Day 28. The plan for 2012

Day 28 photo

It just occurred to me that I never posted my week 3 stats. That has now been fixed in the appropriate post. Here are my week 4 stats:

Week 4 stats (in bold):
Stomach: 32.0 in -> 32.75
Chest: 31.5 in -> 31.5
Biceps: 10.25 in -> 10.0
Hip: 36.75 in -> 37.0
Thigh: 18.75 in -> 19.0
Calf: 13.25 in -> 13.25
Waist: 28.5 in -> 27.75
Neck: 12.5 in -> 12.5
Weight: 130 lbs -> 130
BF%: 26.0 -> 25.4


My measurements are not changing much. My weight, which I expect to be decreasing, is not changing at all. It's very stable at 130 lbs despite my exercise and diet. My stomach fat does not seem to be decreasing either. On the other hand, my cardiovascular strength is much increased. Three weeks ago my resting heart rate was at 60 bpm. Today it is at 53 bpm. It is clear that my body is now much healthier and stronger than it was before. So even though I may not see a real difference in my physique just yet, I'm sure if I fight through I will see changes eventually.


In my last post, I said that 2011 wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be. To ensure that 2012 will be better, I've made a checklist of things to accomplish this year. Here it is:


-get my MSc
-become proficient at pole dancing
-become conversationally fluent in Italian
-lose my excess fat
-make new friends

Day 27. 2011 in review

Day 27 photo

Consumed 1800 calories. Did the "plyometrics" workout.

Obligatory end of the year statement: 2011 in review. It was a good year, but not my best. I'd been hoping that each new year would be better than the last, but not so this year. The beginning was interesting though sad, fraught with goodbyes and tears as I left my friends and family in the US for graduate school in NZ. The middle was uneventful as I went through classes. The end was not so bad, I got to do some traveling around NZ and Aus with my family. I haven't got any regrets about missed opportunities. In fact, the thing about this year that made it stand out was all the initiatives I took to do new things. There were very few opportunities missed if any so I really can't complain. All in all, 2011 was pretty good.

Day 26.

Day 26 photo

Consumed 2000 calories. Did the "pure cardio" and "cardio abs" workouts.

Day 25.

Day 25 photo

Consumed 1850 calories. Did the "cardio recovery" workout.

Day 24. 2000 calories

Day 24 photo

Consumed 2000 calories! OMG! Did the "plyometrics" workout today.

I'm actually eating normal amounts. What craziness is this? I love how exercising increases my metabolism and appetite.

Aaaaand my watch now slips freely on my wrist! This is solid proof that I am losing fat.

Day 23.

Day 23 photo

Consumed 1900 calories. Did the "power and resistance" workout.

Day 22.

Day 22 photo

Consumed 1600 calories. I have taken yesterday's rest day today instead.

Today was well spent- watched TV, ate, slept.

Day 21. Christmas hike

Day 21 photo

Consumed 1850 calories. Hiked for about 5 hours.

Today was supposed to be my rest day, but instead I decided to go for a hike because I haven't been hiking in ages. It was an excellent choice. While other people spent their day celebrating Christmas with friends and family, I immersed myself in the forest and all its vibrancy.

On a side note, when comparing my photo from today and yesterday, it seems that in yesterday's photo I look slimmer than I do in today's photo. Is that possible or do my eyes deceive me?

Edit: I just realized that I never posted my week 3 stats! Oops. Here they are:

Week 3 stats (in bold):
Stomach: 32.5 in -> 32.0
Chest: 31.25 in -> 31.5
Biceps: 10.5 in -> 10.25
Hip: 37.0 in -> 36.75
Thigh: 19.25 in -> 18.75
Calf: 13.25 in -> 13.25
Waist: 28.0 in -> 28.5
Neck: 12.5 in -> 12.5
Weight: 129 lbs -> 130
BF%: 25.7 -> 26.0

Day 20. 3 weeks done

Day 20 photo

Consumed 1950 calories. Did the "plyometrics" workout.

