Day 87. 2 hours of meal planning

Day 87 photo

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

I was going to do a lot of cooking today, but then I looked at the nutritional breakdown of what I was going to make and noticed there would have been waaay too many carbs and not enough fat. So then I spent 2 hours trying to figure out a good meal plan. Usually it takes me about 15 min to do this, but for some reason today things just weren't working out. Eventually I came up with something, though I'm not ecstatic about it, and I certainly didn't do all the cooking I needed to do. Tomorrow will be the day of cooking that today was supposed to be.

Day 86.

Day 86 photo

Consumed 2000 calories. Did the "plyometric cardio circuit" workout and some pole dancing.

Day 85. Loving my body

Day 85 photo

Consumed 1750 calories. Did the "fit test" workout and some pole dancing.

Fit test results (last fit test -> today):

Switch kicks: 129 -> 135
Power jacks: 67 -> 68
Power knee: 122 -> 110
Power jumps: 48 -> 50
Globe jumps: 11 -> 11
Suicide jumps: N/A -> 19
Pushup jacks: N/A -> 31
Low plank obliques: 80 -> 85

About the power knees, I kept losing coordination between my leg and arms and that distracted me enough to make my speed slower. Oh well.

I was brushing my teeth and happened to glance at my arms in the mirror through sleepy eyes this morning. At first I thought that my still half-closed eyes were deceiving me, but upon closer inspection I discovered that the shadows I was seeing on my arms was the sunlight playing over the muscles that are now closer to the surface. My fat loss has gotten to the point where I am starting to see muscle definition on my arms and legs, and for the first time in my life I am loving my body.

Day 84. Week 12 stats

Day 84 photo

Consumed 1800 calories. Rest day.

Week 12 stats (in bold):

Stomach: 31.0 in -> 30.0

Chest: 31.0 in -> 30.5

Biceps: 10.0 in -> 9.75

Hip: 36.0 in -> 35.5

Thigh: 18.75 in -> 18.25

Calf: 13.25 in -> 13.25

Waist: 27.5 in -> 27.0

Weight: 126.4 lbs -> 124.8

Wow, this week was crazy in terms of losses! I lost 3.25 inches and 1.6 lbs. Even though I've been eating chocolate and muffins all week, I still saw these results I think because I fit the calories from the sweets into my macro ratio and kept to my daily limit of 1750 calories. I've also been drinking one cup of green tea everyday, not sure if this is boosting my metabolism or not, but it definitely doesn't hurt. I'm sure come my next skinfold caliper test this Friday I'll see a drop in my body fat percentage.

Day 83. Erotica expo

Day 83 photo

Consumed 1900 calories. Did a lot of cleaning, unpacking, pole dancing, and about to go out to the clubs for some more dancing! No Insanity today though :(

So there was an erotica expo today. I was all excited about it, but I was sorely disappointed when I arrived. The whole expo fit into one room the size of a lecture hall seating 400-500 people. That's not too bad, but it was just filled with toy vendors. There weren't any cool exhibitions or demonstrations, except one that lasted all of 10 minutes- some guy was being mummified to a wooden pole and then had various degrading names written on his face. Sadly, he was shortly unwrapped and the writings removed. There was only one stage, but it pretty much had a constant flow of shows, which was nice. The shows were entertaining, but very vanilla. Everything was just so vanilla. I was hoping for some intense BDSM displays, but nothing of the sort happened. Oh well.

Day 82. I can see a difference!

Day 82 photo

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

For the first time, I can look in the mirror and see a difference in my body, and I like it! My love handles have significantly diminished and I can see an hourglass shape developing. Am I happy? You bet! :D

Day 81. The unpacking continues

Day 81 photo

Consumed 1800 calories. Did the "cardio recovery" workout. I hate the packing and unpacking part of moving. I don't have much stuff but I can't bring myself to unpack it all at once.

Day 80.

Day 80 photo

Consumed 1800 calories. Did the "plyometric cardio circuit" workout.

Almost finished moving everything over to my new flat. One more trip left, I think.

Day 79. New flat!

Day 79 photo

Consumed 1850 calories. Moved furniture from old flat to new flat. And there's still more to move tomorrow...

Day 78. Progress, it's good

Day 78 photo

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

My wrist is feeling so much better than it was last week! It's still not at 100% yet though, so I still can't do planks properly. Probably in one more week my wrist will be able to handle physical stress again.

Today I discovered another vein on my arm starting to stand out. Also, look at my shoulders! They're becoming quite prominent. Progress, it's good.

Day 77. Week 11 stats

Day 77 photo

Consumed 1800 calories. Rest day.


