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Day 7 – End of Week 1

Well….week 1 was not perfect but it is done. This morning I did some 10 minute trainer yoga, took a nap instead of doing Legs & Back and finished the night off with some Xstretch. I know, I know….a nap….instead of my workout….what can I say……I was a tired! I needed the rest!

When I got to thinking about it I would be doing Legs & Back today and then Chest & Back tomorrow….working my back two days in a row didn’t seem like a good idea especially with my herniated discs. I don’t need to hurt myself again and not be able to do any workouts. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!

I am hoping to be more disciplined week 2 and stick to the schedule but sometimes I just can’t help it and have to move stuff around, double up or just skip a workout. I don’t LIKE doing it but sometimes I have to and I have to learn to accept that.

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Day 4,5,6…..oh man!

Well sooner or later it always happens. I allow life to get in the way of what I want and need to do and it results in me missing workouts….sigh.

Day 4 SHOULD have been YogaX which is a 90 min workout. I will be the first to admit I am not a huge fan of it so I was not heartbroken by missing the workout. I do however KNOW that Tony Horton IS a huge fan of yoga and he feels it is a key component of his workout program so I did feel a little guilty the next day.  If it redeems me at all I have been doing 10 Minute Trainer Yoga almost everyday…..hey….I know it’s not YogaX but it’s something….right?!

Day 5 was another screw up for me. Legs and Back plus Ab Ripper X were the scheduled workout for the day. I’m not even sure what I ended up doing yesterday but I know sneaky lunges and wall squats were not one of them. Oh….yesterday was the lovely fender bender in the parking lot at my job….sigh….I should have done some Kenpo as a stress reliever, instead I grabbed and beer and enjoyed some conversation with a friend….oh well.

Day 6 – Now this workout I DID do…..KenpoX…..hands down my FAVORITE workout in this program! I never get tired of this routine…EVER! I can jab, cross, hook, uppercut all day long! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!! I always end up energized, relieved of stress and in a full on sweat by the end of the hour…I couldn’t ask for more! Well….maybe two days of Kenpo…we could replace YogaX…hahaha….just kidding…yoga is important….I know…..*rolls eyes.

Anyway….tomorrow is technically my rest day but my plan is to start the day off with some 10 Minute Trainer Yoga (still trying to redeem myself here), then do Legs and Back, I will sub Ab Ripper 200 cause I like it better. Finally before bed I will unwind with some xStretch. Now this is the plan….it doesn’t mean it will all happen. Let’s face it I’m a parent and I’m human….things come up and we aren’t perfect. I do however always try to make up for what I miss. That’s all I can do….as Tony says….Do your best and forget the rest!

Keep bringing it people and I will try not to be such a slacker next week!

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Day 3 – Shoulders and Arms

Today marked Day 3 – Round 2 P90x for me. I was looking forward to today’s workout and I was bored at work so I skipped out early and headed home to take care of business…..Shoulders and Arms….gotta love working those “Glamour Muscles” and with tank top season coming lord only knows I can use the work…yikes!

There is honestly not a single move in this workout that I don’t like. My absolute favorite exercise is the Side-Tri-Rise that they do at the end in the bonus round. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that I can keep up with them even when they get all wacky and race each other. I tend to be a competitive person so maybe that’s why…who knows?!

Today’s workout was interesting though as a thunderstorm was rolling in. As I was working out things got dark and I noticed the lightning start. Shortly after a huge crash of thunder rang out and my house literally shook which scared me. Apparently it scared my son as well cause he came busting through my bedroom door and nearly tackled me as I was doing Crouching Cohen Curls. He then looked at the screen and immediately grabbed his 2lbs weights and joined in. He’s 5 and already has a love for Tony!

After Shoulders and Arms is usually Ab Ripper X….now I have done a full round of P90X and STILL struggle with some of the moves here. Part of my issue is my lower back and some is just my lack of core strength despite working out as long as I have. So, instead I have been opting for the Ab Ripper 200 from the Power 90 series which came before P9oX. I find that I get an amazing ab workout from it. I feel it in my abs as opposed to my thighs and lower back like I do with most of Ab Ripper X. I also REALLY like the 10 Min Trainer Ab workout. I love that there are a lot of plank style moves in it – keeps things fresh and new.

