Engineerauthorman’s Blog

Today was day 90, my final day of P90X.  I am DONE! 

It’s been a tough road.  I remember back during the first few weeks when my muscles ached so bad, I could barely move.  Then towards the middle, I remember figuring out that I was doing pullups incorrectly all along.  Then towards the end, I realized I was just as flexible as one of the most flexible people on the videos!  I’ve come a long way, and I think the experience is worth a little reflection.

For starters, let’s take a look at the before and after pictures.

Here are a few quick facts about where I was and where I am now:

When I started the program, I had 14.5% body fat.  Today, just 90 days later, I measure in at only 7% body fat. 
I’ve lost a total of 21 lbs.
I can actually do a wide front pull up, plyometric push up (whole body leaves the ground on the way up), and and can hold the yoga position crane for a full minute. 
I’ve stopped snoring (except for when I’m really super, over-the-top tired).
I haven’t had an allergy attack since I started the program.
I’ve gone down at least 3 to 4 pant sizes.

Yeah, so…ah…I’d call it a success, no?  Honestly, I am glad I did it.  I’m glad that I’ve taken the first REALLY hard step of getting to a healthy place.  Now all I have to do is maintain it, so I can live a long, happy, healthy life (sorry, boys and girls, you’re stuck with me for a little longer).  But I’m looking at P90X as more a change in lifestyle than a passing event.  I know how to eat healthy now. I know how to exercise correctly without injuring myself.  And that goes a long way in regular, daily life as well.  Mowing the lawn isn’t a physical drain on me anymore.  Running to a meeting at work (which I did the other day) doesn’t leave me completely out of breath.  So I hope to continue this general level of healthy living a little while longer yet. 

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  Let me go back to the initial 90 days…
My favorite workout by far was “Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps”.  This was my favorite routine because it worked the upper body but required no pullups.  Hooray, no pullups!  At the same time, it had some really different moves I had never seen before.  Pushups in which one hand was slid out in a “fly” motion every time I went down, so it was up and in to center, then down and sideways, then up and in, and down and sideways.  Then there was the sphynx pushup, multiple tricep exercises, and a bunch of other stuff I can’t think of.  It was variety, it was muscle building, it was actually, kind of fun. 

A close second favorite was “Core Synergistics”.  This workout works every muscle from the thighs, butt, abs, chest, shoulders, biceps, and triceps…at the same time!!!  It is grueling.  Even the people on the video are sweating buckets.  There is one scene where this woman is doing a pushup, and you can watch the sweat dripping off her face onto the floor.  And yet, this is a close second because, like “Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps” the moves are very different, and almost fun to do. 

My least favorite workout was “Yoga”.  Now, when I was done with the yoga workout, I felt GREAT, but doing it was tough.  The first 45 minutes are very, very difficult.  Those 45 minutes were all moving positions that basically involved holding a lunged position until my thigh muscles were burning, and felt like they’d shred and unravel at any moment.  The second half of the routine was all balance postures and stretching.  Again, I felt loose and relaxed and really great when it was done, and that good feeling alone might have saved Yoga from being my least favorite workout.  But, the Yoga DVD has one other strike against it…it’s an hour and a half long.  The difficult moving positions, plus the excessive length of time I needed to devote to each Yoga workout wins it the award for my least favorite.

So the only thing that didn’t exactly happen during P90X that was promised/implied in the videos was a 6-pack and huge, bulging muscles.  I believe that there is a strong possibility that I could eventually get the six pack.  Some people just build muscle slower than others. And I can definitely feel muscle there, it’s just not enough to be a big six pack.  But there is a little definition there, so that’s cool. As far as the bulging muscles, I guess I’m just not that good at building muscle.  Add it to the list of things I’m not exactly stellar at…building muscle and tile grout.  But I’m still thrilled with how well it’s gone. I don’t need to be absolutely jacked. I’m thoroughly happy with where I am right now.

Which brings me to my next point.  What do I do now?   Well, the long and the short of it is, i plan to maintain.  I plan to drop the workouts down to half a workout a night.  I’m going to have to sit down and figure out what workout to do when, but I don’t think it will be that hard.  According to the workout book, 80% of the muscle is built during the first half of the exercise anyway.  Also, the book said that doing half the workout is a good way to maintain where you are, but not to really make big gains. Hey, that’s fine by me. 

