Weight is a Number

When I was a pre-teen/teenager, the scale played a pretty central part of my life. Even now, I remember how much I weighed when I was 12 (140 lbs), 14 (98 lbs), 18 (128 lbs). I had this imaginary number in my head (115lbs). If I was over, I weighed too much. If I was under, I was safe. As I got older, I stopped weighing myself obsessively and learned to slowly accept myself. Funny enough, my weight stabilized as a result and it has remained the same for the most of my 20's. 

During my last term of nursing school, I lost weight. It was a combination of adjusting to shift work and the stress of school. I was exhausted and cold all the time. Yesterday, I weighed myself and realized I weigh 8 lbs more than I did then (3 months later). A small part of me slightly panicked because I haven't weighed this much in years. Given it's only a few pounds over my norm. And then the rational part of me took over.

I feel great. 

My clothes still fit me. If anything, my pants fit better around my legs (they used to just hang) because I'm developing muscle. I can do squats and pushups. I increased my dumbbell weights. I'm trying to make working out part of my life. I have way more energy than I did three months ago. 

And I realized, weight is a number. It's a number just like how many pushups I can do in a row, stairs I can climb, distance I can go. 

Off topic, but it's been sunny in Vancouver. No rain and it's warm. Amazing. Don't judge me but I totally drove to the gym and did cardio (20 mins on stairmaster, 40 mins on bike) even though I have a bicycle at home and I know a place outdoors that has a good set of stairs I can climb. Oh well. 

New Additions to my Family

Herro 10lb weights

Went out to Fitness Depot today and finally bought 5lb weights (I bought 4, so 10 lb dumbbells). I started out with 5lb dumbbells. They started becoming easy so I wore 1lb weighted gloves to make the weights 6lbs. Hopefully these 10lb weights won't be too much of a jump for me. I'm excited.

Ab gut blaster slings

My bf convinced me to buy these and I'm glad I did! Any ab exercises that doesn't involve my butt bones grinding into the ground is fine by me. You put your arms through the slings and hold on to the top bindings. You can do a variety of gravity induced ab exercises by being elevated. Like planks or pushups, you use your own body weight to add to your workout. It's fun! We attached the slings to the chin up bar my bf bought when he tried P90x. I don't bother with the bar though. I can't do anything beyond 0 :( 

I went to the gym the other day and finally figured out how to use the exercise machines hah. I love the stairmaster. I did 20 minutes on there and 20 minutes on the bike. I wanted to do 20 minutes more on another cardio machine but it was time to go. I haven't ridden a bike in years and I wanted to try spin class. I'm glad my bf suggested that maybe I should actually try an exercise bike before diving off the deep end. But I like the gym a lot! I like that there's a variety. I like that when I'm done, I'm still in the same place as opposed to when I go for a run and when I feel like I'm done, I'm still stuck outside. I actually look forward to going to the gym now! 

I seem to have a love hate relationship with exercise. It's always one or the other. 

Insanity Attempt #2- Fit Test

This blog is a little sad isn't it? I write sporadically about working out and then go for long periods without anything. At least it's honest!

My workouts since I started working have been all right. I don't do it as often as I like to. I still do my abs/legs/arms days. I go at a leisurely pace and my show of choice is Real Housewives of Vancouver to get me through. I work out 2-4x/week. I went to the gym with my bf the other week and I didn't think the machines really did much but my arms were sore the next day! It was enough of a motivation for me to pay for a card to use the gym. I'll try to go once a week with my bf.


My friend and I have decided to attempt Insanity again. We don't do it physically together but we will try to follow the same schedule as each other. I like to think that's more motivating. Not suprisingly, the cardio put my body into shock. The last time I did cardio was my one run at the beginning of this year hah. My heart was racing. I was dizzy and nauseous. I threw up 3/4's through the workout. I was visualizing my oxygen supply and demand imbalance and my body thinking wtf is this sh*t. This seems to be the norm. But once I get over that dizzy vomiting hurdle, then my body accepts cardio. The 20 minute workout was like 45 mins for me with all the breaks I took.

