Insanity Week 3 DONE

I finished Week 3 of Insanity today and it feels amazing. I feel so accomplished. Yes I have 6 more weeks of insane workouts to go, but I am a third of the way done. It feels good also to have Matt and Taylor doing it with me. It actually makes me push harder, which I like. Yesterday was Thanksgiving and although I did eat a lot of food, most of it was pretty good for me and I didn't feel terrible and stuffed after eating it. Some of that I guess was that I made sure to get my workout in before having Thanksgiving dinner. I hope that everyone had a happy and healthy Thanksgiving too!!

I have a Confession............

My name is Tracie and I am addicted to the *SCALE*!!! For whatever reason, I can't stop weighing myself. I have had this problem for a long time, even before I started my journey to be healthier. It is probably one of the reasons I decided to begin my journey, because the numbers kept going up. So now that the numbers are lower than I ever expected them to be, I still can't stop weighing myself. Not only do I weigh myself every morning, but sometimes several times throughout the day and before I go to bed. The numbers don't bother me anymore, it doesn't matter what they say, I know I feel better and I have lost tons of inches and my new smaller clothes are fitting a little big, but I still can't stay away from the scale. Now the only number that I count is the one from the morning of my weigh-in day, which is now Sunday, but for whatever reason, my feet cannot resist stepping on the scale. Now I have thought about having my husband hide it and only get it out when I need it, but I am not sure if the out of sight out of mind thing would work in this situation, but maybe. However I don't feel that my addiction is affecting my life in a negative manner, so is it worth hiding the scale? It doesn't take much time to stand on the scale for a moment while my weight registers and after I get off, half the time I forget what it said, it is just something about standing on the scale. I know, I know, I am weird, but then again most of the people reading this blog know that already!! :)

Insanity Day 15 Fit Test

So for those of you that don't know anything about Insanity, it has you do a Fit Test on Day one that consists of 8 different exercises and you have to do as many reps in 1 minute that you can. You then do the Fit Test again on Day 15, Day 36, Day 50 & Finally on Day 63. The goal is to improve each time you do the Fit Test. I was quite impressed with my results today, I feel stronger and feel as though I have more endurance to push through. So here are my results.

Day 1/Day 15
Switch Kicks: 55/62
Power Jacks: 47/52
Power Knees: 82/112
Power Jumps: 27/36
Globe Jumps: 9/10 (for whatever reason, these are my weakness)
Suicide Jumps: 12/20
Push-up Jacks: 14/24
Low Plank Oblique: 43/75 (I thought my original number was higher, so I pushed super hard at the end)

Most exercises, I had a big improvement, I was a little disappointed in the globe jumps, not really sure why I have such a hard time with them. Maybe I will get more next time. My next one will be on December 11th, so hopefully I will be able to improve by then.

Whatever workout you are doing, keep pushing. Try to push yourself a little harder each day. That is how you get results and as Shaun-T likes to says "DIG DEEPER!!"

Nutrition: The things I have learned

When I first decided to get my body back, I said to myself that I would workout, but I didn't want to eat right. I love food and there were a lot of things that I didn't want to give up. Soda being one of them. I had my mind set on eating whatever I wanted but trying to workout at least 5 times a week. Well one week of working out and all of the sudden my body wanted something better in terms of nutrition. I stopped drinking soda cold turkey and started counting calories. I use Myfitnesspal.com to count my calories. It is a wonderful website and also has an app for iphone, Android and Blackberry. You can input your current weight and height and your goals and it will calculate how many calories you should be eating in day to achieve your goals. In the beginning, I was keeping my calories around 1200 a day. I admit it was very hard in the beginning and there were times that I was hungry, but I pushed through and have gotten the results I wanted. Yes there were days that I splurged, but I choose my cheats wisely. I wanted my cheats to be worth it and not regret it later. After I reached my goal weight, I increased my calories to around 1500. And now while doing Insanity, I have been keeping my calories around 1800. But it isn't all about calories, you have to be smart about what you are putting in your body. I am definitely a label reader now. I try to stay away from high fructose corn syrup and I have decreased my consumption of white flour and sugar. I even have been eating wheat bread lately!! Crazy for me!!! I have also found several things that help with my sweet tooth. Of course 100 calorie packs work great, but there are other things too. Like Popcorn Indiana's Cinnamon Sugar Kettle corn, one of my faves. You don't have to change everything about your nutrition right away, you can do it gradually over time. Slowly omit certain things, like soda or chocolate or Starbucks lattes!!! Oh and by the way, a Tall Starbucks Skinny Peppermint Mocha is only 100 calories and very tasty.

Before and After Pics

July 11th, 2011 after losing 7lbs. These were the first pictures I took. I really wish I would have taken actual before pictures but hey.






















November 7, 2011, the day I started Insanity weighing in at 114lbs. 21lbs lost!!!!

Timeline

May 30, 2011 - I started 30 Day Shred with Jillian Michaels level 1 weighing 135lbs (can I mention I am 5'0")

June 9, 2011 - Started Level 2

June 22, 2011 - Started Level 3

June 30, 2011 - Finished 30 Day Shred weighing 130lbs

July 3, 2011 - Started Jillian Michaels' Ripped in 30

July 11, 2011 - Finally took pictures (never took before pictures, kept procrastinating, but I really wish I had taken some before I started since by the time I took them, I already had lost 7lbs)

July 30, 2011 - Finished Ripped in 30 weighing 125lbs

July 31, 2011 - Started Jillian Michaels' 6 week 6 pack

September 8, 2011 - Finished 6 week 6 pack weighing 120lbs

September 9, 2011 - Started Jillian Michaels' Killer Buns and Thighs along with Burn Fat Boost Metabolism and No More Trouble Zones.

November 3, 2011 - Finished Killer Buns and Thighs and decided to take a two day break.

November 6, 2011 - Started Insanity with Matt (Fit Test went better than expected) weighing 113.8lbs (Not wanting to lose any more weight but working on toning up and staying fit)

Worked out 5-6 days a week for 22 out of 24 weeks!!! WOW!!!

And the Blog Begins!!!

I should have started this a long time ago when I first started my journey. But better late than never. I plan on going back and documenting some of my accomplishments and struggles during my journey.

I started my journey on May 30th, 2011. I always told myself that after I was done having children, I would take my body back. Well my youngest turned 1 in April and I figured it was time. Something clicked in my head and there is no turning back. I have learned so many things about myself and life since my journey began and right now I am in the best shape I have ever been in, in my life. I feel amazing and I can do things that I never thought possible. Not to mention all of the people around me that are being motivated by my motivation. And those people probably don't realize that their motivation is also motivating me.

Today was Insanity Day 10, Plyo Cardio Circuit and I pushed harder than I thought possible. When I started the warmup, my legs were stiff and I was thinking that I wasn't even going to be able to get through the warmup, but I finished the whole workout and killed it. I love the feeling of accomplishment.

I plan on posting pictures and a timeline of my journey and hopefully I will be able to keep up with this blog.