Thanks JM! Feel free to add anything you've noticed that you don't see me mentioning. I'm sure everyone has different experiences with it you, know?

Day 12 - Week 2 Day 5 - Legs & Back. Abs.

Omg. I now know why it's called beach body. Because when you're done you want to just straggle over to the beach, fall down and DIE!

I had a really rough morning waking up. I'm suspecting I didn't eat enough yesterday. I came in at 1192 calories, and that is pretty low for someone that did an hour and a half of yoga yesterday likely. I was really dragging.

The interesting thing today was that though the house was the same temperature I was sweating PROFUSELY. Like, I was sweating to the point that it was hard to do my chin up because even my hands were sweating! What the heck?! I'm actually not a really big sweater. I know this is weird, but i switched deodorants two days ago because Lady Mitchum was on sale for $2 (what a deal!). Is sweat pouring out of me elsewhere because it's not coming from my arm pits? Gross I know, but I was sweating so much it made me really hate the work out today, haha.

So, I didn't skip a single exercise today. Did it 100% through including the abs. I felt a little tiny bit like I dogged some of it. I'm having a hard time making progress on the chin ups. My boyfriend helps me and I asked him to help me less, but then I couldn't chin up at all. So, it's a catch 22. We decided to try and get me to do one or two in the evenings just to try to nudge the progress along on that front.

As far as the abs workout, I did all 40 of the twists at the end!!! YAY! I didn't do the 10 bonus, but that's okay. I found a REALLY good modification to the oblique workout where you are on your side and lift both legs. I found that lifting just one leg and bringing my elbow to it gave me PLENTY of a burn. So, I'll do that modified version for at least two weeks. Maybe at that point I'll be strong enough for the harder version.

I hate crunchy frog.

I used my 10 lb. weights for everything today. I definitely need heavier weights for legs, though. My legs are pretty strong because I'm a pear shape body to begin with.

So, today I'm going to up my calories a bit. This shouldn't be hard because I have a seafood 101 class tonight where we eat what we make. I only have just under 400 calories left after eating my packed lunch. The chances of me going over that tonight are pretty high.

Tomorrow is kenpo! I'm pretty excited. I think it's my favorite video.

Btw, I did the weigh in this morning just to give you guys an idea of how the scale bounces. It read 149. Now, Friday is my weigh in day so I won't log it, but it's moving in the right direction it seems.

Day 13 - Week 2 Day 6 - Kenpo

What is wrong with me? I was dog tired this morning!! And, I DEFINITELY had plenty of calories yesterday thanks to my seafood 101 class. Mussels & clam stew, grilled salmon, baked bass and lots of sides like mint-pea coulis, taragon aioli, fingerling potatoes and asparagus and crostinis. Uuuugh. I don't even want to think about it. Maybe I had too much, lol. Or maybe 7 hours of sleep is not enough with all of this working out?

Anyway, though, I did drag my *** out of bed and did kenpo this morning. I did not love it as much as I did last week, haha. In fact, I hated it this morning. It was so much harder for some reason!! By the end I was really tired. But, I did the entire thing. If I dogged anything it was probably the cooldown, but that's okay because I had to walk to the grocery store this morning to get some cilantro. With the long walk and the dog pulling on the leash the entire way I figure I got my cooldown, haha.

I've decided though my new shoes are nice I wish they *did* have a little more padding in the toe area. Nice shoes are pretty important for P90X. But, no blisters and it didn't affect my workout.

I didn't weigh myself this morning because I'm afraid the food from last night is probably not processing through the best. It was all actually very healthy, just seemed to be a lot of oil I thought. And, anyway, I don't really have "cheat" days, so I guess that was mine. Anyway, though, official weigh in day is Friday and I still expect to see a loss. I will let you guys know.

I am hyped for stretching tomorrow. My body REALLY needs a day off to recoup I think. I likely could not get up tomorrow and do another hardcore workout tomorrow.

Day 14 - Week 2 Day 7 - Stretching

Ahhhh, glorious stretching!!! I've heard people say you can skip this video and just completely take the day off, but why would you want to? I cannot, honestly, think of a better treat for yourself than to do this video. It feels sooooooooo good. And, I felt like a wet noodle by the time I was done. It really is a wonderful start to your morning.

Glorious, glorious stretching.

I did go ahead and weigh myself for the sake of this thread and to keep track of fluctuation. I came in at exactly 149. So, I did not sabotage myself two nights ago with the seafood class, and I still seem to be going in the right direction. Tomorrow is official weigh in day. If I hold, I will have lost four lbs. so far on P90x. That's two pounds a week. It feels right on par for me.

