I'm BAAACK, BABY! Brought it and left it on the floor! Day 1 - Round 2 of P90X

Well, I was apprehensive today....for some reason I couldn't make myself get going...in fact, I was SUPPOSED to start this yesterday, but I couldn't make myself start then either. Not sure why, exactly. Perhaps it's because I know how hard it is...LOL. At any rate, I FORCED myself to do it today. And within 5 minutes of the actual workout, I remembered why I love P90X! There is nothing like the adrenaline pumping, the blood flowing, the apprehension...and then doing it. Where I started today was right where I left off the first round. This time, I impressed myself...I did 14 standard pushups, then 10. All of my pushups were upped, and the weight I left off for heavy pants and lawnmowers was the weight I started with today (20lbs). How do I feel? Like throwing up, that's how. LOL. I am shaking, I am nauseaus, but I persevered and completed it. I love when you work hard and your body goes "um, HELLO!!" Ahhh....a nice recovery drink with some ice, and I'm good to go. Currently, as I type this, my hubby is doing P90X for the first time. YAY!

Plyo tomorrow....oh boy, is that gonna kill me! But I'm soooo looking forward to it!

Jan: 226.5

Feb: 221

-5.5 lbs

I'll take it. I had a rough month with not a lot of exercise because my body decided it had a mind of it's own. SO, I'll take this, happily. Watch out though...I fully expect February to rock! Starting my second round of P90X on Monday...and I'm itching to do it.

p.s. sorry about the toes...totally forgot about them...in a hurry to get kids ready...and never actually noticed them until I uploaded the pix. LOL. Nice!

P90X Tank Picture.

Well, I finally felt decent enough to take a picture of myself in my new P90X tank. Obviously I still have work to do, and when I get to where I'm going, I'm going to have this tank taken in. Since it cost me $50. to have my tank SHIPPED, here, making my tank worth a fortune, I'm not going to buy another one. LOL. Lesson learned...But I really like my shirt, and so, for this one time, I'm not sweating the extra money.

I won't be starting my second round of P90X until Monday, Feb. 15th because I was told to take some time and let my body recover, and after that, I'm going away for a weekend....so, I'm going to hit it fresh and ready to kick some booty. Looking forward to it too.

Another streak comes to an end...and I'm not even upset!

Well, I ended another streak. Even tho I didn't go weird on my eating, (the worst I did was have a little piece of deep fried banana) I had some drinks. My husband and I went to Niagara Falls for a much needed escape, and we went out for dinner and to a club. I had some drinks...the first time this mouth had anything with sugar/gluten in it since last June. It's okay tho. One weekend away, one evening with drinks did not break me. I don't regret it at all. One thing I will say is, even tho I did that, it doesn't feel like a free be to go crazy. I still consider my lifestyle refined-sugar-free/gluten-free. All of my choices after my drinks are still sound. I have absolutely NO compunction to eat badly, which just reaffirms to me that this is a lifestyle CHOICE, I've made. My body went kinda haywire afterwards, which just reiterates to me MY NEED of this lifestyle choice, a self imposed one to maintain a healthy body. So I'm good with that. If I go out and decide to have a drink or something, it does not need to translate into a complete departure from my chosen path. The past almost 7.5 months have taught me what is good for my body, it's taught me discipline and self control and more importantly the fact that I am strong enough to make a conscious decision without going haywire, out of control, gluttonous, and crazy. I am proud of myself.

I was going to start my P90X today, but I think I'd better postpone it. My back is out from the base of my skull, all down my spine to my tail bone. My head hurts so much from the pressure...my whole back feels bruised. Why? 10 Pin bowling! LOL. Those balls are heavy. I played it for an hour with my hubby, and it was a lot of fun...but with the weights of the balls, and the twisting....not a good thing....thank goodness I have a chiropractors appointment this afternoon!

Listening to my body...this is getting easier.

I was supposed to do Plyometrics today...but I have 3 sick kids, and I'm fighting my own head/chest cold, so I made a decision today. Since I'm not feeling well, and since I'm going out of town Friday-Sunday, I have decided to take the rest of this week off as well, and start the second round of P90X on Monday. It just so happens that Monday is Feb. 1st too, so what better way to start a new month than starting a new routine?! Yep, that's what I'm going to do, and I'm feeling good about it. I can foresee a wonderful 3 months of P90X with more strength, more toning, and lots of weight-loss.

Listening to my body....

Today was supposed to be day one of my second round of P90X. BUT, Bridget had an eye specialist appointment out of town, so it was a looooong day. We were on the road at 9am, and we just got back. Since we were out of town, we stopped at my friends house which was only 20 minutes from the city where the appointment was....so we visited for a few hours, the kids all played together. Then we went to the mall in another city by Toronto....which was actually fun. But, I'm tired! 4 plus hours of driving does that to you. And since I'm having a clearer, newer understanding of my body and what it needs, I've decided to take tomorrow as my first day of my second round of P90X, but I'm starting on day 2. Sorry Pitz, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. I'm fighting off what everyone around me has, which is a sore throat and stuffed schnoz...plus my back is aching...so, my decision is to rest. Ha. See, I've learned a lot, and I've come a long way. Giving myself permission, guilt-free permission feels freeing.

Plyometrics tomorrow! Gonna bring what I have.

What I've Learned

So, after I made the decision to break my streak, I felt a few things. I felt disappointment. I felt relief. I felt pride. Now, I'm good. After thinking about it, I realise that I wasn't actually being balanced. I know all the opinions about consecutive working out....about what your muscles need to build, about how your body needs rest. I know all about that stuff. I'm not an uneducated newbie. I DO read, lol. However, I kept the streak going for a few reasons...not entirely based on the physical end of things. Sure, one major reason is weight loss, and firming up this body that I've let go. But the main reason is mentally. I was training myself. I was training myself to go the distance whatever come what may. See, a friend that I've met on WLW and now in the blogosphere started her journey to 'Finish what she started' well, I'm a person who used to run away from things. I ran! I ran away and didn't face situations. I ran away instead of using the situation at hand to help me grow, instead of digging deep and finding my inner strength. So for some reason, I figured that if I could do daily consecutive exercising and NOT LET THINGS come between us, if I didn't run away and bury my head in the sand, but stood my ground and worked out in spite of whatever situation/event/occurance happend, it would make me strong. And to a degree it did. I now have a respect for working out that I never had before. I know it will be a lifelong thing, a commitment to myself, something that challenges me that I LOVE doing. But it will not be my crutch. It will not have this negative connotation attached to it, like the feeling that I would be a loser if I didn't do it, if I broke my streak. I KNOW I'm not a loser, I'm actually a winner. I've won my 'self' back. I've earned the right to take a break, let my body recover, and when I hit the P90X hard again on Monday, there won't be any negative resentful feelings attached. I will be training for my 5K, and I will be commited to the next 90 days of working out, and I will do it because I want to...because it's good for me, not because I have this thing attached to my pride, this looming thing that is held over my head. I now feel free. I have the freedom to workout and if something comes up, sickness/events/ time constraints, I won't have to feel like I'm letting myself down. There is no room for vanity on this healthy lifestyle...at least not the kind that is damaging. Pride comes before a fall, dontcha know. I know. And now I also know when to say when, when to listen to my body, and I no longer have the fear that it will be something I run away from. I have longevity. I have discipline. I have determination. No streak will make or break any of those things any more. So I did learn a lot. I am fully appreciative of what I've learned during this time. And now, I'm great. It's all good baby. Watch me soar now that I've unfettered my own wings!