Happy New Year

It seems that another year has come and gone in what seems a blink of an eye. 2012 has taken me on quite a journey and I am looking forward to seeing what 2013 has in store for me, and my family. I am hoping that most of you, my friends and my family, have a safe and wonderful New Year's Eve and may 2013 bring you great happiness.

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Now, I must blog for the last time in 2012, and get everyone caught up in what has been going on since early November.

This last case of shin splints has by far been the worst case that have had so far and it left me out of the game for longer then expected. I did, fortunately, recover enough in time for the Santa Hustle 5K on Sandusky on Dec 16th. Unfortunately, only 4 of us were able to attend the race and three of us were coming off different running injuries, so needless to say we walked a bit more the we expected to. Sam and I drove up the day before the race to pick up all of our packets. We decided to spend the night in a nice hotel, have a nice dinner, and just enjoy the time alone. It was an amazingly awesome weekend.







Looking forward to the 2013 Santa Hustle where, hopefully, we will be doing the 1/2 marathon.

In the fitness and weight loss department there as been no change in weight, but I haven't been very diligent at all on my eating habits with the holidays. I did manage to lose an inch off each thigh, a little over a quarter inch off each arm, and half an inch of my waist since November. Oh, and slightly under a percent off my BF%. I give credit for that to Les Mills Pump, which I am a few weeks into. I am doing that along side of Beachbody's newest program Les Mills Combat which I added in last week. This hybrid of programs has be my favorite so far.

Now that the holidays are over, well with the exception of tonight, I am going to buckle down and get serious. I start my Marathon training in February and have my first big race in April, which is the 25K (17 mile) trail run in the Mohican Forest. I just keep praying that those pesky shin splints don't come back.

Sam hit one year at his job this year the end of October, so that opened a lot more benefits and opportunities for us. I am thankful for him to have such a good job because we are earning more money then we've ever brought in before. Just keeping my fingers crossed that his yearly evaluation in April with bless us even more!

We were able to have a truly amazing Christmas this year! Charlotte had a list of things that she really wanted, and with her being an only child we were able to buy her that, and more because let's face it... Only child = Spoiled

.







We had one present that didn't show up until last week right after Christmas because Sam and I waited too long to order it, and that was her new iPhone, which was supposed to be her surprise Christmas Eve present.



Besides making out like a bandit for Christmas, Charlotte is doing fantastic. She is about halfway through 6th grade... Her final year of elementary school. In August she will start attending the local High School where she will spend her last 6 years of school. She started playing the trumpet in the 6th grade band in October and loves it. It is fun listening to her practice every night and hearing her improvements. We got her beginning of the school year test result and is doing above average on everything, except reading which is scored the highest on with a 9th grade reading level. Her first term report card in November held nothing but straight A's and I am praying that she keeps it up. Guess the next few months will fly by and she will be getting ready to start swimming again on the summer swim team.

As for me, I am doing well... I've been slowly driving more since we bought the new car in July, although I am not quite ready for the icy snowy weather yet. I've been hanging out with my local friends more which is good for me since I haven't had really any close good friends in, man, 10 years or so?

Tonight we are all celebrating the New Year together with reservations at nicer restaurant and maybe some drinks. Tomorrow they are doing a New Years Bike ride in the Mohican since they all are avid mountain bikers. They've been trying for weeks to talk me into that, but I am so not ready for that in the snow. I tried it once in July and it was crazy. But, who knows, I could agree to it. Have had an interest in it since before we met Kim, and even more know. Maybe I will add the MTB 100 to the crazy things I want to do.

The biggest change starts this weekend for me as I am going back to school for the final time. Sam and I have been throwing around the idea since about April. I want to go back to work and I want to do something in a career that I'll love. I don't to be stuck with only ever working at Walmart (been there done that.. twice... gag). My disabilities have kept me from achieving my goals for too long now, and I will no longer let them bring me down. Although applying for VA Voc Rehab is what really sealed the deal and will now help with my schooling. BS in Accounting, and eventual CPA license here I came.

Guess I need to wrap it up, 20 minutes until Sam get home from work and then we need to get around for dinner, and drop Charlotte off. I don't know what the next time I will blog as I will be so busy, but those I am very close too will have access to all my postings on Facebook. I will make it my goal to blog before my 25K in April though.

Happy New Year!!

Two Weeks Later..

So, my goal of updating once a week didn't happen like I was planning on doing.. even with having an app to do it via my iPad.  Twice a month seems like a reasonable goal for now anyway.

I have been running again for almost 10 days following my 2 week break due to shin splints.  Although as of last night I do not think that 2 weeks was enough time, so after my long run Sunday I will be taking the rest of November off to rest my shins. This way I know that I am completely healed for my next race in December.  =)

Yes, you read that correctly, I did sign up for yet ANOTHER race.  I am doing another 5K in Sandusky, OH on December 16, 2012 called the Cedar Point Santa Hustle (http://santahustle.com/cedar-point/). There is a large group of us running this race, and I will not be focusing on my PR this time around. I am hoping that I can register for a 10K sometime in March and possibly one more 5K before doing my 25K the tail end of April.  Then maybe another 10K in May before doing my marathon in June.  Hmmmmm... decisions.

