Wouldn't You Rather?

Ugh. This week has been so frustrating. The X is literally taking up all of my time. I work 9 AM to 7 PM Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday-which means on those days I come home, pop in the dvd, workout, and don't get to relax until I'm done at 9:30 or 10:00. I hadn't been sleeping that well and finally figured out it's because my adrenaline is going beserk until 11 or 11:30-which makes getting up any earlier than 7 very very difficult (plus, let's face it, I'm not a morning person anyway). Blake keeps telling me that the first two weeks are the hardest. I believe him. I just keep waiting for him to say, I meant the first 2 months were the hardest.

Okay, if I'm going to be really honest...

I hate the diet. Who thought that too much meat would be a bad thing? After two weeks of almost nothing but, I would kill for a Krispy Kreme...or biscuits and gravy...or french fries (ooo, french fries). Every trip to the grocery store is torture. In order to buy my whole wheat bagels I have to walk past the cookies. Low fat cheese is right next to the forbidden cream cheese, and my french vanilla creamer sits on the bottom shelf of my fridge patiently waiting to fulfill it's destiny of turning my morning coffee into creamy latte goodness. Every morning I have to ignore it's pitiful stare as I reach instead for the skim milk. Oh sigh.

No wonder people on a diet are always so cranky.

Every night I drive home, wondering, "Why oh why did I decide to do this?" Every night my reason walks through the door and wraps me in his arms and inspires me to be the best me I can be, in every way possible.

Just don't ask me to choose between him and a Krispy Creme for another 88 days.

The X Day 4 is 90 minutes of Yoga, much of which I had to modify or skip all together seeing as how my legs were still mostly jello. The last 45 minutes is almost all stretching, and the next day it paid off. I was able to get out of bed and walk to the bathroom without groaning, cursing, or clutching on to furniture or walls for support.
Day 5 consisted of Leg and Back exercises, which I also made it through pretty well. I skipped the Ab Ripper video all together this day since I was past the point of exhaustion. All this protein is great for the fat burning, but man the lack of carbs is killing my energy. I dream about bagels and warm rolls with butter and potatoes of every kind at night. Sigh.

Day 6-Kenpo. This was by far the most fun. Kenpo is a little like Tai-Bo, but of course it has a Tony Horton twist. It's a lot of self-defense moves "aerobicized". Though easier that the Plyometrics, it is still NOT for the fainthearted. I made it through pretending alternately that I was either The Bride from Kill Bill or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I ninja'd the crap out of my living room.

AND BREATHE-Day 7, the stretch video!!! Blake and I skipped today all together in favor of a little down time. We spent a good deal of the afternoon cooking meals for the next week together. I've never been much for having a partner in the kitchen, but I loved having him there with me. It made the prep time go by so fast, and it made it seem less like we were cooking healthy meals and more like we were on a date. It helps that I'm head over heels in love with the guy.

In other news, I will be going in for a CAT scan on Wednesday-I've been having weird recurring UTI symptoms and the doctor is pretty sure I have kidney stones, but wants a scan to confirm. There are several other possible diagnoses and of course they want to rule out anything that might be more threatening. More updates on this as I get them =D

OH, and I do have a life outside of P90, and you will get to hear about it tomorrow since the workouts are all the same for the next 3 weeks. And, as I keep promising (even though I have yet to deliver) I WILL be posting pictures. Til then, my friends... :)

Nikki's Chicken Meatballs

A few notes and disclaimers:

I am an "eye-ball it" kind of cook, which means I don't measure a whole lot. The only thing I measured in the recipe below was the chicken (portions are everything on the P90X diet). Feel free to adjust the seasonings according to your taste.

I sauteed my meatballs in fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth since I'm fat restricted (this is a useful tip from the P90X nutrition book), but given the choice I probably would have used a little olive oil instead. However, the chicken broth reduced down to a nice glaze-y sauce that is delicious with the meatballs and kept them from drying out, so just beware of this if you decide to go with a more traditional sauteeing method. These can also be baked, but you probably won't get the crusty golden outside that sauteeing gives.

