Core Speed and Pelvic Floor Muscles

Hooo boy, Core Speed was rough yesterday.  I pretty much nailed it (though I lost some stamina toward the end), but it was rough. I really needed it though, and I sweated like no other. It felt great to get all of that junk out of my body 😀 I am pretty sore today though, which means I really worked my muscles! The great thing about dancing is that it is great for strength and flexibility, but I’m not doing it at a pace where it is truly cardio yet. It’s definitely a good thing to mix in some cardio throughout the week as well!

I’m looking forward to resting today, and hanging out with some old and new friends! I’ve got a nerdy board game night scheduled at a new friend’s house, and a bunch of my old friends I haven’t seen in a while are joining us! Should be a fun night of stress relief and play – just what I needed! I’m bringing some junk food and some healthier junk food (like kale chips) and I’m making sure I’ll eat a good dinner beforehand!

Saturday is going to be crazy busy, but I’m determined to get a workout in there! I’m thinking Sunday is a good day to do Stretching, and I’m excited to see my dad’s family for a party!

One thing I’ve been learning about lately is pelvic floor muscles and how they can become unaligned after years of sitting. This may be too personal, but if you pee in a forward motion instead of down, then you probably need to do some exercises to align your pelvic floor! Check out this page and part II here!

Why bother with pelvic floor muscles? Beside helping your body eliminate your waste the way it was originally intended to, pelvic floor muscles are also vital in things like childbirth, and unaligned pelvic floor muscles can make for a difficult delivery. I’m mostly doing it just to try and repair all of the damage that sitting has done on my muscles over the years!

Just trying to bend forward to stretch my hamstrings hurt so much that it was making me kind of nauseous! I must really need this!

Everyone, have a great, safe, and healthy weekend! Stay healthy, friends!

Week in Review so far

Greetings! So, I don’t have a ton of time, but I thought I’d write a quick update as to what’s been going on this week (and why this will probably be my last post this week, except for maybe a quick post tomorrow).

Core Speed on Monday was absolutely brutal. Sylvia and I went for a walk first, and then tried Core Speed, and we were wiped out. I like to think that all of the toxins stored up in our bodies from eating poorly last week were being sweat out and I’d feel much better the next day. Overall, on Monday, I ate pretty okay, maybe overindulging in calories a bit, but with mostly good stuff. We finished off the day with Primal bacon pancakes, which tasted really good even if they didn’t really hold together as pancakes.

The next day, I felt kinda sluggish (maybe due to the toxins or protein pancakes), but I was determined to get a lot of work done on my thesis… and I succeeded! I got about 7 pages done, and nearly completed one of the sections! I’ve still got a lot of work to do, but it feels good to get work done! I worked for about 9 hours straight yesterday (starting around 6:30 in the morning) and worked until about 4 PM. At that point, I was pooped, both mentally and, as a result of the brainwork, physically too. I opted out of Upper Focus yesterday, but I did do a lot of talking while carrying my 30 lbs. backpack, so that has to count for something! Unfortunately, all that brainwork ruined my self control and I had some pizza for dinner. I know… I’m the worst!

I’ve been trying to go to bed early lately (around 9 or 9:30) because I’ve found that I’m much more productive first thing in the morning. However, I didn’t get to sleep until around 10:30 last night since my roommate decided that 10PM was the perfect time to loudly and passive-aggressively do the dishes. Therefore, this morning I woke up feeling like I’m coming down with something. I had a headache, slightly sore throat, and just a sense that something was going down in my body. It could be a result of poor sleep all last week, exposure to new germs, poor eating, lack of exercise, you name it. I’ve since had some orange juice, taken my vitamins, and taken a Zicam zinc tablet. At the moment, I’m feeling a little better. I plan on having at least two servings of chicken noodle soup today since I cannot afford to get sick when there is so much work to do on my thesis so close to the deadline. I’m hoping that if I eat right and go to bed really early tonight that I will be able to kick this cold in the butt!

I’ve told my workout buddy that Focus T25 is probably a bad idea today (which is sad because I was really looking forward to it), but we’re still going to go for a walk to get the blood moving! Tomorrow I’m heading up to Warrenton to see my boyfriend, so I’m hoping to get a lot done in the morning. I’ll be heading back Friday evening so I can rest up and get work done on Saturday and Sunday!

I hope everyone is doing well! Have a great week, and remember to stay healthy!

Beta Round 2 Week 2 Progress Photos!

Hello all! As promised, here are the photos that show the difference between Round 2 Week 1 and Week 2! I’m once again blown away by the difference a week makes!