Before stretching this morning my back was a little sore, but now it's fine. In fact no part of my body is sore today. I feel really, really good! Tonight I'm going to go pick up a yoga block and some 12 lb. weights so I can really push things in week 3.

Also, I forgot to mention, I had not printed out my workout sheets to track my reps. I tried, but they printed out blank. So, I've gone two weeks without tracking reps. I think in week one it's not a HUGE deal because you're busy just trying to learn the moves. But, I DEFINITELY should have had them last week. I strongly recommend you remember to print your workout sheets if you do this program. Progression is the KEY to results.

Day 15 - Week 3 Day 1 - Chest & Back. Abs.

Well, I BROUGHT IT TODAY!! I went into this with as much gumption as I did on day 1. And, this time I made it through the video completely even doing the under the fence move - granted only five times the second time around, but I did it. And, I did the abs video completely, too. I am still modifying the oblique move by only lifting one leg instead of two. I justify this because I'm spent by the end of 25 just doing this.

I have quite a bit more energy today. I woke up 9 minutes before my alarm and though groggy I felt ready to go. I've edged up my calories just a bit so I'm not sure if that's the reason or if my body is just cycling through.

On the weight front, however, I weighed in at 149.5. This is a 1 lb. loss from last week's official weigh in day. I was as low as 149 the past two days, so I'm not sure why the .5 gain (especially since the past two days my diet has been stellar), but I'm a woman so who knows. Also, my breasts are tender today so perhaps TOM is on it's way. I have an IUD due to a blood clot fiasco in my brain about five years ago so I really have no idea when TOM is coming or going. I'm not regular and often I don't even get a period. When I do it lasts for a day. I wish I could be more helpful with this to know how it's affecting my working out, but I can't. I also suspect perhaps THAT is why I was wiped out the previous two days, but no way to know!

Anyway, by the end of the video today I could barely lift my arms. The blow dryer this morning was tough work! So, I'm excited to see if I get sore over the next two days. I have not been too sore as of late, so I decided to try to push it a little harder. We shall see.

Tomorrow is plyo. I am REALLY dreading it!

Oh, one last thing, I did not sweat as much today. I mean, I did sweat, but it wasn't to the point of uncomfortable. Sigh, being a woman is so messed up. My boyfriend has lost 8 lbs. since starting all of two weeks ago. Men suck.

Day 16 - Week 3 Day 2 - Plyometrics

Sorry, I'm posting this a day late. I had a full day yesterday. I was up at 5am on a Saturday to get this workout in. My boyfriend has his kids this weekend and we had to pick them up 2 hours away at 8am. So, no rest for the weary. But, this is also proof that you can ALWAYS fit these videos in. There is no excuse that you don't have time. If you HAVE to do it, you make time. We just decided not do do any activities on Friday night and went to bed early. (I even woke up at 5:30 this morning, 6:30, 8... I finally gave up at 8:30. There will be no sleeping in today! I am too used to waking up early.)

So, I was awake and ready to go yesterday. I decided I was NOT going to dog anything in this video. I wanted a work out. Well, about 20 minutes in I found myself hitting the pause button and gasping for air. It killed me, haha. I think it affected how well I did the rest of the video because I was dead by then. I also really feel it today in my glutes from all of those squates. I'm sore! This video is definitely the hardest!

We're doing today's video tonight at 9pm when we get back from dropping the kids off. It's fine except we still have to get up at 5 am tomorrow for yoga. No good. But, you do what you have to do to get it in.

I didn't weigh myself today. I had a REALLY off plan day yesterday. We ate at the museum and then went out for Mexican for dinner. I ate horribly at both. Naughty.

I need to be on plan every day until next Friday for sure, I think, if I want to see some good progress. P90X doesn't work if you don't follow nutrition, too. I gotta get it together.

You're almost 20% done with P90X, you can do it! (busts out the pom poms and does a cheer dance)

Day 17 - Week 3 Day 3 - Arms & Shoulders. Abs.

We did this last night after dropping my boyfriend's kids off. We got home a little after nine (after stopping by Target where I purchased 12 lb. weights and a yoga block) and then watched the rest of the Bulls game. Soooo... we didn't get started on our workout until 9:30 or so, which didn't put us into bed until 11pm. At that point I was jacked up from working out, and I don't think I fell asleep until about 12:30 am. But, we were back up for Yoga at 5 am this morning. I'll get to that in my next post.

What I learned from this was that working out late at night stinks. At least for me. It was hard to get to sleep, and I kind of missed my morning wake up from working out.

