. So, I just bought black flowy tops and got out of there. By the time we were done with our shopping trip, it was 2.30 and we were famished. There was no food at home, so we decided to eat out. I got a salad from a mexican place, but it had rice in it and even though it was yummy, I felt really bloated afterwards. I can’t even imagine how much salt it had. (Apparently A LOT because I am 5 lbs heavier on the scale this morning!!!) BUT, I’m going to honest here. It wasn’t just the heavy mexican food. It was also the brownies I "treated" myself too afterwards that are the reasons behind the bloating. Thing is, when I "cheat," I cheat like there’s no tomorrow. I ate so much that I felt really awful, but I justified my behavior by telling myself that it was a cheat meal (even though my cheat meal turned into a cheat day!)

So, Saturday’s here and I’m back on BB.com reading bodyblogs and trying not to feel like a hoax, who is putting forth a half-ass effort to lose weight. I know that people on this site are going to read this blog and think, "she’s so not into this," and for the most part they are right. People here are really hard-core and really pushing themselves to live their best life. I wonder what’s holding me back from living mine?

I have a few questions, which I’d appreciate if someone would answer. Here’s a little information before you read the questions below:

I started classes this week and I can’t go to the gym like I had planned originally. I have five graduate courses and there’s no way that I’ll be able to go to do the five-day training split I had previously planned. Instead, I’m doing cardio thrice a week and weights thrice a week. I really hope this plan works and helps me shed the 20 lbs I want to shed by November.

This week I also started following my diet and even took my lunch and a snack to class today. I’m determined not to buy food. I need to save money and there’s no way I am going to eat stuff if I don’t know the calories in it. So, NO eating on campus for me. I’ve bought a lunch box/cooler type of thing, which I’ll be carrying with me to school everyday. The trick is planning ahead and while I did cook a lot of food yesterday, I doubt it’ll last me till the end of the week. So, I’m going to grocery shopping again and cook some more tomorrow even though I don’t want too, but planning is necessary if I want to change myself. Well, at least now I know how much food I need for the whole week.

I’ve realized that I eat really well on campus, but the minute I get home I want something sugary, or sweet. The thought of eating chicken for dinner was just so not pleasing for me tonight. It might be because as a kid and as a student, I’ve gotten used to having cereal or sandwiches at night. I like having carbs (rice/bread/cereal/oatmeal) at every meal and that’s going to be a very tough habit to break. I’m having oatmeal in the mornings and even though I thought I wouldn’t have carbs for lunch, I’m allowing myself 1/2 c of white rice with chicken and veggies. I didn’t think I’d eat carbs for dinner, but I did. I ate an english muffin with natural almond butter and tea. I know it was a shitty dinner, but I couldn’t stand to eat anymore chicken.

So, my questions are:

What should I eat instead of chicken at night?
For an average person like myself that isn’t competing, can I eat carbs at night?
How do I keep the sugar cravings at bay?
Should I take a fat burner to speed fat loss?