I found my legs and arms are actually stronger compared to my first attempt at Insanity (which I didn't even make it through 2 weeks). My workouts must be doing something haha.  My bf thinks my body's not the problem; it's my mentality that's the biggest hurdle.

Here's my first fit test:

Switch kicks: 60
Power jacks: 37
Power knees: 75
Power jumps: 25
Globe jumps: 9
Suicide jumps: 12
Push up jacks: 15
Low plank obliques: 56

My Ab Exercise Routine

I'm going to start work soon! It's going to be a lifestyle change for me because pretty much my whole adult life has been spent in school and only half of that was spent working part time. So to do a full-time job should be interesting. This probably means I can't be working out at 130am to late night TV.  I've been slacking on working out for a couple days as it gets closer to my nursing exam (less than a week to go!). I've been trying to modify my workouts to fit into a 30 minute time frame. It's long enough to be considered a workout and short enough that I won't feel discouraged to do it. Also, I really want to add some cardio to my workouts but haven't made the effort. Maybe I will join a spin class when I start working.

Anyway, I incorporated some new ab exercises into my routine. I like it because my abs are feeling the crunch (haha, get it?).

I think this is about 10 minutes each set and I do 3 sets. If I'm in the mood, I add more reps with each set. Also... I do these randomly. While I'm waiting for my dog to eat, I do an ab exercise. I slap on a face mask and while I wait for 10 mins, I do a set of ab exercises. I added links if my descriptions don't make sense.

Set
-Plank- 1 minute (I do mine with my forearms resting on the ground)
-Arm pull over straight leg crunch- 10x with a 5lb weight; Lie on your back with your arms outstretched holding the weight. Raise your arms and legs at the same time till they are parallel then return to the lying position. If you want to challenge yourself, don't let your heels touch the ground.
-Mountain Climber - 10x/knee-  start in a pushup position. Draw your left knee to your chest. Return. Drawn right knee to your chest. Return. Alternate back and forth.
-Plank Oblique-10x/side- start in a push up position. Draw your left knee to your left elbow. Return. Draw your right knee to your elbow. Return. Alternate back and forth
-Standing Oblique Crunch- 20x/side. Stand with feet apart. Hold hands at head, draw right knee up and drawn right elbow down towards knee. Return. Repeat on left side. Alternate back and forth.
-Bicycle crunch- 10x/side. Lying down. Hands behind head. Raise legs 30-45 degrees. Draw right knee and left elbow till they meet, alternate with opposite side. I like to do this slowly so I feel more of the burn.

My new yoga mat turned out to be a good investment. It was around $16 from Winners. I don't remember the brand. I also have my exercise mat rolled up in there.

What Motivates You to Workout?

My legs are stiff today from my workout which makes me happy. I added lunges to my routine. My bf thinks I'm weird but I do lunges when I walk my dog. Actually, it weirds my dog out too haha. I also added weights to my squats. I hold 5lbs in each hand and hold the weights by my head while I do the squats. Good times good times.

So what motivates you to workout?

I thought about this today. Exercising is not natural to me. When I was a kid, I loathed gym class. Even now, anything that requires physical activity does not interest me. But now, I am feeling that push to exercise. Here are a few reasons why...

1. To look good. I know I know. So superficial. I realized that people who I think have amazing bodies, workout! Gotta work hard to get it.

2. To compensate for the crap I eat. Lately, I've been eating a ton of tacos from Taco Time. I HATE the term clean eating (although I guess it's the same as healthy eating) and associate it with deprivation. Although sometimes I end up doing things like eating a whole bag of crunchy Cheetos in one to two days. So... Exercise kinda compensates.

A portabello provolone veggie burger from White Spot and a salad. Although I just looked up the nutrition count and there's a ton of unhealthy crap in this burger! 50g of fat, 1332.3mg of sodium?? What the-. I chose it because I kinda don't like meat burgers. It tasted good though.

