Day 31- Back and Biceps

Ok, so I realize I haven't blogged in quite a while. Yesterday, Matt came home from duty and was exhausted, so I ended up doing Plyo X by myself and burning 541 calories! This morning we did Back and Biceps together, and I burned 404 calories (with Ab Ripper X). My arms are pretty much dead.

One good thing about this week-we started to eat carbs again. It is so nice to have a BAGEL for breakfast, or a wrap tortilla for lunch. I feel like I have more energy. I think that is why I burned so many calories in Plyo last night-I was able to do more exercises than I could before.

Ok, well, Matt and I are going to hit the shower. If we keep this up, I'll be losing weight and feeling great in no time.

Matt - Day 30

Progress, there are defiantly small changes in definition on Pam =)

Matt - Day 30 - Was it what we needed?

So we just finished our recovery week, and maybe it was what we needed, but I can't spoil Pam's news for today. I'll just say that there is going to be a lot more progress this month!

Unfortunatly I was unable to work out today due to recovering from Duty, I had to basicly spend about 40 hours up with 3 hours of half sleep on a couch. So in the interest of recovering and not hurting my self I am skipping Plyo today. Which I am very sad about.

Here are the 30 day pictures, not as much change as we would hope but that is just going to make us push harder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Matt - Day 26 - Core Synergy and motivation

Ok, so first off let me lay down some quotes from other people to help Pam. She's a little worried because in her eyes there isn't very much progress at the 30 day point of P90X. I am excited to take her pictures though, I think that she will see some progress when we take the pictures. But to quote some other people on the world wide web:

from http://www.weightloss-hq.biz/exercise-reviews/top-20-p90x-questions-answered-here.html

16. I'm not seeing results after 30 days, what am I doing wrong?

Have some Patience - As I stated before, most people quit after the first month - I know this because I've seen it on our P90X forums. They get frustrated because they diet and workout very hard for 30 days after years of neglecting their body!?? Come on people! You must have some patience! I see the first 30 days as the "adjusting" period. Your body is in "shock" mode. Some people start to get good results after 30 days, some don't change at all...it really depends on the person. I started to see significant results 2 weeks after the second month. Once you past the 30 days mark, this is when you need to kick it up and really push yourself hard.

17. I'm gaining weight, what's wrong!

This may happen to you in the first 30 days. Like I posted earlier, the first 30 days your body is in shock mode. The second month is when you'll start to lose weight.

Second order of business is to say that I am very, very lucky to have an extremely low body fat percentage. It makes seeing the changes very easy for me. But I hate people that think it's some gift or super metabolism, let me share my secret... I am always hungry, but when I eat, I eat just enough to give me an hour or two reprieve from the hunger, and my meals tend to be small. The other thing is that I am a 6' 2" male, that means I am taller then average and require more calories. So please just don't roll your eyes and think that I can eat anything, because I bet that I only eat half of what a normal American eats at a meal. Instead I snack constantly with somewhat lower calorie snacks. But anyways here is a little preview pic I took =)



I had just finished a work out, and am flexing, but it's still crazy for me to see my abs having so much definition. No amount of crunches would ever do that to my abs... it was P90X that is teaching them how to be real abs =)

Today was the Core Synergistics which a cardio intense workout. I enjoy it a lot because it is fast paced and HARD! tomorrow is Yoga, not sure when I am going to get it done as it is a long one. Anyways, more later, Bring it!
-Matt

Pam Day 25- Stretch X

Today was my first day with Stretch X. I'm impressed. It is a nice workout. I should have been doing it before now :) Also, for the first day we get to eat CARBS! I had a muffin for breakfast, along with fruit and milk. Then for lunch, there was a tuna salad burrito. Ooooh, yummy! I had almost forgotten how good that kind of food tastes.

So, I'm not quite seeing the results that Matt is, yet. But I'm keeping an open mind. I feel better, that is for sure. And I think that I have probably lost inches. My goal for this week's Helm Health Challenge is to brush my teeth 2x and floss 1x daily. My "I think I can" goal is to work out every day, even on the rest day. I haven't done that yet, and it will be hard for me to work out on Wednesday morning, but "I Think I Can" :)

This Rest Week hasn't been very restful, so far. A lot of cardio. Core Synergistics is probably the most challenging workout so far. And it is up again tomorrow. I'll be doing it with Matt when he gets off work in the afternoon.