After doing both workouts I was still feeling good SO….I decided to do the 10 Min Trainer Yoga which has quickly become another favorite of mine. If you have never tried 10 Min Trainer I highly recommend it!

Tomorrow should be interesting. I had to go to work tonight after my workouts and stupidly had some coffee from Starbucks with my coworkers. Now it is 1:44am and I am wide awake! I have to be back at work in the morning. Maybe I should just do my workout now….hmmmmmmm.

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Day 2 Plyometrics….The Mother!

Tonight was Plyometrics night (Plyo)….also known as “The Mother” workout of P90X. Since I did the LEAN version of the program last time I never came face to face with this particular DVD. I had heard stories about it and my favorite nickname was “The Devils Dance”.  IF I had never been introduced to Shaun T and the INSANITY workout I would agree with that nickname, however I met a wilder beast first so Plyo’s bark was much worse than it’s bite! As a matter of fact many people say Insanity is Plyo on crack and they are right! After doing some of Insanity, Plyo seemed like it just had one too many cups of coffee – no where near the hit of speed Insanity dropped.

Overall I loved it! It is an amazing, solid workout that is gonna get your heart rate up, gonna push you to do your best and burn a ton of calories! As Tony says in it, “you can do anything for 30 seconds” and he is right. It’s all mind over matter! I was sweating like crazy and burned roughly 812 calories BUT what I loved the most was I could still function at the end of the 60 mins. I didn’t feel like I was going to die or lay in my own puddle of sweat for an hour tweeting. Yes, after my first encounter with Insanity Plyometric Circuit that’s what happened. No, it’s not a proud moment in my fitness journey BUT it happened…and I was able to laugh about it as I laid gasping for air.

Sooooo……Plyo rocks in my book! I think I was missing out by doing the LEAN version of P90X my first round! This could become one of my favorite workouts….maybe….I’ll have to do it again to know for sure.

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Round 2 of P90X…..and begin!

Well after my 1 week stint of Insanity, a week of stretching and yoga to recover from it and a 3-day Shakeology cleanse I am officially back in action! I have been reunited with Tony Horton and his P90X crew for Round 2!

Day 1 of Round 2 was Chest & Back followed by Ab Ripper X since I decided to do the “Classic” version this time around (I followed “Lean” last time which has more cardio training in it). I forgot how much I despise push-up’s and how bad I am at them. I don’t know if I will ever find a love for them or those dreaded “Dive Bombers” and “Diamonds”  but I did my best and forgot the rest!

This round of P90X Classic will give me a new workout that I have never done…….Plyometrics. Doing the Lean version which didn’t have Plyo is why I probably failed miserably at Insanity…..granted there is the whole herniated disc thing but…I might have been better prepared if I at least did Plyo once a week for 3 months. Especially since Insanity is basically Plyo on crack….or speed….or whatever upper you fancy.

I’m also really looking forward to this round because I also plan on subbing an Insanity workout in each week in place of CardioX . I love the CardioX workout BUT I would like to get my revenge on Insanity one day for making me cave the way I did. For those of you who don’t know me I rarely quit at anything….I don’t like to admit I can’t do something…it just pisses me off and makes me work harder to prove that I CAN do it!

With that, tomorrow….Day 2….will be my 1st Plyo session! I hung with Insanity for a week so I should be okay for an hour with Plyo….right?!

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Shakeology 3-Day Cleanse Results!

Well the torture cleanse is over and I survived it! I woke up this morning and couldn’t wait to get to my cup of coffee and I had been dreaming of a southwest style breakfast burrito! Before I could get to that I had business to attend to. I had to weigh in and take my measurements.

First on the agenda was the scale…..lost another 1.5 (darn that extra banana I had yesterday). for a total of 5.5 pounds lost in 3 days! Next were the measurements…I took 3 measurements before I started. One at the belly button, then 2 inches above and 2 inches below. I lost a little more than an inch off each which gave me a loss of 3.5 inches total over the course of 3 days.

Overall I am pretty impressed with the cleanse. Day 1 was an absolute killer and if you drink a lot of coffee everyday it is going to be VERY difficult. Day 2 was much easier but that could be because I was off from work. Day 3 was a breeze and it was a busy day for me. The energy jolt at bedtime was a bit of a killer though…I ended up being awake until after 1am but I woke up feeling great and I wasn’t hungry at all!