Wow! This was the most I've eaten in a single day in the last 3 weeks since I started counting calories! It's good to be eating more because my body was definitely in starvation mode before when I was eating <1000 calories a day. Now I just have to keep up this kind of eating. Oh boy... easier said than done.

Day 19. No energy

Day 19 photo

Consumed 1750 calories. Did the "power and resistance" workout.

The last two days have been very strange: I've had no energy for my workouts! I am eating, but it seems like I get tired so easily during the workouts even though I haven't really done much. My heart rate isn't getting as high as it used it since it seems I'm unable to push as hard as before. Why is this? I hope tomorrow will be better...

Day 18.

Day 18 photo

Consumed 1400 calories. Did the "cardio recovery" workout.

Day 17. Tired out

Day 17 photo

Consumed 1550 calories. Did the "pure cardio" and "cardio abs" workouts today. I very much dislike this combination of workouts because by the time I finish the pure cardio I have no energy left to do the next one. Today was even worse because I had done some pole dancing beforehand which left my arms drained of strength. I could barely do any pushups! On the bright side, I discovered today that I could do several pole dance moves that I could not before as a result of my increased strength from doing the Insanity workouts. Nice!

Day 16. Food coma

Day 16 photo

Consumed 1550 calories. Did the plyometrics workout today.

My first full day on break and guess what I did. Slept in until noon, ordered pad thai, ate way too much all at once, and fell into a 4-hour food coma. Then I did my workout, hung out with a friend, and here we are. I have a feeling the rest of my break is going to be similar...

Day 15. Yay holidays

Day 15 photo

Consumed 1850 calories. Did the "fit test." My results overall improved greatly from my first fit test two weeks ago. I'm not sure what happened with the first exercise (switch kicks) though... I think I just wasn't trying very hard. Here are my results:

Switch kicks: 90 -> 80
Power jacks: 48 -> 59
Power knee: 81 -> 103
Power jumps: 20 -> 25
Globe jumps: 6 -> 8
Suicide jumps: 9 -> 13
Pushup jacks: 14 -> 22
Low plank obliques: 43 -> 49

So I finished my report on my year's research progress today, and then I discovered happily that I had no more things to do for the rest of this year! Woo hoo! Let the holidays begin!

Day 14. Week 2 stats

Day 14 photo

Consumed 1700 calories today. No workout since it's my rest day. It's been a good week.

Week 2 stats (in bold):
Stomach: 32.5 in -> 32.5
Chest: 31.25 in -> 31.25
Biceps: 10.5 in -> 10.5
Hip: 37.0 in -> 37.0
Thigh: 18.5 in -> 19.25
Calf: 13.5 in -> 13.25
Waist: 28.75 in -> 28.0
Neck: 12.5 in -> 12.5
Weight: 130 lbs -> 129
BF%: 26.7 -> 25.7


Above you'll see my week 1 stats followed by my week 2 stats in bold. Most of the measurements stayed the same, while some changed. My thighs increased, my calves decreased, my waist decreased, and my weight decreased. Most notably, my body fat percentage decreased by a full percent. I still cannot see a difference in my body between today's picture and Day 1's picture, but let me tell you I feel a lot better. And the fact that my body fat decreased is reward enough in and of itself. Here's to another good week!

Day 13. Potluck party!

Day 13 photo

Consumed 1850 calories. Did the "pure cardio" and "cardio abs" workouts.

So there was a potluck party today. Furthermore, at this party I and many others ate a lot of food. And how! I did, however, make a heroic effort to eat only small portions of the many delicious desserts that had been brought. I have no idea how many calories I actually ingested, but I think 1000 is a good estimate. Good thing I had two workouts planned for today so I could burn off most of it. There is something to be said for eating a lot though- when I did my workouts I discovered I could do more without tiring as fast as before. The extra calories obviously gave me extra stamina and energy. It may be prudent to increase my daily caloric intake to about 1700 rather than the 1400 I'd been aiming for the last few days. We'll reassess tomorrow when I check all my measurements.