Ok, another goal of mine is to keep blogging every day. I hope I can keep it up!

Pam

Matt - Day 24 - KenpoW!

Ok today was Kenpo again, as Pam mentioned we are in our rest week right now, and it's not much rest =) It is really a cardio intense week and it is just as tough as the rest of the program. I am starting to see some intense results, I have a lot more definition and have gained a couple of pounds which is a huge challenge for me. But my abs are just getting crazy, I have never had definition like I am getting... anyways we are still working hard and going strong!

I am so excited because tomorrow we are starting phase 2 of the diet which is somewhat normal compare to phase 1 which was almost entirely protein... oh I am so craving some normal foods =)

-Matt

Oops, it has been a while-Day 23-Core synergistics

Holy cow!!! I know I haven't posted for a little bit, but man this workout today was tough. My core definitely could use the strength. I can't believe we are in the first rest week. THat means that we are almost done with month 1!!! I can't believe it. Yoga yesterday was challenging as well. The day before that was rest day, and I didn't workout. THe day before that was Kenpo, which was harder this time, but I was still able to do some of the moves better. Today was the first day that I ate anything that wasn't on the diet...we ate sushi. Not too terrible, but still. Our plan is to wake up at 5 am tomorrow and do the next workout. I'm not sure what it is...we'll just have to see.

Ok, well, off to bed. Need lots of rest.

Pam

PS. I am starting to feel stronger. Soon I'll be posting day 30 pictures and measurements. :)

Day 19-Legs and Back for Pam plus Abs

This morning we got up and did Legs and Back. Holy cow! I'm getting much better on my pullups, which is a relief. I feel like I'm getting closer to my goal. My arms are definitely more defined. My stomach doesn't seem to be making too much progress, but I think that will come eventually. There's a lot of fat there, so I have a lot of work to do. Abs today was brutal. I am getting stronger, but that almost makes me work even harder for it.

Day 18-Yoga. We didn't do yoga until about 7:30 pm last night. I guess the good thing about waiting until the end of the day to do yoga is that it is easy to fall asleep after, because you're so relaxed. I was able to do Plank position much better this time. I feel like I'm much stronger than last time I did it. I was able to reach through my leg and around my back for that twisting prayer pose thing. My flexibility is definitely increasing.

Matt - Good Morning Legs and Back x 2

Well on my duty day I did Legs and Back because I didn't need weights to do it at work, yesterday was Yoga which is super leg intensive, and today I am joining Pam for Legs and Back, phew is it going to be a rough week on my legs =) Other the that, doing well, the definition is really starting to show in me, which is easy for me because I have no fat covering anything, so as soon as my muscles change it shows. Pam is being a rock star, but I have to run, holding up the work out now! =)

-Matt

Pam Day 17-shoulders & arms, not legs &back

Ok, I don't know why I thought it was legs and back yesterday. It was my fault that Matt didn't bring his resistance bands to duty, so he wasn't able to do the video. I ended up doing it in the afternoon, which was really weird. I got 2 phone calls during the workout, both Matts. I ended up calling my brother back after the workout. I didn't get a chance for an afternoon snack :( because I was working out in the afternoon, then I made dinner. I ate a little earlier than I'm used to, so I am kind of starving right now.

ANyways, about the workout-it was good. Tough. I upped my weight on a bunch of exercises, so I really challenged myself. And the ABS, well, all I can say is that I can do several of the "Wide Leg Sit ups" and I even got my legs off the ground with the Oblique v-ups. My body feels pretty good today. Lets see how it goes. I think we have Yoga today. It is very challenging, even though it is Yoga, which people think is relaxing....

:) Pam

Pam Day 16-Plyometrics

Ok, here's a catchup---
Day 14- rest day. That was Wednesday, and I was able to get a bunch of laundry done, work on dishes, and sweep and mop the floor. Very productive day, and I'm glad it was a rest so I could recover.

