Insanity and other good-for-yous

Emily’s blog is called Sweat Once a Day, which I’ve always liked, and now today, Keri posted what I never before realized is the rest of that quote: sweat once a day to regenerate your skin. I like it! I didn’t realize that sweating every day would help your skin, but now that I think about it, it makes sense – gets out the toxins in a very natural way, and gets the blood flowing. Hopefully that will help heal my peeling shins from where I burned them in St. Maarten!

Lately, I have definitely been sweating once a day – probably more than I’ve ever sweat in my life! While I’ve alluded to it in former posts, I haven’t yet gone into too much detail, so here goes. A few weeks ago, I tried the Beachbody Insanity fit test, and it totally kicked my butt. Then I went through the routine upheaval of my project ending, but now that I’m back in New York, I’m determined to use this travel break to really work out and eat healthy. Last week, I started the Insanity program – and let me tell you, it is insane! I like to think I’m in pretty good shape, but in the very first workout, I actually stopped my pushups and laid down on the floor and cried. Yes, real tears. It is intense! (Good thing I was working out in my apartment alone and not at the gym, or that would have been really embarrassing).

The second day, I put off the workout as long as possible, because I was so scared of going through that torture again. However, it actually ended up being not that bad. I mean, it was still crazy intense and nearly impossible to get through… but I didn’t cry, so that’s always a plus 🙂 I would have gone into day three with a lot less trepidation than day two, but I also woke up on day three so sore that didn’t even know if I could get through another workout! All the jumping really does a number on your calves, and my thighs were also feeling it quite a bit. Lucky for me, day three turned out to be “Cardio Recovery,” which was kind of pilates-based and not nearly as rough as the first two days. By Saturday, when I repeated the same video from Tuesday, I was happy that it actually wasn’t as tough as the first go round. Could it be that I am already stronger? I hope so – but the next 7 weeks will be telling.

I am also eating ridiculously healthy while I’m at home, which has to help things. A few weeks ago, I set the goal of eating a salad for at least one meal a day – but now that I’m home, that’s even easier. In fact, today I had salads for two of my meals, because it was hot out and I didn’t want a steaming hot meal! I have started tossing and chopping my salads like Chopt, which I have discovered makes them even tastier than my old way of artfully arranging them on a plate. Also, I don’t know if it’s the filling and healthy food, or the workouts, but somehow I am a lot less hungry than I usually am. While ordinarily you could tempt me with food pretty much anywhere, anytime, both tonight and last night, I had to force myself eat dinner because I wasn’t that interested in it! Hopefully I can keep that trend up, as listening to your body and fueling adequately (instead of overfueling) is one of the biggest keys to weight loss.

In other “good for you” news, lately I’ve been coming across a bunch of interesting articles on sleeping positions, and what the pros and cons of each position are. I have always been a side sleeper – I like to curl up in a ball, often hugging a pillow. When I’m in a hotel and have tons of extra pillows at my disposal, I even pile them up around me to make a little nest to sleep in. Strange, I know! But after reading more than one article talking about the benefits of sleeping on your back, I’m determined to switch. While a Google search I did last night before I went to bed suggested “tie your hands to the headboard” (um, no thanks), I went with the willpower approach of just trying to remember to be on my back, even if I wanted to turn. I also found it helpful to put a big pillow under my knees – which actually worked, because by elevating my legs, it made it harder to shift positions. I woke up this morning still on my back – so far, so good! Hopefully after a few weeks of this, it will help relieve my upper back tension, which I have a feeling might be a product of my sleeping position.

What position do you sleep in? And what’s the hardest workout you’ve ever done?