Fitness wise when I am not busy running or thinking about running I am focusing on my weight lifting which I love!  I am two weeks in my second round of ChaLEAN Extreme but am thinking about switching over to Les Mills Pump next week and doing it with Sam.  Ever since I became a Beachbody Coach we've been buying their programs to try out.  Tonight I am thinking about giving Insanity another go..  I really liked it the last time that I did it (August 23rd) but I pulled a muscle in my calf and it hurt for several days. Guess we will see... although doing P90x cardio wouldn't be too bad either.

One last thing before I wrap this up is that I did switch over to that new eating plan and it's got the weight moving again! I've lost 3.2 pounds since last Monday and I still have two more days until my official weekly weigh in day. Woohoo! I am thinking I will take my measurements and body fat percentage as well, and maybe use the blog to track that too? We shall see.

5k and Running

It has been a while since I last blogged so it was time to write again. As you've noticed I also decided to switch hosting sites so that I can access my blog via iPad app.

The last time that I blogged I was a week or so in Turbo Fire and I did do that for about 4 weeks when I stopped. Why did I stop? I joined a local running group and that became my primary source of cardio.

There are only a small handful of us that are in the group, four of us that run every time (Kim, Becky, Gail, and myself) and Sam and few others that come once a week or so. We primarily trail run in the Mohican Forest and I love it!

I have been running so much and loving it that I did my first race on Sunday October 14, 2012. I ran the 5th Annual Mohican 5k. My goal since I am still new to running (well in a decade) was to run it in under 45 minutes. My official race time was 36:22 (11:43 per mile).


I was super excited and felt amazing. The downside I ran on shin splints so right now I am one week into a two week rest period. (No running for two weeks!!!!!). I need the downtime to completely heal because I am registered to run the Forget the PR 25k (half marathon) on April 28, 2013 and the Mohican Marathon on June 15, 2013. We will be starting a 16 week training program in February to prepare for the marathon, although we will probably be unofficially training for the half marathon a lot sooner. I am super exited!!!





Here is me before the race





Crossing the finish line with my buddy Kim





Me, Gail, Kim and Kent after the race



As for the weight loss I am now down 41 pounds but it has really slowed down a lot even though I am still losing inches. I am switching to do different type of eating plan this coming Monday to see if that helps. I need to get as much off before February before training because official weight loss goes on hold.

New web hosting site :)

http://draill81.wordpress.com

New web hosting site:)

HIIT 15, Stretch 10 and Unboxing my Turbo Fire

I am going to go with a different approach today when explaining yesterday's "class."  I am going to let someone else explain it for me. 

 Here is a description of the class that I found on http://www.extremely-fit.com/fitness-tips/2010/07/turbo-fire-reviews-hiit-15/: 

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Onward and forward! This workout in reality is about 16 minutes and 25 seconds. Give or take. The workout will basically consist of 3 HIITs. During these HIITs, you will work at 110% effort for approximately 30-40 seconds. Then you get to rest for the same approximate amount of time. For this workout be effective, you have to work as hard as possible during the HIITs. You can do it, it’s only 15 minutes right. At least that’s what I tell myself! At the end of the HIIT, you should be exhausted, you’re supposed to be. The best shape person in the world, should be exhausted, if you’re not, work harder!

So you begin with a quick warm up of about 2 minutes, and then Chalene Johnson walks you through the first HIIT at a slow pace. So you know exactly what’s coming. The HIITs are all athletic in nature and are plyometric. You jump a lot. Have a soft surface, carpet, a mat, and a comfortable pair of shoes. Now if the plyometric part scares you, don’t let it. There is someone working out next to Chalene that is doing the “low impact” version.

So after the walkthru, you will do the HIIT at a fast pace, as fast as you can move. Each HIIT should get better and better. Don’t try to pace yourself, leave nothing, and take everything you can from this workout.

After your HIITs, three of them, you get a 2 minute cool down.

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Better then I could explain the video without spending all night perfecting it. So, basically there were 3 sets of HIITs, and you did each one 3 times with a small break in between them..

This video was short but intense, even with me following the low impact version of it. After each set of  the HIITs my heart rate would be in the high 170s. My intensity was a little lower on the last set of three, as the choreography was too quick and I had to keep stopping to watch... It went by very fast, and for only being 15 minutes long I got a damn good workout.  I burned 222 calories in 25 minutes by doing HIIT 15 and the 10 minute extended stretching class: Stretch 10. I was very pleased by this because on average I was burning around 170-180 doing Turbo Jam 20 Minute workout and there is no extended stretching in that!

My actual Turbo Fire package arrived via Fed Ex this morning  and I was super excited opening it! (How did I already start you ask? Once I ordered the set on Beachbody, and paid for my 2 day shipping, I looked up the schedule, and downloaded the 2 classes that I needed off the net.. ).

Here is the package just how it arrived:

Opening the box:

All the contents: The Starter Pack DVD, the normal set and the Advanced Classes.  The 30 lbs resistance band for the Tone and Sculpt classes, the thigh toner band, the guides and my Turbo Tracker. Oh, and another measuring tape like the one I received in my Turbo Jam set.

The Advanced Class Set: Will not get to experience these videos until Week 13-20!

It was pricey, but well worth it!! 

Had a minor NSV yesterday..    

 My mom and I have been going once a month/every 6 weeks to this church donation/giveaway thing that happens on Tuesday's here in town. It is like Goodwill, but you take what you need/want for free.  I don't like to take anything unless I give something in return, so yesterday I took down 2 stuffed trash bags of  my "fat" clothes, and  2 of just stuff to donate.  I let myself pick out 6 very nice almost new pairs of size 10 shorts that will make nice goal shorts and I can also probably wear next year even if I hit size 8 by that time (God I hope LOL). I also found two pairs on very nice capris in a size 12.. I figured maybe I could lose alittle more doing September, wear them for all of October and donate them back.  

