I'm Baaaaack!

     Well hello there! I bet you were starting to think I'd disappeared for good from the face of the blog world, but nope! I'm here and I'm still kickin' (literally!) I'm sure you're wondering: Why was she gone for so long? Well, the reason is two-fold. 1. We entered wedding season in April and now we're on the other side of the "OH MY GOSH WHY DID I WILLINGLY CHOOSE THIS JOB!?!" hump; not quite done with wedding season, but into a manageable part of it at least. And reason numero dos: I was being a slacker. I fell off the band wagon with the Reliv and Insanity goals (but still am doing pretty well with the fried foods one, so yaaaay me!) and because of that I didn't really feel like I had much to say. But now I'm back and feeling rather chatty this morning!

     Ok, so first I want to share a little story about Insanity: Steff and I started it in April and it was going pretty well, I thought - I was feeling happier thanks to the regular production of exercise induced endorphins, and I actually felt more energetic! I was also seeing improvement in my stamina and strength! But it only worked out for us to do it for a few weeks and once I didn't have that accountability, I just didn't have the motivation to keep working out on my own. But I was/am determined to make 2013 the year that I conquer my aversion to exercise, so I ordered my own set of Insanity DVDs and waited anxiously for it to arrive. In the week or so between clicking "order" and when it actually arrived I noticed all these times throughout my day that were ideal times for working out! I found myself thinking, "I can't wait until my DVDs arrive! I'm gonna change and immediately start doing the workouts!" I fancied myself like ones of those celebrities who says, "I just love working out! I can't live without it! It's my favorite pass-time activity!" And then finally, on a beautiful, sunny day, I got a call from mom. She said, "I have a package for you!" and I knew...my very own set of Insanity had finally come...and with its arrival I said goodbye to any and all motivation I previously had. All of a sudden I was all, "Ugh. It's too hot to exercise" and "My room isn't big enough and it's too embarrassing to do this in the living room" so my sexiness sat in a box on my bookshelf and collected dust. One of my co-workers, Steve, would ask me every-so-often, "Hey Aleece - are you still doing insanity?" and I'd feel convicted, but I always had a reason why I wasn't/couldn't do it.

     Well, over the weekend I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror when I wasn't holding my gut in and I thought, "Oh. My word. That paunchy belly is mine and that is so not ok! That's just 100% fat sitting there around my middle! How have I not had a heart-attack yet!?!" so when I got home that evening I sat down, put my DVDs in order of how I'm supposed to go through them and went to bed early enough that I'd be able to get up with enough time to actually do it...which I did! Today's workout was actually called a "Fit Test" in which I did a series of exercises to see how many of each I could do in 1 minute. I do that every two weeks and track my progress! So, ready for my first set of results? Here goes:

1. Scissor Kicks (kick in front of you while crossing your arms back and forth...picture a robot crossed with the Russian dance from the Nutcracker) 51 (I thought that was impressive until I heard that his "models" started out with 74 and 75)
2. Power Jacks (jumping jacks combined with squats...I'll feel that one tomorrow for sure!) 22
3. Standing Crunches (stand with one leg slightly bent while pulling the other leg to your belly) 37
4. Power Jumps (jump as high as you can while doing a wide-stance "squat" in the air...another killer that will also be required of the extra bad sinners in hell.) I was really good at it. I did 1
5. Around-the-Worlds (this involves jumping and squatting in a circle and it hurt my knees, so instead I did crunches) 35 crunches, not ATWs
6. Suicide Push-ups (doing a push-up jumping out of it...couldn't do even one, so I did girl push-ups) 10
7. Scissor Push-up (push-ups while putting your heels together, and then wide apart. Couldn't do that either, so I did crunches with my legs) 20
8. Power Planks (a plank while alternating between pulling your knees forward) I was pretty proud on myself on this one. I didn't think I'd be able to do any, but I did 24!

     So there you have it! In two week's I'll post new results so we can see how I did! I'll probably continue to go with my alternates to some of those moves because my knees can't take all the jumping...and my roommates probably don't want to listen to that either.

     Tomorrow I begin the "real" working out, and the only day off is Sunday...it's a 60 day program which I'll try to stick to, but it also involves a specific diet which I'm not doing. The exercises are intense, so if you see me limping, grimacing, or moving like a 90 yr old, you'll know why!