Insanity: Week 7 "This Workout Is All About You"

Amen Shaun. Amen.

Sorry if this post seems overly aggressive. It's really not, I just don't sugar coat things - it's not my style.

I think one of the hardest parts about pursuing my goal of a fit body is dealing with outside influences. All the people who offer up unsolicited advice. All of the people that say "you really don't have any more weight to lose". All of the people who seem to be getting results much faster and much easier than me. Dealing with these influences is pretty stressful. It can seep into your already fragile mindset and make you crazy, make you sad, make you doubt yourself and what you're doing.

I've never really been someone who cares what other people think of me. I am who I am - and I try to be a good person who does good for others. That's good enough for me. Other people's opinions aren't really necessary. So why is it when it comes to my fitness I let outside influences get to me so much? I get really annoyed when people tell me that perhaps the reason I'm having a hard time losing weight is because there isn't any weight to lose. Like super annoyed. To the point that I've told those people "when you say that to me it really pisses me off." Even more annoying is people giving me advice that I A) did not ask them for and that B) is just plain stupid. While I appreciate that they are just trying to help - if you've never had to work to lose a pound a day in your life, you seriously have no idea what I'm going through. Get back to me when you've had to work to lose a minimum of 20lbs. since I've lost over 50. Thanks. Don't even get me started on the people who say "that program doesn't work, you should do this instead". The idea that any program that has you doing physical exercise everyday won't work, but "your particular program" that ALSO has you doing physical exercise every day WILL work is completely moronic. Even more moronic is someone saying something doesn't work when they've never even tried it. That's like saying "deodorant is dumb, it doesn't work" - well have you tried any? "I don't need it, I don't sweat" - soooo it doesn't work, yet you've never tried it? Yes, well, THAT makes sense. You sound like an authority on the subject, so of course I'll listen to you.

Yeah - I know that seems harsh. But honestly, ignorance on all levels just annoys me. Everyone is free to have their own opinion. But seriously - don't comment on something you know nothing about. It just makes you sound like an idiot. Regardless of any of that - the point is, I've been letting all of the influences affect me and how I feel. And they shouldn't. What it boils down to is - this isn't about anyone else but me. I am doing all of this for me and what I want. People will always have something to say about what you're doing. Why? I don't really know and I can't really say. But at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is what I want out of this. I am the one putting in the work day in and day out. I am the one who knows what I'm going after. And I am the one who will be saying "I told you so" to everyone when all is said and done.

Don't get me wrong - I am all about sharing my journey - thus these weekly updates. My intent is to help other people who are going through the same struggles as me. Who have to deal with the same problems that I deal with. My hope is that I can save some people the headache of doing things the wrong way or help some people understand that they are not alone and we all struggle sometimes. What we all need to remember is that your personal fitness journey is just that - your journey. You can't look at someone else and their results and wonder why you can't have that. Because you are not them. You have your own journey and issues to deal with. Some people can cut carbs and drop a ton of weight. Some people will lift weights and get lean really quick. Some people can increase their cardio and drop pounds easily. If one workout program and one diet worked for every person - well we wouldn't have so many to choose from, would we? You have to do what is right for you and what works for you. That may mean experimenting and trying different things to see what your body responds to. It certainly means giving something a chance before you say it doesn't work. Just stay focused, forget the negatives and remember who you're doing this for.

As always, if you're looking for help with your fitness - leave me a comment. I'm always here ;)

xoxo,
Sweet Charity

Free Fitness Coaching

Insanity: Week 5 "Sometimes I wonder why I do the things I do....

because I wanna look good!"

So, week 5 is a cardio recovery week. Still intense movement, but not cardio craziness. Basically the kind of stuff where your muscles are burning and pleading with you to stop whatever you're doing. I definitely prefer the cardio where I'm moving too much to think of how much it hurts.

I was really surprised to hear how many people over the past week have called me "dedicated". I tend to forget that working out and eating right are not goals for everyone and are certainly not part of everyone's daily lives. It's been second nature to me for so long, that it's as normal as waking up to go to work. No one calls me dedicated for earning a paycheck. I don't consider this much different.

