Pushing the Re-set Button

So for those of you who like to stay up-dated on my fitness progress, trials and tribulations - I wanted to let you know what I was up to.

I did finish the full 60 (actually 63) days of Insanity. Unfortunately - I didn't get the results that I was hoping for. Imagine working your ass off for two months straight and not losing any weight. How is that even possible? If you eat right, and workout - you should lose weight, right? And if you eat less and workout harder, you should lose even more weight, right?

Wrong, wrong, so incredibly, unbelievably wrong.

In our society, we're taught that eating less = losing weight. And in a lot of cases, that's true. When it comes to consistent working out however, this is not always the case. At some point, your calorie intake will need to be increased to accommodate fueling your body's muscles and energy level. Most people who are trying to lose weight are extremely resistant to the idea of increasing calories to lose weight. But even they soon find that fighting this principle will result in slowed results.

What happens when you're not eating enough calories is something called starvation mode. Because your intake is too low, your old-school caveman instincts kick in and your body thinks you're starving. To keep you alive longer, it holds on to all that mushy fat that insulates your organs and keeps you alive. This doesn't happen after one day of eating too little and conversely can't be fixed by overeating for one day. A lot of people mistakingly think "I'm not hungry, so I can't be starving". Starvation mode isn't about your hunger, it's about what your body needs to function.

The hardest part about figuring out calorie intake is that all of your numbers will be based on estimates. I eventually figured out that my estimates were WAY off and that I deprived my body of the proper calorie intake for a few months. Which is really bad. So - I had to hit the re-set button. I had to lay off of hard exercise for a while and make sure I was taking in enough calories for my body. Technically, I should have done it while still eating clean foods - but let's face it - it's much easier to get in more calories with pizza than with broccoli. So I gave myself a break from striving for perfection for a few weeks and ate some junk food. Even then - I still had to make sure I was eating several times a day and taking in enough calories.

So now I'm ready to re-set again and get back to the clean eating - just eating much more of it. Let me tell you - it is really hard taking in a lot of calories of clean food! A cup of broccoli is like 40 calories. Not that helpful in contributing to a 2,300 calorie daily intake. At least I get to include peanut butter daily now. I loves me some Peanut Butter. I will also be doing my newest workout: Turbo Fire! It definitely looks like it's right up my alley with heart pumping cardio and hotness music. Looks to be a little more fun than Insanity, but still a great workout. I also purchased a Bodybugg which is a little armband that will tell me how many calories I burn a day (which is WAY higher than I was estimating) and hopefully that will help me know better how much to eat.

Remember, success comes to those who persevere.

“Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit.” - Conrad Hilton