The Dreaded Holiday eating season!

I'll tell you what, I am definitely finding that now that I am in pretty decent shape, the draw to eat all those lucious holiday deserts and cakes and cookies is almost impossible to resist, and I've figured out why: when you look like a big slob, like I did in the beginning, it is easy to crack down on the sweets, because you know you will get nowhere if you don't...but when you are already in good shape, you start to figure, 'Heck, what is a slice of pumpkin cheescake really going to do to me? And the answer is nothing, as long as it is one slice and you don't slack on pushing play...but the snacking sets up a psyche of slackiness that can easily drag you into a pit of pattern overeating and declining workouts, because not only do you feel guilty about the bad eating, but you start to think eating all that is OK, AND the food is bad for you and makes you feel slothy and sluggish and compunds the bad ju-ju you get from the guilt complex.

With all that said, if you are at a comfortable place in your weight loss and goals, have that indulgence...just make sure it stays an exception and not the norm!

I'm Baaaack

Ok, I haven't posted in a LOOONG time, but I am trying to recommit myself to all things X. I have some very exciting news! I have finally managed to break my sister's resistance to my Jedi mind tricks and got her to try the X! She is already dropping weight like Eminem drops rhymes, and her clothes are getting mysteriously baggy. You rock, Jen!

For those of you who are wondering what is going on with me, I am in the last phase of my 3rd cycle, still just doing the singles, too hard to get in double sessions, and I am starting to get into 'UnderArmor commercial model" shape..(CLIK-CLAK!). I joined the Spartan challenge on August 3rd to try and whittle down that midsection to a defined six pack by Halloween, but due to several birthday parties and decadent trips to Busch Gardens, that goal is probably unattainable.

I am recommitting to finish strong, however, and I am hoping to go sub 190 by Thanksgiving with a lot more definition. I need all the fans to chrp up and be heard....I am definitely in mentor status now, and will be happy to answer absolutely any questions anyone has, and I am not even a coach trying to separate you from your wallet....

The Maan pics are in!

As promised, my Day to Day 90 pictures....totally different person...you can click on the picture to see it full screen...

Maan vs. Dietblogtalk.com

Just had to share this...these are some 'reviews' from people on dietblogtalk.com concerning P90X....I was flabbergasted at what some of these jokers had to say...some of them are funny, most are just sad:

Norissa: What are "Plyometrics" and "Synergistics"?? These are 2 of the videos included in P90, and they just don't sound like real exercises to me.

OjoAzul: Diet plan was too carb-loaded for me. I didn't like P90x.

Kathleen: I just want ONE GOOD workout, not 12 sh***y ones! P90x is no good.

Bill: If P90x is not for people who are fat, who is it for??????

harpo: I notice that two of the people in the P90X infomercial are also in the Slim in 6 infomercial. Beach Body is apparently a dishonest company for thinking that no one would notice Traci and Mark Briggs in both infomercials.

Kurt: Dude, I am not looking to do "Yoga" or any of these other stupid extra videos they include in P90X. I just want a good solid workout. Why do they have to throw in all of this other stuff I don't even want?? Yoga's for chicks, everybody knows that.

Bailey: Eh, P90x gives you a calendar with this? Who needs another calendar? Every year i get free calendars from my bank, my dentist, and my sister-in-law. I don't want to be paying for something like that.

Fergie: The workouts weren't too bad, I didn't think, with P90 but I didn't think the program helped me to have "discipline" when it came to eating. I still had cravings and ended up eating a lot of junk food while doing this.

Isaac: Well I just wish P90x was sold at Walmart. I do all my shopping there, everything's so cheap. I don't want to make payments or anything, I just want to buy it and take it home in one shot.

nicki: well i dont no what ur talking about with muscle confusion, how do you confuse ur muscles without confusing ur whole body? I think this sounds like one of those product's that tries to hard to be different.

tarantulaBob@hotmail.com: P90 X was not the right approach for me, I thought the food plan was weak & the workouts were not focused enough. I had no success.

And this one is priceless:

Blaire: Oh, I really believed I would get toned and lose weight with P90x, and I did the videos daily for a whole month. I was feeling pretty good, but then I just got so busy with other projects and family obligations and I never had time. I haven't done a workout in like 5 months or something. It was not a good purchase.

