Amberelise - I was just wondering if you are following the food plan as well? I think that I am going to stick on my low-carb diet, but am not sure if that is feasible. What diet are you following?

Streeps, I am not following the P90X food plan. Per their plan, I would need 2400 calories a day which really seems like a ridiculous amount. From what I was reading, a lot of women were having a very hard time losing weight eating as much as the plan called for. I think perhaps the food plan is more geared toward men than women.

I am calorie counting. I aim for 1250 - 1500 calories a day, but I'll be honest there are definitely days I have gone over even that. (This weekend was a little further from perfect than I would have liked.)

I am definitely losing weight and building muscle, which is the ultimate goal. I would like to have shed a bit more belly and thigh fat by now than I have, but I believe it's going the right direction. The number on the scale is still going down, and I'm only 45 days in.

I am extra careful to make sure that the calories I take in are quality calories. (Aside from the days when I really do go over a decent amount.) I try to concentrate on protein, vegetables & fruit, and healthy fats. I eat a lot of fish and chicken. I probably have fish five times a week.

I hope that helps.

Day 44 - Week 7 Day 2 - Plyometrics

Well, my first P90X injury is something I can push through, but it does hurt. I think it's a shoulder injury, but wow it's weird. It only hurts when I move my arm up and out. If I move the arm straight up it's fine. It didn't really hold me back for Plyo, however.

Plyo was my Sunday morning workout. I'm one day behind - but more on that with the next post.

Just like last week, I went into this calm and collected determined to not run out of gas by the end. I ran out of gas by the end. AAAUGH! This video is so hard!

I've noticed that my toes are at least past the point of getting blisters. Though, I have to say this is the first time I've done it and not gotten a blister at the end. Seriously, can you believe that? And, it's with new shoes.

I did have to take a bit of a pause this week. I got *really* dizzy. It can't be lack of calories because I'm pretty sure I hate like a horse on Saturday, haha. I think I just pushed myself a little too hard. This video really is rock solid. I went into it feeling VERY awake and pumped to do some cardio. Twelve minutes in I was thinking - oh my god, please turn it off. I watched the clock the entire time.

Super tough. And, my butt and thighs are sore this morning from it. I like that, though. I definitely want to work out my butt and thighs and I know that even though I was gasping for breath I obviously was getting a good workout in, too.

So, I guess if there's one thing good to say about Plyo - it works.

Day 45 - Week 7 Day 3 - Back & Biceps, Ab Ripper X

HELLO HALFWAY POINT!! I LOVE YOU!

Yay!! I have officially completed 1/2 of P90X. I've lost 10 lbs. and am visibly stronger. I do have to say, if I lose another 10 lbs. and gain the same amount of muscle as I did the first half it would be ridiculously fantastic results. We shall see.

I feel good about how I look already, but I definitely have more fat to lose, and I'd like to see a tiny amount more definition in my legs and arms. My back looks good as it is, imo.

So, anyway, today was the back and biceps. My arm injury didn't affect me too badly, though I did drop down to my 8 lb. weights on a few moves where I think I would have done the 12 lb. instead. Also, the initial hoist up on the pull up bar was rough (especially on the towel one) but once I got up there it was okay.

I'm doing a solid 12 assisted pull ups on every single one of the moves. However, by the 12th I'm definitely petered out and it's a struggle to get myself up. I do notice the difference in my strength, so that is really exciting.

I also worked up a sweat this morning.

So, my 45th day should have been yesterday. I am one day behind, but not really if I do yoga tonight, which is definitely the goal. I have a weekend vacation in Boston planned which will throw a wrench in things. Initially I planned on just bringing my laptop and doing the workouts at the hotel gym... but my laptop blew up last night!!! So, we will either double-up a few days in advance, double-up a few days after, or just go for a run those days and then push back P90X. I really don't want to push it back, but sometimes life happens I guess.

The scale is still moving downward despite a not so stellar weekend with food. I wasn't bad, really, but I know I wasn't great. Actually, yesterday was a little bad. I had 2 mimosas and a summer cocktail, a medium crunch dip ice cream cone, some irish cheese and mini toasts and chiliquillies (can't spell it) for breakfast/lunch. Bad...

But, still the scale was lower today. Whew! Back to counting calories today, though!