I tried them on at my Mom's house for giggles, and I could zip them up, button them and sit down while wearing them. They were snug and I felt very self conscious wearing them, but I could if I really wanted to. My goal is to wear them (comfortably to the Loudonville Street Fair on Oct 2). 

I am also super excited because I hit 173.4 on the scale this morning... I was mad though because my cell phone was downstairs so I didn't get a picture. Thank goodness my Fitbit Aria scale uploaded it to my account so I can look at the pretty number that way.  That puts me at 37.3 pounds lost..   2.7lbs away from my 40 lbs lost mark, AND I am about 9 pounds away from hitting overweight according to the BMI charts. (and I can zip up and button a pair of size 12s!! Hehe).


Starting next week I will be semi-blogging about my husband Sam as well...   we ordered him Les Mills Pump and the Advanced Classes for that last night through Beachbody, so I will keep track of his progress as well.

Turbo Fire: Fire 30 and Stretch 10

This morning marked the start of my round of Turbo Fire and it was both awesome and intense at the same time. I figured that since I did so awful at blogging during my round of ChaLEAN Extreme (and my round of P90X too) I would try to start blogging the day of my workout.

Today's workout was the Turbo Fire: Fire 30 Class and Stretch 10 Class.  

When you first start the "class" you do a quick warm up which is about four minutes long, and reminded me of the warm up set in the Turbo Jam videos. The warm up set included some fast paced punching, squatting and kicking and managed to get my heart rate into the 150's by the end of the it. Like Turbo Jam, and ChaLEAN Extreme I am expecting it to be about the same for every video.

When you actually start the workout of portion of class it throws you right in with a series of jab/cross/hook/uppercut combos that really got the sweat pour and the calories burning. After each series/set of exercises you do a Fire Drill.  These Fire Drills were crazy intense, and brought my heart rate up to the maximum very quickly. It is so hard to explain a lot of the class since I am new to it, but I really wanted to just say that it was AWESOME.

I burned 422 calories in the 40 minutes of class time according to my heart rate monitor.  My heart rate reached a maximum of 187 during one of the Fire Drills so that tells you how intense it was.

Here is a 1 min video of snipes of the Fire 30 Class:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Um-IViGL6M

And now I am finished... short but sweet and better then nothing...

ChaLEAN Extreme Results

Well, I am officially finished with my round of ChaLEAN Extreme..  again I made it through 10 weeks (of 12) before staying screw it.  Only this time it was not due to injury, it was due to the fact that Lean Circuit wasn't doing it for me. The combination of weight lifting and balance or core moves made it too difficult and I spent most of my time either falling over or trying to keep my balance.  I will stick to P90X weight lifting until my balance and core strength improve.


Going to post the pictures, then a quick recap of this round and what I accomplished the past 10 weeks. 


So, during my round of ChaLEAN Extreme I lost -11.2 lbs, 3.5” off waist, 2” off hips, 1.5” off chest, .5” off each arm, 2” off each thigh, and .5" off each calf.  I see the progress in my before and after pictures except in my stomach area...  of course it figures that it will be the very last thing to go down.  

As of today I am down 36.8 pounds, and a ton of inches.  

Since I started CLX directly after a round of P90X I added an extra cardio day on one of the rest days every week. In the beginning most of the time I was doing incline intervals on our treadmill, but a few weeks into the program I bought Turbo Jam and started doing that. I think I may have already blogged about doing some TJ workouts, and once I think I even tried TF so giggles, but I will recap anyway.

Turbo Jam ended being something that I quickly fell in love with.  Cardio kickboxing with a little dance mixed in was just what I needed to burn a ton of calories and have a blast doing it. I had considered doing a full round of Turbo Jam after this CLX round but I had no problems completing any of the workout directly after  any of the CLX videos, so I decided that I needed something a little more intense. I settled on purchasing and doing a round of Turbo Fire since I loved Turbo Jam so much (although I did briefly consider Insanity but I have done the Pure Cardio workout a few times and it wreaks havoc on my Army knee injury, so  right now that is out of the questions).

I purchased both the standard edition of Turbo Fire:  (http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/turbofire.do ) and the Advanced Classes:  http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/advanced/turbofire-club.do  which means that a full round of Turbo Fire will end up being 20 weeks long for me.  I am super pumped up at doing Turbo Fire..  this is totally going to be my thing!

Gun Show....

Guess all the weight lifting (lateral raises in this instance) have been helping...

Saturday is my last day of ChaLEAN Extreme: Push Phase, and I am looking forward to taking my measurements and pictures.. and moving onto Lean Phase.  I can not wait to have an awesome gun show! LOL!

BF% and NSV

Just started Week 3 of Push Phase today (Day 42 of this round of CLX)  which also made it my weigh in day..  I lost only a pound this week, but that was understandable since I ate whatever I wanted this weekend since we spent it in Columbus at the Ohio State Fair.  The awesome part about that, and I think it is because I am in Push Phase, is that I did lose .5% Body Fat.  I won't be taking my measurements again for just under two weeks, but I already feel changes to my body from this Phase.


I had a big NSV this weekend as well:  I replaced my entire wardrobe!! I was able to buy everything out of the woman's department, and it fits great so I am officially out of the plus size section.