It is pretty amaing how far people will go to blame someone or something else for their own lack of discipline and motivation....UN-F'ING-BELIEVABLE.

Maan's Favorite Movie Quotes X-Morphisized

Ok, today is my last mandatory X workout, Yoga X, and in commemeration of the great event, I have compiled a list of some of my favorite Movie quotes adapted for P90X(I have left the movie names out to see if the movie buff out there (that means you Bryan) can decode where they come from...here goes:

"Rule number one, you do not talk about about P90X. Rule number two, YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT P90X...Rule number three, if you come to P90X, you have to Bring it."

"Any body out here got the guts to bring it hard?!", "I'm your Horton....that's just my game"

"It puts the recovery drink in its mouth or else it gets the hose again"

"You had best unvinyasa yourself, or I will unscrew your head and chaturanga down your neck!!"

"Excuse me Lieutenant. Is there something wrong?"
"Yes maam. The data on P90X is innacurate."
"How's that Lieutenant?"
"Well I just happend to see one of the kids do..."
"We... we."
"Sorry.... We happended to see Dominic do a 4G negative head roll."
"Where did you see this?"
"That's classified."
"That's what?"
"That's classified. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you."

"Do you like whey protein? Well I got her number. How you like them whey proteins?"


"So when did you know you wanted to be a X-maniac?"
"Hmm. I guess it would have to be the first time I went through the second grade. I caught my reflection in a spoon while I was eating my cereal and I remember thinking, 'Wow, you're sweating like a pig. Maybe you could do that for a career.'"
"Do what?"
"Be professionally Bringing It."

"Actually I decided to quit P90X, Lance."
"Quit? You know, once I was thinking about quitting when I was diagnosed with brain, lung and testicular cancer all at the same time, but with the love and support of my friends and family, I got back on the bike and won the Tour de France five times in a row. But I'm sure you have a good reason to quit."

"Why me? Every time Horton says' 'If you are feeling toasty here, You can take it easy if you want,or you can stick in there with the rest of us', I take it easy."
"Yeah, when he says that, you're not supposed to choose 'take it easy'. It's supposed to embarrass you into bringing it or at least not giving up."
"That doesn't embarrass me."

"Hey, there, boy! Man, you got big. How long's it been? Three, four months?"
"Ten years."
"Ten years? Man, I gotta lay off the P90X bars."

"I'm telling you you're money. You're so bleepin' money alright and I want you to go over to Beachbody and get those DVD's."
"You're money."
"Come here a second... listen. Now look... When you start P90X, I don't want you be the guy in the PG13 movie everybody's really hoping makes it happen ....I want you to be like the guy in the rated R movie, you know, the guy you're not sure whether or not you like yet. You're not sure where he's coming from, alright? You're a bad man. You're a bad man. You're a bad man"

"She makes me feel kinda funny... like when we used to do the frog in Yoga X."

"And do you know how we got so successfull?"
"Why Tony? Tell us."
"Because were Diversified. Diversification. Yes sir. Were constantly exploring new and exciting areas of the X. And I tell ya somethin'. We better, because there a couple Japanese X'ers out there that are going to do it faster and cheaper."

"Here's the plan. We kidnap Tony Horton, and we hold the world ransom for.....One MILLION DOLLARS!!"
"Ahem...Well, don't you think we should maybe ask for *more* than a million dollars? A million dollars isn't exactly a lot of money these days. The Beachbody contest winner alone made over $250,000!"
"Really?"
"Mm-hmm."
"That's a number. Okay then. We hold the world ransom for.....One hundred..BILLION DOLLARS!!"


Movie answers:

Fight Club
Tombstone
Silence of the Lambs
Full Metal Jacket
Top Gun
Good Will Hunting
Zoolander
Dodgeball
Idiocracy
Talladega Nights
Swingers
Wayne's World
Johnny Dangerously
Austin Powers

Please add your own X-morphisized Movie quotes by hitting 'Comments' below!!

I Want YOU!

