"Success without satisfaction is the ultimate failure." Tony Robbins

Authentic intuition is your best friend-- seriously.  I am so happy that I quit P90X- I had a little bit of guilt about it because so many people LOVE it.  This workout will change your life... blah, blah, blah.  My gut was telling me I would be miserable doing it, so I changed course and moved on.  When your gut is telling you something is not right in your life- listen, it is often right.  TRUST yourself! Sorry for the soap box, it is very unlike me . I just hate seeing people miserable yet they do nothing to change the situation because they feel they are doing what they SHOULD.

I don't normally use the word 'love' to describe non living things, but I LOVE my new workout schedule. I am doing a hybrid of Les Mills Pump and Insanity.  Last week was strictly Les Mills Pump, this week the hybrid began.

Les Mills started off pretty slow last week.  The main workout was pump challenge which is a full body 25 minute-ish workout.  It was basically just getting you familiar with the equipment, form and how to adjust the movements to the tempo.  I liked it, but it was just fine.  I feel like this week the fun really began.  If you aren't familiar with Les Mills the workouts are high reps timed to awesome music.  So we may be doing a squat 'circuit' and you will be doing some squats super slow (down for 4 counts), pick up the tempo to a medium (down and up for two counts), pick up the tempo again for singles, and then finally bottom halves (PAIN- squat down, come up about half way, down, up half way, then up fully, then down again).  My butt has been on FIRE all week.  LOVE IT.

I did Les Mills Flow this week as well which is a super energized yoga DVD that is only 20 minutes long.  I felt so fantastic when it was over.  The instructors in Les Mills are amazing.  I don't even need to look at the TV, their audio cues are enough so that I know exactly what I need to do.

Les Mills Hard Core Abs- 15 minutes of AH-Mazing.  All do-able moves that will leave you sore the next day.  The instructors are from all over- UK, New Zealand, etc.  They switch on and off for the different circuits and their accents are super motivating.

So I am doing Insanity on non Les Mills Days (Les Mills is 3 days a week for strength, then you do ABS 2 times a week and flow once).  Les Mills suggests you walk 3 days a week, but I am doing Insanity.

Tuesday was the fit test, so today was my first actual Insanity Workout.  It was Plyometric Cardio Circuit.  OMG!  Uh, yeah- the warm up was more intense then many workouts I have done.  The moves are pretty straight forward and Shaun T is super motivating and not bad on the eyes.  There were suicide drills, fast feet, push ups, skier jumps, plank moguls, standing mountain climbers, regular mountain climbers.  By the end, I had to take frequent breaks.  My HRM clocked the workout at 452 calories for 42 minutes even with the breaks.  I was sweating like crazy.

So I am HAPPY, HAPPY with my workouts.  I have held steady with my weight and that is because of my eating.  In short it has been crappy food in abundance and we all know that food is 100 % of the battle.  Tomorrow is a new month, a renewed commitment.

Hope everyone is well.  Congrats to all the recent finishers (Catherine and Peach that I know of for sure).  AMAZING results and I am loving your post BR updates.

Floundering

Still here, still working out.  Haven't checked blogs for a couple days, but I am checking up on everyone tomorrow and hope to see good news as some of you are nearing the end. I have had crazy set up to do for my new gig which is super exciting.  As a technology super duper part time consultant I rarely get good subject matter, but this is fun!

So, this week I have started Les Mills pump and it's good. This is a program based on body pump classes and uses a barbell.  It's really FUN and doesn't feel like a chore at all. I think this is really going to be a great program for strength training.  I have definitely been sore in the butt which is where I need it the most.  The program does have yoga and core DVDs as well (both short:)).  I haven't done them yet, but will report when I do. The music is great and there is a strategy around the music chosen.  The reps are timed to the beats of the music- so you do slow reps and fast reps and the beats and reps are synchronized.  The music is very motivating.  My husband has never been interested in my workouts, but he did a workout last night.

