On Resolutions (v. 2012)

Last year I made the first resolution proper of my adult life. You can find it detailed here.

I was pretty sure of my resolution. Not that I was excited about it so much as I knew I needed it. I knew it was the best thing I could do for myself with 365 days. So, just in case you don’t feel the need to read up on last year’s resolution (even if you did, it’s lengthy), let’s sum it up:

In 2011 I wanted to…
1. Be single and fabulous.
2. Be in the best shape of my life.
3. Find the perfect white gold earrings.
4. Clean the kitchen before bed.
5. Cover firewood before it starts raining.
6. Wear my favorite underwear on a Tuesday.

Now, let’s go through these quickly with the results added, shall we?

1. Be single and fabulous. Oops. One of two isn’t bad. Is it?
2. Be in the best shape of my life. DONE! Thanks, Tony Horton!
3. Find the perfect white gold earrings. Done: Turns out I needed to only mention this one to my mom before going home for Christmas. She considered it her personal mission. Thanks, Mom!
4. Clean the kitchen before bed. I'm going to need you to be more specific about which night.
5. Cover firewood before it starts raining. Definitely not. Same firewood is still outside. Probably wet right now.
6. Wear my favorite underwear on a Tuesday. Done: Check posting date.

So… looking at my year in review, I don’t think I did too poorly. Progress not perfection; isn’t that the saying?

I keep my kitchen clean for the most part; I choose my underwear based on whatever-the-hell-I-want; I’m in damn good shape (Shut up, knee!); and I sport earrings that my tender lobes aren’t allergic to. So what if my firewood is soaked?

And as far as the big, bad resolution that grounded all of these minor resolutions… I think I did alright by that one too. I set out to be single and fabulous and that didn’t quite work.

I didn’t turn down dates and I let myself get attached. A couple of times. But I also listened to myself. My heart, yes, sure. But more importantly, I listened to myself. The part of me that thinks a few steps ahead. The part of me that knows who I am and what I want. The part of me that sees myself and everyone around me as flawed beings. The realist who remains a reluctant, yet hopeless romantic. And, because I listened to myself, I was able to navigate more than a few relationships in 2011. Some of them romantic, most of them platonic.

Now, just a few days into 2012, I can boast possibly the best relationships I’ve ever had with my family. Built on honesty, trust, love, and so much laughter, our bonds haven’t ever been so strong.

I can tell you all about dear friends who’ve opened up their homes and their lives to me and my craziness, becoming chosen family. Give me a minute and I’ll pull out baby pictures and tell you about recent milestones with more pride than I thought possible for me to feel about someone else's child.

I can tell you about my career and how having confidence in myself has allowed me to reach students in ways I hadn’t before.

Thanks to my willingness to engage, to feel, to try, and to communicate, I can tell you about my boyfriend. About the woman who is everything I wanted but didn’t know I could have.

When I found last year’s resolution post accidentally tonight I thought, “Ha! Didn’t keep any of those!” But that’s not true at all, is it? I may not be single, and I guess some might consider that the main event of the resolution… but I sure don’t. What I read in last year’s resolution post is a desire for confidence, independence, and happiness.

Have I achieved those things? Certainly. In ways, at least. I’ll not pretend that I’m perfectly confident, independent, and happy all days and in all ways. But… I’ve come a long way.

It’s now less about what comes at me and more about what I give out. Shoot. Maybe I’m growing up.

Anyway… my resolution for 2012 is similar to 2011’s with one adjustment.

In 2012 I want to be healthy and fabulous.

This means… seeing about getting this damn knee fixed.

Keep me honest, friends. I’m already dreading the appointment. That I have yet to make.

Video Post: My Workout Buddy

Oh heyyy...

So, here's the thing. In this last phase of P90x, I've picked up a workout partner!

Annnnnd... today we made this video to introduce him. Enjoy, loves!

P90x angst and how I got over it

The video explains it all... so I will let it.

If you need a reason to watch the video... I do an exercise demonstration.

Don't say I don't love you.



Because I do love you, each and every one.

Alright... I'm off to chillax. It is, after all, exam week.