To tell me what your favorite humorous Tony Horton P90X quote is...once we have a good sized list we will compile the top five or so into a poll to determine the overall winner. So listen up while you are working out and try to remember what sayings make you laugh and fall out of whatever exercise you were trying to do at the time! Just Hit the Comments line in blue ink at the bottom of this post to feedback your favorite.

Truisms of Team BeachBody

So I have been at this bad boy for almost 75 days now, and I am definitely pleased. I saw a picture of when I was at a friends wedding a few years back and I almost puked to think I looked that bad at one point..Denial...it's not just a river in Egypt. There are a lot of things I have learned as well in my journey to be X-like, and I'd like to share those with you:

-If someone has a Beachbody screenname that has 'Sexy' in it, 90% of the time they either have never posted a picture, or they have and they prove they should have picked a different screenname.

-It is amazing how little beer you need to get you tipsy when you haven't had one in over two months

-Little did I know that along with a highly improved physical state, I'd also get a degree in Nutrition by the end of P90X

-Dreya rolls are the work of the devil

-Hanging out in Shoulder Stand in the Yoga X workout is THE number one motivator for losing your gut

-I will never not laugh at Tony Horton getting hit in the face with the resistance bands by Sophia at the end of the Legs and back video

-Yoga is a lot harder than anyone ever expects it to be

-If I had known how hard this was all going to be, I definitely would have made my designated workout room closer to my bedroom

-I take more pills now every day than my grandfather who has Type II diabetes and three hearta attacks. The difference? I am taking my pills to make sure I don't GET diabetes or have a heart attack.

-Food that is good for you can often cost more than food that is bad for you

-I have so much more clothes now

-For those who say that working out and eating great takes too much time, I say I'd rather have ten more years to live than one more hour in my day.

-

Maan joins the Spartans

TONITE WE DINE IN HELL....AS LONG AS HELL HAS NO SATURATED FAT AND IS LOW ON THE GLYCEMIC INDEX!



That's right...as a personal motivator, about three weeks ago I joined the legendary Spartans P90X workout group...with the goal that by Halloween, I and my fellow Spartans will be able to dress up as Spartans and have people going "Holy Shit!" because they are impressed and not disgusted or amused. So I have 18 days left on my first round of the X, and my side obliques are starting to press out such that I have the pack, which should subsequently break itself up into six separate pieces. So to Honor the Spartans, I post this motivational picture of badass abs himself, King Leonidas:

The Maan writes a New Book

Ok, folks, so I have a great idea for a children's book, and I want to bounce it off all of you before I send the idea off to Simon and Schuster...

The book tells the story of a personal trainer named Horton who, on the fifteenth of May in the Fitness Center called 'Cool', hears a small speck of dust on top of the pullup bar talking to him. It turns out the speck of dust is actually a tiny planet, home to a city called "Goo-ville", inhabited by microscopic-sized extremely obese and unmotivated inhabitants known as Goos.
The Goos ask Horton (who, though he cannot see them, is able to hear them quite well while doing corn cob pull-ups) to protect them from early onset diabetes, to which Horton happily obliges, proclaiming throughout the book that "a person's a person, no matter how small...as long as he BRINGS IT!". In doing so he is ridiculed and forced into a pilates class by the other personal trainers in the gym for believing in something that they are unable to see or hear. His chief tormentors are Dr. Atkins Vladikoff, the Krispy Kreme Brothers and the Nutrisystem Kangaroo, and the small kangaroo in her pouch. Horton tells the Goos that they needed to make themselves heard to the other trainers, lest they end up as part of "Lobster Bisque", which they finally accomplish. The Goos finally make themselves heard by ensuring that all members of their society do their best and forget the rest like they are trying out for the cover of Downward Dog Magazine. In the end it is the smallest Goo of all, Dominic, who provides the last Ohmmmm lift to be heard, thus reinforcing the moral of "a person's a person no matter how small....as long as they BRING IT!".

The Maan Plateaus!

