Did Anyone See Biggest Loser?

Claire here - So I just finished watching The Biggest Loser tonight. Did you guys see it? I won't say anything in case you didn't - but, oh my! If you didn't TIVO it, watch it on NBC.com. I have never seen the show before, but am watching it this season to keep me pumped up to do my P90! These people are working way harder than I am.

I successfully finished my 1st week! When I say "successfully" I mean I did my workouts everyday and did great on making good food choices all week. One of my biggest changes has probably been to not snack in the evenings. I think that will make a big difference for me. The first week of workouts went pretty well. I actually feel more comfortable doing the weight training than the cardio, which is funny to me since I am in fairly decent cardio shape. Its totally different than running, though! I am not getting through the cardio workout at Tony's pace. When I can do the whole thing comfortably with him, I will move on to 3/4. I hope that happens in the next 3 weeks. We will see.

I am not going to weigh myself or do any measurements until our day 30 when they recommend doing it. I don't want to set myself up to be disappointed, and I want to give this a few weeks to kick in. Hopefully I will see some difference!

Feeling Discouraged

Alexandra-Yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine and she joined Weight Watchers on Saturday and has already lost 4 pounds! I have successfully gained 1 Pound my first week. That is not the direction I was hoping to go. My husband was telling me to not worry about it and eventually I will see the great results because I am working my muscles as well as changing my diet. I am really sticking to the program dead on to what they recommend. I am curious to see how long it will take to see results I like. I know logically that if you eat healthy and exercise for 90 days you will get great results...but I like immediate satisfaction. This is going to be such good training in so many areas in my life like discipline and patience! 2 things I lack! For anyone who cant see results right away...me either...I dont like it....but i didnt get this way over night ! Hang in there(I am saying this to myself and to others)!

Snap, Crackle, Pop!

Lori: That's the sounds my body was making this morning. So, I introduced P90 to my sisters earlier this year. Told them Tyler (my husband) and I were going to do it together. It lasted about six weeks before one, then both of us caught whatever virus the kids had, and quit. I started again this summer, this time it lasted only four weeks. I'm hoping the accountability my sisters will provide is the motivation I need to stick with it this time! Nothing like good ol' sibling rivalry! So far, I feel really good. As much as I hate to admit it, eating healthy feels really good. It's killing me, because I really would rather run out and grab Taco Bell--any time, breakfast, lunch or dinner...fourth meal anyone? I am a junk food addict, and I think the eating part of this transformation will be the hardest for me. I am incredibly lucky--and grateful, that I am not as big as a house, with the food I have chosen to eat since I was 18, but I have noticed not so subtle changes in my body over the last few years, and I don't like it. I am also concerned for my kids. Even though I don't allow them to eat whatever they want, whenever they want, I am constantly getting requests for candy, soda, chips, etc. I have to model healthy eating, and an active lifestyle for them, and teach them that it is a choice, and why that choice is so important. In addition to all that, I really want to look good in a bikini again. That's it! :)

Claire - So let me tell you about the first workout. I watched both the "Sweat" and "Sculpt" video on Sunday p.m. before I dove into the workouts on Monday. I thought they looked relatively easy. I told Jim I would do the 1/2 workouts the first week just to get used to the moves, but then I would probably move up to the 3/4 for the rest of the 90 days. I was watching it and Tony Horton kept saying "this is our pace - you find yours." I'm thinking the pace looks pretty slow and feeling a little sad for the people who won't be able to keep up with that pace. So I get up Monday a.m. ready to go. The whole Sweat sequence takes about 35-40 minutes. I get started with the warm-up, and after the 1st 4 minutes of power yoga I am about ready to cry. The cardio part starts with simple knee raises and arms going up and down. After about 30 seconds of that, I could barely get my knees up and could hardly get my hands above my head. The whole rest of the workout, I was needing to push the pause button just to be able to catch up to Tony! Needless to say, I was quite humbled. The Sculpt was not quite so bad, but I am not looking forward to the pushups tomorrow morning! Now I am hoping I get good at the 1/2 in 30 days! We shall see.