P.S. Exam week is pretty boss for teachers who plan ahead. : )

P90x: Phase 2 Pics

Soo... I finished Phase 2 and dutifully took my 60 day pictures.


Here ya go, friends.


I still have no idea what kind of face to make when flexing.


So why not just turn away from the camera, hm?


And... I might have tried out a Dreya Webber pose from the P90x booklet...


And... then I might have made it my own.


Finally, I struggled mightily take a picture of "X Time" for you guys.


More on that later... : )

How I know P90x was made by men for men...

No one with breasts would ever schedule (or consent to) jump training the day after Chest & Back.

No one.

With breasts.

Trust me and mine.

And the beat goes on...

Breakfast continues to be the best part of my day.


It's safe to say that it's my most meaningful relationship.


When Facebook wizens up and respects that all love is love, I'm going to declare proudly that I'm "in a relationship with breakfast."


Until then, I'll spam you all with pictures of my lover.


It's only normal, right?

Video Post: P90x Gag Reel

So... last night I finished Phase 2 and decided to make a quick video to highlight some things.

And... it was past midnight. And... I talked a bit more than I meant to.

I figured I'd walk away from the video(s). Yes, there were two.

But... then I watched the videos today and I decided that the only worthwhile bits were the things that ordinary people would cut out.

Since when have I been ordinary people?

Enjoy, kittens. My outtakes, in no particular order:

"You Could Break Your Head"

There is someone out there making P90x videos that are even more bizarre than mine.

I know. I wouldn't believe it either, if I were you.



Yeah... that was Train's "Soul Sister" you heard playing while he struggled to get his legs in and out of those straps.

Just. Sayin.

My death metal doesn't really seem so crazy now, does it?!

BIG Breakfasts

There seriously is nothing better.

Nothing.

Observe:


Oatmeal with flax and a bit of caramel syrup
Leftover burger with feta inside
One egg (overcooked, sadly)
Half a broiled grapefruit (sprinkle of sugar, time under the broiler, sprinkle of salt)


One orange
1 oz of a chocolate Power Bar
Apple cinnamon oatmeal
Portabella veggie burger
One scrambled egg


Kashi cereal with skim milk
Half a broiled grapefruit
Half a two-egg broccoli, mushroom, and white cheddar frittata

See what I mean?

These breakfasts make my day. And... by using my protein leftovers, I can actually whip up one of these breakfasts in a hurry.

Tomorrow, for instance, I'll be starting my day with the leftover frittata, some greek yogurt, an orange, and... maybe toast!

I'm following a 2 protein, 1 fruit, 1 grain, and 1 sweet (or sweetish addition to one of the big four).

And how is the big breakfast working?

Well... I'm down 2 lbs and .7% body fat since I started doing it. So, I think it's working!

Here's to breakfasts! I'll take mine big, thank you.

Salmon Switch: Dinner and a... Breakfast?

It's easy dinner tiiiiiime!

Yesterday was a mental health day. I chilled. I only put on shoes once and I didn't even cross the threshold of my front door.

Don't get me wrong... I did things. I cleaned up my apartment. I did my P90x workout for the day (oh hey, Kenpo!). I wrote a couple letters. I returned some calls. I also... watched a lot of Food Network.

I think I probably watched three different episodes of Paula Deen shows. It was a beautiful day.

Anyway... in one of those Paula Deen shows, she was in the kitchen with her son, Jamie, making something ridiculously fatty and rich. To balance out that... whatever it was... I honestly don't remember... she made a salmon recipe that her youngest son, Bobby came up with.

Well... I love salmon. And I love Bobby Deen. You know him, right? The one who goes on the show and is visibly unnerved by his mother's liberal use of butter? The one who talks about making the traditional dishes just a little bit healthier? The one who looked like he wanted to die when Paula said, "Rub your meat, rub your meat, rub your meat?"



Yeah... that one.

I kinda love him.

So when he speaks (or rather... Paula tells me a recipe came from him), I listen.

Without any more fanfare, here is the quick salmon bake that Paula shared and I modified...

First, I gathered the ingredients that I had... and the ingredients I was going to make do...