I guess what I keep forgetting is that there are people who say they're gonna start working out and eating right, but either don't, or they do for a little while and quit when it gets hard. That's not even considered an option for me. I would never stop (of my own accord anyway) the lifestyle I lead. I like working out and eating clean and how it makes me feel, as well as how it makes me look. I know what I want my body to look like eventually, so stopping before I reach that goal has never once crossed my mind. Sure, I get fed up some times. I get annoyed, tired, rebellious. I might take a week off from working out. I might completely forget about my clean foods list and eat whatever the eff I want, as I did this past weekend. I'm not perfect - I mess up sometimes too. I just keep going. I don't quit when it's super hard or extremely frustrating. Because the alternative to continuing means that I'll never reach my goal. And I don't want that.

Most people tell me they don't think I have anything to lose. I struggle with that, because I wonder what they see that I don't. I still see a big roll of fat around my muffin top area that shouldn't exist - don't they see it too? It's kind of like when you see a really horrible singer on youtube and read the comments where people tell them how wonderful their voice is. Your like "omg, people actually think this train wreck is enjoyable." That's kind of what it feels like when people tell me I don't need to lose weight - I think "obviously, they have lost their damn mind." A lot of people have said things like "well, everyone has that little bit of fat. It's biological for some people, you'll just always have that." I think there's a lot of people who believe that way. "Oh, all the women in my family have fat arms - it's biological." Well, I'll tell you now and I'll tell you again - that's crap. It's absolute crap. Perhaps your family history makes it harder for you to lose weight in certain places, but there's no way in hell that you biologically can't burn fat. Unless you have medical issues, you're not "biologically" stuck with anything but your bone structure. And not "everyone" has a little bit of fat. Athletes and famous people are NO different than you and me, with the exception that they work harder on how they look. That's it. They're still human, and bad foods would make them fat the same as for the rest of us. The difference is - they have the dedication to look the way they do. It may take me a little longer than some, but I have that dedication too.


If you struggle with motivation or starting and stopping getting your healthy lifestyle on track, PLEASE contact me and let me help. If I can do it, so can you! We're not so different, you and I :)

xoxo,
Sweet Charity

www.sweetcme.com

Insanity Week 4: "How Do You Feel?"

"I feel like sh*t."

It's been a tough week guys. You know the saying "When it rains, it pours"? Well - that's been my week. Every single day it seemed that something bad happened to me. And no matter how much I tried to put them out of my mind or to overcome and move on - they still managed to bring me down. They even affected some of my workouts. All through the workout, I'd be thinking about what was bugging me and not focusing on my workout.

But I still got every workout in. And actually, I found that once I was done the workout - I felt better. The problems still existed and they still bothered me, but after my workout they bothered me a little less. What seemed like something colossal and unmanageable became more of an annoyance that I had to deal with rather than an impossible mountain I could never climb.

My diet has slipped in the past couple days. What with birthdays and parties and emotional eating, I've had more cake and ice cream than I should have and definitely more alcohol than is safe for any diet. But I'm ok with that. We have to let ourselves slide every once in a while for special occasions. So long as that every once in a while IS actually once in a while and not once every couple days. I'm ready to put this awful week behind me and get back on track with my eating and my mindset. My wanting to get fit is something I do for me. I have to do it, no one else can. I can't let outside forces bring me down and stop me from reaching my goal. Even when I'm sad, or hurt, or upset, or tired - none of these are reasons to stop working on my goal. Because I know that ultimately - what will make me happy is reaching that goal and letting other people hold me back is just stupid.

I'll be doing the Shakeology cleanse to make up for a weekend of debauchery. Hopefully it will undo any damage I may have done this weekend :)

xoxo,
Sweet Charity

www.sweetcme.com

Insanity Week 3: "I'm not trying to hurt you, I'm just trying to make you better"

I don't always feel like working out. I do love the Insanity workouts but I'm not always feeling it when I have to do it. Insanity is a commitment of 6 days a week with one rest day. I've been able to do every workout so far because I make it a priority. I treat my fitness like a job. Technically, if I wanted to, I could call in to work and not go in if I didn't really feel like it. Technically, if I wanted to, I could decide to not do my workout if I wasn't really feeling it. However, I am not willing to deal with the consequences of either of those actions. So I suck it up and get it done, no matter what.

I'm a very empathetic person. I don't just feel FOR people, I feel what they feel. This is true of all areas of life, but especially fitness because I've been there. I know what it's like to struggle and be frustrated. However - I do draw a pretty thick line. I understand it's hard, I won't dispute that - but I do not accept quitting and/or not trying. And I don't accept excuses. When it comes to my fitness, my attitude is that you do what it takes (as long as it's safe and healthy.) You're absolutely allowed to make mistakes, to slip up, to not feel like it - but you do.not.give.up.