Hahaha, now that I’ve once again shown pictures of me in a bikini, I have to confess that I am really starting to get excited for swimsuit season! I’m not sure that I’ll be bikini ready by beach time, but I’m hoping to at least look great in a one piece or a tankini! It’s been a long time since I’ve felt confident in a swimsuit, and I think that this year is the year!

Just as an update: I probably won’t have the opportunity to do another Tuesday Tidbits for about a month and a half, since I am putting pretty much every ounce of free time I have into working on my thesis (and it is taking FOREVER!). I’m so sorry that I won’t be able to do a Tuesday Tidbits for a while, but I will at least update my blog with my progress and how I’m feeling!

So, yesterday was Core Speed, and it was SO MUCH FUN. In fact, it was TOO MUCH FUN, since my ankle is really really sore today. I’m taking it easy (got my ankle sleeve on), since today is Upper Focus, I’m hoping that will give me a bit of a break. I plan on doing a little walking to keep it warm, but I’m sticking to sidewalks and stopping the second it starts to really hurt. I’m also doing my balance exercises so I’m hoping that will help. But, despite it being sore today, it feels like a different kind of pain, and I’m hoping that it means my muscles are sore because they’re strengthening and not because they’ve been injured. Out of my two ‘ankle sprain’ tests, doing a quad stretch hurts (typical, since it pulls the muscle), but doing a calf stretch doesn’t hurt, which is a really good sign (if the calf stretch hurts, that means I’ve probably gone and re-sprained it).

Today, Sylvia and I are getting our reward massages for making so much progress (she’s almost past the lowest she’s weighed in her adult life, and I’m so proud of her!), so I’m looking forward to a little me time. Also, hopefully, my masseuse can soothe my ankle!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great day! Stay healthy, my friends!

Results – Focus T25 Beta Round 2 Week 2

Hello and welcome! I’m currently still having a difficult time believing how well I did this week, all things considered. I only did 3 Focus T25 workouts this week, and I wanted to post my schedule so that everyone can know what I did this week:

• Monday – skipped Focus T25 and went for an hour long walk
• Tuesday – did Core Speed followed by a half an hour walk
• Wednesday – did Rip’t Circuit followed by a half an hour walk
• Thursday – did Upper Focus followed by a half an hour walk
• Friday – felt completely drained and my ankle was bothering me, so I rested.

The only other changes that I made this week was eating more (yes, about 250 cal/day more), and drinking a little less water (around the recommended 64 oz instead of my usual 80-100). I checked my hydration index at the local pharmacy, and I am still hydrated (however, I’m probably going to increase my water again since I am less regular now). That being said, here are my results this week:

Weight: 196 (-1.4)

Waist: 34.5 (-0.25)

Hips: 44.5 (-0.1)

Bust: 39.2 (-0.3) (my chest has been shrinking RAPIDLY lately!)

Under Bust: 34.25 (-0.5)

Right Arm: 13.1 (-0.15)

Left Arm: 12.5 (-0)

Right thigh: 23.75 (-0.25)

Left Thigh: 23.4 (-0.2)

Body Fat: 39.7% (-0.3%) (UNDER 40%!!!!)

This week was crazy good, and I think it is entirely due to adding walking in! Also, it was the most pleasant part of my day, just walking around and soaking up the sunshine!

Now, everyone wants to see pictures, right? I have them, but I have not had any time to edit them together, so I promise that I will post them tomorrow!

In summary, I walked on Saturday, and did Stretch on Sunday followed by another walk. Other than that, I’ve been resting. My ankle feels much better, though still not 100%, so I’m going to take it easy and let it heal some more! Today is Core Speed, and I’m really excited! I’m going to work my butt off today, since it’s raining and a post-workout-walk is unlikely.

I hope everyone is having a great day! Stay healthy friends!

Something Must be Working!

Hello and welcome! Lately, with the springy turn in the weather, I’ve been in a really good mood. I’ve been trying to eat more, and, though it feels like I’m constantly stuffing my face, I still managed to lose another 2 lbs since Saturday. And this time, I KNOW I’m not dehydrated!

It might be a result of a slight change in workout routine. Variety is the spice of life, and maybe, with a little healing, I’ve gotten some benefit out of lighter exercise. On Monday, Sylvia and I opted for an hour long walk instead of Dynamic Core. Yesterday, I jogged in the morning, did Core Speed (by FAR one of my favorite DVDs EVER), and then walked again for a half an hour to absorb some sun and cool down. The walking is apparently doing something for my ankle that Focus T25 wasn’t doing, since it’s been a little tender since I started walking. I’m monitoring it closely, and I’m pretty sure it is just testing and strengthening new muscles, which is always good!