3. Pictures of people working out. Gotta love Pinterest for that. Also, reading about people being fit and healthy.

4. Health. Of course. I'm getting old. Your basal metabolic rate decreases with each decade (true story). Public Health Agency of Canada recommends 2 1/2 hours of moderate to vigorous physical activity every week. I'm sure my body will thank me in the long run.

5. To tone up and get stronger. I struggled a lot in the hospital with boosting patients. I'm super weak. I really wanted to add strength. I'm also soft. It's probably a combination of a chubby childhood and my unhealthy eating habits. I did a plank in front of the mirror for the first time. I was shocked to see my abdomen fat. It looked like I put three blocks of butter in a pouch and it was hanging off my abdomen. However, my back end has the opposite problem. I'm doing squats and leg exercises to increase my muscle and hopefully gain some cushion. Currently, I have my yoga mat (good investment), exercise mat, and a folded blanket that I use for my abdominal exercises. Sitting on my floor hurts my bones... a lot. I can hold the boat pose with my abdomen strength but it's a pain in my bum (no pun intended). Am I the only one who has this problem?

I was watching Biggest Loser the other day. It's my first time watching it and I love it. I think the trainers are SO motivating. In this episode, the group who lost had to stay in a junk food room for 4 hrs/day for a week. The food wasn't an issue as much as they were sedentary being stuck in that room while the other teams were in the gym. I'm watching it thinking, just because you don't have equipment, doesn't mean you can't work out! Planks, pushups, jumping jacks, etc. I myself was doing wall squats while watching the show! Use your own body to your advantage! On the last day, their trainer reminded them of this concept and got them to workout in the room.

What moves you?

The Lazy Girl Workout (3/365)

So my 365 days of blogging will overflow into this one.

Sadly, my hopes to exercise has been futile. I went for my first run on Jan 1. It's the only run I've done. I did some moderate cardio with Tony's 10 minute workouts but found I got bored.

However, I have started getting into strength training and do it everyday. I rotate between arms, legs, and core days. Here is what I currently do when the motivation hits me (which seems to be after midnight unfortunately). I call it lazy because these aren't a full out sweat workout and the exercises last as long as my attention.

My tools of choice right now are weights, resistance bands, and yoga mat. I'm starting out with 5lb weights. I rotate my exercises in sets. I got my weights from Walmart and resistant bands from Fitness Town. I like doing planks/pushups (well I hate them) because they're the most bang for your buck. Tones your whole body in one go. I keep the tv on to keep my attention span.

Here are my ghetto drawings of my workouts. Probably googling/youtubing them would be better.

Arms
1) bicep curls (either with weights or resistance bands)- keeping my arm at 90 degrees then curling my arms up
2) arm raises- hold the weight at my head then raise up to ceiling
3) outstretched raises- Hold the weight at my hip then raise weight parallel to the floor
4) standing tricep extensions- Hold weight behind head with elbow close to head, raise to the ceiling
5) pushups- real ones!
6) various resistance band exercises- My bf got a door anchor from Fitness Depot for only $3. It provides an anchor so I can do the resistance band exercises from 4:00-5:30.

Legs
-squats
-side lying leg lifts- lie on my side and raise leg up 40-90 degrees (I don't think I'm flexible enough to do 90 degrees haha)
-wall squats
-arrowhead leg workout- Too hard to describe but I found a youtube video with butt exercises where the 2nd exercises (1:38) is it.

Core
-Abdominal leg raises
-alternating scissor crunches- Lie on back, raise legs to 30 degree angle, bend left knee to right elbow, alternate back and forth with opposite limbs
-planks
-Sadienardini 20 minute fat burning yoga

Harder Better Faster Stronger

Happy New Year!

As usual, I have my intentions of incorporating exercise into my lifestyle. I also really want to change my diet and eat a lot better. I have no intentions of cutting my favourite foods out BUT I definitely need to moderate. I am at the end of my mid 20's. I can't live like I'm a teenager anymore!

