Insanity Round 1 Results & Round 2

I don't know what happened, but somehow I forgot(?) to post my end results of Insanity. I guess I was too busy with other things going on in my life (school, work).

But I still wanted to give you guys an update on my Insanity Challenge as well as some other things, like food choices and my future exercise and health plans and goals.

Last week I finished my Insanity Challenge with some amazing Fit Test results:

First Test - Last Test
Switch Kicks: 87 - 138
Power Jacks: 39 - 57
Power Knees: 87 - 120
Power Jumps: 20 - 50
Globe Jumps: 7 - 10
Suicide Jumps: 14 - 20
Push-Up Jacks: 15 - 50
Low Plank Oblique: 39 - 77

Insane results, if I may say so ;) I am very proud of my results, some of them I still can't believe. Who knew I would be able to do 50 Power Jumps and 50 Push-Up Jacks in 1 minute? Especially knowing where I came from. I think I can safely say that Insanity has changed my life and taken my fitness to a whole new level.

Because of the great results and the amazing feeling Insanity has given me, I decided to do another round. Yup, a second round of Insanity. I took a week off to recover, to take my mind off of things for a while, but last Sunday I started again. I am excited to see myself improving even more, even though it is hard to imagine being able to do even more Power Jumps in 1 minute ;)

Furthermore I wanted to give you all an update on my nutrition. Very honestly, I had been slacking. I guess I reached a state of euphoria losing 15 kg in 3 months' time. Celebration followed and I started eating more junk. Not excessively but still too much junk here and there. So for a month or so I didn't lose any weight. At all. I did somehow manage to keep my weight in check by still eating a balanced diet; I only gained 1,3 kg, of which I now lost 1 kg again since I started Insanity on Sunday - so this was all water weight. But the thought of missing out on losing does bother me, which is why I am going to be strict again and go on this journey 110%.

I will be eating between 1,400 and 1,500 calories a day in month 1 - balanced meals, plan it out and of course just follow the Insanity workout plan. I was going to experiment with my calories for a bit, but I noticed that for now, that just doesn't work for me. I do want to eventually work up to my TDEE but now is not the time. I tried it for a while but I found it really hard to eat over 1,800 calories a day and I would end up stuffing my face with unhealthy things, which only leads to bad things. I need more time to work up to that. I think I will slowly do it when I reach my goal weight.

I will keep you all updated! I am actually thinking of transferring all these blogs to my personal .com and continue blogging there about several things that are going on in my life.

Insanity Max Interval and Fit Tests

While I am still dripping in sweat and trying to catch my breath (5 minutes ago I was laying on the floor gasping for air), I wanted to update this blog (and all of you) about my Insanity challenge this past week.

It was the second week of max interval training. The max workouts are twice (or three times) as tough as the first month's workouts. I had no idea what I got myself into. They are usually about an hour long and have more circuits. Incredibly challenging for my heart and lungs but I definitely now understand what they mean when they say "the real changes happen in the 2nd month."

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I made the decision to start working out without a heart rate monitor and with a piece of paper covering the time on-screen. I get distracted really easily and distractions really mess with my mental state while working out. I am in pretty good shape for my size/weight, so I don't get out of breath very easily anymore. My (recommended) max heart rate is 199 and to get the maximum results I need to stay within 80% and 90% of this, which is roughly 159 to 179. Because I am technically overweight, I used to get over that pretty fast, but my endurace (lung capacity) is good enough that I could go on, even though my heart rate monitor tells me to take a break or slow down. So everytime my heart rate monitor would start beeping, I would get distracted and very annoyed and I would just completely stop. Or if I would look at the time and see that I am not even halfway, I would feel demotivated and no longer enjoy the workout.

So the decision to work out without a HRM came easily. I did it for a week and absolutely loved it. Could push myself, focus on my fitness, focus on form and not worry about my heart rate. Now I know not caring about your heart rate is not good and I do not recommend this. I think you have to be able to be honest to yourself if you can afford to go without one. After a week though, I decided to wear it again and just do my workout the way I had been doing that week and it turns out I really found my rhythm. I stick around 173 bpm, which is absolutely perfect. So I think I will work out without a HRM and then once a week or so I will put it on just to check if I am still doing good.

Today I had my fourth fit test. My third one was very disappointing, but I think I can attribute that to the fact that it was right after recovery week. My fourth fit test results do absolutely prove what max interval does to my body!

These were my results (1st week - 4th week)

Switch Kicks: 87 - 129
Power Jacks: 39 - 52
Power Knees: 87 - 107
Power Jumps: 20 - 38
Globe Jumps: 7 - 9
Suicide Jumps: 14 - 18
Push-Up Jacks: 15 - 40
Low Plank Oblique: 39 - 63

Every single one of them I have improved on immensely! I am especially happy with the Power Jumps and Push-Up Jacks. Those have to be my favorite moves.

I have 2 more weeks to go of Insanity. I have no idea what I am going to do after that. Maybe another round? Or maybe do Asylum next?

One thing I know for sure: I cannot wait to get my Insanity t-shirt in the mail!! Because you better believe that I earned it!

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My road to eating above BMR (and what TDEE means)

This blog is going to be somewhat all over the place, but bare with me.

A while ago I wrote a post on how I upped my calories from 1,200 to 1,500 to break a plateau. I am happy I did this, because eating at 1,200 is something you should really never do (but desperate times call for desperate measures, right?). I had been eating at 1,500 calories for a while and started asking myself why not take it another step further and find out what my BMR and TDEE are (how much I need to eat to maintain my weight)?

In the Insanity Nutrition Guide, they use the Harris-Benedict equation, which calculates how many calories your body burns every day. If I remember correctly, this number was somewhere close to 2,500. Meaning I should be eating that, at the LEAST. I kind of waived the idea of eating that much.

But lately I have been hanging out at some message boards and learning more about nutrition, as you all know I love learning. I decided to set aside my fear and really see what my BMR and TDEE were.

For those of you who don't know:

BMR = Basal Metabolic Rate. Which is the amount of calories your body needs to survive, if you would be in a coma or lay in bed all day, sleeping. That means, that this is the least amount of calories you SHOULD be consuming. Anything below that will mess up your metabolism, because it will slow down.

TDEE: Total Daily Energy Expenditure. This calculation is a rough guesstimate of how many calories you burn considering the level of activity. So it takes into consideration your daily chores (showering, brushing your teeth, cooking, eating, sitting at the computer, walking) but also your exercise level.

To calculate your TDEE, you need to know your BMR and then based on your activitiy level you get a number that is your TDEE - what you should be consuming to maintain your current weight. To lose weight, recommended is that you eat TDEE - 20%. My number here is 2,285. I need to eat this many calories to lose 1 lbs body fat per week. This is based on the simple calories in/out theory.

So, I have been experimenting with this for about a week now and I wanted to log my experience with it. Now, I started eating at 2,200 for a bit, not caring about what my calories consisted of. Because my metabolism is basically screwed up from eating way below my BMR, I gained (water) weight, 1.4 kg in a week. This is my body adjusting, from years of eating at an unhealthy low calorie level.