So why am I floundering?!?!  The program is weak on cardio.  On cardio days they just say to do a 45 minute walk.  Well I do this pretty much every day anyway with my husband and son.  Cardio is my weakspot and I definitely want to train my weaknesses as well as my strengths.  So I think I am going to develop my own hybrid plan and hybrid Les Mills with Insanity.  There isn't an official hybrid out there, but I have read about people doing this with fantastic results.

I had lunch with a friend the other day and she was talking about Insanity and how she couldn't do it, but really wanted to try another program.  She was talking about P90x and I gave her my feedback.  Hopefully I didn't talk her out of it, but she doesn't think it's for her given her time constraints.  So, we are meeting up again tomorrow and doing an Insanity for Body Revolution swap.  I am so excited for her and want her to succeed.  I made her some of the blueberry/banana muffins to get her going!  Maybe I can convince her to blog?  Once I get my fingers on Insanity I'll develop my own customized plan!  I am hoping this will live up to Body Revolution.  What a fantastic program, we really were spoiled.

I think this new plan is going to work great for me.  I am pretty happy with my tone these days and am feeling pretty solid.  My problem areas are butt and lower abs so I think some Insanity style cardio and good old fashioned eating right will help get me where I want to be.

My friend sent me this picture of us berry picking earlier today and I was shocked at my post body revolution 'guns'.  It just isn't what I see in the mirror (I am the one in the jean skirt and painfully pale legs).

Have a great night everyone!

P90x Day 7 of 7

Instead of focusing on how much you can accomplish, focus on how much you can absolutely love what you’re doing 
~ Leo Babauta


I am using this quote to justify my P90X fail.  I am going to be a quitter.  But, I only committed to a test run- so technically it isn't a fail.

I can say with absolute certainty that I do not love P90x.  I have a greater respect for those who have completed the program after experiencing this week.  These workouts are grueling! I really looked forward to the Body Revolution workouts, but with P90x I just kept putting them off and putting them off.  They are too long and boring. 

Since my last blog I have experienced Legs and Back and Kenpo X.  I found Legs and Back to be one of the more challenging workouts in phase 1.  Each circuit consists of a variation of a squat, lunge and pull up.  There is a 90 second wall squat where you get down lower and lower every 15 seconds or so.  By the end my legs were SHAKING, then as you are coming out of the squat Tony casually says "Don't be a hero, if your legs start shaking- come on out".  Thanks Dude- it's over.  While we are hanging out in squat Tony uses this time to plug the recovery drink AGAIN.  Am I the only one who finds this constant commercial off-putting?  I definitely felt this workout the next day. 

Kenpo X was pretty light weight.  This is an hour of punching and kicking.  Rarely are you using your upper body and lower body at the same time. I burned less calories in this hour than I did in my 33 minutes of cardio 3.

Plyometrics definitely gets my vote as the superstar of this series.  I wasn't staring at the countdown ticker the whole time, worked up a sweat, burned some calories and had a little fun.  

Tomorrow starts a new adventure!  I am looking forward to it!  I hope everyone had a great weekend! :)

New Adventure Day 4 of ???

This evening after I left my guest bedroom I spotted my son.  OMG- he looks taller, he's running- WHAT?  When did that happen?  Have I been sleeping for days, on a vacation I forgot about?  Oh, no wait- I was just doing Yoga X.  Folks- this is LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG.  And why?  I don't get it.  The first 45 minutes of moving poses was the same thing over, and over, and over, and over, and over again.  Then another 45 minutes of static poses.  Oh and I've clocked a little over a 200 calorie burn for an hour and a half?  Isn't that what I would have burned just standing up?

I have heard good things about this workout and I'm just going to come right out and be negative, but I think it sucks.  The instruction is horrible.  Unless you know yoga, you wouldn't know what to do unless you are watching the tv the whole time which is mighty difficult from down dog and plank without hurting your neck.  Did I miss some sort of instructional DVD that ran through the poses while simultaneously trying to sell me a shake that costs more than your typical car payment?  

This video alone makes me want to chuck P90X in the garage sale pile.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Food- ugh, I have been so off track since mother's day.  I really need to sit down and form a plan.  Today was crazy.  