I just started P90X yesterday. 1) arms/chest/hip flexors insanely sore lol 2) couldn't make it through the entire first Plyo today (which made me so upset at myself). I love it though just feels fun to actually workout to this stuff Enjoying reading your stuff!

Can't wait for yoga and kenpo!

Day 46 - Week 7 Day 4 - Yoga

Okay, still a day behind, and maybe it will have to stay that way. I have a really busy evening schedule all week this week. I do plan on purchasing a laptop so perhaps I'll still get all of my workouts in while in Boston, but that remains to be seen as well.

My arm injury is definitely having an effect on my workouts. It seemed relatively okay at first this morning, but the constant amount of vinyasas eventually took its toll. I ended up skipping the last three. I also didn't really attempt the half moon stuff, but that's not saying much since I can't do those moves anyway. And, I also couldn't do crane. I think that's 2 weeks in a row I couldn't do crane. THAT I am a little upset about.

I was really sweating up a storm this morning, and I had my a/c running. I think it was just a tough workout for some reason. Obviously this could have been a much better workout if I wasn't dealing with the injury. I know I should probably take a few days off, but I feel like most of the videos I can do, and I'm terrified of pausing to rest up and then never coming back!

The good news is that I just signed up for my first 5K ever! I have a friend that is going to do it with me and we're going to start training on Friday evening. So, that, I suppose, will serve as my cardio for doubles in a sense. It is also the boost I need to lose these last ten pounds, I believe.

My nutrition has been crap. I am telling you, it's been pathetic. Last night was probably my worst night on the diet since P90X. And that is saying something considering the Olive Garden fiasco. I limited to one beer, and the quesadilla was at least a portobello one... and ONE of the sliders was vegetarian. Buuuuuut, the chili dog slider and the mac & cheese bites - well, there is just no excuse.

I know we all fall of the wagon, but I haven't been in the 130s since college. It's like I'm sabotaging myself. It's as if I think I'll never hit the 130s anyway, so I might as well just not try. Help me!

Tonight I'm going to the Cubs/Brewers game. I am sooo hungry already. A baseball game is NOT going to be easy. Uugh!

Legs & back tomorrow. That should be decently okay with the injury. My butt is a little sore from plyo, but I suspect I'll be ready to go by tomorrow. I'm glad my glutes are getting a decent workout, though. The weight loss has made my butt flatten out which I really hate. I need to start building some muscle there so I look better in jeans.

Good luck! I was REALLY sore my first week. I still get sore, but it's much more tolerable now. In fact, I'm a little sore in my arms from Saturday and my glutes are sore from plyo on Sunday, but unlike the first week, I'm HAPPY I'm sore. I know that I really brought it in my workouts because I'm to the point now where I can do all of the moves and not be sore if I don't up my weights and/or intensity. Feeling sore means that I'm still improving.

I guess what I'm saying is the soreness gets better - if you want it to.

And, I hear ya bout plyo. Good luck and keep it up!

Hugs! Wish I had something useful to tell you, but sometimes I think our bodies just start to fight back as we get lower. At least I think that's what I'm experiencing. My body was losing at a reasonable clip in phase 2, when all of a sudden, as soon as I hit 127.5, it was like I hit a wall. Weight & measurements have stayed the same (well, lost another half-inch off the waist, and one half-pound in a month, but that's it), even though I didn't change anything diet-wise and I've been working as hard as ever in my workouts. I've tried a high-calorie day now and then to see if that would get my body going again, but nope; I've tried lowering my calories and cycling my calories, and nope. My body fat percentage doesn't strike me as low enough for my body to be fighting me (not that I know it exactly, but the Navy circumference method estimates me around 24%--though I might mention that it put me around 29% when I started P90X!), but go figure. Anyway, I'm just rambling because I'm a bit annoyed. Just keep plugging away, and our bodies will have to cooperate eventually.

But I finish P90X today (took a couple of days off, but shifted the schedule forward so I'm still hitting all the workouts for this last week), and I've accomplished a lot in this round. I've even made some flexibility gains--I was already naturally flexible, the only part of fitness that I've always had under control--but I've got my front splits back now, which is a fun party trick. Looking forward to a little time off this week, then trying some new (to me) Tony Horton workouts.

As for plyo, the first time I did it, I paused the video so many times that I think I made it into an 80 minute workout! It was a major accomplishment for me the first time I did it straight through without pausing (only a few weeks ago, I think).