Paula used sage, rosemary, and thyme but said we could use any herb combination we liked. I pillaged the cabinets and decided on basil, parsley, and thyme. It worked.

Paula used a lemon but said Bobby liked oranges. I had a tangerine. It also worked.

The salmon, butter, and house seasoning (salt, pepper, and garlic powder) were all above board. So... let's do this thing:


Step 1: Place salmon on foil, add a little bit of butter, season with house seasoning and the three herbs.


Step 2: Top each piece of fish with three slices of your chosen citrus.


Step 3: Fold up salmon packets of goodness and bake at 350 degrees for 13 minutes. Couldn't be easier.


Step 4: At 13 minutes, open up foil packaging and enjoy.

This salmon was flakey but moist. The tangerines provided a dynamite contrast to the fish. The butter... eh... didn't add much, perhaps because I use unsalted butter. Next time I'll swap it out for olive oil.

It was a good, protein rich dinner. And... this morning... I shredded and re-warmed the second piece of salmon, pulled the sections out of the tangerine slices, chopped up one hard-boiled egg and threw all of that on a toasted whole wheat English muffin.


Mmmmm... totally delicious.

Again, another big-ish breakfast that kept me happy all day long. I think I'm getting the hang of this eating and working out thing.

Maybe. I still need to figure out what to eat before my early morning workouts. I need the energy without the ew-I-just-ate-and-now-I'm-bouncing-around feeling.

I'll... umm... get back to you on that one. For now it's protein shakes... and that's not bad.

Hold the French Toast: A P90x Breakfast

Diet advice is like a handshake. Regardless of height, weight, or general physical condition, everybody has one and will probably give you their's if you so much as say "Hi, my name is..."

I've listened to a lot of diet advice in my day. A metric butt ton of it, if you will.

But as I listen, I am usually saying an emphatic, "Yes, I know!" in my head.

This is not my first rodeo. I've lost a total of 60 lbs since college and not one of those pounds just "fell off" like I keep hearing happens to some lucky, mythical creatures on infomercials.

And what works?

Eating right and exercising. Go effin' figure.

So... I keep on keeping on and sometimes I bump it up, sometimes I slack off... but for the most part I stay on the level. This tells me that I've probably found my body's comfort zone. I'm slowly becoming okay with that.

Now that I'm P90x-ing though, I'm seeing results and getting demanding. I see some results so I want to see more! I see progress, so I want to see perfection!

I didn't - I know you're wondering - start following the P90x Nutrition Plan by the letter this week.

I thought about it. And if I had a personal chef and loads of money, I would probably be on board. I've heard both good and bad things about it, but I prefer to try things for myself.

So why am I not doing it?

I can't get over the "but diets don't work!" mantra, and I don't know that I want to. What if I find a diet that really does work? I'm either stuck on it (which isn't healthy) or I get off it, flounder a bit, and gain weight (which isn't healthy). And please, for the love of all that's good, don't tell me that the P90x Nutrition Plan isn't a diet, it's a lifestyle. Because... just think about it... I'm getting stronger and so is my right hook. Kthanks. Right now I feed my body what it needs and what it tells me it wants.

Basically... I'm better off doing me.

And while I'm P90x-ing, it wants good food and a lot of it.

When trolling around BeachBody.com, I found an article on big breakfasts and fell in love.

The author explains things like feeding your body the most when it is the most hungry. And eating certain fats, carbs, and proteins in the morning to set the tone for the rest of the day. I tell my students to choose strategies that make sense to them and their writing styles... Well, this big breakfast thing? Makes TOTAL sense to me and my cooking style.

I mean... hello... Have you been paying attention the "breakfast" tag on this blog?

So today while I did Yoga X in the livingroom, I was roasting a turkey breast tenderloin in the kitchen. Man, oh man, did it smell good.

The meal as posted on BeachBody was:

1 package plain instant oatmeal, prepared, with 1 scoop BeachBody Whey Protein Powder
1 cup fresh blueberries
3 oz. roasted turkey breast
1 large hard-boiled egg
1 oz. dark chocolate

Delicious, right?