So, in 5 1/2 months I replaced:

Shirts: 2X with L
Pants: Size 24 with Size 14
Bras: 40D with 36D (will be in a C by probably Halloween)
Panties: Size 12 with Size 8  (I did wear maybe a size too big in the beginning because of my hysterectomy scar and it bothering me to have panties run against it)

I can not wait to do my winter shopping now!


On a side note: I reactivated my subscription and started using my BodyMedia Fit (Bodybugg) on the 1st to help really get my weight loss moving fast again. It is really interesting to see my burn and how active or not active that I am during the day.  Now, I just need to sell my Fitbit.

Another Progress Picture...

This is the progress that I have made in 5.5 months time...

The jeans are a size 24.. I had to go out and buy them on Valentine's Day because my size 22's were way too tight. That was the extra push that I needed and the next day I started my weight loss journey. I did only wear these for about 10-12 days before I 

was able to go back in my size 22's.

As of today, Aug 1, I can fit into my size 14 jeans, but since it is still too hot to wear those all the time right now, and I am just going to continue wearing my size 16's so I don't have to by new shorts. No point in buying a pair of new ones right before fall when they will be way too big next year. 

I can not wait to see what the next 5/6 months bring......

Burn Phase Results

I have done awful at blogging my progress since I ended my round of P90X, and I after today I will try to get better. Things had just been so hectic around here, but are starting to calm down now.

Sunday marked the end of the first 30 day phase of ChaLEAN Extreme.  Burn Phase, as it is called, was 3 days of weight lifting circuits and 2 days of cardio with either Abs, or Yoga. In this phase Chalene had you focusing on reaching muscle failure at 10-12 reps.  Most of the time the weight lifting was combined with another move. For instance, doing a lunge w/posterior fly. To me this phase seemed to have a TON of lower body exercise in it, and  it didn't really make my knee injury feel too good sometimes.  During Burn Phase I was lifting primarily 5lb, 8lb, and sometimes 10lb weights. Except in Burn Circuit 3 when you do a lot of lunges, squats and sumo squats with calf raise... I did most of that with no weight due to my knee, but I do it once with 5 lbs. 


Today, I started Push Phase, which I think that I am really going to like.  This phase is all about HEAVY lifting and failing at 6-8 reps.  I used 20lb, 15lb, and 12lb weights today on Push Circuit 1. I was a sweaty shaking mess afterwards, and felt wonderful! My push-ups are improving as well...  When I started P90X I could do 10 or so right off the bat on my knees..   the end of P90X I could do 20-25 right off the bat on my knees.  Now, I am can do 5-6 on my toes before going to my knees.  I did 3 normal slow motion push-ups today at the very end of my workout because she saved the push-ups for last.  I was already shaky and sore, but forced myself to do 3 on my toes.

The cardio videos in this program are something that I really enjoy, especially Burn Intervals. BI is one minute of hardcore, get your heart rate up exercise followed by 1.5 minutes of really light weight lifting.  In BI   she doesn't have to lift weights to build muscle she has you do it to build muscle endurance. I only use 3lbs in each hand doing this, but after a minute and a half it is intense.  =)   Now, the best part about BI is it introduced me to Chalene's kick boxing drills which I immediately fell in love with. So, that lead me to obtaining a copy of her Turbo Jam: 20 Minute Workout video.  That is the most fun I have had working out before, and I have started adding it in on my circuit days. Except today...  today I felt bold, and tried the 30 Fire Class in her advanced series Turbo Fire. Now, that was crazy intense..  like Turbo Jam on crack. I think once I learn all the moves it would be a little better, but it was a calorie burner, and other then feeling like spaz it was really fun. I plan on alternating between those two Turbo Jam and Turbo Fire videos until CLX is over, and I decide to do another round of CLX or do a full round of one of the Turbo programs.

Other then that the only other fitness I have really been focusing on is biking.  I bought a bike a bike 2.5 weeks ago to use while my shin splint is healing (per doctors orders).  Taking that slowly because where we live is nothing but hills, and hardly any flat surface, so I have to be careful with my knee. My shin is feeling a lot better, and I think next week I will slowly add some higher impact stuff back in..  I will hold of on running for maybe another 2 weeks.

Weight loss hasn't been as fast as I would like, but I have to remind myself contently that because of my PCOS no matter what I do it will always be harder for me to lose weight.  =(  




Guess for now I am done.  Time for my Burn Phase Results and pictures:


Burn Phase Day 1 Weight:  185.1
Push Phase Day 1 Weight:  179.7



-5.4 pounds in 30 days


I lost: 1" off my chest,  .5" off my neck,  1.5" off each thigh and .5" off each calf.  I saw no change in my waist, hips, or arms.  The lower body exercise in this program must be working, because the inches I lost in my thighs was amazing. 

I don't see a whole of change in the pictures this phase.  =(   Wish I would have taken before and after pictures of my legs. That is where I can tell the difference. 

Not weight loss related but....

Our poor Pontiac kicked the bucket this weekend, and we didn't want to have to replace the entire engine in it.  So, Sam and I got a new car this afternoon. We bought a brand new 2012 Kia Soul +  It only had 25 miles on it when we drove it off the lot. I love it!  It makes a great weight loss gift to me!!  

30 LBS LOST!!!

I just hit my 30 pound lost mark (actually 30.1 pounds)!!  This puts me 3.6 lbs from the lowest that I have been since I became overweight. I will be taking measurements next week when Week 4/Burn Phase of ChaLEAN Extreme is finished.