I picked up a paleo cookbook at the suggestion of my doctor.  I have to be gluten free, my son needs to be  dairy free- apparently paleo fits both these special needs.  For the record- I don't believe in fad diets, I haven't read about paleo so I don't know if it qualifies as a fad or not.  But of course, I gravitated to the sweetest breakfast in the book.  A coconut flour waffle.

I was ravenous when we got home from our morning outing, so I threw together the quickest lunch I could and scarfed it down.  I don't normally eat like I am 5 years old, but I had an almond butter and raspberry preserve sandwich on millet bread.

Then I was lazy and had a almond milk protein shake with chia seeds for snack.

I had a dinner to be proud of though!  A salad topped with roasted veggies (sweet potato, onion, green beans), tomato, a few walnuts and a yogurt based dressing.  So good!!

So there you have it, what NOT to do post body revolution.

Have a great night! :)

I may not be perfect, but parts of me are pretty awesome.

I saw someone wearing a shirt with the saying above and it made me smile. I should focus on what is awesome instead of thinking about my muffin top or lower ab flab all the time. I have awesome shoulders, my triceps are popping and under a small layer of flab are some ripped up abs.

Today I got to work on one of my favorite parts since it was shoulders and arms day. This workout is very "traditional" as far as strength training goes. Each circuit has one shoulder, bicep, then tricep move. Each circuit is repeated twice. The moves are basic variations of shoulder presses, different curls and tricep kickbacks and chair dips. You must be disciplined enough to use a challenging weight. This was a good change of pace for me. The compound moves in BR were great, but it's good to slow it down and really focus too! Sadly, another less than awesome performance of Ab Ripper x.

I wasn't really that sore from plyo yesterday. I was surprised that I was still sore in the chest, back and abs from Mondays workout. I did go to my yoga class tonight and it was tough. Ugh, I really like yoga class...but the doubling up is hard.

No food pics tonight. My husband had a work emergency so I am blogging from the ipad. I tried some new things today and not one of them turned out. If anyone tells you the cauliflower pizza crust doesn't taste like cauliflower-Don't believe them.

Have a great night!!

Day 2 of ??? PLYOMETRICS

I need to correct myself - in yesterday's post I said I did Back and Biceps, it was actually Chest and Back and boy do I feel it in all the right places today!!  I have soreness in my lower abs as well.  Whoot- I haven't been sore for along time.

Today I faced my biggest fear in the P90X workout series- Plyometrics.  I have read reviews about this workout and have heard it can make big, athletic men weep in pain.  At the beginning Tony talks up how tough it is and even suggests that you sub in Cardio X until you can work your way up to Plyo.

I may be singing a different tune tomorrow, but I didn't think it was THAT bad.  In my humble opinion, if you can do Cardio 3- you can do Plyo.  80% of these moves show up in either a cardio video or a cardio interval in Body Revolution with a different name.  We've got jumping lunges, squat jacks, up over over back (called hot feet), rock star jumps, 180 hops, towel runs and on and on.  There are some really fun new moves as well such as monster tire runs and a move where you leap across the room like you are jumping from rock to rock on a creek.  I took it pretty easy today based on advice I have read from other xers and I still burned 607 calories in 59 minutes.  I liked that there was a warm up and you didn't just go straight into jumping.

Food today was pretty on point:

Breakfast- YES, I am in a rut.  Steel cut oats again!  This time with kiwi and raspberry.

Lunch- OMG, YUM.  Sliced apple, provolone, and spinach grilled in a gluten free wrap.

Snack- my son and I went out for Mean Green Juice- kale, cucumber, celery, apple and lemon.  He looks cuter drinking it- so he is pictured.

I NEED the smell of wheatgrass in my home.  It smells so fresh and sweet and I feel healthier just breathing it in.

Dinner- Brown rice, chicken, and green olive dish my hubby made while I was working up a sweat.

So many people are getting close to the end of their revolution journeys!  I hope to see pictures and hear plans about what's next very soon.

Have a great night! :)

New Adventure, Day 1 of ???

So, I said I was waffling on which program I would do today.  Based on the time on my heart rate monitor do you have a guess? This should be easy.