I have loved reading all the posts here and am so happy to find other women doing p90x. Today is day 73 for me on the program. I am a heavy woman, started out at 320 pounds, but I have stuck to it, only missed 2 days and have lost 37 pounds so far! So anyone that says they need to lose weight BEFORE starting p90x is wrong! It is hard, but I push myself to do what I can. There are still things I can't do, things that an overweight person can't do After all these weeks, yoga is still the hardest thing for me. It is painful to keep getting up and down doing all those vinyasas *sigh*. So I just do as many as I physically can, then move on to the second half. I know that as the weeks go on, I am getting better at the moves and am able to do more. I can definitely see and feel a huge difference since starting this. I have a lot of areas that are tightening up, which feels awesome!!

So keep up the good work! And nice to meet you

~Laurie

Laurie, that is fantastic. You are doing wonderfully and are such an inspiration. 73 days down! Awesome! I'm excited to being closer to 90 than I am to day 1! Your results sound amazing as well. Great job. And, yeah, those vinyasas are killer for me, too! Gah.

Day 47 - Week 7 Day 5 -Legs & Back, Ab Ripper X

So now I'm two days behind. The baseball game went into extra innings and I didn't get home until REALLY late. There will be no catching up tonight, and I'll be in Boston through Monday evening on vacation. So... who knows. I think it will be a small miracle if I can just keep doing one workout a day and only be 2 days behind by next Tuesday.

My arm injury didn't really affect me on the pull-ups this time around. I worked hard and I definitely saw improvement. I was doing up to 16 of the chin ups and overhand pull-ups since they are the easier ones. Of course, keep in mind this is using the step ladder as assist. I will start trying to do a couple without the ladder and then move to the ladder as soon as my arm is feeling better. Hopefully that will be in about two weeks.

I really got down low in the wall squats this time and it was killer. And, I absolutely LOVE sneaky lunges! They're my favorite. Since I did this workout yesterday, I can already tell you that my glutes are sore today. Nothing else is, though. I'm going to up the weights on my calf raises because I definitely want definition in my calves. I have none right now and considering they're note ven sore I should bump it up.

My abs are a little sore today which is good. I had gotten to the point where they really weren't, even though I was feeling the burn during ab ripper. I am getting REALLY close to doing all 25 of the oblique raise ups. Yay! I wish I had figured out the proper form on these from the get go. I would be able to do 25 each by now. But, I am slowly increasing the number and I know that I'll get it.

Not much else to report. I'm still going at it! Sorry for being a day late on the update.

Day 48 - Week 7 Day 6 - Kenpo

I fell asleep after the alarm went off this morning! But, lucky for me my boyfriend got me up and out of bed. (I was the hero yesterday for that.) I was really groggy because there was some hubub last night from my roommate that woke us up in the middle of the night.

I bring this up because I went into Kenpo REALLY slow. And, you know how I said you can really dog this if you want to? Well, I wanted to. Don't get me wrong, I was sweating buckets, but I wasn't sucking air. Plus, I can't do a hook with my injured arm. Instead, I kinda did a downward crotch punch. *shrug* It was something, right?

About halfway through I was pretty awake and that's when I tried to kick it in gear. That makes me feel a little bit better about the workout. The good news is tonight is training session #1 for my 5K that I'm running next month. So, I know I'll get additional cardio in.

I want to reiterate that I really hate the warm up for this video. It's all moves I just don't like to do. But... I did (kind of). I also kinda ignored some of it and drank my coffee. Lol. No wonder I'm injured. At least I did the entire cardio part and the cool down.

Amberelise, I haven't visited this section of the board in a bit. I see you're still kicking butt.

Are you still out there? I'm missing your updates.

This is Day 3 Week 3 for me, yesterday was Plyo and I couldn't believe it I actually was able to get through the whole thing! It was painful goodness gracious and I was sweating for hours afterwards lol, but I was SO excited that I made it through even if I had to modify stuff. Man alive I love this workout series!

I'm 5'3" 182lbs so I know I have a LONG way to go, but its nice to feel a big change in my strength and flexibility. I know I've read that normally the results really start much later since the body is adapting to being, well ... tortured haha. Still wish my hubby would join me in P90X, ahh well I can keep asking and hoping