Good morning! It is early Saturday morning here and I am just wrapping up Week 3 of Insanity Max 30. I am LOVING this program and things are going great! This is a 60 Day program. On Day 30, I will do a progress check where we will get some new photos, along with my measurements and recording the number on the scale. I just stepped on the scale this morning and I am excited that I am now down 5 pounds since having begun the program!! My jeans are no longer snug and I can feel my entire body becoming tighter.
These are all good things - especially in light of what I am going to share today... I had to brace myself for this but felt that it was important to be 100% honest about this!
I began my lifestyle transformation in September 2013. At my lowest weight since then, I was down a total of 54 pounds - it was amazing to see a landmark lowest # of my adult life there on the scale. BUT, the scale is not the only way to measure progress. I actually do not even think as much of it as I put stock in measurements, photos, how clothes fit, etc. When I began Max 30 on 12/12/14, I was up 7 pounds from when I had completed PiYo three months prior. WHAT?!?!? Prior to that point, the past year had been a year of steady progress. You could look at my photos, measurements, scale readings and the graph would be a pretty steady line headed in the same direction.
SO, what happened??? Once I had completed PiYo, which had followed my start with ChaLEAN Extreme and then the 21 Day Fix, I went on to a hybrid schedule of ChaLEAN Extreme and PiYo. I threw in a Fix workout here and there. This is what I did September - December. I was working out 5-6 days a week. We eat clean around here and I was still eating clean. We had a few fairly significant life stressors and guess what? I am not a stress-starver. I am a stress-eater! With us eating clean, I was not taking in bowls of ice cream and bags of Doritos or anything like that. They just do not appeal to me anymore anyways! BUT, I was eating quite a few extra handfuls of nuts, fruit with nut butter, a few of the kids "Bunny Crackers", etc. Well... see below for what this did to me!
I have to say that it was a crummy day three weeks ago when I had my husband take my "before" photos (12/12) as I was about to begin Max 30. YIKES!?!?!?! I am not one to curse, but what the whatever had happened here???? Sure, I was up 7 pounds and just a few inches. So was it all belly flub or what? Plus I really need a haircut. That is actually happening an hour from right now. Hurray! My stance clearly does not convey confidence like it did when I had completed PiYo and was literally in the best shape of my life 90ish days prior. I knew in my heart that this would be the first time that my chain of progress would appear quite confusing. To others and myself.
All the more reason to dive in to Insanity Max 30, dig deep and PUSH myself. The nutrition guide that comes with the program is excellent and I have been following it. There are many similarities to what I was doing during the 21 Day Fix. Starting Max 30, I went with the idea of "let your before photo serve as your motivation". Oh yes, I had plenty of fuel for this fire. Three weeks later and I am back down 5 of those irritating pounds and I can feel my belly flub shrinking. Phew! My focus helped me to move successfully through the holidays, travel, my daughter's 8th birthday and two weeks that were emotionally some of the toughest of my year.
What have I learned through this experience??
FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS!!!
It comes down to focus. From the outside looking in, I was not a train wreck during those couple of months. Working out 5-6 days a week and eating clean. BUT, I was eating the WRONG ratio of things (too many nuts and a few extra carbs and not enough veggies). I would sometimes bypass a "harder" workout in favor of an "easier" one as my days moved from one to the next.
I am someone who needs to be following a prescribed program. I can see just how valuable it is to make the most of the science, research and application of the schedules that Beachbody puts together for each of their workout programs. They are assimilated in this order to bring about the BEST results. I am not a good candidate for a hybrid schedule. I will just take my favorites and will more often than not bypass those that don't appeal to me as much - aka the things that I really need to be doing!!
When I am following a program, I keep my nutrition on track. This is perhaps the biggest key to my success. All of this starts in our mind as we set our intentions and we will succeed or fail depending on our choices! Again, there is a science behind it and I have been careful to hit the proper ratio of nutrition categories. No more slacking with the grabbing almonds when I am "done" in that category and actually still need to eat one more veggie for the day!
My FOCUS has returned and I FEEL better than I have felt in the past three months. I much prefer to live life this way. Lesson learned. I am looking forward to my upcoming Day 30 progress update! Today is Day 20. Stay tuned!!!
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