That's right, I did day 1 of P90x.  The day 1 of ??? means I am testing out the program.  I am going to give it a week and see how it goes.  I have a new client, so things are a little busier than normal.  I am fortunate enough to work extremely part time from home-- but this also means no childcare.  So this means I need to fit in work and working out in the am, during nap time or when my hubby is home.  So we decided we would try me working out while my husband makes dinner.  Did you just gasp out loud?  I am home all day and my husband makes dinner- yep.  It worked out great.  I worked up an appetite and came down for dinner.

So, I chose p90x because all though I am extremely proud and happy with my results from BR, I still have a way to go before I am at my goal. I think P90X is going to get me there and then Les Mills will be great for maintenance. Things are only going to get busier for me- I plan on going back to school part time in the fall for a new career. So if I am going to do P90X the time is NOW!  But, I reserve the right to change my mind after the test week!

Today was back and biceps- this is a little over 50 minutes of mostly push ups and pull ups.  When they pulled out the free weights for a few exercises I was giddy with relief.  I can currently do about 3 pull ups unassisted- then I throw my foot in the chin up max (best invention EVER) and I bust out the rest of the pull ups assisted.

I was feeling pretty good at the end of workout one.  It breezed by despite the length of the dvd.  Then I did Ab Ripper X.  This would be 15 minutes of pure torture. Where are my trusty planks. Each move is done for 25 reps and by rep 7 of some of them I had to take a break.  Bugger. I am sure I will get better.

All in all- not bad.  I didn't hard core sweat like I did in body revolution, but there weren't any cardio intervals and there were breaks.

Food today was less than stellar, I'll get back on track tomorrow.

Breakfast- Steel cut oats with raspberries and tsp maple syrup:

Lunch- We were going to go out for dinner last night for mother's day.  However, my son fell asleep in the car yesterday afternoon then decided it would be a good idea to forgo his afternoon nap.  By dinner time he was MELTING down.  We decided to skip dinner out, it would have been a disaster for everyone.  So today we met my hubby for lunch.  I had an avocado turkey burger sans bun and asparagus.

Not bad, but I also had a yummy sugary strawberry tea.

Snack- more sugar!  My husband made me an awesome gluten free coconut flour cake for mother's day and I indulged in a slice.

Then for dinner we had a savory breakfast.  Tortilla topped with a little bit of chorizo, avocado, tomato, eggs and tortilla.

THANK YOU everyone for your kind words regarding my BR results.  I am still following your blogs closely and am hoping for awesome results.

Have a great night!

Results are in!

I admit-I am not the best about measuring, taking photos etc.  I have zero measurements for you, but I do have photos and weight stats and that is better than nothing, right?  So I'll get right to it.

I weighed in this morning at 136 again- no weight loss in the past couple of weeks.  Tom is knocking at my door and I am definitely feeling puffy and not as slim as a couple of days ago- so maybe we'll have better news in a couple of days.  But, I'll call it- 10 lbs down.

Pictures- I can tell my abs are getting way more defined and my waist is coming in.  Still some work to do- especially on the left side.  I am going to do much better on the pictures for my next adventure:

I hadn't purchased new workout clothes for a long time, so I threw out the top sports bra and shorts when then got too big not thinking about the after shots.

I am definitely very pleased with my results!  This has been a really fun journey for me and I appreciate everyone reading and making supportive comments.  I am really looking forward to my next workout, even though I am still waffling as to which I am going to choose!  We'll see what mood strikes later today.

Hope everyone had a fabulous mother's day! :)

farmer's market.gluten free cooking.marveling @ toddlerhood.good friend.reading.movies.napping.

One more workout left.  How did I get here so fast?  Time is so precious and goes by way too quickly.  The above list is how I have been spending my time the last couple of weeks.  I've been a bad blogger and I am making no excuses. I just needed a break from my computer.  I have not taken a break from Jillian though.  We've been spending quality time together daily- except for Sundays, we're sick of each other by then.