Yesterday I decided to drop to 1,800 calories. Why? Honestly? I don't know how much more weight gain I can take, even though this is all water weight and will come right off, I think shocking my metabolism won't work for me (mentally and emotionally). So I will stay at 1,800 calories (which is real close to my BMR of 1,843) for a while. Maybe for a month (I lost 0,8 of the 1,4 kg within a day), maybe when I reach goal weight.

As for now, 1,800 calories seems to work just fine for me. It is not too difficult to consume 1,800 calories in a day, and still eat healthy and a nice step up from 1,500. And if I can continue to lose body fat successfully this way, why not, right?

I hope that at the end of the year I will have my metabolism back to where it should be. I hope that by then I will be able to eat close to 2,500 calories and maintain my weight.

If you are interested in knowing what your BMR and TDEE is, you can calculate it here. If you have any questions on this topic, feel free to message me!

Insanity Challenge Week 5

Insanity week 5 is done!

This was "Recovery Week." Don't let the name fool you though. I also thought it was going to be a nice break from sweating and busting my butt...

Boy, I was wrong. The Core Cardio & Balance workout will still get your heart rate up nice and high and you will be sweating at the end of the workout.

It is a workout focused on cardio and balance (duh) and throughout the entire workout Shaun T will remind you to keep your core engaged, and you will feel this in your abs!

The warmup is quite easy and calm, then there is a stretch and there are more breaks than usual, so you won't exhaust yourself too fast. It is a lot less intense than the previous weeks but still a good workout!

If you have the Deluxe program, you can do the Max Interval Sports Training instead of the Core Cardio & Balance workout. Since I missed one workout on Thursday due to having the flu, I decided to switch it up and replace CC&B workout with Max Interval Sports Training on Friday and Saturday...

Max Interval Sports Training is one INSANE workout!! It is very intense, incorporates different sports: boxing, football, basketball, gymnastics and track. It does have a lot of breaks, which I needed, but it is my absolute favorite workout so far! I easily burned 550+ calories during this one.

Insanity weight loss so far: 2,9 kg. Overall weight loss: 15 kg! Very happy with my results. Also measured my resting heart rate and that was 72 - which is above average. It used to be over 80, so that is another great improvement :)

Monday starts Month 2 of Insanity - I am pumped!!

Insanity Challenge Week 4

So, week 4 is over. That means, Month 1 done! I am incredibly happy and proud of myself.

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This past week was good, I pushed harder and felt myself getting fitter and stronger with every workout. I take fewer breaks now and can do more reps of each exercise. I am kind of sad that month 1 is over.

The next step is Recovery Week. The coming week will be 6 days of Core Cardio and Balance. I think I will switch it up a little, because as you might know, I am someone that gets bored of things fast, especially when they are not crazy high intensity... I might add in some other workouts this week.

And then we go into Month 2... It is the "Max Month", where the workouts get longer, tougher, more intense - What? - yeah... I watched the DVDs and I was just thinking "how am I going to do this? Seems impossible!" But truth be told, I had the same thought when I started Insanity Month 1.

I am already looking into what to do post Insanity. I was thinking of Insanity: Asylum, but I think I will first do another round of Insanity- because I am loving it so much!

Weight loss was 2,5 kg this month. Not great (or, well, you all will probably think that is a lot - but you know me, hard to please), but hey, who is complaining? ;)

Choosing the right at-home exercise program

Someone made a comment on Facebook the other day (I will mention her name, not sure if she'd like that) and it got me thinking. At first I was offended, but then I realized, she has a very good point. I started thinking about conversations I've had and comments I have seen the past weeks. This blogpost concerns at-home exercise programs. Some people love em and owe their lives to them, others think these programs are a bunch of crock. I am part of that first group of people, but I used to be part of the latter - and to be fair, I see their point.

The past month I suddenly see lots of people in my timelines (FB and Twitter) popping up that are starting an at-home exercise program. Of course I have seen many starting a program or just exercising at home and 90% of them failing (not finishing, not keeping it up, thinking it is just a temporary quick fix). And I also notice that people don't research what they are doing. An exercise program is popular, the creator of this program has a well-known name, so they pick it up and do it. Why, though? What is this whole trend to want to go with what is popular, especially when it concerns your health?

Surely, these exercise programs (I am talking about Insanity, P90x, 30 Day Shred) are good, generally. And it is easy to acquire them. But I  think they are good for maybe 10-30% of the population that is wanting to get fit (watch when I say: wanting to get fit, this does not include people that are already fit). My personal opinion is that exercising at home is a great alternative to going to the gym. I hate going to the gym, mainly because I don't want to exercise around sweaty people. It is so much easier and more fun to exercise at home. No more "I have no time" excuses, you can jump right into your own shower after. So, I am absolutely a fan of at-home exercise programs. But, caution is necessary here. I don't know about other exercise programs, but Insanity has a very serious health disclaimer that reads:

Insanity is a extreme and physically demanding workout. This is NOT for beginners or individuals with any medical condition which may be compromised by extreme cardio and strength exercise. Consult your physician before beginning this program.

And I am sure other programs like 30 Day Shred also have a warning that will say you need to consult someone. This is especially important because you are working out without supervision, so the chances you will do your body wrong rather than good and get injnured, are higher! Here are a few points that I think are really important when choosing an exercise program.

• Do your research. There are thousands and thousands of at-home exercise programs on DVD or on YouTube. Why not take some time and look at the different types of workouts there are? Before I started, I looked at tons of different videos, reviews, so I knew what was out there, and what could be a possibility.

• Don't go with the trend. And with this I mean, don't do a program because it is popular or easy to acquire. There are so many different programs. My very first exercise program that I stuck to, was Power 90. Pretty sure 90% of you have never heard of this. I didn't care, I just knew that this was the right thing for me. It had some cardio, some strength training, it was perfect for me, I lost 12kg doing this program. I now do Insanity because it happened to be the same company that publishes it and it happened to be the perfect next step for me.

• Understand the different types of exercise. The one workout is not like the other. I hear so many people say: "I've danced for 10 years, so running wouldn't be so hard." Um. What? With dancing you use COMPLETELY different muslces than with running, so no, this simply does not apply. If you'd start running, you'd be a beginner. Same goes for the other way around, "I've been a runner for 5 years, I can run 10k, so plyometrics will be easy." That is not how it works. I've danced for 18 years, I could totally do high intensity dancing for hours - ask me to run a 5k and I would give up halfway through. I simply am not used to that range of motion. My boyfriend, I'd consider him a runner, he can easily run 10k in less than an hour, but when it comes to plyo, he has a hard time. With me, now, it is the other way around.

• Be real. When I wanted to start working out, the program I came across the most (and I mean, every single day), was Bodyrock.tv, it was really popular back then. But, I looked at it, tried it twice, then realized: no, this is not for me. It is too hard. I was a beginner when it came to fitness. Why would I fool myself into thinking I was already up to that level? I needed something for beginners, because chances were I would not stay motivated this way.

