Update

Oigh! Why am I sore? I should not be sore. Oh, and in my FACE -- I was sore in my upper body after snowboarding on Saturday. I said I didn't use much of my upper body so I wouldn't be sore there but nope I totally am. I wonder if I'm too tight so when all of the adrenaline goes away I get sore? Or does the balancing act of being on a snowboard take proportionately more strength in my upper body compared to the proportionate increased strength in my legs to be and maneuver on a snowboard? But I'm really curious as to why I'm sore now. Did skipping 2 days really have that effect!? I'm about 1/2 as sore as I was when I first started doing Month 2. It's mostly my upper back muscles, not as much triceps and not at all biceps. I can really feel my core engaging when I do sports now. It's a great feeling! I feel more athletic and fit. I decided to start eating better so I can get that extra little "oomph" to shaping my body. Starting with... only one ice cream sandwich, not two, at night :) and I forwent the cookies at lunch. Better not to lighten the wallet to heavy the stomach eh? Keeping my wallet fat and my tummy .. not as fat. I'm still duck-status though, keeping some fat in my tummy just like a duck. Might stay that way. I don't think I'll go down anymore in clothes sizes -- my waist hasn't shrunken past 26" and there is already some definition forming, and my hips won't fit into anything smaller than a 4. Oh, but, so, ok I take what I said about clothes not getting smaller back. That's just pants sizes. My dress and shirt sizes have shrunken from medium to small! My broader shoulders sometimes keep me from wearing a small but for the most part I'm usually a small now instead of the previous default size medium. Woohoo!

Insanity, Day 61: Max Cardio Conditioning

Was late for work.. no time to do Insane Abs. I wanted to make up for it this weekend but I think that's when I'm supposed to do another round of Insane Abs! Maybe tonight? Or tomorrow night?

I need to redo my schedule (A-FREAKIN-GAIN). Waking up at 7 leaves me no room to make juice -- I haven't juiced in 2 days because I was late to work!! :( I think I should muscle it up and sleep at 10 or 10:30, wake up at 6:30.

Last night I ate two ice cream sandwiches, but this morning I didn't feel as sluggish as I did yesterday. I remembered that yesterday I did the HARDEST work out (Max Plyometrics) and today's was good. I don't like circuits so much. I like doing different things, and in Cardio Conditioning you do all different things. It's a circuit in the sense that you're doing one different thing after another, but you don't repeat the circuit. The first thing you do in this one is do football runs (run in place with your legs wide) and then get down into low plank. I can't stay in low plank, but I stayed as low as I could. I'm getting better at this: Shaun T. goes at a pretty fast pace, so in the past I was barely getting up when he called for down again. This time I lasted longer through the fast part (but didn't last all the way through). Level 1 Drills (aka burpees) are harder than they look. I find myself cheating by keeping my butt in the air. No good. I didn't do any of the jump ropes in the 8 jump ropes / 8 hop squats because you have to lift your knees high and I really suck at that.

Speaking of knees, my left knee acts up. Sometimes it hurts randomly. This isn't new, but something that *is* new is how I can't sit on the bottom half of my legs in a certain way. I'm sure it's because of the spill I took while snowboarding earlier this month. I hope it heals soon, and I hope it's not getting worse with Insanity. Either way, I have 6 days left, and then it's on to P90X!

Insanity, Day 60: Max Plyometrics and pictures!

I exercised today, whew. I'm almost a full week behind now! Argh. I am so close to finishing but it seems so far! Today's work out was really hard. I had no energy. I wonder if it's because of last night's dinner and 1.5 slices of pie and soy ice cream sandwich? I felt super sluggish and it took me a really long time to get into it. I skipped a lot of the work outs like a slacker. I probably did 10 power jumps (jump and touch your knees) total (if even that) and the power push ups (get on the floor, do a push up, jump up so your feet meet your hands, get back and do a push up, etc) I don't even think I got 10 out of 3 rounds. The squat push ups are hard for me. I like them, but I for sure do not go down all the way. I lack upper body strength, and I feel like I'm not getting stronger there. But maybe it's because I do things like slack off like I did today...

Food-wise, I am not getting enough protein (that's not news). I don't eat a lot in general, but the ratio of carbs to protein to fat isn't looking quite right.