Day 15- Shoulders and Arms plus Abs. Holy cow. I'm much stronger than last week, because I am not sick. So this workout worked me out. I felt very strong after this workout. The Abs was challenging as usual, but I was able to do some of the wide leg sit ups, and also the v-up, roll ups. :)

Day 16-Today. Plyometrics. This is by far the hardest workout. I didn't burn as many calories as I did last time I did it, but I still felt like I had an awesome workout. I could see Matt working hard; he took his shirt off, and let me tell you! His abs, pecs, and back muscles were very defined this morning. Sometimes I have my doubts about my own muscles doing the same under my skin, but I know something is going on under there. My weight is still about the same, but my clothes are a little looser, so I know that my body is changing. Probably gaining muscle at the same rate as losing fat, or something like that. I need to be better about blogging. Now I'm going to have 3 blogs to keep up with, this one, my main blog, and the Helm Family Health Challenge blog. I'm excited about doing challenges with my siblings, and I hope a lot of us do it. If nothing else, I think me and Kate will do it :) Isn't that how it always ends up?

Ok, I'll write more later. I think it is Legs and Back tomorrow. That one is always a good workout. And next week....well that is the Recovery week. I can't believe that we're almost done with the third week! I'm so proud of myself and Matt, too!

~Pam

Yesterday was Day 13!!! Kenpo X

So, we had to wake up yesterday at 3:30 in order to get our workout in. Holy cow! I think b/c I had done Kenpo once before, I was able to do the moves more than last time, and got a much better workout. However, I didn't burn as many calories as the last couple days, so I'm a little disappointed. I only hit 330 something calories. Also, since I had work from 8-12, then class from 420-950, I had a tough time getting all my food in for the day. I think I ended up with 1300 calories total for the day. I should have eaten a Special K bar for dinner, but I didn't think of that! So, I really didn't have dinner :( That wasn't so good. Then I got home late and had a hard time falling asleep (surprise, surprise). But I was able to talk to 4 sisters yesterday- Kate, Penny, Marie, Jill. It was a good day, with my first two classes starting. This is going to be challenging, especially when Matt has duty, but I think we can work it through.

Pam

PS. Today is Day 14 and I am taking a break. Sometimes I think day 14 is my favorite :) Just kidding. But it is good to let my body recover. I actually feel pretty good. I'm not exhausted, which is amazing. And I'm looking forward to getting laundry done and cleaning up a little bit around her this afternoon before I have to head to class tonight.

Day 12 Legs and Back

I can't believe we've done 12 days already. Today's workout was an almost 500 calorie, sweat drenching workout. I also did something exciting during ABS...I did 2 wide leg sit ups!!! I haven't been able to do any yet, so I have just been doing regular sit ups, but today I did 2 unassisted wide leg sit ups. Those puppies are hard!
Anyways, we've got to be up early again (we got up at 4am this morning. I think 3:30am tomorrow) so I have to be off to bed. I worked hard, and my legs are starting to shrink! My calves look oh, so sexy! ;)

~Pam

Day 11 Yoga

Today was tough because we had to get up early. And yoga is ridiculously challenging. My whole body gets a workout.
I'm tired. Trying to feel better. Tomorrow's another early day.
~Pam

Well to give you a bit more info Pam is recovering from being sick still, hence the crazy blog above =) I spent all day cooking food so that our lunches will be healthy and ready to go for next week. I used the George Foreman non - stop. Anyways gotta go to bed and start work again tomorrow =(

-Matt

Day 10 - Tools

Well, let me say Pam is making me proud, she is sticking to her meal plans and keeping up with this intense work out schedule and I am darn proud of her. The great thing about this whole experience is that Beachbody, the company that sells P90X gives you so many different tools. First off with the program you get a complete work out guide and DVDs, then you get the meal planner which tells you exactly what you need to eat, or if you don't want that, it just tells you what size portions to eat and lets you choose. Then they have the online WOWY.com which lets you start your work out online, keep track of them and even see who else is doing the workouts at the same time, you can even chat after your done. Finally are the free message boards they have that let you connect with everyone else doing P90X some people are repeating it for the 11th or 12th time!! You get to learn from all of them, and see all of their progress to motivate you.

From the message boards I learned about another neat tool that lets you track your daily calorie intake (and quite a bit more) rather easy. It is at FitDay.Com. You just enter what food you ate and it will give you cool graphs that keep track of caloric intake, vitamins, etc. A neat tool to visualize how much food you eat. For example Pam is on a 1800 calorie per day diet... If you think that number is high, ie that it is a lot of calories to be eating in a day, and you are overweight, then you need log every calorie you eat for a week... Most people that are over weight are eating more in the range of 2500-2800 calories a day and don't even realize it, so this really helps you learn where your calories come from and see how they all add up.