So here I am on Day 54, I've lost 14 pounds so far, 8 inches off my waist, and my percent body fat according to my fancy-schmancy scale is 31.2....good results, right? But not when you figure that at Day 30 I had lost 12 pounds, 6 and half inches off my waist and had a % body fat of 32% even. And there is no question that I am not overeating...my caloric intake daily is capping out around 2500...which is 500 less than the recommended amount for P90X and 900 less than laid out in my nutrition timing book. As far as the weight is concerned, I don't really care that much, I can feel lots of muscles in places that I had just goo before, and the inches don't bother me much either, I am still getting sliimer and getting into pants further and further into my past...it's that damned fat % number that is sticking in my craw. I feel like there is no way my % can be that high considering how little saturated fat I am eating and my calorie count. If I have 31% right now, I must have had well over 45% when I started, because I am so much trimmer now...tell you what, I'll just keep pushing play and do my best...how does that sound? Every measurement is another means to pissing me off so I go to the envelope on every workout...VIVA LA X!

My Yoda X Skullcap

Ok, so after six sessions of Chaturanga'ing through a pool of my own sweat on my mat, I finally found a solution ...I cannot wear a hat during Yoga because it falls off too much, so I have adopted a tight skullcap like the kind you would wear under a motorcycle helmet. It works very well also, I only saturated it and started dripping onto the mat during the Warrior 3 Vinyasa, which, for you non-X types out there reading this, is almost the last set of very hard sweat inducing postures in the Yoga X workout, with the rest being balance postures and stretching which are just hard as shit, but don't make you sweat all that much.

I have actually contemplated starting my own message board thread called the 'Wet Hat Club' for all those people who bring it so hard that they saturate a full baseball cap and then start dripping from it by the end of the workout. I would put a picture of the hat I wore after each workout on the thread post with the hat on a hook while it was dripping after the workout. Would that be cool or what!

The Deal on Fitday

Went to a website on the recommendation of Scott Rupp (aka NHBuckeye) called fitday.com. Basically this is a tool you can use to track your daily calories and fat/carb/protein intake, and there's a bunch of other stuff on there, too. There is also a version that they sell that can be directly downloaded onto your computer and has more tools. Looks good so far, the only painful part of it is that the foods database is not great, so I am having to input a lot of my commonly consumed foods in manually to make sure my numbers come out right. I am not even sure how these percentages are supposed to shake out, I'll have to ask Scott, but it looks like it will definitely keep me honest on calorie count, something that is harder to do using just the portion approach on the P90X nutrtion plan.

As a side note, I did end up going out to dinner with Mrs. Maan after all, I had water, a glass of Chianti and a plate that consisted of a lightly breaded chicken breast, roasted vegetables, goat cheese and a reasonable topping of a tomato cream sauce. The lightly breaded part took me by surprise, I actually went 'oh, shit' when I saw that it was breaded because I thought it would be baked or grilled...this is getting weirder by the day....

Working on my PhD in Buffness

So I was reading through a MDB message board thread two days ago and chanced upon a post where the poster was explaining how she bought a book called Nutrient Timing that explains how and when you should eat if you are in a training regimen (a category which I would have to say the X falls into) so that you can optimize your results for weight loss, building lean muscle tissue, mass buildup and breaking plateaus. What was being described was so complex that I couldn't really get this gist of it (yeah, that's right, ME!), so I felt compelled to buy the book. Once I get through it I will followup and let everyone know the verdict on it.

The other night, my mother-in-law exclaimed that she had started getting a two-pack, and then she was going to work on the fourpack next. At this point I would settle for a backpack. I have a long way to go before I am in the category of a guy having any kind of pack, but I know one thing...I'm on the road.

Happy V-day!

Pushed to a new low weight this morning, the scale teased me quavering between 212.8 and 213, but laughed at me and settled in on 213. Considering my 45 goal is 210, I am right on schedule. I bought this green tea fat burner to go along with my supplements because it had some stuff that the P90X pill set had in it, and ever since then, I seem to be losing weight at a faster clip, i.e. I was at 217ish at the beginning of Phase 2, which was a 8 pound loss over thirty days, and now I have lost another 5 pounds over the last ten days. So I am gonna read the tea leaves and stick with it....no pun intended...it is definitely weird to be going through a Valentine's day and not downing one pink, red or white peanut M&M or heart shaped Reese's peanut butter cup....weird....