The not being hungry part this morning was great and crappy at the same time. It was great that my body seemed to have finally adjusted to the cleanse but it was crappy because I was now able to eat food and I wanted that burrito dammit!

When all is said and done the cleanse is something I would be able to do again if needed. I am hoping to move onto eating cleaner now but I am going to do it in baby steps. I’ve found that whenever I jump into things I just get frustrated and burn out. As I have over this year long  journey I will tweek things gradually until I form a habit. So far cutting back caffeine, sugar and carbs has been a major success, there is no reason why I can’t do clean eating as well!

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Day 3 – Shakeology 3-Day Cleanse

Today was my third and final day of the Shakeology cleanse. I woke up feeling good like yesterday and headed to the kitchen to get things started. I didn’t even look in the direction of the coffee maker, although I could feel it staring at me and watching my every move. I grabbed a glass of water and once again curiosity got the better of me so I went to go weigh myself. Low and behold I lost another 2lbs – wow! That makes 4lbs in 2 days GONE! NICE! I’m just hoping I didn’t lose any muscle during this. If I did Tony Horton will help me build it right back up when I start my second round of P90X on Monday……so stoked!

I went about my normal routine….getting kids on the bus, some Yoga, blended up my lunchtime Shakeology to have at work along with my morning one, brewed my green tea, grabbed some fruit and out the door I went. I’ll be honest I was nervous going into today. As I mentioned in yesterdays blog, Wednesday is my long day. I work at the doctors office, come home to cook for everyone then run off to decorate cakes up at Coldstone. I honestly didn’t think I would be able to make it through this day on this cleanse….I grabbed some extra fruit in case of fatigue and said a prayer.

Upon reaching work I saw I had some tweets….and realize people were dropping out….they couldn’t make another day. I had my out, and trust me I thought about saying FUCK IT and throwing in the towel, but I already did that on INSANITY so my thickheaded self dug her heels and I reminded myself that I CAN finish this day out!

Work went by pretty fast and I didn’t clock watch waiting for lunchtime to roll around like I did on Monday. My tweeps kept me busy during lunch and most of the afternoon and before I knew it my shift was over and I wasn’t miserable.

I ran through my normal routine at home which today included taking my daughter to Girl Scouts. I had my salad which was completely boring after eating the same thing for 3 consecutive days! All I could think about as I ate that boring old salad was the cup of  coffee I was going to have tomorrow and the breakfast I was planning on making! Yum, Yum Yum!!!!

I brought my final shake of the day with me to work at Coldstone, which by the way is like being in hell during a cleanse. I normally do not crave anything in there….UNLESS they are making coffee ice cream! If there is coffee ice cream being made fresh I have to have some with chocolate sprinkles! Mmmmmmmmm!!!!! Oh! I also have a thing for Sweet Cream with Reese Pieces….what?!?! Like you don’t have a weakness!

Thankfully for my sake there was no ice cream being made tonight but for some reason all I could think about was a waffle bowl with coffee ice cream and brownie mixed in with fudge and whipped cream….SIGH. I managed to eat none of the goodies that tempted me all night. I had my shakeology and a bottle of water….good Nikki!

To my surprise it is a little after 11pm and I am WIDE AWAKE! I can’t believe it. For two days I crashed or was ready for bed by 8pm, tonight I could conquer the world and probably still not be ready for bed. Go figure.

Tomorrow I plan on waking up, weighing in, taking my measurements and then losing myself in a big cup of coffee before coming back here and sharing my results!

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Day 2 – Shakeology 3-Day Cleanse

Well, today was my second day of the cleanse and I woke up feeling great! I thought I would have a headache, be starving and cranky (well crankier than usual when I first wake up as I am NOT a morning person) but I didn’t feel any of that. I even went into the kitchen and didn’t get bitchy that I couldn’t have any coffee……ok…..that’s not TOTALLY true but I wasn’t about to bite anyone’s head off like yesterday.

