Sacrafice is...

letting the kids have the last Costco croissants and eating the homemade rye bread instead. The thought crossed my mind that perhaps they might like the healthier rye bread option, and so I asked them all if anyone would rather have rye instead of a croissant egg sandwich. Alas, nobody chose rye over a scrumptious fluffy pastry. Once seated, my two year old devoured half his croissant, then looked at my rye slices and insisted he wanted my toast too. "Can I have your croissant then?" I asked. Of course he said no, but still wanted my rye toast. I stipulated he eat his eggs first before getting anything more, and of course by that point he'd forgot all about seconds. Tomorrow we'll all have rye.

Today was day 6 of week 7 of P90X, and I've noticed that hyper flexing my lower back in moves like cobra and upward dog correlate with pain and tightness the following day. So I'm backing off those moves and looking for alternate ways to stretch out the abs without the lumbar compression. My weight is about 128lbs (starting at 130), and my waist has lost about an inch (now 34-35 instead of 35-36). More importantly, I feel like I'm making some minor strides in getting some things accomplished. While I've read that some folks don't like Kempo X, I kind of dig it and feel so inspired "while" I'm throwing all those punches and kicks, which make me feel as if I could accomplish just about anything I put my mind to. Though it seems that might just be the endorphins kicking in, as I'm happy to ratchet back the ambitions once the workout is complete.

Foam Roller

My husband has been having some issues with his knee, and his physical therapist recommended he try foam rolling. So I got him a big piece of foam exactly like the one in the picture (from amazon) for Christmas. It looks like an over sized pool noodle, only it's harder, thicker around, and rigid. He feels it's really helping him and has been looking up all sorts of ways to roll various muscles on YouTube. When my middle back was tightening up, he was able to instruct me on some rolling points to help alleviate my discomfort. It does feel kind of nice to be honest.

While I've been doing the P90X lean schedule (currently finishing up week 6), I deviated today by joining my husband in doing the plyometric workout, which I'd never attempted before. Some of the plyometric exercises are in the core synergistic and cardio workout and if I could rename it I'd call it "Jump, jump, jump, x infinity." Tony Horton calls plyometric "the mother of all workouts." Indeed, this workout generated the greatest amount of sweat I've experienced while doing a P90X workout.

Week 5, day 1 P90X

Well, I've made it through the first 30 days. Good thing weight loss isn't the goal, because I haven't lost any weight. I'd like to think I've gained more muscle and burned some belly fat. I have a pair of pants I'm using as a gauge of what I'd like to get into, and while I can squeeze into them, I wouldn't wear them yet, because their still too tight for public. I might have lost an inch in the waist, but what I notice is that it varies from day to day and from the beginning of the day (when I look significantly slimmer) through the progression of the day and meals. Sometimes I tape at 34, sometimes 35, and often at the end of the day 36 inches.

As long as I'm eating and drinking enough I feel so much more energetic, and I'm able to do more and more of the exercises. So I feel stronger and more flexible.

Week 3 slow down

Working out took a bit of a back seat to the increased demands of a round of colds giving our immune systems a specialized workout. An already hectically paced week full of doctors appointments, recitals, and snow, which brought a few heaven sent cancelations, resulted in a couple necessary off days. Though, I managed to squeeze in a round of Ab ripper one day. While this week has brought gains in strength and increased ability to do even more of the exercises, I can see a little less endurance on cardio movements. Since 90% of my respirations take place through my mouth these days, decreased oxygenation is a very real excuse, so I'm taking it easy as it seems prudent.  

Today I picked up where I left off and completed yoga. This workout seems very helpful, but requires so much time. I blow off the three minutes of meditation at the end so I can get back to caring for the masses in my home. I can lay around in a fetal position some other time, or relax several times a day while nursing the baby. In fact my session was interrupted for about 10 minutes to nurse the baby in dire need. That's what the pause button is for after all. And any how, nursing a baby a workout in and of itself, requiring a lot of high quality care and nutrition to ensure success. I don't need to work very hard to feel the taxation on my body, so judicious prudence stresses that it's good to slow down when needed.

Don't be like me...
remember mozzarella!

Fuel is very important. Last night we had The Pioneer Woman's Potato Leek Pizza. I missed the part about mozzarella, and simple used goat cheese and parmesan only, which might explain why the kids weren't so thrilled with my latest experiment. However, Ree's pizza dough recipe yield much better results than the one we'd been using before, which redeemed my potato pizza enough that no slice went uneaten.

I want more energy

This is me a couple months ago trudging up a hill while out apple picking on a glorious day with my family. But I'm tired and I would rather be at home, not hot and exhausted. Sure I have a baby on my back, but he needs to be there, and I need more energy to carry on.

So I'm more than half way through week 2 of P90X. My waist is a squishy 36" around, my weight about 130 (which is where I've been for a while). I'm tandem nursing my two youngest children, so I am NOT dieting. The only thing I'm doing new is working out. My goals are to get stronger and build endurance so I can enjoy outings again. I shouldn't dread family outings for fear of exhaustion.

Today was my legs and back workout followed by the ab ripper supplemental. Last week I hated this workout, but it was not that bad at all this week. I'm using the pull up bar as an anchor for the resistance bands, because I can't do pull ups yet. I've never done a pull up in my life, bar hang yes, but never a full pull up. 

Already, I can feel a difference in my energy level, in that I'm able to do more of the workouts, and I just feel better. This rejuvenation also inspired me to finish my spontaneous sewing project to add a sleeping hood to my Beco Gemini baby carrier. I got the idea from Paxbaby.com, Pimp my carrier page. My rendition would need some more fine tuning, but it was a good attempt that turned out well enough for my own personal use. My carrier has a hood cover now and the baby can fall asleep on my back and he won't need to hang out without head support anymore. I haven't done much sewing in this past year. It feels wonderful to get the creative juices flowing again and be productive!