The other change I’m going to make is that I’m going to adopt a modified diet.  I am going to base it off the Phase 2 diet, because that was the easiest one for me to follow.  The only modification I’m going to make is I’m going to subtract from my daily caloric intake half of the calories that I will no longer be burning, since I’m not doing the second half of the workouts each day.  Other than that, the diet is more of a lifestyle change. I don’t have to keep track with a worksheet or anything (I have been keeping track in my head for months now anyway.)  I’m sure as time goes by, I’ll slowly let some junk food slip back in, but for now, I’m going to carry this eating healthy thing a little way.  If I have a goodie here and there, it won’t be the end of the world.

Oh, but I did decide that I was going to gain some more weight.  I promised the Mrs. I would gain at least 5-10 lbs back.  I’m hoping to gain the weight back in muscle,a s I start doing half the workouts, but REALLY going for it during those halves.  BUT, if not, I’m OK with having an extra piece of cheesecake now and again.  Either way, I’m going to gain a little weight back.  Being a full grown adult, and weighing less than 150 lbs is just weird to me.  So I’ll be gaining a little back one way or another.

So that’s about it.  This is my last blog entry.  I think if I do another blog later for some other topic, I’ll pick a blog hosting site that makes it easier to add full images to the blog.  These smaller images that I’ve been using, with no links, are no good.  I can link to a bigger sized picture, but it’s a pain, so I haven’t been doing it.

Anyway, before I go, let me leave you with some P90X advice. 
For those of you considering trying P90X, I have just one word of advice.  Do what you are told.  That’s it.  Just follow the guidebook and the diet, and at the end of 90 days, you’ll be all right.  It’s too easy to make some excuse why you can’t follow the diet, or why you can’t fit in a workout one night.  I have two kids.  I drive a total of 3 hours a day back and forth to work.  I’m writing a book.  I still make time for friends and family.  If I can find the time to do it, so can you.

And with that, I’m done.  As a parting gift, here are a few more pictures of me.  In one of them, I’m flexing like a goofball.  In the other one, I’m enjoying my celebration ice cream.  In the last one, some woman is looking at me as I take a picture of myself eating an ice cream.  She’s not checking me and my new P90X body out.  She’s looking at me with a “What the hell is he doing” look on her face. Ah, some things never change. 

Yesterday, I finished the last workout that called for weights.  Excellent!  I have Kenpo tonight, then stretch tomorrow night, then a week of “rest”, then I’m done.  I can’t wait. 

I also seemed to have crossed some sort of threshhold when it comes to towel pull ups.  Two weeks ago, my numbers were pathetic, and I could only do them with a chair to help.  This week, out of the blue, I could do them just fine, and was doing them without a chair, no problem.  I’m not sure exactly what made the big difference between now and then, but I’ll take it.  It was kind of nice.  That was the only move I was still stuck on after all this time.  Here’s a picture, so you see what I mean.  You wouldn’t think it would be much harder than a regular pull up, but it is.

(I just realized the picture is called “onearmedchinup” so maybe that’s why it is so much harder, because you’re only really using one arm.)

After tonight, I will have exactly two weeks left of P90X.  Lately, I’ve been thinking about what I want to have for my celebration dinner.  On one hand, I want it to be a treat, on the other hand, I don’t want to eat something totally unhealthy, or something that will be a shock to my system and make me sick.  But today, I decided what I want.  It isn’t a dinner exactly, but it will be a worthwhile treat nonetheless. When I finish P90X, I will have a Cashew Caramel Turtle ice cream from The Haven on 125.  That will be my reward for finishing the program. 

One of the best caramel and cashew ice creams I’ve ever had was a Ben and Jerry’s flavor.  I think it was called Uncanny Cashew.  It was sweet cream ice cream with caramel encrusted cashews.  Unfortunately, I can’t find that flavor anywhere anymore.  BUT, this stuff at the Haven is a close second.  It’s basically exactly what it sounds like, cashews, caramels, nuts, and some sweet vanilla/caramel ice cream.  Yeah, it’s a fitting reward for all my hard work.