• Realize that this is for life. You don't do exercise as home as a quick fix. Too many people start a program with the attitude of "I want to lose 10kg with this program." This is already wrong. You should pick up a program because you want to get fit for life, because you want to add it into your life forever. I am not saying you have to stick to one program for life, but after your program ends after 30, 60, 90 days, then what? You aren't done. You are going to continue with something else or start over. For the rest of your life!! If you're not in it for life, don't even bother starting.

• Don't overdo it. When you picked a program that you feel fits and that you could do for a long time to come, try to still be real to yourself. Follow the program to the tee, don't do much more than the people on the DVD. If you need to, modify some moves but don't compromise form. Take breaks when you need them (heart rate monitor is so important!), there is always a pause button you can use!! ;)

Only when you stick to these points, will you have success with what you are doing. Click here for 11 other workout tips that I put together. Good luck to everyone choosing for an at-home program to enrich their lives :)

Non-weight loss goals

I used to be like: "Do a proper push up? Me? Chea, alright!!"

When I first started out, my main goals were to live healthier (being able to make healthier choices) and lose weight. But as time progressed and I started seeing results in every way possible, my focus shifted. I started getting stronger, fitter, my stamina has increased tremendously. Instead of focusing on weight loss, I set other amazing goals for myself:

1. When I started, I couldn't do a single push-up on my toes. Sure I could do tons of reps on my knees, but holding a plank was already shit for me. As weeks progressed and I lifted more and more, I (obviously) got stronger. I loved noticing how not only my endurace increased, my strength did too. Before I knew it, I could do 3 push-ups on my toes, then 6. My goal now is to be able to do 15 push-ups full on. I don't have a deadline set, because I simply don't know how long it is going to take.
2. Just being able to wear whatever I want! I love shopping for clothes, but I can tell you it is terrible when the first thought on your mind is: is that going to fit me? How is that going to look on me? I am tired of that. Even though I can shop at normal stores and don't have to look in the plus-size department 90% of the time, I am not always happy what clothes look like on me, simply because I imagine them looking different.
3. Long-term goal: being able to run 5k. I know this is a goal that is nowhere in the near future. I can hardly do intervals for 3km. I have pretty good stamina, but somehow, running has never been my thing. I want to start off slowly and see how far I get. 5k would be great. The only problem I have: I just can't be bothered running when it is cold. My nose gets runny 3 minutes in.
4. To prove people wrong. I am sure that there are people that are doubting me. Yes, I have tried losing weight many different ways. Some with success, some without, but I have always gained the weight right back. I am going to be honest and say that anything I have ever tried was terrible. Unhealthy, for my body and for my mind. Therefore, I am now doing it the healthy way. The way you're supposed to do it, if you want long-term results. It is a lifestyle change, for real. I will show people that this is the best way. Not the only way, but the best way.
5. Hiking up Runyon Canyon is probably the biggest goal I could accomplish. Every time I go to LA, I want to hike up here. It is the most amazing spot in LA (or so I have been told). It is quite a tough hike but at the top, the view is absolutely priceless. I think when I get to the top I will feel like I have reached the ultimate dream :)

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Insanity Challenge Week 3

Week 3 of Insanity is done... It was good, again :)

The week started off with another fit test. I was very nervous, but curious to see how I progress and boy did I progress!! I did really well on the fit test and could totally tell my stamina has gone up like crazy. Here are my results (including the results from the first fit test, so you can see how much I improved):

Switch Kicks: 87 - 110
Power Jacks: 39 - 74 (this is crazy!!)
Power Knees: 87 - 97
Power Jumps: 20 - 27 (these are killer, but I am getting better!)
Globe Jumps: 7 - 8 (hate these...)
Suicide Jumps: 14 - 15 (another one of my - ahem - favorites)
Push-Up Jacks: 15 - 21
Low Plank Oblique: 39 - 51

Some crazy improvements there!

The rest of the week went very well also. I loved noticing that my stamina went up so much. But it certainly doesn't get easier. That is the beauty of this program: you get better but because you have to push your limits with every single workout, it simply doesn't get easier.

The only downside of this program is the Cardio Recovery workout. It is meant to give you a little break from the high intensity of the program, but I find it quite boring. The reason why I am in love with Insanity, is that it is so intense and fast-paced. But I guess they put in this workout for a reason, right? To give my muscles and lungs a little break.

The past 2 weeks were a little rocky when it comes to my weight because I had a few "off-days" where I had a lot of starchy foods, I also had my monthly problems, but I am still down 2,2 kg since the start of this program, so I am not complaining!

Anyways, I am looking forward to week 4 - the last week of the lower intensity (what now???) part of the program. After that is a week of recovery and then we go into 4 weeks of Max workouts... Ouch.

My daily nutrition

I get asked a lot what I eat on a regular day to lose weight/get healthier. And truth be told, it is nothing too crazy. Not some secret pill or anything. I will tell you what my meals usually look like and what "rules" I go by, daily. Please keep in mind that this might not work for everyone, but this works for me!

My eating habits are actually quite simple and come down to these basic things: make healthier choices, eat smaller portions and eat on a regular basis so you don't get hungry and binge. I try to stick to these rules for optimized success:

• +/- 1,500 kcal daily
• 5 to 6 small meals or: breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, (snack), diner
• breakfast is the biggest and most important meal of the day
• keep diners small and simple (based on veggies and some lean meat)
• no more food after diner (diner not after 7.30pm)
• at least 1,5 - 2L water daily
• at least 1 or 2 cups of green tea daily
• if I want a cookie or some chocolate, I will have 1 or 2 pieces, max (I do not believe in deprivation!)
• if I want to have a bigger diner, I will lower my calories for lunch
• plan my meals every day in the morning

BREAKFAST: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. I make sure to always have a good breakfast with proteine and fruit. Especially because I exercise 6 days a week, having a good start of the day is so important. I have a protein shake every single morning, around 8 or 9 am. "But, protein shakes are nasty?!" Yeah, only if you do not know how to make them taste good. Add anything to the shake you like: a banana, berries, a pear, whatever! As long as it is healthy. You have it with water or with skim milk. My breakfast shake contains around 400kcal. It should be the biggest meal of the day. This will keep you from getting hungry throughout the day! I also have other breakfast foods on occassion, maybe 2 times a month. This will be something like oven buns with a cheese omelet or something.

MORNING SNACK: Around 11am I will have a snack. Anything I want, I just try and stay within the 200kcal range. This can be either some fruit (banana, pear, plums, oranges), a handful of nuts (almonds, walnuts, peanuts), some dark chocolate, granola bar, hard-boiled egg. If I want a snack that is high in fat and/or carbs, I will have it right now, with my afternoon snack I try to stay on the low end of this.

LUNCH: Lunch time is around 1 or 2 pm. I either eat a big bowl of veggies (spinach with sauteed onions and garlic is my favorite!) with some tofu. Or I will have an english muffin with an omelet, cheese, some ketchup, cucumber or whatever. Or an omelet with onions and paprika. I try to be creative here. Most of the time I will have a piece of fruit with it also.

AFTERNOON SNACK: Whenever I get hungry after lunch (which is usually around 3 or 4 pm) I will grab a snack (again, staying within the 200kcal range) low in fat and/or carbs. This is usually some sort of fruit or a mix of fruit and 1/2 handful of nuts.