I probably wasn’t supposed to but I went and weighed myself this morning out of curiosity. To my shock I lost 2lbs! Yep…you heard me 2lbs in one day. I don’t know how good that is, as rule of thumb is to only lose 1-2lbs per week but it is a cleanse so I guess it’s ok….if not as soon as take my first sip of coffee on Thursday morning I will probably gain the 2lbs right back! THAT would be my luck! SIGH

I managed to go about my morning routine of getting the kids ready for school before even thinking about my tea. My first shake was yummy – possibly cheated by adding the peppermint extract again…..sssshhhh….don’t tell anyone, it can be our secret!

P90X Xstretch was the morning routine of choice as I am still trying to recover from my week of Insanity….I know, I need to blog about that too and I will soon. I also did a round of the fitness trail with my bestest neighbor. I was VERY surprised I had the energy to do all of this and wasn’t hungry at all. Oh! I had a banana before hitting the trail too.

Lunch was around 1pm and it was the same as breakfast. I wasn’t really hungry but I had my time schedule to stick too so I chugged it back and moved along with the day. Snack today was my second cup of iced green tea and grapes….I know….you’re totally jealous of this menu!

Dinner was my gigantic salad with grilled chicken. It was yummy….not quite as yummy as yesterday but still….it was better than another shake. It was nice to need a fork again! About 3/4 of the way through I actually felt too full to continue which truly surprised me, I mean it’s a salad AND it’s the ONLY food I get to eat and I couldn’t finish it….something is wrong with me!

A little while ago I had my dessert……yep…..you guessed it (insert sarcasm)….another Shakeology shake! Woohoo!

By this point I am no longer amused and cleaning the blender 3 times a day  is  just getting to be annoying. I am also crashing despite the nutrient packed shake. I feel mentally alert since drinking it but physically I am drained and just want to lay in bed.

Tomorrow will be my final day of this torture cleanse and it will be THE hardest day for me. Wednesday is my long day. I work at the office in the morning, come home, prepare dinner, then race off to do some cake decorating up at the store. How I’m going to survive such a long day on so few calories is beyond me….my game plan is to not dwell on it and go with the flow. Worst case I will have an extra fruit during the course of the day. Like that will really help! *rolls eyes.

With that I am tired and LOST is finally at the DVR’d point where I can watch it with no commercials. Hopefully I will survive tomorrow and be back to blog about it….if not….well…..hope you enjoyed Day 1 and 2!

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Day 1 – Shakeology 3-Day Cleanse

Today (April 12, 2010) was the first day of my 3 day cleanse and it was tougher than I thought it would be. My day started out like it normally does, until I reached the kitchen and realized I would be drinking green tea instead of my usual cup of glorious coffee. It was fresh brewed coffee, all hot and wonderful smelling for the other people in this house….for me a box of green tea waited to be brewed….sigh.

I drank my plain green tea which really wasn’t so bad and proceeded to do my yoga before having my first Shakeology of the day. So far, so good….off to work, life was good.

Once I reached my desk at work things started going downhill. There was coffee brewing (which is something that normally doesn’t happen there) and the smell was taunting me. I also seemed more aware of all of the goodies that were just lying around waiting to be eaten – there were crackers, jelly beans, gummie worms, chocolate, cupcakes….all the pitfalls that seem to come with working in an office. I managed to ignore them all as I walked to the fridge to get my grapes and a cup of water. Yum! *grumbles

However at this point I started watching the clock….lunchtime couldn’t arrive soon enough. I was hungry…no….I was starving! I NEEDED my next shake and I needed it NOW! People around me were eating and starting to heat up their lunch and it smelled so good. I however had a shaker cup of Shakeology and some green tea….double sigh.

As the work day chugged on I began to run out of steam. How could this be happening…how could I NOT have energy when drinking more than one Shakeology shake?! They are packed with nutrients and vitamins! I chalked it up to the fact that I was doing INSANITY (I dropped out…whole different blog that I will one day type out) and my body was reacting to the huge change in calorie consumption. It still didn’t make me feel any better, I had no energy, I was getting shaky and I was not a happy camper. I wanted a NAP!!!!

Fast forward to dinner…..30 torturous minutes grilling my chicken for my larger than life salad and I was now happy! I had FOOD!!! I wasn’t sipping through a straw, I needed a fork dammit! It smelled amazing, it tasted amazing and I savored every bite of it….YUM! Dessert was my third and final shake which I added some peppermint extract to (it may be a no-no…I don’t know and to be honest could an 1/8th of a tsp really matter that much?!)  I was now ready for bed at 8pm…sad huh?!