I have tickets to the show...THE GUN SHOW

And you are invited, P90X compatriot...I have put out a call to all the folks that I have chanced upon during my time in the X, and we will have quite the posse heading to the GUN SHOW at 8:30PM EST. Have your tickets ready, please, do not stand up until the ride has come to a complete stop, and thank you for visting us here at MAAN MEETS X!

Top Ten ways you know you have been sucked into the P90X Vortex

10. Your recycling bin has had all the beer bottles replaced with water bottles

9. When you say "Do your best and" your kids finish your sentence with "forget the rest"

8. The highlight of your day is an 8 oz glass of 1% chocolate milk or recovery drink with a creatine shake chaser

7. You know that if your steering wheel moved around you must be in a clown car or something

6. You give yourself a four out of five on your self diet rating because you had regular taco cheese on your salad instead of light taco cheese.

5. You don't suffocate when you go to plough from shoulder stand

4. You start coaching others on the message boards as if you were Tony Horton himself

3. You have half a case of coke in your pantry that has been there collecting dust since you started and the only reason you haven't thrown it away is in case you have guests.

2. You know that if someone is REALLY flexible, then they make Gumby look like the Tin Man.

1. You've memorized the names of all the "kids"

Week 5- Settling into the groove

Well, week 1 of Phase 2 is down, and things continue to get better...I still have a lot of fire to get down into the cave and get after it, I'm not at all tempted to eat crap yet (except I really wish I could go out for a Valentine's dinner, not willing to go off the beaten path with my food groups yet), and the pounds and inches continue to melt away...I'm very close to being able to wear my "Jeans I bought when I worked out all the way home from cruise" target pants. I have so many pairs even tighter than those, though, that I am more than capable of keeping the motivational level high. Mrs. Maan is a little pissed that she hasn't lost any weight although she is the most athletic looking I have seen her look in quite some time. So tonite we embark on another Chest, Shoulders and Chest so it should be gorilla city tomorrow. Hopefully I don't have to reach too far over my head tomorrow or turn the steering wheel too far. You think I'm kidding.

Bought a new scale

So I finally got sick and tired of my scale reading my weight the exact same at night and in the morning so I saw a body impedence scale at Costco and decided to snap it up. It measures not only weight but body fat (it actually outs a small charge through your body and based on your age and height it calculates the electrical resistance of your body! This blew my mind, apparently muscle conducts electricity much better than fat so it can detemine your muscle mass from the return current....), bone mass, body water percentage, and lean muscle mass percentage. Unfortunately for me it came back with 32% body fat, which is still pretty bad. I am not going to challenge the results but rather use the number as a motivational tool since it should go down now that I have a reference point. Good news is that I was right, the old scale is messed up. The new scale reads me all the way down to 216, so a loss of 9 pounds on top of the muscle gain...not too shabby...or flabby, should I say...I am actually in large shirts now vs. the necessity due to my hump to wear extra large...now THAT is a good feeling...

Last night did the Yoga X, which I have now affectionately nicknamed YODA X. That is because I feel like sometimes Master Yoda is looking at me while I am balancing in a one hand handstand and making a rock float in the air using the force all at the same time. It is that hard. I would say like Ab Ripper that, in the words of T Hort, I hate it...but I love it.....

30 days--DONE!

So that's it, the first 30 workout days are complete...I can say that I am pleased, and I will be updating this post with pics so you can tell me what you think, Wopner.....

Bring it on, Phase 2

Ok, I swear I'm going to put some pictures in here, and I'll try to put a new one in every two weeks....fresh off the assihilation that was the Pats in the Super Bowl, I am now free from the chains of the perfect season that so dominated my every thought and I can get super psycho crazy about the X now. I think I may have actually strained my Triceps picking up my daughter's Dora pit chair and slamming it into the ground after the 'three guys with a grip on Manning's jersey escape to circus catch by Tyree (Who??) on top of his head'. It's really tight and there's a little pain in it...either way, we will see how bad it is tonite during Chest, Shoulders and Triceps.