DINER: I keep my diners as simple as possible. I will have a piece of meat (mostly turkey breast, chicken breast, shrimp or any type of fish, but I also like to have steak, pork, beef - again: I eat anything I want!) with vegetables. I will make enough veggies to fill me up.

I do count my calories, because I tend to undereat, which leads to water/fat retention and thus will cause me to gain weight. I don't go crazy though, I try to stay around 1,400kcal without counting condiments and butters/oils, etc.

Snacks, snacks, snacks!

Snacks are just as important to me as meals are. Snacks are what get my mind through the day. Breakfast wakes up my body and starts my metabolism, lunch will refuel my body and diner gets my body ready for bed, but I couldn't stay sane without my snacks!

As you all might know, I eat 3 meals and 2 to 3, sometimes 4 snacks a day. When I snack, I try to stay in the 150 - 200 caloric range. You have to be really creative with snacks, I think. Step awap from the cucumber, carrots, but try to think more along the lines of satisfying your sweet tooth or filling you up so you won't think about being hungry anymore. Cucumber will not do this for you.

I have listed a few of my favorite snacks to eat throughout the day:

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• 30g salted peanuts (187 kcal)
• 30g roasted almonds (177 kcal)
• 2 hard-boiled eggs (140 kcal)
• granola bar banana-chocolate (107 kcal)
• 1/2 avocado with salt & pepper (119 kcal)
• 1 Apple (88 kcal)
• Medium banana (116 kcal)
• 2 oranges (96 kcal)
• 100g greek yoghurt (124 kcal)
• 150g raspberries (64 kcal)
• 2 squares Lindt 85% dark chocolate (105 kcal)
• 1 tablespoon peanutbutter (84 kcal)
• 30g chunk parmesan cheese (123 kcal)
• 1 pear (98 kcal)

Keep in mind, you can really mix and match here. There are so many different things you can try. I am always looking for new snacks. What do you like to snack on?

23 and 1/2 hours: Exercise as medicine

I love YouTube. It is a healthy addiction of mine to which I will not pay attention on this blog (at least, not today). But what I love about YouTube is that it will recommend videos to me based on what I have been watching. I love watching videos about health and fitness and gain new perspectives as well as learn more about this topic.

I came across this amazing video the other day. The title of this video is:

"23 and 1/2 hours: What is the single best thing we can do for our health?" The message is simple: people need to get off their asses for at least 150 minutes a week, preferably for 30 minutes a day. This alone decreases health risks tremendously.

I love the way this message is portrayed and of course I like the scientific nature of the video. I thought I'd share this video with you as I really enjoyed it.

Insanity Challenge Week 2

Week 2 of Insanity went by really fast, and I wanted to give you guys an update on how it has been going. Also because I have been getting more questions about this workout.

First of all: I do not think this workout is for everyone, I absolutely don't. I do however believe that anyone who is in moderate shape and likes to challenge themselves to a new leven of fitness could try it. When your stamina is low, you get out of breath easily, you don't usually workout, you haven't worked out on a consistent basis for the last 3 months, your muscles aren't trained to a certain level or you don't like bootcamp style workouts, Insanity might not be for you.

That being said, I do think that if you've been working out for a while and your stamina and willpower are strong enough, you could absolutely give it a shot. I am not in perfect shape, I am overweight, but my stamina is quite good and my willpower is through the roof, so I love this workout. Insanity is designed in a way that you can push your limits and take breaks whenever you need to. You don't need to keep up with the people in the video. In fact, you will see them taking water breaks in the background as well.

Back to week 2. This week was great. Even though I was sick the majority of the week, I pushed through and didn't miss a day. I feel like working out does not affect my physical health negatively, whatsoever. Even if after the workouts I'd feel dizzy and/or nauseous, I felt better afterwards and I would have regretted skipping a workout. I also don't think me being sick affected my workouts. If anything, I feel like it gave me more energy.

I noticed my stamina increased a lot already. I could push myself more than in week 1 and I wasn't as exhausted as the week before. Power jumps are becoming easier, Level 1 Drills are becoming easier (burpees with pushups and floor sprints), globe jumps are still incredibly hard, I get really exhausted doing them, but I can do more of them! The only problem I came across is that my arch sometimes hurts after a crazy high energy workout. But if I do some foot exercises right after, the pain disappears.

I also definitely notice that I need to workout after breakfast instead of right after I wake up, like I did with previous workouts, because I really need the energy to get through the Insanity workouts! But that has not been a problem so far. If I have school, I will just workout when I get home, and make sure that I had a snack about an hour before.

This week consisted of the same workouts as week 1, but no fit test. The next fit test will be tomorrow (Monday). I am really curious to see my results because I feel I got better. One new workout is Cardio Abs, which is (duh) an ab workout without crunches or situps. This workout is the worst one, for me, because when I do situps or anything on the floor, I get lower back pains, so I couldn't really do more than half of the exercises. But I think burning 550 calories with Pure Cardio is enough for a day. I will enjoy my well-deserved rest day!

Lunch: Paprika-onion cheese omelet

I love eggs. I try eating them every single day, but eggs can get really boring. It is easy for me to get sick of eggs. But I found that experimenting with them, will help you find amazing recipes. Here is one of my current favorite omelets that I love making:

You'll need:

2 eggs

1/4 paprika (doesn't matter which color, yellow is the sweetest)

1/8 onion

olive oil

grated cheese (I love Emmental cheese)

salt & pepper to taste

First you heat up the olive oil in a small pan. In the meantime you dice the onion and paprika, I like my dices to be a bit big, so they have a bite to them. When you're done, you throw the onion and paprika into the pan and let them brown a little. You then crack and beat the 2 eggs. When the onion and paprika are a bit browned, you stir it and divide the dices all over the pan. Evenly distribute the egg mixture over the onion and paprika. Put the heat on medium and let it sit for a minute. I lift the sides to help the mixture run from the center to the sides, which allows the omelet to cook evenly. After 1 minute I throw some cheese on it. I let it sit for a bit mroe until the omelet is cooked completely. Season with salt and pepper, flip half over the other side and enjoy!

This is very simple, and you can basically throw in anything you like. I've used spinach and garlic, but you can also use broccoli, tomatoes, etc.

Beating the scale addiction

"My name is Noelle, I am 27 years old... And I am addicted... to my scale."

Yeah, not anymore. I started this journey to healthy with one main goal: getting healthy. The fact that weight loss would be a part of that, was ay-ok with me, of course! I took a before picture, for myself, because I did not want to solely rely on the scale.

I started eating healthy, working out and weighing myself daily. Bad. Really bad. I educated myself a lot throughout the years about this topic - I know that the scale does not reflect fat loss. And it doesn't reflect how well you did the day before. It reflects how much you ate, water weight, muscle, fat. Everything! I would step on the scale and see a loss of one ounce, but I'd be disappointed, because I ate 100% clean and worked out the day before. The stupid thing is that, rationally, I knew very well that I built muscle, and that that extra glass of water also reflects back on the scale. So shouldn't I have had that glass of water? Uh, duh...

