OK, so health kick #54530 is on and poppin’.

I’ve been going strong for about two and a half weeks on this new routine, and I can honestly say, I don’t think I’ve ever gone this hard. EVER.  This is what I look like (I’m not going to lie, I’m proud of these guns):

And this is what my routine looks like:

Monday
A.M.: P90X Plyos (I try to do my morning cardio fasted, but sometimes I just feel like I have no energy/I’m really hungry. Thoughts? Beneficial/detrimental?)
P.M.: Shoulders/abs

Tuesday
A.M.: P90X Cardio
P.M.: Legs

Wednesday
A.M.: 30 minutes of P90X Yoga for warm-up, then P90X Plyos
(p.s., I don’t do much yoga because I heard it slows down your metabolism. My ish is already effed up, so I don’t wanna do too much. Anyone more knowledgeable on the topic beg to differ/wanna enlighten me?)

Thursday
A.M.: P90X Cardio
P.M.: Chest/triceps

Friday
A.M.: P90X Plyos

Saturday
A.M.: P90X Cardio
P.M.: Back/biceps

Sunday (Optional)
A.M: P90X Plyos

Sometimes I’ll do Tabata-style abs or push-ups if I don’t have time to do a full strength workout. I feel like I’ve done a lot of research in the past couple of weeks, and I have really implemented different elements of different types of workouts in my routine. But I’m careful not to overtrain or overdo it.

As they say, and I believe it 100% — working out only makes up 20%. The remaining 80% is what you eat. I’ve been eating super clean.

My diet consists of:
-Raw oatmeal (none of that microwaveable ish…helps that I don’t have a microwave here in my Malta apartment), which I usually eat with raisins and soy milk (I would drink regular milk, but I have come to find that my body doesn’t react well to a lot of dairy — only a bit of yogurt at a time for me)
-Egg whites
-Bananas (Kind of obsessed. Whoda thunk it — Dad forced my sisters and I to eat them every morning essentially from the time we grew in a first tooth until well into our teenage years. “YOU NEED YOUR POTASSIUM!!!”)
-Multigrain bread (still can’t decide what’s better for you between that and whole wheat, but I go for either, as long as the ingredients list doesn’t look sketch.)
-Whole wheat tortilla (For when I like to make fish tacos every once in awhile, yum! But again, check the ingredients.)
-Chicken
-Fish
-Veggies (Mostly green: Green beans, broccoli, LOTS of spinach…but also tomatoes, carrots.)
-Chick peas
-Lentils
-Almonds (RAW, not roasted or salted)
-Plain, low-fat yogurt
-Black coffee (no sugar added)
-Green and black tea (no sugar added)

Seasonings/dressings:
-Lemon
-Balsamic
-Olive oil (a liiittle bit for cooking)

Sweeteners:
-Honey
-Cinnamon

Additional notes:
Booze: I told myself I was going to cut alcohol completely, but let’s face it — I’m in Europe, I have one last month here, I’m going to drink. In moderation, of course. I usually just go for white wine.
Giving into temptation: From time to time I’ll be out to dinner or a get-together around desserts or other sugary, delicious, fatty, carb-olicious (amazing) stuff. Usually my self-control is terrible, but lately I’ve been able to be fine with just trying a bite of a friend’s. (I think it’s because I’m actually seeing results from my new routine and it’s making me want to stick to it!) BUT, if you do cave and go on a binge…calm down. Not the end of the world. The next day is a new day.
Good ol’ H20: One major thing that I make sure to do — drink A LOT of water! I drink at LEAST 2 liters a day.
Lots of little meals: I’m really just trying to get my metabolism normal again. There was a time where I was working so much, nonstop, that it came to the point where I’d be too busy to even take my 15-minute breaks. I got reeeal skinny, but if I ever went on a random binge on the weekend I’d gain weight so fast because my metabolism was shot to hell from all those days of going hours on end without eating. Now that I’m eating 5-6 small meals every 2.5 – 3 hours, I can tell it’s normalizing. YAY!
Pump iron: I have never ever done lifting of any type (not since high school basketball days) — when I would workout on my own, I used to just do cardio (5 miles a day, every day). But now that I am incorporating strength training into my workout, I am seeing way better results. Getting toned up!

Some of the places I’ve drawn tips/exercises/diet tips from are the following:
1.) Diet/workout tips from Kelsey Byers under Bodybuilding.com’s Body Transformations. I found her story inspirational and one that I could relate to, being pretty small my whole life, playing sports and what not…then going to college, not being active, and getting a reality check. She turned her life around and is now a fitness model!
2.) Tabata — great way to burn fat on days you’re super busy (just four minutes!). Not to rely on completely, obviously! Still isn’t going to compare to an hour-long, hard, sweaty workout.
3.) It’s really important to understand how your body works — it really comes down to a science, and not everyone is the same. Doing my routine verbatim may not work for you, and yours may not work for me. I would suggest taking this quiz to find out, and go from there.
4.) These same tips I referred to before are really helpful. And really easy!

Bottom line, and we should all know this: you have to work hard to get results. There’s no way around it. Believe me, I am the most impatient person I know, so I get discouraged, and quit, and restart all the time. But this time I feel really motivated (for some reason…I think when your hair style is going through it’s mullet stage you feel the need to compensate somehow), and I’m actually starting to see results, as mentioned, which makes me really want to stick with it. DON’T GIVE UP! Keep going and I promise you will see a change before you know it. The first stages are always the hardest.

(Important to keep in mind: Seems like there’s a fine line between working hard, pushing yourself, and being health-conscious, then just being psycho to the point where it consumes your life and you resort to unhealthy methods. Let’s learn to discern between the two.)

Have any additional tips or advice? What’s working for you? Please feel free to share!

Good luck (mainly to me: Let’s hope I can stick with this routine and not have to post about giving up in a week.) …here’s to health and happiness!