Friday, December 26, 2008
First you eat then you get hungry
Read any P90x blog and you will eventually find a post about the how hard it is to eat all the food. So here is my token entry, but there's a twist.
That first breakfast is a real killer. For Level II your eating an 8 egg white omelet with 3 oz of cheese and 12 oz of cottage cheese with 1 cup of berries. It's almost painful eating that much. Especially since most people doing P90x have trained themselves for low calorie diets. That first week you feel like a 300 pound fat guy at an all you can eat buffet. My coworkers eyes went wide when they saw my shrimp stir fry because it looked like a meal for three. I was definitely anxious those first 2 weeks. I was right in between Level I and Level II and was wondering if I made a mistake going with Level II.
The key thing here is what your eating in the meal plan. It's a huge amount of veggies and protein and almost no carbs and low fat. So yes you are eating a ton of food but that doesn't necessarily translate to a ton of calories. The calories you are eating are all good calories from protein and vegetables and whole grains. Remember that calories are just a measure of how much energy something contains. You're bodies ability to convert a food into something useful depends on what it is (Protein/Carbs/Fat/Alchohol). Basically, to build muscle, Protein is what you want and stay far away from the alcohol which is basically converted to fat. This is why you can't just buy a bottle of vodka and be good for a week.
Well I'm almost through week three and can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The first two weeks my body was definitely panicking a bit. I felt over full the whole time and was worried that I was putting on fat. Now I think my body has figured it out. I'm hungry when I should be now and eating the meals is easier. My body fat is also down about 1%. I'm also happy that my weight is slightly up, 2 lbs, which means I'm gaining muscle as well.
So my advice to you is don't sweat the first coupe of weeks. It'll be a pain but by end of the first month you should see the results. My promise to myself was to stay on Level II unless I gained over 5 lbs and had higher body fat%.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Human Pretzel
Having been through all of the Phase 1 workouts for the second time now I'm starting to settle in. My 2 greatest challenges right now are flexibility and balance. I'd say those 2 things are what is really kicking my ass in most of the workouts (Although Chin-ups and Ab ripper X just kick my ass period). Unlike P90 many of the exercises rely on your balance (Kenpo/Yoga etc..). Ah just mentioned Yoga. I'd advise you to be cautious with the Yoga X. I definitely see the potential to injure your self pretty easily here. I'm taking it easy with the Yoga X and will be signing up for a group yoga class when I get the chance. I haven't done Yoga before and can definitely see the need for an expert critique on my forms and technique.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
I faught the kitchen and the kitchen won
Wow, I was so excited about the P90x diet plan. different levels for different people. Phases depending where you are in the program, all awesome stuff. I figured I'd go extreme and do the extreme meal plan. I had no idea what I was in for. Cooking till 2am trying to keep up. Ouch!
I mean really: 5 different sauces, 6 different soups, 5 different salads, 15 other recipes on one week!! I guess if you're unemployed you can pull that off but then you wouldn't have the money to buy all the ingredients. That's another thing, these aren't "combine 4 ingredients and cook" recipes either (A feature of the P90 meal plan). Some recipes have as many as 14 ingredients and 5 steps and stuff like dicing shallots and doing stock reductions.
I still like the idea of the meal plan but it's way to much effort. My current scheme is to make a bit of a hybrid between the meal plan and the portion approach. Oh and since I mentioned the portion approach I'll mention why I'm not doing that instead. Honestly I'm a little too anal for it. I would go crazy guessing at portion sizes and trying to figure out what counts as what. Does a chicken sandwich with cheese count as a fat/protein/carb and the guide only lists fats that in oil form so I have no idea what a portion of cheese would be.
So here is my current plan of attack:
I mean really: 5 different sauces, 6 different soups, 5 different salads, 15 other recipes on one week!! I guess if you're unemployed you can pull that off but then you wouldn't have the money to buy all the ingredients. That's another thing, these aren't "combine 4 ingredients and cook" recipes either (A feature of the P90 meal plan). Some recipes have as many as 14 ingredients and 5 steps and stuff like dicing shallots and doing stock reductions.
I still like the idea of the meal plan but it's way to much effort. My current scheme is to make a bit of a hybrid between the meal plan and the portion approach. Oh and since I mentioned the portion approach I'll mention why I'm not doing that instead. Honestly I'm a little too anal for it. I would go crazy guessing at portion sizes and trying to figure out what counts as what. Does a chicken sandwich with cheese count as a fat/protein/carb and the guide only lists fats that in oil form so I have no idea what a portion of cheese would be.
So here is my current plan of attack:
- Prep 3 different types of soups (prepared on the weekend and frozen)
- Prep 3 different types of sauces (prepared on the weekend and frozen)
- Have 2-3 different fruits
- Have 2-3 different vegetables
- Prep 4 cups of wild rice on the weekend
- Combine several vegetables in one meal into a larger portion of 1 vegetable
P90 Extreme, Lets go!
So I started P90x last Monday. And here's the first evidence of the time commitment. Didn't have time to blog about it untill now. But before I digress here are my starting stats.
Here are my starting measurements:
Body Fat% 13.7 (Using Caliper)
Weight: 151 Lbs
Hips: 32 1/2"
Right Thigh: 20 1/2"
Left Thigh: 20 1/2"
Right Arm: 12 3/8"
Left Arm: 12 3/8"
Here are the results of my initial fit test:
Resting Heart Rate: 59 bps
Pull-Ups: 3 (I really suck at Pull-Ups and this is something that P90 misses)
Toe Touch: 0" (Yup I can touch my toes ... barely)
Wall Squat: 3:30
Bicep Curls: 15 at 22.5lbs
Abs: In & Outs: 40
I'm a smidge flabbier than I was after finishing the P90 program. I learned an important lesson about reaching your goal: Always have another one to take it's place. Otherwise it's really hard to resist that extra helping around thanks giving.
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