Insanity Released. I’m Not Ready – Are You?
It’s really awesome that Beachbody has so many workout programs, each designed with particular fitness goals and fitness levels in mind. I wrote about this in an early article when I told you that after doing Tony Horton’s P90X Extreme Training System for 90 days that I started Debbie Sieber’s Slim in 6 program and fully expected to blow it away. Although I gained strenth and built muscle mass during P90X, I wasn’t quite ready for the continuous cardio training of my current program. My fitness goals changed, so I changed up my workouts to reach those goals.
Well, Shaun T’s much awaited high intensity max interval cardio program called Insanity was finally released by Beachbody. I’m not quite ready to take on the challenge of this cardio explosion. While Chalene Extreme and P90X use weights and resistance bands to build muscle, boost metabolism and burn fat, Insanity melts fat with long bursts of cardio and little rest. No equipment is needed other than a towel, a water bottle, and an attitude! I’m pumped up about the program, but I have to follow my own advice and wait until that program supports my current fitness goals.
I’m not sure what’s next for me. I might continue to work on my butt, hips, and thighs with Yoga Booty Ballet or Turbo Jam. For now, I just want lose 15 pounds with Slim in 6. Debbie Siebers is a fun trainer. I’d say this program is for anyone with a moderate activity level. Beginners can work through the Slim in 6 program but will probably stay in Phase I and Phase II for a longer period of time. That’s ok. You’ve got to listen to your body and work at your own effective intensity to get the fitness results you desire.
What Supports Your Fitness Goals?
I started Beachbody’s two-day fast today in preparation for starting Slim in 6 on July 1st. I’m also taking the Slimming Formula which may help stimulate my metabolism and help burn fat more efficiently with exercise. I’m also supplementing with Cal-Mag (calcium), Omega-3, and ActiVit Metabolism Formula which is a multi-vitamin with green tea and L-Carnitine to boost my metabolism and promote fat loss. By the way, let me know if you’d like to join me on my six week weight loss journey. My new fitness goals are to slim my hips and thighs and drop 15 pounds in six weeks.
I just returned from an awesome family reunion. It was nice to visit with my family members and hear what they’re doing to lose weight. As you know, I’ve been doing P90X. I primarily toned up and lost inches with only a ten pound weight loss in 90 days….of course I gained muscle and blasted fat, so I’m happy with those results.
Anyway, my niece has lost about 30 pounds with Weight Watchers since November. She attended two meetings and decided she could do the program on her own. Congratulations go out to her! My youngest brother lost about 40 pounds doing the South Beach Diet. It’s working for him…hats off! Congrats! I’m excited. And another one of my brothers lost 20 pounds with a Biggest Loser DVD. I’m proud of him, too. I’m telling my readers about these successes to point out that each person must find what motivates them to reach their fitness goals.
My mother has Fibromyalgia and joint issues. She could not even dream of doing P90X or even Slim in 6. I was talking to her about each person finding what works best for them. For my mother, activity in the pool supports her joints and helps guard against muscle injury with her Fibromyalgia. I suggested that she checks out the local YMCA where they have a pool she can use.
I admire runners, but I do not enjoy running. I admire bikers, but I can’t see myself peddling down the road with traffic. I’ve said before that I love working out in the gym, but I find it hard to remain consistent. My consistency came with Beachbody workout videos. I stay motivated and work on both exercise and nutrition. Beachbody helps me balance both sides of the equation. Activity and diet.
I may not be perfect everyday, but I stay on my fitness path and make adjustments to stay on course. One of the things that helps me stay on course are the message boards where I connect with other people who are doing the same workout as me. It is a great place to get encouragement when you need it and to stay motivated by helping other people get through their struggles. Hope to see you there or in WOWY – our online Supergym.
My Weight Loss Turning Point
I’m not an expert on the science of losing weight. Like most Americans, my experience with weight loss is up and down with my most successful weight loss episodes coming during hard times when I found myself depressed and just didn’t eat. I tried the South Beach Diet, the Peanut Butter Diet, Bill Phillip’s “Fit for Life,” and every new thing published by popular magazines like Prevention and Woman’s Day.
I was envious of the metabolism and muscle building capability of the male anatomy. It seemed like women had to work twice as hard and eat half as much to strengthen, tone, and lose weight. Like many women, I struggled with weight gain in my hips, thighs, and waist.
In my first post, I talked about how the P90X Extreme Training System helped me find what was missing in my fitness routine, namely consistency. As my 90 day program comes to an end, I find I’ve learned something else through this program. Weight loss is about consistency in both exercise and diet.
Maintaining a healthy weight and living a fit lifestyle requires desire and commitment. If you’re experiencing problems with weight, chances are your relationship with food may be part of the problem. I love the commercial that shows the happy Leave It to Beaver type family sitting down to dinner. Mom brings out a baked potato for Dad that has a whole stick of butter sticking straight up out of it. Of course I cringe every time I see that commercial, but that’s only because of what I know about nutrition now.
When I was growing up, everyone ate butter on all their vegetables. We ate a lot of carbohydrates (once called starches), flavored things with lard, and loved red meat. Our idea of having a bowl of ice-cream was to scoop out about a fourth of a half gallon container, add chocolate, whip cream, and nuts! Mmmm.
We’ve learned so much about nutrition as a nation over the last twenty-five years and yet, our nation is plagued with obesity and weight related disease. Here’s what I want to share about nutrition:
1. You can change your eating habits one small change at a time.
2. You must actively seek out information on nutrition – become a student of nutrition. Think of food as
fuel for your body.
3. No matter what you eat, you must know and only eat a nutritionally acceptable portion size.
Ok. So if nutrition is so important, why don’t diets work? The other half of the equation is moving your body. Yes, you’ve got to get some type of exercise to burn off the calories you’re taking in. Even if you ate the perfect amount of calories to sustain your current weight, exercise is a necessary component of a healthy and fit lifestyle. Did you know that if you took in just an extra 90 calories per day (the amount in one cup of skim milk) that you will gain over nine pounds in a year?
You’ve probably heard that muscle burns fat and that muscle weighs more than fat and thus takes up less space. Your metabolism goes up when your muscle mass goes up. This means you will burn more calories during the course of a day doing nothing other than your normal body functions. If you want to lose weight and keep it off, you’ve got to replace fat with muscle.
Our caloric intake and expenditure requires a delicate balance. During the first 60 days of P90X, I was losing inches and building muscle. I was eating about 600 calories a day more than was required for my basic metabolic processes. I learned that it was critical for me to workout when I was taking in these extra 600 calories or I could actually gain weight.
After feeling better about the intense workouts I was doing, I wanted to lose a few pounds. What could I do? I really couldn’t increase the frequency or intensity of my exercise routine. After all, Tony Horton was already kicking my butt!
I went to the Beachbody Club website to learn what I could about weight loss. I found a cool calculator that takes into consideration three things: gender, current weight, and my activity level. I entered my gender and weight. Then, I selected the P90X program. I learned that I needed to trim my eating plan by 800 calories per day to start seeing weight loss. I did that and the pounds started to melt away.
Girls, not all charts are made the same. The gender variance made a big difference for me. I’m so glad that I found this tool. It’s one of the weight loss tools available to you as a club member. It was a turning point for me. I was so excited about it that I wanted to share this turning point with my readers…another little nugget from Just Get Me Fit.