I can already tell that my strength and endurance have improved since I started. I still swear at Shaun T. almost daily, but my body is feeling much better during these workouts. I know that has a little to do with my recovery drink, but also I'm just getting in better shape. There are days when I can feel myself dragging a little bit. I mean, it's nice that Shaun T. is encouraging, but that doesn't stop me from giving him the finger sometimes. Ultimately, we are our own biggest cheerleader. Sometimes I think, "At least you're working out. As long as you're doing something, it counts." That excuse may have held water if it was my first year working out. It's not. My next thought is usually something along the lines of "This is Insanity. You better suck it up and move your ass if you want to see results." Which I then do. And trust me, I feel so much better at the end of the workout knowing I gave my all then I do on days where I know I could have done better.

I do try to be really prepared as far as meals and time management go, but even I don't always hit the mark. There were a couple days last week where I was not as prepared as I should have been in the food department. I was either going to have to go without or go buy food, which I HATE doing. It's costly and almost impossible to know what's in food that someone else made for you. One of the days was a pretty easy fix - I had a salad, I just forgot to add a protein source. Without it - I would've been super hungry soon after I ate. So I just picked up some tuna at walmart on my lunch break. The other time - I had no lunch at all. I really didn't want to pay a ton of money for a salad from a salad bar, and refused to get a pre-made anything that I couldn't get an accurate calorie count on. So I drove home - a half hour - threw something together - then drove back to work. Basically my lunch break was spent driving and I just ate and worked at the same time.

I know that maybe not everyone has the same luxury for whatever reason. THE POINT IS - that I made my fitness the priority. Make the best decision you possibly can for your situation. If you can choose between getting a chicken sandwich from a fast food joint and eating plain tuna from a can - you may need to eat plain tuna for that one meal. I will stay home on friday night so that I don't go out and drink a ton of empty calories and so that I can wake up on Saturday and get my workout in. There are days during Insanity that I get a little dizzy or nauseous. I stop, walk around, take deep breaths, drink some water, and KEEP GOING. You're going to get what you put in. If you make a half-assed effort, you'll get a half assed result. If you give it your all - mentally and physically - every day, not just some of the time - you WILL get what you're going after. Just don't stop trying. If you need encouragement, support, advice, verbal abuse ~ I'm here, just ask ;)

As always, if you have questions about Beach Body programs, fitness, weight loss or nutrition - just leave me a comment and I'm always happy to help.

xoxo,
Sweet Charity

www.sweetcme.com

Insanity Week 2: "I'm gonna be really honest right now...

I'm actually really nervous for this workout."

That's certainly a frightening thing to hear from your fitness instructor before a workout. But then you do the workout, called "Pure Cardio" and once you're about 5 minutes in and you realize you're NOT getting a break...at all...you understand what that statement meant. Unlike the other workouts, Pure Cardio gives you NO break until it's over. But even though that workout is synonymous with "pure hell", that's not what I'm nervous about.

I think the thought on a lot of people's minds before they start a workout program is "what if it doesn't work?" When I did my first round of P90X, I didn't see weight loss in the first 30 days. I found out that that is very common to not actually "see" the results in the first 30 days. Well the same is said about Insanity. But I figured - well I just did P90X so maybe I'm exempt from the 30 day rule with Insanity? Ya know, since it was already applied to the X and this is like a continuation of working out...maybe I don't have to worry? Now I've seen some people with fantastic results in the first 30 days, but I've also seen some people complete the full 60 days with results that were just meh.

Here's the thing: every body is different. There are fundamental weight loss rules that apply to everyone, like eating well and burning calories are necessary to reach elite fitness. However, other things change from person to person. Just because someone else lost 20lbs. on Insanity doesn't mean I'll even lose 5lbs. There are so many things that factor in to why, that I don't even wanna get into it. The point is, nothing is guaranteed.

But should that stop me from trying? Am I gonna let my nervousness cause me to fail? I weigh in every week. While I don't let the scale control me, I do like it when numbers go down. My diet has been pretty spot on. There were a few more cheats than there should have been, but for the most part I've been on point. My weight stayed the same. This is the point where a lot of people give up. "Two weeks, no weight lost = no progress, I quit!" I suppose it depends on how you measure progress. Two weeks also marked the Fit Test day. Every 2 weeks you repeat the Fit Test you took on the first day. I improved in numbers on most of the moves on the test. Personaly, I'll take that as progress.

