P90X – We’re Doing it AGAIN!

I can hardly believe that it’s been nearly 5 YEARS since we started our first round of P90X in January of 2011 (and I started this blog!). My results far exceeded my expectations and I was able to maintain the 11 pound weight loss (and then about 5 more) from the program up until my pregnancy in January of 2015, although I definitely lost some of that muscle.

Well, we started P90X again on December 1 and I’ve already been thrilled with the changes I’m seeing in my body. I started the program with 19 pounds to lose to reach my goal weight and with holiday treat temptations threatening to make it 20 or more, December 1 was a great time to start the program. I’m hopeful that setting a foundation of strength will also help me get my running speed back safely once I start training for longer distance races again. Mike was the one who suggested we conquer P90X now and I was initially hesitant to jump back into a demanding program, but I think that given how active I stayed during pregnancy (including strength and flexibility training with barre and yoga), I am not starting from scratch (with the exception of core strength, which I’ll address later in this post).

Workouts: 

The P90X Classic workout plan consists of 6 workouts per week and a rest day. Workouts are 1 – 1 1/2 hours long. As we did the first time we completed P90X, we’re skipping Kenpo and replacing it with a run (we actually ran 3x/week including a long run up to 14 miles during the first round). This time I’ve been running 3 miles two times a week but plan to bump that up a bit as I train for the Cardiff Kook Race (4 mile race). I also have been doing the Dailey Baby workouts with Siena, although she doesn’t always behave enough for me to get in the full 45 minute workout.

We have been doing two P90X workouts on the weekends (including Yoga which is 1 1/2 hours long!) and three during the week. So far we’ve successfully done all the workouts together (with the exception of yoga because I’ve been going to Yoga 6 to do Hot Yoga instead) which means I’ve been getting up with Mike at 5:30 to do the workouts before work. Siena either continues to sleep, or wakes up and we bring her down in to the garage with us where she either watches us or falls asleep, sometimes both. A few times she has demanded to be fed before we finish and I wrap up the workout later (or not) and a few times we’ve incorporated her into the workout in lieu of weights!

The first couple days of getting up at 5:30 was rough but luckily it’s only a few days a week and Mike has taken two weeks off around the holidays so we’ve been able to sleep in lately! We go to bed around 9:30 and I take a few naps a week which helps. Siena usually wakes just once in the night which also helps!

Diet: 

The diet is going to be the key in my weight loss, just as it was last time. Last time we followed the 3 diet phases – the first of which cuts WAY back on carbs and includes a lot of meat and dairy. Since we are following a more “flexitarian” diet, meaning we don’t eat a lot of meat (though recently we’ve been eating fish regularly), we aren’t going to follow the plan the same way we did the first time. Instead, we’re loosely following the 100 Days of Real Food diet which emphasizes whole foods (you should not eat anything with more than 5 ingredients on the package) and absolutely no processed sugars or artificial sweeteners (honey is pretty much the only sweetener allowed which we use in our coffee). That means no diet soda too!

We have been eating organic eggs, fish (tuna 1-2x/week is safe for breastfeeding women) and organic greek yogurt as sources of non-plant protein and lots of lentils, beans, tempeh and whole grains, plus a VegaOne Performance Protein supplement, for plant-based protein sources. We planned to allow ourselves one cheat day a week in which we can literally eat whatever we want, but it can only be one day (we did not allow any cheat day in the first two weeks). Without cheat meals, diets can seem pretty daunting, especially when you aren’t eating any delicious sugar!!! Over this last week there have definitely been more cheats with Christmas and my birthday celebrations, but we’re doing our best.

I’m really focusing on weekend food prep to make the diet possible, including making two soups, chilis or bean or whole grain based salads on Sundays that we can eat with salads for lunch. Whenever I can double recipe for leftovers, I do so. I’m also chopping veggies and making salads the night before during Siena’s late afternoon nap so that we are never scrambling to make lunch in the mornings before Mike goes to work. Unlike P90X Phase 1, I am not putting a limit on fruit, especially since I’m not allowing myself any dessert at all on non-cheat days.  I’ve actually been very surprised at how easy it has been to give up the desserts (the less sweet coffee has been the hardest). But, as soon as I started making Christmas cookies the cravings started coming back – eating sugar makes me want to eat even more sugar!

Modifications for Postpartum: 

The biggest modification I’m going to make to P90X for postpartum is that I skipped the Ab Ripper for the first two weeks and then modified it after that (and am still modifying). It’s important to focus on strengthening the inner core after baby and Ab Ripper is mostly focused on the outer abdominal muscles and obliques. Instead, I either did the postpartum core workouts that I found on YouTube or did a few planks while Siena was doing Tummy Time. The pull-ups and push-ups  have also been a good core workout and I have been very careful to do them with the best form possible. As soon as I can tell my form is going, I do the push-ups on my knees.

I’ll be sharing my results for each phase so stay tuned. We actually already finished Phase 1 (I started this post 4 weeks ago…geez!). Given how fast time is going now with a new baby, 90 days seems like a short time to commit to get fantastic results!

Have you ever done P90X? Have you ever given up sugar?