Ground chicken is not as lean as ground turkey (11 grams per 1 lb. vs 4 or 5 for turkey) so if you are severly fat restricted I suggest substituting the turkey (although the meatballs will be considerably drier). I plan on trying these with ground turkey in the near future. I also plan on trying to make my own ground chicken as it has been impossible for us to find a low-fat, white meat only variety in any of our stores.

Finally, DO NOT add any more salt than I have listed here. The chicken broth, though reduced in sodium, still has a considerable amount and when reduced will become saltier. Trust me on this one!

Nikki's Chicken Meatballs

6 oz. ground chicken

1 small garlic clove (I actually just used half a medium sized clove)

pinch kosher salt

1/2 tsp. smoked paprika

1/2 tsp. thyme

5 grinds pepper (I used McCormick's Tellicherry Pepper Blend)

1/2 cup Fat-Free, Reduced Sodium Chicken Broth

Finely mince the garlic clove, sprinkle with pinch salt. Continue to mince and smoosh (that's my technical term ;) basically just rub the knife over it) until a paste forms. (This step is not necessary but does allow the garlic to completely melt into the meatball so you end up with essence of garlic, not vampire-killer breath). In a bowl mix together the chicken, garlic, and other flavorings.

Heat a medium sautee pan over medium high heat. When a few tablespoons of chicken broth bubble in the pan it is hot enough. Divide the chicken into 4 golfball size balls and place in pan (NOTE: the chicken will be sticky and may not hold the ball shape well, but it will not fall apart in the pan. Once it begins to cook it will firm up and you can shape easier if you care about that kind of stuff.) Sautee meatballs on each side until cooked through (about 15 minutes). You will need to continue to add chicken broth a few tablespoons at a time as the broth reduces and becomes dark. To get maximum browning on the meatballs move them as little as possible and only add enough broth to keep the pan and the drippings from burning. Once the meatballs are cooked through, and the remaining chicken broth and reduce for another five minutes until a glazed sauce forms. Serve.

***I made garlic bread to go with this from a whole wheat English Muffin toasted with 1 teaspoon olive oil (optional), garlic salt, and .5 oz Parmesan cheese. It was delicious.

Exercise and Meatballs CAN Go Together

Day 2 of The X is, if anything, WORSE than Day 1. I was actually kind of excited about this video. It's called Plyometrics, which doesn't sound too threatening, and the opening of the video makes it sound like aerobics kicked up a bit. IT'S A LIE. I barely made it through the warm up-not kidding-and after jumping non-stop for 30 minutes I had to give up. Well, to be fair I didn't so much give up as look down at my shaking thighs and say "Jump, damn it, jump" and they just looked back at me, quivering, and said "Screw you lady."

Day 3 also happens to be my day off work, so I had every intention of getting up early, plunging headfirst into the video, and spending the rest of the day congratulating myself. Ah, well, as the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. My good intentions went down that proverbial path when I didn't wake up until 9 AM-and was still exhausted. After 3 hours of washing dishes, vacuuming, dusting, laundry, and other household chores I've been putting off, I was starving. Which meant another 2 hours of cooking and dishes (luckily this means I have enough food cooked for the next 3 days =) all portioned out and everything!).

Then I took a nap. Naptime is highly underrated and should be a national past time.

The X Day 3 is Arms and Shoulders-it's all resistance work with either weights or resistance bands. I opted for the bands. Finally a workout I could do and enjoy! I made it all the way through, stopping only a few times to figure out how to do an exercise rather than to catch my breath. I even made it through the 20 minute Ab Ripper video, although I only did half the reps the robots Tony Horton hired for his video did. Still, VICTORY! and a much needed shot of confidence.

I rewarded myself for a productive day with some Wii time. Just me and my Wii. Somedays that's all a girl needs.

My fabulous lunch, by the way, consisted of chicken meatballs and garlic bread-all made from Tony Horton approved foods. Let me tell ya, nothing goes better with a diet than a plateful of meatballs! I'll be posting the recipe for any interested. This is a recipe I'll definitely be using even when the diet is over. Look for updates tomorrow on The X Day 4-Yoga...for 90 minutes. Oh man, I'm already tired....

The X, Day 1

This is not going to be easy.