I know I still have a week left, but is it too early to post pictures? Yeah? What about dark grainy pictures? PLEASE remember that your muscles always look the best after you've worked out, and these pix were taken right after I worked out, before I ate, hips shoved forward, rounded back, muscles tightened really hard. I want to get to this point without having to contort my body! I am making progress though as prior to this I was rounder without any definition. (I BETTER freakin be making progress with all the hard work I've been doing in Insanity!!) I will have reached my fitness goals visually after I get tighter abs, lose some more fat around the gut line and my inner thighs. I will have reached my fitness goals strengthually after I can do a push up, a pull up and can hold a plank for 2 minutes straight.

Yay for grainy cellphone pictures? I know these aren't pictures of much.. but it's the most definition I've had in my stomach in my whole life. SO FAR. It will look better than this! Just you wait.

Insanity, Days 58 and 59: Nothing and more of nothing.

Yesterday, Sunday, was a lazy day. Today I didn't work out in the morning, either. blargh. I only have 7 days left!!! Where is the motivation?!?! Why is this so hard?!! I must do it.. I am already far behind!!

I don't know if my monthly time is making me not want to work out. It might be. Makes me tired and unable to stand for a long time. Or maybe I'm just using it as an excuse... this time around I didn't go tooooo crazy with the food. Cravings aren't too bad, thankfully. I just really like sleep... :) But I am super glad that I managed to summon the strength to make juice this morning. whew.

Insanity, Day 58: Snowboarding

Went snowboarding today. I figured out from Mammoth that I am completely capable of snowboarding AND doing Insanity, and I totally planned to do Insanity tonight, but then I got to thinking... is the loss in time worth it? Insanity is way harder than what I did snowboarding today, BUT, today I pushed myself and we were boarding from 8:30-3:30 with a lunch break. Anyway, I figured I'm too tired to do Insanity and it's okay. :) Man, that mountain did a number on me, lol. I don't predict I will be too sore tomorrow. I can really feel the ease of what used to be hard thanks to having trained my core and doing certain exercises to strengthen my legs. My upper body wasn't worked too much today other than for maintaining balance because I don't fall too much anymore, but overall I had a great exercise.

Insanity, Day 58: Rest Day

I decided to take today's rest day.

Updates

119-120 lbs this morning (lazily weighed myself with clothes on)
Hovering around 26 - 26 1/8" waist
My lower abdomen is definitely smaller, but I still have that annoying pooch!
I was also requested to retract my earlier statement of being "pear-shaped" because the boyfriend doesn't like pears. "Pizza-shaped" was rejected because pizza slices don't have boobs. Therefore I am now a refined hourglass shape with a smaller amount of sand on top than on bottom. :)

Insanity, Day 57: Max Interval Sports Training

DAY 57!!!!! The end is in sight! I'm in the single-digit-days left!! Woohoo!

Lately my knee has started to hurt... urgh. Lots of jumping. Those who have sensitive knees, land softly!

Today was Max Interval Sports Training. I was 20% wanting to not do it, but I did it! It helped that this is the easiest work out next to the Recoveries, which  I understand isn't saying much... and I still can't do all of the exercises. I don't think I explained it well last time: in Max Interval Sports Training you do training for boxing, football, basketball, gymnastics, and track & field. Boxing consists of many jabs and punches; football consists of many squats and jumps; basketball is more or less the same as football in doing squats and jumps, but in different ways; gymnastics is balance and strength; and track & field is much running. Boxing is the easiest for me and is reminiscent of cardio kickboxing at 24 Hour Fitness. Football and basketball got tiring with all of the squat jumps. Gymnastics is by far the hardest, with the things where you stand on your hands and the ab exercises (my hands kept slipping on the carpet, so it was as if I wasn't even using my hands. Although do the hands really help in the first place?!). Track & Field is hard too, but mostly because I suck at running.

I think it was the part in gymnastics I totally tapped out of: get in low plank on your palms and walk sideways. And then get in low plank on your palms again and pulse. When I get down there, I either fall all the way down or can't get up. I don't get how they do it. I also think with bronco jumps and the other one where your legs are straight shows that I lack back muscles or something; I can't get  nearly as high, and today was much less about how scared I was because last time I was afraid I would do a front flip so I held back. This time I held back less but I feel physically incapable of doing those.

