Les Mills Combat - a quarter through!

Today is day 15 of our Les Mills Combat program and hopefully the beginning of a much better week. I've been feeling pretty cruddy for 6 days now. I think it is honestly the longest I have ever been sick since we started working out in 2010. Ugh. The fact that 2 of my sons have it too is less than ideal. I made some homemade cough syrup last night and it was the first good night of sleep that I have gotten. I hope that is a good sign for things to come!

Sunday is my official weigh-in day. I have a secret to confess though. I've never been able to go a whole week without stepping on the scale. It's not that I put so much into my weight. A certain weight is not even a goal for 2013 for me. But, I do have a certain waist size that I am shooting for, and thus, a certain a body fat percentage. So, I keep an eye on my weight because I know that a weight the is going up or is stagnant is probably not helping me get closer to those two goals. And so, I weigh myself every morning. It's a good indicator for me how my eating is going.

This morning though was a surprise. I did not expect to see this show up!

Yup! I lost 3.2 lbs last week. And I wish I could say that being sick took my appetite away, because it definitely didn't! I did drink a lot of tea, ate a bowl of miso soup almost every day, and had my Shakeology each morning. But, I also ate plenty of popcorn, veggie chips, almonds, and raisins, too.

So, how about you? How was this week? And tell me, am I the only one who weighs myself everyday?

~ Lisa

Am I Too Sick to Work Out?

This cold and flu season is really hitting a lot of people! Are you one of them?

Here we are just 11 days into the new year. Resolve to work out is high for a lot of people. You might be going to gym, a little sore, thinking, "Yeah! This is going to be the year that I keep my resolution to lose these ___ pounds!". And then, it hits you. Starts with a sore throat, maybe a runny nose. Pretty soon, you're laid up in bed like this guy.

Such has been my plight this week. Tuesday morning I woke up with some tightness in my chest and by Thursday, I didn't want to get out of bed for much at all. But, I have an inside battle. On one hand, my body is waging war against a billion tiny microbes that are wreaking havoc on my body. On the other hand, this is just my 2nd week of Les Mills Combat and I do NOT want to be missing workouts this early in the program. What to do?

Tuesday morning when I woke up, we were already going for our workout at 6 a.m. and I felt ok. Wednesday was our rest day on the schedule. Yesterday, we took as a rest day. But, today! Oh, today, I still didn't feel 100%, but I didn't feel like yesterday. So, we did go and do Combat 30 Live. I figured my body could use a little help getting the heat up and moving some lymphatic fluid around.

If you're sick and questioning whether to do your workout, consider this:

If your illness is in your head (headache, runny nose, even sore throat), you can consider working out. Make sure to pay attention to your body and use modified moves if you need to.

If your illness is in your chest (hacking cough) or you have a fever, it's best not to work out. Lie low until you can breathe ok or your fever breaks. When we work out, we raise our body temperature and if you already have a fever, you risk having it too high.

Here's to a HEALTHY 2013! This cold/flu bug that is going around is a nasty one! Remember to wash your hands frequently.

Time to weigh in!

Ugh. Wheat and sweets really bloated me up last week after finishing Insanity.

December 30th, I hopped on the scale and saw the number above. Oh my goodness! I had enjoyed a few cookies, tortillas, homemade rolls over the week. But, I didn't expect that number. That was even higher than when I started Insanity in October. Yikes! That number even puts me in my overweight BMI range.

I will be the first to admit that I have half-assed my nutrition way too many times doing a program. My goal for 2013 is to not do that. I'm focusing on eating clean and I'm back to logging my food on myfitnesspal. The results certainly speak for themselves. While I never advocate just focusing on weight, I know that when my weight is in my healthy BMI range I am doing a great job in both my workouts and nutrition.  This is a number I am more comfortable with and I know I will only see it go lower.

Les Mills Combat is definitely working! I love the workouts. They are short, but intense, and really make you feel like you accomplished something! The mix of weights and cardio is awesome and the music is one of the reasons why Les Mills is Les Mills.

1.8 lbs lighter than I was when I finished Insanity.  Eating clean definitely helps!

Make it REAL this time!

Happy New Year!

I love the new year. It's a time to reflect on the year that just passed and look with great expectations to the next 365 days. So many things to look forward and plan for!

If you are like 38% of the people who actually make New Year's resolutions, you have decided that 2013 is the year you are going to lose weight. I invite you to like this page using the button above this post and get motivated to stick with your goal. I am here to help you. If you ever have a question, please feel free to connect with me.

I'm not going to lie. It's going to take work. But as someone who has lost the weight and kept it off for over 2 years, I'm going to tell you that every sacrifice you make is worth it. I still have my goals to reach and am working hard on them this year. Will you join me?

~ Lisa

Insanity Workout Review

So, you may have seen Insanity on the late night infomercial. Looks a bit different from the Ab Circle and Shake Weight, but it's still on TV. Can't work can it?

As a woman, I find it hard to burn as many calories as my husband does. I just don't have the muscle that he does and quite frankly, I can't push my body to go as hard. I would love to see 10 cal/min burned, but it doesn't happen. So how many calories can I burn doing Insanity? I did Day 16 this morning which was Plyometric Cardio Circuit.

After 11 minutes or so of the warm up I was at 102 calories burned. Almost there! After the stretch, I didn't stay as high, but I was glad to see my burn at the end of the 41 minute workout to be 324 calories. 8 cal/min average. Not bad at all, says this mama.

But, the INSANE thing about it is that my body has continued to burn at a higher rate ALL day. It has been 9 hours since I started my workout this morning and I have burned a total of 1630 calories. Doing a bit of math shows that I have been burning about 3 cal/min average all day that I have been awake.

These crazy workouts do work. Push play. Put in your best work and get it done! This ain't no Shake Weight or Ab Circle, yo. This is INSANITY!