Sylvia and I have come to the conclusion that we’re going to replace all Core Cardio workouts and Speed 2.0 workouts with Core Speed, and here’s why: we push ourselves harder in Core Speed because we are actually having fun! Core Speed is a really really tough workout, and I often push myself to my absolute limit (yesterday, I took a 4 minute break in the middle of the DVD because Sylvia got a phone call, and I still averaged 165 with my heart rate). But when I do Core Speed, I’m just blown away by how powerful and strong I feel when I do the moves. There’s so much punching and jumping around, and that’s what I like, and the music always picks you up when you’re about to give up. So, we may not get as many lunges in as we would with Core Cardio, but I will look forward to working out if I know Core Speed is coming!

Today, we’re doing Rip’t Circuit, and I’m actually looking forward to doing some weights again! Rip’t is generally easier on my ankle, so hopefully my ankle will get a bit of a rest 🙂 It’s another beautiful day here, and I can’t wait to go outside and get some sun too! I hope everyone has a great day, and remember to stay healthy friends!

Results – Beta Round 2 Week 1

Hello! This week, I am so glad that I pushed myself so hard, because I had great results! On Friday, we did doubles, with Upper Focus (upping the weights for most of the moves), and Core Speed (which we crushed like tissue paper!). I was so pleased with my performance in doubles this weekend, and I’m really looking forward to doubles this weekend (Rip’t and Core Speed again!!).

I won’t be posting pictures today, since this week is looking like a busy one again. I also haven’t had time to research a new topic for Tuesday Tidbits, so I’m hoping that if I take this week off and get some work done on my thesis, that I will have a great topic next week!

Without further ado: my results!

Weight: 197.4 (-3 lbs) (I hung out with some friends on Friday and I might have lost a couple of extra pounds due to dehydration, but I am SO PLEASED to be well under the 200 lbs mark!!)

Waist: 34.75 (-0.25)

Hips: 44.6 (-0.15)

Bust: 39.5 (-0.5) (well, I guess I won’t have any boobs left at the end of all of this!!)

Under Bust: 34.75 (-0)

Right Arm: 13.25 (+0.15) (gettin’ dem biceps in Upper Focus!!)

Left Arm: 12.5 (-0.4) (or losing dem biceps??)

Right Thigh: 24 (-0)

Left Thigh: 23.6 (-0.15)

Body Fat: 40% (-0.4%)

I’m very excited for this weeks results! And I’m even more excited to get back into working out (I really should eat a little better over the weekend, I always feel worse when I eat poorly). Today’s workout is Dynamic Core, which will suck, but hopefully I’ll do even better this week!

Also, this weekend, Sylvia and I celebrated losing 20 lbs by getting pedicures!! It’s always important to celebrate how far you’ve come, especially when it feels like you have so far to go! I’ve made it about 32.5% of the way to my goal weight (almost 1/3 of the way there!), and I feel better than I have in years!

Here’s to you, audience! Hopefully, you have an amazing day, and remember to stay healthy!

So much food…

Greetings! So, for those of you who read my blog regularly, you know that I’ve been trying to increase my calories to keep my body from burning muscle for energy. So far, I’ve been doing pretty good. On Wednesday, I had somewhere close to 1900 calories, and yesterday I had around 1750. But I’m starting to realize that I have a problem.

When I eat, I get SO full that I risk throwing it all up.

I never thought I’d say this, but it is actually really difficult for me to increase my calories now! My stomach has been shrunk since I’ve eaten less for so long! I also eat a lot of nutrient dense foods, so I find that my body doesn’t need the extra food for nutrients (a lot of people overeat because they eat empty calories and their body is craving more nutrients). I also eat a lot of fiber, lean protein, and healthy fats.

The worst part is, that two weeks ago, I was getting on Sylvia’s case because she wasn’t eating enough. I’m sorry Sylvia! I know what you’re going through now!

And trust me, I am not trying to brag or something! I really actually wish I could get more calories in so that my body doesn’t shut down under the increase in physical activity. Or worse, I lose the lean body mass I’ve worked so hard to get. It could be that I’m actually experiencing ketosis where my body burns fat and secretes a strange smell, but I think it’s more likely that I’m experiencing the catabolic state.

So, how am I going to fix this problem? I’m thinking of adding coconut oil back in to my diet. I was eating too many daily calories when I added in a tablespoon of coconut oil. But it is very delicious, and the fats in the coconut oil are actually one of the ONLY saturated fats that are good for you! I could go on, but many other blogs have already covered the benefits of coconut oil and I don’t want to be redundant 🙂

I am also going to try to have almonds with me at work, so that I can get some more healthy and energy dense fats into my snacks. Lastly, I’m going to try to take my post workout Aftershock formula daily for an extra 150 cal.

