P90x Shoulders & Arms, Progress, & Pictures

First order of business, cute socks. 

Now that the world is in order, I shall talk about a few things:

Anyone else does P90x at home?  I really would love to join a gym, its just not financially feasible at the moment, but I keep on thinking my progress would be a lot faster if I join a gym.

But I'm also convinced this just means I should finally just buy this:

Because I'm out training the only free weights I have at home, which is why I haven't seen as much as a progress as I'm used to. I use 10 lb weights and I'm doing a lot of reps, but would love to stay on the 12-15 with the last 3 at a do-able but "struggling" degree of difficulty. The next free weights I have is 20 lbs, and I'm sure that jumping from 10 lb to 20 would result in injury.

Maybe when I get my income tax return. I would rather buy the Powerblock than join a gym. Gym = gas. Does anyone have any opinions on any adjustable sets? Two friends recommended Powerblock independent of each other. I read reviews on Selectech by Bowflex and found that a plastic piece that holds the weight can break! It can break mid use, and hurt you, and render the weight useless. I don't want a weight plate hitting my face!

Anyway, I'm also out of my pre-workout!

Sad face!!! I need to get some more. Do I still need to do a month cycle off? I use this stuff at most 3x a week, one scoop per round. Its jack3d by the way. I love that stuff. I think it won't hurt to cycle off jack3d, but I know if I cycle off a stim, I should cycle off from all its sources. No energy drinks, no coffee, no tea, no soda, which is okay, I don't drink soda.

But anyway, maybe I will. I'll see. I do have credit from bodybuilding.com =] Those awesome folks over there! We had a miscommunication which I totally would understand, and they didn't have to but they credited my account. So sweet of them. I wanted to try the green apple jack3d which is only available at GNC. I walked into GNC and the guy treated me kinda weird. Like "should I be selling this to her?" Weird. I know I look really young, I get mistaken for being 16/17 all the time. I don't think I look that young, but I get it all the time, partially due to the way I act, which isn't immature, but I'm not uptight at all. Anyway, yeah. GNC won't be getting my money. I'm sorry green apple jack3d, but GNC was not nice to me.

I'm also going to the forums at bodybuilding.com to read up on cutting. I don't want to loose muscle mass, which I've stated plenty of times before. But I can tell I'm loosing definition on my arms. I'm sad about that, but I maybe retaining water. I've consumed a good amount of popchips, which has a good amount of sodium! Any advice for cutting without loosing muscles? I know I'm a long way off from where I want to be, but I can tell I'm loosing definition =| I'm not sure what to do, but with you guys by my side, the internet side, I know I'll get a bunch of help (-;

But if you were going to snack on something, it might as well be popchips!

And this is to publicly admit that I failed my clean eating for today. I had popchips :-( I was at the store and needed something to munch and I knew I wasn't going to have "real food" access for at least 3 hours. And it was in a situation where I couldn't "pack" food. The sweet potato popchips are awesome!!! the chili lime was a bit salty for me, but I don't salt my food, ever. So I'm overly sensitive to saltiness.

What was the situation?

I went shopping >.< Unplanned.

No buts, I didn't eat super clean today, but the shopping was a success! I started at a size 16 denim when I started running/weight lifting. I'm now a size 10. I'm still wearing those size 16 jeans so I bought two pairs of size 10 jeans at forever21. Not the best quality jeans, but at $10.50 each, I won't feel bad if I have to buy another pair in a different size. I wanted to be at size 8 initially but I thought at size 8 I would be like at 160? I'm a size 10 at 175, so it makes sense right? I'll see tho. I know I should not look at the scale so much, but I would love to be at 140/150 with a good amount of muscle mass (-;

It was also successful because:

A skirt and a dress form H&M for $8.66!!!

SCORE!

And I guess a progress photo, but I'm wearing a dress, I should find one from when I started to change my mind about health, but that will be on my desktop, I'm on my laptop, Igor:

Alright, have a strong day everyone!

PS. I acknowledge that the last two pots were really not fitness related. H&M does sell work out clothes tho!  The items I bought fit, but not the way I like. Darn you H&M and your super skinny models! You skew the sizes! The skirt was a size 10, the dress 12. Just goes to show that each brand is really different in terms of sizing. Just like the scale, must ignore the sizing. The only size that matters is how big your heart is [cue post workout endorphin mushiness!]. But really, measure yourself and measure your progress by that. Not by a company's standard.

