Weeks 5 and 6

Disregard everything I said about holding off on Insanity.  I start tomorrow!  More on that in a second.

Last week I weighed in at 144.8.  Today I weigh 142.8.  I seem to alternate weeks of losing nothing and dropping two pounds, but so far it has kept me on track for the most part.  Frustratingly, my inches have stayed the same.  But since I started this round, I have lost 9 pounds. 

However.. I don't take much comfort from the numbers on the scale.  I don't feel like I look much different, and I still feel pretty tired and weak for the most part.  I want to feel strong and healthy.  I have been following a Beachbody coach on facebook, and she recently posted an invitation to an Insanity challenge.  She created an accountability group, and the timing was just right for me.  I decided to join.  I do much better when I have people who hold me accountable.  The group involves doing the Insanity program, which is six days a week, and the Shakeology 'diet'.  I'm not looking to cut calories; in fact, if anything I'm looking to add more.  I don't think I get enough calories as it is now.  So I'll be adding my daily shake as a snack and not a meal replacement.  I do like that the Shakeology shakes are all natural and have no bleck sweeteners.  I have yet to try one though, so we'll see if they pass muster when I get my bag tomorrow.  I've heard they are fantastic though. 

Today I do my Fitness Test and we start Insanity tomorrow.  My biggest concern is finding the time to do it every day, so my current plan is to roll my bones out of bed at 6 and attempt it then.  I think after a week or two of getting up early I'll be hooked on getting up early and getting it done.  I'm going to stick it out for two weeks before I decide if I'm a morning exerciser.  I just know that I'm usually so exhausted by evening that it's hard to commit to a workout then. 

On a different front: my protein shakes.  I have finally found a recipe so good that even my kids love it!  It's 3/4 a scoop of vanilla protein powder, a handful of strawberries and pineapple, a couple tablespoons each of vanilla yogurt and orange concentrate, organic unsweetened soy milk, and a handful of ice.  I pop it all in my Magic Bullet and I have my shake in just a minute.  I have to sneak around the house drinking it or my kids scarf it all.

I have modified my goal weight to be 130 rather than 135.  I can tell that I have more to lose than 8 pounds. 

Next time I write, I will have completed six Insanity workouts.  I'm hoping for big results!

Combined post next week.

I will cover weeks 5 and 6 next week.  Today my mind is on a woman to whom we will be paying our last respects.  Sometimes when I was sick growing up, she would take me in if my parents had to work.  She knew how to make a kid feel special and pampered.  She was the sweetest person I've ever known, and she always made us feel so welcome (even though I'm sure we were a bit daunting, the seven of us).  I will never forget the twinkle in her eye when she would smile, or her laughter which was frequent.  She had the most infectious laugh. 

To know Thelma is to love her and think of her fondly.  We'll say goodbye today but she and her influence won't soon be forgotten. 

Until next week.

Weeks 3 and 4

My apologies.  I had a particularly busy week last week, and by the time things slowed down I decided just to combine two weeks in one post.

Last Monday my weight was unchanged: 148.4 if I remember correctly.  This morning it was 145.2.  That's a loss of 3.2 pounds from week 2, and a total loss so far of 6.6 pounds.  I feel like I'm on track finally!

Couple of things: my review of the Gorilla app and some news from the doctor.

First of all, the Gorilla app.  I really like it so far.  I love that I can do it anytime (even without shoes if I'm so inclined) and I can easily keep track of how many workouts I have done for purposes of my reward system.  However, I want to add in a few other apps to try as well.  I have four separate apps that have 5 minute workouts for targeting certain areas: abs, arms, butt, and legs.  I'm going to throw those in as well.  I can rarely make a schedule of workouts for the week and stick to it, so I need to learn to make use of time as it comes available.  That's why I like these short little workouts.  And so far they seem to be helping.  Once I get a bit more advanced I'll go back to attempting Insanity.

Secondly.. I had a doctor's visit and they wanted to do some blood work.  The results came back that my thyroid levels are low, my vitamin D levels are low, and I'm low in iron.  No wonder I've been exhausted and light headed all the time!  I just attributed it to being a mom.  I need to go back in 90 days to recheck everything, but in the meantime I'm taking mega-doses of iron, Vitamin D, and a whole bunch of other vitamins.  It's funny.. as much as I think I know about vitamins and their deficiencies, I did not see this news coming at all.  I had no idea.  It's nice to have a diagnosis that should be relatively easy to fix.  I was getting frustrated with my ongoing exhaustion.

I feel great having dropped over 6 pounds so far.  I really felt like I wasn't capable of losing weight without doing something drastic.  I'm kind of ashamed to admit that.  I didn't think I'd see results.  I guess now I know that I just haven't tried hard enough in the past.  One battle I've always had is compulsive eating.  I don't have one serving of ice cream, I have three.  Or six.  I cannot stop at one candy bar or one brownie.  And I can't even do it with things that aren't treats, like my regular meals.  I hadn't really noticed how rare it was for me to only take one helping of whatever I was eating.  In the past two weeks I've really tried to pay attention to that.  I stop after one serving.  I avoid the foods that I think I can't stop with.  And it's showing on the scale, which motivates me to stick with it.

