Confessions of a Tea-Addicted Geek

Something I know from past experience: “sneaky lunges” mean sneaky muscle soreness anywhere from 12-24 hours later. You better believe I was tackling the VegaSport recovery accelerator later. I never feel the Legs and Back workout in my calves but oh yes, do I feel it later in my glutes.

I LIKE this workout, both in terms of its exercises and the results I get. If I pair this up later with Brazil Butt Lift, there’s absolutely nothing stopping me. Seriously.

A bit more processed food today than I’d like, more starches too. Had a company lunch meeting and had two small very thin crusted veggie pizzas with no cheese plus my veggie burgers. So not TOO bad but I’ve been in the habit of avoiding bread, pasta, and rice and will continue to do so. Sugars I eat in extreme moderation too.

My father is in town so I skipped ARX (Ab Ripper X) that eve and plan to tack it on either after my Kenpo X workout on Day 6 or for my rest day on Day 7. Rest days are for either yoga and/or stretching, that’s my humble opinion.

Anything new to report? Well, I’m nearly done with week 1 of P90X. Don’t start cheering until I start clearing the 30, 60, and 90 day marks, however.

Bring it!

“Do your best, and forget the rest.” -Tony Horton

I absolutely love that phrase, probably my fav of all of the Beachbody trainer catchphrases. Another one I find myself repeating as a reminder to me as I work out (especially during stretches!) is “It’s not about pushing, it’s about allowing.” Thanks to Leandro Carvalho for that one!

Last night was Yoga X. Thankfully I love Yoga X! I know others feel differently, probably because it’s an intense 1.5 hours of yoga and if they’re not used to yoga, it’ll suck. I’m VERY used to yoga, been doing it on and off again for years, so much of the flow comes a bit more naturally to me than a beginner. The one thing I stumble on and just ignore is the extra plank after the upward-facing dog into down dog. Why? I’m not used to it. I’m far more used to the classic sun salutation moves: plank, yoga pushup, upward facing dog, then down dog. Nothing too complicated there.

My triumph of the night was being able to be in crane for even a millisecond! I can’t recall the last time I could do that. I also can do a full bridge, something which I could never do prior to joining Beachbody.

What workout do I hate the most in Yoga X so far? The last balance pose. I can do tree, royal dancer no prob.

Food intake, I declared yesterday protein day and took in quite a bit. I just had a craving! Nothing too fancy, and nothing I’d do all of the time. I really feel much better when I’m taking in a nice balance of raw and cooked foods.

Side note: VegaSport recovery accelerator kicks ass. Seriously. I went from uber-sore to not feeling any pain the following day. Thank you Sequel Naturals!!

Day 5 is Legs and Back, and I gotta somehow fit it in while my father is in town. No skipping workouts! I’m staying in this.

“Tip of the day: don’t smash your face.” -Tony Horton

Sound advice.

Today was Shoulders and Back, plus Ab Ripper X. Ab Ripper X is getting a tiny bit easier. Just a tiny bit. I made it through ALL of the mason twists including the bonus ones, which is where I was at the last time I did a round of P90X. Go me! I am STILL sore from Monday’s workout, but I know how it goes–it never goes away unless you keep working out. I had some VegaSport recovery accelerator afterward, will see how that affects me.

I’m taking in a bit more calories than usual, which tends to make me nervous. I’m doing my best to make them quality calories, however. So far it’s mostly protein with some veggies, think I’m averaging about 100g of protein per day at least. I’m okay with this. I’m up a few pounds but also down inches. It makes no sense, but it’s about on par for starting a new workout program so I’m not going to sweat it–no pun intended.

Had another VegaSport chocolate saviseed bar, feels like I’m cheating. They taste WAY too good to be a protein bar or anything vaguely healthy.

Tomorrow is Yoga X, which I love. If I find myself running out of time I’ll replace it with Fountain of Youth yoga, which is a seriously good Tony Horton yoga that’s half the time of Yoga X.

Plyometric today, and did I mention I’m still sore from yesterday? Shoulders, upper arms, abs, back…wow. Wow. And Plyometric…yes, I did fine for the first 30 min. Then I began to feel the burn! I had to push pause a few times, but still made it through the entire hour. I am PROUD!