Oh yeah something else I wanted to say was that this past weekend I went rock climbing, and I really felt myself using my core. I'm sure that if I had not done Insanity, I would not have done as well as I did. Well, my buddies cheering me on (and doing it before I did HAHA) helped a ton. But in terms of muscle ability, flexibility and strength, this sense of "cross training" kicked in and I knew that my previous work outs with Insanity helped a ton. I can do anything!

Insanity, Days 53-56: Nothing, Nothing, Max Cardio Conditioning + Insane Abs, Max Interval Circuit

Ok, I messed up on the numbering of some of the previous posts, plus having skipped one and doing things out of order really confused me. Anyway, content is more important, but it's nice to be organized. So I'm missing a day somewhere, or I recorded something wrong.. anyway, I'm back on track in terms of numbering and exercise.

Sunday I had a busy day and Monday I was too tired to work out from getting back late on Sunday. Sometimes, life happens, you know?! And what do you do then? One good thing about having a rigorous schedule is that it's just that: it's a schedule. But what happens when..? I was MUCH better about not letting things get in the way of my work outs in Month 1. Month 2, it's not so exciting anymore. I remember one Saturday last month I woke up at 6:30 so I could work out! But on Sunday I woke up at 8 and decided 3 hours wasn't enough time to do a work out AND chores, so I neglected my work out, and then I didn't do it on Monday.

Tuesday I got back on track with 1.5 hours worth of Cardio Conditioning and Insane Abs. I was able to last longer through the Insane Abs portion, which made me feel really good. I only skipped ONE round of the last set (where you start in low plank on your elbows and move your right foot out, left foot out, right arm up, left arm up (so you're in high plank), right foot in, left foot in, right arm down, left arm down. or something like that. the pattern goes like that but I'm not sure if I had the ups and downs and ins and outs in the correct alternating order but you get the idea)!!! But I can't do the thing where you're in high plank and you do one knee to reach across and then same side to your arms. My leg can't reach that far! And OMG I look absolutely pathetic when I'm doing the balance stuff. The thing I'm worst at is the one where you start off in high plank and then lift and straighten your right arm and right leg and back down and then left arm and left leg. I've almost fallen over SO many times, and I don't lift my leg nearly as high as the people on the video. I have no balance. I'm slightly better at the oblique ones where you lift your right elbow and right toe and make your elbow and knee meet. Interestingly, I was MUCH better at it when we did as many as we can for 15 seconds. Or maybe I was good at it because I was moving the whole time and didn't have to "balance" much. Like how it's hard to ride a bicycle slowly, or come to a complete stop on a unicycle.

This morning I did Max Interval Circuit and to me it's one of the easier ones to do but I will say that the side suicide jumps are difficult for me. When I bend down sideways, I -- and I know this is going to sound really gross -- I feel like my ribs are rolling on top of each other. Plus I don't have too much room. Oh yeah, that's something I kept forgetting to mention. Month 2 requires a biiiiiit more space than I have allotted in my bedroom. I also wish I had a mirror on my closet because I can't tell if my butt is sticking up or not when I do planks (namely plank punches).

Speaking of things I forgot to mention, did I mention I have been working out before I eat? So yeah, I changed my schedule so that I get to work around 11 and leave around 8 or 9, and this way I can avoid traffic and also work out in the morning. I've been doing this for about a week or a week and a half? So far I haven't passed out yet, which is in stark contrast to just a few years ago (2007) when, if I worked out before I ate, I would feel dizzy and lightheaded. Banking on the whole "work out before you eat so your body can burn off stored glucose and speed up your metabolism after having slept 7-8 hours" thing.

Thanks to the new schedule I unfortunately have not been eating right. Well, that and I didn't go to the store. I've been eating HORRIBLY. Like, 2 granola bars a day, which is AWFUL for me. I hate eating bars as I think they're bad for my skin and I'd rather eat real food. Not to mention that GIANT piece of chocolate cake (which I completely don't regret, btw. I mean, I wouldn't do it again, but I am proud to have conquered that thing.). I am in awkward eating schedule phase. I should just bring enough food to work -- like, 3 small meals I mean.

