Insanity kicks it up a notch or 12

This past week, I started the final 4 weeks of the workout program Insanity. It was nice to have a break from the craziness and all out tiredness of working my butt off. I have never, and I mean never had a workout as cardiovascularly challenging as this week has been. Even in all my years playing sports in highschool and even during P90X. All those pale in comparison to the workouts I did this past week. Instead of the regular 40 minute total workout time and 30 seconds for each exercise, we did 60 minutes total time and 45 seconds for each one. I literally thought my legs were going to explode and my lungs collapse on themselves. I was so sore and tired afterward that I wasn't sure if I could make it through the next workout. Somehow, I pulled it through and made it through week 1. I am now in the middle of week 2 and it is not any easier.

I still have not lost any weight on the scale and I'm a little concerned about this. So, this week I'm trying something different with my diet. I'm either not eating enough calories so my body is in shutdown mode and not releasing fat or I'm eating too many calories. This week I started eating very low carb (like 20-30 a day, not counting recovery drink). I'm gonna try it for a week and see what difference it makes if any. If it does, then I'll modify my diet to match this. If not, then I need to eat more and can definitely do that! If I make it through this week unscathed, I will let you know how things turn out.

On a completely unrelated but more important event, my daughter Addi won a beauty pageant a few weeks ago. This was the first time she has ever even entered a pageant and she won her age group! She was so proud, as was I! This past weekend, she entered the Miss Magnolia pageant in Gardendale and got 1st runner up in her age group. She was so beautiful! As long as she has a good time, I don't mind her entering them, but as soon as she doesn't want to, we are done!

Recovery and Rest Week

This week has been a much needed break from the insanity of working out balls-to-the-wall. This whole week I have been doing core cardio and balance. We mainly work on core exercises and really focusing on balance and strenghthening the midsection and legs. It is still hard and I still sweat but it is no where near the intensity of a regular workout. Even Shaun T (the leader of the workout) said that he didn't want us to be wiped-out at the end. Otherwise, I have been working 12 hour shifts this week and this has made it difficult to get in every workout. I have done pretty good so far only skipping wednesday's. This next week, however, will be much more taxing. I am working tues, wed, thur 12 hours so finding a time to fit workouts in will be hard. Realistically, it will be better to wake up early and do them before work but that really, really sucks. Getting up at 430 to workout out like insanity wants you to is almost an impossible task for me, especially now that my kids have decided to take a hiatus from sleeping all night. I have also not eaten as great this week probably because it's a recovery week (the whole mindset thing is surprisingly important :) This next week I will begin my last 4 weeks and a whole new workout sequence so I will keep you updated. Should be fun!