Anyways, today was a challenge shoulders and arms, it was nice to start learning what some of the move where and anticipating them. Pam rocked the house today, in the last two days shes burnt almost 1000 calories working out, amazing! Ok gotta go to bed, an early morning for the next 80 days at least =)

-Matt

Day 10!!! Pam-Shoulders and arms plus Abs

Holy cow, can I say that this morning was really hard to get up, after doing Plyo last night. We got up at 4:15 this morning, so we would be done with our workout before I had to leave for my Praxis II exam. (Wish me luck on that one. I don't want to have to do it again.) I didn't hurt myself on the tricep exercise right off the bat this time, and I was able to complete the whole workout. It was amazing. Add in the Abs, which little by little I'm able to do more of, and I burned 472 calories. Can you believe that? That's more than Plyo yesterday. Crazy. Anyways, I'm feeling it tonight. Matt says it is time for bed, since we're going to get up early again. And again, for the next several months. Its good for me. I feel good when I wake up early. I just have to remind myself of that.
Oh,Matt found this cool tool online. It is a calorie counter. I can keep track of all the calories I consume. I put in a weight loss goal, and it pretty much told me that I'm eating the right number of calories right now to meet that goal. I'm kinda excited. I'll have to keep it up, along with this blog/journal. I think I can do it, even though school starts on Monday. Yeah for School!

~Pam

PS. My shoulders are sore, but my biceps sure look great today!

Pam-Day 9 Plyo

I can't believe it has been almost a week and a half since we started this. Yes, this morning I did not "bring it" but I was having trouble breathing. I still did my workout, just later in the day after my school meeting. It was really tough to exercise in the afternoon, and I will remember that when I don't feel like getting out of bed in the morning. Unfortunately, I have a considerable amount of body fat, and cannot see the results that Matt is seeing. But I know my body is changing. Today, doing Plyometrics, I was able to tell a difference from the last time I did it. It wasn't that it was easier, I was just able to do more of the exercises, and for longer. I have to modify a lot of the exercises, but I'm improving each time. I need to remember that my head cold almost goes away while I'm exercising, and to just do it! Right now, I'm exhausted, and thinking about the workout in the morning. I have a test early tomorrow, so we need to work out early. Really early. So, tomorrow is the test run for weekdays from here on out, I guess. I'm looking forward to shoulders and arms tomorrow, plus Abs. :) Gotta love Abs!

Matt - Plyo Alone and P90X Recovery Drink

this morning Pam was lagging behind and didn't bring it, so I ended up doing the Plyo workout on my own =( But it was still a good work out. So much jumping and moving from side to side, and squating and jumping. Anyways it was a very intense work out as usual. I was able to keep up with the DVD for the most part had to pause for water twice as I downed like 32 oz of water and 12 oz of recovery drink.

Now the recovery drink that Pam and I got is not the official P90X drink, but the key is the 4 to 1 carbs to protein ratio. So we found this stuff called Accelerade which is a little cheaper then the official one and are using it. I kinda like it because to get the same amount of carbs and protein as the official drink we have to drink 24 oz instead of 12 oz. So we end up drinking half of our recovery drink during the work out and half after it plus a protein bar (I talked about those in an earlier post mmm Muscle Milk protein bars or Cliff Builders Bars... both yummy!)

Anyways I am lucky because I have very little body fat I already can see some results even after just a week. But I feel really good to, a lot more core strength. Anyways this is going well so far, now that my vacation is over we are about to throw work and duty in to the mix and we will see how well that goes!!! eekk a little scare about that.

-Matt

Pam-Day 8: Chest and Back

So, we're back to the back :) Today was tough getting up. I'm trying to get over a head cold, and my throat was really sore this morning. It was hard to swallow. But I decided to suck it up, get over it, and bring it! My body was definitely weak, but I brought all I could, and man was this workout tough. It felt good to do 2 assisted pull ups. (I did 6 or 7 last week.) I drank a glass of recovery drink during the workout, and I think that is what saved me. I wasn't sure I would make it through Abs, but I did. I'm here to tell the tale, as they say. The Abs workout is challenging, I still can't do the Oblique V-ups, or the spread leg sit ups, or the ones where you sit up, go halfway down, and bring your legs up. But today, instead of just doing crunches during those exercises, I decided to do unassisted sit ups instead. It seemed to work out pretty well for me :) Did I mention my back was sore this morning? Well, it was, and I was concerned a little since we were working on the back today. But after the workout, my back was more limber, and actually feels good.