Another thing to remember is that it's a 60 day program that promised me results in 60 days. It's been 14 days. Nothing anywhere says anything about 14 days. I already know that a LOT of people didn't see results the first 30 days but then DID see major changes in month 2. So at least I know that's a strong possibility. If weight loss were easy and only took 2 weeks, the fitness industry wouldn't be making billions of dollars a year. The truth is change takes time. Everyone wants to lose a TON of weight right now! And that's just not practical, especially for long term weight loss. So I'm 14 days into a 63 day program and I"m already stronger than when I started. And loving the workouts by the way. Oddly enough, I actually look forward to coming home to work out. Of course I'm a little anxious to see weight loss, but for now the improvements in my strength are progress enough.

As always, I'm here if you have questions about Beach Body programs, fitness, weight loss or nutrition. Just leave me a comment or message me at my web page below :)

xoxo,
Sweet Charity

www.sweetcme.com

Trust Me - It Ain't Worth It

So far, I have done three programs and gotten a few supplements from BeachBody.com. I ordered all of my workout programs, Slim in 6, P90X and Insanity directly from the website. I paid full price for them, got my deliveries within a week of ordering with everything that I needed for each workout. My DVDs are all functional and have given me no trouble. Were some of the things I got a little pricey? Yes. Absolutely. But to me - it's worth it. Losing weight is a big priority for me, so I'm willing to make investments where needed. I literally had to save up money from a couple of paychecks to get some stuff - but I haven't been disappointed. I like getting the full fitness and nutrition guide books and also having the support of Beach Body.

I can totally understand and appreciate that there are some people out there who are not willing to make the same kind of investment. Some of the programs may be a little more than you can/are willing to invest in at this time. Now, my intent is not to offend ANYONE. But as per usual, if you take offense to what I say - then you're taking that on yourself, and you probably wouldn't be offended if I wasn't right - so that's really your issue. But just let me explain what could happen if you decide to go twenty bucks cheaper and get the programs somewhere else.

If you find it cheaper than the Beach Body website, it's illegal. Period. Amazon is licensed to sell Beach Body products, but it's more expensive there AND does not carry the Beach Body guarantees. DVD skipping? Take it up with Amazon. 90 day money back guarantee? Amazon doesn't offer that. Bought it from an Amazon e-store or e-bay? You're screwed - neither Amazon nor Beach Body can help you.

I'm not sure who else is a licensed retailer, but rest assured if it's cheaper - it's not licensed. Yes, they are very good copies. They look just like the real thing. If they can duplicate an iphone that's not really an iphone, I'm sure that DVDs and books are not really a big challenge. And perhaps the pirated copy you receive will work fine, I can't really say. I'm just saying that I have heard TONS of complaints from people who received a faulty product that they could not return or get help with because they decided to risk problems buying an illegal copy. Now which one of us wasted their money? Honestly, I'll pay the extra bucks just to know that A)my DVDs won't skip or be missing B)if they do, they'll be replaced and C)my products will stand the test of time and I can re-use them.

I just find it baffling how many people say they care about their fitness and really wanna lose weight, but "oh, I can't afford that". Really? Cuz I certainly saw you afford that last cheesesteak and fries you ate and that night out at the bar. If you stopped spending so much money on being un-healthy, you'd have plenty left over to get fit. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but I work too hard to sugar coat it for you. If you wanna get fit, you'll do it. If you don't, you'll make excuses.

xoxo,
Sweet Charity

Week 1 of Insanity: "This Sh*t Is Bananas"

That's an actual quote from the workout. The instructor himself is saying this about his own workout, and he's not lying.

How does Insanity compare to P90X? P90X has a large focus on weight lifting as well as including cardio. Insanity is straight up cardio that includes moves that will also improve your strength - it just uses your own body as resistance. The workouts are a lot shorter. While a typical day on the X will take an hour to an hour and a half, a typical Insanity workout is 40 minutes long. It just happens to be 40 minutes of cardio hell. I think in the second month the workouts go up to 60 minutes.