I wasn't losing weight as fast as I wanted to, but Jesus Christ, I was burning fat and building muscle like a mofo. What's not to like about that? My clothes became so loose, my body was changing (I had the pictures to prove it), I had so much energy, but still I would step on the scale every single morning and be disappointed to see the number (a lot of times I was also very happy!).

I had to change my way of thinking. I had to realize that losing 2 ounces, didn't mean losing 2 ounces of fat. Society is so incredibly hooked on weight and weight loss instead of fat loss. Isn't it more important to track weight loss over a few week's time, and as long as the number is going time, isn't that great?

My goals have shifted - I am now more interested to see how my body has changed, how I can't wear those jeans anymore because they are way too big for me (and I could barely get them past my hips 3 months ago!) and even better: when I started, I couldn't do a single pushup on my toes, and now? I can do 6 - 10. It is nuts, but this really showed me more important developments rather than weight.

My BMI? Fuck that shit, seriously. BMI is the most retarded invention of the 20th century. Because it does not take into consideration your muscle mass, your bone structure or your overall health. A "healthy weight"? Fuck you. According to your stupid calculator, 90% of the top athletes in the world are obese. Oh no, it's an epidemic!!!

I still weigh myself a few times a week, because I feel like overall it does reflect how you are doing (when you take muscle into consideration!) and it keeps me accountable and will tell me when to switch up my diet and/or workout but I don't focus on my goal weight anymore, but more on other changes: I still take pictures to see the change, I notice my endurance increasing more than I could have ever dreamed of. I do still have a goal weight in mind, and according to the BMI calculator, that is still considered "overweight". And if I feel like I am completely happy with where I am earlier on, I will stay at that weight. Do I care? No, not at all, because I know I will be healthy as shit :)

How I broke my plateau

2 weeks later and I hadn't lose or gained a single ounce...

I knew about plateaus and I was hoping it wouldn't happen to me this time around, but the plateau came sooner than expected. What is a plateau? Well, after about 2 months of losing weight, my weight simply wouldn't move. I was eating well (hadn't change anything about my diet), I worked out every single day, but nothing happened, no gains and no losses. For two weeks straight. Frustrating to say the least, especially being a slave to the scale, like I am.

I had taken pictures before and after those 2 weeks and saw a difference, I got smaller but damn it, why wasn't the scale moving?

I knew some tricks to break a plateau but I needed to refresh my mind and read up about it. There are a few reasons a plateau occurs:

1. You are not tracking calories and they are slowly sneaking back into your diet.
2. You are not eating enough; your body goes into starvation mode, storing all the fat, because it needs the fat for energy (as it is not getting any calories for energy).
3. Your body is getting used to the exercise routine. You're getting better at it, so your body is not challenged anymore.

I knew number one wasn't true, because I kept track of my calories all throughout those months. If anything, I was trying to limit my calories. That takes us to number two. Yes, guilty as charged... We always underestimate the amount of calories we need. There is something called your BMR, which is the amount of calories your body needs just to get through the day. We burn thousands of calories just by doing our daily activities.

So why has 1,200 calories become the norm for people that try to lose weight? Because it is a quick fix and we like to see fast results. Me being one of them, even though I knew better. But I also knew, that plateau is going to come and I will know why. I consumed between 1,200 and 1,300 calories on a daily basis. And that was easy for me, I was never hungry.

1,200 calorie diets were used in starvation studies. Scientists would put focus groups on 1,200 calorie diets to see what the effects were. Starvation. So when you stick to 1,200, at one point your body is going to go: "hey, feed me?" and if you don't, it'll go all "alright, bitch, I will hold on to your fat. Muahaha!" There is a more scientific explanation, but this blog is about keeping things simple.

So what did I do? I simply upped my calories. I know, terrible right? ;) I added 300 more calories. I also switched up my routine. I quit my 90 day program (on like, day 77) and decided to do Insanity - a program that challenged me more than the other program did. And lookey what happened - after 1 day of change, my weight dropped 1 whole kg (that is about 2,2 lbs!).

Breaking your plateaus is all about keeping your body guessing and feeding your body enough so your metabolism will keep going and you will burn fat along with the calories.

Eating right on a tight schedule

I got a question concerning eating healthy when you have a busy life, and I think this is a topic that a lot of people struggle with, because they work full-time, they have other social responsibilities or children to look after.

When I started changing my eating habits, I faced that challenge also: I worked 40 hours a week at my internship, and we would always eat together at lunch. I knew I had to create a plan to keep myself on track. It is really easy for people (at work or school) to influence your eating habits, but if you have a plan, and you try not to listen to what people say, you are very likely to succeed.

My first tip is: keep it simple. I know I've said that you should experiment with your meals, but you can still keep it simple then. My breakfasts are always the same. I have protein shakes every single morning. If I have time in the morning, I will drink it in the morning. If I don't have time, I will take it with me. I am in love with my purple Coffee Bean tumbler!

Since I have 3 meals a day and 2 snacks, depending on how long I will be out, I will take some snacks with me. I find that a granola bar (not too often!), some almonds or peanuts, a hard boiled egg or fruit are easy grab-and-go snacks to carry with you.

If I am away for lunch, I will prepare something, either the night before or the morning of. When I worked at my internship, I loved to whip up a big pot of spinach with sauteed onions and tofu, the night before. Just nuke it for a few minutes the next day and that's it! It doesn't have to take up a lot of extra time, while you are cooking diner, just make extra or have an extra pot on the stove making your lunch.

If I don't feel like cooking something for lunch, or I just want something super simple, I love english muffins. They are amazing! You can do so much with it. Throw on some ketchup, a piece of cheese, 1/2 avocado and cucumber and pack some extra fruit with you to have with it.

Our diners are always extremely simple. After school or work we are not always in the mood to make big diners. We always make sure we have a shit load of turkey and chicken in our freezer, and a lot of different veggies. Frozen veggies are great. Contrary to popular belief, they are just as healthy or even healthier than fresh ones (fresh veggies lose their nutrients during transportation, frozen veggies are frozen when they are at their best, so they still contain all the healthy nutrients!). Plus, they are easier than fresh veggies. You just throw them in a pot and you're done - no cutting, no washing. As for our meat, we spice it however we want and bake it in a pan for a few minutes. Preparing diner never takes up more than 20-25 minutes.

There are also people that like to prepare all their meals on Sundays for the entire week but I haven't gone that far yet, as I have found that food goes bad over time, no matter how well you store or refrigerate it.

Try not to overthink your meals, only if you have time for that and you want to! I try to experiment with my meals on weekends, so during the week I don't have to think about it too much.

Insanity Challenge Week 1

Day 1 - Fit Test

Monday, March 4th 2013. Today is fit test day. The fit test is taken on day 1 of the program and then every 2 weeks to track progress. First there is a warm up to warm up those muscles and get your heart rate up, then a stretch and then you do 8 different moves. For each move you get 1 minute to do as many reps as you can. Overtime you should see an improvement in the reps. I am pretty happy with my results. I dug deep and when I was tired, I kept moving and went back in. I notice that taking breaks will only exhaust you more. Or, shall I say, it gives you time to think about exhaustion ;) My results:

Switch Kicks: 87

Power Jacks: 39

Power Knees: 87

Power Jumps: 20

Globe Jumps: 7

Suicide Jumps: 14

Push-Up Jacks: 15

Low Plank Oblique: 39

I really like how some of the moves LOOK easier than they are and others look harder than they are (to me...). For example, the power jumps, sure they look tough, but easy - but I had such a hard time with them. You basically jump up, pulling your knees in towards your chest. I only got 20 in 1 minute.