However, I have noticed that the layer of fat that previously laid between my skin and my abdominal muscles has -- gasp -- shrunk!!! When I tighten my abs and push with my fingertips the distance between my skin and the muscles is noticeably smaller. No 6-pack yet, or even 4-pack, but my abs are there. My body type is pear-shaped. Wish I were more hourglass. I mean, duh, all women do. But what I mean is, I can see my sternum sometimes, which is.. kind of gross. And my arms aren't fat (thankfully I have little backarm fat to worry about). So not much upper body fat. But I have excess fat in my belly and thighs. Would like to transfer fat. Maybe I can push it up there, gradually, everyday, little by little...

Insanity, Days 50 and 51: Rest Day and Max Interval Circuit

I meant to work out yesterday to be all caught up today but that didn't happen. And it almost didn't happen today either!! I woke up tired again, but I had to force myself to do it tonight and I am SO GLAD I DID!!!! Unfortunately, things are getting a little tedious, I'm getting somewhat burnt out and I am looking forward to its completion.

Today was the Fit Test and Max Interval Circuit, but again I forwent the Fit Test and just did the Max Interval Circuit. Today was not easy to get through. There were so many things wrong. My wrists hurt again from all the stuff we do on the floor; the end of my ponytail kept getting in my way; my nose was slightly runny; my face was getting raw from wiping myself with the towel, so I stopped, but then sweat started dripping and I hate sweat (I know, I know, and I'm exercising!?) and it got in my eyes; I was shedding or something so hair got on my skin and I couldn't just leave it there so I had to pause and remove the strand of hair; there is so much hair on the floor even though I took care of that earlier this week. Alas I made it through the hour somehow. I am getting better at the ones where you put your hands down and jump out sideways to work out what I have figured out are Shaun T's favorite muscles, your obliques. I still suck at the side hops. They are REALLY tiring. and I hardly even attempted the jump kicks on your hands. I did almost all of them without the hop, but near the end I decided to try it with the hop and was surprised about how I did manage to do more than I expected. These work outs are so hard. My towel is soaked halfway through every single workout to the point where I have to seek dry spots to wipe my sweat.

What happened to Tania? She is not in Month 2. But I LOVE Ariel (although she looks like a robot in one of the exercises, can't remember which). I LOVE her. I think she is adorable and I am TOTALLY envious of her legs.

Food-wise, not great. WAY too many carbs. I am going to go shopping tomorrow to get low-carb and high-protein stuff. It feels good to look at the calendar and see that I'm on the second to the last week!!! I can do this!

Insanity, Days 44-49

oh man almost an entire week without blogging!!!

Day 44: Max Interval Plyo
Day 45: Nothing as I went snowboarding, not hard at all though, and was busy for the rest of the day
Day 46: Max Interval Circuit
Day 47: Max Interval Plyo
Day 48: Max Cardio Conditioning + Insane Abs
Day 49: Max Interval Sports Training

So I TOTALLY accidentally skipped Max Cardio Conditioning because my days are all out of whack and the spreadsheet was apparently to the right a little and Max Cardio Conditioning was hidden. Oops. Shrug.

Pretty disappointed that I did not work out on Sunday, but what can you do huh? Can't be too hard on yourself. So, nothing too much new here besides the last two; I can feel myself getting stronger but these work outs are so tough, man. Max Cardio Conditioning + Insane Abs together took almost 1.5 hours. Insane Abs is not easy but I'll admit I like it more than the other ab work out from month 1. These are short bursts of exercises done a couple of times. When you have 0:15 on a clock, once you rest, you've only got a few more seconds left anyway so you might as well power through.

Interval Sports Training was good except I hated the gymnastics stuff. V-push ups are SO uncomfortable. And I'm not very comfortable on my hands, so I felt really stupid during the bronco jumps because I doubt I was getting more than 6" off the ground. I think it's a mix between being afraid of tipping over and having the strength to neither push nor hold myself that high.

I've stopped doing the cool down stretches pretty much. I don't have the patience for them and I blame lack of time as an excuse. I wonder if that's the reason I'm sore today after yesterday's Interval Sports Training work out. That being said, I would rather be sore than do the cool-down.

