Fitness theory

I was reading Steve Edward's blog, "The Straight Dope" because it was featured in an Insanity link on Facebook. This line made my head tilt:

"Conventional fitness theory is that when you stop training it takes you the same time that you had off to get back to where you were." - Steve Edwards

If this is true, I'm apparently setting myself up for a world of hurt by putting Insanity off until August. I'm going to put some serious thought into how I could work in some sort of mini workouts to at least keep me in semi-decent condition while I wait to start Insanity again. 


I have done some research on fasting exercises - which essentially what any morning workout would be for me - and basically as long as it doesn't reach aerobic rate (at most, a brisk walk) and the time doesn't exceed 30 minutes, I should be fine. I'm not in it to do major calorie burnage, which is what all the articles I found were focused on, so I may need to up my breakfast calories if I start looking skeletal, LOL
If I can get out of bed even 15 minutes earlier, I could get in a 5 minute warm up followed by a 10 minute circuit. It won't be as intense as Insanity but it might be just enough to keep my body in that mode so that August won't be quite so painful.

Insanity Hiatus

I really want to have success with the Insanity workout program. I want to do it right. Right now that isn't feasible. For starters, I'm taking 2 rest days instead of one. The way the rest days fall for me, the 'Cardio Recovery' workout is sandwiched between the rest days. It's not that the recovery workout is easy by any means, but it's just too much time off around it. I lack motivation to do the recovery workout because I've already had a rest day. It seems silly to do it after a rest day - especially knowing I have another rest day following. I threw around the idea of skipping the recovery days and replacing them with the other workouts. I decided I was changing it up too much.
I'm going to wait until I finish school - which should be this August.
In the mean time, I'll continue working on eating healthy breakfasts and lunches. My weight is nearing ideal. If I continue on the trend I've had these last few months, I should reach the Wii's suggestion in about 4 weeks.
I have a doctor's visit scheduled for this Wednesday and I'm going to ask if they want to rerun tests on my blood for cholesterol. If they do, I'll post the results. I'm expecting they will be much better. (I'm now remembering I never looked up the paperwork of my last results!)
Summer is on its way which means I'll be spending more time outdoors for what little free time I have, which is exciting! At the very least, I'll be walking daily with Ashley and Max. I'll be mowing the lawn, gardening, washing the car, etc - so there will be some exercising going on.

Late night

Well, my schedule was almost a success. At least I was able to get everything done. Dinner had a few snafus so it was 7:30 before we were eating, which means it was closing in on 9:00 by the time I started working out.
The Plyometric Cardio Circuit kicked my ass this time around. On round 3 of the basketball drill set, I was no longer needing breaks due to my heart rate monitor - because I wasn't moving enough for my heart to be reaching those limits! I was exhausted! I would squat to do a basketball drill and almost fall over. I would go down for a Level 2 drill and my arms would threaten to cave under me. I would do one In & Out before my knees buckled and I got rug burn from the unexpected collapse. I could hold plank position pretty well though, so I did that at least. Since I'd had a few minutes worth of 'rest', I went to town on the "bonus" set at the end with football drills, jabs, uppercuts, and attack. My body was a quivering mess during the cool down.

Also, I wore shorts for the first time during a workout. They are not so conducive to the cool down portion. My legs were so sweaty I kept slipping during the hip opener stretches. It just now occurred to me that this is probably why the cast has hand towels everywhere, LOL

Ranchero Turkey and Quinoa Skillet

HyVee posted a recipe for Ranchero Beef & Rice Skillet. I used turkey instead of beef, quinoa instead of rice, added a jalepeno pepper, and used fresh salsa instead of the jar. So I just typed up my 'recipe' instead of using their nutritional info since I was changing so many things.

Ranchero Turkey and Quinoa Skillet

Ingredients

1 cup Quinoa
1 lb raw Ground Turkey
1 Large Sweet Red Pepper, chopped
2 clove Garlic, crushed
1 tbsp Chili powder
1 Jalapeno Pepper, sliced
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup fresh salsa

Nutritional Info
Fat: 14.2g
Carbohydrates: 44.3g
Calories: 433.8
Protein: 31.2g
Fiber: 6g
Sodium: 364mg

Brown turkey, pepper and garlic over medium heat for 8-10 minutes or until turkey not pink.

Drain then season with chili powder

Add quinoa, continue on medium heat until rice is hot

Add peas and salsa, heat through and serve

Number of Servings: 4

Insanity starts tomorrow!

