Day 18 - 16 June 2011

Breakfast: 1 cup Fiber One cereal and 1 cup 1% milk

Morning Snack: 3 egg whites and 1 yolk

Lunch: 2 slices of 7 grain toast with peanut butter

Afternoon Snack: I forgot :o(

Dinner: Speedies on hoagie rolls and steamed carrots and broccoli

I'm supposed to do Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit tonight but I'm considering taking the night off. I'm starting to wonder if I bit off more than I could chew and whether or not I'm over-training. I really don't want to skip my workout but I don't want to hurt myself either. I did get some exercise tonight because I mowed the lawn. I guess I'm gonna rest for the next 20 minutes or so and then decide.

Day 17 - 15 June 2011

Breakfast: 1 cup Fiber One cereal and 1 cup 1% milk

Morning Snack: 3 egg whites and 1 egg yolk

Lunch: chicken salad sandwich and a handful of raisins

Afternoon Snack: Orangeman Smoothie

Dinner: BBQ stuffed potato, corn on the cob, corn muffin and sweet tea

P90X Shoulders and Arms and Ab Ripper X. I completed the entire Shoulders and Arms workout and it felt GREAT!! I actually had to go and buy 8 pound weights this past weekend because the 5 pound weights just weren't cutting it anymore. That's proof that I'm getting stronger :o) I still modified the Ab Ripper X workout but this time I did 14 reps per exercise instead of 12. I'll stick with that for the next week or so and then increase it to 16.

Day 16 - 14 June 2011

Breakfast: 1 cup of Fiber One cereal and 1 cup 1% milk

Morning Snack: Orangeman Smoothie

Lunch: 2 slices of whole wheat toast with natural peanut butter

Afternoon Snack: 3 egg whites and 1 yolk

Dinner: Crispy Chicken salad - YUMMY!!!

Insanity Pure Cardio - This workout is truly INSANE!! The instructor even implies it at the end of the workout before starting cool down by saying, "That shit is BA-NANAS!!!" I was literally drenched in sweat and I have no idea how I made it upstairs to take a shower. It will be interesting to see how I feel in the morning!!

Day 15 - 13 June 2011

Breakfast: Protein Oatmeal

Morning Snack: Orangeman Smoothie

Lunch: Chicken Salad sandwich and a handful of raisins

Afternoon Snack: Kashi granola bar

Dinner: Ground turkey, pasta and brown gravy

P90X Chest and Back and Ab Ripper X. We still modified the Chest and Back workout. The pull ups are killer so we only did one round. We're gonna try really hard to do two rounds next week. We also modified Ab Ripper X and only did 12 reps for each exercise. I think the plan is to increase to 14 reps next week.

Day 14 - 12 June 2011

Breakfast: 1 cup Fiber One cereal and 1 cup 1% milk

Morning Snack: N/A

Lunch: Chili's - Chips and Salsa and Chicken Fajitas, blackberry iced tea

Afternoon snack: N/A

Dinner: Homemade Manicotti and garlic bread

Obviously I didn't do so hot with my diet today. Thank goodness tomorrow is the start of a new week!!

I was supposed to do P90X X-stretch but I decided to rest today instead in order to recharge.

Day 13 - 11 June 2011

Breakfast: French dipped Cinnamon Toast (This was a big mistake and I payed for it ALL day!!!)

Morning Snack: N/A

Lunch: 1 cup Fiber One cereal and 1 cup 1% milk

Afternoon Snack: N/A

Dinner: house salad with low-fat ranch dressing, 6 ounce sirloin, and baked potato with sour cream

(I'm not even going to attempt to make an excuse because there isn't one. All I'm going to say is that you would think I would have learned by now!!!! I am so ashamed of myself and I deserve the tummy ache that I have right now.)

I did Cardio Recovery today. It may sound like it's an easy workout but it really isn't. There is a lot of deep muscle work with this one and I MOST definitely felt it. I have a feeling I will have a hard time walking in the morning but it will be worth it. I am so proud of myself for not making an excuse to skip my workout tonight even though my tummy is a mess. I am bound and determined that I am going to reach my goal, even if it takes me an entire year. At least I have the workout portion down. Now if I could just be as dedicated with my diet!!!