Alexandra- so today is the 3rd day into p90 and I am sore! I am amazed at what the contestants of Biggest Loser can pull off in just 2 weeks...how do they keep moving? So now that I am able to incorporate carbs I am feeling so much better! Today was a little harder to motivate myself because i am sore! But I did it and feel so much better! Glad I pushed today...and look forward to tomorrow!

Alexandra-I am introducing myself to you all and sharing my journey. I am not a writer...so bear with me! I decided to do p90 because of my sisters. I am the "chubby" sister. You will see in future pictures that we couldnt possibly be related because we look nothing alike. But we do have the same genes and very different bodies. I have to be honest that I dont really care that much that I am "fuller figured" or "bigger boned" however...I have been feeling really convicted over the last couple of months to really be a good steward of my body. I have been working on so many things over the last couple years to be emotionally happy...but I am realizing it is just as important to align your body with your spirit and mind in order to be whole. This is really a spiritual battle for me. God is teaching me that I live to eat, not eat to live. I have struggled all my life with how food affects me. Every time I eat it hurts or is very uncomfortable. I have learned that I have food allergies...dairy being one of them...and slowly learning what I can and cant eat. This has already presented a challenge for me in the diet. But it is not an excuse...just another challenge to overcome.
My goals for this program are:
-a bonding experience for me and my sisters
-an opprotunity to honor God with my body
-to change my mind set about food and learn to eat to live, not live to eat
-my stomache not to hurt anymore
-90% of seratonin comes from the gut...so I am hoping to feed my brain with seratonin with the balance of exercise and diet
-and to look freaking hot!!!! for me and my husband!

To all of you who might be wondering if this would work for you? I dont know yet..but I do know I am soar...a little stronger...and happier today...thats not all bad!

Introduction

I can't believe I'm doing a blog. My sisters and I are doing this together, though, so here we go! We are starting this blog to chronicle our journey into the world of P90. We officially started this morning. A little history as to how we got here. We all decided that we were not in the shape we've wanted to be. We've complained to each other for months now, and we finally decided to do something about it. We all bought the P90 exercise DVDs and we are going for it. We did the fat burning jumpstart week last week. We all did every workout and did great on our eating. The title of this blog comes from last week. We were supposed to cut out pretty much all carbs for 6 days. High protein for a week. It wasn't bad for about the first day and a half. By the third day, I was missing my carbs! I could tell a huge difference in doing the workouts. I do mine in the mornings and I would be STARVING! We were all together last weekend to watch my brother-in-law, Tyler (Lori's husband) run his 3rd marathon - Go Tyler! Anyway, Friday night was carbo loading night. We three sisters just sat at the table and ate the spaghetti sauce (a lot like chili) and salad. That was a huge bummer. We were all dying for our carbs. Alexandra was starting to not make any sense in what she was saying. We were definitely in carb withdrawal. Anyway, someone yelled, "I just need a freakin' pancake!" and thus the name of this blog.

We did all our measurements together and took all our "before" pictures. We sisters need to talk about when to post those. Maybe in 30 days when we see some results! We are doing this blog together so the posts could be from any one of us. I guess we should label who is writing. I'll start:

Claire - I am excited to be doing this! I am really excited to be doing it with my sisters. Any chance we could talk Mom into it? Vincent? I am a believer that I should be a good steward of anything with which God has blessed me. This includes my physical self. I can do better than I have been. One of the big components of P90 is healthy eating. I would say that I have a decent diet, but again, I could do better. So, here are my goals for P90:

• have a healthy, well-balanced diet for myself and my family
• model for my kids a healthy active lifestyle
• get down to 118 pounds (I need to lose about 6 pounds)
• have a strong core to help me with my running
• have fun and share something with my sisters
• let's be honest here - I want to look good!

Well, I guess that is all I will post for now. Lori and Alexandra - your turn! The next time I will tell you about my hilarious and HUMBLING first workout in P90.