I have to remind myself that fat comes off in sheets, not in targeted areas. I got on the scale today and my body fat % has gone up slightly. My weight isn't going up a lot, in fact it is holding pretty steady. So I'm not too concerned. I'll give it another week, then I'll really start looking at the numbers.

I burned 392 calories today. Not too shabby. I should really set the alarm on my heart rate monitor. I got a little high today.

Looking forward to Plyometrics tomorrow ;)

~Pam

Matt - mmm Protein Bars

I have tried various Protein Bars and shakes all of my life, I have always been very sensitive about how skinny I was. For a couple weeks I scooped two scoops of ice cream and a 1/4 cup of Hershey's and 2 scoops of weight gainer in to a shake and drank it. But no matter what I did I couldn't gain a pound. While most of you are rolling your eyes and saying that you wish you had the problem, I was just like any other teenager and I hated the fact that I was so skinny and every one thought I didn't eat at all. Nope that's not it, the fact is that I snack all the time, as soon as I feel hungry I eat a small snack, and when I sit down and eat a meal it's a small meal. My body is just used to constantly eating and digesting small amounts of food, and I eat only when I am hungry... thats my secret.

Anyways if you are looking to eat Protein, today is the day and age to do it. Even the generic protein shakes taste good, and if you want to get the best tasting shake of your life, drink Muscle Milk mixed with Milk... oh my gosh it is like drinking an milkshake.

P90X requires you intake a lot of protein to build muscle mass and obviously they want to sell you their products, can't argue with a company that wants to make more money. But if you are looking for alternatives to their protein bars you can try Clif Bars Builders, they are a tasty and have 20g of protein in them. The chocolate mint is particularly tasty. Another (but more expensive) option is the Muscle Milk bars. And of course there is the P90X bars that Beachbody sells.

Anyways, I just realized that I am, for the first time, not dreading eating all this protein supplements and so thankful we have come as far as we have in the modern times =) After all you can only eat so many egg whites.

-Matt

Pam and Matt Day 6

Pam: Kenpo X. Lots of sweat. Burned 395 calories. Was pretty sore after, and then I started to not feel well. My throat hurt, my head hurt, I was really tired. I had to lay down and take a nap. I had my first meltdown. I hope it is my last. Thanks to Matt who took care of me and saved the day.
We had Beef and Broccoli with Miso Soup for dinner. It was yummy.

Matt: Worried about Pam. Think P90X is getting to her. She can only type. A couple words at a time. Must make sure her pulse is okay. Love lots!

hehe ok now that I am done teasing her, Kenpo (Ken-poe) is a form of self defense I guess? maybe. anyways it involves a lot of punching and blocking and kicking, you end up feeling like Jackie Chan after the work out. I mean it's pretty cool to pretend to grab someone then knee them in the chest, and the kick the attacker behind you... Well at least that is what I was picturing during the workout =)

I liked the amount of coordination that it required and the fast quick moves, was hard to keep up with the video but we did our best. Pam really isn't feeling well today but she was a trooper with just shy of 400 calories burned. We are both incredibly sore, but our bodies are getting used to it, so for the most part we get around just fine.

Tomorrow marks our first week down, and that is awesome, getting excited to have some big results.

Love,
Pam and Matt

Pam-Day 5 {Another toughie}

Ok, so back and legs today, so why does that have to mean Abs, too? :) Just kidding. It was a great workout today. Really challenging, as all the workouts so far have been. There were a lot of pullups and my arms are feeling it. I'm challenging myself to do them without assistance, and I keep taking more and more weight off the chair as I go along. So today, I was only able to do 3-5, instead of my 7-8, but I worked my arms more today than last time. My goal is to be able to do 10 unassisted pull ups. I think I will be able to do it by the end of the 90. I can't believe 5 days have flown by. I think that we need to sit down and work up a schedule, that way I know exactly when I should go to bed every night and when to expect a workout. Unfortunately, Matt isn't sure of the duty section rotation yet...
So far, I haven't lost any weight. But I wasn't expecting to. I'm sticking to the diet, definitely not eating anything that isn't allowed. However, it is hard sometimes to eat all the food I'm supposed to. And I'm not a fan of Gazpacho, evidently. Hmmm...maybe we can add a _little_ bit of sugar to counteract the vinegar? We'll see.
Ok, another great day down, looking forward to Kenpo tomorrow. Oh, and the Abs today? Well, I was able to do all 25 of the Ins and Outs, the Crunchy Frogs are challenging, I can't do any of the Wide Leg Situps yet or the Oblique V-Up either. Those I have to work on. I WILL do it by the end. I guarantee it!