During my first workout, I told the TV screen "eff you" approx. 5 times. I have never sweat so much in such a short period of time. These workouts seriously define what it means to do an exercise to failure. You don't do push ups until you think you can't anymore, you do them until you fall on your face because your arms physically will not hold you up anymore. The workouts are structured on something called max interval training. In normal workouts, you elevate your heart rate for a short period of time then give yourself a longer recovery time. With Insanity, you try not to die for about 3 minutes and then you have 30 seconds to make sure you're not dead, then you start right back up again.

My recovery time has massively improved. I used to be panting and out of breath for a really long time after intense cardio. I was pleasantly surprised to find with Insanity that the 30 seconds of rest is usually enough. It also comes with a nutrition guide. I'm still only eating from the top two tiers of Michi's ladder, but most of their meals are easily adjusted to fit that criteria. The way the meals are structured, I'm actually not hungry at all. I've been doing 1500 calories for a while, but it's not always without effort. The Insanity meals however, have the perfect carb/fat/protein ratios and I haven't been hungry at all.

I'm liking Insanity a lot. I really like the change of pace. I like that Shaun T. teaches like a mirror - he'll say "go to the right" and he means my right, not his. I like that it will only take 40 minutes out of my day. I always feel like I need to do more after the workout because it's so short compared to P90X. A lot of people do a hybrid of Insanity and something else, but I'm really resisiting the urge to add cardio or weights to the program. I want to see what results I can get with just Insanity alone. Although, technically I am doing Slim in 6 three times a week with my mom, but I'm hoping she'll eventually do it on her own without me. I'm definitely no pro at the workouts. I don't get through every single section without taking breaks of my own. Sometimes, it's easy to feel bad that you can't do the dvd straight through - but that's actually pretty silly. If I could do the Insanity workouts without breaks, then I probably woudn't need Shaun T.'s help to get in shape. The whole point is that you do it to the best of your ability. You dig deeper, give everything you have and eventually everything you have will be more than it is now.

Stay tuned for my 60 day transformation. My goals are: 1) to reach my goal weight of 135lbs, 2) to demolish my muffin top into non-existence, 3) to lose another inch of fat off my thighs and 4) to maybe go down to a size 4? I don't care about that last one as much as the first three, but I wouldn't mind.

As always, feel free to ask me questions about fitness, nutrition and Beach Body products :)

xoxo,
Sweet Charity

www.SweetCMe.com

Personal Best!

I did not feel like working out tonight. I felt tired and stressed and bloated and I really just wanted to curl up in bed and watch TV. So I hemmed and hawed and procrastinated, but I finally got my butt out the door and to the gym.

I've been working on improving my cardio-vascular endurance. It's one of my weaker points and I'm especially trying to prep to start Insanity. There's a couple ways to work on your endurance - the method I'm going with is just trying to jog/run for long periods of time without breaks. I remember the first time I managed a 15 minute jog without stopping. At the time, it was the longest I'd gone actally jogging and not stopping and it was AWESOME. More recently, I've been able to get up to 25 and 30 minutes of continuous jogging with no breaks. Improvement is happening.

So tonight, I figured I'd just do a half hour on the treadmill and then a half on the elliptical. The elliptical is way easier and I don't count it towards endurance because it's too easy to vary speed. I do ten minutes of walking on an incline as a warm-up, then bring the incline down to 2.0 and jog at around 5.0 speed, increasing by 0.1 every 5 minutes. The last 5 minutes I go up by 0.2 every minute so I end with a "kick". Knowing I was doing less than my usual 45 minutes - I started the jog at 5.3. By the time I hit 29 minutes and 5.6 speed, I felt really good. I decided to keep going and upped the time to 45 minutes. Well, at 44 minutes and 5.9 speed, I thought "How awesome would it be if I could make it to 60?" So that's what I did. At 45 minutes, I upped the speed to 6.0, at 50 minutes to 6.1, at 55 minutes to 6.2 and knowing that I've done a kick of at least 7.0 before - at 55 minutes I started upping the speed in increments of 0.1 every 30 seconds. In the 59th minute, I upped it every 20 seconds.



I didn't stop or slow down once in the entire hour! I started running at a 5.3 and ended the run at 7.2! This is a new personal best for me. The fastest and longest I've EVER run. And that includes doing the mile run in high school. I'm kind of in shock and disbelief. Like, I don't know if I could do that again. I don't know how I did it in the first place! I'm hoping I can be consistent, and of course get better. So maybe I'll make it past day one of Insanity.