P90X3: Block One Results

It's a little hard to believe block 1 is already over and 4 weeks have flown by. My results aren't quite what I was hoping for, but I met one of the goals I established for myself (4 pound overall weight loss) and am not sure why I didn't hit the other (2 inches lost from waist) as I feel like I had some good overall inches lost. To be fair, these weren't overly ambitious goals, but I needed something I knew I would hit so I could start this off with a success. Block 2 and 3 are much more aggressive in terms of goals for me. 

Results 

Total weight loss: 4 pounds

Total inches lost:

	Block 1 Change
Arms	-.25(R) / 0(L) inches
Chest	-1 inches
Waist	-1.5 inches
Hip	-.75 inches
Thighs	0 inches
Calves	-1(R) / -1.25(L) inches
Total change	-5.75 inches

Lessons learned

Diet is important. I was so, so good with my diet during the week, but then the weekend would arrive and with it came lots of alcohol and overindulgence. I feel like I lost and gained the same 4 pounds over the past four weeks. I'm disappointed in me and know that this weekly battle with the weekend is part of the reason I've not only gained weight, but also failed at losing it. I recently saw a great post from a gal I blog stalk who had amazing results with the Whole30. I don't think I'm there yet, but there is certainly A LOT more I can do around diet to help with my P90X3 journey. Who knows, maybe in 90 days I'll be ready for some massive food changes.

Even without substantial weight loss, I saw changes. So I only lost 4 pounds, but I saw a lot of change in my body even without the discipline I should have had on diet. I saw my stomach shrink, arms slim down, thighs start to take shape and collar bones appear. It's these changes that motivate me everyday to complete my workout (and they should be motivation enough to follow a stricter diet).

It feels good to be working toward something. There are definitely days I have to drag myself to do a workout, but I always, always feel good once I'm done. It feels SO good to look forward to the changes I hope come from finishing my 90-days. This feeling, more than anything, is what I need to hold on to when I'm desperately craving green curry and a bottle glass of wine.

It really is a journey. And, yes, I felt cheesy typing that. There's no quick-fix for losing weight and getting in shape. Part of the reason I'm not ready to fully embrace something like the Whole30 is because I know it's not a sustainable change for me. I live to eat and I need to figure out a good, healthy balance of discipline and enjoyment. This isn't something I can change in its entirety today, but it's something I need to work toward every single day.

What's next? My focus areas for block 2 are to really focus on my diet and to amp up additional cardio outside of the program (walking/hiking with Evan). I also have a week-long business trip to Croatia smack in the middle of block 2, so I need to focus on not blowing my diet and finding ways to work exercise into what promises to be a very, very busy week.

Grow little plants, grow!

Two posts in one day? Gasp!! 

I'm on vacation today (awesomeness), so I get to actually spend some time out in our yard. I'm happy to say that it's coming along slowly but surely. Watching our little baby plants grow has certainly been an effort in patience, which we know I'm short on.

Our landscaper was over yesterday to talk about putting the rest of the landscaping in. He said that everything is coming in great with the exception of a couple plants on the east side of our front lawn that we're going to just sit back and see if they bloom. If not, we'll figure something else out.

We also decided, with his advice, to move our purple ash in the front yard this fall once it goes dormant. When we moved in and had our landscaping installed we didn't have any neighbors, and we didn't know they'd end up staggering the houses (and we're glad they did). So our neighbors house sits closer to the curb than ours. As it turns out, our tree, once it starts growing, will end up messing with their gutters and that's not very neighborly of us to mess with their house. So we're keeping our fingers crossed we can successfully move it to the berm by our sidewalk and move the globe spruce that currently lives there to where the tree currently is.

We also decided to put some boxwood in the front of our house and move our moon shadow euonymus in front of it to create more "heft" in front of our office window.

But getting back to current state. It's been exciting and rewarding watching the yard come in and even though everything is still small and vulnerable, it's wonderful to see green in the backyard. Hopefully by the end of the summer, our neighbors will get their landscaping completed and it will transform our little land of dirt and hay.

While we're still waiting for everything to fully bloom, here's some photos of our yard slowly taking shape.

Looking out onto the yard from our patio

One of our lilacs -- can't wait until these babies produce bigger blooms 

One of our ivory halo dogwood bushes

One of our forsythia bushes. We got to see a little yellow in early spring this year, but it quickly changed to green. 

Our knockout rose bushes and butterfly bush have grown so well in this back corner. It's by far where the most growth has happened this spring.

P90X3: Week One Review

I have to confess, I actually did week 1 twice. The first time I completed it, I wasn't able to start week 2 because of business travel, so when I got home I decided to start week 1 over again so I wouldn't miss the benefit of any initial progress.

In terms of working out, week 1 went well. My favorite workouts are definitely The Challenge and Yoga (no shock there). I could do without The Warrior (thank God I only have to do it 3 times during the program). Evan and I have also been taking walks around the neighborhood each night to spend time together and throw in a little more cardio. My muscles were definitely sore, but in that oh-so-good post-workout way.

As far as diet, I don't think I mentioned that I'm following Weight Watchers vs. P90X3's nutrition guide. In the past, Weight Watchers has worked for me and I don't think I can cut wine Thai food out of my diet and still survive. So Weight Watchers it is. I did ok on diet. I stayed on or under my points each day and increased my water intake (and subsequent trips to the restroom). 

Weight loss was ok. In some ways it was better than anticipated and in others a big disappointment -- don't we always want to drop 10 pounds the first week of working out? I lost 4.8 pounds, which I attribute largely to water weight. I know that when starting a new workout program your body likes to do all sorts of funky stuff, so I'm hoping the losing trend continues. Outside of weight loss, I feel really energized (despite some long hours and very early mornings at work) and motivated. On to week 2!

A new journey

Oh man, it’s been a while. April was quite the crazy month. I had two trips for work and have been packing in the hours in the office when I’m not traveling. It hasn’t left a lot of time to work on much with the house, but I did get my dream pendant light for our office for my birthday (thanks, Dad!) and the yard is starting to come in with only minor issues. But those are more posts for another day. 

Here to Home started out as a blog for me to share our journey in building our new house and then turning it into a home … and it still is. But if it’s really about the “journey,” there are other things I want to talk about and share, even if I’m just posting to me. 

If I step back in time to about 16 months ago, Evan and I were packing up our old house and getting ready to sell. Stupidly, we packed up everything that was cluttering our house, which meant all (and I mean all) of our pots and pans got packed up. Looking back, I think we thought the selling process would be much quicker, and it was … once our house got on the market. Not having anything to cook with started a downward spiral on a super unhealthy path that, if I’m being honest, still continues today.

I’ve easily gained 20 pounds … yep 20 pounds in just over a year. That’s pretty much the equivalent of my best friend’s two-year-old. I KNOW I’ve gained weight and I hate how I look, but I haven’t proactively done anything to change it. 

That stops today and this journey of getting healthy is something else I’d like to share on Here to Home. This week, I started P90X3 and am committed to eating healthy. It’s my hope that by posting this publically, I’ll hold myself accountable to meeting my goals, which are: getting back in shape, losing weight and feeling better about myself. 

I hope you’ll join me on this journey whether it’s providing encouragement, holding me accountable or using my journey as motivation for your own. Wish me luck.