Day 90 - Wow

All I can say is wow, lets look at Pam's progress from Day 0 to Day 90:



If you want her numbers they are amazing and they are in her post below, if you want to see all of her pictures you can Click Here!

-Matt
PS: I haven't gotten my pictures yet, maybe later!

Day 90-P90X is done?

Seriously? Can it be done? At least Round 1, that is. I'm kinda excited, but I also don't know what I'm going to do with myself for this week off. I can't imagine not working out tomorrow. That's just too weird. I'm really excited to post my results. Are you ready for this????? Well, here goes:


I'm actually really excited to see how much further I can go. Right now my motivation is pretty low, but I'm swamped with school, and I know that by next Thursday I'll be soooo ready to bring it! I just know that it is 100% possible to live your life the way you want and still get the results I've gotten. Its just that you have to change how you want to live your life. Now, THAT is change I can believe in!!! :)

Today is my official rest day, and I've been enjoying it. I'm still sticking to my diet, and that's what makes me feel so great! That, and the great numbers I pulled this morning. I'm really proud of myself. Hopefully Matt will work on my pictures and I can get them posted sometime today or tomorrow.

~Pam

Day 83-Kenpo X

Today was another butt kicking exercise. Last night we did Legs & Back, which was tough. But it has totally paid off. My legs are starting to look really good. Kenpo was fun, of course. It is still probably my favorite exercise out of all of them. Today I noticed something weird- my breasts have shrunk. In a totally good way. They no longer sag. I think that is awesome, and a totally unexpected result of this workout program.

I look at other people and think-gee, anyone could get into shape. I know the direction I was headed, and how much harder it would have been if I was further along that path. But I was able to change my life around, and now it is almost a game to see how much more I can lose/gain. Because while I'm losing body fat and weight, I'm actually gaining so much more. I'm gaining strength, endurance, confidence, and tone. I haven't looked this good, well, ever. I'm not exaggerating. I also haven't felt this good ever. And anyone can do it! There's no secret formula. Ok, well, there is. But it isn't secret. Exercise, eat right, get plenty of rest, and your body will take care of itself. One thing I've realized is that there is no right way to exercise. Just burn the calories, and your body will thank you. I'm glad we're doing the P90X though. Because I'm getting stronger in all the right places. This is the first year ever that I've been excited for swim suit season. Not that I've been shy in the past. I've put on a bikini every year for the past 5 or 6 years. But this year I'm excited to walk on the beach and show off my new body. I might even have to get a new suit. My old one was from my honeymoon, and I'm definitely smaller now than I was then. Even though stress had made me lose quite a bit right before....

Anyways, I should get some homework done. I'm teaching a couple lessons at school today. We'll see how that goes.

More later,
Pam

Day 82!!

Ok, so I haven't worked out yet today, but I thought I would give a quick update before I head off to school. Yesterday, day 81, was Yoga, and I did it myself at home while Matt did it at work. Day 80 was Back and Biceps, and I worked so hard on that exercise, knowing it would be the last one this round. My biceps are still sore today! Plyo on Friday was butt kicking! Holy cow! We were both sweating up a storm. It will be a completely different experience working out in the summer...

Speaking of summer, I'm already looking forward to Round 2. So far (since I measured myself for the Helm Health Challenge) I have lost almost 9 1/2 inches. (!!) It is hard to believe. But yesterday, when I put on a pair of jeans that used to fit me really well, I notices that the waist is way too big for me.

Oh, and the new sports bra I bought on Saturday is awesome! It works really well, is really supportive. Totally worth the money.

After school today I'm going to do the workout. I think it is legs and back. Oh, boy. I hope I'm ready for that. Give my arms a break, anyways, right?

Sorry the updates aren't coming too quickly. I kind of got off track, especially with going to London for a week. I'm just glad that I didn't gain any weight. I never thougth I would get down to 135 pounds again. Ever. I'm excited to see what round 2 will bring. Oh, and since we still have a week and a half of round 1, who knows what will happen.

I almost forgot. I'm running a 5K on Saturday. Eek! I am not sure how that will go. It has been a long time since I've run any distance. But I'll have a great time anyways.

Talk to you later. Gotta run.

Pam

Day 71 - Plyo

Plyometrics is the most evil idea of a work out any one has ever thought of. This work out is a true test of your ability to do cardio, but it is cardio on crack. I am so determined every time I start to finish it doing every last move, but goodness, it is so intense!!! I am still amazed that after each workout I feel way better then I did before the work out, it is amazing that all this working out is giving me so much more energy!