This is going to be surprisingly tough. It would be so much easier if I didn’t care about what I put into my body and ate junk. But I do care, so I’m going to be on the lookout for healthy foods that are calorie rich so I can have enough energy to keep kicking butt!

Speaking of kicking butt! I absolutely NAILED Dynamic Core yesterday. I worked so hard that my abs (which are pretty strong by now) were really dying. I tried to have even better form and do more of the moves today, and mission was accomplished!

And tonight? I’ve got Upper Focus followed by Core Speed (my favorite!). It is supposed to be Upper Focus followed by Core Cardio, but we like Core Speed so much that we decided to do Core Speed again 🙂 It’s the harder of the two workouts anyway!

Well, I’m heading into results day and I’m honestly not sure how increasing my food is going to affect my weigh in! Hopefully, since I’ll be protecting my muscles better, my metabolism will stay high and will burn through everything more efficiently – including the fat! I’m thinking good thoughts for tomorrows weigh in because I’ve worked really hard this week! Good luck to everyone and their fitness goals! Have a great weekend, and remember to stay healthy, friends!

Insanity Fit Test – Holy Cannoli

Hello everyone! I’ve been feeling great lately, and super duper in control, and Sylvia and I just started Beta round two this week with a couple of modifications:

• We’re going to run a mile on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and go as long as we can run sometime over the weekend.
• We’re going to substitute the Core Cardios on Monday for the Insanity Fit Test. This way we can track our progress!
• We’re going to try to up our calories a bit (or at least I am). Our metabolisms are speeding up rapidly, and we need to eat more to match, or our bodies are going to start burning muscle for fuel.
• I’m going to focus on doing more reps on the difficult moves so I don’t plateau and stay safe.

So, first I want to talk about something that’s kind of gross, but really important to talk about for other people in the same situation. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been smelling that my body odor smells a bit like onions gone wrong, either rotting or with something else nasty mixed in. I didn’t know what was causing it, either something that was stored in my fat being released or what. All I knew was that it smelled bad and WRONG. I have never smelled after working out; in fact, I could often go for a few weeks without washing my workout clothes if need be (I’ve since gotten better about washing them, I promise!). So, I knew something was wrong.

I did some research, and found that it could be caused by detoxing, eating too many onions (I eat onions most days because they’re a low sodium way to flavor things, but not in excessive amounts), eating too much spicy food (same as onions), or even drinking carbonated beverages (just weird…). None of them seemed to fit, and I eventually posted about it on Beachbody.

A trainer at Beachbody, Steve Edwards, responded to my post and expressed that he thinks my body is starting to go catabolic. When your body goes catabolic, you don’t allow enough time between working out for your glycogen stores (your fast energy cells, like rechargeable batteries) to recharge. When you work out like this, your body starts burning your muscle for energy (NOT GOOD), and the chemicals that result from the burning often are sweat from your pores. They can smell like onions, alcohol, or ammonia.

He explained that this is really common for people who work out extremely and don’t eat enough. This made perfect sense to me, since whenever I calculate what calories I should be eating a day, they always peg me at around 1950 to LOSE weight (2700 to maintain because I’m so muscular!!), and I’ve been eating between 1600 and 1700 a day. Also, right around the time that this started, I was entering Beta phase and working out harder, all while adding running into the equation. I’m going to try to eat lots of food between workouts to try to fix this problem, and up my calories a bit and hopefully that will help! I just wanted to mention it in case someone else was experiencing the same thing!

Now on to the title! On Monday, Sylvia and I did the Fit Test from Insanity, and it was just as brutal as I remember. That being said, I improved dramatically, even from the results I had 4 weeks into Insanity! Not only was doing two more suicide drills (burpees with a jump at the top) not a problem at all, my form was way better! I improved in pretty much everything, and even went from doing 20 push ups on my knees to 10 legitimate push up jacks! I do think my heart rate monitor results are hilarious. Can you guess then I was resting and when I was working?? (hint, there is a warm up, then 8 moves where you push yourself to the limit, then a cool down)

Sylvia also really improved for the Fit Test, and hopefully her knee will get stronger over the next couple of weeks so she can do the moves even more!

Yesterday, I started the day with a jog (which was actually kind of nice to do in the morning!), and then did Core Speed later in the afternoon. I FREAKING LOVE THAT DVD. Not only did I do about 10 one arm burpees (say WHAAT?), but I vastly improved my heart since the last time I did it, and I was able to keep up much better! Also, at the very end, you do two quick run throughs of the 16 moves from the top, and after the second one, we had a jog recovery, and I was hit with this huge energy surge! It felt so great!