Week 11 stats (in bold):

Stomach: 30.5 in -> 31.0

Chest: 31.0 in -> 31.0

Biceps: 10.0 in -> 10.0

Hip: 36.0 in -> 36.0

Thigh: 18.75 in -> 18.75

Calf: 13.25 in -> 13.25

Waist: 27.75 in -> 27.5

Weight: 126.2 lbs -> 126.4

Results of trial #3- 1750 cal/day on most days, 2150 cal every third day (Tuesday and Friday) at 40-30-30:

gained 0.2 lbs and 0.5 inches on my stomach. Not gonna lie, this third trial was not conducted very well. I wasn't able to do as much exercise as I have been previously due to the weather and a wrist injury, and on Tuesday my diet consisted of chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. I don't particularly feel like redoing this trial properly though.

Of the three trials, trial #1 (1750 cal/day at 40-30-30) gave the best results. I'll be sticking with that until I have to change again.

Day 76.

Day 76 photo

Consumed 1750 calories. Did the "plyometric cardio circuit" workout.

Day 75. Cycle win

Day 75 photo

Consumed 2150 calories. Did the "pure cardio" workout. Commuted to work by cycling.

Did the refeed day properly today with a good diet. It's been raining all week so I didn't get to bike to work as much as I'd like to. Finally, after a week-long break from cycling, I did it today and I felt so strong! I kept checking my gears to make sure I hadn't accidentally changed them, but no, I just had so much more energy. I even made it cycling up a steep hill that I've had to walk up until now. It's great to know that I am getting stronger.

Day 74. Mana Island

Day 74 photo

Consumed 1800 calories. Hiked around Mana Island most of the afternoon.

Once a year all of my labmates go somewhere fun together. This year the destination was Mana Island, a scientific nature reserve of sorts. It used to be a research sheep farm, but then that project ended and NZ decided to try to make it revert back to its natural environment. So now there are many little projects, such as native plant species planting and native birds' nest building, in an attempt to recreate Mana Island pre-farm. In my opinion, they should just let it revert naturally rather than trying to help it along by building wooden condominiums for birds and spending thousands of dollars on capturing birds elsewhere to bring to the island only to have the birds fly back home. Their efforts at wildlife restoration have mostly failed, in case you couldn't tell. Their planting efforts have gone fairly well, but most of the island is still quite desolate. It certainly is nothing close to the forest that it used to be. Oh well. If we have to throw money away it might as well be towards something like this, eh?

Day 73. Sluggish

Day 73 photo

Consumed 1500 calories. Did the "cardio power and resistance" workout.

Woke up this morning feeling significantly more sluggish because of all the extra food (sugar) I ate yesterday. Never again will I eat so much chocolate in one day...

Day 72. Happy valentine's day

Day 72 photo

Consumed 2400 calories. Did the "plyometric cardio circuit" workout today.

Today was my refeed day. I was supposed to eat 2150 calories at 40-30-30. What happened instead? I ate 2400, and most of that was not proper diet food- double chocolate muffin, various chocolates, mushroom and cheese risotto-and for what? To celebrate valentine's day. Do I feel guilty about eating so much? Nope. It was all worth it :)

Day 71. Day 1 all over again + hurt wrist

Day 71 photos
 


Consumed 1750 calories. Did the "fit test" workout.

Woke up this morning with my right wrist hurting like crazy. I can't move it in its full range of motion and trying to use my right hand to push against anything causes pain. I've clearly hurt it attempting to learn a new pole pose. Ugh. It's not swelled, but I can definitely tell there is inflammation even if it isn't immediately obvious. So I bought a wrist wrap and some anti-inflammatory ointment. Hopefully it'll heal soon. As a result of my hurt wrist, I wasn't able to do the suicide jumps and push-up jacks in the fit test.

Fit test results (last fit test -> today):
Switch kicks: 104 -> 129
Power jacks: 66 -> 67
Power knee: 110 -> 122
Power jumps: 41 -> 48
Globe jumps: 10 -> 11
Suicide jumps: 18 -> N/A
Pushup jacks: 30 -> N/A
Low plank obliques: 70 -> 80


Round 2 of Insanity, let's go!

Day 70. Week 10 stats

Day 70 photo

Consumed 1750 calories. Rest day.

Week 10 stats (in bold):

Stomach: 31.0 in -> 30.5

Chest: 30.75 in -> 31.0

Biceps: 10.0 in -> 10.0

Hip: 36.5 in -> 36.0

Thigh: 18.75 in -> 18.75

Calf: 13.25 in -> 13.25

Waist: 27.25 in -> 27.75

Neck: 12.5 in -> 12.5

Weight: 126.4 lbs -> 126.2

Results of trial #2- 1500 cal/day at 40-30-30:

Dropped 0.2 lbs and lost 0.5 inches from my stomach. Not nearly the results I saw from trial #1. But progress is progress.

This week, trial #3- 1750 cal/day and every third day at 2150 cal at 40-30-30.

Day 69.

Day 69 photo

Consumed 1600 calories. Did the "core cardio and balance" workout and some pole dancing.

My arms are getting stronger! I can almost do an inverted aerial hold! Soon...

Day 68. Demotivation

Day 68 photo

Consumed 1700 calories. Did the "core cardio and balance" workout and some pole dancing.