My bf bought some equipment to workout in.

We're going to try working out together! This should be interesting as I tend to be a lone ranger.

I have a fair amount of exercise stuff that have accumulated over the years. It gives me variety to play with.

-Insanity
-P90x
-Pilates and yoga DVDs
-10 minute trainer
-yoga ball
-weights
-elliptical machine
-resistant bands
-chin up bar
-gravity bar
-forearm roller

I also have the great outdoors to go running in.

My hopes/goals for this year are:

1. Run 5km without stopping
2. Replace some fat with muscle and gain 5lbs
3. Actually exercise for the whole year

I will dust off my ol' Exercise Inspiration Pinterest board and start posting more too.

What are your fitness goals?

How Committed Am I to Working Out?

Yesterday I had hopes to run on a track while my bf went to school. However, by the time he had to leave, I had only gotten 5 1/2 hrs of sleep. I chose to sleep some more because I have come to the conclusion my work outs are terrible on lack of sleep. When I woke up, I did a round of Insanity to make it 3 days in a row. I have partially fallen off the Insanity wagon. I follow the order of the DVDs but not the schedule. I throw some running in there and have days off when I'm busy. Days off are important. My joints are starting to get sore.

But that's the thing. I will be busy soon. What if the days off get longer and longer? I went to Sports Chek the other day. I wanted to buy a pair of shorts or maybe another dri-fit tank top. But they were around 35-50$. I only have 2 pairs of shorts I work out in so I'm constantly doing laundry now. And then I asked myself, will I really stick to working out? Is it a worthy investment? In just under 2 weeks, I'm going to be starting my nursing preceptorship. I don't know what my schedule will be like. Is it 4 days on 5 days off? I sure as hell won't be working out in the early mornings. When I leave the hospital, the first thing I want to do is take a shower. I definitely could on days off but seems kind of counterproductive to have that many days off in a row.

Or maybe I should just stop making excuses and just do it. My baseline motivation right now is that there is no reason for me not to do it with all the free time i have. But I'd like for this to be a regular part of my life.

Too Much Cardio is Bad?

That is the question.

Recently I read how cardio can make you skinny fat and cardio is counterproductive to building muscle. My personal aim is cardio. When I only do it 3x/week, it feels like a cop out. I like Insanity (despite how hard it is) because it feels like both cardio and working my muscles. I do like running too. I think the amount of cardio I'm doing is fine. My bf thinks I should do less cardio and do more weights. I'm getting somewhat bony and some muscle padding would help alleviate that. Today, I saw I was to do Cardio Recovery on the Insanity schedule which is muscle strengthening and zero cardio. I was tempted to do a cardio dvd but figured some anaerobic exercise would do me good. My legs were sore. I sweated. I suppose it was a productive workout.

Anyway, I still don't think I'm doing too much cardio. To me, too much is doing cardio for long periods of time every day. At 45 mins-ish 3-5x/week, I think I'm good.

I'm going to run on a track on Wednesday. I'm pretty stoked. It's been years since I ran on one and I like it because it gives me a good gauge of my distance. I don't have anything fancy that measures my distance for me. I'm going to aim for 5km and see how my time is.

Too Busy to Workout

I filled out an entire month (well except those four days of not working out due to hurting my foot) of workouts. It's more than I expected of myself from when I first began in May. You know what the push for me to work out is? If I can spend 10 hrs a day on twitter, facebook, youtube etc, I can sacrifice at least 30 mins of that to get my heart pumping. 

However this week, I felt swamped. I had two finals and a project. My family went to Hawaii so I was in charge of making lunches and dinners for 6 people. I had to take care of my dog who's still hobbling on 3 legs. I was still on my go to bed at 3 am (it's 3am as I type this) and wake up at noon schedule which really screwed up my productivity. So I was too busy to workout. And it sounds so lame. It makes me worry about what it will really be like when I'm at the hospital 48 hrs/week plus paper writing in between. I was only able to squeeze 3 workouts this past week: P90X Cardio X, Running 5.2 km, and Insanity Cardio Power and Resistance. 