I will blog sometime soon as well, just been crazy busy here.

5 Month Progress Pictures

ChaLEAN Extreme

I just finished Week 1 of ChaLEAN Extreme and will blog about it tomorrow..  but I LOVE this program so far.  Yes, more then I loved P90X too! It is amazing so far!

http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/chalean_extreme.do

Tough Decision

Sam and I have decided to end our round of P90X 12 days earlier than we should...  We have been having a hard time with it right now between time, and injuries we've both gotten (which resulted in us doing our own cardio).  We are moving onto a different program for the time (ChaLEAN Extreme) which we will start on Tuesday.  This won't be as time consuming or nearly as intense as P90X.  We will do another round following this 90 day round of (CLX).  Here are our P90X stats for 80 days:


Dianne:  -13.9 lbs lost,  6” off waist,  5” off hips,  2.5” off chest,  .5” off each arm,  .5” off each thigh,  neck and calves stayed the same (after losing and gaining).

Sam:  -14 lbs,  5.5” off waist,  2” off hips,  1” off chest,  .25” off neck,  .75” off each arm,  1” off each thigh,  .50” off calves.

NSV

Big NSV tonight!! My husband and I just got back from 'walking' the local bike path. The entire length was 4.26 miles from our front door and back. I briskly walked the first mile, and then jogged the entire remaining length (3.26 miles). Granted my jogging is still slow, but it got my heart rate high, and I had a nice burn (644 calories in just over an hour). I have been out of the military for just over 11 years and this is first time I have jogged/ran that long of a distance!!!

P90X: Week 10 Recap

We started out Week 10 with cardio on the elliptical machine and treadmill in the morning and weight lifting in the evenings.  This seemed to work out a little bit better, even with things being so hectic right now. I was starting to lose motivation last week because I was stressing out about having a hard time fitting in our workouts because the husband and I are doing P90X together.  When I take our daughter to and from meets in the evenings (Monday - Friday) it makes it hard to get them in because that is when he is off work and he is finishing up this last 5 weeks of his degree right so he is swamped with homework and seminars. Thank goodness swim team is done of the 14th of July, and his schooling on the 24th of July...  that way we can focus on Round 2. 

Monday (June 11): P90X: Day 64: Chest, Shoulders and Triceps  

I remember doing Chest, Shoulders and Triceps that first day the beginning of Phase 2...  man.. it was hard, hard, hard.  Even with the modifications I still struggled that first day.  I am getting better now.. I still am on my knees for the push-ups in both videos but I can knock out more reps a lot fast while being able to go deeper into them.  For the first time in this round I was able to do a bunch of one-arm WALL push ups...   yes, in the beginning I couldn't even do them on a wall.  For round 2 I am shooting for being able to do them on the ground.   I am slightly improving on my clap/plyo push ups... I still need to be more careful and not slips while doing them because I almost smashed my face into the floor this last week doing them.

Tuesday (June 12): P90X: Day 65: Plyometrics X (Did Elliptical Machine instead):

I swapped out Plyo X for my elliptical machine because my shin was bothering me little bit, and I didn't want to aggravate it further. I think this will be the last day I switch Plyo out for something else since I really enjoy this video. Hopefully when I do it tonight my shin won't give me problems, and I will have more to say about Plyo next week.  

Wednesday (June 13): P90X: Day 66: Back and Biceps

 I think that Back and Biceps will have to be my absolute favorite P90X workout... even though Katie in the video annoys the crap out of both Sam and myself. I had to take a step backwards during this workout, and use mainly 10 lbs weights for the backs reps and 15 lbs weight for the bicep reps. During the workout I kept getting a sharp pain in my shoulder blade that I couldn't get to go away even with extra stretching. This resulting me being unable to lift heavy on the back exercises (pull ups).

Plus, I have been noticing a trend the past several weeks that during my weight training workouts my heart rate doesn't jump like it used to, which is making my calorie burn go down.  This is even with the fact that both my reps and dumbbell weight has gone up since I first started P90X.   

Thursday (June 14): P90X: Day 67: Swimming

I usually swap out Yoga X with Cardio X  but today I went ahead and swam instead of either one. I wanted to take it easy one more day on my shin because it had felt pretty good the day before. 

I spent 3 hours at the pool, and got in 1.5 hours of laps and water aerobics. I did about 45 minutes of laps that were enough to get my heart rate pretty damn high (150-165) by doing 50m and stopping to let my heart rate get down to the 120's and repeating. The last 45 minutes I did laps and aerobics that were enough to keep my heart rate in my lower end zone (126-136).  I stopped my HRM afterwards while I relaxed and played with the kids, but I did stay in the pool the entire 3 hours. 

I will say it again though... swimming is an awesome cardio workout! I love the fact it gets my heart rate good and high, but I love that it is low impact.  Makes all the problems in my feet, knee, and shin seem like they aren't there at all.

Friday (June 15): P90X: Day 68: Legs and Back   

I finally did Legs and Back after missing it the last 2 or 3 weeks. This workout is probably the one I have been struggling with the most.  It consists of A LOT of squats, and lunges which are brutal on my knee if I do it too much or too longer. I remember doing this workout the very first time in Week 1...  I cried through the entire video and threw up afterwards. Week 2 I only cried.  That is how bad it killed my knee.  