Woah! It works?!

Its Wednesday! Which means its (un)officialy "Weigh in (Wednes)day."

I wasn't going to touch a scale till next Wednesday because I've only been home 2 full days from LA. And when I'm in LA, I eat whatever- for the most part! I wanted a death dog but didn't get any- and since I was in LA for my birthday it was just double the fun =] I know its way better to go by size but I can't find my tape measure, but I know myself and I know my belt and size has been dropping as well.

Weight wise, from the last time I remember weight myself, I've dropped like 5 lbs. Like I said, I always have a hard time loosing that last couple of lbs in my "10 lbs increment" weight loss dealio, which is stupid because my body doesn't know 10 lbs increments, or does it? But anyway, I've kicked that bucket and I'm on a new weight bracket! I'm still dropping too fast in "professional" opinion but I've also kicked up miles in running and been watching what I eat, for the past two days at least. Haha.

I haven't been eating as clean as I'm capable of either so I'm kinda wondering why I'm dropping weight. I think its because of weight training. I've gained muscle and I think that helps! I'm not sure if its to credit for how fast its dropping but whatever, I'll keep at it cuz its the only thing I can think of! Haha. It makes it that much harder to taper from P90x tho since I'm adding miles and stuff to running.

But hey, who would have thunk?

Build muscles, get stronger, & drop pounds.

Heres an unrelated picture. It relates to yesterday's entry, but I'll put it here. Thats my left leg. As you can tell its two colors. Isn't that awesome? Haha. The lighter part is my natural color. I'm pale as a ghost. The darker part is my lower leg (well part of my thigh- the part where my shorts end- to my sock tan line; yes, I have one of those too) and its significantly darker. Haha. I find it funny. Oh well. My sock tan line is funnier.

Just Keep Going

I mentioned that I plateaued some entries back.

I've been working out, P90x, for a week now with jack3d & it helps a lot.

I'm just going to cycle it properly because I don't want to be immune to it.

I haven't been running as much as before (I only did two 3-mile runs last week) because I sometimes I just don't have time after working out.

I put together a calendar that will hopefully help me in both areas, not slacking in strength training and most definitely improve on my running.

Here is a glimpse of it.

Sunday- Rest
Monday- Chest & Back, Ab Ripper
Tuesday- Tempo Run
Wednesday- Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper
Thursday- Normal Runs (I'm going to alternate every week with hill runs)
Friday- Legs & Back, Ab Ripper
Saturday- Long Runs

Today was actually my rest because I did Chest & Back yesterday.  And to be blunt, my chest really hurts. Its not my boobs, but the muscles behind my boobs. It hurts. I just googled it, that would be pecs right?

Anyway, yeah. So tomorrow, I'm looking forward to tempo running. To remind myself, tempo run is "comfortably hard." It shouldn't be too hard where I feel like dying, but not so easy that I can hold a conversation. Something I can handle but would gladly stop if I could. That is my best understanding of tempo run.

To be honest, I haven't really focused on improving on running. I really like running and part of me is afraid that if I make it so serious, that I'm going to not like running. But a talk last night with a friend is changing that thinking. Also after running the Pasadena, I now officialy have a PR for a 5k, and I want to see that change.

One thing I love about the whole "journey" that this working out and running thing is taking me is challenging myself.  In a way, I feel like I have to be my own cheerleader on this and its fun to see what I can do. However, I also wuss out really easy. As someone put it, "you set the bar, and you just take it off" and I know I do that. I do it to protect my self, my ego, I guess. Its the belief that if you have no expectations, you won't be disappointed. Its something that I recently realized does more harm than good.

So I'll see how actually "training" for a run will be.  As opposed to just go out there and run. Yeah, I do want to see my time improve and my mentality is that when I cut more fat, I'll just be fast, and while there is truth in that, I'm sure that training where I'm at now will not harm me. It will probably be like running with ankle weights, which I used to do (big mistake), but its all over weight. When I drop, I'll be fast cuz I was already training now. Not waiting till later to correct my form, practice my foot work, etc.

At least I'm hoping it will be.

