Thursday, April 7, 2011

Diet Tips? Myths? Can I get a hells yeah?

So, I'm feeling pretty awesome today.

We borrowed the Insanity workout series from a friend. I told you that I did my first Insanity workout on Tuesday, right? Totally kicked my ass. The program says you're supposed to do it 6 days a week for 60 days. Well, I'm going to be honest with myself and aim for 3-4 times a week. And yeah, I'm a stay at home mom, and I could I'm sure find time to do it 6 days a week. But there's no sense in lying to myself and setting myself up for failure. 

So I woke up at 6am for some reason today. And rather than lay in bed until my alarm went off at 6:40, I decided to get up and do a work out. I chose to do the Cardio Abs disc. I mean, it's 16 minutes long. 16 minutes. I have 16 minutes. So I did it, and I was pretty damn proud of myself. 

Can I get a hells yeah? 

I also have P90X, but I much prefer Insanity. Sorry, Tony Horton fans, but I don't care for him. Don't know why, I just don't. 

So I got to thinking about all the random diet/exercise tips I've heard about. I read in one magazine that some celebrity eats a portion of her meal at the restaurant, and then covers the leftovers in salt so she won't eat the rest. Sounds like a waste of money to me, but hey, I'm not a celebrity. 

Another one I read said that before her food is brought out to her, she asks that half of it be placed in a to go box (since most restaurant portions are over double what you should be eating). That one makes sense to me. I dig that one. 

And I've heard of other techniques to help lose weight. Pictures of skinny ladies on the fridge. Pictures of not so skinny ladies on the fridge. Doing push ups and crunches during commercial breaks. 

I bought a pedometer for $20 off of Amazon. I've been watching "Too Fat for 15", and one of the things they try and instill in their students is a goal of 10,000 steps a day. Right now, it's almost noon and I'm at 2354 steps. And that's with just walking around, doing chores and stuff. But I do find myself walking around in circles, just so I can get my step count up. 

And I'll admit, my downfall. I'm hopelessly addicted to Coke. I tried to limit it to one can a day, but if it's in the house, at the end of the day, I'll have 3 or 4 empty cans on the end table next to the couch. So rather than say "No Soda Ever", I'm not buying it for the house, and I'm limiting myself to only having it when we go out to eat (which is 2-3 times a week). Figure it's better than what I was doing, and again, I don't want to set myself up for failure. 

For those who have seen the shirtless pics of hubby in random posts, you'll know what I'm talking about when I say there's no way I can ever keep up with his "5 workouts/2 mma classes a week" schedule. But I gotta start somewhere. 

We tend to eat pretty healthy, most nights. I've found that I can't go food shopping when I'm hungry, or I end up with bags of powdered donuts and sea salt and vinegar Lays in the cart. And I'll admit, there has been times when I'll open the bag of chips, and after a while, I'll reach my hand in the bag, and it's empty. EMPTY. In ONE sitting. Geez, I'm sure I would need higher math skills to figure out the calories in an entire bag.

I tend to get really bored with working out. So I'm really hoping I stick with Insanity. 

So, do you have any diet tips that have worked? Any crazy diet myths/fads/habits that you've heard of? Exercises you love? Hate? Or just want to give me a hells yeah for motivation?


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Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

I've been doing Insanity for almost a year now....still love it! I stuck with the initial 60 day thing and then when that was over I just randomly pick a workout to do. I do it between 3-4times a week and then run 5 miles 1day a week, but not every week. I get really bored with exercise too, but I've been able to stick with the Insanity thing. Good luck and keep it up!

Athena said... [Reply to comment]

I get REALLY bored with workouts too. I always feel so weird when I go to the gym and I stay on a machine for 20 minutes and then move to another, in that hour 1 person has been on the eliptical the entire time. My biggest motivation has been my ipod and nike, they took the pedometer routine to the next step and when I charge my ipod it syncs to nike plus and then it moves my progress around cities that I have chosen, it has been a blast and really motivated me to walk the extra steps so that I can finish a city in a certain amount of time. Also, being a facebook junky it sinks my steps to facebook and I always feel a little more accountable because I am sharing it with others. Wow! Ridiculously long comment.

