2 week challenge

ChLoE1130

I need some advice.....So I have the rest of this week and next week then I am done with P90X and the plan is to continue with my running for cardio and do Chalean Extreme for strength. So my problem right now is that I am super burnt out with P90X so should I just be done with it and move on to Chalean next week or just suck it up and finish? I think I may feel guilty skipping the last week since I made it this far, but I am really ready to start something new.

mamareese

I'm a big program girl. I love me a little completed program. BUT sometimes moving on to keep ourselves enjoying what we are doing and not just suffering through it is more beneficial than a check marked box on the last day. Plus, Tony can cause burn out for sure!! :laugh:

Beeps2011

I, too, really enjoy how supportive this atmosphere is - it is important in my fitness progress, FOR SURE!

chuisle - LOVE that diagram! I think I am still on the upward curve (particularly when I really DO focus, laser-like, on my nutrition), but I would think in another 3 months I'll have rounded the corner and be on the slower slant of progression.

mama - your (7:48 am) post is exactly the point - you are in WAY better shape now, than before, and you are continuing to "tweek" your performance to suit *new* goals which have cropped up as you've met old goals...

Chloe - I know you're bored. But, my advice is to finish the 90X. Find SOME way to challenge yourself through it (i.e. work-out as if it was the LAST time, EVER, that you have to do the program and REALLY give it your ALL!) - and you'll be VERY proud of yourself that you finished!! (I'm VERY proud of you!!) And then you can move into Chalean Extreme with all the enthusiasm it deserves.

Beeps2011

I'm REALLY going to focus on maintaining a 200-250 calorie deficit throughout April. I think this week will be hard, for that....but, then I think it will become easier once I figure out my hunger cycle (i.e. late afternoon munchies.....must eat crunchy vegetables and NOT anything else, lol!)

I saw there was a Mayday crop-top challenge and....shucks, I just don't think my midriff will be ready in one month's time. But, with SERIOUS calorie control, I think it *could* be ready in 2 months time. So, while I will NOT participate in the mayday challenge, I'd like to participate in one that's about 60 days from now.

I'm also going to REALLY focus on my ab-work during my strength work-outs.....I'm usually so pooped by abs that I'm NOT really focused on it. I mean, I do it, but not with the laser-beam intensity that they require. I'll make that my April focus....making sure I'm not short-changing my abs!

amysj303

this is a supportive atmosphere, and it has been all along really. I remember someone came in with a different tone and cutmd was quick to let them know it wasn't appropriate. love that!
Beeps, I think your abs (and mine) would be helped by the crunchy vegetables more than the crunches! I am not doing any ab work, just the deadlift, squat, bench press and overhead press for 8 weeks. and I remember the 90s, I lived in crop tops!
Thanks for visual, Kate! trying to find that point where I expend little effort for major changes but the math (geometry? economics?) isn't working
So last night the guys were hogging the bench press so I used used the Smith Machine, I know, not ideal. I feel like I should go bench press and make up for before my next work out!

ChLoE1130

I love how supportive this group is too and I also love how much I learn on here

Beeps- I think you are right I just have to think of it like 2 more P90X workouts this week and 3 next and then I am done! And I really am kinda anal about completing things so I think I really would feel bad if I didn't. Thanks everyone for the input! I think I just needed that extra push.

Just received my set of 15 lb dumbells in the mail yesterday! I am slowly increasing my weight collection. Now I have 5, 8, 10, 12, 15 and 20. I'm really pumped to do this round of Chalean, last time I got great results and that was when I only had up to 10 lb weights, so these heavier sets will hopefully make a difference! Doing well with my running also, my goal is to be able to run 60 minutes straight, which I should be at by the end of April and then I will start increasing speed. I love when I really get into running bc that is the best cardio for me and my butt looks so much tighter when I am running consistently

amysj303

oh, Chloe, I forgot to weigh in, but I agree you should finish. you might consider taking a week off too, you need rest too!

amysj303

also, Chloe, I love your pic, is it in Mexico? You look sun-kissed!

ChLoE1130

Yea I may just do a light cardio week in between. And yes that pic was from our Mexico trip, thank you!

Beeps2011

As always, Amy, I think you're 100% right about "cruncy vegetables" vs. crunches.....I don't do any crunches that I know of!

To make sure "Abs April" is kicked off in darling style, on date-night tonight with husband, I will order the fish entree and substitute the starch with grilled veggies. Actually, come to think of it, I believe I ate fish for dinner about 25/31 evenings in March. So, somewhere along the line, that's going to count for something. I usually have grilled chicken with my lunch salad and I usually have a lighter variety of fish (often sole fillets) for supper.