-Matt

P90X - Day 70 - Skinny boy taking on P90X

Ok so I am skinny, in fact incredibly skinny. I weighed in at some where just above 135 when I started and have a lot of trouble gaining weight. I am now hovering just about 10 pounds heavier, and don't have shred more body fat =) which BTW on my electronic scale is pegged at the low of 5% Now if you are rolling your eyes and wishing you had my problems stop reading this. I am just like every other person in the world, I want to be better then I am and for me that challenge is to put on weight, just like most people are trying to lose it I make up excuses why I can't gain and how I can't seem to put on any muscle or weight period but I can see now my fault.

My scale has a BMR calculator built in to it. It tells you what your "metabolic age" is and how many calories you need to maintain your weight. In case you did guess allready my metabolism is crazy high, for my entire life I have been a snacker, a person that constantly eats a lot of little things, never really eating a huge amount at any given time. Additionally I start every morning by eating a yogurt right away, which jump starts the metabolism (eating anything right away is good, but I love yogurt =) So my entire life I have been doing the "right" stuff to maintain a high metabolism.

So as a consequence my scale says I need 3700 calories to maintain my weight... While that isn't quite true, because I can eat much less then that and still function. I can also tell you that I can snack and eat anything I want and not gain a pound. Well my problem is that I never have eaten enough before to gain weight. And now that I am realizing that my scale is probably telling some what near the truth I am struggling to eat enough calories to put on some muscle.

Anyways, I guess I am trying to say that I realized just like most over weight people have delusions about how many calories they need to eat vs. how much they actually eat. If you are skinny and want to gain weight, you probably are just as delusional as the over weight people, just in the opposite way. It took me a long time to realize this about myself and try to over come it.

-Matt
PS: The progress is amazing, I feel like a new person and a strong person now, I love what this program has done for Pam and I, we are so much healthier, stronger, confident then we were just 70 days ago. Commit and you will make amazing gains!

Day 66- Matt

Wow, wow, wow. This has been an awesome experience P90X is working like nobodies business. If you stick to the plan, have a partner to keep you going, and push hard, I am pretty confident that you will feel better about yourself then you even have before.

-Matt

Day 62 - Kenpo X

Well Pam challenged me to do this workout and I am glad she did, I've been needing some help to keep my chin up work is beating me down pretty good, so it is so nice to have Pam push me and keep me doing what I know I should be even when it is hard.

P90X is hard, yesterdays leg and back is like our 8th time doing it and it still kicks my butt! But today's Kenpo X was almost invigorating, I pushed hard and feel good!!!!

Here's a picture, after I worked out so I am a little pumped, and with a nice overhead light to give nice shadows, but I am putting on some muscle =)



-Matt

Day 62- Kenpo alone

I was so sad to have to do Kenpo alone today. That's one of my favorite exercises to do with Matt. All the kicking and punching are really fun. I set the alarm this morning *gasp* I know. I ended up getting up at around 7:30, so I was done with the workout by 8:30. Can you believe it? It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I had a 4 page paper to get done, along with some other BS homework to do. Actually, that was part of it. The other part was that I wanted to prove to myself (and Matt) that I could actually do it myself. I think I've been proving that a lot lately. In fact, yesterday, Matt and I did Legs and Back, and didn't have time for Abs before he had to go to work. I picked a good time in the afternoon, after lunch, and did Denise Austin's Power Yoga/Pilates, which was an extra hour of abs. Then I did Ab Ripper X, which was insane after all that. So I got an extra hour of workout in this week. Are you proud of me? I am proud of myself, which in the end is probably all I can ask for.

Oh, and btw, I'm wearing pants right now that I bought for myself in between my Junior and Senior year of high school (I know, I know, why do I still have pants that old? Well, they're cute, and I actually didn't get a lot of use out of them. I grew out of them pretty quickly. Oh, and they were pretty expensive. I bought them in Alaska that summer). Anyways, they look great, I think. I'll have Matt give the final verdict when I get home this evening, if he's still awake. Tuesdays are not my favorite; getting home after 10:30pm sucks, especially if I haven't seen Matt since Monday morning. *sigh* Evening classes.

Ok, well, must get the rest of my BS homework done. Then head for class. I feel pretty great today, I feel like I look cute. My new haircut (just like my old one) is awesome!

TTYL!
Pam

PS. Matt better get some butt kicking Kenpo done this evening, or there will be punishment involved :)

Pam-We did so well in January, whatever happened to February?

