Real Life Fitness – Getting Fit With Brent

Day 2 of following The Primal Blueprint and it hits:  The wall.

Now, I will admit this:  I’m not counting calories.  I’m not logging what I eat.  I’m simply being aware of carb intake.  I keep a rough count in my head and an awareness as I try to hit the sweet spot of 50-100.  I don’t want to go over, and if I am a bit under, I am okay.

With that in mind, I know I under-ate yesterday.  I’m not sure how much under, but I doubt I hit near a 2000 calorie mark.  And I’m okay with that.  I’m more focused on eating until satisfied than eating to meet a number.  But, when you wake up and do P90X Plyo X fasted, and after a low carb and low calorie day, you should expect the wall to hit.

And it did!

I’ll say this:  My energy has not been too bad.  In fact, it has been better than what I thought, although I expected the toughest time to be days 4-10.  With all of this though came a massive headache.  It almost felt like eye-strain and very well could be (I’m in contacts that are underpowered as my doc did not have my Rx in stock).  I’ve managed to shake it for the most part though.

I am a bit grouchy.  I was warned of this.  I’m trying to control it, but with three young kids at home all day with you, the fuse has been a bit short at times, mainly around the not listening and mild tantrums they like to think they can get away with.

The good news is, I ate well today.  I probably still did not eat enough, but oh well.  That’s part of getting adjusted to it.  The big problem I had was not snacking here and there.  I needed to take something in that would help offset how I was feeling and did not.  I did, though, snub a major temptation.  As part of a potty-training award, I took my youngest for frozen yogurt with the entire family.  I chose not to indulge.  And I LOVE fro-yo!  But I never fix it healthy…

So a recap of food today:

Post Plyo X – 3 slices of bacon, a sweet potato hash cooked in the bacon grease (sweet potato, onion, bell pepper, scallions), 2 eggs over medium.

Lunch – Salad with romaine, tomato, cucumber, cheese, left over pot roast, and a homemade honey musturd based dressing that I whipped up (tasted good, too…quite proud of myself for that one!).  Had about 1 cup of grapes after lunch.

Supper – Chicken fajitas in a romaine lettuce wrap.

My biggest obstacle:  I’m using a bit more cheese than what I’d like overall.  Not that I’m anti-cheese (nor is The Primal Blueprint), but I’m finding myself adding it just to squeeze in some extra calories/fat.  If I am going to continue to include dairy I’m going to move to using cottage cheese (full fat) as a snack.  I’m still thinking through that one.

Tomorrow is a more laxed day for exercise…somewhat.  I’ll do Ab Ripper X in the morning, and then have PT in the afternoon.  We’ll see how the body reacts.  It is also my first day back to work since the change in nutrition, and will be a welcome return to my normal routine!

Got questions on Primal nutrition or how I”m handling it?  Post a reply below!

Brent P90X, Primal/Paleo Eating P90X, paleo diet, plyo x, primal blueprint

Hey dummy, you’re not eating enough!

That was the revelation I came to this morning while trying to figure out where I stand on P90X.  In fact, I may be severely under-eating and not realizing it.  I started figuring my normal daily intake and I was getting around 1500 calories by supper, which means at least 700 calories to get into one fat burn zone, but most likely not enough to really lose fat for me.

So, today I began the quest of trying to increase my intake.

Here’s how today’s nutrition looked like:

Pre-workout:  banana
Post workout:  R&R drink
Breakfast:  Shakeology
Snack:  4oz cottage cheese, 1.5 oz raising
Lunch:  1 chicken breast, potato salad, V8
Snack:  1oz cashews
Supper:  1 chicken breast, salad, baked beans (1 cup), and around 1 cup steamed veggies
Snack:  Protein shake (for the extra calories needed)

I’m hoping adding back that final protein shake/snack and getting more calories in my day may help quite a bit.

For the Plyo X workout, it went very well.  Actually, I felt like I started a bit slow.  But by the time the end had hit, I don’t think my HR dropped out of the 150′s until the cool down.  Tomorrow I’m going to deal with the elbow and see how it feels lifting and doing pull-ups.  I may be modifying quite a bit.

Brent P90X, The Abs Diet P90X, plyo x, The Abs Diet

Getting down to the nitty-gritty with P90X.  Today was Plyo X.

Knowing I have Insanity on tap next, I know that I need to push myself hard on Plyo days to prep the legs a bit.  Today, I did not disappoint.  I did hurt a bit (in a good way, I mean in a good way), but I pushed.  My legs were feeling it throughout the day today, which means I made them work hard.

Deeper on the squats, deeper on the lunges, higher and faster on the jumps…that, my friends, is how I brought it on Plyo X today.