At the end of my work-outs, I'm supposed to be doing 3 x 90 second planks plus 3 x wood-chops (and other ab varieties!), but next week, in Stage 4, I think that moves up to 3 x 120 second-planks....so, yes, I have some WORK TO DO. (Lately I've been so tired at the end of my work-outs I've even had to split up my 90-second planks into 60/15/15....no more of that, I'm just going to have to menatlly tough it out!)

Chloe, it's nice to read about "results" from some of the other programs....if it worked before (for you), I'm sure it will work again! I think you're doing FABULOUS!

(Actually, everyone on this board is....sooooooooooo much effort put into our fitness - it's quite UPLIFTING, really!!!)

ChLoE1130

Ok so I think this is definitely a controversial topic and I am going to admit right away that I am no expert on anything, in fact I am very naive on this topic and I am just trying to learn what works for my body. So I typically eat between 1300 and 1400 calories a day. Everything that I am reading is saying to UP THE CALS. But, here is my issue, with eating as clean as I am and making all my own food and rarely eating anything processed I have a really hard time getting over 1500 unless its bc of wine drinking or eating out and making bad choices.

So my question to you is should I be eating more even though I'm not hungry? Also keep in mind that I am not at my goal weight, I would like to lose at least an additional 8 pounds and then see where I want to go from there. I think the obvious answer to my question is no I should not eat if I'm not hungry....that is how people get overweight in the first place. Sorry about the rant I am just confused.

amysj303

ChLoe, I know what you mean, I have been on a lot of boards that are talking about eating more and I am not trying to lose so I am trying to eat at my TDEE now and because I want to gain muscle I am eating more.
I think eating clean is great and if you are not hungry that is also a good sign. But there was something on NROLFW and it said you might get used to cals being too low and not get hungry anymore, so there were other ways to tell-like if you get cold after you eat, that is a sign of too low cals.
I think TDEE minus 15-20% would be ok, you can run the numbers here if you want to see:
http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html
the trick, is you include your exercise, so you wouldn't be "eating back" exercise cals since they are already part of the equation.
I am guessing it will tell you to eat more, but I don't know your stats and you can eat under for your deficit.

ChLoE1130

Thanks Amy I have checked out that website. And according to that if I say I do moderate exercise and subtract 20% that has me eating 1800 cals a day. That would be around a 500 cal increase a day. That seems like so much! Maybe I can slowly add in a little each week and see how it goes. All this is so confusing to me :ohwell:

amysj303

I know, when I switched to maintenance MFP had me at 1490 a day, I would eat back exercise calories. But now I am eating1800 on rest days and 2000 on workout days and I haven't gained in almost 3 weeks so I don't think it was off very much.
What is Chalean extreme? how is it different from P90X?

ChLoE1130

Chalean Extreme is part of the whole Beach Body Brand. Her workouts are shorter than Tony's. Most of them around 40 minutes with warm up and cool down. It is also 90 days, but it changes every month. I feel like its geared towards women a little more than P90X. I really liked it and she doesn't get on my nerves like Tony does :laugh: For both P90X and Chalean I just use the strength DVDs and do other forms of cardio, like running. I feel like she does the moves really slow so you can make sure your are doing the right form. Ahhh just talking about it makes me so excited for next week to be over....LOL!

chuisle

Hi Chloe!

Sorry, I meant to respond to you too! I think you should suffer through and finish -- I am reminded of when I heard the head of the US women's climbing team speak about how once she *almost* made it to the top of everest (like 25 yards away) but had to turn back...and people where always like soooo you didn't climb everest?? I would feel the same way - P90x is a great accomplishment, might as well go the last 25 yards...

And on upping cals - its scary and confusing! I do agree you can get used to eating too little. Like Amy I recently upped my cals again to a steady 1750-1800 (based on my lean body mass estimated TDEE with moderate acitivty minus 20% for fat loss). So I am not really eating back exercise cals for the first time (because I'm already eating them so to speak) and I haven't gained anything so far - in fact going from 1400 + exercise cals I have actually gone down from 143.2 to 141.8 this morning (no guarantee about water weight that devil.)

Right now my main thing with finding the right level is to pick a level then stick with it for at least 4 week - keeping track of my weekly deficit on it and how close I am to that - and seeing how it effects my body. My gut says you should increase it and see how you feel in four weeks. If you *really* gain then you'll know, and if you don't you'll know something too.