So, that’s everything for the past few days! I hope everyone is doing great! Remember to stay healthy my friends!

Speed 2.0 is out… Core Speed is in!

Greetings! Overall today, I feel pretty good! I have a bit of a dehydration headache (I can normally tell because it hurts in the back of my head when I turn my head suddenly), so I gotta drink lots of water and electrolytes today. Also, yesterday I cleaned my bedroom (holy cow, it was dirty), so this morning I woke up feeling kinda stuffy and nasally. I’m pretty sure it’s the fact that my head is filled with dust and cleansers, but I took a Zicam in case it was the start of a cold!

Both Sylvia and I got the bonus DVD, Core Speed, with our purchase of Focus T25, so we thought we’d try it out in place of Speed 2.0 yesterday. I did a little research about it beforehand so I knew what I was in for, and I have to say that the review on Dumbbells and Diapers is a great one (link here: Core Speed). I felt really prepared going into it.

Oh my goodness, I can’t believe I was able to even attempt that!

The structure is similar to Speed 2.0 in which you have two sets of moves which you repeat 3 times and then put it all together and do the moves from the top 4 times. However, whereas I struggled getting some of the moves right for Speed 2.0, Core Speed pulled almost all of my favorite moves from Cardio and Speed 1.0, and added a few tough moves that I look forward to attempting in the coming weeks (one armed burpees anyone??).

Man, I was DYING the whole time. I thought my calves were going to Charlie Horse, so I stretched them, and it made it worse. That sucked because I could do the moves but I was stuck doing modified moves for some of the jumping moves so I didn’t injure myself. But I was able to stick to it, take a personal pause and then jump right back in! And the way it was structures seemed like there were two or three really tough moves followed by a move that I consider more of a break or a move that I genuinely enjoy (like side hop uppercuts). So, you’d tough it out for a few moves you don’t like, and then get to do a move you like and bring your heart rate down a little bit!

At the same time, this is one other time where I attempted a Beta workout for the first time and 1000% nailed it! I felt on top of the world at the end of it, drenched in sweat and totally exhausted. I’m amazed at how well Alpha prepares you for the workouts in Beta!

Sylvia and I talked it over and we’re going to substitute almost all of the Speed 2.0 workouts for Core Speed because we had way more fun with Core Speed. Let me say that again: I actually had FUN while having my butt handed to me (no really, my butt is really sore today!). I never thought I’d say that, but Focus T25 is changing my perspective on a lot of things!

I hope everyone is having a fun and fit day, and remember to stay healthy friends!

Reduced Waistline makes for Happy Hokie!

Hello and welcome! Today’s is the first daily post of this week, so let me catch everyone up on how I’ve been doing for the past few days:

This past weekend was kind of terrible. I didn’t watch what I ate AT ALL on Saturday (which is generally my splurge day, but I try to restrict my bad-for-you foods to one meal that day), and I didn’t do much better on Sunday. I did do Stretch on Sunday, and I didn’t eat as poorly as I did on Saturday, and we cleaned out Sylvia’s fridge so that we would have a new start 🙂

I’ve been trying to get rid of the mounds of chocolate I’ve acquired, and I’m doing pretty good at getting rid of it little by little each day! However, on Monday I was craving chocolate like mad! But Core Cardio kicked my butt and forced me to sweat out a lot of the toxins I’d built up over the weekend and I felt much better afterward!

Since then, I’ve been doing much better with my eating, though yesterday was a little higher in fat than I would normally like. However, both Sylvia and I crushed Upper Focus for the first time, which was a really great feeling. I was even able to stick with the cardio recovery portions better! Stupid hip-ups always make my hamstrings Charlie Horse though 😦 I’ll have to come up with a way to modify those moves so that my hamstrings don’t feel like they’re clenching so hard that they’re going to rip… any ideas?

Sylvia and I are focusing on getting our diet back in order this week, though, since we’re noticing that our cravings are getting more intense the more we give in. So far, I’ve been really good today, and I’m kind of looking forward to trying Core Speed for the first time ever (I’ve been reading some reviews, and it looks intense but fun!).

But what I’m most excited about today is my pants. The pants I’m wearing today are the type where they’re kind of tight when you first put them on, but then they stretch out as they warm up and move around. Today, they were a little loose when I first put them on!! It’s a great feeling to put on clothes and be able to notice a difference in how they fit!

I’m hoping that everyone reading this is having a great day! Stay healthy!