Nutrition was pretty good.  We had grilled burgers yesterday, so I took one for lunch (4oz of lean red meat…YUM!).

Brent P90X, The Abs Diet P90X, plyo x, The Abs Diet

Earthquakes + Thunderstorms waking the kids up + hips that are enough out of align to cause discomfort leads to a P90X Plyo X session that was VERY difficult.

Just so everyone has a reference on me…I live in an area that seems to be getting a lot of seismic action.  In fact, we’ve been having regular small earthquakes over the last few months.  Last night was the first night I felt one.  Honestly, it was a pretty cool feeling.  BUT….it woke me up just after I got to sleep.  And then my wife freaked out and could not get to sleep (and kept me up a bit with it).

And then the thunderstorms rolled in, freaked out my 3 year old, who ended up in bed with us using me as her foot prop.

Let’s just say, sleep has been a high value commodity around my house, and one that I’m not getting a lot of recently.

But…just like yesterday, NO EXCUSES.  So I get up, I pop in Plyo X, and I push as hard as I can.  And that was pretty hard today.  I had to skip the bonus section (youngest woke up as I was preparing my lunch and would not let me put her down, so I started a bit late this morning) but still managed nearly 650 calories burned in about 54 minutes.

Sure, it would have been another easy day to just kick back, lay back down, get some more sleep, and just chalk the day up to one that I needed to do something else.  Instead, I decided to get it in gear, do something to improve my health, and feel better for doing it.

Combine all of that with the fact that I am way overdue to see the chiropractor, and it was a round 54 minutes.  My hips are actually far enough out of alignment to cause a slight numbness down my left leg into my foot.  It also puts added pressure on the knee, which did not feel good.  I had to modify a bit more today at times but just worked hard even with the modification.

Nutrition today was good.  A few chips with supper, but accounted for in my intake.

Pre-workout:  PB and banana on whole wheat
Post -workout:  BB Results and Recovery Drink
Breakfast:  Shakeology
Snack:  Raisins
Lunch:  Turkey on whole wheat, an apple
Snack:  Almond
Supper – Chicken fajitas on whole wheat tortillas with a few chips and salsa
Snack:  About to have a protein shake

Tomorrow is Shoulders and Arms, and I’m again dropping the weight slightly to lean out, burn a bit more, but still aim for only 12 reps.  I’ll work on size/bulk later.

Brent P90X, The Abs Diet P90X, plyo x, The Abs Diet

I’m a day behind on blogging thanks to the Super Bowl, so let me play a bit of catch-up in this post:

Day 36 – Ab Ripper X, Chest, Shoulders, and Triceps

I can write this now, being over 24 hours since I did the workout, but I’m a bit sore.  I worked hard on increasing reps, improving form, lifting heavier, etc.  I can feel it in my shoulders and triceps a lot today.

I took my cheat meal for the week for the big game.  We had build-your-own nachos.  I did have some other dips, but do not feel I too much overdid it (considering the rest of my day was fairly low calorie).  I did share a Shakeology with a friend.

Day 37 (today) – Plyo X baby!

Today was about two things:  Squatting deeper, jumping higher.  Doing these things I knew I would get the burn I needed, although I was tired from being up late the night before with the same.  It paid off.  I skipped the bonus round after dragging tail this morning and still managed a 670 calorie burn.

Today the nutrition was good:

Breakfast – Shakeology
Snack #1 – 1.5 oz Raisins
Lunch – Yo Soup For You with 1/2 cup brown rice, 1 apple
Snack #2 – 1oz Raisins
Supper – Taco Soup with 1 cup brown rice, some low fat cheese (very little) and very little lite sour cream

Brent P90X, The Abs Diet ab ripper x, P90X, plyo x, The Abs Diet

Some day’s you’ve got it, and some day’s you don’t.

Today was definitely an “I got it” type of day with P90X Plyo X!  At first I thought I was dogging it as I could not get my heart rate up during the warm-up.  Now I’m beginning to think that my heart rate monitor wasn’t measuring right.  Needless to say, did not have any issues getting my heart rate up.  Average over 59 minutes was 147, with a max of 175!

That, my friends, is pushing hardcore for me!

I’m actually a bit shocked that my heart rate average was that low.  I guess the warm-up and cool down really rip into that number as everytime I looked down my HRM had me pegged around 160-163.

Nutrition was good today.

Breakfast -  Shakeology

Snack #1 – Smoothie

Lunch – Turkey sandwich + V8 (could have used a bit more here I think)

Snack #2 – 1oz Almonds

Supper – Pork tenderloin, salad, oven baked fries (homemade)

Snack #3 – Rest of smoothie

Brent P90X, The Abs Diet P90X, plyo x, The Abs Diet

One thing is for sure on my P90X day 16:  My legs were burning like CRAZY during Plyo this morning.  I did push a bit harder, but I could also tell that I might have been a bit short on calories yesterday.  I felt a bit drained early, which is a little unusual for me.