Power Jumps

Then there's push-up jacks. Now, I am not great at regular push-ups. I worked my way up from being able to do 0 on my toes, to do like 6 on my toes now. So push-up jacks looked like a humanly impossible move to me. But there I was, doing 15.

Push-Up Jacks

Day 2 - Plyometrics Cardio Circuit

Tuesday, March 5th 2013. While my heart is still working hard, and the sweat is still dripping from my ears and fingertips, I am going to say: wow... It is insane (oh yeah, I will be using this word a lot!) to see what the body is capable of. Today's workout was simply nuts. After the warm-up and stretch you are already dripping in sweat, your heart rate is already through the roof. Then it goes into athletic cardio circuit - lots of jumps and drills. Football training, basketball training, push ups, mountain climbers, it's all in there. I absolutely notice that my body can do more than I think. As soon as I stop to take a break, I notice that my heart rate is HIGH and I tell myself "I am DEAD", but once I get myself together, I tell myself "no, you can do 5 more" or "no, just do 10 more", and I do. Your mind gives up faster than your body does, so you have to push your brain into thinking differently.

During the 30 second breaks I had to check my pulse, because I can't go over 200bpm. My heart rate was between 160 and 180bpm. This is my anaerobic zone, which increases lung capacity and your lactate tolerance (which basically means increasing your endurance). I do think I need a heart rate monitor for these workous, to make it a little easier on myself.

Either way, day 2 was a success :) Now if you'll excuse me, I am going to fuel my body with some fruit and protein.

Day 3 - Cardio Power & Resistance
Wednesday, March 6th 2013. Muscles are shaking, sweating more than I ever have. I felt like I was going to faint, and I had to work hard to get the air out of my lungs, but I got through it, somehow. With a lot of breaks! This was the hardest one so far. I don't know why, but I had to take more breaks than yesterday. Maybe because I worked out a bit too soon after breakfast? Maybe because I didn't have a great night. There is a warm up which is sort of the same as the last 2 days. The circuits only had 4 different moves, which is less than yesterday, but they involve more muscle than cardio compared to the Plyo Cardio Circuit.

Pule was still around 80 - 90% of my max heart rate, which is good.

Day 4 - Cardio Recovery
Thursday, March 7th 2013. Today was a "day off" from the heavy cardio exercises. This workout is a mix between yoga and stretching. I am a person that gets bored of things really fast. I love Insanity because it is high intensity, high tempo. With Cardio Recovery you do a lot of stretches and you hold the stretches for 30 seconds or longer... Honestly, I got really bored. I do have to say, it is great for your muscles and also helps with your balance. I felt it in my thighs and abs. Got a good workout in but I am excited for another high intensity workout!

I actually got my heart rate monitor in the mail and was surprised to see that I still burned 260 calories with this workout!

Day 5 - Pure Cardio
Friday, March 8th 2013. "This shit is bananas, yo!" Is what Shaun T at the end of the this workout and dang he is right! Pure Cardio is well, pure cardio. As every workout, you start with a warmup and a stretch. You then just go into several exercises, 15 I believe, each for 1 minute. Without. Breaks!! Needless to say, I took my breaks. But it is nice to see the people in the video taking breaks and breaking down as well, so you don't feel like such a loser :P This is a really tough workout, but fun because there are so many different exercises! Right now, my whole body is sore, from my feet to my calves, thighs and I even feel my abs - and I haven't done a single crunch this past week!

I loved seeing my heart rate during this workout. I try to stay between 155 and 173 bmp to maintain the anaerobic zone. I burned 410 calories today!


Day 6 - Plyometrics Cardio Circuit

Saturday, March 9th 2013. Last workout of the week, and wow, I am dead!! I loved wearing my heart rate monitor. I burned 488 calories. My heart rate kept climbing really fast, even though I was not even out of breath, so that was not fun, but I tried to go a little past the 90% every time. I now need a big bowl of fruit or something full of protein to wake me up.

Tomorrow is Rest Day - well needed and well deserved, if I may say so. Kilograms lost this week: 1,6. Nice, steady pace. I am very happy with the way I got through week 1 of Insanity! :)

11 Workout Tips

Here's 11 workout tips that will make your workout more effective, easier and more fun. I have gathered these from experience.

1. Find something you love. There is no way you are going to keep it up when you have to constantly push yourself to go to the gym. Actually, I will tell you, I will never set foot in a gym. Ever again. Why? Because it bores me. I don't like people leaving sweat on machines for me to clean. I don't like to be in a room with a lot of people anyways. So why did I even try in the past? I had to make myself get up and go. It simply doesn't work for me. I now do something I love doing, and everytime a workout ends, I can't wait for the next one. That is what is going to keep me going. Don't do anything you don't love doing. You like Zumba? Join a Zumba class or do it at home! You like team sports? Join a basketball or soccer club! You don't like workout DVDs? Don't buy them, get a gym membership! You don't feel comfortable going to the gym? Do it at home! Simple as that.
2. Stop the lame excuses. "I don't have time". No, you don't MAKE time. Big difference. Every day has 24 hours. So what you have a busy schedule? So what you have children? You think everybody that works out sits on their asses the rest of the day? You think nobody that works out every day has children? You just don't want it. Everybody can squeeze in 30 minutes a day, 3 times a week! get up 30 minutes earlier and get your ass moving. Need your 30 minutes of sleep? Stop watching Gossip Girl marathons on Friday evenings with your bucket of B&Js. Another great excuse: "oh, my back hurts." Guess what, your back hurts because you sit on your ass all day. How about some stretching, some moving around, that'll loosen it up ;)
3. Create a schedule and stick to it. Everything becomes 10 times easier when you create a plan for yourself. Don't just get up and ask yourself "alright, what am I going to do today?" This might work for some people, but if you are reading this, chances are, you need some extra motivation. I love workouts programs because they tell you exactly which workouts to do, when. So easy. You can of course also make the schedule yourself. Write it down, type it up, print it out and hang it somewhere in the house (not in your basement).
4. Respect your rest days. As much as you might love working out, your muscles and brain need some rest every now and then. I workout 6 days a week, my rest days currently are Sundays. It gives your muscles some time to recharge and recover. Use your rest days!
5. Create a fun playlist. If you are like me, and get bored of routines, do whatever you can to spice it up a little. I love listening to music. When I do some miles on the stationary bike, I put on some music or I watch a show, whatever I can do to take my mind off of how many more minutes...
6. Mix it up. Again, I am the type of person that gets bored of things fast. I can't do the same routine more than once or twice a week. I need to do different things all the time, try different workouts all the time. This way I keep challenging myself and I don't get bored of what I am doing :)
7. Get someone to join you. Find a friend or relative to join you in your fitness endeavours. If you like working out alone, that is great, but I find that it's extra support knowing that there is someone that you can share experiences with. My boyfriend started the fitness journey with me, we did the same workouts for 2,5 months, but we found that we have different fitness goals so we are doing different things now. But I love being able to talk to him about fitness and health. I also love talking to people who are doing the same workout program as me.
8. Share your fun and progress with the world. A thought that crossed my mind the other day was: why didn't I start this blog earlier? Maybe because I was scared of failure? I love sharing my journey, knowledge and thoughts on fitness and health with everyone that wants to read/hear about it. Share it on social media, on your blog or wherever. I've noticed that people come to me with questions about what I am doing because of my enthusiasm! And that is just amazing to me :)
9. You're done when you're done, not when you're tired. Your body is stronger than you think. Your mind gives up faster than your body. Put a time limit, with every workout you do. Or a rep limit. Whenever I get really tired but I know I have to push, I tell myself "ok 5 more" and I do them. I don't stop before time is over or before I did those reps. Fatigue is not a sign to stop working, it is a sign that it is working!
10. Don't compromise form. Try not to focus on the time or on how many reps, focus on your form. Because 1, time will go by much faster! And 2, 5 reps with good form are more effective than 10 reps with poor form. When I do crunches for example, I can do hundreds, easy. But when I start focusing on my form (and I mean, really thinking about it), all of a sudden, my muscles start aching much sooner into the workout!
11. Check your heart rate. If you want to get great results and increase endurance, you need to find out what your maximum heart rate is and calculate how many bmp it needs to be in order for you to get the best results. If you're between 80% and 90% of your max heart rate, it's perfect. And logically, you never want to go over the 100%.

