AFTER-middle of my shirt! This program will kick your booty!

AFTER workout. Soaked in sweat but SO HAPPY to be done!

The middle of my shirt---BEFORE.

Before Insanity Max Cardio Condioning Workout

Challenge-Week 1

So it's been 1 week since we began the Lose Your Holiday Trimming's Challenge and I am down from 142.6 to 140.4 today. That's a 2.2 lb. loss. Yay!
I think, in order to have any chance at winning the cash though, I'm going to have to get more serious and aim for 3 pounds a week. So...out come the Insanity DVD's. Time to wipe the dust off and get crazy-wit-it. :) I'll keep you posted on how it goes...unless I die trying to do these workouts! :)

Endurance...

On the subject of endurance.....it seems like some days I've just got it, and some days, I just DON'T. Really strange. When I first started exercising I could only last for about 30 minutes tops-and that was usually WALKING on the treadmill. Over the course of the past 5 years, my endurance and intensity have increased gradually-as I would have expected it would. Last year when I did the Beachbody program INSANITY, I can say I was very proud of how far I've come. It was a gigantic step up the ladder to be able to complete one of THOSE workouts...and I was doing it!
BUT...
Over the last year something has changed. There is no gradual climb anymore...it's more like the hiccups now. Most days I feel mentally "ready" but sometimes my body just doesn't agree. And not just to the point where I have to "get out of my head about it" and just push through...I'm talking I. Cannot. Get. My. Body. To. Move. What is up with THAT?
MANY times in the past month or two I've been in a group fitness class where the teacher was instructing us to do a particular thing and in my mind, I was doing it-or going to do it...but when I looked up in the mirror I was moving in slow motion...or obviously struggling (and with a quick glance around the room)-struggling more than most of the people in there. On Tuesday we were sitting on the big ball doing triceps. You know where you hold hand weights up above your head and then lower your arms back (bending at the elbow). Some people were using 2 weights, I was using one 9-lb weight and after just a few, I couldn't do it. Like, I'm not being a sissy...I really couldn't get my arms back up once I lowered them down to the back of my neck.
And then yesterday in my Interval class I had them (us) doing Frog Squats for 45 seconds. By about 30 seconds my legs were shaking so bad, I was so out of breath and dizzy that I had to stop. I felt like the ultimate hypocrite! Here I am telling THEM to do something I can't even do!?!?! But I knew if I didn't stop, I was going to trip because I was already losing my balance and getting crooked with my jumps.
Anyway, this whole phenomenon is just WEIRD. Why am I LOSING my stamina? I haven't let up on my intensity. I should be getting better and stronger every day...but I feel like I'm going backwards. Things I could easily do last year, I can not do now.
Anyone else ever go through this? It's really pretty frustrating.
Okay well...that's my "rant" for today! :) Hope you are all doing well and keeping up with your workouts through this holiday season! Love you!!

You found me!

Hey there! If you're reading this, that means you've been added as a "permitted reader" on my blog. Most of you requested to be added...but a few of you, I just added because you're either family, old friends or devout readers that just didn't get the "memo" this morning that I'm going private!
Anywho, I'm glad you're here..and that I'm here and that I don't have to be concerned about freaky weirdos leaving me scary comments anymore!

As for day 2 of the challenge, doing good so far. No sweets yet today, other than my apple! That my friends is a big VICTORY! :) especially with all the left-over Halloween candy calling my name from the pantry!

Lose Your Holiday Trimmings

Today a friend of mine and I decided to host a weight loss challenge for ourselves and some of our friends. For the next 5 weeks, from Nov. 15-Dec 20, we will compete to see who can lose the largest percentage of weight. Each of us puts $10 into the pot and at the end, one person will take home the cash!
(If you're reading this on Monday, Nov. 15th, you can actually still enter! Just leave me a comment and I'll get you the official rules and info.)

As for me, I've done relatively well today. I ate good all day until just now when I ate 2 big bowls of cereal for dinner. It's all I'm having, so I still don't think that was toooo awfully bad, although there were no veggies or fruits or protein (other than the milk) in it. Woops!
Did P90 Sweat dvd yesterday morning before church so I took the day off today (as far as workouts go) today. Tomorrow will be classes at the gym, Wed. class at the gym and Thursday I'll hopefully get a P90X or Insanity workout done at home. Friday I think I'll be hitting the gym again and probably Saturday too.

Anyway, wish me luck! Even better than winning the money (which would be AWESOME), I will be SO EXCITED to drop this extra weight and fit back into my clothes!!
My starting weight today was 142.
Goal weight for the end of the challenge: 130.

A new beginning....P90

Matt and I have decided to try something new. After nearly 3 years of being P90X'ers...we are going to try out the P90 program.
I realize that is backwards to the way it is "supposed" to be done, but I just acquired a complete brand new set of P90 (from one of my customers who bought it and then never even opened it!!!)....so....we decided to give it a shot.
Last night was our first workout. For the first 15 minutes we were laughing about how EASY it was...but by the middle of it, we were sweating and feeling our muscles BURN! Of course, you determine the level of intensity and difficulty by picking the weight of your dumbbells...so it should never get "too easy". It was a LOT different from P90x in that you workout all your muscles (from shoulders to calves) in one workout rather than breaking the muscle groups up into specific days.
Today will be cardio and abs....so we'll see how that goes. I have a hard time thinking it's gonna give me much of a workout when I'm used to doing INSANITY...but we'll see.
We may not do the whole 90 days of this--because more than likely I think we are going to want something a little more extreme before too long--but I'm glad we're trying it out right now. Since it's been a few weeks since I've really followed any program...this will be a nice way to ease back in. I could tell last night when we were stretching that I am TIGHT and not nearly as flexible as I used to be. (boo!)
So, have any of you done P90? Had any success with it? I'm looking forward to making some of the new recipes in the nutrition guide. If I find some that are really good, I'll post on here for you all.
Hope you're doing well and keeping healthy and fit. It's been a long time since I've talked to you guys....:-(
Hopefully I'll be here more as of now...:-)