Of course, I still have two weeks, so I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself.  But I’m not too worried about not finishing.  I’ve worked out even after being in extreme agony after an all day bike ride.  I’ve worked out sick.  I’ve worked out at 11 at night.  With only one more tough week and one more week of rest (funny the program ends on a week of rest), I’m fairly confident I’ll finish no problem. 

I can almost taste the cashew caramel deliciousness….

Today, I did the Chest and Back workout for the last time.  In the three weeks I have left, that particular DVD does not get put back into rotation.  Wow.  Makes the end seem that much closer.  I’m trying not to think of life after these 90 days, because I want to just focus on getting through it.  But day 90 is coming up fast, and I can’t wait.

However, it’s not all good news.  The last two nights, I’ve been snoring again.  I believe it’s because I have been getting very little sleep over the past couple days.  I’ve been going to bed very late, 3:30 and 2:30am. I’ve also been getting up around the same time. So over the past two days, I’ve had a combined total of 9 hours of sleep.  Not good.  And since historically, my snoring has gotten worse the more tired I am, I’m hoping that’s all I’m seeing now.  Because one of the big reason to keep going with this diet and exercise thing after the 90 days is that my snoring has all but disappeared.  So hopefully, this is a fluke thing with me being overtired.  But I’m going to keep an eye on it and see how it goes.

Both my wife and my daughter have given me a hard time about P90X.  Let me explain…

Today, as the family was headed out of the house to go to a cookout, my daughter volunteered to carry the diaper bag to the car for me.  As she stumbled out the door with it, she said, “It’s heavy.”  I offered to carry it for her, but being the headstrong, determined finisher that she is (don’t know where she gets that from) she said, “That’s OK.  I can do it.”

Happy at her willingness to help, I replied, “Wow.  Look how strong you are.  You must have gotten strong from all that working out you do with me.”

Without missing a beat she looked at me and said, “Daddy, you’re not strong.”  Yup, that’s the sass I get from my four year old. Can’t wait until she’s 14…

The other day, the Mrs. was giving me a hard time.  We were driving in the car, talking about P90X and she said to me, “I hate it, how easy it is for you to lose weight.”  Easy! EASY!?!?!?!?  I’ve been on a diet for about 70 days now!  I workout 7 days a week, most nights for over an hour!  EASY?!?  There’s nothing easy about it.  Geesh, I just can’t win here.

Tonight, I actually stuck with the entire Ab Ripper X workout from beginning to end.  I have been doing all the exercises all along, but I’ve been taking breaks in between.  Tonight, I turned it on, and didn’t stop it until it was done. Oh yeah!  (it only took me 10 weeks to get to this point, so that tells you how tough the routine is.)

Unfortunately, now that I’ve raised the bar a little, I’ll have to do it straight through all the time.  Now that I know I can do it, if I don’t do it, I’ll just be acting lazy.  So it is both a blessing and a curse.  But I ave to say, going through the workout without the breaks makes it go by that much quicker, which is nice.

My weight has finally stabilized.  It’s been about a week, and I’ve been at exactlyt he same weight, +/- .5 lbs. 

The diet is still going well, and I can pretty much stick to it without recording what I eat or looking at the book.  I still try to fill out the daily diet sheet, just to make sure I’m not screwing it up.  But after a week, I’m spot on. 

Although, this does beg the question of what to do with the diet after I’m done. I’m thinking of some hybrid diet which would be some combination of Phases 2 and 3.  I’ll start thinking about it, then realize I still have 4 weeks to go.  At that point, being the procrastinator that I am, I put off thinking about it until I actually have to.

Otherwise, things are going well. The workouts are good.  I’m doing more pullups correctly (still nowhere near what the folks on the video are doing, but good enough for me.  I do expect the next couple weeks to be tough, though, if only because it is getting warmer outside.  I might need to start turning the ceiling fan on while I’m working out. I sweat out enough to soak my t-shirt as it is.  When the temps start creeping up into the 80’s and90’s, I’m going to melt.

BUT, I only have four weeks left after Sunday.  I am counting down the days.

