DAY 25: CARDIO RECOVERY & MEAL PLAN

 Last time i'm doing Cardio Recovery for this round of Insanity. Sad times, actually it's dawning on me this is the last time i'm doing any of the Month 1 workouts! Jeeebus, time flies when your doing Insanity. It really does, it certainly doesn't feel like i've been doing this for a month now. 

Anyways, Cardio Recovery as you all know is one of my fav..yeah you still work up a little bit of a sweat but it's more about focusing on your core and stretching. With the recovery workout i think the best tip i can give is really focus on your breathing, not so much to get your breath back, but to train your breathing to exhale when your exerting energy and inhale on a recovery move. This gets oxygen to the muscles that need it the most depending on what exercise your doing. 

I think with Month 2's version of this since it's called 'MAX RECOVERY' i think they'll vamp up the cardio side of it, so you will be sweating a lot! And incorporate some harder more taxing stretches, by this point i presume if you've never been into fitness or didn't really workout, the Month prior will have you in good enough shape to cope with Month 2's exercises. Well that's my theory anyway!

MEAL PLAN

 A day off work means my meals are always timed well and i can prepare them as i go, yeah..meal prep saves time if you do it the night before. But there's just something so much nicer about a freshly prepared meal that you can eat right away!

Breakfast was a menagerie of fruit today! Some of my fruit was about to spoil so i took advantage and made a big fruit salad with apples, bananas, kiwi, melon and grapes.  A big bowl of fruit with some natural yogurt spread on the top get's me going for the day i can assure you.

Lunch was a fairly small affair of tuna steak, broccolii and side salad of lettuce with chopped cherry tomatoes. I was in a bit of a hurry with lunch as i wanted to get into town before it closed!

My evening meal had a bit more thought, diced chicken breast with soy noodles, onions, garlic, chilli and peppers all tossed together with some sweet potato fries (home-made...with low-cal spray might i add) finished me off for the day and i slept a happy bunny!

A.

DAY 23: CARDIO POWER AND RESISTANCE & MEAL PLAN

Here we go again! I must say, i'm so excited to start Month 2 now, one because i know it's going to be so much more of a challenge, but two because it'll be more variety. I mean i can still do these workouts without getting bored, however it's just getting quite scary how i almost know everything that Shaun T is going to, along with the names of his 'posse'. I was browsing on some Insanity progress sights and found some hilarious photos i'm going to share. 

Josh, cracks me up..never get's the stretching right does he.

Onto the workout itself. For some unknown reason, i've been having really bad knee aches, so i'm taking it slow (ISH) i'd say on the round 3 of the exercsises i'm just going slightly slower than i normally would. I feel if i don't put as much effort in i won't see results! But i don't want to cause myself injury either so i need to change it up a little bit. I got through it, and without too much knee pain, still sweating like crazy and feeling so good having completed it.

My tricep dips are coming along too i've noticed, i'm able to make it to the one legged tricep dips without collapsing now, my prior attempts had me resting on the normal ones. Afterwards my arms still burn yes, that will never go away i don't think! 

MEAL PLAN

My morning started as it quite regularly does, with porridge. I had some honey mixed into it this morning and chopped banana. 

Lunch was a bit of a thrown together deal, i boiled some wholewheat pasta, opened a tin of tuna and added some broccolli to mix together. Although it wasn't probably the best meal i could have came up with, it happily filled me up for the majority of the day! Didn't manage to get a picture of this one (forgetful me)

For dinner, i ate rather late due to some commitments i had to take care of, meant i had to cook late which i haaate doing. So i boiled some light flat noodles, and flash-fried some chicken and veg to make a stir-fry, which i ate half of and left the other half so i could have it for lunch tomorrow, don't wanna wwwaaaaste!

A. 

DAY 7: MEAL PLAN

Today i had a gruelling 12 hour shift at work, so it was important for me to think ahead. Before leaving the house at 8 am, i made myself two slices of wholemeal toast with low fat spread and marmite (love it or hate it, right?!!) and a cup of Jasmine green tea which is so good to get me going on a morning.

Midday i walked into town and got myself a tin of tuna in sunflower oil to have with my pre-made brown rice. I always add garlic, onion and chillis to my brown rice, gives it an amazing flavour and it never tastes boring.

Unfortunatley i messed up with the timing of when my work's cafe closed as i'd planned to get a bowl of soup for my tea, so i was super hungry through the last hours of my shift. I'm not nor will i ever promote missing meals, it's so bad for your metabolism and it slows it right down. But in this case i really didn't have a choice, so when i got home i downed a large glass of my protein smoothie which gave my stomach and body the goodness i need. A few rice cakes with peanut butter gave me some healthy fats before bed. Great bedtime snack by the way.

And tomorrow is a new day!
Sorry for lack of pictures, my phone now has no memory, so need to find some time to back up my 1000s of photos and clear some room for clean eating and exercise photos!

Sweet dreams!

A.

DAY 4: MEAL PLAN

I've slacked a little today guys. Not in the eating department, in the uploading photos department. Haha, not too much of a let down...but my phone decided to mess up big time and not want to drop anything into dropbox after my breakfast photo! So i only have one photo for this post, boo..i feel like i've let myself down.

Instead, i'm going to thoroughly describe my other two meals!
But for breakfast, i made myself three medium poached eggs, with wholemeal seed bread and a little low fat butter spread. I enjoyed this hugely as it was a change from my normal porridge routine.

