Tony Horton’s "Bring It!" Day 5

Workout

OK, this is interesting to note… Today was supposed to be yoga day, but I forgot! I got through the warmup and stretch for the aerobic workout, because I figured yesterday was resistance, so today is aerobic again, right? Then I remembered that on the schedule, Friday is yoga day! Well, I wasn’t ready for that mentally, so I just went on and did the aerobic one.

That’s been my relationship with yoga ever since I started P90X. At first, I skipped it entirely and ran on the treadmill (which is not at all the same). After the first month or so, I gave it a try, and enjoyed it I guess, but I think it’s a common complaint that the P90X yoga workout (90 minutes of exercises and stretches) is pretty long for a weekday morning workout. A lot of weeks I would shorten it, or skip it and head back to the treadmill. Anyway, all that to say it’s not my first time skipping yoga. It’s only supposed to be 45 minutes, but I don’t know how easy it will be to follow along with the book.

Nutrition

The day started out pretty well, with butternut squash soup and brown rice for breakfast. I added vanilla whey powder to it, because I thought it would keep me from feeling hungry again too soon. I had nuts mid-morning, and then things started to go wrong…

Fridays at work we usually bring in Chinese food for lunch. Before I started this program, I had fallen into a rut of ordering General Tso’s chicken (battered and deep-fried, then covered in a sweet/spicy brown sauce). This time, I didn’t have the healthiest choice, which would have been steamed chicken and vegetables, but maybe it was the middle ground: Chicken with a brown garlic sauce, but not deep fried, vegetables, and brown rice. Added to that was hot and sour soup, a thick broth (probably some sort of starch thrown in) with mushrooms and tofu.

I had chocolate espresso beans for dessert, which have some sugar in them, and then, because I wasn’t really feeling the “kick” of the caffeine, I had a cup of coffee later in the afternoon anyway. Maybe I need that caffeine cleanse more than I thought? Honestly, I think I would do better with more sleep.

Adding insult to injury, my wife called to tell me she wanted to put aside our plans for bean burritos at dinner, and instead have some pizza. Ugh. So I had a couple of slices, and chased it down with plain yogurt and whey powder for dessert. Believe it or not, pizza is mostly fat and carbs without much protein.

In the end, I was over my recommended sugar intake by 23% (20 grams, about 4 teaspoons), but still low on protein, which leads to cravings. I had a calorie surplus of over 600. Not the best way to trim the fat.

Health and well-being

I took a peek at the scale and tape measure today, and there was no change since the beginning of the week. So far, I’ve had three days of (slight) calorie deficits, and two days where I was over by an average of 500 calories. I need to work on that next week for sure.