Day 12 - 10 June 2011

Breakfast: 1 cup Fiber One cereal and 1 cup 1% milk

Morning Snack: 3 eggs whites and 1 egg yolk

Lunch: Italian herbed chicken and herbed chicken couscous

Afternoon Snack: Orangeman Smoothie

Dinner: BBQ stuffed potato, corn on the cob and corn muffin -- We fell off the wagon and went out to eat last night :o( I guess the weekends are our real weakness so we need to work on that.

I didn't work out today. I was feeling under the weather all day. Not sure if it was due to pushing myself so hard with my workout yesterday or if it was due to allergies or something more. I was having a hard time breathing though and had a headache all day. I was supposed to play beach volleyball tonight but I just couldn't. My little man wasn't feeling well either so we just stayed at home all day and took a long nap in the afternoon. About the only time we left the house was to go to dinner and then we came right back home and got ready for night night.

Day 11 - 9 June 2011

Breakfast: 1 cup Fiber One cereal and 1 cup 1% milk

Morning Snack: Orangeman Smoothie

Lunch: 2 slices of whole wheat toast with natural peanut butter

Afternoon snack: cucumbers and carrots with hummus

Dinner: Fajita grilled chicken omelette and pancakes - I would have been fine if I had stuck with just the omelette but unfortunately I ate about 3/4 of the pancakes and I drowned them in syrup :o( I was under on my calories for the day so I guess it's not the end of the world.

I did Insanity Cardio Power and Resistance tonight. I was literally covered in sweat from the top of my head to the tips of my toes by the time I was finished. I'm sure I will sleep well tonight!!

Day 10 - 8 June 2011

I have made it 3 whole days without any sugar!!! Go ME!!! I have to admit I am noticing a huge difference in energy. I usually start to crash around 1 or 2 but today I was actually feeling pretty good. If I had known that this is what giving up sugar could do for me, I totally would have found the will power to give it up before now!!!

Breakfast: Protein oatmeal, but I forgot to add my flaxseed :o(

Morning Snack: 3 egg whites and 1 yolk

Lunch: chili with cheddar cheese and sour cream and half a corn muffin

Afternoon snack: N/A - I forgot!

Dinner: Italian herbed chicked with herbed chicken couscous - it was super delicious!!

My husband, Shane, and I were supposed to do P90X Shoulder and Arms and Ab Ripper X together but he had hockey practice and didn't get home until almost 10. I got tired of waiting for him and starting working out around 9:45. I only did 1 round of Shoulders and Arms but I plan to do the entire thing next week. I also only did 12 reps of each Ab Ripper X exercise. The original plan was to increase by 2 reps each week but after last night I think I need to increase sooner. I could definitely have done at least 14 reps per exercise easily, maybe even 15 if I really pushed myself.

Day 9 - 7 June 2011

Breakfast: 1 cup Fiber One cereal and 1 cup 1% milk

Morning Snack: Orangeman smoothie - only 1 serving :o)

Lunch: Chicken salad sandwich and a handful of carrots

Afternoon Snack: apples wedges with 1 tbsp natural peanut butter

Dinner: Chili and cornbread

I did Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit tonight. I honestly don't know how I found the energy to do it but I did. GO ME!! I didn't even half to pause it halfway through like I have the last few times. I did most of the workout, only taking extra breaks when I absolutely needed to. I'm sure I will be sore in the morning but it will SO be worth it :o)

Day 8 - 6 June 2011

I sat down this morning and figured out the calorie count for each of the meals that I eat most often. I have several different options for the first four meals of the day and all but the oatmeal are under 300 calories. I didn't even bother to figure out dinner because I never know what we're going to eat. The total count for all but dinner; however, is under 1000 so that means I can eat about 700 calories for dinner and still be within my limit for the day.

Breakfast: protein oatmeal

Morning Snack: 2 egg whites and 1 yolk

Lunch: chicken salad sandwich and a few cucumber slices

Afternoon Snack: Orangeman smoothie - only 1 serving this time!

Dinner: side salad with ranch dressing, 6 oz sirloin steak, and bread

We did P90X Chest and Back and Ab Ripper X. We only did 1 round of the Chest and Back routine instead of 2 because we want to ease ourselves into it. We also only did 12 reps for each Ab Ripper X exercise instead of 25 for the same reason. We are increasing our reps for Ab Ripper X by 2 each time we do that routine. Considering we have to do it 3 times a week, we should be up to 25 reps in no time!