Fav exercises in the workout: lateral frogjumps, anything involving squats.
Least fav exercises in the workout: the jump knees and the hot foot.

I figure I will provide updates of photos and measurements every 30 days. Then people can see how I’m progressing. I don’t see the need to constantly post about weight, inches, bleh. That goes up and down depending on muscle soreness, water retention, so not going to sweat it–no pun intended. Just going to drink a LOT of water and green tea, and do my best to eat clean. That’s all I can do!

As far as food is concerned, I noticed today I was hungrier than usual. Breakfast same as yesterday, I had a salad with my veggie burgers at lunch, tried one of the VegaSport chocolate saviseed bars today. BEST PROTEIN BAR EVER. It tastes like a 3 Musketeer bar only better. Got it 15% off at VeganProteins.com, coupon code VS15OFF, get them while they last!! Sale ends Oct 18th and I’ll probably buy another package of these bars before then. I am in absolute awe over how good they taste. Seriously. Anyhow, dinner was miracle noodles, some Teese nacho cheese, and chicken-less strips from Trader Joe’s.

I’ve been trying to continue to avoid bread, pasta, and rice. I do get some protein from rice protein, but I don’t see too much worry about that. Goal is healthy carbs, or as healthy as I can manage. Being vegan I’ll naturally take in a bit more carbs than the average meat eater, and I’m okay with that. I do need them in these workouts, holy cow.

Also got VegaSport recovery formula, arrived RIGHT on time. You better believe I’ll be chugging that stuff right after tomorrow’s workout, especially if I’m still sore–which I bet I’ll be!

Just got through Chest and Back, and Ab Ripper X. The last time I did this, I was at 20 lbs for the lawnmower exercise and 15 lbs for the heavy pants one. Now I’m at 15 for the lawnmower and 12 for the heavy pants. Good news though, for the classic push-ups I did three on my toes before doing another twelve on my knees–that’s not bad! I never could do pushups on my toes. So I’m a bit stronger in some areas but need to get back to where I was in others.

Tony Horton’s style is a lot of fun. He doesn’t take himself too seriously and he has a goofy sense of humor. Some people love this, some hate it–I’m one of those who loves it. If you can smile and laugh during a workout, it takes the edge off. Trust me.

Later on in the day I walked a total of 8.85 miles, almost 7 of which were done with a few friends on a beautiful bike trail near my home. Today was definitely very active!

I’ve also decided I’m going to record on occasion my meals, measurements, etc. Again, keeping it real and keeping track of my progress. I just don’t want this to turn into a food blog, although as a vegan engaging in an intense fitness program it’s almost inevitable.

So, here’s what I had today:

Breakfast: 2 scoops chocolate flavored Vega Whole Meal Optimizer, 1 TB melted coconut oil, 1 cup of strawberries, 2 ice cubes, 1 cup lite chocolate soy milk in a blender. Verdict: EXTREMELY TASTY. Also very filling.

Lunch: 1 Gardein Ultimate Beefless Burger with spicy brown mustard

Snack: 1 raw protein bar which I made from Vega vanilla flavored protein, almond butter, slivered almonds, dried cranberries, carob chips, dried goji berries, cacao powder, chia seed, and ground flaxseed. I mixed the protein powder with some water to make a paste. Since the powder is green colored, it looked well…interesting. I will be telling people to close their eyes and pretend it’s St Patrick’s Day, because the result was a very decadent tasting vanilla/chocolate piece of goodness. Glad I have plenty of them!

Dinner: I am in desperate need of food shopping, but found some interesting veg burgers made with almond and soy, so I had two of those with avocado and melted Daiya cheddar cheese.

Snack: two cups of green tea

I also drank about 12+ cups of water, easily.

Looking at this log I need to add more raw veggies, clearly. I have some very tasty kale that could use some roastin’ and lovin’, think it’ll be part of my dinner tomorrow. I also have a juicer and some leftover celery-apple-ginger juice with vanilla Vega protein in the fridge, and it is rather tasty.