This night I held the entire first set (90 seconds) of Wall Squats, and I did another 60 seconds when Sam and the video did the Single Leg Wall Squats. For me this was a huge improvement as the first two weeks I could only do 30 seconds... one time during the workout. I also managed to do the Groucho Walks the entire time even though my steps were very tiny. The lunges with my right leg (not bad knee leg) are getting a bit deeper too! This stuff still hurts my knee, but I can push through it easier now.

Had a total WOOHOO moment during this workout too.  I did 9 assisted pull-ups! I have been using dumbbells the entire round instead of a bar or bands. We did buy a pull up bar a few weeks ago, but I was unable to do any at that time.  But, I tried it during this workout and did 9 with the husband holding my foot (he didn't push me or anything.. it was all me!!).  I could have knocked out maybe a few more, but his hands were sweating and my foot slipped out of his hand, so I stopped.      

Saturday (June 16): P90X: Day 69: Kenpo X (Did Swimming Instead) 

Went to the pool again today, and spent 3.5 hours there.  My husband actually went with me today, so that was a lot of fun.  We got in almost 2 hours of laps and water aerobics (mainly freestyle and inverted breast stroke).    

Sunday (June 17): P90X: Day 63: Rest Day (Did Kenpo X instead) :

Made up Kenpo X tonight instead of taking a full blown rest day.  I did not do any of the jumping jacks during the break periods, but lightly jogged and did light jump ropes instead.  My shin was actually feeling really good, so it is time to start slowing adding stuff back in...  this way I can see what aggravates it. 

Side Notes: I had an awesome weight loss this week! I lost 2.8 pounds, and hit my first goal of 25 pounds lost. For a total of 25.6 pounds since Feb 15th! I now weigh what I did right before my surgery (2 pounds less then a month after) and am 8 pounds away from the lowest weight. The weight that I got to last year (and when I did South Beach Diet back in 2007). I am going to shoot for this for this time in July.  

P90X: Week 9 Recap

Monday (June 4): P90X: Day 57: Chest and Back & Ab Ripper X  

I did not get enough sleep the night before and I was super sore from that 6.38 mile hike the day before. I still pushed through the workout (the first time since Week 4), and I did a crap ton of push-ups!!  8 total sets during the entire workout for a total of 196 push ups (of different variations... military style (elbows close to sides) I still really suck at, but I have seen an improvement.  I did reach muscle failure quickly (as usual) and I wasn't able to knock out my 200 rep goal during the hour video.  I did 14 additional afterwards to surpass my goal. Yay! I did all the "pull-ups" and back moves with 15 and 20 pound dumbbells. Ouch! ARX kicked my behind again... but that is still be expected with carrying a bulk of my weight in my abdomen.  Plus, I still try to be easier on it with only being 1 year post-op hysterectomy/sacral colpopexy.    

Tuesday (June 5): P90X: Day 58: Plyometrics X:

I did have to re-modify a few of the exercises that I have been doing normal the past few weeks.  I did this because I am currently suffering from a shin splint in my right leg. I think that a combination of Plyo, jogging, and doing too much too quick is what did my poor leg in. Still managed to get this workout in, even though I was really stupid and took two Vicodin right before hand (shin and I was still sore in the glutes, and quads from the hike).  I got really dizzy and nauseated about 40 minutes in and had to have Sam grab a handful of mini wheat to settle my stomach in order to knock the remainder out. (I did track them in my calories log).  I will never do that again! I usually only take Vicodin before before for the whole dizzy thing. 

I bought Just Dance 3 a few days before and tried it that afternoon. OMG that is so much fun (and much better than Zumba Fitness, which I complained about last week) and it burns a good chunk of calories too!!

Wednesday (June 6): P90X: Day 59: Shoulders and Arm & Ab Ripper X

 Man, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the strength training portion of P90X! Lifting weights make me feel good and strong. Strength training is where I am seeing the best results (will post my Week 1 and 13 reps and weight in Week 13 Recap). The downfall is it does not burn a ton of calories.. although it elevates your metabolism for 48 hours afterwards.. where as cardio only does for several hours.  Plus lean muscle burns more calories than the same weight in fat at rest.

I felt a bit better this morning than the previous couple days..  I managed to get up at 5:30am with a full 8 hours of sleep under my belt.

Walked my fasted 3 miles (3.64) on the treadmill in one hour as well!  Didn't go extreme because my knee was achy and my shin was eh, sore-ish.... so I went low on the incline, and went for a faster pace.

Thursday (June 7): P90X: Day 60: Cardio X

It all caught up with me...  I crashed and burned during Cardio X this morning.  I didn't know what was wrong but I had no energy and my body would not move.  It felt like I was walking through mud up to my ears. I did so awful...  I only made it 30 minutes into a 45 minute video and then I literally laid on the floor and cried.

I didn't know if I had been overdoing it with 2 (sometimes 3 workouts) a day (swimming, cardio, P90X, Just Dance 3)...      or if it was the new sleep schedule. Or the fact I haven't had a full blown rest day in 2 weeks.

Friday (June 8): P90X: Day 61: Legs and Back & ARX (SKIPPED)  

I did not get up at 5:30am and get my LB & ARX in.  I went to bed super eary Thursday night, but I was physically unable too get up when I was supposed to. My body needed the sleep. I ended up getting a little over 13 hours of sleep total before getting up for the day.