My calendar looks awesome -- only 2 rows of work outs left! I will be done by the first couple of days in April. So excited to get this finished and to say that I've done it!

Insanity, Day 43: Max Recovery

Oh boy, I'm more sore than I was yesterday. I came to the very late realization that Insanity is 2 days of working out, rest, 3 days of working out, recovery. I did recovery today... this is so not in order! lol. Month 1 Recovery is all about staying in place and pulsing and pulsing. I can get through most of those. Month 2 Recovery is way more about balance and the core. I completely skipped a set of some push ups and also the planks from up and down.

Moms asked if I lost weight the other day. I was wearing a slimming outfit though, so that was part of it. I'm not losing any more inches.. Actually, ever since I started, my waist has only shrunk about a quarter of an inch at most and I've gained about 3 lbs (I know I know, it's muscle weight!). Granted, I was small to begin with, with a waist measuring at 26.5" or 26.25" (currently 26.25" or 26"), and my hips are around 36"-36.5", so I don't know how realistic it is to get more than a 10-inch ratio difference. My waist-to-hip ratio is currently .72 or .73, which falls under the category of "excellent" and at the least risk for obesity and cardiovascular disesase, so I'm good health-wise, this was all about looks from the beginning. (But that's not to say I was really hoping to get under 26"...) I can see that my stomach is definitely more toned; my obliques are smaller and I have less flub. My love handles are smaller and muscles are more defined, but I still have this overlying layer of fat covering my awesome 6-pack. My biggest problems are my lower abdomen and the inside of my thighs; here is where I want to lose those the most. I want to keep defining and toning. 3 more weeks of Insanity to go. Oh, and I think I am going to finish 2 days behind schedule, which I'm fine with. I mean, I can't really do anything about it to gain time...

Since this blog has kind of turned into a Chloe fitness blog plus other fitness topics blog, I am going to post something that isn't exactly surprising but it is daunting:

Source: Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Body Measurements

(Data are for the U.S.)

Measured average height, weight, and waist circumference for adults ages 20 years and over

• Men:
  Height (inches):  69.4
  Weight (pounds): 194.7
  Waist circumference (inches):   39.7
• Women:
  Height (inches):   63.8
  Weight (pounds):  164.7
  Waist circumference (inches):   37.0 

Omfg. I always knew the average size for a woman is 12 or 14 in the US, and there are people who say that they know size 12s or 14s who are at a healthy weight and have healthy stats. How is this possible? There's no way you need to be a 12 or a 14 if you don't have excess body fat. There's no way. So the average woman 20+ years old in the US weighs 164, is 5'4" tall, is wearing a size 12, and has a waist circumference of 37". Even if she has hips measuring 37", that's a waist-to-hip ratio of 1:1, which is straight dangerous. I'm not saying you have to be a size 0, but there is just too much of something going on here. Belly fat is bad! Don't suffocate your organs, people! Chickity-check yourself before you wreck yourself.

Insanity, Day 42: Max Interval Plyometrics

First and foremost, I want to thank all of my friends for reading my blog. That means you, Armando, Keith, Albert, Dennis; and the ones I know who have stopped by here on at least one occasion: Mike, Charmaine and Veronica. The fact that you read this helps push me because I don't want there to be a day when I'm NOT exercising because I want to post about my progress and all the things I do. Social media-ly responsible, I guess. If you do read this, please let me know! It keeps me accountable and pressured in a good way.

Anyway, to the insanity that is Insanity. Last night, thanks to my new schedule, I had 2 hours to chill before I went to sleep so I sat on my bed and surfed the net. When I got up to put the lappy away, I was suddenly sore! When I woke up this morning, my upper back was aching. Right now it's especially that part that's I believe your lats. Like if you traced your arms down to where your side becomes your back in the upper back area. Brian at work was telling me that's probably how they keep you burning calories: change the focus from the lower half of the body (remember how I could not walk in the first couple of days of Insanity?) to the upper half. Been doing a LOT of push ups. I'll admit the squat to the push up is one of my favorite work outs. It's kinda fun. Oh, I also just noticed I haven't done a stupid mountain climber ever since I started Month 2!!! THANK GOODNESS!!! I freakin HATED those. Unfortch the mountain climbers for me got replaced by the jump-and-touch-your-knees exercises. I try really hard not to land too hard, but it's hard to land softly. Plus, again, I have no hops so I land way earlier than everyone else. This morning my muscles were all cold... and the warm up was hard to get through. Plus, during all the exercises, I feel like I tapped out early. I tried to push myself and guess who got nauseated! AGAIN!!! Had to pause the vid til the room stopped spinning. I need to stop doing that, geesh. The diamond jumps are difficult for me -- I have no hops at all, so anything having to do with vertical jumps is difficult. Also hard for me is the thing where you do a push up and then jump up so your feet are at your hands. My feet probably go like 1/2way to where they are supposed to actually go. Where am I supposed to get my power from?!