I certainly thought so. But... being fitness (read: not food) bloggers, they left it at that. No instructions, no cooking times, just a good luck. Thankfully, I'm good at googling and experimentation. *ahem*

What I came up with was this:


So... allow me to make it easier on you than BeachBody made it on me. Here's my long-hand, food blogger version of their above breakfast. Also, if you're interested, there are a few other big breakfasts on the above link. I'll be making them soon, no doubt.

An hour and a half before you're ready to eat:

- Preheat oven to 350.
- Prepare turkey breast by placing in an oven-proof dish with 1/4 cup water.
- Sprinkle with basil, oregano, black pepper, and garlic powder.
- Bake covered for 30 minutes.

While the turkey roasts, do something else. Anything else (I did yoga) to distract you from the unadulterated protein you can't eat for another hour.

When the timer goes off...

- Remove foil from turkey and continue to roast for another 30 minutes.
- Put egg(s) in pot and cover with cold water.
- Set pot to boil but pull immediately from heat and cover as soon as it does.
- Let egg(s) sit in hot water for 17 minutes.

When those timers go off... (they'll probably be pretty close together)

- Remove turkey from oven. Cover with foil and let rest for 10 minutes.
- Remove eggs from hot water and place in bowl of ice water until cool.

While waiting for turkey and eggs...

- Gather chocolate & fruit and prepare oatmeal. (I didn't have fresh blueberries, so I had strawberries, which I nommed during the epic cooking event. Annnnd... I didn't have chocolate so I had 1 oz. of a chocolate power bar. Since I didn't have the Whey Protein to add to the oatmeal, I figured this balanced out.)

When the final timers go off...

- Slice one half of the turkey breast tenderloin (3 oz) and peel one hard-boiled egg.
- Plate with oatmeal, fruit, and chocolate.
- Nom the hell out of it.

Now... honesty is the best policy, so I'll tell you now that my prep was nothing like this. It took me a whole lot longer to prepare this meal than it should have.

But... I... uh... had never hard-boiled an egg before? I thought it was a quick thing! Eh... now I know. And... more importantly, I made four today instead of one, so I'm set for a bit.

Mid-prep, I worried that I wouldn't be able to eat so much food. It just seemed like a whole lot to have for breakfast.

So how much did I eat?

Oh... only this much:


And the best part is, I feel great! I didn't feel full but I did feel satisfied. I felt like I was good to go. And now, a full four hours later, I'm still feeling good. I had a banana just now and I think my body is asking for more of that leftover PowerBar.

Don't mind if I do...

P90x Day 30(ish)

It's that time, friends! Time for the first set of progress pics!!!


Tonight at dinner, a friend asked how P90x was going. I told her the truth, "It's going well... but I start Phase Two tomorrow and I'm nerrrrvous!"

She smiled in a you-chose-this-not-me way and said, "You know, I feel like I've been part of this experience and I also feel like it's been longer than 30 days."

Ehh... she's not wrong.


If you've been following me on twitter, you might remember that my journey has been a bumpy one. I missed a few days for a quick trip to Portland. And I missed another day or two when I was sick at the very beginning.

Annnnnd... then I messed up during week 4. Instead of moving to the Week 4 "recovery" workouts, I did another of the strength training, muscle building first weeks, thus pushing myself back an entire week.


So... all told, my Phase One lasted all of 43 days. 35 of those days I was actively grunting, sweating, and bringing it. Those other 8 days... were lost for one reason or another.

That's alright though.

Tony says that there are several reasons why someone would choose to extend a phase. There must be even more ways in which someone could screw up the phase and accidentally extend it. I'm sure I'm in good company.


Now... before I run away from Phase One and move on to things like the Corn Cob Pull Up and who-knows-what kind of demon push ups, I want to make note of some lessons learned.

1. My flex face still sucks.

Go ahead. Go back and review. I don't mind.

After my on video flexing, a friend told me I looked like I smelled something bad. I revised... and now I just look slightly angry. Or... something.

2. My backgrounds suck worse than my flex face.

Again... review...

An open closet?! C'mon... If I had just closed the door, it would have been perfect. Solid background AND you'd think I am organized.