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

what is it about the spring that get's everyone into the diet/exercise kick... i wrote a post about losing weight the other day and i really want to try the insanity workout but i'm broker than broke so i'm doing the tony horton 10 minutes a day... yeah i find him beyond annoying but it's better than sitting on my ass doing nothing... i also do just dance 2 on wii... proud mary will make you sweat... good luck!!!

Life, Crafts and Whatever said... [Reply to comment]

@Miss C

Well, with warmer weather comes less layers, less clothes, etc. I mean, in the winter, it's easy to curl up on the couch and be lazy.

I really want to get a wii, but I get bored with stuff so easily. So I'd hate to spend a couple of bills on something that will just sit and collect dust.

Lesley said... [Reply to comment]

The only tip I know works is to work out in the morning. Knowing that I burned all those calories makes me less likely to eat poorly later on in the day.
Way to to girl ( I type as I eat my nachos by the poolside )!

jandjhome said... [Reply to comment]

Good for you. I started a Bootcamp class 2 weeks ago and mh whole body hurts. Good luck!

Janice said... [Reply to comment]

And can I just say that warmer weather makes the odd middle of pregnancy even more awkward. Now it just looks like I've been hiding 10 extra pounds all winter under baggy clothes instead of being pregnant. There's something to be said for the huge you-can't-miss-the-fact-that-I'm-pregnant third trimester belly. Oh, and pregnancy makes me even more lazy than normal. I'll chat with you about workouts next year.

Jodi said... [Reply to comment]

I think it's great that you are doing it; I just think about it! :)

I have heard of boxing half of your supper and only eating half.

I am addicted to Pepsi, but this week my hunny has challenged me to drink diet, I thought I was going to die, but I did it; today is day 7. I don't like it but I had to win the challenge!!!
take care....jodi

Rachel Parker said... [Reply to comment]

I read a bunch of articles recently about creating new habits, and most of them say the same thing: do not miss a day for the 30 days. Apparently, it takes about 3 weeks to make a habit stick, and most of the time we have the problem of skipping days by talking ourselves out of doing something. This makes it harder to stick to a habit. I'm not saying do Insanity everyday, but something active that you would count as "exercise!"

grown up rachel

Angie said... [Reply to comment]

Here's what I do, I tell myself if I don't feel like working out, I only have to do 5 minutes. Works every time.... no matter how crappy I feel, I end up doing a full workout and I always feel better afterwards (like I know I will!). There's only been one time that I stopped after 5 minutes, and hey, that was better than nothing that day!

Angie said... [Reply to comment]

Oh yeah, and a hellz yeah to ya :)

Silver Daisies said... [Reply to comment]

I'm the same way, get bored so quickly. Especially with working out. My parents bought the wii a few years ago and got bored of it after a week so I inherited it. I force myself to do yoga on it at least once a week. I also have about 15 other pilates/cardio/yoga dvds and I try to choose one at random at least one other day a week. Some weeks I'll do something active every day, then I tend to skip some weeks because I'm lazy. I'd love to try insanity, but I'm not sure its worth the money since I'll get bored of it quickly. I'm interested in seeing how you progress though! Maybe it will inspire me! Goodluck!

Tiffany said... [Reply to comment]

Hellz Yeah to you Jennifer!
I get bored so easily with working out, and I hate any type of exercise that actually seems like exercise, lunges squats sit ups etc.. I don't mind doing that stuff as long as it's not all "okay now we do 10 lunges, switch legs, do 10 lunges" exercising, you know? I guess it's just a mental thing for me. If I'm getting the workout but it doesn't feel like I'm exercising, I like it.

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