I'm starting up the Insanity workout for the fourth time (I think? I'm losing track now) tomorrow. I sat down tonight and tried to work up a feasible schedule. This time around I've got school taking my time as well. What I ended up having to do was schedule 2 rest days instead of 1. I couldn't figure out a way to get the workout in on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If I get up earlier on those days to do the workout, it's not just the 40 minutes for the workout - I'd need time to eat breakfast and digest a bit before going cardio crazy. So I'd be looking at about 4 or 4:30 am to start. NO WAY! Plus, I'd have to go to bed that much earlier the night before. How do I go to bed earlier and still do everything else that needs done? I also need to spend time with Ashley. So here's what I came up with for weekdays:

6:30 a    leave for Jim’s/work

1:00 p    study/homework over lunch

5:00 p    leave for home

5:30 p    walk with Ashley & Max

5:45 p    study/homework until dinner is done

6:30 p    eat then study/homework for an hour

7:30 p    Mon/Wed/Fri workout (Tues/Thurs @ school till 10)

8:30 p    shower/eat fruit/hang with Ashley

10:00 p  bed

I think if I stay pretty close to that schedule, I'll be okay. I'm hoping the 15 minute walk will warm up my shins better and prevent any issues I've had before. The hardest thing for me concerning a workout schedule is figuring out when I can do it in relation to eating. If I wait too long after eating, my blood sugar drops and I end up nearly passing out after the workout is over. If I don't wait long enough after eating, I intentionally don't work out as hard in lieu of puking all over the place. There's this happy place about an hour after eating though that seems to work for me. 

Starting Insanity and keeping the workouts on both weekend days also means I don't get my freebie weekends anymore. I guess I could still eat the not so great choices but I'd just suffer for it in the end. Those workouts hurt so much more when I don't eat clean foods. 

Well, wish me luck in finishing this time around! I'm taking pictures tonight. When I get through the entire 60 days (which will take longer based on my schedule), I'll post the 0/30/60 day picture comparisons! 

Thank you Jay!

It really is wonderful how the universe has everything in alignment - all I had to do was be open and what I wanted fell right in my lap!
My friend Jay called the other day asking what I thought of the Insanity program by Beachbody. A few days later (or maybe that same day?) I found out he had ordered it. I messaged him and suggested we be long-distance workout buddies. Today he blogged and I saw that we are in fact doing this together. He's going to follow the entire plan - nutritional and workout - and I'm excited to see how it works for him. He'll be the first person I know in real life to do this. Of course I've seen the transformation videos that people post, but you never really know whether that person slipped on the nutrition plan or skipped a workout day or added more workouts even.
On Sunday, I will take a picture of myself facing forward and another turned sideways to use for my 30 and 60 day comparison photo. On Monday, I'm back on the Insanity wagon!

Oh d-d-d-dear!

Serious cheese, serious coordination

One month ago, I was sick of sitting on my ass and decided to start the Insanity workout again with traumatic results. Then I realized what was going on with my body and decided to start tapping instead. That lasted two days.

Fast forward a month and I'm back to "sick of sitting on my ass" and wanting to start Insanity again. Except I know better this time. Because of course, since it's exactly a month later, what do you think is going on with my body? Yeah - not my idea of fun. I'm really hoping that I'll still have this drive to get moving next week when this is all done with.

In the meantime though - it's snowing outside again so I'm not working in the yard, not walking with Ashley and our dog, not doing much of anything. I *could* start tapping again but I'm quite disappointed in my lack of coordination and don't feel like being discouraged right now. I *could* also start doing this wall printout of circuit workouts that a friend gave me.

Okay, so maybe I'm back to "sick of sitting on my ass" but not quite at the "start moving" phase...

Something to attest to the power of the mind: I've been consistently losing 2 pounds every 2 weeks without exercise. First, my brain thinks, "Just imagine how much faster you'd be losing if you were working out! OR How much better shape you'd be in with exercise!" Then the lazy brain kicks in and says, "Isn't it nice that you can lose weight by just eating healthier and less? Who needs exercise?!"

Someone please, kick me in the butt on March 21st and remind me that I really do feel better when I'm working out and that I need to really focus on trying to finish Insanity at least once!

Spinach Chicken Almond Egg White Sandwich **UPDATE**

**UPDATE**
I just finished eating. It's delicious! Kind of like an Asian dish. Yum yum yum!
************

Last week I didn't feel like doing the prep work to make my egg sandwich squares so I had peanut butter on english muffins all week. That's not a horrible breakfast but pretty dull. Today I got off my laurels and got the egg dish done. However, my sun dried tomatoes were left at work and I didn't have any green peppers. So I decided to change things up a bit. This doesn't always go over so well so I'll let you know how they taste after I have one tomorrow morning!

I didn't have any leftover chicken, and didn't feel like cooking any, so I used almonds. Then about halfway through separating eggs, decided I really did like having the chicken in there so went ahead and boiled a piece after all. I still kept the almonds.

In the end, the squares will have egg white, spinach, almond and chicken. Then I'll assemble as usual on the english muffin with one ounce of cheese.

Here's the recipe in case you're curious of nutritional information:
http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1522133