INSANITY Nutrition Program

Since I'm not prepared to start the workouts until next weekend, I decided to do my due diligence and read through the Elite Nutrition book. I really like it!

Before I went to grad school, I had a very typical office job, and my company was just awesome and relaxed and flexible. We had a fridge and a gym there, and I was able to structure my meals and workouts really well. I ate 5 small meals a day, and I made sure I balanced my carbs, fat, and protein. It was awesome! This nutrition book suggests the same, not surprisingly. I've wanted to get back to that type of eating, and I have been using my lifestyle as an excuse... no longer! I'm going to follow this plan!

With my age, weight, and fitness level, it says I should be eating 2100 calories a day to lose weight. I'm going to give it a shot! I think this is the breakdown I'm going to go for:

Breakfast - 400 calories

Snack 1 - 400 calories

Lunch - 500 calories

Snack 2 - 300 calories

Dinner - 500 calories

I know it's not goo to push all your calories to the end of the day, but I know I'll always want to have more at dinner, so I'm going to just plan for it. The good news about the plan is that it's a lot of food I really eat anyway like whole wheat toast with peanut butter on it (my breakfast EVERYDAY).

I'm going to be gone all day long, so I'm going to need to pack my foods in the morning. There are a lot of egg options, so that's going to be difficult. I don't like hardboiled, so I'm going to stick to eggs when I'm home near my stove. I have a feeling I'll be substituting in sliced turkey or even beans for some of those proteins on the go. I love oatmeal and yogurt, and I actually used to use those as my afternoon snacks when I was more on the 5 meals a day kick. I think this is going to be an old familiar eating plan that I have absolutely missed! Now the key is to never get off of it!

INSANITY has arrived!

While I was away for work this week, my INSANITY package arrived. Very nice! The packaging is quite fun. It's this huge book basically. I love it! So far I've looked at the beginning of the nutrition section and paged through a few of the recipes. Here are my observations:

It definitely sounds like a great way to eat! I used to be in the habit of eating 5 meals a day that were very well structured in terms of the balance of carbs, protein, fat. This internship has gotten me away from that, so I am going to focus a lot on this when I start INSANITY.

The calorie totals are high! I used the Very Active multiplier because it's for people who exercise 5-6 times per week. I'll be doing that plus walking to and from school which is ~1.5 miles each way. That brought my maintenance calories to 2645! I sadly gained a few pounds this summer... They won't be here for long though! I'm going to do the weight loss totals, so that will still put me at eating 2145 calories a day! WOW!!!

I plan to track my calories on www.myfooddiary.com which is IMHO the BEST food and exercise diary out there. It's only $9 a month, and it is worth it! Waaaayyyy better than the free ones!

Okay, only one more week of work and then I start INSANITY!!!! I can't wait!

Go Debbie Siebers!!!

So as I wait for my Insanity to come, I'm doing random workouts here and there. The weekends are my main time because lately I've been working almost 80 hours a week. Yuck! Today I was going to go out jogging, but it is like a swamp in PA! I came back inside immediately and decided to do a workout at home.

In 2003, I bought Slim in 6, and it was my first foray into beachbody.com workouts. My results were actually awesome! My legs have never been so slim. I also bought the Slim Series DVD's which I think of as the equivalent of the P90X plus series... just a little something extra but similar to Slim in 6. For those who aren't used to Debbie Siebers workouts, they are actually quite good! She is more of a muscle endurance type... you are literally moving for the entire hour you are working out. It's a combination of lunges, squats, and plies with different arm exercises done simultaneously (like shoulder raises, bicep curls, etc.).

After doing P90X, I think you tend to get a little of a workout chip on your shoulder... kind of like, well I did the X, so nothing else will be hard. I'm expecting Insanity to be hard, but going back to a Slim in 6 workout seemed like it would be a piece of cake. Let's just say I was WRONG! I was so impressed by how difficult my body thought it was! My muscles were absolutely burning, and I was dripping with sweat! It just goes to show you that doing something different can really kick your butt! In my one hour workout, I burned 795 calories!!! During the lunge/squat/plie sequences, my heart rate was in the 170's! WOW!!! I'm so happy I did this workout! PS, in case you're wondering, it was "Tone It Up!" a weighted workout.

So here's a highlight of some of my favorite moves that work your butt off (literally) but I totally forgot about them. One of her favorites is the pelvic tilt where you lay on your back like you're going to do crunches, and you squeeze your booty and tilt your pelvis. It's a teeny tiny movement, and you'd think it does nothing, but I dare you to try it. You will definitely be sore the next day if you're doing it right. Plus, she has you put your dumbbells on your lower stomach, so you're actually lifting weight with your butt. Interesting, right? Debbie Siebers is also a leg lift queen. Now you'd think again, no big deal, that is so 80's. I can just imagine the ladies from the old Firm videos in their crazy spandex throwing their legs around. Well, Debbie focused on small movements, and it just NEVER ENDS!! My hips were literally burning. I was laying down, and my heart rate was still in the 120's. That has got to say something!

