From Yummy Desserts to PAIN!

That's pain P90X style. I'm on day three of the P90X plan, not only doing workouts that are totally kicking my butt, but I'm also following a modified version of their nutrition plan.

Here are my nutrition rules:

No soda
I've always had trouble drinking most of my calories in a day. Cut that out and you cut out a significant portion of my caloric intake.

Drink Lots of Water

This is especially helpful for following my first rule. If I'm drinking water then I'm not drinking soda. Also, a glass of water helps to fill you up before meals so you end up eating smaller portions.

5 Meals/Snacks a Day

I'm still not doing great about eating good breakfasts in the morning, but planning my lunches and snacks helps me from hitting the vending machine at 2:00 in the afternoon.

No Corn Syrup

"You know what they say about it?"

"Like what? That it's made from corn, doesn't have artificial ingredients and is fine in moderation?"

...

No, more like:

• It's linked to diabetes and obesity
• Almost half of commercially tested HFCS contains mercury
• HFCS has no nutritional value

High Protein/Low Carb

Now, I'm not trying to avoid carbohydrates all-together, but I'm trying to make sure that the bulk of my caloric intake is in protein.

The results so far:

Well, I'm on day 3 of P90X, so I don't think that I can credit the work outs with anything but the pain that I feel in my arms and legs. However, I started trying to eat healthy and avoid soda about 2 weeks ago. In that time frame my body weight has dropped from a high of 167 to my current weight of 154, and I don't really have a whole lot of weight to lose. I do crave carbs a lot more than I expected, but I find that my energy level has really increased. I don't find myself wearing down at 2:00 in the afternoon anymore, and I'm not tired all of the time like I used to be (something I'm sure Rachel really appreciates.)

As for the workouts, I'm loving them! They absolutely kick my butt, but I feel accomplished afterwards. Tony Horton has an excellent way of motivating you to "Try your best and forget the rest." Throughout the videos he repeats that you probably won't be able to keep up with him just yet, but that's okay. I'm really, the type of person to beat myself up for not being able to work through an entire set of reps on an exercise, but he's done a great job to remove that roadblock and keep me focused on looking forward towards improvement.

I encourage everyone to make the commitment to eat healthier and start a serious exercise program. Like many of you I've never been unhealthy, but I can certainly stand to be healthier.