Anyway, the eensy bit of soreness is surprising to me. Today I had to put my fork down to give my shoulder and lat a rest from shoveling spinach salad into my mouf, can you believe that? 23 days to go...!

Insanity, Days 40 and 41: Max Interval Circuit, Takes I and II

Last night I bombed everything. I was so tired. Again. AGAIN!!! I got through the warm up but was pretty grumpy about it and quit. Felt really horrible and disappointed, and I had MAJORLY carbo-loaded prior. Went to bed around 9, didn't want to get up at 5 for work, slept in until 5:45, emailed my boss and said I'm coming in late and leaving late from now on. Got up around 7 with a new schedule in mind: wake up, eat a little something, work out, shower, make smoothie, make juice, get to work around 10:30, leave around 7:30. This way, I can sleep from 11-7. I realized that this past weekend I wasn't tired the whole day.. granted all the exercise from snowboarding gave me adrenaline to not be tired, but I worked my body hard and was the last to sleep and first to wake twice and wasn't tired throughout the day. (I totally paid for it on Sunday and Monday though, lol.) In addition to the benefit of the the ability to sleep from 11-7, my social life won't be too interrupted by a sleeping pattern of 8:30-4:30 5 nights a week. So here's to hoping this new schedule is something I can be happy with.. oh, and the commute at 10:00 isn't horrible.. it's like it is at 6:15. Took me about 45-50 mins to get to work. I just have to avoid the 1.5 hour commute that takes place around 8 and 9AM.

Anyway, back to the actual work out -- I realized I'm doing the side to side jump hop things wrong (get on your hands and throw your feet up from side to side like you suck at doing cartwheels). I lift one foot up and jump with the other whereas on the vids they do both feet at the same time. I tried doing that, but I only got to 2. That takes so much thigh muscles!!!!!!!!! Also, Shaun T, can I just let you know that I have a prejudice against exercises that contain the word "suicide" in them!? I already hate them from the beginning when I haven't even seen the exercise yet. Switch kicks from the ground are still super hard.. I wonder if I'll ever be able to do them. I really like Ariel. She seems sweet and hard working. And I thought it was super funny when Shaun T referred to Josh or Jeff that he's a b-boy and thinks he can do it all, lols. Interval Circuit COMPLETELY kicked my butt this morning... and I skipped the cool-down stretch because I was afraid I was going to be late for work. Which I was anyway. Sigh.

20 days to go!! My weight hasn't changed, but my physique has. My arms are toned and my abs are kind of sort of starting to show through... I want them to show without me flexing and pushing my hips forward though. In due time...

Insanity, Day 38 & 39: Max Cardio Conditioning, Take I and II

Alrighty, one drawback of Insanity is that.. you need to either own your own house, live on the first floor or have no one under you. Keith, Albert and I got through 20 minutes of Max Cardio Conditioning before our downstairs neighbors in our cabin knocked on their ceiling / our floor so we were forced to stop unfortunately. It sucked because I was so determined to get through it, I almost went outside, but there was no room other than the street. Plus it was around 20-30 degrees outside (but if there was room I would have done it!). Turns out I like working out with other people for the most part. It encourages me to stay in the game and look good.

