OW OW OW OW

OW OW OW.

THAT is how I felt this morning when I woke up. An hour of pushups and "modified" (i.e. done 100% with a resistance band) pullups followed by the lamest attempt at 15 minutes of abs ever is no freakin' joke!

My chest is sore -- a little more so than I typically am following a chest workout, but nothing ridiculous. My ABS, though -- ooooh boy. Not only did my 15 minute "ab ripper X" shenanigans burn like crazy, I could really feel everything clenching during the pushups. Because, you know, I have the weakest abs EVER.

We'll get there! I'll improve. That's the idea.

Today is plyometrics. PhillyGuy did his this morning, and gave it stellar reviews -- he had trouble completing it. I think -- HOPE -- I'll do better with it, but we'll see. I'm working out at night, which is what I prefer.

I can tell eating is going to be a struggle with this. P90X gives you a diet plan to follow. As I've mentioned before, I do significantly better when I have a specific plan laid out for me, and so I'm planning to follow this to the letter. Unfortunately, like most commercial "diets," this comes in three phases, the first of which is quite restrictive. Unlike -- I'm sure -- a lot of people, I don't mind and sort of appreciate an initial, brief restrictive phase. I've "officially" done the South Beach diet a few times -- it's how I lost weight the first time and how I lost my law school 20 during my 1L year. In theory, I intend to live my life on Phase 3 of that diet -- eating whole, normal, good-for-you foods. That is theory. In practice, I eat a little of this and that here and there, until suddenly I realize I've just been eating whatever I want for long enough to have completely fallen away from eating reasonably.

Anyway -- I don't mind the idea of that initial "Phase 1" restrictiveness. You can't deny the motivational kick from seeing the number on the scale drop quickly as you lose your water weight, of course, but more importantly, I find that quitting crappy food "cold turkey" is significantly more effective in making sure I don't overdo it. Moderation and I are not the best of friends, and while I never miss chocolate once I break my habit, I find that "just one ounce a day" turns into "one ounce at work after lunch" plus "a couple small handfuls of mini chocolate chips at night after dinner" plus "just a spoonful of almond butter to go with them" and BAM, I've just dedicated an extra 600 calories to stuff I don't AT ALL need.

Regardless, though, this phase is super restrictive. Like every Phase I that I've seen, it's very low-carb, high-protein. Calorie-wise, it's pretty standard -- about 1800 per day. But the types of foods I have to eat are, at least initially, unsatisfying. Here's yesterday's eats:

- Breakfast: "protein shake." They call it that, I'll call it my Green Monster (woo, now I feel like a real blogger!). 1/2 banana, 1/2c berries, handful of spinach, scoop of protein powder, 1/2c milk, ice.
- Midmorning snack: Clif Builder's Bar
- Lunch: tuna salad made with 6oz tuna, plain Chobani, stone-ground mustard, dill and various spices over salad made with 2c spinach and 1/2c total of chopped red pepper, tomato and portabella mushrooms
- 5pm "snack:" 6oz plain Chobani
- Dinner: 6.5oz grilled chicken, 1/2 sweet potato with Texas Pete and plain Chobani, 2/3oz reduced-fat cheddar "snack cheese"

Let's be clear: I am NOT hungry on this diet. I get more than enough food in terms of calories and fuel, and it's GOOD stuff...but my dinner left me feeling full, but unsatisfied. I wanted something else to eat -- a side of veggies would have done the trick. Alas, I get X number of "servings" (e.g., 3oz of chicken breast is one protein, 1 cup of cooked veggies is one veggie), and I had used up my veggies by frontloading them in my lunch. I've learned my lesson and made sure to save a veggie for tonight. It's going to take some getting used to, but I can do it for two weeks -- I get to add in more fruit and veggies in a couple weeks, so I can live. Also, it ain't going to kill me to learn to just STOP EATING when I'm full, instead of mindlessly continuing to much just because I feel like there should be something else there.

(It does, however, make me want to punch PhillyGuy, who gets about twice as much food as me and complains that he doesn't know just how he's going to manage to eat all of this protein!)

Also, I should really buy stock in Chobani. How did I live without Greek yogurt? Yet another thing I owe to the blogworld. Thanks, guys :)

There are so many things that are a regular part of my life now that didn't occur to me before I started reading blogs. What has the blogworld introduced to you?