- Fitness/Strength/Ability - obviously, has increased over this time. I take fewer breaks, I power through, I sweat and sweat.
- Confidence - the power of doing something is that it gives you the confidence to do other things by thinking about your previous achievements. This is true for each Insanity session and also relates to other areas in life where I am trying to accomplish goals.
- Perseverance - while I have much, much greater compliance in this program than any other exercise regimen before, there are still days where I think "uhhhh, too tired, too lazy, too blah," but having done it continuously and not wanting to break the streak or go off-schedule and recalling the ease with which I can complete a session motivates me to keep at it even when I might not always want to.
- Inches lost - I have gotten smaller - I know this because today I spent the whole day trying on clothes for LA that I wore a month before for my trip to Las Vegas and they all fit much, much better.
- Exercise works - seeing that exercise works to help you lose weight is common sense but hard to believe when you are slogging through until you see it in action. When you can tell that change is happening then you know that, hey, this really does work.
- Takes the pressure off the diet - I NEED carbohydrates. I need them for energy, so I can workout. I need to eat. Also, focusing on exercising takes my mind off my diet AND working out so hard makes me want to stay on plan so I don't sabotage my hard work.
- Flexibility - the stretches in the program are helping me become more flexible and stretch further. Flexibility and balance are both super important fitness goals of mine.
- Routine - when you have a routine, when you're in the flow, you feel like you are doing something meaningful and it comes easily. It structures your day and can become something you look forward to.
- Active lifestyle - I haven't only been working out with Insanity but also around the house and yard (lots of sweaty work there!) and it has made me a more active person in general. I'm still pretty lazy because it's summer and all, but it's a huge improvement from my couch potato days.
That's a lot of reasons to keep going and I'm sure there are more that I can't think of at the moment, but this is a good reminder to keep on. I will run on the treadmill on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and resume Insanity from the Monday following, that way the schedule will stay intact. I'm sure the week-long break will have a detrimental effect on my progress in terms of fitness level, but I'm hoping I'll be able to get into it quickly. Also, this way I will have to start again on that Monday and not put it off to keep with the schedule.
In my diet, today I had two small slices of pizza. We ordered a new kind in celebration of my mom's promotion and it was for the occasion. I enjoyed it but also found it quite greasy. The box with about 5-6 slices remaining is sitting in the fridge, about 5 meters from me as I write this but it has no pull on me. It's just not worth it. I also enjoyed a can of diet coke with it as I hadn't had any in about 2 weeks or more which for me, a former addict, is quite an achievement. I hope the pizza doesn't affect the scale, though, I'm quite sure I am below my calories for day which is also not great but I prefer to be under than over. I need to start eating smaller meals more regularly but it is proving a hard habit to develop. Anyway, I am excited for what the scale will bring tomorrow but regardless I refuse to let it steer me away from my progress and my goals. Whatever the number says, I have accomplished more in these three weeks than the three months previous even though they resulted in 28 lbs of weight loss. That is the most important lesson, I think.