But I have 2 weeks of freedom so we all know what that means! Enjoying myself to the full max. I am hoping that within these two weeks, I will be able to run 5km without stopping. The thing I love about Insanity is that I feel like it really improves my stamina. 

Here's some pictures. A friend sent me this pic the other week. I was in Gr 11 or 12. Man how time flies. 

Like my amazing photoshop skills? Pretend I'm in a field with my dog. 

So Much of Running is Mental

An elementary school classmate of mine msg'd me the other day highlighting the above quote. While I was out for my run, I debated that. I initially mapped out a 5 km route but halfway, I had to run home for a bathroom break. I altered my running route and ran that half route twice. Too bad majority of it was in the sun. I started getting a bit wheezy from the heat and wondered if I mentally thought I couldn't run anymore or I physically couldn't. I ended up slowing to a walk for a few meters then picking back up again. My HR was strong at 160-184. A little bit on the high side but I think the heat had something to do with it. I'm really pleased that I can push myself a bit further with each run.

I am totally obsessed with Pinterest.  gillybean604 exercise inspiration is my pinterest board. I do find it motivating. Although right now, my own interest in working out is motivating enough. I actually enjoy exercising!

I need to find some new ab moves for my ab routine. I'm already doing 3 sets of 5 different exercises. I could add more reps or find something more challenging. Currently the best one is the basic plank. I think I will increase  to 1min 20 secs/plank. It's an improvement from when I first started at 30secs. I seriously googled how to get washboard abs. I liked this article because it discussed different type of plank exercises. Plus it didn't suggest crunches or situps which I hate. I don't think it's rocket science to get a six pack. Eat well and exercise seems to be the underlying tone of all the articles I read. There are no shortcuts! Currently, my abs are still hiding.

P90X Cardio X

My bf suggested I try the P90X Cardio X dvd today. I've never done it but I assumed it was a cardio dvd. I had an off day on Sunday so I was hoping to do some cardio today. Turns out Cardio X is a low impact workout. I personally thought it was low intensity (or maybe I'm slowly adapting to Insanity?). After the warm up, I didn't even break a sweat. Stretching involved yoga which was nice. The rest of the dvd involved kickboxing moves, various jumps, and some ab exercises. I altered some of the moves for preference. For example, instead of jump shots (pretend you're jumping up to shoot a basketball), I did squat jumps where you start in a squat then jump up.  My HR was around 146 which I wasn't too happy with. I'd like it to be at least over 150. Afterwards, I went out for a quick 1.5km run around my neighbourhood hoping to boost up my HR. But if anything, my HR dropped down to 130. Maybe I'm becoming more cardio efficient? Definitely won't do Cardio X as a cardio workout but it's good as a low impact activity and to develop some muscle strength.

Anywhos, gotta study for a final now. Here's my current favourite workout song.

Day 8 Insanity Workout Whoops

Day 8 Insanity involves Pure Cardio. The plus side for the 2nd week is that I know what to anticipate. Except I couldn't remember what this dvd entailed. All the squats and jumps blur together for me. But as soon as Shaun T mentioned that he's nervous for the workout, then I remembered. It's the dvd with no breaks. Cardio straight through. It went great. I didn't have to take as many breaks as the first time and I was able to go longer. My HR was at 160. I'm assuming my heart is adjusting to working out.

Well look at that, I did the wrong dvd. Apparently Day 8 is supposed to be Cardio Power and Resistance. Whoops.

Oh well, I got a workout out of it. Also afterwards, I had some left over energy so I went for a quick 10 min (1.5km) jog around my neighbourhood.

I'm kinda embarrassed to confess that my workout today was fueled by a small Wendy's Chilli. Was out running errands and bf want to stop there for lunch. But that combined with my usual fruit/veggie smooth breakfast gave me enough energy to sustain my workout. Now, post workout, I'm eating a concoction of mapo tofu dish, spinach, tomato, a bun and Laughing Cow cheese.

