Today's the Big Day!

Today is the big day. Today is the day I weigh in and see the fruits of my labor. I’m very excited. I initially weighed myself on my Wii so I kind of want to stick to the same scale. But working in a hospital, the temptation to go hop on the first scale I come across is very great- almost unbearable. I know I’ve at least lost some inches just above my obliques. I put on one of my favorite dresses today that was very tight in that area and I have space now. So that makes me happy.

I’ve been sticking to the Insanity workouts and trying to eat better but it gets hard with so many different things coming at you from so many different directions. I’m used to going to my favorite restaurant and ordering whatever I wanted regardless of how many calories or how much sodium it contained. All I cared was that I was feeling down and food made me feel better. The solution was obvious:  I was going to eat, drink and be merry. But I see where that’s gotten me.

Instead of resorting back to my old methods I decided instead to take all the aggression and aggravation I’m feeling at the moment and use that negative energy for a positive purpose – to burn off some of the fat instead of adding to it by emotionally eating. I’ve been doing pretty well with my food regimen lately but I know I have much more work to do. I hate the term “diet” because it sounds so restrictive but when I call it my food regimen I feel like I’m in control. I hope that makes sense to you… LOL

This week I’ve been eating Special K cereal for breakfast with 2% milk because anything lower tastes like breast milk (aprx. 150 calories), a sandwich for lunch (aprx. 350 calories) and mainly chicken and veggies for dinner (aprx. 500 clories) . Snacks are sugar-free jello (10 calories), pudding (60 calories) or applesauce (60 calories). I typically eat two jellos and (1) 60 calorie snack. I only drink water throughout the day. I like to save my calories for other “good-bad” things like adult drinks which I KNOW stunt the weight loss process but I’d much rather have 4 oz. of vodka with diet soda than a cheeseburger any day. It usually puts me to sleep and I’m too tired to get up and go “midnight munching”. LOL

So depending on the scale, I’ll continue to make sensible food choices and keep my caloric intake in the 1000-1300 range and keep my nightcaps. But if the number doesn’t represent all the hard work I’ve been doing – something has to go.

I am interested in dietary regimen to get a good jumpstart on my weight loss. Can anyone recommend any supplements or food plans beside Weight Watchers? They are great but I intend to do that program at a later phase to maintain. Right now, I have so much to loose (at least 50 lbs) and I want an overnight miracle as if I didn’t gain this weight over a period of time. What? Are you surprised that I know this isn’t as fast of a process as I wish it were? LOL

I’ll post my weigh in results later. There will not be an Insanity Review today because I’m repeating the Polymetric Cardio Circuit and I’ve already reviewed this workout. (I’m following the calendar only making modifications to cut the longer workouts in ½)

Talk to you guys soon and hopefully – no prayerfully there will be good news!

Insanity Day 1 - Part 1

So... I finally did it.!!! I finally stopped talking about doing Insanity and finally mustered up the guts to do Insanity. I decided not to do the Fitness Test. Instead, I started out with Disc 2: Plyometric Cardio Circuit. I already know I need to be in a LOT better shape than I am in now. As a matter of fact, that's exactly why I'm doing this. I want to become a healthier me. I’ll gauge my success by how much faster I can run a mile, larger my clothes feel and how much longer I can workout without needing a recovery period. Oh yeah… I wouldn’t be too disappointed if I looked good in a 2-piece either afterward but for now, I’ll take what I can get. As we journey down this road through Insanity and beyond, we must be mindful that no two people are the same so we have to use our own measures for our own goals. But that’s another post for another time….

Anyway…I was so excited to see what the big fuss was about that I hardly slept last night. I set my alarm for 6:30am and ended up getting up at 6:00am to start my first attempt. Armed with a towel, 2 litter bottle of water and a lot of guts I headed to the basement. I didn't use a heart rate monitor but will once I complete the program once without the pressure of having it. I think a lot of times we get so caught up on numbers (weight, heart rate, BMI, resting heart rate) and self-imposed deadlines that we neglect to take the time out to enjoy the stress-relieving benefits of exercise. Now maybe if I keep telling myself that’s why I’m doing it, I’ll start to believe it. LOL

I watched so many Youtube videos of people doing Insanity and read so many reviews that I can honestly say I was prepared for what Shaun T. was about to do to me. Within the first 3 minutes of (what I like to call) the warm-up from hell, I managed to work up a good seat and was in need of a water break. But I toughed it out and waited until the rest of the group was able to break too. The “warm-up” lasted apprx. 20min and my heart rate (manually checked) was well above my “safety zone” by this time. I think I sweated out my sewn-in weave…if that’s possible.

The warm-up consisted of a light jog, jumping jacks, jumping side lunges, mummy kicks, sumo squats, high knees, Heisman’s,  and a few other moves that didn't hurt me enough to remember what they were. Then we went into the stretch. I hated the stretch! I’d rather do the warm-up again than to do this awful stretch. The next time I do this disc, I’ll probably do my own thing during this time to target the same muscle groups.  I probably disliked it so much because I'm not very flexible, have very little core strength and have a little too much "insulation" around my belly to fully get into the moves. So forgive me if I’m too critical of the stretch. Perhaps, I’ll enjoy it once I finish the program.

Speaking of the stretch, I can’t understand why it was put in between the (2) 20 minute sections on the DVD. This is what made me thing I was done. Yall would have been laughing. I could have sworn I did something! Then I found out that was only the warm-up. Imagine the look on my face: I’m all out of breath, drenched in sweat and drank ¾ liters of water and that was just the warm-up! I definitely need this in my life!!! I managed to get through the first circuit but decided to finish up disc one tonight.  Supposedly, working out twice per day is better than once because it gets your metabolism going. But that’s another post for another time. I’ll post my experience with the next circuit tonight along with my stats, weight, and before pic.

Be back soon...