Insanity Max 30 - Half Way There Baby!

Insanity Max 30 - Week 4 In Review 

Cannot believe I am writing my halfway point review already! A month ago I never would have thought I would have survived the program let alone during the holidays. BUT I am here to tell you I made it! 30 more days to go and I will have completed the entire Insanity Max 30 program.  Feels good to stick with your goals!

My hubby joined me again a few times this week. We got the workouts in during the evening. It seems like the time passes by quicker when I have him to workout with me. We treat working out together like date night. It’s our time after our son goes to bed. Not only is our marriage benefiting, but so is our health. Our picture below is from one of our workouts. We were drenched by the end of our 30 minutes. Cardio challenge is no joke!

 Tabata Strength still seems to get me. My upper body is not as strong as it should be so all of the push-ups really kill me. I think I dislike the diamond push-ups the most. Completely shaking when I do them.  The video below shows a few of the moves from the strength workout.

For New Years we traveled back home to visit family again. Felt like we were just there but nonetheless we were excited to see everyone again. I slept in that morning before we traveled home and sort of wish I hadn’t after the fact. My little man joined me and he was the king of interruptions that day. My 30-minute workout took about 50 minutes. He needed a potty break, some snacks and completely made a mess of the basement. It was a great reminder of why I get up so early to get the workouts in. It’s my “me” time and I don’t always love to share it with anyone. It’s a good thing he is cute.

My nutrition was not great this week. New Years Eve and New Years Day were so-so.  I packed snacks when I traveled home and did fantastic all week with my water. For New Years Eve my hubby and I went out to dinner at a local restaurant back at home. We ate well – fresh bruschetta for an appetizer, we both had filet mignon and mashed potatoes with broccoli and cauliflower. It really hit the spot and was delicious. We also had a glass of wine. I was really filled up but since we stayed up so late for New Years, I did have some pizza around 10 pm. Not ideal but it was there and I just felt like eating it. Friday night I decided I wanted Dairy Queen. I wanted the ice cream more than I cared about staying on track. I hate when it happens but I am human too.  So I picked a peanut buster parfait and he had a cookie dough blizzard. I felt so gross after I ate it. You see once you eat clean all the time sugar and junk food actually makes you feel sick and sluggish.

Saturday I made up for the one workout I missed during the week so I wore my heart rate monitor to see how many calories I burned off in comparison to the parfait. The parfait had 710 calories and my workout only burned 227. I think we you see how hard to have to work for treats like that it makes those treats a little less appealing. At least for me it does.

 I am nervous to start the second half of this program. It will only get harder from here. I suppose I am now conditioned for it from month one, but it still scares me. My goal for this week is to focus on my nutrition and stay on track. I have done a meal plan for myself so that I have no excuses. I am also really excited about this coming week because I have an event for Beachbody in Pittsburgh Friday and Saturday. I will get to spend the weekend with all of the top coaches in my organization as well as the CEO of Beachbody and Autumn Calabrese the creator of the 21 -day fix, which is my favorite Beachbody program. We get to get all dressed up, Friday is a white carpet event and Saturday we have to wear sequin cocktail dresses. Trainings and celebrations! I can’t even wait! Love dressing up and love everything about Beachbody. The opportunity has been a blessing and completely changed my lifestyle. Beachbody coaches truly are some special people. I am lucky to have so many in my life!