Beeps2011

Chloe, I'm on the UP YOUR CALORIES side. Period. I strongly suspect you are NOT eating enough food! And, while I 100% congratulate you for making (very!) healthy food choices and being able to control your hunger through proper nutrition, I just am convinced that you aren't eating enough calories to keep your metabolism operating at its OPTIMUM.

AScheif is eating VERY clean - and I think she is eating MORE calories than she used to....and her mfp ticker says she's now lost >20 lbs!! (She came to this board wanting to lose 10, I believe.) So, she is VERY lean. She is VERY strong. And, she EATS!

Especially if your addiitonal calories are (healthy) protein, I think you will find room for them - and have a faster recovery from all your weight-training, too!

Just my $0.02 - which, by the way, I won't be able to say for very much longer, since Canada is getting rid of the PENNY!

AScheif

Hey there ladies!

Sorry I have been MIA - submitted our bid for work on Thursday evening and then got the heck outta town for the weekend and returned to work today!!

I just got caught up reading everyone's posts - lots of interesting topics but I won't weigh in on all of them considering some have come and gone..

In terms of the whole Calorie Counting thing - Beeps is right - I do believe I am eating more calories then I use too, although I don't count calories anymore as for me personally it's not effective....food that is better for you naturally has fewer calories, however the difference is your body is using "100%" of what you are eating as fuel, vs before where maybe only 75% of it was useable and the rest waste (for example).....what I strive to do is feed my body with food that it will use (aka clean food) and in portions that will keep my full and my metabolism and blood sugar constant throughout the day....for me, that means 3 oz of lean protein,6 to 8 oz of veggies, and 1/2 cup of carb at every meal, 6 meals a day. - for competition however I have been cutting back on the amount of carbs I have slowly - but once competition is done I will go back to this style of eating.

Ultimately Chloe I suggest that if you are feeling great, and losing weight, then keep doing what you are doing - if you plateau or aren't seeing the results you want, then re-adjust..but keep in mind if you are re-adjusting things every week, then how will you know what is actually working for you? You need to give each "change" you do time to see how your body reacts.

In terms of my progress - Beeps is right, I have officially lost over 20lbs since joining!! My goal weight was 140, and maybe 135 if I was lucky.... well I weighed in on my Saturday weigh-in at 132.6 lbs! With 7 weeks to go for competition I still have a few weeks left to lose to until I reach my "maintenance body" that I can reasonably maintain after competition.... I did take halfway photos on the weekend and have them saved on my computer at home - I will upload to my profile tonight so you should see them tomorrow AM!

I am glad to be back - missed you alll while I was away!

ChLoE1130

Thanks for the input everyone....I knew I could count on all of you to give great arguments:happy:

shander7

Wow! Lots of posts!! I'll answer more in depth tomorrow, but I just had to stop in and share something:

I joined the gym!! I can officially start lifting soon

Also - I'm thinking about getting a fitbit.... what are your opinions of them??

amysj303

Fit bit is like body media fit?! Sounds so cool, I covet

AScheif

photos are up...

shander7

ahh! ascheif! You look amazing! I wish the pictures were bigger! You're doing fantastic though

mamareese

Ascheif- AMAZING! I love that you took them in the same suit as your 1st pictures. Definitely makes comparing easier...not that it isn't blindingly obvious. Your dedication has been both amazing and inspiring. Thanks for letting us go along with you on your journey!!

Shander- I think technology is amazing. I know there's the argument that you can do all of this without it but when you get down to that last XXlbs- finding ways to really hone in seem like a good method to me. Let us know what you decide.

I know there were tons of posts later yesterday that I can't see to respond to know. I know that you all also covered Chloe's post about calories. So I'll leave that topic closed!! And pose a new question...

Has anyone cut carbs? Not the fruits & veggie ones of course! And I know we've had discussions of carb cycling. Like I said earlier in my post this week, I'm cutting out all grain type carbs and then slowly weaning them back in. Since I have no recollection of what weight I was at at peak volleyball weight in college-I've always figured around 150 for being 5'8.5 and athletically built was my goal weight...145lb if I pushed it. That's about 7lbs off if I aim for the 145lb. But I'm wondering if that's a high guess even at 145. Now, don't get me wrong I'm not reverting back to the # on the scale as the sole contributing factor to meeting goal. But I'm at 26% body fat and trimming on the scale will trim that as well as lifting to replace fat with muscle. I was just curious about the elimination of carbs with a slow introduction of it. I thought I remembered cutmd mentioning it so I'll try to look back at the old board. All I know is I'm actually losing pounds and I'm on a bit in. Granted water weight is there but I haven't been below 153 (aside from having the flu) in a year. Just curiosity killing the cat over here!

chuisle

Way to go Aschief! I agree with Shander, I wish we could see them better but looks great!