My boyfriend and I had terrible diets this weekend due to having the kids. It was hard to work our food into what we feed them. (They are annoyingly picky about their food.) He doesn't live with me, so when he has the kids he stays at his place. This meant he didn't have me to cook his meals or plan things for him. It helped me a bit more because I was in charge of myself, except we took them out for lunch on Saturday and out to dinner both Saturday and Sunday.

Anyway... just backstory which will fit in better for this mornings yoga post which is next versus last night's arms & shoulders workout.

What i can say about last night was that 12 lbs. was TOUGH. My boyfriend in his usual stubborness still refuses to buy weights because they are more expensive than the bands. So, once again he was borrowing my heaviest weights for a lot of sets. It wasn't too bad because it meant I could finally start using my 10 lbs. for some moves because he was now using my 12 lbs. However, for most anything that wasn't a straight arm move, I really think I'm ready for the 12 lbs. Regardless, I think I'll feel a bit of soreness in my arms tomorrow morning. I got to use the 12 lbs. on a few reps and it was definitely a burn.

I did the entire abs workout all the way through. It does seem easier! I realized I was doing the V-ups wrong. I hadn't been lifting my legs on the the way back down from the first part. I was lowering my shoulders and THEN lifting my legs. It made a huge difference. For the twists I did all 40 without stopping. I didn't get the 10 bonus in, but I will get that over time!

I felt really fat while working on the abs moves last night. I knew my tummy was blown up either from the bad food, water weight, who knows. I know that I hardly drank any water over the weekend which was bad. I wasn't flushing the salt out, plus I just wasn't hydrating like I should be. Anyway, though, the workout was done completely (including the bonus arm moves). Oh, one last thing, the one arm lifts at the very end - I did them! The first time around I couldn't do one lift. I think a lot of it was form, though. Once I started putting my arms in the right spot - easy! Okay, not easy, but not too bad. So, success!

Day 18 - Week 3 Day 4 - Yoga.

Can I just say that 90 minutes of Yoga is a ***** in the morning. I keep running out of time to eat breakfast, get ready for work, pack my and my boyfriend's lunch and take the dog out. I think I could get into liking Yoga if it didn't suck up the extra half hour in the morning. Next Monday I'm going to wake up a half hour earlier I think, but no way was I suggesting that for this morning. Not after how late we went to bed last night.

So, I did purchase a yoga block yesterday, and I have to say, it was completely worth it. I was able to open my chest up for a lot of the twisting moves, or keep my legs straight, or balance better. So, I really do highly recommend the block. It will help you with better form which will lend to you eventually not needing the block rather than struggling with bad form continuously which will never get you anywhere.

I really struggle with a few of the moves still, but there were a few that I was able to do today that I could not do at all a couple of weeks ago. So, I am seeing improvement.

I have a roommate who comes out and packs his lunch when I'm in the middle of the corpse pose every time. It'd be funny if it didn't mess with my relaxation at the very end. But, what can you do? Better to just try than to skip out on things because of life.

My boyfriend weighs himself every day. You know how they tell you that you shouldn't? Well, here is why. He weighed himself this morning at 186. His starting weight for this was 187. At one point I think he was down to 181.5. So, he went up to 186 from two days of crappy eating. I'm sure it's a combination of alcohol, no water intake, muscle gain, water retention from high sodium, and poor food choices. He had a chocolate donut for breakfast yesterday morning. Anyway on this morning's commute he tells me that he sees no point in doing all of this when he can eat six donuts for breakfast and weigh only one pound more. Uuuugh.

I'm glad I convinced him to take measurements. If I can keep him working out until day 30 I know he will see a difference in his measurements. But, he is an EXTREME Negative Nancy today, so there is no telling. What I am learning today is that it is really hard to have a workout partner that isn't excited about working out with you. It really becomes demotivating. I find myself feeling guilty that he is so upset with all of this, and I'd rather just not do it so I don't have to deal with him. He's not really SAYING anything, but that's exactly it. He's taken to just not even TALKING because he's so unhappy.

Uuuuugh. For the record, I am up on weight, too. I came in at 150.5. This really goes to show you just how very important to nutrition is along with the working out. They go hand in hand. Be sure to be serious about BOTH.

Anyway, back on plan today with the food, and hopefully my boyfriend will get some sleep tonight and cheer up. He was a real trooper on Saturday morning and pushed ME through, so I owe him the same motivation.

Thank you!!! This thread is really a lot of motivation for me because I want to show everyone that the average person CAN complete this program and (hopefully) get results! I appreciate the cheering!

Day 19 - Week 3 Day 5 - Legs & Back. Abs.

