Insanity and more

So, after a lot of time, energy and commitment spent on losing those last 10 pounds after Jacob was born, I've regained them, plus 2.  Argh.  It's a vicious circle really.  Something will motivate me to lose a few pounds (like going on our cruise), and I will, but then I'll regain them while on the cruise.  And then I'll wait till something else really motivates me, repeat, rinse, repeat.

Exercise isn't really the problem.  I've exercised 4-5 times a week for almost 15 years now, so consistency with exercise is all good.  Eating is my main issue.  The issue is I like to eat too much.  And yes, I mean that both ways you could take that.  ;)  And the things I like to eat in particular aren't exactly healthy unfortunately.  Chips and chocolate.  Why couldn't it at least be one or the other?  But noooo, it's both.

So, yes,  I need to get more of a handle on watching my "bad" food intake - I'm going to have to make some rules.  And what I really should do is ask Nathan to ask me every day if I followed the rules or not.  That would make me accountable.

My rules are somewhat flexible because I believe in everything in moderation.

Rule #1 - no eating dessert during the week unless we are guests or have guests over for dinner.
Rule #2 - weekends are not a dessert bingeing opportunity.  Desserts are allowed, but not necessary.
Rule #3 - all desserts needs to be rated at least 9 out of 10 on my own personal scale - no point eating dessert I don't love
Rule #4 - no chips unless served at mealtime (might have to start serving them with every meal!  JJ)
Rule#5 - continue intermittent fasting (based on Brad Pilon's Eat Stop Eat philosophy) once or twice a week (see my previous review/thoughts here)

And I suppose the day after Halloween is a good a time as any to implement these new rules, otherwise I'll be eating mini chocolate bars and bags of chips like there's no tomorrow.  I'm not telling you how much of the kids stash I ate last night.

Anyway, I've also decided to ramp up the exercise so I started the Insanity program by Shaun T.  Yes, it is insane.   I started it while I was still finishing up my Tyson Method classes I had signed up for, so 2 weeks of Insanity took me 3 weeks to complete, but since then I've been doing solely Insanity.  It is cardio like you have never experienced cardio before.

Consider this.  At one point during the workout Shaun T moves on to the next exercise but can't quite spit out the name of it and he yells "I'm so tired I can't even remember the names of my moves!"  I don't think I could even talk during these workouts, nevermind remember the names of any of the moves.

Even though it is intense cardio there is some muscle conditioning involved in the cardio moves because there's a lot of power jumps and squats, even power pushups, and then there is a cardio recovery workout once a week that focuses on stretching and muscle conditioning using moves like slow squats, lunge holds & pulses, planks, etc.

Right now I'm in Week 4 and really enjoying it.  About every 2 weeks you do a Fit Test to see how you're progressing, and I was very pleased to see that I did improve quite a lot in the first two weeks.

Here are my results:

Week 1
Switch kicks: 82
Power jacks: 43
Power knees: 80
Power jumps: 22
Globe jumps: 8
Suicide jumps: 11
Push-up jacks: 16
Low plank oblique: 32

Week 3
Switch kicks: 85
Power jacks: 50
Power knees: 88
Power jumps: 30
Globe jumps: 10
Suicide jumps: 14
Push-up jacks: 23
Low plank oblique: 40

So, there you have it.  I'll keep you posted with my Week 6, 8 and 10 tests!

Now, I better go change and do my Insanity workout of the day.