~Pam

Matt - Day 5 Legs & Back & Abs & A lot of sweat

Ok, so here is the deal, today was tough. The leg work out was great, you don't use very many weights for this work out as trying to lift your body weight with one leg is generally tough enough. But in between all these leg squats and lifts and raises they decide to be kind to you and have you do pull ups "to rest the legs" haha!!! I defiantly pushed pause a couple of times during the work out to take a couple extra breaths because I needed it. I was so happy to reach the end and start the cool down, and the video went black, I was thrilled to be done... but I forgot... AB Ripper X!!! oh no how did I forget I have to do abs today?

I put my all in to the legs work out so doing the abs was super tough. The top two abs, I will look up what the scientific name for them is one day, but for now they are the top two, and they hurt bad!!! phew I was dieing, tried my best to keep up but feel a little bit short of what i did two days ago. But the burn was there and I persevered as best I could.

Well still going strong on the diet and pushing my self. I am supplementing the diet Pam is on with a couple more protein shakes throughout the day, trying to put on muscle is tough in this program (or so I have been told) but I will prove that I can do it!!!

-Matt

Pam-Day Four:Yoga X

Ok, so Yoga came on a perfect day today. I really needed the lengthening and stretching that this challenging workout gave. I feel great today. Much better than the last 4 days. Energized and refreshed like never before. Enough to want to take a bike ride. Matt and I rode for about 5 and a half miles. When we hit 4 miles, Matt said, "wanna head home, or go for another mile?" To his surprise, and mine, I wanted to keep going. So we did. It felt nice to get out on our bikes again.

I've been talking to Penny, trying to convince her to do the Power 90 series. For about 50 bucks she could get it, and I think she could be really successful. I hope she does decide to do it. If she feels half as good as I do....However, I think she won't want to give up on the coffee, cigarettes, and alcohol. I wish she would see that giving up all that stuff will just 1. be cheaper, and 2. make her feel better. I feel so much better now that we're doing the diet. I feel like I'm eating a lot, but I think in the end that will only benefit me. I'm eating a lot fewer calories, just more food. I had a hard time eating the artichoke hearts today with lunch. But the soy sausage muffins this morning were particularly delicious. Tasted like real meat!

Anyways, feeling good about my decision. I'm glad we started this thing, and I'm glad we started it together.

~Pam

Pam-Day 3

Ok, toughest day so far. I was secretly glad when Matt let us sleep in just a little this morning, although I'm sure he won't let me get away with it again tomorrow. I could hardly move this morning. My abs were on fire, my legs were stiff, and my arms were sore from two days ago. We did "Arms and Shoulders" and I hurt my triceps on the first tricep exercise. There was a feeling like a knife shooting through both arms. Because of that, I took it a little easier for the rest of the exercises. Not that I didn't push myself; I just lowered the weight and upped the reps. Some of those moves were ridiculous, like the straight arm flys. Whew! Tough. And just when I thought it was over, there was a bonus round, and then Ab Ripper, once again. That is definitely the toughest 16 minutes of my life. I still can't do all the moves, or the reps, but for the second time doing it, I feel improvement. I was able to do more reps than last time for every exercise. I can't wait until the end of the program when I can keep up with the dvd.

Diet: Well, today was a little better. We had Chicken Scramble for breakfast, chicken salad for lunch, and halibut with pesto for dinner. The pesto is going to be a favorite, I think. We didn't feel like we had to clean our plates today, which made me feel a little better, I think. Yesterday, I felt like I needed to eat everything, and I think I had a hard time digesting all the food. Matt says that we're eating about 1800 calories a day. But we're eating about twice as much food as I'm used to.