Day One video is arms, chest, and back. We will achieve aaammaaazing results with an hour's worth of chin-ups and push-ups (nightmare flashbacks to third grade PE...I couldn't even do one chin up then!). I thought the hardest part of all this was going to be the diet...but really, how hard is it to eat lots of chicken and steak? Not as hard as doing push-ups with your feet propped up on the seat of a chair, that's for sure.

I would have been fine if that's where it ended. As Tony Horton congratulated the incredibly buff men and women who spent the last hour doing 10 pushups for every ONE that I did (and making it look easy to boot), I grunted and lifted my poor body off the carpet and into the kitchen for a drink of water. Which is when the second half of the DVD started.

Oh, yeah, small note to all future P90X-ers: Every day of resistance training is followed with 30 minutes of abdominal work.

I cried.

Then I got out my yoga mat and proceeded to do the fanciest crunches and leg lifts known to man (pausing the dvd every 30 seconds to catch my breath), and finally with 7 minutes and 28 seconds left to go my body literally gave out. I couldn't move my head, my arms, my legs-I could barely blink. The only reason I finally moved was because I thought I might actually vomit the 25 pounds of protein I ate during the day*.

*This is a small exaggeration. It was only 15 ounces. But felt like a million.

On the plus side, I slept great. On my bed that I hadn't made yet, wrapped up in dirty sheets and no pillow cases. But who's counting. I'm not, I made it to Day 2 =)

The Challenge

Blake has been on a body image mission for as long as I've known him, and his latest attempt at a Hugh Jackman-like physique is the purchase of the P90X system. For those of you who are not familiar with this, it is an INTENSE workout regime based on the idea of muscle confusion. You work out 6 days a week (with an optional 7th day stretch video) for 90 days. You also follow a strict diet set up to boost your fat burning and muscle building. Then, in 90 days, you look like this:

BEFORE

AFTER

Looks impressive, right? And totally fake. Until you look on YouTube. Just Google P90X testimonials. I did, and that's when I decided to give it a try too.

Blake realized that he wasn't following the diet properly, so after his first 45 days he decided to rest a week and join me when I started (which was today). My girlfriend Courteney at work is also starting with her boyfriend today. We're all nuts, I agree.

On the other hand, I've learned a lot about healthy cooking and planning ahead in the last 72 hours as I prepared for this program, and I thought it would be useful for both me and anyone who reads this to see how it goes. So look here for pics (you WILL NOT be seeing my before pics until I start seeing results), recipes that are good enough for everyday eating (not just when you're dieting!), and useful tricks I find for helping plan meals ahead.

And with any luck you'll get some updates on my life too ;)

Driving Tips

Top Ten Things Other Drivers Do That Result In Me Flipping The Bird, Screaming Obscenities, and Exhibit Other Classic Signs of Road Rage:

(I realize that by posting this I am indeed a hypocrite, but hey, when I do it it's not to me so I don't care as much. And I really do try to avoid these particular annoyances. And I would love to hear any of yours that I've excluded. It could be a whole other blog.)

10. Get in the turn only/exit only lane to pass traffic that has slowed to a stop, then fail to exit or turn but instead come to a screeching halt to re-enter said traffic.

9. Speed up to pass me on the highway, then get back in my lane and go slower than I am.


8. Talk on your phone, TEXT (yes, this includes "only reading" your emails or text messages), put on your makeup, eat a four course meal, or otherwise engage your hands and brain while they are supposed to be driving.


7. Enter the turning lane to make a left hand turn but swerve sharply to the right into MY lane as I pass you because obviously turning left involves first turning right.


6. Drive a Hummer, Escalade, 18-wheeler, or a monster truck.


5. Drive straight down the middle in an apartment parking lot. Then give me a dirty look when I, driving on the right side of the 2 WAY PARKING LOT LANE, attempt to pass you going the opposite direction..


4. Ignore the tollway signs that indicate quite clearly which lanes are Tolltag only and enter that Tolltag only lane without even knowing what a Tolltag is. Then come to a complete stop and REVERSE on the HIGHWAY to get into the correct lane.


*Side note: This is even more fun now that the Tollways are all electronic tolling and they don't accept cash, so you can go in ANY lane and they'll just bill you. Which means now you same people are coming to a complete stop in the tollbooth to read the sign that says "Do not stop, Keep moving. We will bill you."