Insanity describes that you can burn up to 1000 calories doing these workouts. Not sure how much I'm burning. I'm not losing weight. But I'm suspecting I'm losing some fat and replacing it with muscle. Or so I'd like to think.

Yesterday was another off day because I was out. I tried doing the elliptical at night but got kicked off for being too noisy. I did my usual yoga by Sadie Nardini but still felt restless. Found this yoga video to complement it. I loove the stretch at the end but I don't know where the rest of the video is.

Running Groove

That picture of me was from 5 years ago. I was running then. I have this one memory of one run I did. I was at a track and it was packed. The usual runners and walkers. There was track & field practice. There were two different camps going on. I no longer had a running buddy so I was on my own. I started doing my laps. I like tracks because it's easy for me to measure the distance I've run and I don't have to carry my water bottle. I ran and ran. I ran more laps than I normally did and I didn't stop. As I finished another lap, the track and field coach started cheering me on. He encouraged me to keep going and I was doing a good job. After each lap, he'd stop coaching, turn to me, and gave me encouragement and I ran by. He didn't have to do that. He had his own team he was coaching. And yet he took the time to motivate me too. I really appreciated it and I think it helped to keep me going. I always thought of this as being in my running groove.  

Too bad I stopped running after that year and for 5 years following. 

Today, I went for a run. I haven't gone for one in 2 weeks since I started Insanity. I was a bit apprehensive as usual. Old habits die hard. Brings me back to my elementary and high school days where I was always one of the last ones to finish laps. It was also 25C and last time I tried running in the heat, I was hot and wheezy. I ate oatmeal again this morning as a pre-workout food. 

The run went.. amazing. 1 run around my block = 1.5km. The first lap, was a breeze (besides the sharp cramp in my upper right quadrant under my rib which forced me to stop and massage out). I stopped to stretch and drink water. I ran another 2 laps to finish off at 4.5km. I stopped only to drink water and a little to catch my breath. But I ran it without walking. My HR stayed elevated between 160-172. I'm thrilled. I'm finally feeling my running groove again. 

Day 6 Insanity Workout

Last night, instead of my usual ice cream or peanuts snack, I ate a bigger snack. It consisted of Greek yogurt, granola, raisins, blueberries, and banana. That was around midnight. My sleeping patterns are erratic where I go to sleep at 3am and wake up around 11 or 12.

When I woke up the next day (which was actually noon), I figured the snack from the night before would tide me over for the workout. A part of me was thinking, that was 12 hours ago, but I abandoned that thought. Day 6, is the same as Day 2 which was plyometric cardio circuit. This is the one that took me over an hr to do because I took so many breaks. I started the warm up which was all right. I got a cramp again. Not sure why they keeps happening. Afterwards, Shaun T. suggested checking the HR prior to stretching. When I count my pulse, I do it for 15 secs then multiply for 4. In the first 10 secs, I counted 30. In the next 5 secs, my pulse dropped... by a lot. I counted only 3 beats and wondered what was going on, and then 95% of my vision went black. Luckily my bed was close by so I sat down and dropped my head between my knees and managed to save myself from fainting. Then I stopped the dvd and went to eat breakfast. Lesson learned.

For breakfast, I ate plain oatmeal with milk, raisins, and a spoon of brown sugar.

Okay attempt 2. I started from the very beginning. Didn't come close to fainting this time hah. I definitely have to say this is the hardest workout out of the 5 DVDs. My HR stayed elevated around 168-172. I took less breaks than day 2. Towards the end, I was struggling and didn't think I was doing much. But my HR was at 168 so is that working hard or hardly working? I like to think working hard. I pushed through & finished hooray!

A Vancouver gym wants to ban skinny people to make it more plus size friendly. This is the first time I heard about it but I'm pretty sure that's illegal based on discrimination.