I should have remembered that someone who created the 80/20 squats that Tony H does can really kick my butt. I'm so happy I did that workout! It makes me remember that not only do I have P90X to keep me going, but I have some of these great Slim Series DVD's as well. And of course, INSANITY is on the way!

Have an excellent Sunday!

I bought Insanity!

It's official... I have purchased Insanity! I can't wait! I only have one minor concern about it... I live on the fourth floor of my apartment building, and I'm worried I'm going to annoy my neighbor with all the jumping. Ahh, whatever! I'll make sure I do it during decent hours of the day! I'm so excited!!! I have two weeks left in my internship and then it's back to normal life (which will now include INSANITY)!!! Woo hoo! I'm going to be better about before and after photos on this one. I promise I'll post those once I get things started!

Arms and Shoulders!!!

That's right, I did arms and shoulders today!!! I am so happy! I have some free time today, which has been rare this summer. I decided I'd catch up on my DVR and do some P90X. I got to run yesterday and did some lunges and squats, so I figured I'd go for Upper Body work. My goal is to do Chest and Back tomorrow. Woo hoo! Arms and Shoulders felt great, and I felt pretty strong which is great since I haven't done it in a while. I'll be interested to see if I'm sore tomorrow... probably! It felt great to be back on the wagon though. Hooray!

I got myself some new yoga pants, which are awesome! They're from Victoria's Secret, and they're the ones that fold at the waist. Quite comfy and cute! I'm pretty sure they were on sale too, if you're looking for a deal.

Happy workouts everyone! :)

This week and Plantar Fasciitis

As usual, this week's workouts took place in my hotel room. The big bonus was the fact that I was upgraded to a suite, so I had a ton of space! I could shuffle from side to side, jog around the room, etc. It was great! I did Kenpo X by the book on one of the days because I wanted the stress relief of punching the air! ;) I made it out for a run too, although it POURED on me after 15 minutes. I just ran inside and did some lunges, squats, pushups, etc. with jumping jacks and jump squats and stuff mixed in.

I've decided that I will be buying myself P90X+ within the next couple weeks. I'm quite excited! I have 5 weeks left of my internship and then it's back to grad school for one more year. I want to have + for my workouts during school. That starts August 24. I can't wait! The internship is a great experience, but traveling is not good for my life! I'm pretty sure I'm meant to be at home, as much as possible. I won't mind traveling for work sometimes, but I really miss cooking my own food and being home at night.

My other topic for the day is plantar fasciitis. I have an itty bitty case of it,

and I'm working on alleviating that. For those who don't know

what it is, there's tons of info out there on webmd and such websites. Essentially the arch of my left foot gets sore (I have pretty high arches). Some people get heel pain, but that hasn't happened to me just yet. I'm trying to stretch my foot and achilles and calves a lot more because that's supposed to help. I got some great new (very supportive) running shoes too, so that should help. If anyone has plantar fasciitis advice for me though, let me know! I'm doing my towel stretches, plus extra calf stretches, and calf stretches with a slightly bent knee so it focuses more on the achilles. Other than that, I'm not sure what to do except get orthotics which I'm not prepared to pay for right now!

Today's workout is going to be a long walk to the store and back. The weather is beautiful! I'll do some yoga when I get back to stretch my legs out, and that's about it! Have a wonderful week!

Time is flying by!

I've been on the road now for 4 weeks... my internship is only 10 weeks long, so I'll be back to grad school life soon. I've had some triumphs and some difficulties! The past two weeks, I've only gotten in two workouts per week on the road. On the other hand, I have been commuting on foot in NYC with my laptop and sometimes luggage, so I've gotten in some nice incidental exercise as well. I still pack my resistance band and my P90X book for some inspiration. It's worked out well! I also fit in a run last weekend, so I'm getting there. It's crazy how a life change like this can throw you off kilter.

Food is definitely a challenge too! I eat ALL of my meals out because I'm staying in hotels. Here's what I've come up with so far to keep me in check:

Starbucks skinny vanilla latte and a spinach egg wrap for breakfast - not perfect but keeps my calories for breakfast around 400, and I get some calcium and protein.

A salad from a local deli for lunch - I can get a whole bowl of lettuce, and I put 6 toppings on it. I usually go for chicken, maybe some avocado, and the rest veggies. Plus some balsamic vinaigrette as dressing

Dinner is a crap shoot! I've done a lot of sushi because I trust it. I can even get it with brown rice in NYC. We've had some team dinners out though, so I've definitely had some challenges there. All in all though I'm learning and doing my best. I just have to keep trying! I've been journaling my food and it's definitely not to the point it should be but I'm maintaining my weight. So that's good!

Ummmm, can't wait to get me Shaun T's Insanity!