In order to make up missing LB and ARX I did my normal walk (low incline, brisk pace) and I spent 3 hours at the community swimming pool and logged 2 hours and 9 minutes of either swimming laps or doing water aerobic type stuff (running/jogging in the water, elliptical movies, or jumping/jumping jacks).  The nice thing about being in a pool is the fact it takes ALL the pressure off my knee, ankles and shin.  I don't even feel the pain in my heels from the spurs that I get often too!  I foresee lots of swimming this summer.

Saturday (June 9): P90X: Day 62: Kenpo X (Subbed Swimming Instead) 

Payday again, and it seems like every weekend we are having to go out and buy tons of produce. Which I am not complaining about..  eating all this fruit and veggies makes me feel good, and I am starting to like all the veggies!

After shopping (which my hubby rewarded me with a new pair of really nice athletic shoes and a pair of http://www.alegriashoes.com/products/paloma-brown-distressed-mary-jane.html) I went straight to the pool with my mom and kids while my hubby worked on his homework.  This time I got in 1 hour and 44 minutes of swimming laps and water aerobics. 

BBQ'd at my parents house, and I managed to eat healthy! I say it like that because I am prone to cheating at my mom's house, because she is an awesome cook, she bakes a lot and always has snacks.   But by the time we got home I was pooped and didn't not manage to get Kenpo in, but that is alright. I still worked out, and I still ate within my calories range, so it was all good.   

Sunday (June 10): P90X: Day 63: Rest Day:

We got up early and headed off to the Cleveland Zoo for the day. Which was really fun.. and we did not have to stop to sit down because we were tired. Although wearing flip flops was a horrible idea! The trip to the zoo (and Lake Erie) gave me 13,940 steps. Yeah! I did go off course on my eating and enjoyed myself.  I did not log any exercise for the day and only ate 400 calories over my limit. If I logged all my walking I probably could have made up half, but I didn't to be on the safe side.

Walking:  I did not make my goal of 15 miles this week due to having an off week, and spending 2 of my days swimming.  I did manage to get slightly under 14 miles though (13.83 miles)

Swimming:  See above.. I swam twice this week.  My heart rate gets really high doing 100m freestyle and my breathing gets tough. So another fitness goal now it to be able to swim 100m freestyle next summer like I did on my HS swim team. 

Side Notes: Even with having a rough week physically during Week 9 I did have a -2 lb weight loss this week. That makes it a total of 22.8 pounds so far that I have lost.  I have not calculated my total inches lost, and I will not be doing that until the end of Week 13. 

I also finally lost my toenail this week that was injured two (three?) weeks ago...  and it feels much better now that it is gone. I have even been letting Sam take picture of me as well...  mainly so I can see the progress that I am making. These two from this weekend are really exciting for me:

I can really see that I have lost weight in my face as well, and hopefully soon I won't have the rest of the fat there or the double chin! I do wish my boobs would start shrinking. 

I am losing it from the top down. The area between my chest/boobs and waist has slimmed down quite a bit. Let's hope it starts coming off my tummy and butt more. 

But I think that I am more excited about the being able to see muscles in the arm!!! I totally want an awesome gun show. 

I still have a long way to go, but I am getting there one step at a time.  I am going to do this! This time next year I will be a whole new Dianne. 

I Love This!

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P90X: Progress Pictures

P90X Progress Picture:    Day 1, Day 30 and Day 60 (Front View)

P90X Progress Picture:    Day 1, Day 30 and Day 60 (Side View)

P90X Progress Picture:    Day 1, Day 30 and Day 60 (Back View)

P90X Progress Picture:    Day 1, Day 30 and Day 60 (Back View with Flex) ~ Didn't know at the Day 1 mark this was a recommended pose. ~

P90X Progress Picture:    Day 1, Day 30 and Day 60 (Flex) ~Wish the definition would show up =( Because I am getting some... maybe in the 4 weeks... ~

Hiking in the Mohican State Park (Ohio) on June 3, 2012 with my daughter and neice.  Starting to see the weight loss on my sides of my body..  the compression shorts I was wearing didn't make my tummy look real good as they were pushing it all up and out it seemed like. I am not to worried about it because I know it will take a while to lose the weight I carry in my stomach...  it has come a long way in the last 3.5 months. On a side note compression shorts are awesome! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compression_shorts)

Just fun pictures from the night we did Insanity last in Week 7. Can not wait to do it again once the shin splint heals more. 

P90X: Week 8 Recap

This week we started doing something new, which will be the norm from now on.  We are getting up at 5:30am for our workouts.  Our daughter just started swim team practices in the evening so it made it so it would be hard to get them in at our "old normal" time.  So far, I really like this schedule. 

Monday (May 28): P90X: Day 50: Yoga X:  

We were good and did Yoga like we were supposed to. I managed to do and hold both Half Moon and Triangle pose without a Yoga Block. I was also able to do both Twisting Triangle Poses correctly and without a yoga block as well. The best part of the entire workout was I managed to do Plough to Shoulder Stand by myself without Sam helping me get my feet up! My stomach still makes it really hard to breath in this position, and hard to get my feet over my head completely. I wrote originally (on my Endomondo) that it took 8 weeks for me to actually enjoy doing Yoga. The next day I changed my mind about that...  while I think Yoga is good for you it kills both of my wrist from the numerous Downward Dog Poses.  Both wrists were sore as hell the following morning.

Tuesday (May 29): P90X: Day 51: Core Synergistics X:

Core Synergisitcs is only done in the recovery week in the Classic version of P90X, so this was only my 4th time doing it.  I think core is my weakest point... this workout kicks my butt worse then Plyo. Not in a raise my heart rate cardio sense, but it pushes my body itself to the limit. The only improvements this day since Week 4 was I able to grab both socks and hold my postion in Boat, and I could do extra push-ups (still on knees, but I did manage to do 2 normal). Downside...  I am noticed my shin splint on this day. 