Updates-

Gluten intolerance test came back positive.  This is not a shock to me, reading about it.... I had all the symptoms.  What did shock me was all the crappy memories and feelings it brought to the surface and the anger I felt that I hadn't been diagnosed sooner.  That's all I am going to say about the negative aspect though.  I strongly believe that I was meant to have this discovery now and learn all of the lessons I am learning in this moment.  The positives far outweigh the negatives- I FEEL amazing.  I never knew I could have this much energy and be free of stomach pain, joint pain and headaches.  It is truly incredible and I am so grateful I finally found a doctor who looked for the cause and not the symptoms.

I have discovered a lot of awesome gluten free recipes.  I'll feature the teff crepes today.  These crepes were made from Teff flour.  If you have ever had Ethiopian, this is the same flour used to make the spongey bread you use- OMG, so good.

I am going to make some teff scones next time I feel like a 'treat'!

Oh and this is my not necessarily gluten free, but it is my new favorite way to have oatmeal.  After the oats are cooked add a tsp of vanilla extract and let sit for 5 minutes.  Top with half a cut of thawed frozen strawberries with the juice and some slivered almonds- sooooo good.  These are normal gluten free rolled oats, but it would work fantastic with steel cut as well.

What's next?


LES MILLS PUMP!  I am so excited!  I think this is going to be a really good change for me.  I have previewed some of the program and it looks really fun.  It does have that cheesy 'BeachBody Feel' and of course there is a plug for Shakeology at the end, but all the instructors are hot- so I think I can look past it.  I also really like that the program is not as prescriptive.  There are 3 strength training days, 1 yoga day and 1 abs day with walking encouraged on the flow and abs day and one other day for a total of 6 days.  This will give me some flexibility to hybrid in some of my other workouts for cardio (walk days)  So, even though tomorrow is the last scheduled cardio 3 day I'll likely see it again.

Results


I have received a lot of compliments the last week about how good I look, so I think I have definitely got results.  Momma even got whistled at twice this week- nice!  It is really hard to see on myself, so I am pretty excited to see the before and afters next to each other.  I will definitely post them here as well.

Blogging Future:


I will continue to blog.  I am not going to put pressure on myself to blog everday like I was.  Maybe a few times a week will be sustainable for me.  Even though I haven't been blogging, I have been reading on my phone and am super happy everyone is sticking with it despite some challenges!  It's going to be great to finish.

I'm off to enjoy a bike ride with my wonderful hubby and this little cutie.  We have the best weekend planned!  I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Happy May Day!

Happy May Day fellow revolutioners!  I have been MIA lately and I have to admit my enthusiasm for body revolution has been lacking.  I have still been doing all of my workouts and watching my calories, but I have just felt kind of 'over it' and ready to move on.  I have been catching up on other's blogs today and am super happy about the successes everyone is having!  It seems like people are feeling really good about their progress and are feeling strong- I LOVE IT and it is really motivating me to finish this last week and a half strong.  I went into workout 12 totally energized and burned a good 50 more calories than normal AND didn't stumble on any of the one legged weighted squats- whoot!  It's a new month, time to refocus.

I didn't want to weigh in on Sunday, but I did.  My eating could definitely be improved.  This time of year is full of fun activities and I find myself grabbing things on the go.  I'm not eating too much- just too much sodium, sugar and convenience foods.  Despite this, I am down another lb for a total of 10 lbs so far.

There is a HUGE milestone for me.  I am now officially no longer heavier than my husband.  He is naturally small and muscular (and most importantly the sweetest, kindest man I have ever met).  Ten lbs is how much our son weighed at 2 weeks:

So really, I've lost the equivalent of a person!  A very small person, but still!  Whoot!

So here- I'll fess up to my awful food day.

Breakfast- grainless pancakes with berry compote.  The batter for this is egg, banana, almond butter, vanilla extract, and cinnamon.

Lunch- Jimmy Johns Turkey Tom Unwhich- no mayo and CHIPS

 Snack- Newman's Own Peanut butter cups 

And dinner- chicken pad thai

CONGRATS to everyone on their recent successes.  Oh and Catherine- you have totally motivated me to work on my shit togetherness- it is really high on the May promises list.

Have a great night.