Day 12. Psychological transformation

Day 12 photo

Consumed 1450 calories. Did the "cardio power and resistance" workout.

I had an interesting moment today. After my workout I went to the bathroom for a shower. As I was turning on the water in the shower I caught a glimpse of my face in the mirror and thought "Wow, she's beautiful!" And then I was shocked because I had thought that about myself. What an interesting psychological transformation occurs when we exercise and eat properly. Though my body has not changed so dramatically that I can see a difference when I look in the mirror, my outlook and self esteem have obviously changed enough that I barely recognized myself. Certainly beauty must come from within. Day by day as I progress I am becoming more beautiful.

Day 11. Supplements

Day 11 photo

Consumed 1450 calories. Did the "cardio recovery" workout.

I am somewhat opposed to supplements as I believe that we should get all our nutrients from whole foods rather than pills or powders, but I finally gave in and bought some protein powder today. It's rather difficult to get enough protein from my diet as a vegetarian- enough protein for someone trying to build muscle, that is. Yeah, there are beans and nuts, but they contain mostly carbohydrates and fat, respectively. And so I turn to supplements.

Day 10. Force feed time?

Day 10 photo

Consumed 1100 calories today. I really ought to be eating at least 400 more, but ugh, I feel like I'm stuffing myself as it is. But I must.

Did the plyometrics workout today. I got a heart rate monitor to check how many calories I was burning during each workout. To date I've been just estimating about 500 calories, but I used the pulse monitor while exercising today and when I finished it said that I had burned 680 calories. The reviews for Insanity have said that it's possible to burn up to 1000 calories in one workout session. I didn't quite believe that claim, but I'm starting to believe it. For a person of my fitness level (pretty low) to be able to burn almost 700 calories, it must be well within the realms of possibility that a person with a high fitness level can burn 1000. So it is for this reason that I must eat more (so I don't collapse from lack of energy)!

Day 9. Slept in

Day 9 photo

Oh god. So I slept in until noon today. Sleep is so goooood! But not for my diet. As a consequence of having slept in so late, I wasn't able to eat nearly as much as I wanted to today- only consumed 700 calories. Grr! I'll get it eventually, even if I have to force feed myself (hopefully it doesn't come to that).

Did the "pure cardio" workout today. Killer as always. I wouldn't have it any other way!

Day 8.

Day 8 photo

Alright, I'm in a bit of a rush, so I'm just posting the photo for now. I'll come back and edit this post later to include all the other details!

Edit: Consumed 1000 calories and did the "cardio power and resistance" workout.

Day 7. Week 1 stats

Day 7 photo

This week's stats are in bold:
Stomach: 33.0 -> 32.5
Chest: 31.5 -> 31.25
Biceps: 10.25 -> 10.5
Hip: 37.0 -> 37.0
Thigh: 19.25 -> 18.5
Calf: 13.5 -> 13.5
Weight: 129 lbs -> 130


I weigh a pound more than when I started a week ago, which comes as a huge surprise to me given my dieting and exercising. It's not likely to be an increase in fat since you can see that many of my stats decreased while others remained the same. My thighs especially seem to have gotten considerably smaller. Perhaps I've gained muscle faster than I've lost fat. I'm not sure though. So I'll be tracking my body fat % (BF%) from now on as well. I really should have done this from the start, but it had slipped my mind. I'll be using the online calculator from this website: http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/diet.html. I realize that online calculators often use different formulas and most are not accurate, but I think if I always use the same one it will provide a good way of tracking my BF% regardless of the actual number. That having been said, when I put my measurements into this calculator, I got a BF% of 26.7, which is close to what I was expecting so I think it's not too far off. Some measurements were required that I didn't make when I first started, so here is a list of my stats including these new numbers:


Week 1 stats:
Stomach: 32.5 in
Chest: 31.25 in
Biceps: 10.5 in
Hip: 37.0 in
Thigh: 18.5 in
Calf: 13.5 in
Waist: 28.75 in
Neck: 12.5 in
Weight: 130 lbs
BF%: 26.7


Today was my rest day, so no exercise. Consumed 1150 calories. I need to eat more. I've been saying that all week...