Sunday I drove home, and I was so pooped from driving that long and boarding for 2 days + some Insanity I decided to give myself a break. Last night I re-did Max Cardio Conditioning, and let me tell you, it's a good thing we stopped when we did! So much more jumping involved, lol. And it was SO difficult. I've lost track of how many times I got nauseated from working out. I think I'm on #4 or #5. I was getting really dizzy and throw uppy during the stuff you have to get up and down for and this was so intense that my previous method of keeping my head down or up wasn't working too well. But I trucked through it somehow, and I'm glad I did. My thighs are sore though which prohibited me from doing some of the workouts. Not sure if they're sore from Insanity or snowboarding.. probably both. Anyway, this means I'm 2 days behind, so I'll skip a rest day and maybe deal with finishing Insanity a day later than planned.

Food-wise, I think I've been pretty good for the past 3 days; had an ice cream cone and a dessert crepe, but that's about it for the bad stuff (SO worth it, btw). Also I had those on days I worked out hard so I don't feel bad at all. I've finally settled on eating whatever I want, just not a ton of it, with emphasis on protein.

Woke up around 4:40 this morning and was able to get out of the house by 6:08. Got to work before 7. Yay! Tired now, though.

Insanity, Days 34, 35, 36, 37: Core Cardio & Balance, Max Interval Circuit, Max Interval Plyo

Omg.. I need to blog more often. So many of my posts are going into one now!

As you know, Tuesday was a particularly bad day for me in that I did not work out. I ended up fulfilling the last day of Recovery Week on Wednesday, and I had that familiar "I can't believe I didn't do this yesterday! This feels so great!" feeling. The hardest part really is getting started. I'm glad I made up for it.

Now this next part was an unpleasant surprise: Month 2's workouts are an hour long as opposed to the previous 40 minutes. That's a 50% increase! What kind of upset me was the fact that Monday (Day 36) was supposed to be the Fit Test AND Max Interval Circuit. I took a peek at Max Interval Circuit and found out that it's an hour long! How the heck was I supposed to do that AND the fit test? Definitely skipped the Fit Test and I'm wondering how much more I would have been dying if I had done the Fit Test. Month 2 is definitely Max!! Kicked my butt. I am physically incapable of doing the switch kicks on my hands. And those mini-cartwheel things were scary at first! I felt like I was going to land on my head but thankfully I did not...

Day 37 was yesterday, Max Interval Plyo. Some more new moves here. The warm ups are super tough.. but I guess that's what I get for finally being able to make it through the regular warm-ups without quitting. The Max stuff in general, as I'm finding out, takes up more room and more coordination. I did Day 37 with Keith, which was great, because it helped encourage me. We just had to get a lil creative when it came to figuring out space in the living room of our cabin but we made do. Max Plyo is really tough!! (hmm, that seems to be the theme of today's post...) There were also these weird push up things where you squat and then lean forward, land on your hands, make like you're doing a push up but when you straighten out your hands push all the way up back up to the squat position. There are a lot of push ups in Max Plyo in general. The Level 3 drills are getting down and doing 16 push ups, running it out for 8 counts and then getting up and back down. Luckily you only do 2 of those, but I was so exhausted I think I made it from 16 to 12 before I collapsed. More globe jumps as well, except this time it was side to side with twists.

Eating well,... I think; oh, did I mention I snowboarded all day yesterday? ALL day. And THEN did Max Plyo. That was Keith's first time doing Insanity. He rode harder on the mountains than I did though. He kept saying this isn't a great time to go head first into Insanity (and it probably didn't help that it was Max) which I imagine is true but it was hard for me too! Plus he is training for a marathon and has done marathons before. Like Ragnar.

Oh, back to eating. I've been trying to protein it up -- nuts, tofu, beans. I had veg chili yesterday at one of the lodges here.

I'm not as sore this morning as I thought I would be. The left side of my neck + my left shoulder are super sore from looking to the right (I ride goofy) for hours yesterday. Keith says I should rotate and relax more. I'll try that today and hope that it works... I can feel my abs are sore and my thighs a little bit too.

Onto another day on the slopes + Max Cardio Conditioning today!