Insanity Max 30

Week 5 Meal Plan

www.sarahgriffith27.blogspot.com

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Shakeology w/ banana	Shakeology w/strawberries	Shakeology	Shakeology	Shakeology
Egg Muffins w/Peppers & Onions	Egg Muffins w/Peppers & Onions	Steel Cut Oats w/ diced apples, nat. pb and cinnamon	Apple with natural PB	Apple with natural PB
Vegetable Soup Mixed Berry Parfait with Greek Yogurt Red Pepper Strips	Chicken Parm w/mozzarella cheese Pasta Apples w/natural PB	Frontier Soup Greek Yogurt Parfait with mixed berries Lettuce Wraps with Ham	Mediterranean Chicken Kalamata Olives Green Beans Greek Yogurt Parfait with mixed berries	*Field Trip* Soup Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli
8 organic wheat crackers Peanuts	Peanuts Red Pepper Strips	Hummus with ½ Peppers	Red Pepper Strips	Hummus & Crackers Shakeology Apple
Chicken Parm w/mozzarella cheese Penne Pasta	Frontier soup with Sirloin Egg Noodles	Mediterranean Chicken w/ Kalamata Olives Brown Rice Green Beans	2 Tacos with whole wheat wrap Onions & Peppers Black Beans Taco Cheese	TBD - Beachbody Event in Pittsburgh Luna Bar Peanuts Red Pepper Strips

Insanity Max 30 - Week 2 In Review

Insanity Max 30- Week 2 In Review

Well week 2 is in the books and I am starting to love the program even more than I had anticipated. My reason being is that it is challenging but in a fun way, like I want to prove to myself that I can do it. I am finding that my max out times are getting better and better. Aside from building more endurance I have also lost 4 lbs. I am not doing this program to lose any weight because I am happy with what I already weigh, but the weight seems to be melting off. I was 120 lbs when we started and am at 116 right now. Its funny how weight can look different. I look back and look at pictures of myself right before I got pregnant with Carter and I weighted 105 lbs right when I got pregnant. I look at those pictures and I do look thin but not really any different than I do now. Maybe a flatter stomach but that’s really it.  I have always been naturally thin thanks to genetics. I ate whatever I wanted and aside from being a swimmer in high school I didn’t really workout. Now I look at how hard I am working and my weight and I realize that I am a “fit” weight. I have so much more muscle than I did back then and don’t think that weighting what I used to weight is a reasonable goal. I eat too much and exercise to hard to get down to that weight, nor do I even want to. Being skinny is not my goal; being fit is.

I have also started to notice a difference in my upper and middle abs. They are starting to feel stronger and I am enjoying doing the extra 10 -minute ab attack that comes with the program. My upper abs have already been strong thanks to the other programs. My lower abs are still a different story. However, I think that is going to change after a few more weeks with Insanity Max 30. There is SO much lower ab focus and I love it!

I found that I did a great job with my nutrition last week but struggled with the workouts. I am a morning exerciser but my husband is an evening exerciser. I have mostly agreed to compromise and workout with him in the evenings but last week we seemed to be on separate pages. I also found myself two days behind because of sleeping in or falling asleep before I got my workout in for the evening. I hate being off on my dates that the workout calendar has scheduled for me, so I put time in this past weekend and made up for the days that I had missed earlier this week so that I could be back on track today. 

The key to my nutrition success last week was my planning and preparation that I had done in advance. It helped keep me on track. We enjoyed some fabulous dinners last week, but my favorite was the steak with brown rice and I roasted cauliflower. DELICIOUS! I also came up with a new snack idea. I was craving carbs like crazy last week so I enjoyed a whole grain English Muffin with cashew butter and a few chocolate chips. Really hit the spot!

Last week I also hit the E&E pretty hard. E&E is a pre- workout formula that you can drink before or during your workouts. It gives you a little bit of extra umph to get thru your workouts and wake you up! I swear by it and I am using it every day now for the workouts. Ended up finishing up a tub of it last week. (Not all in one week though ;) Thank goodness for the delivery of a new tub on Friday!

With the chaos of finishing Christmas shopping, hosting a family gathering on Sunday and preparing for being away for the holidays, I didn’t officially “meal plan” for this week. I did however plan out my dinners for the first few days of the week while I am home. I will also be packing with me for the visit lots of healthy snacks and things that travel well.

Excited to start week three! Time sure flies when you are having fun!! Happy Holidays to all of you!