Day 6. 1 week down!

Day 6 photo

Consumed 1050 calories. Oh food... why does it take so much time to cook you?

Did the plyometrics workout today. I think I did better today than the first time I did this workout. In any case, I felt better about it!

Ah, the first week is done. Tomorrow I will check my stats. Very excite!

Day 5. Eating worse

Day 5 photo

Consumed 800 calories today. I really ought to have a better system for my eating so that I'd actually eat! Not waking up until 11am probably didn't help...

Did the "pure cardio" workout today. This one was just as difficult, if not more so, than the plyometrics. There are pretty much no breaks throughout the whole thing. I have to say though, I do enjoy the pain.

Day 4.

Day 4 photo

Consumed 1150 calories today. Why does eating have to be so difficult? I'm not saying that I'm anorexic, only that it takes time and effort to eat. I'm eating 5 meals a day, so timing is important. You'd never know from these posts of mine that I loved food... I think part of the problem is that I actually have to think about when and what to eat as opposed to what I was doing before, which was just eat whatever I had cooked when I got hungry. Ah, but no one ever said this would be easy, right?

Did the "cardio recovery" workout today. Shaun T says that this is a recovery workout, but it's every bit as difficult as the other proper workouts! My quads... my poor quads...

Day 3. Eating better

Day 3 photo

Today I ate 1450 calories! I'm so happy that I am feeling hungry enough that I can eat more. Yay exercise! Speaking of which, I thought I was in pain yesterday, but it was nothing compared to today. My god, every single movement hurts. Oh, but it's a good pain.

I did the "cardio power and resistance" workout today. I'm not sure why but for some reason I really enjoy the "V-pushups." My shoulders scream during them, but I like the feeling. Weird.

Day 2. The pain

Day 2 photo





















Oh muscle soreness, how I hate yet love thee. I like that I have physical evidence of having exercised, but I don't like that it's in the form of pain. Today I did the "plyometric cardio circuit," which was killer! I had to take several breaks because my heart rate was way too high and I was laboring for breath. My legs felt like lead halfway through. Hah, isn't it interesting how most of us take walking for granted?

I consumed 950 calories today. A slight improvement over yesterday's numbers, but still not enough. I need to eat more, much more.

Day 1. It begins

So let us begin. Here are my day 1 photos:

As you can see, I have quite some fat to lose!

Today I ate only 700 calories. It's not enough, but my stomach can't seem to take more. I get full after eating just a little bit :( I'm sure this problem will be fixed as my workouts continue.

Speaking of workouts, today I started the 60-day Insanity workout program. It begins with a "fit test." Here are my results:

Switch kicks: 90
Power jacks: 48
Power knee: 81
Power jumps: 20
Globe jumps: 6
Suicide jumps: 9
Pushup jacks: 14
Low plank obliques: 43

In two weeks I'll be taking the fit test again. I expect to see increases!

Day 0. Prepping

So I've had this annoying bit of fat on my abdomen for the longest time. I think it's time it went away. Public accountability has helped many people achieve various goals, and I'm hoping it can help me achieve mine. I'll be posting a picture of myself daily along with various other things such as calories consumed and exercises done. In terms of exercise, I will be using Shaun T's Insanity program. Tomorrow I begin. Follow me on my journey!

Starting stats (in inches):
Stomach: 33.0
Chest: 31.5
Biceps: 10.25
Hip: 37.0
Thigh: 19.25
Calf: 13.5

Weight: 129 lbs
Height: 5' 4"