For some up-beat progress, I recently wore clothes I explicity bought for a wedding exactly a month ago. And a lot of them are already too big or fitting better. I wrote a post on body type in the beginning of this blog and I mentioned that I'm a mesomorph. I just took the "test" right now and it said I'm between a meso & an endo.  But one thing I noticed is that when I'm eating right (which includes actually eating) and clean food and working out consistently, I gain muscle really quick. So I know I'm gaining muscle. I'm just disappointed that the chubz is not falling off as fast as I want, especially from my face. But regardless, I'm goign to just keep going.

Back To Square One

I'm discouraged. So discouraged that my insecurities went on overdrive and I pretty much don't want to do anything but workout and run. I don't even want to eat.  I feel like those, running & weight training, are the only things I can control. I just want to do those and eff the rest.

A little over 3 months and 25 pounds later, I have officially hit a plateau, and its probably going to be one of many.

I started from beginning of February, and its now May 24.

In retrospect, 25 off is a good thing in that time period. Considering I was out for 6 weeks of that time.

Right now, however, all I can focus about is this plateau that I'm currently stuck in.

Granted, I know I can be stricter about a few things, like cutting out juice even if its only once a week, or letting go of that brown rice and just going back to my Orowheat thin bread things as my only source of carbs. Pushing it just a little bit more while I run or strength train; but I know I've hit a plateau.

To me, its too damn early to hit a plateau. Like honestly, I'm no where near where I want to be weight wise, or even muscle wise. And lately I've been discouraged by this plateau. I know below I said I was dropping too fast, and there were weeks I would drop between 3-5 & I've been told that 3-5 is too much for a week, so now I'm trying to balance eating right and working out, so I drop but not too fast, but lately, I've been staying the same. Stupid plateau.

Just had a good talk with a friend in regards to this and good to know, this stuff just happens. Well I knew this stuff happens, but to know it happens to everyone and it happens when it wants makes me feel a little better.

So right now, like NOW, I'm just going to cut my losses and start over.

Back to square one.

The only difference from square one in February and square one May is that I'm 25 pounds down, and a little bit smarter about these things. Remember, I don't claim to be an expert on this (read my side bar disclaimer!). A disadvantage is that my body is also a little bit smarter and got used to how I did things before and now I kinda have to find different ways to switch it up, so really its back to square one.

I have a feeling that throughtout this whole journey, till I get where I want to be so its just maintaining, (if you want to know, its runner's lean, but I want to keep my boobs, so if those start disappearing, I'm probably going to stop working out too much) I might be going back to a whole bunch of "square one."

Only it won't ever be in the same spot as the first square one in February. It will always be a new starting point somewhere closer to my goal.

I'm still bummed. I'm still kinda sad.

But theres absolutely nothing that being sad can do about it.

Right now, I'm alive, I'm loved, I'm breathing, PSN is back up... I can push through the sadness and the plateau.

Also I have jack3d and multi-vitamins coming to my doorstep anytime soon. Jack3d tomorrow (today), vitamins, I'm not sure when. Other plan of action is probably to tighten up what I eat. Even tho I hardly eat now. Also going to cut back on cardio and focus on P90x. Like actually listen to the dude (haha!) and pay more attention to form. Cardio is good but I need to build muscles so they can burn the fat for me. If those doesn't work alongside jack3d & my multi-vitamins, I'll give it 2-3 months, then I'll go down that slippery slope of thermogenic supplements.

Hopefully those things will help me push through the plateau, and the rest of I'm sure many more to come.

Just gimme a year, gimme a year, and after that hopefully its all maintainance. Hopefully.



PS. I shall talk about the Pasadena marathon soon. Like really soon. I really loved it and am currently looking for a 10, because I already found a half =]

Good News & Bad News

Lets start with the bad.  Two days ago, the 25th, my spine/sciatic nerve area just wanted revenge.  I woke up feeling like someone had stabbed me in that area. Slept it off first half of the day, then forced myself to go out to see if that would help for a couple of hours, didn't work. Then caved in and took 30 mg of vicodin. It was so bad. After talking to a doctor, its just something I have to rest out. Its isolated to my right side, which makes sense cuz I slammed my right foot down. So I can't really do anything too crazy. Which kinda makes me sad.

Good news? I'm down 20 lbs!!! I still think I look the same, but its coming out the belly first, which is soooooo goooooodddd perfect place for me right after my thunder calves. I hate my calves cuz I like/d walking in my tiptoes and um, they got huge. Bleh. Haha.

Its encouraging, yeh!