A really long week

This has been a very long week. I worked till six on Monday and till 9 on Tuesday and had to fit in a workout somewhere in between. I was able to do a workout Monday night and then I got up Tuesday morning at 5 am and did another one. That was not really a good idea. I was already tired; A) from the kids waking up in the middle of the night, B) from working late the day before and C) from working out hard the previous night. It took me a good 10 minutes, basically the warmup, before I got to where I could go all out. I have been tired, as usual, this week, but have gotten in good workouts. I am continuing to progress and get in shape and I'm able to go longer in the workouts. I really would like to see more weight come off (as in fat) and worry about building muscle later, but we'll see how that progresses. Eating has been a bit off this week. I have either eaten bad or not eaten enough. For example, one day I ate a bowl of cereal, an apple, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a cliff bar by 3 pm. That might be 700 calories (if I'm pushing it). And another day I ate at Stix, which is delicious but has mega mega calories. Oh well, sometimes you have an off week. This next week is a recovery week so I'll be doing cardio core and balance all week. I am going to take some measurements of my waist, chest, etc so I can have something else to compare other than weight loss (or gain). My goals are to eat much better and really try to get some rest, if I can (don't have much control over that one).

Tired

Well, it's been a long week for exercising. I really, really struggled this week and am in desperate need for a recovery week. Tuesday and Wednesday we did pure cardio and cardio resistance. Thursday, I did cardio recovery and it took every bit of effort on my part to finish just that one workout. Oh yeah, I did cardio abs on tuesday in addition to pure cardio. It was maybe the hardest workout I've ever done. I was so fatigued afterward that I could barely make it to the shower. Like I said, desperately need a week off. Unfortunately, I have one more hard week until my "off" week. The good news is that I have lost inches and can start seeing more and more muscles that I forgot that I had. But, and there is a big but, my muscles are tired. My shoulder is hurting (from lord knows what) and my legs get tired really easily. I have still, overall, gained two pounds (which is frustrating) so I am hoping that it is muscle weight. Eating well hasn't been as hard. I'm still eating good, but I think I may have to increase my caloric intake. My body may be in starvation mode where it starts to store because it thinks I am starving it. This can happen if you exercise really hard and don't consume enough calories. For this week, I may try and increase my calories and see what happens. Of course, it's really hard to this with "good" calories...and very expensive. I'm taking Saturday and Sunday off to recoup and then it's back to it.

Getting back to it

This past weekend was a blur so I will try and recap. Thursday, I did cardio recovery, so lots of stretching and holding stretches (think yoga) for long periods of time. Friday, I did cardio resistance. I think that is my favorite (can you have a favorite torture?) one so far. I like it because it works some muscle as well as cardio. Saturday I had all good intentions on working out but I just wasn't feeling it AT ALL! I was still really sleepy when I woke up despite having a good night and I had to do lots of errands, i.e. yard work, for Colt's party on Sunday. By the time I finished that and the kids were taking a nap, I too wanted to take one....so I did. I decided that I would probably do more harm than good if I tried to half-ass a workout so I took the day off. Sunday was Colt's party and we had a blast. So much fun with all the kids and family. This was my cheat day and boy did I! I had rotel dip and chips and cake and diet Dr. Pepper and fried chicken. Man! it was delicious! But.......I paid for it today. We got back in our routine today and did cardio plyo and it kicked me in the butt like it was day one all over again. It seemed like I couldn't go hard for longer than about 20 seconds. So frustrating! I think I got a pretty good workout in but man, I struggled. I ate better today: cereal, fruit, yogurt, salad with chicken and fat-free dressing, nuts, raisins, and smoothie. I did have a lean pocket for dinner but it is low cal so it's ok :). Til next time, keep striving!

Starting to see some results

Two days ago, Tuesday, we did the pure cardio DVD. It was still awful and one of the most painful/tiring/mentally exhausting exercises ever. Like I have posted before, it is a 10 minute warmup, 10 min stretch and then 20 straight mins of cardio with no breaks. By the end of it I was so tired I could barely move. Yesterday, Wed, we did cardio plyometrics. This workout is also extremely tough working alot on core and hip flexors. I really tried to do more starting this week and pushing myself alot harder and I am starting to see some results. My weight has not changed (in fact, I have gained two pounds) but my clothes are fitting better and I can actually see some core muscles starting to come out. Nothing really big, but definitely some changes. This really motivates me to continue on this course even though at times it feels like torture. I have been eating really good these last few days only eating two pieces of pizza as a cheat. My son's birthday is this week and we are having his party for him on Sunday so I may have to eat some cake :) . Otherwise, I am eating cereal/eggs for breakfast, salad with chicken and veggies, usually chicken/beef and rice or veggies for dinner and almonds, cottage cheese, fruit, smoothies, and a cliff bar for snacks.

