It's hard to turn a tree

So, how many of us have said this lately? 

"I'm turning over a new leaf."

Ha!  I've said that so many times in the last 8 months that I feel like I've turned over a whole new tree!  Ok, not really, but I'm constantly turning over a new leaf.  Sometimes that leaf stays turned over.  Sometimes it doesn't.

So with that said, I'm turning over a new leaf!  Today, I began a new step in my life.  (Ok, I actually began it yesterday, but I didn't have time to blog yesterday, so for the sake of this post, we're going to pretend that today is yesterday.  You with me so far?)  I began a new program called Power 90.

What is Power 90 you might ask?  Well, have you heard of P90X?  Well, it's not that.  I am in no way, shape or form ready for P90X.  But I want to be.  That's why I started Power 90.  Power 90 is done by the same person (Tony Horton) who does P90X, but Power 90 is for beginners.  I had gone online and looked at the P90X program because I needed something different.  I love working out on the elliptical, but 1. I'm never home to do that, 2. Our elliptical leaves a lot to be desired and 3. Frankly it sucks doing the same thing over and over again.  I dropped 30 pounds by doing nothing but changing my diet, I dropped another 30 pounds by doing the elliptical, but I was doing the same exercise over and over again, so the only places I was going to change were the places that machine worked on.  I am looking for more total body fitness.  Arms, legs, back, abs, etc.  Not going to get all of that on the elliptical.  You'll get a lot of it, but not all. 

So flash forward to a week and a half ago.  After a lot of deciding, thinking and studying (which included watching result videos on YouTube), I ordered the Power 90 program, and started it today.  Wow!

The first day is all about sculpting.  Basically, weights and exercises designed to work your arms and legs.  I actually did not do too bad.  I was able to keep up in everything except the push up and chair dips.  Who knew that dipping on a chair could be so hard?  Pretty soon, I was dripping on the chair.  And push ups!  Even on my knees I could not go all the way down.  But that's ok!  It was the first day!  I felt great afterward, like I had really accomplished something.  After I finished with the sculpting, I took a look ahead at what I was in for with cardio.  Yikes!  All I can say is that tomorrow might be fun!

Ok, let's go back to today being actually today.  I did the cardio and abs portion this morning.  I am beat!  It's a good feeling, but I can feel that I've worked out all over my body.  That's what I'm looking for!  With the cardio, you did yoga (yuck!), jumping jacks, high knees, running in place, runners lunges, X work (which is where you draw and X on the floor, and move from side to side, up and down, back and forth) and so on.  Then after a 30 second break, you went into some Tai Bo kind of moves like punches and kicks.  With the first half of cardio, I didn't do great.  I kept moving, but some of the moves were too hard for me to do just yet.  Then I really got into it with all the punching and kicking.  Love it!

And I am feeling it!  How refreshing to find something that I can commit to for a relatively short amount of time, take with me anywhere I go, and that really does something!  When I hit day 30, I will post my before pictures and then my Day 30 pictures to see the difference.  But coming soon are pictures of me a year ago, when I weighed 273 pounds, and me now wearing the same shirt.  You will not believe the difference.  I still can't believe the difference!

Other than the fact I can't get my arms above my head, I feel great!  And the last two days my diet has been wonderful too.  So here I am again.  For the 367th time (and that's just January), I'm turning over a new leaf.  Keep track with me as I work on keeping that leaf turned over!

T