Phase 1 - Day 1

Today I began the P90X program with the Chest & Back and Ab Ripper workouts. I'm doing P90X at the gym, not at home, mostly because I don't have a good workout space in the house (I live in the basement, and my roommate's kids are always around, extremely interested in whatever I'm doing), and also because I don't have the necessary weights, pullup bar, etc. Doing P90X at the gym is a little daunting, though, because I have to put down a mat and carve out a little space for myself to do all the routines, but I also have to trek back and forth to the pullup bar to do those components of the workout. This creates a little more downtime between exercises than I'd like. When I get a HR monitor, I'll check if it's indeed negating my progress.

The workouts I did today were definitely challenging, and I didn't pace myself very well. On some of the exercises, the second time through, I could only complete half as many reps as I did the first time. However, I pleasantly surprised myself with my pushups ability; that's the area where I thought I was going to do the worst. The Ab Ripper workout is okay, but involves a lot of raised-leg exercises, so by the end of a lot of them, my max reps were based on leg fatigue rather than abdominal fatigue, and I'm not sure I got a whole lot out of them abs-wise. My quads were certainly screaming, though. So far, my favorite exercises are the Divebombers, the Lawnmower, the Leg Climb, and the Mason Twists.

Food-wise, I was pretty good today, although I did slip up a bit on sugar when I went to my brother's house. He'd made a pan of brownies--and he makes AWESOME brownies. So I had a small one. Otherwise, I was really full from the lunch I'd had: roasted chicken breast and leg, an avocado with sour cream and hot sauce, a couple slices of artisan cheese from Vincenzo's (I always get a couple fancy cheeses during my weekly V shopping; it's my little treat for the week's snacks), and about a cup (before cooking) of steamed spinach with garlic and butter. I had an apple before the gym this morning, and a cup of frozen strawberries and blueberries with walnuts, coconut flakes, and coconut milk for dessert after lunch. I also had a couple cups of tea at my bro's during our requisite weekend Trek marathon, into which I put a cube of sugar each. So, definitely a high-sugar day (barely stayed below 100g carbs), and kind of a high-calorie day, too, but with the workout and all the walking I did to and from the grocery store and then my bro's house (about two miles, all told) I think today was okay.

It's amazing, though, the effect processed sugar has on me when I don't eat it a lot. The brownie, while delicious, instantly gave me a headache, which is still there even as I type this. I'm going to be more careful this week with grains and sugar; last week was kind of a lapse. Plus, next weekend we go on our work retreat to Thunder Bay, and who knows what they'll have for me to eat there. If it's all crap, at least it'll be a good opportunity for some intermittent fasting!