Back on track

Ok, so now that both myself and Mrs. Maan are both virus free, we have decided to pick up where she left off, and started Stretch X last night. Good news through the setback is that my weight is regularly down around 8 pounds from the start. Of course my wicked awesome boys in blue, the Pats, are playing in the Bowl Sunday, so there will definitely be a temptation to kick back a few brews and let the diet fly out the proverbial window. I feel confident that I can resist as it will be just us the fam watching the game. We just booked a trip to Disney Cruiselines for next January, and I keep getting that wistful look in my eyes of this muscle ripped Sullymaan walking around the Disney Wonder and shocking the crap out of family I haven't seen in a few years...that should keep that beer in the fridge....

Back in the Saddle

So after my two day hiatus, hell or high water I'm back at the X. Monday was Kenpo, so I felt I could handle it because it was fun, and it went Ok, but didn't feel 100%. Mrs. Maan, unfortunately picked up the X-Killer bug on Sunday and is still out of commish, so we are thinking about running this week out and then repeating the recovery week for the sake of getting everything in. My problem is I feel like I will be over-recovered by that time, so I may have to substitute some of the BONUS workouts that came in my pack for two of the Stretch X workouts in the second week. I also wonder if my calorie count will be supported by these less muscle mass creating, muscle endurance style workouts, i.e. I am overeating for the calorie burn. I am fully open to suggestions at this point....

Maan sick as a dog

Just when everything was tracking along smoothly, I went to a large public Navy Change of Command ceremony and my mingling wih the unwashed masses brought me into contact with a nasty 72 hour flu bug that is going around Norfolk. By the end of recovery week Core, which was probably unadvisable since I was already showing symptoms, my head started filling with snot and my temperature started spiking. After attending a party that night for the very same celebration, I came home with the chills and crawled into bed shivering like it was 20 degrees in my house. The next morning I was completely incapacitated. Just today I am starting to come out of my cloud, but I am still not 100& may have to slide another day....positive aspect of this is that all my pounding fluids managed to flush my ssystem of all the water I was retaining so I am now dow 8 pounds from the start 24 days ago...

Recovery week!

Ok, I have not been able to be in here posting as much as I wanted to, but I intend to change that starting today.

Well things have been going great with the X, after feeling like I was beaten like a rented mule for the first two weeks, my muscles seem to be responding to constant barage of supplements that are recommended in the program, and now, even though I am very sore, I am not 'hurts to sit on the toilet' sore or 'hurts to hand someone a credit card' sore.

The best news of all is that I am dropping a ton of fat. Ironically, though, I have only dropped about four pounds at the same time. I have noticed a lot of areas on my body where strange hard spots have emerged...I think someone referred to them as 'muscles'. I kid, I kid....I think the quick ascent of muscle mass has been due to my mass in previous years when I was young and in great shape and lifting weights and all that leisurely college student and DINK stuff.

Going to a party tonite for one of my Navy buds who I used to Det with who actually got his own command yesterday, which makes me feel really old. He's actually older than I am by a few years, but I remember referring to the skipper as 'the Old Man'...now I am the old man. But at least very soon I will be a very in shape old man...

I plan on getting some pics up soon in the MDB message boards (I don't want my head to end up on some male porn site), so stop back and I'll let you know which one....latah, chowdaheads!

Maan V. P90X - The Reckoning

Hi, folks, it's me the One and Only Maan. And this is a sub-blog, if you will to document my progress as time goes on in the ass-kicking, tongue dragging, nutritionally balanced, recovery drink downing, wet hat making exercise program called P90X created by Beachbody and led by the quirky celebrity trainer, Tony Horton.



The 'X', as it is commomly known, has taken ordinary slobs like me and turned them into rock hard gods of fitness even at my advancing age, which was encouraging, so I had to give it a shot. I have Type II diabetes and Heart Disease in my family, and I have Cholesterol that has to be treated with medication, so this was something I felt I had to do to save my life and be alive when my kids, 4 and 2, graduate from college. I'll do my best to post regularly, I am currently already into Week Three, and although I haven't lost any weight, my belt has come in four nothes so far, so I am probably adding muscle in all kinds of places. I will post my Day 1 pics soon, so keep checking back!