So I was looking at how many posts we had for January, and I think we posted almost every day. Then February happened, and Phase 2. I think I was a little disillusioned when I didn't make as much progress during Phase 1 as I had hoped. So I didn't post on the blog for almost the entire Phas 2. Which is a shame, because maybe if I had been blogging, I would have forced myself to notice all the little changes that were going on in my body. The changes that I wasn't really noticing. Then, Day 60 came (ok, day 56) and we took measurements. It seems like overnight I went from a little pudgy to more and more trim. I can't believe how many inches I lost! And that Matt gained almost as many as I lost. That's amazing. And when I climbed on the scale this morning and my weight was 136.8 pounds, my heart almost stopped beating. I don't even remember the last time I weighed this little. But it isn't about weight. It is about my body's changes. The curves I didn't notice were there just last week. The fact that my waist is getting tiny. And that my legs and calves are shrinking. Matt felt some muscles on my back that haven't ever been there before. I never knew that your knees could get fat, and I didn't notice mine, until the fat started disappearing. I guess you never know what you have until you lose it, huh? :)
Anyways, my point is, I feel great. And I think I look great. And I have no idea how much further we can take this. We still have more than 4 weeks left in the program! Imagine how much better we are going to be after it is all said and done.

Oh, and btw, the spicy Chinese noodles we had for lunch were DELICIOUS! I was a little skeptical, until I read the recipe and realized peanut butter was involved. And it was so easy!

OK, I guess I should get back to my homework. I just wanted to blog, so that since it is the first day of March, I can try to get a lot more posts in this month than last. It helps that I'm liking my results. Hallelujah!

Pam

Matt - For the record

Our scale has this feature where it will tell you what you "metabolic age" is, it does some magic calculations and comes up with the equivalent age that your metabolism is running at. Well I have always loved that feature because my metabolism has always been read as that of a 12 year old (which is as low as the scale will go).

But Pam has always hated it, it has told her that she has the metabolism of a 29 - 30something year old. Today was an awesome day, the scale finally told her that she has a metabolic age of a 26 year old, which is way exciting because she is 27 =) I told her that she is looking like she is 26 and getting younger every day. She is just looking spectacular.

About P90X, it has been great, it continues to be great. Every morning I continue to think, I should be lazy and not work out, but I keep going. Its easy to keep going because the results are amazing, and the plan is so easy to follow!!! Anyways I gotta go convince Pam to east breakfast now =)

-Matt

Day 58

Wow, I can't believe how many gains I've made in the last 58 days. Yesterday was Back and Biceps, and I really impressed myself with all the pushups I was able to do. And the pullups. My ultimate goal would be to be able to do a pull up unassisted. I think that I'm on my way. I am definitely stronger than I have been in the past. And it just keeps getting more and more.

Have I mentioned how grateful I am that we started this program? It is probably the single most important thing that I could have done for myself this year. I shudder to think where I would be right now if we hadn't started it. Imagine this: I was on my way up into the 150s and who knows where it would have stopped, or IF it would have stopped. My teaching clothes that I bought in the fall for Practicum hours were starting to get smaller and smaller on me. As of right now, my clothes are HUGE! The shirts fit fine, but the pants...well, lets just say that I have quite a bit of room to breathe in them.

I know that I only have 5 more weeks of the program (round 1 anyways) and I am SO ready to bring it. I proved that yesterday, and boy am I sore today. I feel it in my, well, uh, my Back and Biceps :) Imagine that! I'm getting a little bit of studying done right now, some research, but I'm planning on getting a workout in early in the afternoon, or maybe right before lunch. Matt had duty yesterday, and I'm not sure when he's coming home, so I don't know if I should wait for him or not.

I'm so proud of Matt and the gains he has made. He's eating a whole lot more than me, but that is just fine with me. He needs it.

I'm a little scared of going on vacation for 10 days. What am I going to eat? How am I going to get my exercise in? Are my sister and my mom going to support me? Can I help them make a lifestyle change? Will they see how much better life can be if you add fitness and health into your long list of priorities?

Ok, well, speaking of homework, I need to get that studying done. I feel great, or have I mentioned that already?