Reese - I've done some carb cycling before but never for extended periods. I had good results for the few weeks I did it but I wasn't able to keep it up. On the weight...if you lose 7 lbs of *fat* to put you at 145 you will have 22.4% body fat. To calculate:

Current Weight x (Body Fat Percentage/100) = Current lbs of fat

((Current lbs of fat - loss goal) / Goal Weight) x 100 = goal body fat percentage

ChLoE1130

Ascheif- WOW so inspirational! You really are kicking butt!

Reese- I would like to hear responses to this, I try to eat minimal carbs from bread and grains, but I get tons from fruits and veggies. I don't really have to try that hard bc I have never been a huge bread person anyways. I usually only eat the inside of sandwiches and things like that.

Kate- I love all your formulas and charts :happy: I am an accountant, so things put in those terms really make sense to me.

So I have been having horrible stomach cramping for the past 2 weeks, so I looked back at my diary to see what I was doing before vacation and why this all of a sudden started. And I think I can't have protein too late at night. Before vacation I was just having some fruit after dinner and I was fine, no cramping. The last couple weeks I have been trying to do some protien (greek yogurt or a homemade protein bar), so I am going to go back to just eating fruit to find out if that was the issue.

mamareese

Kate- thank you for that formula. That helps tremendously! :flowerforyou:

amysj303

Looks great, Aschief-when is your competition?

Reese, I checked the old resources:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/391273-not-that-heavy-girls-links-to-great-resources

but just saw more on intermittent fasting, not carb cycling. On the Eason Plan there was carb cycling in Phase 3:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jamie-easons-livefit-phase-3.html

if you scroll down to the nutrition section you can get the calculators, it was basically three days of low carb (20%) and one day at high carb (50%).

I never really tried it, even without fruit and yogurt my carbs could never get to 20%!
But I did read that a study showed that two diets, one at 45% carb and one at 55% carb, calories being the same, dieters on lower carb lost more belly fat. Mine is set at 40% now and that is not too bad.

Beeps2011

shander! I am SOOOOOOOOOO glad you joined the gym. I think you will be SO happy with lifting!! Congrats!!

AScheif - holy moly....you look AMAZING and I can see that you've chiseled away any "softness" - SUCH an inspiration! Cannot WAIT to hear about your continuing experiences towards competition!

chui - I'm going to have to try that formula in a minute.

mama - like you, I haven't been 153 since June or July, 2011. I'm 5'9" and I'd like to be between 140 and 145. I don't eat a lot of carbs, actually. (Mind you, when I binge, it's on BAD CARBS - meaning: junk food....so, I DO eat bad carbs from time-to-time). I don't like fruit....so, every morning I force myself to eat either 2 x oranges (mandarins/clementines) or 1 whole grapefruit. And that'll be my fruit for the day. And, about 6 months ago, I introduced oat bran into my diet, so I do have 1/3 of a cup of oat bran every morning. I cut out bread, starches (i.e. potatoes, rice, pasta) probably 6-9 months ago. So, there isn't much left in my diet that isn't: a) vegetables; or b) low-fat/calorie yogurt. So, I'm not sure if it makes a difference, because my weight has stayed pretty static. I don't think it can hurt to try....but, give it a couple of months to see how you adjust to it!

Chloe, I haven't heard of that sort of cramping!! I think it is situations EXACTLY LIKE THIS that make "tracking" so key....you CAN actually go back and FIGURE OUT what might have caused it!! Good!

I've been awake since 4:30 this morning. Booooo. And, today is my HEAVY lifting day (i.e. lots of squats and lunges!!), so that PISSES ME OFF. Anyhow, I'm also going to apply laser-beam focus to my abs, whether I'm tired or not.

Beeps2011

Okay, I just did the calculations....but, I've had to "guess" at my body fat percentage. I am "guessing" it is at 28%. Even if I lose 13 lbs (I'm at 158, today) to get to 145, that still only puts me at 21.5%.

Booo. Don't think I'm going to make it down to 20%. Or, I guess, right now, it seems like an impossible goal.

:sad:

Sometimes this is why I don't look at this stuff, because it becomes overwhelmingly depressing....if I just keep it in small goals (i.e. get in a GOOD work-out TODAY and focus on my nutrition just for TODAY), then it is manageable.