June 23, 2010

It works!

I am so excited about the P90X program! For some reason I've been able to stick to the nutritional plan and the exercise and it really does work. I'm on day 15 and I can already see a difference - particularly in the reduction of my gut - but all over more firm than squish. I've lost 4 pounds which is a good rate for losing (2 a week) but celebrate more that my clothes are more comfortable. I cannot imagine what I will look like after 90 days ... I already know that I will feel great.

The nutrition plan really packs in the vegetables (4 servings a day) and protein (7 servings of 20 grams) but only 1 fruit and 1 carb a day. I had pizza the other night with family and I bloated for two days afterwards - crazy. I'm really going to have to be careful when I go on vacation and am surrounded by all kinds of temptations. I typically feel really bloated after vacation so I'll keep that in mind.

I'm still struggling with balancing all projects - I get behind on one so I work on just it but then am behind on the others. Now I'm playing catch up on my dissertation - I just want to get in the habit of working on it every day. Hopefully now that I finished one project I can do this!

June 4, 2010

Bring it!

What a great week! I shared chapter 3 (methods) with my advisor (minus the measure section) and got some really good feedback. I worked really hard and was able to get a lot of it done. Afterwards my brain was complete mush and it's been a struggle to focus on other work I need to catch up on. Perhaps I just need a daily schedule where I spend a set amount of time on all the different projects in my life instead of spending days on one then to switch to another that I end up being behind on. Sigh - I'll give it a try next week!

I ordered the P90X program and am very excited! My friend loaned me her 10 minute workout DVDs from the same trainer (Tony Horton). I've done 2 workouts a day for the last 4 days. The first couple of days were very hard and I wondered what I would do when the P90X shows up and I have to work out an hour versus 20 minutes! Now it's getting more manageable and my body is getting into the rhythm of being pushed this way. I also make accommodations as needed so I don't hurt myself. Tony's catch phrase is "bring it" so you may see this popping up.

I also found an igoogle application that is a calorie counter. I went onto mypyramid.gov and found out that I should eat 2000 calories a day to lose weight (this shows you just how tall and overweight I am as most women need to eat about 1400 calories a day to lose weight!). It's very handy and motivating as I just have it open on one of my Safari tabs all day long and can even plan meals this way. Finally, I am tracking my activity and caloric intake on a calendar (just as my college roomie had us do) as a way to celebrate progress. Hopefully these are all things that can become part of my regular life so it is not a new and exciting thing that loses its zeal and fades away. I think the exercise will be the easiest to maintain now that I've gotten into a rhythm of needing to exercise each day!