Day 14: Yoga Fix--Round 2

Alright people!  We are two weeks into this and we have hit the home stretch!  Can you see the end?  Cuz I can! (I sound pretty pumped, huh?) The workout was good this morning, a much needed stretch day, but 30 minutes of yoga doesn't feel like I worked out for the day.  No offense to the yoga following, but to me, it just doesn't feel like enough.  It feels like cheating.  And YES, I did follow ALL the breathing cues, and it did feel BENEFICIAL.  But it doesn't satisfy my adrenaline junky craving or whatever.  Especially since I've added in a rest day; this program is supposed to be ONLY 21 days STRAIGHT.  This yoga workout is supposed to be the rest/active recovery day.  So, I'm basically giving myself two rest days a week; it just feels WRONG.

So, today I righted the wrong.  Do you ever have those days when you take a shift one week, thinking it's a permanent deal, and then show up the same time the next week and it turns out you were just covering for someone?  That happened to me today, to which I sang "Hallelujah!" because Miss {C} needed a nap, and I was not anxious to spend the next 4 hours with grumpy butt and a bunch of other children who probably also needed naps.  But {E} and {C} were both SO EXCITED to play with friends at the daycare, that in order to get them to leave without causing a scene, I had to promise that we would come back later with Daddy.

So Brandon and I went to the gym to workout after dinner, and dropped the girlies off at the daycare to play with friends.  I haven't actually been running for awhile, probably since I started Insanity a few months ago, and it was WONDERFUL.  Granted, it was only on a treadmill, and I only made it 2.5 miles, you know, so I wouldn't be dead tomorrow when I'm supposed to do TWO WORKOUTS, but it felt so good to just run!  I would almost say it was therapeutic.  Just to run, listen to my music, while watching some robots vs. aliens movie, and let my thoughts just come and go.  I didn't have to focus on anything, I just ran :-)

Enough about my love affair with my run.  I did alright with my meal plan today, until I came home from not working at 4:30 and had to fix dinner.  {E} asked for grilled cheese sandwiches, so that's what we had.  I was planning on using the last two pieces of whole wheat bread for my "tuna melt," but I got into a rhythm making sandwiches, and I totally spaced on it.  So my plan for a semi-healthy grilled cheese sandwich (healthy because of whole wheat bread and tuna) turned into a basically not healthy sandwich because I fried it with butter and it was on white bread.  Oh well, I went running tonight ;-)

Pictures!  First, we have my workout picture, me in bow pose or whatever it's called.  I'm amazed it actually looks as cool as it does, because when I do it, I feel like I'm pretty much lying flat on the floor from my knees to my shoulders and TRYING DESPERATELY to grab my ankles.  So we'll call this a win :-)

I know I post a lot of pictures of my kids, but I mean, come on, is this NOT a cute sister picture?  This one will definitely be used at someone's wedding, A) because it's cute, and B) because FOR ONCE they are BOTH looking at the camera AND smiling.  This rarely happens.

Food! Had my v8 energy for breakfast (I may be addicted to those), had my Shakeology with frozen fruit, Greek yogurt and a splash of apple juice for lunch, and the carrots, tomatoes and apples were the snacks I prepared for work, so I've been snacking on them throughout the night.

BONUS INFO: Because I know you are all deeply involved in the mundane details of my life :-) here's a fun story.  Brandon bought me a heart rate monitor for my birthday last year, right after I finished Insanity the first time, and before I started Asylum.  Probably since June-ish, it's had a hard time reading my heart rate.  I assumed it was a problem with the strap, since my watch was still working.  I replaced the battery in the strap, following the instructions in my manual to the "T", and still that did not fix it.  I finally called customer service about it, because it's under warranty for a year, and I sent it in two weeks ago to get the strap replaced.  Well, my replacement strap came in the mail yesterday, and when I tried to pair it with my watch before going to the gym tonight, it didn't work.  I tried lots of different variables, to no avail.  And yes, I checked, and there is a battery in the strap, SOOOOOO the problem must be with my watch, right?  So now there is a puzzle on my bed, and I will probably spend the rest of my time tonight trying to figure out what the &%#@$% is wrong with my HRM.  Sounds fun, no?

K, so tomorrow starts week 3, and that means DOUBLE WORKOUTS!  I am scheduled two workouts each day, to be done at different times during the day, not one after the other.  Another bonus for this last week, is the 3 Day Quick Fix, which is a stricter meal plan to make sure we end on a BANG! So I'll be *trying* to follow that the last 3 days of the program.  Wish me luck, because Autumn just turned up the intensity!  Tomorrow: Total Body Cardio Fix and Pilates Fix. :-D

Transformation...the beginning.

