Got a little sidetracked there.....

Hello folks! Sorry we have been so sparse lately. We were on a 2 week trip to the east coast to visit our families in NYC and Boston. And WHAT A TRIP IT WAS!!!
We tried really hard to plan out our vacation so that our workouts and eating did not get neglected and I would say for the most part we did a damn good job, and both of us made significant progress while we were home which was something neither of us were expecting!!!! I can't write everything that happened while we were there, but I will give you some of the highlights and things we did to prepare!


BE PREPARED:

-We loaded all of the p90x workouts onto our laptops so we could watch them no matter where we were.

-We invested in a good set of exercise bands so we wouldn't need to rely on a gym to workout.

-We scheduled our workouts out on a calendar, so we wouldn't lose track of what we were supposed to be doing.

-We had our families buy the food we have been eating so we wouldn't be forced into eating things we didn't want to, and explained to them beforehand that we were on a fairly strict regimen so they wouldn't be disappointed or surprised.

-We packed jars of our favorite protein powders.

Bands from hell.

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED:

-I (dani) forgot my sneakers in Portland....DUH!!! I ended up having to buy new ones, but Giacomo and I both wanted Vibrams anyway so we made the investment, which is awesome, but you can only do some much with them before you're really used to them.

-That said, trying to do full workouts with my new shoes, led to me injuring my hip, kind of seriously, to the point that I was limping while I was just walking.....not good. So for the "rest" week, I literally, just rested, stretched and walked. No jumping around for me.

- Our good exercise bands, turned out to be not so great. I got smacked right in the face with the two heaviest bands (equaling approx 70 lbs) while trying to do wide pulldowns on a door. This led to me crying, thinking I had two black eyes, and icing my face for a half an hour to discover that I had a HUGE welt in an upside down "V" that crossed right across my face and nose....2 days before the wedding. Ohmygod I was so upset....luckily it went away before the wedding but what the hell!!! I felt like Marsha Brady in that football episode....

- Then, for the next workout that required bands, one of them just straight snapped in half.....seriously. So the bands were out from here on in.

-By the time we got to Boston, our second destination, I was drinking caffeine daily, something I havent done in about 6 months. I think that the caffeine made me lose my appetite quite a bit, because I ate like a bird. Seriously, one day I think I ate like 1000 calories and I had to force that down. Overall, I'd prefer this to the opposite, which is just scarfing down food as I see it, and what usually happens when I go home. Giacomo did a beautiful job sticking to his diet. I was very proud of him. :-)

Vibram FiveFinger Sprints!!!

PLEASANT SURPRISES:
-Because I had no car to get around my hometown in Massachusetts (Giacomo had flown back to Portland by then), I had to do a lot of walking to get around, so even though I felt like I was slacking on my exercise because of my injured hip, I still got in my favorite form of exercise--WALKING!

-I went out dancing twice!!! This, I should mention, did not help my hip at all. In fact I am certain that it exacerbated the situation, but it was so fun! And, hey, exercise. WOO!

-I was kind of taken aback by how many people commented on how fit I looked. I wasn't expecting that at all. In fact most people who were commenting on my weight ( I heard the term "skinny bitch" said more than once....gotta love old friends) didn't believe me at all when I told them I weigh 140 lbs. I told them it's because I'm strong as hell. They mostly laughed...It's ok....joke's on them ;-)






Tomorrow Giacomo and I start Phase 3 of p90x, and I am psyched. I am also way excited to take progress photos tomorrow becase I just put on a bathing suit that I haven't been able to wear in 3 years, and I must say, I'm looking damn good ;-) No Giacomo 6 pack yet, but hey, I'm proud of myself!

Dani, Doubles, and Dieting!

Day 0 vs. Day 30
Would you believe there is not a single pound lost between these two photos?!


So I have been neglecting this blog a little bit, and for that I am sorry. The reason is, I got DAMN frustrated about a week and a half ago! 2 1/2 weeks of dieting hard, and training harder, and I hadn't lost a single pound. Not. One. Pound. I didn't think I had set a very lofty goal to lose 12 pounds in 13 weeks, but apparently, my body disagrees. I mean, I am a personal trainer. This is what I do for people! Help them reach their goals. So why was I so stuck with reaching my own?

There were a couple things I believe to be the reason:

1. Diet. Man, I'm just going to say it. That p90x diet sucks. I see what they're doing, and I think it's a valiant attempt at universalizing a basic "cutting" diet so that anyone can figure it out, but I don't think it is a one-size-fits-all kind of deal. The problem for me personally is that this diet has very very very few carbs, but theyre all in one serving, so for one meal of the day, I feel bloated and heavy and uncomfortable, and the rest of the day I am starved. The other thing is that they push so many of their products into the diet (i.e bars, recovery drink, shakeology etc) that don't line up with the food groups they are otherwise telling you to eat....it's kind of confusing. And overall, I found it to be too low of a calorie diet.

2. I've been getting stronger. With few exceptions, you can't get stronger without gaining muscle. So I've been GAINING muscle, which means I must be losing fat in order for the scales to stay the same. To say how much or how little is too hard, but it explains the scale not moving.


Now the scale is not my number one concern, my bodyfat percentage is, so overall, I have moved closer to my goal. Huzzah! But I still have a ways to go, and here's how I am going to do it:

I can't keep doing the p90x diet. Although it is working really well for giacomo, it was making me really uncomfortable, and leaving me with no energy to workout. I know what works for me, I've done this before. So I have changed my diet to roughly a 40/30/30 diet (carbs/fat/protein) and it is at roughly 1600 calories. All of this is divided up into 3 meals and 2 snacks, and every meal has a little carbs, protein, and fat. The fat, overall, is a little bit higher than it is when I'm not dieting, but fat allows me to feel more satiated (think PB&J Smoothie...mmmm) and makes it feel like I'm less hungry in between meals. My last meal of the day is just veggies and protein, and if I'm really hungry later in the evening, I have a piece of fruit. Oh and I'm drinking a ton of water. I record everything I eat religiously into the Sparkpeople App on my iphone, but they also have a website that is even more awesome, but less portable ;-)

The other thing that I am doing differently is that I have decided to do p90x doubles instead of p90x classic. This means that on lifting days, I am doing TWO workouts--lifting and also doing the CardioX workout, which I actually really like. The biggest pain so far has just been the amount of time it takes since cardio is in the am and lifting is in the pm. I feel like I live in sweaty gym clothes on those days, but I can feel my cardiovascular capacity increasing which is a HUGE deal to me! But I am constantly sore ;-)


Giacomo and I are flying to NY next week and we'll be visiting his family in Brooklyn, and then going to Massachusetts to visit my family for a total of 14 days (I think), so traveling and keeping this up is going to be damn tricky. We did buy a good set of fitness bands on ebay, and we're both looking into getting passes to our old gyms, but we likely won't have the best transportation, or the ability to do laundry and will have to rely on the food we are served more than we'd like to, AHHHHH!


So, we have to go into this with a plan! And that we will!