Today was the first day of the Phase 3 diet. Based on my weight, I had to recalculate my daily calorie burn.  I calculated that, with the workouts, I burn 2,395.2 calories per day.  What is the significance of that number?  The significance is that it is 4.8 calories LESS than 2,400, which is the lowest cutoff point for Level 2 of the diet plan.  Let me explain…

The diet is broken up into three phases to correspond with the three phases of the workouts.  Each phase is broken up into three levels, Level 1 requiring the fewest calories per day, progressing up to Level 3 requiring the most calories per day.  I’ve been solidly at Level 2 all along.  Now I am 4.8 calories below, putting me in Level 1.  Level 1 is a stricter diet than Level 2.

At this point, the engineer in me wants to play it by the numbers.  But I had to take a step back. I’ve lost a lot of weight, a lot!  I’ve lost at least 17 lbs.  I’m down to only 11% body fat according to some dubious online body fat calculator.   Now that I’m back to doing muscle-building workouts for the next 4 weeks, maybe I’ll gain some muscle mass, but I’m not holding my breath.  So I am bending the rules and staying at the Level 2 diet. I’m only off by 4.8 calories.  Hell, I could vigorously wipe my butt and burn 4.8  extra calories per day, so I’m not too worried about throwing all my efforts off.  I think this is the best choice, because as it is, none of my clothes fit me right anymore.  If I lose any more weight, I’ll need a whole new wardrobe, and that I just can’t afford right now.

I cringe, but I am going to bend the rules slightly.  Phase 3 diet, Level 2, here I come!

Today marks the end of the second month of P90X.  I only have 5 weeks left. 

So far so good.  The latest pics are below.  Rest week was nice, and I am definitely ready to start getting back into the tougher stuff.  Although I have to admit, I don’t think I’m going to be exactly bulging with muscle by the end of the next 5 weeks.  That’s OK though. I’m in good shape, and I have much more energy and all that good stuff.  If you’ve read the rest of my blog, you already know the other health benefits I’ve gotten from P90X.  So if I don’t look like Johnny Steroid after the next 5 weeks, I’ll still say the program has been a success.

Tonight I have to figure out the new diet. I’ll let you know tomorrow how it goes. I believe I’m going to have to drop down into the lowest level, because I’ve lost so much weight.  But that’s OK.  I rarely eat all the food I’m assigned each day anyway.  It’s tough to get it all in there. 

OK, so I’ve kept you waiting long enough.  Here are the latest pics.  If you want to see some of the before pics, just scroll down, they’re in a previoius post.  At the very end, I’ll put them all together side by side so we can see a nice progression.  Enjoy!

I have a wedding to attend on Friday night. I am in the wedding party, so that means I also have to attend the rehearsal on Thursday night.  All well and good, but all these marriage festivities are going to interfere with my P90X schedule.  This just means that tomorrow, I will have to cut my attendance at the rehearsal dinner just a little short.  Well, not short exactly, but I can’t languish around there all night. I need to get home and workout. And for Friday, the actual day of the wedding, I’ll need to make sure I leave work early enough to get home, workout, drop off the kids with my parents, and get to the wedding on time to fulfill my groomsmen duties.  Whew.  It’s going to be a busy couple days.

Otherwise, I am only three days away from my next measurement/photo session.  I already know I’m going to get the, “you’re too skinny” comment.  I’ve been getting it a lot lately.  My standard reply is, “Jealousy doesn’t become you.”  But really, people need to settle, because in all likelihood, six months down the road, after I try to do my less time-consuming version of the workouts, some of that weight will creep back on.  I’m going to try to avoid that, but let’s be honest, working out half an hour a day as opposed to an hour a day has to have some effect.

Lastly, I am definitely enjoying this rest week.  I was starting to feel achy every day, just in different parts of my body.  If I worked legs the night before, my legs hurt. If I worked arms, my arms hurt. You get the picture.  It wasn’t painful, just achy from the good workout.  This week, I’m feeling pretty relaxed.  Than it’s the last 5 week push and I am DONE.  I wonder if the P90X people make their own version of an advent calendar.  Now that would be cool.  Instead of chocolate, they could put like a multi-vitamin behind each of the little cardboard doors.  I am a marketing genius! I need to send those folks my proposal right now, so I can start collecting my royalties ASAP!