Carbs, Fats and Proteins, oh my!!

The truth about food, simplified.

Let me say first: I am not a licensed nutrionist or in anyway a professional in this field, but I do know more than the average person about healthy food, so here goes:

Like I have discussed before, it is important that you educate yourself about food. Be honest to yourself and know what you are putting into your body. Else you will never understand your own body and what it does. And this is even more important for people that gain weight easily. I am one of those people, luckily I also lose weight quickly.

I think we all know the basic food groups, right? Forget about those for a second. Because guess what, they will tell you we need to eat from all food groups, they just don't tell you how. Let me show you this one, for example:

Source

Are they flippin serious? So many things wrong with this "eatwell plate." Or shall I just say "obesity plate." Yup, I used to eat like this. This plate tells people that they should consume "food and drinks high in fat and/or sugar". Reading this already gives me diabetes. Then they say "bread, rice potatoes and other starchy foods" are 30%(!!!!!) of your daily intake. I need to take a breath and step away from the computer for a second.

Alright. If this is what you think a healthy diet looks like (and you refuse to see differently), please get off my website. I know we aren't all rocket scientists here, but come on!

Now, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention actually knows what they are talking about, and aren't trying to fatten their people. Their basic food groups consist of: vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy and protein foods. Sounds a lot better. These are all the things you need in your life. These are all whole foods.

The terms carbs, proteins and fats - you should know them. We need them. All foods can be categorized like that. What a lot of people forget, is to subdivide these, and then look at them more closely.

Carbs: foods high in fiber, sugar, grains, starches, etc. Not all of these are good for you. First of all: natural foods are always better than processed foods. Fiber and grains (complex carbs): good. Vegetables, fruits, whole-wheat, whole-grain, brown rice, even brown pasta. These are all great for you as they take longer to process, especially veggies and fruits of course. Sugar and starches (simple carbs): bad! All the obvious things like chocolate, cookies, cake, soda, but also starches like potatoes, white bread, white rice. They are all unhealthy foods. They will cause your blood sugar to spike, and we don't want that, right? Again, this does not mean you should never eat them. If you like them, eat them in moderation. But to get the best possible results, do not eat them on a daily basis.

Fats: foods high in fat, not a shocker. But here, too, you need to subdivide. There's good fats and bad fats. Skip the french fries and fried, breaded chicken, whole-fat milk. Those are your bad fats. So, what are good fats? You might know that fish (oil) is great for you, high in omega-3. Other foods that contain healthy fats are avocado (ohhh yeahhh), nuts (almonds, peanuts, walnuts), olive oil, even peanut butter (when there is not too much added sugar and salt). And here is  my dark secret: dark chocolate is great for you - it doesn't have a lot of fat, but has other ingredients that are good for you. I love this as a snack!

Protein: This is incredibly important, especially when you work out a lot. So which foods contain protein, you ask? Almost all meats, especially fish and poultry. Lean cuts of beef, lamb and pork aren't bad either, just try to avoid the cuts with a lot of fat! Eggs are great (so much you can do with eggs!), nuts and beans and soy products like tofu. I like to use protein powder to get to my 33% a day.

I try to keep an even 33/33/33 with my carbs, proteins and fats, and I always opt for the healthier options, (unless I feel like having a cookie every few weeks, I will have one or two).

Exercise: how to get started

I get a lot of questions from people that want to start working out. Either they haven't worked out in years or they have never worked out in their lives. They ask me, how I got started or what is the best way to jump back in there?

I have danced for 18 years of my life. I started when I was about 5, doing ballet. I progressed to all different styles, jazz, street, hiphop, ballroom, krumping, dancehall... But at one point I quit (not going to go into this too much). I focused on other things and not caring too much about what I felt like. I tried going to the gym a few times. Didn't work, I got so bored.

Last year, I tried working out at home. I really enjoyed it, but I couldn't stick to it because I had no routine, no schedule. I tried it again, I told my boyfriend that we'd work out x many times a week. Didn't work, we had a bag full of excuses.

So what has changed?

Source

I knew I needed to start working out, I knew I wanted to, but I had no idea how. I watched a lot (a lot!!!) of videos on YouTube of people that have reached their weight loss and fitness goals and I listened carefully to how they did it. A big part of them did it with fitness programs, and a part of them did it at home. Nice!

I had a 90 day fitness program laying around the house so why not commit to it 100%? I read up on it, watched the videos, watched people that have had success with it and I decided to just do it. I printed out the schedule and stuck it to the whiteboard in our hallway, so I would be reminded of my goals every time I passed it. I think that is a great way to start out: watch the videos, see if it is something for you. If you can't see yourself doing it, don't do it. If you can, commit. Make a hardcopy of a schedule so you can cross off the days.

Also really important for me was tracking my progress. I weighed myself (too often!), took pictures and seeing the progress on the scale and on the pictures made me more committed. I also loved the feeling of crossing off days on the workout calendar every day.

Don't set goals too high. Start easy. Even if you have experience with working out or sports. If you took a break that lasted a year or longer, you're a beginner, and you better accept that. If you are going to start with a program that is too hard, you will most likely quit before you even get through the first week.

Do something you love doing. Don't sign up at a gym if you don't like going to the gym. Find something else to do. Don't started doing Zumba just because your friend and her mother are doing it. Do it because you like it and want to do it. Even though I used to be a dancer, you will not ever see me doing Zumba or any type of dancy workout programs. I love the hardcore, hard-to-breathe, lay-on-the-floor-in-a-puddle-of-sweat, military bootcamp type stuff. I can totally imagine that that is not for you. And that is fine, try a few things and see what will work for you in the long run.