~Pam

And the numbers are in-Day 56

Pam's Numbers
Day 1
Weight 146.6
BF % 33.3
Chest 36.5
Waist 34.75
Hips 41.5
R Thigh 24.75
L Thigh 24.75
R Bicep 13.0
L Bicep 12.75

Day 56
Weight 139.0-->-7.6 pounds
BF % 29.3-->-4
Chest 35.25-->-1.25 inches
Waist 33.25-->-1.5 inches
Hips 40.25 -->-1.25 inches
R Thigh 24.5-->-.25 inches
L Thigh 24.25 -->-.25 inches
R Bicep 12.75 -->-.25 inches
L Bicep 12.25 -->-.5 inches

Totals
Inches lost-->5.25 inches
Fat lost---> 8 pounds

And here are my 60 day pictures. Maybe I'll get Matt to do a side by side comparison, but I don't have access to the pictures right now. :)





Matt's Numbers
Day 1
Weight 137.2
BF % 5%
Chest 35
Waist 30
Hips 35.5
R Thigh 19.5
L Thigh 19
R Bicep 11.5
L Bicep 11.25

Day 60
Weight 143.2-->+6
BF % 5 % --> <->
Chest 36 ---->+1
Waist 31.25----->+1.25
Hips 36.25---->+.75
R Thigh 20.375 --->+.875
L Thigh 20---->+1
R Bicep 11.75--->+.25
L Bicep 12---->+.5
Totals
Inches Gained---->5.625 (or 5 5/8)

And here are Matt's 60 day pictures. I can really tell a difference!

Day 52 :)

Ok, I can't believe we've been doing this for 52 days. I have to admit that I had my doubts. But now I'm starting to see results. Right before we got the stomach flu, I started taking some fat burning pills. That, combined with the exercise has really made my results speed up. I'm actually starting to notice that my stomach is smaller, my legs are tighter, my arms are more toned. I feel better during most of the exercises. Today was Kenpo and it was butt kicking. I was punching and kicking like nothing else. And I think it is weird how as I get stronger, I work harder, so the exercises get harder, not easier. My weight has gone down quite a bit, almost 10 pounds,to 138.1 this morning, and my body fat is almost down to a more healthy 30%. I am anxious to see what my measurements are, but Matt won't let me measure early. I can stand in front of my "before" pictures and see a huge difference. My clothes fit differently. My pants that I bought that fit, then got tight, now fit and are almost loose on me (I'm not going to complain about that). And boy is Matt looking great. His bulging muscles are sooo.... well, anyways, you get the picture. I'm so proud of the work he's done. And for the first time since we've known each other, I weigh less than him!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Yes that deserves that many exclamation points.)

Ok, so I'm sorry I haven't blogged much this last month. In my defense, I've been sorta busy with school, and I was a little frustrated with my perceived lack of results. But not anymore :) Result city, here I come!
Speaking of heading out, I'm heading to England in just a couple weeks, and I'm looking forward to continuing my regiment there as well. It will be a challenge eating right, but I think I know what portions I can eat and I'm up for it. I'm going to work out every day while I'm there, and maybe get my sister interested :) We shall see. Maybe my mom will even do it with me. Hmmm...interesting proposition.
Alright, as you can probably tell, I'm a little tired. All I can say is, THANK YOU P90X! I am so happy with my body right now, and I haven't felt that way in a long time.

~Pam

ekkk long time no blog

Hey there, we have been pushing hard to recover from when we got sick last. And now we are on track for some awesome results. Pam has really started to show amazing results, it took a while and a lot of determination on her part but it certainly seems like the program is really kicking in for her. I am very happy with my results and I continue to look more defined and have larger muscles. Anyways I just wanted to make sure that we kept on writing on this! Almost time for some more measurements!

-Matt

Not sure the day-Plyo

Ok, so let me bring you up to speed. Yes, last week was rough. I felt a little overwhelmed because I felt like I was working my a** off and not seeing the results I thought I should. And then, just when I finally decided to suck it up and keep working at it, I got sick. With the stomach flu. That took me out for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (which was a rest day anyways). But then Thursday I started back up with Chest, Triceps, and Biceps and today with Plyo. I only made it through half of Plyo before I almost passed out. Holy cow, my energy is gone. But I'm determined to stick with it and get my energy back so that I can see more results. Amazingly, I seem to see differences every day. I wore a shirt today that I haven't worn in a long time, and it fit me better than it ever has. That made me feel pretty great.

Ok, that's about it. I'm going to try to get back to blogging as well. :)

Pam

day ??? -

Well it was a busy week for us last week and Pam is getting a little frustrated because the scale is not showing the results she is hoping for. She is kinda put off because she has only lost a couple of pounds and a 2 percent body fat, but I think that it is spectacular and that she is looking very good.

The workouts in phase two are nice, it is a good switch up and I can feel the targeted muscle groups exactly like I am supposed to. I am very pleased with the results of this program, it is making me feel like a much stronger & healthy person.

Today we have yoga and I am waiting on Pam to finish her homework so I can get it done. I am thrilled to be still doing this program and am even headed towards gaining some weight which is my ultimate goal.

-Matt

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!