As I lay in bed totally exhausted and once again questioning my choices over the past week I realized something…..this was all in my head. I am so used to walking through the kitchen and grabbing a snack (healthy of course although I am human and have kids so the occasional cookie does happen) and trying to consume massive amounts of calories to keep up with my workouts that I thought I needed to feel miserable doing this.

I’m hoping that with tomorrow being my day off from work and with my new mind set it will be easier to make it through. I have my chicken and salad all prepped. My fruit waiting to be eaten and my blender all clean and ready to be used repeatedly!

Good night!

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Welcome to my fitness journey!

My name is Nicole Hynes …but you can call me Nikki….and this is my story.

I began my fitness journey in May 2009. I was unhappy and overweight (as I had been for most of my life) and I knew I had to do something about it…I was tipping the scale at 211 pounds and I’m 5’9″.

A friend of mine started a journey of their own with some program I had never heard of…..P90X.  I found myself inspired by them and wanting to do something to better myself so I began to tweak my nutrition and added some yoga to my daily routine. Soon after starting I began to feel good and added some daily cardio. In my first few weeks I lost 10lbs and I felt something click within me….I could do this…..I WOULD do this!

Another friend of mine was also looking to lose weight so we decided to challenge each other. We were going on vacation in a few weeks and both wanted to lose something before having to put on the dreaded swim suit in the Orlando, FL heat! I began to work harder, adding longer cardio sessions and working even harder at my nutrition. By the time we left for vacation I was happy with my achievements and managed to stay focused our whole vacation. I even lost weight while in Disney on their meal plan which is nothing but rich, not diet friendly food!

By September I had lost 30 pounds. I was up late one night when a P90X infomercial came on. I thought back to my friend who was following the program and having amazing results. I was curious but scared at the same time. I had never worked out like that….I mean I had a gym membership at one point or another in my life but I would do the treadmill, bike, some weight machines but nothing like what Tony Horton challenged you to do. I of course didn’t order it, but it was stuck in my head. The next day while at a friends house I mentioned it and low and behold, her husband used to use the program. They offered it to me to borrow and try so off I ran to Target to get some bands, weights and I luckily already had the yoga mat!

Day 1: I decided to follow the lean version of the program so Core Synergistics kicked my butt and I was left sweaty, gasping for breath and wondering WTF I was doing! I could barely do a push up and Superman/Banana was almost the death of me…..but I LOVED it…..I wanted more….I NEEDED to conquer this.

I chugged along through the first 30 days of the program….I wanted to puke during most of the Ab Ripper X sessions, I was sore, I was tired of eating constantly, I missed my carbs, I was sick of seeing the scale move up instead of down and I began questioning things. I don’t know if the universe stepped in or what but I managed to re-injure two herniated discs I have in my back right around the 30 day mark. I was totally laid up and couldn’t move…..so P90X was put on hold.

Things didn’t improve with my back until January and by then I was itching to restart P90X. This time I did things right. I read up on nutrition, I ask questions about protein and supplements, I took my measurements and photos (unfortunately I lost the XD card that had them….lol) and I decided after week 2 to toss the scale out of the closest window.

Around this time I also start Tweeting and managed to find the most AMAZING bunch of people. They were all supportive, patient and full of information. With their help, and my thick headedness I stuck with it and never missed a workout. Well…I missed a few but always pulled doubles to make up for it.

Day 30 came up fast and I was surprised to see my measurements had changed and my clothes were getting big. I had lost 2″ off my waist and I was grateful I took measurements cause the scale was not kind…..but muscle weighs more than fat so I moved on. (no 30 day pics since they were on missing xd card)

Day 60: Another 2″inches lost from my weight and I got the scale to move in my favor! I was ridiculously happy and committed more than before!

I am now in my final week of P90X and I have become an Independent Beachbody Coach! I have also taken the Insanity fit test and after doing a full workout I have decided I need to ease into it so a P90X/Insanity hybrid is in store for my next round!

I will post my P90X numbers soon and I will continue to blog about my next adventure with the Hybrid!

Thanks for reading,

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Before 211+pounds                         Day 60 – 163 pounds

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