How to lose weight, the healthy way.

"But, aren't you on a diet?"

A sentence that I hate hearing. "How is your diet going?" "Oh does your diet allow you to eat that?" Here's the thing: the word "diet" has been accepted by society as something people do to lose weight. When they are at their goal weight, they stop their "diet". And you know what happens 80% of the time? They gain the weight right back.

Guess what, let's recondition your brains a little here: a diet does not mean eating less, restriction. Diet: the sum of food consumer by an organism or group. Every single person on this planet has a diet, because every single person on this earth consumes food. They are not "on a diet", but neither are people that are trying to losing weight. I think the verb "dieting" is the most retarded verb in the English language.

I am not on a diet, I eat healthy. Big difference there. Being on a diet, referring to it as a diet and thinking of it as a diet (which is temporary), will lead to gaining the weight back. So how do you approach it?

First step: educate yourself. This is something everyone that wants to be healthy and/or lose weight should do. You can't lose weight, maintain it AND be healthy if you aren't telling yourself the truth.You need to know what is truly good for you and what is not. Which foods do you need on a daily basis? What are proteins, carbs and fats? What should I add to my diet when I work out? These were all things I read up on. A lot. For example, I knew I had to up my protein, so I got protein powder. I learned about complex and refined carbs. I now know that complex carbs are good and simple carbs are bad (blog coming soon!).

Source

Second step: do not restrict. So, you are a human being and you most likely love eating cake, cookies, pizza, rice, potatoes, spaghetti. Are these good for you? Hell no. Should you never eat them again? Hell no! Confusing, huh? I believe that moderation is key. I believe that 1 or 2 cookies a week isn't going to make you fat. 1 pizza a month is not going to live on your hips. There are 21 meals in a week. If only one of those is a cheat meal (pasta, potatoes, rice, PIZZA), that is 5% of your meals. Nothing, right? It is not going to make you fat. As long as your brain is strong and is able to tell you: get back to eating healthy. You can enjoy anything you want. In moderation.

Third step: experiment. "Oh no, lettuce, not again!" Sure, you can mix a bowl of lettuce with tomatoes, carrots, sprinkle some low-fat dressing on there and have that as your diner... The thought of it makes me want to die. I will never, ever, eat like that. And you don't have to. Experiment with your food! Don't be afraid of olive oil, garlic powder, salt & pepper, throw in some lean beef, chicken, pine seeds and for the heck of it, why don't you take a table spoon of honey and mix it in? Already sounds better, huh? Just like the protein shakes that I have for breakfast every single morning. How many times have I not heard people say, protein powder is nasty. Yes, I have tried the powder with some milk - not good. So, here is a tip that will make you go whaaatt? (or maybe not) Throw in a banana (whaaatt?), some frozen berries (whaaatt?) and a tablespoon of (preferably natural) peanut butter (omg, for real, Noelle?). I will bet you a thousand bucks you won't mind drinking THAT shake for breakfast every day.

Fourth step: create a routine. Your body works best on a routine, and you will be more likely to stick to a pattern if you make it a routine. I, for example, eat 5-6 times a day - 3 meals (breakfast, lunch and diner) and 2-3 snacks. I try to eat at set times, even though that doesn't always work because of classes or whatever. I try to keep 2-3 hours between every meal/snack. You have to keep your metabolism up and running in order to burn fat, so you better not starve yourself. Never, ever skip a meal!! And also, try to never skip your snacks, again your body needs food in order for you to lose weight. As weird as it sounds, isn't that good news, though? ;)

Insanity Challenge Start

I must be crazy... But isn't that why they call it "Insanity"?

After completing almost 30 days of BeachBody's P90 and Les Mills Combat hybrid, I decided to step it up. I had hit a plateau. I lost about 12kg/27lbs and hadn't been losing for 2 weeks straight. I was still eating the same, working out every single day but it wasn't doing a lot for my weight. Even if I did take pictures before and after those 2 weeks and saw that my body changed, I - a slave to the scale - wanted to get that scale moving, and read up on things (as I always do before I change my habits).

I found out that a plateau is mainly caused by routine and too few calories. You have to "shock" your body in order for it to start changing again. I knew I had to switch things up. I decided to get Insanity... You know, the workout that everybody is afraid of?

Yeah. I thought I was ready for it, even though I knew it was going to kill me, it looked like something for me - it is a very (very!) tough workout that focuses on plyometrics and athletics. It is not recommended for beginners, and even though I still consider myself a beginner, I knew I was stronger and fitter than I'd give myself credit for. After all, I love pushing myself beyond me limits.

I started Insanity on Thursday. It starts off with a fit test, you have a warm up, stretch and then 8 different moves and a minute for every move. You basically count how many reps you can do within that one minute, and as time goes on, you repeat the fit test every 2 weeks or so to see how you are progressing.

The next day I had dropped 1kg/2lbs overnight, just because I switched up my workout routine and upped my calories (I will blog about this later).

Friday was day 2 and it went well, even though I had to take a lot of breaks, I was happy that I got through it.

Then, Friday night, I was doing some ankle stretches and I overstretched. Yes, as stupid as that sounds... I had to give my ankle some rest.

On Saturday I found out that Shaun T, the creator of Insanity was going to start the program on Monday (which is yesterday). He had never done the program before (60 days straight) but he wanted to, and so he jumped in and asked people to join him.

I decided to join in, because I had lost 2 days of the program already and being the perfectionist that I am, would want to start over anyways. Also, I loved the idea of doing it at the same time as Shaun T, his team and thousands of Insaniacs all over the world.

So, yesterday I started over. 60 days of Insanity. 60 days of clean eating. 60 days to push myself. 60 days to dig deeper :) I am excited. Today is day 2. I will blog about my progress and my week on Saturdays or Sundays, so stay tuned :)

Welcome to my health and fitness blog

On December 14th 2012 I decided to live the rest of my life differently...

I woke up and decided I need to start working out and eating healthy. I was overweight and out of shape. And even though according to doctors I was considered "healthy", truth of the matter was, I wasn't feeling good and I knew only one thing would fix that: getting off my ass and working hard. So I did. I picked up some workout programs from BeachBody and committed to stick to it for 90 days. And I did. I also started eating healthy. This didn't mean eating lettuce and carrots all day, this meant making healthier choices. First of all: educate myself on what is truly healthy and what isn't and from there on out, make better choices. I created a structure that meant: 3 meals a day and 2 snacks (this has shifted throughout the past months). Over the past month or so I have gotten over 20 people that want to get healthier and moving, asking me questions about what I do, how I do it and if I have some advice for them. This absolutely flatters the shit out of me. People have been calling me inspiring (what?) and this makes me blush, because when I started, I could have never dreamed that I would come this far.

3 months in and I am more motivated than ever. I decided to blog about it, for myself, and for the people that want to know what I do, what keeps me motivated, what I eat, how I do it. I will blog about my goals, my progress, healthy meals and recipes (healthy eating can be oh-so good!), what my exercise routine looks like, etc.

I would love you if you guys would leave me feedback, questions and suggestions as to what to blog about :)