Insanity, Days 32, 33, and 34: Core Cardio & Balance

Monday (Day 33) was good. I pushed myself pretty hard and woke up a little sore on Tuesday morning. Shaun T says it's recovery week so I'm not supposed to be completely exhausted by the end of the workout, so I'm confused by all the difficult and strenuous stuff. Anyway, not entirely in a good mood; yesterday after work I was really hungry so I stopped by this place to get food, and this was after I went to the ATM. Plus there was a lot of traffic on the road so I didn't get to the ATM until 5:20-5:30. Next thing I know, I'm done eating by 6:30. I admit, I procrastinated just relaxing on the couch for half an hour, got to my room, turned on my computer ready to do Insanity and then suddenly it's 7:30 -- how did that happen? I ended up not working out. I'm disappointed that I didn't work out, but I was just so tired. I'm tired all the time, and it pisses me off. Sunday-Monday I slept from 10-6, 8 hours; Monday-Tuesday I slept 8:40-4:30 (but didn't get up until 4:50), almost 8 hours. Last night I slept from 8:50-5 after snoozing from 4:30 and didn't actually get up until 5:15. And I'm still friggin tired.

I'm getting really annoyed at myself. Firstly, I'm not actually sleeping at those above stated times. Those are the times I turn out the lights and lie down. Admittedly, I tend to fall asleep quickly, but it's still probably about 5-10 minutes before I actually go to sleep. ...or less than that, actually. Ok, so maybe not a huge difference. But am I really that tired from not sleeping? Am I making up this whole tired all the time thing as an excuse not to work out, or am I tired at the end of the day from work? I don't know. Ideally, I'd find this out by SLEEPING MORE and figuring that out, but I'm having issues with that. Secondly, I'm not following the schedule I set last week. Thirdly, I really wish I could get by with the amount of sleep that I get, but I am indeed afraid it's not the amount anymore, I'm afraid it's when I am sleeping. Last weekend I slept one night from 11-7 and was totally fine for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, if I slept from 11-7 I would add 0:45:00 to my commute. Fourthly, ... I skipped my workout yesterday! That's twice in two weeks I skipped because I was too tired/lazy/not wanting to do it. I'm debating whether or not to just skip it all together since it is Recovery Week or to use yesterday as a rest day. I'm past the halfway point in Insanity, which feels weird. I feel like I've been doing Insanity forever, in both the I'm-so-used-to-this and the isn't-this-over-yet? contexts. I don't like my second attitude because every time I think that, I have to correct myself and tell myself it's not ever going to be "over." My mentality isn't where I want it to be. I have this longing to be that person who exercises and eats right all the time, as my default and my norm. But I'm over -here-, that person who still has to make changes and be conscious about it, and if given the choice, I wouldn't. I mean, sometimes I am, sometimes I'm not. Right now I'm not.. obviously. I'm kind of there, and farther to that point than most people I know, but not where I want to be yet.

Oh, and the waking up at 4:30 thing hasn't been working for me yet but I've only done it twice. I think I just need to hustle in the morning. I didn't get out the door until 6:30 on Tuesday and this morning I didn't shower (because I didn't work out last night and I'm tired.. my hair looks awful) nor did I make my smoothie (I ran out of frozen fruit) but I did juice and I got out of the house at 6:15. So it took me an hour to get ready WITHOUT a shower or smoothie. Oh, and Dennis, since I ran out of smoothie stuff, PLUS the fact that I forgot my 32oz jug in the car and substituted with a 24oz jug that has a smaller opening, I drank veggie juice first thing this morning -- it wasn't too bad. I guess I was supposed to have forgotten the jug in the car because where I forgot the jug I also forgot the jug I store my smoothie in which I obviously didn't make. I made the veg juice sweet, though; yesterday I was dying because of how bitter and gross it was with little bits of pulp (I've made up my mind: no more beet leaves in my juice).

I am so lost.. I don't know what to do. My priorities of work, sleep and working out are all on the same plane. Ideally I should add juicing and eating right in there but they have been taking a back seat. And then I also have a boyfriend who I need to be around for so he knows all of the updates of things that I want. Also, I've been breaking out as I said earlier. I need to eat like I used to; I wasn't breaking out then. I need my old willpower and self-control back to stop eating the cookies and granola bars and processed grains. I've always said when one thing sucks, everything sucks, which explains why when I was eating well I was also working out lots and now that I'm tired all the time, I'm breaking out and not working out when I should nor am I eating right. I guess they're all correlated. Now that I'm getting back into my juicing patterns I'm hoping the rest falls into place. Fingers crossed.