3. Drive your motorcycle between lanes in traffic at (minimum) 90 mph.


2. Stop to see what happened at an accident site. On the other side of the road.

1. Fail to check your blind spot OR turn on your blinker before attempting to enter my lane, then react to my honking horn with yelling, horn honking, fist pumping, and absolutely nothing resembling an apology on your face.

That's all. Thank you for listening. Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

It's About Time...

...and lately I haven't had any. Change seems to come so quickly, it can be quite painful when it is making it's mark, and then just as swiftly it disappears leaving you breathless in its wake. That's what this year has been about. Change.



The first big change was Blake, who is amazing, still in my life, and a big part of all the changes that have been taking up so much of my time. But you already knew that ;)



The next big change was my job at Microsoft, which is amazing, still in my life, and an even bigger part of all the changes in the last few months.



The BIG change was the official moving out.



I'M OUT!!!!



May 1st I moved into an adorable 1 bedroom plus den apartment in a nice area (it's definitely diverse-and I'm definitely the minority-but totally safe). Philip, Blake, my mother, father, Aunt June, Blake's parents Pat and Kathy, and my cousin Steven all very bravely helped me move my storage unit contents from Flower Mound to Dallas, then proceeded to help me unpack the majority of them. Kathy and Aunt June handwashed every dish I had, Dad determinedly hung my new flat screen tv over my fireplace, Mom helped me sort out everything (including some bad memories of Ben) and pack them away to the storage unit for donation, and Blake and Pat ran all over town getting things that we needed but forgot (everything from coaxial cable to flashlights to pizza-we had to eat sometime).



Luckily the rain held off until after everything had been unpacked from the car, and by 8 pm that night my apartment was almost fully furnished and about 75% unpacked. The only problem was that nothing was actually put away yet. Normally this wouldn't bother me, but turns out I had less than two weeks to get my apartment fully unpacked, put away, and liveable, because I got cast as Maria in the Sound of Music for Garland Summer Musicals.



Which is DEFINITELY a whole other blog.



So I guess that's part one of "Where's Nikki". I hope I get to host many happy get togethers in the next 10 months...after which I will be moving in with Blake =) Again, another blog. I'm ready for wine, friends, and laughter to fill my living room...so let me know if and when you're ready to join me. Till then...

Coming Home

I know it's been months since I've been on here. There is so much I need to catch up on-but right now I just ordered a pizza, opened a bottle of Chardonnay, and sat down in my favorite chair in my new apartment. Candles are lit, Food Network is on, and I can finally, after months-even years-take a deep breath and say...

I'm home. =)

Playing House

It has been some time since I've updated, and since I finally have a free Saturday morning I thought I would catch you all up on my comings and goings.

I still love my job, especially the whole getting paid more than minimum wage part. In fact, because of that paycheck, I'M MOVING OUT!!! I am currently in the process of looking for apartments. I want to be near Blake, and fortunately he also lives near some of my closest friends (Philip, Lindsay and Sean, and Vanessa-if and when she moves out). Turns out it's a lot faster to drive to work on the George Bush tollway than it is from my parents house. And I'll be really close to one of my favorite places in the whole world, Central Market (which, aside from having incredibly fresh produce and a meat lover's heaven of a butcher section, also has the best smelling bathrooms in Dallas-weird, but true). So that's where a lot of my time and energy has been spent-focusing on the move out that I (and my parents) have been hoping and dreaming for for 2 years.

I've also been perfoming at church, going to friends' shows around town, celebrating my birthday, trying to visit with my nephew, celebrating Valentine's Day with Blake...busy busy busy as usual.

Speaking of Blake, we've spent the last week playing house. I think he would love it if I moved in for real, but I really need some time of my own before I do that and he gets it. He is amazing. But back to playing house. He invited me to stay with him for the last few months until I move out. To which I was like, oh goodness, I just don't know...I would feel so in the way. So (because he's amazing) he said, well, then move in for a week. If you like it, stay another week. You can always go home whenever you want. (Have I mentioned he's amazing?) So I spent last week with him. And it was wonderful. So I'm staying another week. And probably another. I'm hopeless. And silly. And completely in love. It's kind of sick.

There's my quick update. I'm going to go enjoy my Saturday morning, and with any luck I'll be back on here sooner than later. =)