Wednesday (May 30): P90X: Day 52: Kenpo X

 I believe that I wrote last week that Kenpo X is by far my favorite P90X workout, and usually I can really get a workout from it. But I did the worst I have ever done on Kenpo this morning... I gave it all I hard and it still wasn't enough, it was like my body was protesting me. I had hoped that a decent night sleep would make my shin feel better, but it certainly did not, and it hurt like a b**** doing this workout. I did ice it and wrap it following the workout and it made it feel much better. 

Thursday (May 31): P90X: Day 53: X Stretch

It was stretching... nothing new from last week. 

Friday (June 1): P90X: Day 54: Core Synergistics  

 I pushed myself this morning to do my best, and I believe that I did really well! Core Synergistics is a little bit of everything with an emphasis, I guess, on engaging your core. It is starting to become 2nd nature now to keep my ab muscles engaged everything I workout (P90X and otherwise) and during the day I am starting to engage them too.

There were 6 sets of push-ups in Core (a few of the advanced types I still can not do so I do normal push ups instead,although, like I have been saying, I am still on my knees). I managed to bust out 151 push-ups today in the time frame he gives us each time. I am starting to be able to do 20-25 push ups now before stopping for a mid-set break or stopping for the set. Week 1 to could do 10, maybe 12. I did cut Jumping Jacks out of the warm up today in order to give my shin a break.

Additional side note today, I am noticing that the past maybe 2 weeks it is taking more of an effort on my part to raise my heartrate up. Bascally I have to push myself and do more in order to get into my zone. I added Zumba Fitness 2 for the Wii into my routine this week in order to take a break from the treadmill, again due to the shin splint, but I noticed that it doesn't really get my heart rate up like it did the first few two or so weeks I had it (I bought it a week and a half before I started P90X). If I really push myself doing it I can reach the high 130s. In turn my calorie burns aren't as high as they were in the beginning on some of the non-advanced type fitness programs. I am assuming that this (the heartrate thing) is due to building up endurance and stamina... I will need to look into it a little more.

Saturday (June 2): P90X: Day 55: Supposed to be Yoga X 

So I did not Yoga for reasons that I stated above.

So, I made up my own HIIT workout on the treadmill and did it. It is all brisk walking and it was awesome. I was able to get my heart rate up, and able to make it stay up, so the end result was that I spent 54 minutes in my fitness heart rate zone! Yay! (Note to self for reference: average heart rate 144bpm, maximum: 171bpm).

Dianne’s HIIT Workout:
5 minutes: Warm-up (3.0mph @ 3% incline)
2 minutes: 3.0 mph @ 5% incline
2 minutes: 3.2 mph @ 5% incline
2 minutes: 3.4 @ 5% incline
2 minutes: 3.2 mph @ 5% incline
2 minutes: 3.0 mph @ 5% incline
(Repeat two more times… 2nd time at 5.5% incline, and 3rd time at 6% incline)
2 minutes: 3.0 mph @ 5% incline
2 minutes: 3.0 mph @ 6% incline
2 minutes: 3.0 mph @ 7% incline
2 minutes: 3.0 mph @ 8% incline
1 minutes: 3.0 mph @ 9% incline
1 minutes: 3.0 mph @ 10% incline
1 minutes: 3.0 mph @ 9% incline
1 minutes: 3.0 mph @ 8% incline
1 minutes: 3.0 mph @ 7% incline
1 minutes: 3.0 mph @ 6% incline
1 minutes: 3.0 mph @ 5% incline
Walked the rest of the time 3.2 mph @ 5% incline

Sunday (June 3): P90X Rest Day:

We went on a long hike today.  We did the hardest, and easiest trial in the Mohican and we did 6.38 miles in 2.5 hours.  I burned almost 950 calories. 

Walking:  I surpassed my goal of 15 miles this week which 18.56 miles of walking!!  WOOT!!  I even earned my 20,000 steps on Saturday night on my Fitbit.  I am loving doing HIIT on my treadmill when the weather outside is too hot, which it has been lately. Or rainy. 

Swimming: Since my daughter is doing swim team this year we bought the season family membership to the community pool. Twice this week, when the weather wasn't cold and nasty, I went to the pool with my mom and swam laps. The first day I swam for an hour (mainly freestyle, but some back and breaststroke). The second day I swam for about 20 minutes, and started getting really bad heartburn and my nephew wanted me to play with him.  I will start swimming more once the weather permits.  I forgot how much swimming was a good workout, and how much I love it! I miss being on the swim team in High School.    

Side Notes:

PHASE TWO OF ROUND ONE IS COMPLETE!!! 

Here is the total stats for Phase 2 ONLY:

I lost 3.1lbs, 1.5" off my waist, 1" off my hips, 2" off my chest, 1” off each thigh, and .25” off my neck. I gained .25" in each of my calves and .5” in each bicep.

Sam lost 4.9lbs, 1.5" off his waist, .5" off his hips, 1.25" off his chest, and 1.25” off each thigh. His neck stayed the same. He gained 1” in each of his calves, and .5” in each bicep.

I should also add that we've both seen a huge in crease in our endurance and stamina as well.

As of right now, I have lost 20.8 pounds, and about 10% BF.