It's terrible to be around really shallow people when you're trying to lose fat. It's even worse when those really shallow people are your family members. It seems like my mom cares only about my stomach fat, and it was extremely discouraging to hear her comment that I should work harder or change what I'm doing because my stomach fat has not decreased even though fat around the rest of my body has. Can I help it if my body doesn't want to give up its stomach fat? If spot reduction were possible, don't you think I would have already done it?

Day 67.

Day 67 photo

Consumed 1500 calories. Did the "core cardio and balance" workout. Commuted to work by cycling.

Day 66.

Day 66 photo

Consumed 1900 calories. Did the "core cardio and balance" workout, pole danced, commuted by cycling.

All told it was a 900 calorie burn so the calorie intake had to be upped. I kind of want to eat this amount consistently even though this is supposed to be a trial week... I'm not sure how I like this 1500 cal diet. It's not difficult to keep, but I feel like I'd be losing more muscle than fat on such a large deficit. I don't know, we'll see when Sunday comes around. If my measurements have changed significantly then it should be okay.

Day 65. Pole dancing = calorie burner!

Day 65 photo

Consumed 1500 calories. Did the "core cardio and balance" workout and some pole dancing.

For the first time while pole dancing I wore my heart rate monitor. According to my HRM, I burned 6.5 cal/min pole dancing! I had no idea pole dancing burned that much! Amazing. I'll definitely be doing more pole work now that I know this.

Day 64. The perfect meal plan

Day 64 photo

Consumed 1100 calories. Rest day.

Didn't eat much today to try to balance out yesterday's reward day haha... On another note, I did a lot of cooking today. Pretty much everything I made today could count as comfort food in terms of deliciousness. What's even better is that it's all healthy, nutritious, and fits into the 40-30-30 macronutrient ratio. Do I have the perfect meal plan for this week? I think so! Here's what it looks like:

Meal 1: lite cottage cheese, plum, kiwi, egg whites
Meal 2: mango-ginger tofu
Meal 3: jerk seitan, salad greens
Meal 4: quinoa patty, avocado
Meal 5: banana-peanut butter-chocolate protein smoothie

Day 63. Last day of Insanity + week 9 stats

Before and after photos

Consumed ~3000 calories. Did the "fit test" workout.

I did it. I finished Insanity. You have no idea the sense of accomplishment I felt when I finished that last exercise this morning. I literally cried I was so happy at the progress I'd made. Thank you, Shaun T, for creating Insanity.

Fit test results (Day 1 -> Day 63):

Switch kicks: 90 -> 104
Power jacks: 48 -> 66
Power knee: 81 -> 110
Power jumps: 20 -> 41
Globe jumps: 6 -> 10
Suicide jumps: 9 -> 18
Pushup jacks: 14 -> 30
Low plank obliques: 43 -> 70

My stomach fat is definitely the most stubborn bit of fat I've got. It doesn't want to go away. Oh well. I'll keep trying. This week will be a recovery week. I'll start another round of Insanity on 2/13.


Week 9 stats (in bold):

Stomach: 32.25 in -> 31.0

Chest: 31.0 in -> 30.75

Biceps: 9.75 in -> 10.0

Hip: 36.25 in -> 36.5

Thigh: 18.5 in -> 18.75

Calf: 13.5 in -> 13.25

Waist: 27.25 in -> 27.25

Neck: 12.5 in -> 12.5

Weight: 127.8 lbs -> 126.4

Results of Insanity: lost a total of 3 lbs and 5.5 inches around my body.

Results of trial #1- 1750 cal/day at 40-30-30:

Dropped 1.4 lbs and lost 1.25 inches from my stomach. Clearly the macronutrient ratios are important.

This week: trial #2- 1500 cal/day at 40-30-30.

Day 62.

Day 62 photo

Consumed 1800 calories. Did the "max cardio conditioning" and "insane abs" workouts.

Day 61. Skinfold caliper test

Day 61 photo

Consumed 1900 calories. Did only half of the "max plyometrics" workout due to a UTI. Commuted to work by cycling.

This morning (after peeing and before eating) I went to a dietitian to get my body fat measured professionally. It was the most complicated half hour-long affair I'd ever gone through. The dietitian had a measuring tape that he used to make sure he was taking the skinfolds at exactly the right places. He drew dots and lines on my body to mark where the skinfolds were to be taken. He took a total of 8 skinfolds from various parts on my body, and he did each one twice to reduce error. He also took 5 girth measurements from various parts on my body, again twice each. He measured my height and weight, too. After it was all said and done, I was told that I had 19.4% body fat. I was so shocked! Here I was expecting a figure around 24%, but no, 19.4%! Well, I'm quite happy to find that I have much less fat on my body than I had thought. Looks like I'm going to have to re-evaluate my goals.

Day 60.

Day 60 photo

Consumed 1800 calories. Did the "max sports training" workout.