One interesting note:  My 19 month old came in during the third break.  I showed her to where my wife was and then got her some juice.  Something about this bit extra break made me feel more drained.  No idea.  When I came back to it, I felt in slow motion for a while.

But I finished strong with a 725 calorie burn.

I’m typing this a bit before 8pm in my local time zone, and the only thing I can really think about is sleep.  I have more coaching work to do, but my body is telling me to get to bed a bit earlier tonight, so I’m going to listen.  It’s only Monday, and I want the rest of the week to be full of “bringing it” without feeling like I’m sleep walking!

On another note, my Shakeology HOPEFULLY will be here by end of the week.  I need it…desperately.

Nutrition so far:

Breakfast – Smoothie

Snack #1 – Almonds 1oz

Lunch – Turkey sandwich with some romaine for lettuce leavess

Snack #2 – Rest of smoothie

Supper – Chicken and brown rice with onions, bell peppers, carrots, cooked in olive oil (1 T) and with some light Italian dressing.

Brent P90X, The Abs Diet P90X, plyo x, The Abs Diet

Plyo X for P90X day 9…what can I say.  Legs were on fire at the end.  Heck, legs were on fire about midway through!  Heart rate stayed up well.  Average heart rate for the 58 minutes was 149, with a peak of 169.  Burned 706 calories.

Nutrition was fairly good today.  Had 1/2 cup of hot apple cider tonight and have not had my evening snack, but going to mark what I’m having.

Breakfast – 2 slices wheat bread, 1 egg, 3 slices Canadian bacon, 1 slice 2% cheese.

Snack #1 – 1oz Almonds

Lunch – 4oz pork tenderloin, 1/2 cup brown rice, steamed veggies, and 1/2 cup mac salad.

Snack #2 – 1 slice whole wheat bread, 1 T natural PB, 1 T all fruit strawberry preserves.

Supper – Lean meat chili with black beans and flaxseed with some saltine crackers.

Snack #3 – Turkey and low fat cheese

Brent P90X, The Abs Diet calories burned, P90X, plyo x, The Abs Diet

Today was P90X day 2 – Plyo X.  The word of the day is “sore.”  Lower core is sore from Ab Ripper X.  Legs are feeling it a bit as well from Plyo.  Upper body is sore from Chest and Back.

Yep…weakness leaving my body, and I’m okay with that.

Diet today so far (one snack left, I’ll discuss):

Breakfast – Smoothie with 1 cup milk, 2 T non fat yogurt, 1 tsp ground flaxseed, 2 tsp protein powder, 1 handful of blueberries, 6 frozen strawberries.  Not bad…could be better.  Drank 12 oz.  Also had some almonds.  I need to eat more here.

Snack – 1oz Almonds

Lunch – Turkey sandwich on whole wheat with baby spinach and an orange.  Yes, little variety here from yesterday, but it’s easy to take.

Snack – 12 oz of the smoothie I made.

Supper – Lean meat chili (approx cup and half) – 93/7 lean ground beef, tomato juice, rotel, petite diced tomatoes, some black beans , and 1 tsp or so of ground flaxseed.  Used 4 pieces of whole grain melba toast as well.

My final snack will probably be turkey and low fat cheese (yes, I picked some up) with milk, possibly flavored with just a bit of protein powder.

Tomorrow is one of my favorite workouts…shoulder and arms.  My goal is to lift heavy.  If I make it to 8 reps, good.  I’m not going to be dissappointed with 6 reps.  Reps will be slower with more resistance to help build more muscle.

Brent P90X, The Abs Diet P90X, plyo x, The Abs Diet

Ok, so this quote doesn’t come from the P90X Plyo X workout, but that is EXACTLY what was going through my mind.

Last night, I was all excited to go to bed, get a good night’s sleep, wake up refreshed and energized and ready to absolutely crush Plyo x.  But something happened….and I’m not sure what, but when I got into the routine, I could not get enough into it.  I mean, I did burn 720 calories in the 58 or 59 minutes, but I was gunning for 800.  I pushed as hard as my body would let me, but my brain wanted more.

My body really needs to match my brain next time!

I’m having to work a bit harder as I seem to not be losing as much weight so far this phase.   I’ve increased my eating by a slight amount to see if that does the trick.

So it’s off to bed I go, and get ready to torch my back and biceps in the morning (as well as rip my abs…but not literally).

Brent P90X P90X, plyo x