So, I'm turning over a new leaf.  For those of you who know me, you may know that I did have a family blog at some point in the past.  Turns out I haven't updated that in...carry the one...yeah over two years.  BUT I've fallen into this awesome opportunity, which has presented lots of ways for me to improve myself, and part of that is documenting my life, which is not super interesting, but supposedly, theoretically, my descendants will one day want to read it.  I guess.

Moving on, though.  This blog was specifically created to document the fitness-ing part of my life.  I have always enjoyed being involved in sports and active "activites," but for a while there I got lost and confused in how to eat what I want and still look how I want to look.  But I found MY SOLUTION!  *note that this is MY SOLUTION.  This stuff might not be right for everybody, but, in my opinion, it's worth it to look into.*

And now, without further ado, my solution:  Beachbody.  I've had a back and forth relationship with Beachbody up until a couple of months ago, but I've always liked their products.  When I first heard of P90X, I was totally intimidated.  But my sister-in-law loaned me her copy of Insanity a while after that, and I finally worked myself up to doing the whole program in 60 days last year.  I had pretty good results.  I ate better than I usually did, but still had "cheats" and treats, and overall I lost between 12-15 lbs *this venture was not documented...at all.*  I felt stronger, and I had a positive self image.  Then I tried Insanity Asylum, and I made it through the first month before I slid into a "going to the gym and just kinda work whatever I feel like" slump.  Next we moved to a new area, and I got into visiting Sonic every night because it's two blocks away.  The 1/2 price shakes were my reward for being a semi-decent mother every day.  And suddenly, one month later, I was the heaviest I'd every been, not counting pregnancy. :-(

This made for a not happy Brooke.  But I was still working out vigorously everyday, burning between 450-700 calories/day according to my heart rate monitor.  Why did I weigh so much?  Shouldn't my working out negate all the shakes/hamburgers/pizza/cookies that I ate everyday?  Apparently not.

Then along came my cousin, Elisa, who approached me with an invitation: would you like to join my challenge group?  Um, yes.  I am a physically active woman of 26 who has always been competitive when it comes to sports.  Yes, yes I will participate in this challenge you speak of.  And I did!  30 days of Insanity, clean eating, and daily posting to the Facebook group.  Pshaw!  That was nothing!  I was introduced to the magic of Shakeology, I was introduced to new friends who continue to inspire and support me, and I learned so much more about fitness and nutrition!  The whole experience was magical and awesome, and SO BENEFICIAL to me!  When the 30 days were over, I thought, "I NEED to keep doing this!"  I'm not drinking Pepsi every night, I'm eating VEGETABLES, and I STILL get to eat my cake every once in a while.  I was getting results!  And I felt SO MUCH BETTER!  I felt better about myself, I felt healthier, I had a more positive outlook on my life and what I was doing with it, and I wasn't wasting hours in front of the TV/Netflix.  Such progress ;-)

With such a fire burning in my being, I decided to become a Beachbody coach, just like Elisa.  I was gonna help people and save the world!  I still am going to do that, but I have much more "bite-size" and practical goals for to doing it :-)


I rolled into the challenge group for the next month so I could finish out Insanity, and YESTERDAY was my FINAL DAY!  Wanna see the results?  Do ya?  Here they are!

Even though I didn't document my first run through of Insanity, I KNOW that these are better results than I had the first time.  I lost 20.4 lbs and 17.75" in two months.  Who DOESN'T want to do that?  Here's the kicker.  I now weigh less than I did before I had children, less than I did before I got MARRIED, AND less than I did in high school playing varsity volleyball.  That equals= the lowest I've weighed in ~10 years.  *This is the part where I say "WOOT!"*  

Now, lest you think I'm only here to toot my own horn, I'm not.  I have seen results like this from other people within my challenge group, and from my dear cousin.  This combination WORKS.  Fitness+Nutrition+Support=Success!  I am confident that this formula will work for SO MANY people!  But if you want to reach your health and fitness goals, you've gotta find a "why."  Not just an "I want to look awesome" kind of why.  One that will pull you out of bed early in the morning EVERY morning.  This is my "why."

Unfortunately for this man and his children, they depend on me to take care of the details of their lives.  And some how I have to make up for all the times I screw up with that responsibility.  I won't be of much use to them as a diabetic and morbidly obese mother and wife.  They deserve someone who CAN play with them, and WILL play with them and MAKE and share memories with them.  I have a genetic pre-disposition to being a couch potato, and while that's all good and fun, we don't make a whole lotta memories that way.  

I'm committing myself to a healthier lifestyle so that I can PARTICIPATE in the lives of these people I call my family.  Because they deserve a mother and wife who is PRESENT in their lives.  And because I deserve to enjoy life too.