Off Day

Well it's kind of a cop out day. I was thinking of going for a run this evening (as opposed to my usual morning routine) but my bf convinced me to take an off day since I keep managing to strain a muscle here and there. Also insisted that doing my ab exercises (which I do every other day) and yoga does not count as an off day. If an off day is defined as doing absolutely nothing, then I haven't had one since July 7. Whoops. I know rest days are important, but my logic was that on days without cardio, I can still work on other muscles.

I look forward to working out. I think about it. I love the endorphins at the end of the workout. I like the way it makes me feel. I like feeling stronger and seeing improvement.

AskMen posted Top 10 pre-workout foods. My friend suggested oatmeal which is also on that list. So I'll try out yogurt, banana, or oatmeal and see how my body likes it.

Here are two youtube videos of people's experience with P90x and Insanity. I know I don't need to lose weight like they did. But I find their dedication really motivating. I also like this:

"When I was overweight, I would workout for 10 minutes a day for two weeks and worked my way up. In a lifestyle change towards healthy living there is no rush- just a better mind. That will take you further than any diet." - Shaun T.

Day 5 Insanity Workout

I did a bad thing yesterday and I know that I should know better. My dog's not doing so good. He's hobbling on 3 legs and can barely stand or walk. So he lays down when I take him outside to the bathroom. I let him rest for about 5 mins or so, then I have to lift him back to his feet so we can go back inside and he can rest. The thing is, my dog is 95lbs and he resists standing up so he's solid dead weight. My knee was also bothering me. So what did I do? I lifted with my knees 25% and my back 75%. My dog would get back up, then lay down. And I kept lifting him and strained my right hip/thigh in the process. I looked it up and looks like I strained my right vastus externus, the outer thigh muscle. I tried to stretch it out with yoga last night but it didn't work.

It twinged today while doing Day 5 Pure Cardio. It's all those squats and jumps. I took more breaks than I would've liked. But I got through it. I sweated like a beast as usual. Normally, I drink about 2 cups of water throughout my workout. Halfway through, I was out of water already and had to get more. While coming down the stairs, I started to see black stars. Had to take a few minutes break with my head between my knees before jumping back into it again. Stamina was pretty weak today. Now my right quad is really bothering me.

I've been thinking about a few things.

1. I need to eat more and better. For a few weeks now, I just haven't had much of an appetite and only eat when I'm hungry. I'm pretty sure if it wasn't for my daily junk food, I wouldn't even meet my daily caloric requirements.  Lately I eat breakfast (fruit/veggie smoothie), a snack, dinner (home cooked meal with meat, veggies, and carbs), and a snack. And my snacks consists of ice cream or peanuts. Also I've been stressing about my dog. I did try to eat more today. My post workout meal was maple/cinnamon bread with peanut butter and banana. Then I made myself eat lunch today and that was 2 eggs, bitter melon, and rice pilaf.

My current favourite snack (although I found out 1/3 cup=300 calories. Good grief nuts pack a punch)

2. I probably need more protein since I keep hurting myself. I'm trying to incorporate that.

3. Considering how horrible my stamina is with Insanity, I'm thinking I'm going to have to start eating before a workout. I don't usually because I don't want to get nauseous or cramp. But I just don't have the energy for it. I'm sure my body would appreciate having something to work with rather than ice cream or peanuts from the night before.

I found another blog that covers his experience with Insanity: Squawk Asian Insanity Workout

I'm going to google what I can eat prior to a workout. I hear banana is good.

Day 5 Insanity Workout Fail

Yesterday was rough. I dealt with it in an emotionally healthy way (through friends and crying)  and possibly unhealthy way (I went out and bought peanut butter cup chocolate ice cream and ate it). I debated if I was going to regret it the next day when I do my workout. But two things on my side. One, it did pacify me. Two, I did not eat the whole tub (although it could have happened). I ate till I was satisfied and realized I ate a little over 1/2 cup which is perfect. Moderation was the key.

Twentyfourcarat blogged about 15 reasons to exercise and be healthy which I really liked.