Once at work, i noshed on brown rice again i know, but it's so yummy..a tin of tuna in sunflower oil which i drained off, and a salad made up of crunchy iceburg lettuce, tangy cherry tomatoes and some crisp cucumber. Sounds a little boring, but i promise you i enjoyed it a helluva lot.
Once home, i put myself a chicken breast seasoned with a homemade mixture of spices (secret secret) and a few bunches of steamed broccolli. Eating this after the Cardio Recovery seemed like heaven, i felt so re-juvanated, yet not tired or down on energy.

I honestly think this clean eating and Insanity could be something i go on to do for longer than the 60 days. Definitley the clean eating, it's a lifestyle change. But even Insanity, incorperating that into my normal days once i've done the challenge doesn't half seem like a bad idea. I'll be suuuuuuper fit too!

So i apologise for the lack of photo's, i'll be back on the ball tomorrow with the uploading. Providing my iPhone stops having a mind of it's own and listens to it's Master......ME!

Night!

A.

DAY 3 MEAL PLAN!

Today was a good day for my intake of food and consumption of healthyness. I also thoroughly enjoyed my meals. Must admit i kept it quite simple as i had quite a busy day. Driving to Manchester this morning made me miss an actual solid breakfast, but as soon as i got home i filled up on another smoothie. This time i added a lot more fresh fruit as my stomach grumbled quite a bit, and 3 bananas got sacrificed to the blender.

For my lunch, unfortunatley being at work meant i had to eat on the go...a nice low fat, protein rich Tom Yum Soup did the trick, prawns, string noodles, peppers, water, coconut milk, herbs and spinach gave me loads of energy to power on through work and get me ready for the workout i had to endure once i'd gotten home.

Post-workout, i was at this point STARVING, i needed a hearty meal to satiate my cravings. But i didn't reach for the crisps or chocolate..nope. I made chicken seasoned with cajun spices, brown rice with a dab of soy sauce (it gives it such a nice flavour), spinach and mashed sweet potato. Beauuuutiful. Now i'm sat back resting my sore legs with another glass of fruit smoothie and then i shall go to the land of nod, a happy, full, fatigued girl.......until tomorrow.

Fare thee well.

A.

DAY 2 MEAL PLAN!

Once again i started my day with porridge, raspberries but added some banana for a bit of protein this morning. I'm seriously loving porridge lately, going to have to switch it up a little bit soon i think. This breakfast gave me lots of energy when i combined it with some green tea and vanilla. Tasted gooood.

After my workout, i had my smoothie, same ingredients as yesterday, i just added some natural greek yogurt which gave it a slightly more tart taste, still delicious.

I was good and did my meal prep for the evening as i had work at 4, so needed to make sure i would still be eating every 3-4 hours in order to keep my metabolism where i want it to be. HIGH please! I made myself some brown rice with onions, garlic and chilli again (soft spot for brown rice, MMMM) and a can of tuna. HOWEVER meeting my friend Anya she announced 'let's go to BarBurrito' my stomach insantly growled...loudly but my mind thought 'NOOOO' however, once i got in there i decided to have some tacos instead of a burrito, leaving out the floury tortilla. Now..it may look awfully unhealthy, however after googling the ingredients, not so much! YES YES, maybe i should have skipped the sour cream and grated cheese, but it still had loads of healthy fats (avocado/kidney beans) protein (chicken) and salad. So not too bad.

I've come home to another smoothie, left over of what i made earlier. So all in all, not a bad day i don't think!

Tomorrow, i will be sticking to my meal plans. Promise :)

Night all.

A.

DAY 1 MEAL PLAN!

After picking up my Insanity package, my mind began to wander to the contents of my fridge and i realised it seriously lacked on my usual healthy products (admitedly i've slacked the past few days knowing i'm going to start Insanity). So i stopped at the supermarket on the way home to get the necessary items for the week!

Now my fridge and cupboards include:

Lettuce                  Raspberries                   Chicken Breasts           Almonds
Tomatoes              Bananas                         Tuna                           Low fat peanut butter
Mushrooms           Apples                           Mince                          Rice Cakes
Avocado               Mixed frozen fruit           Broccolli    
Asparagus            Low fat natural yogurt
Onions                 Cottage Cheese

So now i'm all set to eat and train my way to ultimate fitness, at least thats the plan?!

Since i was so eager to start the Fit Test i thought i'd better have a substantial breakfast to get me going, an hour before i ploughed through the test i made myself some oatmeal made with water, added raspberries and almonds which gave it a little more taste and texture.

After my Fit Test, (RESULTS IN PREVIOUS POST) i made myself an all natural protein smoothie, i basically dropped 2 bananas, a handful of frozen mixed berries, soya milk and some coconut water in my blender, whizzed it around for 30 seconds and gulped it down. Tasty!

For lunch, i made some brown rice seasoned it with a little soy sauce, added some chillis, mushrooms, onion and garlic. Opened a can of tuna and made a small side salad, wolfed this down in possibly 5 minutes i was so hungry.

Another smoothie, same ingredients as the previous, added a little more coconut water as it was a little thick.

And finally, chicken breast baked with asparagus, cherry tomatoes and small spoonful of cottage cheese.

I love eating clean, especially after eating crappy for a few days, the energy release you get is so unexpected but so refreshing. After 60 days of eating like this, i'll be in tip-top shape..i'd like to think so anyway.

Now for a night of pre-recorded Sky shows that i haven't had time to catch up on.
Sleep easy guys!


A.