Day 7 - 5 June 2011

I'm not going to make any more excuses because there's just no point. I'm just gonna list what I ate for each meal and stop trying to justify my bad choices. One of these days I will stop making them!!

Breakfast: Cinnamon crunch bagel with plain cream cheese

Morning Snack: N/A

Lunch: sweet tea, BBQ stuffed potato and corn muffin

Afternoon Snack: N/A

Dinner: Eggplant Parmesan and spaghetti with marinara

We didn't work out at all today but I did finish mowing the lawn. We are getting back on it full force tomorrow!!

Day 6 - 4 June 2011

My husband, son and I did a lot of running around today so needless to say I didn't do a great job with my diet. I tried to eat as healthy as I could though.

Breakfast: Fiber One cereal and soy milk

Morning Snack: Orangeman Smoothie

Lunch: Eggplant parmesan, spaghetti with marinara sauce, bread and peach lemonade

Afternoon Snack: N/A

Dinner: Turkey Tacos - ground turkey taco meat, shredder cheddar cheese, diced tomatoes and hard taco shells

I was supposed to do Insanity Cardio Recovery today but by the time we all got home it was early afternoon and we all took a nap until just before dinner time. I did take my son for a small walk and I mowed the front yard. It's not much but that's about all the exercise I got for today :o(

I discovered that my calorie intake isn't what it should be while talking to my health-nut brother today. I already adjusted my protein oatmeal a few weeks ago when I realized that I was eating close to 500 calories for that meal alone. I was using 2 tbsp of chopped walnuts but I replaced them with 1 tbsp of flaxseed instead. While talking to my brother I realized that the recipe for my Orangeman smoothie is actually for 2 servings and I've been drinking the whole thing!! Although I managed to cut my protein oatmeal down to 390 calories, with the smoothie I was consuming almost 1000 calories alone between breakfast and my morning snack!! The rest of my meals, aside from dinner of course, have been around 300 calories. Right now my goal is to eat around 1700 calories per day. I will most likely have to adjust that in the next few weeks in order to continue doing the P90X/Insanity hybrid program. I guess I'll just have to play it by ear. Hopefully, I will actually start to see some results now though since I won't be eating almost my whole daily allowance before the day is even half over :o)

Day 5 - 3 June 2011

I weighed myself this morning just for giggles and was not impressed. I have actually managed to gain .7 pound this week. I know it's because of my poor choices at dinner as well as not working out regularly. I am tired of doing well with my diet for the entire day and then blowing it at dinner; therefore, I have decided that I am going to spend some time on the weekends preparing meals for the following week. I figure if I prepare our meals ahead of time and freeze them, all we have to do when dinner time rolls around is pop something in the oven. We always wait until the last minute to try to decide what's for dinner and we frequently get into an argument about it. I think that's the reason that we go out to dinner so often; we're trying to avoid an argument! Most couples fight about money and sex but not us; we have to fight about something completely idiotic :o)

Breakfast: Protein Oatmeal

Morning Snack: Orangeman Smoothie

Lunch: Chicken salad sandwich and half a banana

Afternoon Snack: 1 cheese stick

Dinner: a cup of egg drop soup, 1 spicy salmon roll and 1 California roll

We didn't do our scheduled workout today. Our son had PT this afternoon and by the time I got home it was already dinner time. We decided to go to a Chinese/Japanese place because I had a volleyball game tonight. I did play 6 matches of volleyball, so I think that counts as a workout even though it wasn't as intense as our scheduled P90X workout would have been. Back to Insanity tomorrow!

Day 4 - 2 June 2011

I did well with my diet except for dinner, yet again :o(

Breakfast: Fiber One cereal and soy milk

Morning Snack: Orangeman Smoothie

Lunch: 2 slices of whole wheat toast with natural peanut butter

Afternoon Snack: 8 saltines and a handful of raisins

Dinner: Texas Roadhouse - 2 sour dough rolls, a 6 oz steak, baked potato, and two glasses of sweet tea.