I finished up a month of birth control today, so we'll see how I'm feeling next week. Tomorrow is Yoga X, and I'm looking forward to it, even though I know it will be challenging. I love Yoga, so we'll see how much I like this one.

More tomorrow.

~Pam

Matt - I say Day 3 was tough!!

Okay, Day 3 of P90X, I wake up this morning to arms and abs that are still sore from two days ago, and now legs that are sore from yesterday. Turning off the alarm clock was and adventure in pain =) But it's all good pain, knowing that I am pushing myself really hard.

Today was Shoulders and Arms, and boy is it amazing the moves that you do. Let me tell you, with all of my friends that work out and know all these crazy moves, I would have thought I would known most of the moves. But no, it seems like they packed every crazy move that no one has ever heard of, but should be doing, in to these videos. You will be doing brand new moves, and stretches that you have never seen, but are the best of your life. How come the people in the gym aren't doing these? they are way better then anything I did while I worked out on deployment?

Additionally we finished of today with another Ab Ripper X, which is 16 minutes of pain. Surprisingly though, I was already able to do more of the reps, although I was in much greater burning then last time. I have never, ever seen such a complete ab work out before. Doing it every other day, is going to be killer!!

So in summary, I am super sore, but loving it. Must keep it up!!! Bring it!

-Matt

Day Two-Plyometrics

Stats
Workout time: 1 hour, 3 minutes
Time in zone: 54 minutes
Calories burned: 520-something

Can I just say, "Dang." Holy cow. This was a challenge. I wasn't sure if I was going to finish it. It was a lot of jumping. First of all, getting out of bed this morning was hard. My whole body was sore. But I felt better once I did get out of bed, and after the workout I feel great. Tired, sore, but great. It is 8:30 and we haven't had our breakfast yet, but we will soon, I'm sure. I think it is a shake, today. I feel like I ate too much food yesterday. I have never had to force myself to eat all the food on my plate before. I actually think that is the most challenging of all- eating all the food they expect us to. It is crazy. Anyways, tomorrow is "Legs and Back". Now that every part of my body is hurting, we'll see how tomorrow goes. It is exciting knowing that each time I do a video, I will get better. I already feel like I have some definition in my arms. But that might just be muscle swellage (sp?). Well, I think we'll watch a movie and take it easy today.

~Pam

Matt - Crash Course in to P90X

Wow, we started today, and let me tell you we quit the rest of our life cold turkey. This program isn't just a work out program, there is an entire meal program associated with it as well. And we went all out for P90X, we are following their meal plan exactly. And boy is it a drastic change from our normal eating habits. We eat 5 times a day, 3 big meals and two snacks. And right now we are eating 50% protein 30% carbs and 20% fat. Umm let me tell you the way I normally live my life is 60%carbs 20%protein and 20%fat, so this is a crazy rough change! Where's my pasta!?!?

The workout this morning was intense, so many push ups and pull ups that I lost count, thank goodness for the little countdown at the bottom of the screen, that was the only thing that kept me going sometimes, oh and Pam yelling at me to keep going =)

Phew, this is going to be a crazy challenge.

-Matt

The Real Day One-Happy New Year to US

Ok, so this morning, Matt set the alarm for 6am. I was having a little trouble getting motivated to get up. We weighed in, and measured up. Here are our day 1 stats....

Body Fat: Pam-33.3% Matt-5%
Weight (naked): Pam-146.6 Matt-137.2
Chest (nipple): Pam-36 1/2 Matt-35
Waist (BButton): Pam-34 3/4 Matt-30
Hips (widest): Pam-41 1/2 Matt-35 1/2
Right Thigh: Pam-24 3/4 Matt-19 1/2
Left Thigh: Pam-24 3/4 Matt-19
Right Arm: Pam-13 Matt-11 1/2
Left Arm: Pam-12 3/4 Matt-11 1/4

Then, we got dressed and began our first workout. Today was Chest and Back, with Ab Ripper X after. Holy cow! Chest and Back is a lot of pull-ups and push-ups. It was very challenging. And ARX is crazy! That is 16 minutes of pure ab hell! I feel very good right now. We had a recovery shake right after, it tasted like orange cream shake. And then I took a bath. I feel good right now. Very invigorated and energized. And relaxed, all at the same time.

Here are our before pictures. This is the last time I will look like this. EVER!!























Now it is off to make breakfast and lunch. Will write more later about how I feel.

~Pam