So here's to another week with good results.  Until next time!  Thanks for reading!

Side note: I did not take measurements this morning.  I'll do that tomorrow morning and update this post at that time. 

**Update**
As promised, here are the updated inches lost.  From two weeks ago I have lost another half inch in the waist for a total 2 inches total so far, and another inch off my hips for a total of one and a quarter inches.  I don't know if it's realistic to have "goal" inches but I'm currently 4.5 inches from my goal in the waist and 2.75 inches from my goal in the hips.

And as I sit here and update this, I'm drinking a protein shake made from a scoop of vanilla powder, organic sugar-free soy milk, about a cup of tropical fruit (pineapple, mango, and strawberry) and a couple tablespoons each of vanilla yogurt and OJ concentrate.  It's pretty good, but even all that fruit doesn't drown out the vanilla taste of the powder.  Next time I'm going with flavorless I think.  But for now I think I'll reduce to 3/4 of a scoop and see how that goes.

Coffee Protein Shake review

I said I was going to try to find a recipe for a coffee flavored protein shake and post it when I found it.  I couldn't wait to get a decent protein mix, and I think I found one that will work long term.  Gold Standard Natural 100% Whey in vanilla.  I'm not normally a fan of vanilla flavoring, but I thought that would go better with coffee than chocolate.  I don't like mocha as well. 

Okay.  Ingredients:

8 oz organic unsweetened soy milk
1 scoop of the protein mix
Hazelnut decaf coffee, brewed over ice (to taste)

And that's it!  It's not nearly as involved as I was thinking it would be.

I would recommend brewing the coffee quite strong as it will be very diluted by the protein shake.  I brewed the coffee over ice, so it was quite diluted to begin with.  I think I might make it the night before and let it sit in the fridge instead.  I would prefer a stronger coffee taste.

Sweetness: I found it to be just fine.  I prefer my coffee pretty sweet, and while this wasn't terribly sweet, it wasn't lacking either.

Flavor: Lacking.  It simply tasted too watered down.  I'll try the stronger coffee and possibly less soy milk tomorrow.  Otherwise it tasted just as a vanilla iced coffee would (an extremely watered down one).  I'm tempted to try adding cinnamon tomorrow.  No icky after taste, because there are no artificial sweeteners.  However, the flavor of the protein shake by itself is just too vanilla-y.  But I'm not a vanilla person.  I would like to try the chocolate one on its own.

Consistency: Surprisingly SMOOTH!  Not thick, not chalky, not clumpy.. it blended quite nicely together in my shaker cup.  I did add a bit more powder just to see how well it stirred with a spoon, and it got five stars.  Excellent, excellent consistency.  That alone would sell this product.  I thought it would be much thicker than a normal iced coffee, but it is truly the exact same consistency.

Quantity:  More than I could finish.  I have to tweak my amounts.  It was enough for two large cups (with plenty of ice). 

Filling: To some extent.  It won't work as a meal replacement at all.  Rather, it'll be nice to have had some protein in the morning in case I do miss my breakfast which happens often.  But it's no "shake". 

Overall review: I think it'll work!  Kill two birds with one stone: replace my typical morning coffee full of cream, sugar, and caffeine, and add in some protein in the morning. 

Of course since it's vanilla, I can always blend in berries or a banana or add yogurt to thicken it up.  Vanilla is pretty versatile.  If I get sick of doing the coffee, I can probably find a hundred different ways to mix it up.

Huh.  It didn't occur to me until just now that I could mix the coffee and the powder and skip the soy milk altogether.  I could even drink it hot that way.

See what I mean?  All kinds of ways to do it. 

To healthy alternatives.  Good night.

Week 2

Today's weight: 148.4

That's a loss of 3.4 lbs since last Monday.  I also lost 1.5 inches from my waist, and a quarter inch off my hips.

I'm so excited!  Especially since I didn't do anything drastically different other than drink less coffee and more water.  I still have not made the time to work out.  But seeing the scale go down is motivation enough to start.  I will definitely be working out this week.

Don't get me wrong, I know it was water weight.  But getting out of the 150s got me over a hump.  It's easier to make good choices when I've already lost a few pounds, because I don't want to undo my progress.  I certainly can't see anything different when I look in the mirror, but knowing I'm on the right track is very motivating.

I downloaded an app called Gorilla Workout.  I'll review it next Monday after I've had a chance to use it this week.   

It looks very basic but is broken down into levels based on your current ability to determine where your starting point is. The goal is to get to the highest level of fitness. Each workout is created for you and uses only your body weight, no other tools needed. It's a similar concept to Insanity, which is that you can do basic strength training moves in rapid succession to increase endurance, muscle mass, and still get all the benefits of high-intensity interval training. 

As far as diet, I'm still trying to ramp up my water intake, but I am amazed at how much better I feel when I do.  One thing I struggle with is my morning coffee.  I crave it and look forward to it.  I feel extremely deprived without coffee.  I'd like to find a good protein shake/smoothie recipe that I can make in the mornings that is relatively low in sugar and high in protein.  How great would it be if there's one that tastes like coffee?!  I'm going to look.  If I find a recipe and it turns out pretty good, I'll post a separate entry with the recipe. 

In fact, I'm going to go look into that now.

Until then!