P90X Update

Good evening!  (I started this in the morning, but my day got in the way.)  Here is my P90X update for this week.

This was probably the hardest week for me so far, and it was a combination of many things.  It all started last Friday night when we were at a Cub Scout banquet, and I was called up to the stage during the entertainment skit to participate in a contest.  I was ok with that until they announced that it was an eating contest!  Ack!!  I wanted to run off the stage!  I kept thinking to myself that this couldn't be happening to me.  Why did they have to pick me out of the whole room full of people?  Didn't they know I was so proud of myself for sticking to a diet for 4 weeks without snitching?  (Not even once!)  How was I going to get out of this one?  What was I going to have to eat?  I had visions of whipped cream pie all over my face.  I knew it would be embarrassing because it was all about the entertainment.  Then they pulled out a broom handle with 6 donuts hanging from strings.  Each one of us had to eat a donut off the string with our hands behind our backs.  Oh, great!  If the donut fell off the string, guess what?  We had to get down and eat it off the floor!  In a last minute attempt to politely decline, I whispered to one of the Entertainer Guys that I couldn't possibly eat the donut, I was on a diet.  He simply whispered back that it was ok, there weren't any calories.  Ha!  He had no idea the turmoil I was in.  I wanted to take one for the team, and being very competitive, I wanted to win!  But that meant I had to eat a highly processed, sugar and chemically laden donut that had more carbs than I had consumed in an entire month!  Before I had time to come up with another plan to get out of it, the contest was on.  The Entertainer Guy was gracious enough to hold my donut for me, so I never had to eat it off the floor.  (Wasn't that nice of him!)  The first bite was sickening sweet, tasted like chemicals, very dry, and hard to swallow.  I couldn't believe I was putting this stuff in my body.  But I had to do it for my 'kingdom' half of the room that I was representing.  More inner turmoil.  I imagined how good a glass of cold milk would taste with it.  Then the second, third, and fourth bites came and went.  Was I actually eating a donut?  I felt like I wasn't in reality.  I told myself this must be a dream and couldn't possibly be happening.  It was hilarious watching all the others wriggling on the floor trying to eat crumbs and pieces of donut with their hands still behind their backs.  The room was loud with laughter and cheering.  Then I realized that I could really win this contest.  My donut was still hanging neatly by it's string, one little bite left, and all the other donuts were in crumbs on the floor.  You couldn't even tell whose donut was whose!  It was quite a sight.  As I was chewing my last bite, one of the other contestants got up on his knees chewing his last bite.  The real contest had begun.  I felt like I was on Survivor, and realized how difficult it is to eat something and swallow it really fast when you have that much pressure on you.  At least it wasn't pureed sea creatures.  Long story short, I won the contest.  All to be disqualified because the Entertainer Guy held my donut for me.  (That was part of the skit).  And it was all downhill from there.

When I returned to my seat, I thought I was going to be sick.  I wanted to go to the bathroom to get rid of it, but I'm not one to stick my finger down my throat.  Besides, someone might come in and hear me wretching.  I was just going to have to tough it out.  And that I did.  My stomach gurgled, rumbled, and bloated, and I felt awful for the rest of the night.

Oh, yeah, back to the update...  Are you still with me?

This was the first week of the second phase of the program, so we had a new menu, and I AM TIRED OF COOKING THREE MEALS A DAY!  Sorry for the shout, but that's how I feel.  I still cooked some of the meals, but a lot of them were modified, and we ate the same thing day after day.  I think I had tuna salad for lunch 4 times this week!  The carb allowance increased in this phase, and I was really looking forward to that.  Who doesn't love carbs?  But it only made me want to eat more carbs!  I craved them all week long.  It was (and is) a terrible feeling.  Every time I see a carb, I want to eat it.  It shouldn't be that way!  This isn't so easy anymore.  Curse that donut!

Another reason this week was difficult for me was that it was a very busy week with school activities, music lessons, volunteering, Dr. appointments, etc.  Life got in the way.  I didn't take time to go to the grocery store every other day.  I stayed up late too many nights and needed more sleep.  I played bunko last night and didn't eat much or drink anything there.  (Ok, so I had a few celery sticks, a cherry tomato, one dark chocolate M&M, and 5 Hot Tamale candies, and no alcohol.  Bunko isn't as much fun without a glass of wine or two).  I realized how much I would have normally eaten and that was scary!

I paid for all my difficulties this week.  I didn't lose any weight.  I gained 0.2lbs.  I was off in some of my previously posted weights, so I've still lost 5lbs. in 5 weeks.  This week has made me realize how much effort it really takes to be healthy.  As long as I stay on track for the long run, it will all even out.  There will be days or weeks where life gets in the way, and you can't stick to your plan, but as long as that is a motivation to get back on track and not give up, it will all work out.

I am still happy with how far I have come, and now I'm even more motivated to stick with it.  I want the results.

At least the donut was chocolate.

K