Bring It: P90X Day 90

P90X is an extreme workout created by Tony Horton. It will take 90 days, 12 DVDs and a whole lot of determination to get to the end, but once you get their, the results you see will be nothing short of amazing. P90X works off the basis of muscle confusion. The variety is in the package; you just have to be willing to give 110% each and every time. Combined with a good diet, your extra body fat will be running away.

This is my own personal journey of the P90X system. When I first bought P90X, I was anxious to put it in and push play. That didn't even last a full week. It took a full year to recover before I tried it again. Yet this time there was something different. There was pure stubbornness, a goal, and a really good support system. If you would like to start from the beginning of this series, please click here. If you want to read about my previous day with P90X, click here.

Feel free to leave your comments below. While my journey for P90X has come to an end here, I still have a long way to go. Please share your own personal stories or advice to help others find inspiration and motivation. I look forward to hearing from you.

Today is a sad day. Not only is it the end of the year, but it is also the end of my journey with P90X. I have made it. I can officially call myself a P90X graduate. This is an outstanding accomplishment. With a program this tough, there aren't many who can say they have completed the entire program without skipping a day.

Today was filled with mixed feelings. Excited because my journey here is over and that means I can introduce other workouts into the mix. But sad because I have found a routine and it has been working. Now there is nothing saying that come Monday I can't (or won't) be starting up on round 2 of P90X, but what I do know is no longer writing about it might not make me as dedicated or accountable for what I have been doing. Therefore, even though my journey here has come to an end... for today... it really hasn't come to an end. In order to keep myself accountable, I will be back with an update in 30 days!

So needless to say, with it being the last week and no decisions made on what to do next, I really have spent the entire week pushing it my hardest. Not only did I want to see maximum results, but I also wanted to fend off those pesky Christmas cookies that somehow kept managing to find their way into my hand!

This morning I woke up and I was really sore from Core Synergistics. Not moving too well, I put off my workout until nighttime when I would have gotten enough time to stretch out the aching muscles. Thinking about it now, today was YogaX and that would have probably cured my aching muscles some. So after doing my workout, I feel a little better, but still have those darn sore muscles. You can't say I didn't end this journey with a bang...

So, now what you have all been waiting for....

This is one of the hardest times to try to expect results. As many people are aware, even though I started my journey at the beginning of October, my travels with P90X have unfortunately... or fortunately... run through the holidays. While most people usually put on a few extra pounds of holiday weight, I wasn't just trying to maintain, I was trying to continue to lose. This in itself can be stressful, especially when those Christmas cookies and other holiday goodies seem to be calling out your name.

The key that I found was not to restrict yourself. Not that you should go out and eat the whole pumpkin pie if you feel like it, but to treat yourself to a taste so you don't end up overindulging. This can be difficult for some, as a taste might only be a tease. It requires a lot of willpower, which frankly when it comes to food, I don't have much. Yet, I have made it and I have the results to show it.

When I first started the program, my intention was not to test my success at counting calories. I was testing the program. That was it.... end of story. However, halfway through I realized I wasn't actually eating enough calories on most days. This caused me to change my habits a bit. I wasn't showing the results I wanted because I didn't feed my body enough to actually be burning away the fat. I was actually in starvation mode. So, I started paying attention to my calories, but the main focus was to always test the program! So even though I paid attention and tried to stay away from the goodies, I still ate whatever I wanted most of the time. In the new year, I am going to try to zap even more results by paying closer attention to my nutrition and eating right.

If you have been following my journey from the beginning, you are already aware that I measure success in several different ways. Not only do I count the number on the scale, but I have also been tracking my body fat percentage, the number of inches lost and my BMI, body mass index. In addition, while it hasn't been directly tracked, I have also been watching my clothes go from being snug to actually falling off because they are too big.

Weight - I have always had a problem with the scale. When I am on a health kick, I seem to become obsessed with it. During this journey, I tried to limit the scale to only once a week and view it the way it should be used... as a tool. I did occasionally slip and check the numbers, but I found that was counterproductive.

• Weekly weight loss - This week I lost 0.4 pounds. I would have like to see a little bit higher of a number, but a loss during the holidays is still better than a gain.
• Total Program weight loss - Over the course of the 90 days, I have lost 14.6 pounds. Since I actually started trying to lose weight back in March, I have actually lost a total of 25 pounds. Nothing to be ashamed of. I look like a whole new person and feel like one too. However, my goal is still far from being reached. I still have another 20 to 30 pounds I still want to lose!

Body Fat Percentage - I am lucky enough to have a digital scale that also measures my body fat percentage. Not everybody is going to have this luxury, but because of this, I was also able to track it as well. Now I am not sure how accurate it is because I have been given different results on different ways of measuring body fat. However, the most important thing is to really stay consistent.

• Weekly Body Fat Percentage lost - This week I lost 0.3% body fat. While small amounts may not seem like much, when dropping body fat percentage small amounts are a big deal and will add up. This means I am gaining muscle and getting rid of the pesky fat. It has just amazed me how much the body fat percentage has changed week after week.
• Total Body Fat Percentage lost - During the 90 days, I have officially dropped 3.4 % of my body fat. This to me is a big deal. For body fat percentage, that is a big number over the course of time.

Body Mass Index (BMI) - I am not a big fan of BMI, however it is one of the tools used to tell if people are healthy, overweight or obese. The reason I don't care for this measurement is because typically people who have more muscle mass usually don't come out ahead. Therefore, I try to take this number as it is and not be too worried about it.

• Weekly BMI drop - This week my BMI stayed the same as last week. Not too big of a deal since I didn't have a big drop in numbers on the scale. BMI is measure purely off of weight and height.
• Total BMI drop - Since the start of the program, I have dropped 2.2 points. While I am not where I want to be, it is definitely in a much healthier range than when I started.

Inches - Inches are the best tool for measurement, even if they can be smudged a little if you aren't measuring in precisely the same place each and every time. Yet, even if your measuring skills aren't up to par, the inches are definitely going to be noticed when your clothes don't seem to fit anymore. For my purposes I measure several different parts of my body to calculate my loss. If you measure less parts or only one side, you will see your inches aren't as high. For me, I measured: Ribcage, Waistline, Hips, Arms - right and left, Thigh - right and left, and Breast area (Since those are usually the first things to disappear during weight loss!)

• Weekly Inches lost - This week I lost an additional 3 inches. It seems that is typical after a recovery week when your body really is the mode of changing and rearranging. With the lack of results on the scale, the additional inches are always welcome.
• Total Program Inches Lost - Since the beginning of P90X, I have lost a total of 18 inches. That is amazing and really what has made all the difference. The number on the scale doesn't show as much but the number of inches has really showed how much my body has transformed. There wasn't one area that really had the most excessive inches lost - it was pretty much all over. The results are in the pictures. Out of all the results I measured, this one is by far the most impressive!

This has been an absolutley amazing journey so far. For me, it isn't over yet. I still have a long road ahead of me before I reach my goals. However, I do know that I am halfway there. I am not certain what the new year will bring as I end P90X, but I do know that I have come out of this a much stronger person, both mentally and physically.

This program has changed me. I am not the same person I was before I started. I am much happier, I have much more confidence, and I seem to have more of a drive for life again. Results from this program will vary, and it sure isn't something suitable for everyone. In fact when I started, I actually wasn't even at the level necessary according to the guidebook to even begin. But I am stubborn and I did it. If I can, I am sure there are so many others out there that could accomplish the same feat. Thank you all for your support and thank you for following my journey!

If you want to read my total program review of P90X, click here to move on.