I told my husband while we were eating dinner that that would be my last steak dinner for a while. I want to try to give up red meat. All of the nutritional information that I have been reading lately suggests giving it up in addition to refined flour and sugar. I've done a pretty good job with the flour but I'm still having a hard time giving up sugar. I eat a Mounds candy bar just about every other day :o( I will be breaking that habit after this week as well!

I didn't work out last night because I was mentally and emotionally exhausted. I gave myself an excuse not to work out but about an hour later I felt really guilty about it. The guilt was even worse this morning, so I decided to get up off my butt and do the workout that I was supposed to do last night. It felt good when I finished it. I was going to also do the workout that was scheduled for today but I decided against it. I didn't want to overdo it and hurt myself.

Day 3 - 1 June 2011

I did a pretty good job with my diet today aside from dinner, again.

Breakfast: Fiber One cereal and soy milk

Morning Snack: Chicken salad sandwich made with canned chicken and cottage cheese in lieu of mayo and a handful of raisins

Lunch: Orangeman Smoothie

Afternoon Snack: cucumbers, carrots and garlic hummice

Dinner: Cheddar Brocolli soup and a baked potato.

Late night snack: 2 slices of whole wheat peanut butter toast - I probably shouldn't have eaten this since it was around 9:30 when I did, but I was HUNGRY!

I didn't workout tonight because my 4 year-old wiped me out today. I was mentally and emotionally exhausted so I decided to just veg and catch up on Secret Life of the American Teenager. The show is a train wreck and I desperately needed an escape from reality. I felt guilty about an hour after I decided to take the night off from working out, but by then it was past 9. If I had worked out I would have had a hard time going to sleep.

Day 2 - 31 May 2011

I've done a pretty good job with my diet today. It's as follows:

Breakfast: Protein Oatmeal - 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder, 1/2 cup of oats, 1/2 cup of raspberries, 1 tbs of flaxseed, and a 1/4 cup of soy milk

Morning Snack: Orangeman Smoothie - 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder, 2 tbs of low fat vanilla yogurt, 1 cup of 1% milk, 1/2 cup of orange juice, 1 medium banana and 6 ice cubes

Lunch: Two slices of whole wheat toast with natural peanut butter and a cheese stick

Afternoon snack: carrots and cucumbers with garlic hummice

Dinner: Ok, so dinner is my weakness. I can eat well the entire rest of the day but when it comes to dinner I rarely make good choices. We went to Famous Dave's and I had a BBQ stuffed potato, corn on the cob and corn muffin.

Shane and I did Ab Ripper X. We're starting out slow so we only did 10 reps of each exercise and instead of doing Chest and Back today we just did 10 push ups between each ab exercise. I did the modified kind but it was still 120 push ups which is pretty impressive for me! We worked out before going to dinner and afterwards I took all three dogs for a walk individually.

Not too shabby for my first day back on track :o)

Day 1 - 30 May 2011 - - Starting Over

So, I started this blog over 2 years ago and I'm ashamed to say that I haven't made much progress at all. I did manage to lose a bit of weight and a few inches last May after completing a round of Insanity but I've pretty much gained it all back. I am once again setting out on the journey to change myself for the better, not for vanity's sake but for the sake of my health!

I tried to start a P90X/Insanity Hybrid program a few weeks ago but my husband started a new job and the school year came to a close for my son so I got thrown off course. Now that things are calming down and we are getting into a routine, it's time to get myself back on track. Right now my weight is 143 and my BMI is 28.8. My measurements are pretty close to what they were when I started this blog:

chest 37 7/8

waist 37 3/4

hips 40 1/4

thighs 22 1/2

I'm trying to be realistic in my goals but I would really like to lose at least 10 inches off my waist and hips.

In addition to doing the hybrid program I am planning to follow the Abs Diet for Women nutrition plan. I've already started implementing it and I have noticed a slight difference in the way my clothes fit. I have to admit that sometimes I have to force myself to eat because I'm just not hungry. Eating every 2 - 3 hours isn't as easy as it sounds. My biggest problem thus far is portion control so I need to work on that a bit.

I will be doing weigh-ins and taking measurements every 2 weeks. I plan to do daily posts which will include a workout log and a food journal. I am including my before pictures in this post and will include updated pics every 2 weeks along with my weight and measurements.

Starting tomorrow I will begin to polish myself and go from FAT to PHAT!!