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Well, today was a fail. Really frustrating. Day 5 Pure Cardio started with a familiar warm up of sprinting/jogging, knee kicks, butt kicks, and jumps. But after the 10 mins, I did not feel good. My stomach was cramping. I was nauseous and lightheaded. At first I thought it was because my abs were sore from the oblique crunches yesterday. I tried to push through it during the stretch and I started feeling like I was going to pass out. I took a break and laid down. My colour came back and I felt a lot better. I jumped right into the workout. I liked it! Football sprints, jumping, lunges, punching, kicks, and of course squats. Halfway through the workout, I was coming down for a squat and I felt something pull in my inner thigh from my groin down to my knee :( I must've landed funny. After that, my knee was straining. I tried to stretch out that muscle but every squat and jump made it feel worse. It really sucks because I realized I was getting better at the power drills where you jump up, down for 8 pushups (I'm up to 5 hah), then alternate drawing your knees up 8x and repeat. I didn't want to screw up my knee like I did with my foot and not be able to workout 4 days so I stopped :( I only had 7 mins left! My knee is feeling all right now but it doesn't feel normal when I go up and down stairs.

I guess I'll take it easy and do Pure Cardio again on Monday.  Not too concerned about sticking to the schedule as long as I still do the workout.

Day 4 Insanity Workout

I woke up this morning to my dog needing to go to the vet. I wasn't in a mood to workout. But the vet appointment's later in the afternoon so I might as well do it to keep myself distracted.

I read that Cardio Recovery had no cardio. Sounds easy peasy lemon squeezy. But it isn't. It's all about slow controlled movements. There were squats (why wouldn't there be?) and lunges. A lot involved just holding the position or pulsing up and down slowly. My legs were burning once again. There were lots of standing yoga poses I recognized like downward facing dog, warrior pose and warrior pose III. I really liked the triangular pose but in the dvd, the leg closest to the arm was bent at a 90 degree angle. I think having my legs straight would've eased up the tension on my shoulders. With some of the movements, I realized my ab exercises were finally paying off. My core strength helped to keep me balanced.  I sweated. It was a good strengthening workout.

I found my tape measurer. My bf was using it as a bookmark. Now I can see my results of working out for 5 weeks! My arms and calves got slightly bigger (1/4-1/2inch). I lost an inch on my waist and hips. Everywhere else stayed the same.  Exciting to see results of working out.

Anywhos, off to make my smoothie now.

Day 3 Insanity workout

Well I guess it's technically day 4 but I'll just write it in the order that the workout's supposed to be in.

I found Cardio Power and Resistance was more doable. I don't know if it's because I took a day off yesterday and my muscles were ready for it. Warm up was similar and a workout in itself with variations of jogging and different jumps and kicks. Then it's bursts of exercises which consists of different squats, jumps, and pushups. I'll be honest. I haven't actually really seen the informercials but had I know there'd be this many squats and pushups, I probably wouldn't have started. But here I am doing them. My HR stayed around 160 whereas on Day 2, it was around 180. I had instances of being lightheaded. I think that's moreso having to switch back and forth from jumping to down on the floor for pushups. It was good. I felt better afterwards than Day 2.

In the beginning of Insanity, they mention you need running shoes. It's true. I didn't think it was necessary till I screwed up my right foot doing jumping jacks with bare feet.

I found HealthLinkBC has a Target Heart Rate Tool. I'm not sure what my workout routines are considered. If I'm moderately active, it should be 144-156 beats/min. If I'm very active, 156-167.

1 mango, 2 handfuls of spinach, 1 handful of carrots, 6 strawberries, 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, 1 chopped frozen bananas, splash of milk (maybe 1/4 cup?), and 1/2 cup Greek yogurt = 3 servings of smoothies. I'm still horrible at trying to figure out how much fruit and veggies to put in. I usually make too much. 

Had my normal fruit/veggie smoothie and eggs with natto (Japanese fermented beans) for breakfast. 

I will do my usual ab routine tonight while watching Breaking Bad with le bf.