Sorry for the lapse

I didn't get a chance to blog any this past weekend so I'm gonna catch up now. Friday, I did pure cardio. It was pure hell! I warmed up for about 10 minutes and stretched for about 6-7 min. Then, I did 20 straight minutes of cardio with no breaks. This was by far the toughest workout to date. It was really hard to continue at a breakneak pace for the entire 20 minutes but I did pretty good. Saturday, I took the day off a) because I worked Friday night from 10p-7a and slept Sat morn and b) we had pictures for the kids Sat afternoon and I was exhausted. The pictures were taken by Amy Pate who owns her own studio (Amypphotography.com) and they were AWESOME!! Addi, my daughter, has the attention span of a hummingbird and she got her to pose and smile and hold still so kudos to Amy! Sunday, we went to church and when the kids took a nap that afternoon, I did plyo cardio. Pretty tough not only because it's a hard workout but also because my sinuses were clogged beyond belief. I couldn't breathe out of my nose to save my life. Yesterday, Monday, my buddy was back with me and we did cardio resistance. I felt much better and more in shape doing this workout so hopefully I have turned the corner and can start going harder alot longer. There is alot of core work involved in the resistance dvd and that is one of my weak points. I would like to be able to hold a plank and do ski jumps for 2 minutes, but it's not happening right now.

This weekend, I ate pretty good except for Saturday. For lunch, I had Arby's and I ate at my grandmother's that night. We always have alot of great food there and pretty good desserts so I used that as my cheat meal (not counting Arby's of course). Otherwise, I ate good trying to include lots of fruits and veggies. One thing that has been really easy and a good snack is a smoothie. I use a cup of milk or OJ, about a cup of frozen whole strawberries, 1/4-1/2 cup of frozen blueberries, one banana, 2 scoops of chocholate protein mix and sometimes a spoonful of peanutbutter. Mix this together in a blender and you've got a healthy snack that will keep in the freezer if you have leftover (which with this recipe, you probably will). Anyway, I'll be back at it this evening doing pure hell, I mean pure cardio again so stay tuned.

Unscheduled day off

Due to circumstances beyond my control, i.e. childcare issues, I could not do Insanity today. It was Pure Cardio day but it's probably better that I didn't do it because neither one of my kids slept at all last night. I really haven't felt all that great so a day off was in store. Will resume tomorrow.

day 2

Today I did cardio power and resistance. It was alot of the same type of exercises as in the previous dvd except more squat jumps and alot of power squats. We also did some V-presses which are a pushup in the downward-dog position. This works the deltoid and triceps. Also, we did tricep dips and some more up-downs. I was really sore before I started and after the warmup and stretching I did feel better. However, this morning, I could barely bend down and pick up something off the floor. Hopefully, this will pass soon and I won't be as sore as I continue with this program. Yesterday, I ate eggs and cereal for breakfast, spaghetti and a salad for lunch and an apple, cliff bar, smoothie, and peanuts for snacks. I did drink about 10, 8 oz. glasses of water and I'm going to try and drink more than that today. The workouts are tough, but being able to do them with a friend is definitely a help. I can't wait until I start seeing results because I think that it will motivate me even more.

Day 1 of Insanity finished with a vengeance

I was all jacked up about starting Insanity until I actually started. We started with a warmup of about 10 minutes worth of jogging in place, high knees, jumping jacks, and heisman poses (followed by double heisman). This warmup wore me out! I figured this would happen because I havent done this type of workout in over two years, but what a discouraging beginning. I mean, if you can't make it through warmups without getting short of breath what's the rest going to be like? Well, I found out. The next ten minutes we stretched and stretched and then we stretched some more. These were not your typical "gym" stretches, no sir. We did some yoga and kenpo stretches (from P90X). After this, we started into the meat of the exercising. We did some suicide runs (two steps in one direction, touch the floor, then back) mountain climbers, jump squats and then up downs. Up downs are when you touch the floor with both hands, kick your feet back to a plank or pushup position, do four pushups and then move your feet forward and back (alternating them for 8 reps). Bring your legs back up, stand up and start over. At one point, he switched it up and had us move our feet simultaneously to one side and then the other all the while maintaining the plank form.

You talk about kicking your butt! I had to rest more than once during this part, mostly because my legs and not in good enough shape to do this yet. After a brief water break (30 seconds) we did some basketball squats, and more up downs. We got 30 second water breaks after every sets of exercise and I could always stop if I had to (which was the case alot of times). The whole workout lasted 40 minutes and I have to say that I did better than I thought but hopefully no where near what I'll be able to do toward the end. I did go all out and could barely move afterward. My legs are nice and sore, but I do feel good. Yesterday, I ate cereal for breakfast, an apple and cliff bar for snack, grilled chicken salad and yogurt for lunch, two muffins and a peanut butter foldover for snack, spaghetti for dinner and a fruit smoothie with protein mix for snack. I haven't calculated how many calories that is yet, but according to the formula (to determine BMR and how much caloric intake you need to maintain and lose weight) I can have 3600 calories and lose weight, so happy eating. More of the same today so stay tuned.