Well, I finally got a solid night of sleep last night. I had salsa lessons after work yesterday. They weren't very intense (a lot of fun actually), but that combined with yoga yesterday morning and shoulders & arms Sunday night... I was beat. I was asleep by 10pm and it was pretty much solid until 5am this morning. I think solid sleep is really crucial for P90X. It is starting to feel like a major grind and it's so much worse if you're tired, too.

Anyway, we both had some troubles getting up this morning and the video started about 5 minutes later than usual. It was rough going. I got all of the legs in, but the pull ups just weren't doing it for me today. My boyfriend was pretty crabby about them so we skipped the second time around on the switch grip.

We did, however, do all of the abs video afterwards and I got in all FIFTY mason twists. Yay! I've got the V-ups down pat. I'm pretty excited about that because they killed me the first time around. I still can't do the side leg lifts, though. Not at all. My boyfriend is a champ on them, I have no idea how he does it.

So, I have to tell you. I'm burnt out! I'm hoping I'll get over the hump, but I can really see how people have problems sticking with this program. It is seriously a grind! The workouts are so long! I find myself staring at the timer and wishing the time away. It makes the cardio ones that much longer because I'm already wishing it over about 15 minutes in! And, I'm not even to day 30 yet!!!!!!!! It's so disheartening. I'm just over 1/6 of the way complete. AHHH.

I did weigh myself this morning after the workout. So, I had a couple glasses of water in me. I came in at 150.5. I'll be a little sad if on Friday I come in at 149 (or anything higher!!). That would suck to go an entire week of working out hard and not lose any weight. Even IF I had an off weekend diet wise.

Tomorrow is Kenpo. I like it, but I'm seriously looking forward to stretch day!

Day 20 - Week 3 Day 6 - Kenpo

This week's Kenpo was definitely more fun than last week. I had the energy for it which helped a lot. The workout really flew. Plus, my boyfriend and I were both in good moods so it made it really nice.

My glutes are a little sore from yesterday's workout, but it didn't really affect me on any of the moves. I do think I could've picked up the pace on a few moves. I have a heartrate monitor. At some point this weekend I'm going to have to go hunting for it and get it set up. I am honestly curious if I'm working out hard enough (or sometimes too hard) and I think it would help me a lot. So, if you have a monitor, you should use it. If not, it's not make or break to have it, just a nice to have. I would say that you should wait and see if you're actually going to stick with the full 90 days. You should have a good idea by day 30 I would say. Again, it's definitely a grind to work out for at minimum an hour every day - I can definitely see why people quit.

Anyway, though, nothing too exciting to report about today's workout. I did every move and completely. It wasn't hard to keep up because I'm starting to memorize the moves - even the star blocks weren't as complicated.

I'm really looking forward to stretching tomorrow! My boyfriend and I are considering sleeping in and doing our stretch in the evening. Then again, there is something so beautiful about waking up to stretching. Ahhh, glorious stretching. Tomorrow will be a great day!

Day 21 - Week 3 Day 7 - Stretching.

Well, we went ahead and got up at 5am for our stretch video. Not a lot to report here. I do think I can do some of the stretches better than I could the first week, so that's nice. I don't think it felt quite as good as last week's, but that could be because I was a little more sore last week.

I wore my pajama pants while stretching this morning and I decided I wish I had worn shorts. It's kind of nice to look at my arms and legs while stretching and noticing some of the changes that have been taking place in my body. The scale is not moving AT ALL since last week - so the only thing I can really take delight in is the physical changes. They're there.

I don't know how much exercising is helping my mood. My boyfriend and I have been very sensitive and touchy with each other for a week now. I'm not sure if we are just not getting enough sleep and are stressed about fitting this into our schedule every day or if it has nothing to do with exercise at all. I think having a workout partner really is key for this, though. I'm pretty sure I would have quit if it weren't for him. But, it is not all sunshine and pie doing these videos together some days.

Tomorrow starts week four of phase 1 - rest week. We start out with Yoga.

Just as an aside, I ran across a guy's blog who is doing P90X. I wish I had seen this when I started! He's over a phase ahead of me, but he's blogging daily as well. Plus, he just has a very entertaining blog to begin with. Lots of fitness commentary throughout: http://fit-zaang.com/category/p90x/

I'm so glad I found this. Keep blogging as you go, it's very motivational.

I'm on Day 7. I've been getting great workouts in, but I did end up only doing twenty minutes of Yoga on my Yoga day. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought it was a bit ridiculous for 90 minutes. I'm going to try it again next week, like you've done, and then probably pick up some instructional yoga dvds or something.

I've been pleasantly sore all week, but can I just say OW to legs and back. Clearly I need to get my legs into better shape. I'm sure this is going to do it; I'm so sore!

I'm doing lean version, by the way; I plan to do classic on my second go around.

Keep going!