3. That freaky armpit muscle is still growing.

Picture 4. Feast your eyes on that sucker.

According to the anatomy coloring book flashcards Kate gave me, I believe this is the pectoralis major. Maybe. Whatevs... as long as I don't get that man neck thing, I'm fine with it.

In conclusion...

Dear P90x,

You're pretty okay in my book. Though you scare me, I'm excited to see where this relationship goes. Here's to another 60(+) days together.

Bringing It,

Amanda

Yet another video post about P90x...

I've been holding out on you guys.

I made this video about a week ago. I made it as a joke, with a lot of input from my brother.


(That guy.)

But then I showed it to a few people. And when they stopped lolling, they each said the same thing: "You need to post this."

So... thank them, if you like the video. If you don't... let me know to smack them the next time I see them.



(I'm cringing over here.)

Anyway... the point of this video WAS to mark the day that I did my first three unassisted chin-ups.

What is the real take-away of this video?

I think only you can answer that one for me...

Video: P90x Week 3 Update

Oh heyyyyy...

I won't bother you with a wordy introduction, because this video is a bit of an investment at a full 8 minutes and 24 seconds.

But... eh... I couldn't really be bothered to be concise. Rambling is muuuuch easier.

Without further ado... my P90x Week 3 Update:



So... for those of you who know things, I'll go ahead and say that yes, I know it's a corn cob PULL (not push) up. I noticed I misspoke when I was reviewing the tape... but I wasn't offended enough to retape that bit.

And... sorry, Grace, no Eminem in this video. There's always next time...

Week 1: Soaring Soreness

On day one, I thought... won't this be fun?!

On day two, I realized my arms were too sore to exert enough force to crack my knuckles.

On day three, I discovered just how much ab work is required to roll over in bed.

On day four, I wondered if my back and shoulders would ever be the same again.

On day five, I actually gasped out loud when I lowered myself all the way down to sit on a step without bracing myself with my hands.

On day six, I am happy to report that my body (all bits) registers only the slight soreness that would accompany more normal exertions.

*I should maybe mention that I have yet to complete my Day 6 workout.*

Eggs

Or... The true expense of P90x.

Today I did this workout...


for the first time. We did moves like the one you see pictured above. That's called "The Flying Heinsman." I'm not even kidding.

And I looooved it. It was very Jillian and I liked that. It felt like home.

So... I finished the workout, sweaty, exhausted, and very sore from yesterdays Chest, Back, Abs situation. Tony has mentioned this "recovery drink" mess a few times, but until that moment, I hadn't really considered it.

Well... I'm still not to the point of drinking sludge for fun, but I knew I needed protein... so to the P90x recipes I went!

I mixed a couple of recipes and came up with this:


6 egg whites (6?!)
about 6 grape tomatoes
3/4 oz mozzarella cheese
sprinkling of basil

And... when cracking and separating all those eggs... all I could think was...

When I was a boy I ate four dozen eggs every morning to help me get large. Now I'm a man I eat five dozen eggs, so I'm roughly the size of a barge!

In the end, I dropped about an egg white worth of the scramble on my left sneaker. Don't ask. And... I left about an egg white and a half on the plate. So... did I eat half a dozen egg whites after all? Nope.

There's always tomorrow.

P90x: Day 1

Picture it, my livingroom around 7am.

I've been at this for over an hour. My arms are tired. My hair is mussed from sleeping. My bright fuchsia socks don't match anything else I have on.

Tony is making an X with his arms and encouraging me to make everything "X-like," though I'm not at all sure what he means by that. There is a German woman to his right who, by comparison, makes my hair look amazing but my stomach look flabby.

From a seated, abs-engaged position on the floor of his dungeon-esque gym, Tony calls out, "Imagine doing 100 of these!"

I know this is meant to be encouraging. But... honestly, who is that helping?

If I had enough breath to say it out loud, I would have. Instead, my brows dropped, my limbs flopped to the floor mid-crunchy turtle (or whatever the flip we were doing) and I thought, "But I would never imagine something like that, Tony..."

And just like that... I crossed the threshold between people who had never and would never imagine something like that... to someone who... I guess... will start imagining reps. Le sigh.