Insanity Fit Test Number 2

Today was a big day in my world. I never, in a million years, thought I'd ever even do Insanity, let alone get to the second fit test.

Well, today I did it, and man I OWNED it! I seriously can't believe all the progress I made in just two short weeks!

When I started out, I thought I was going to die. This workout program is called Insanity for a REASON!

Here are my results from my first Fit Test on June 9th:

I have to admit, I was pretty darn happy with those results. I mean, look at those push-up jacks! I did 14 of them on the first day! I know that the globe jumps look pretty wimpy but YOU should try them and let me know how you did ;)

So, for two weeks, I worked my BUTT off. I did ALL of these exercises at some point each week during the workouts. I was sure that I was sweating a LOT but I wasn't sure that I was making any progress. 

Today (Sunday) marks two weeks of Insanity. It was time to do the fit test again. I have to admit - I was nervous. I jumped out of bed this morning and just went down the basement and did it. Actually, I stopped in the bathroom to weigh myself first. I was down .2 pounds. I know, it's not a lot of movement, but I FEEL different. 

So, here's TODAY'S fit test results, along with some crazy pics of myself and an accountability pic of the scale. I have to admit. I'm pretty proud of my results :)

Here they are:

How 'bout DEM APPLES??? Holy Improvement! Seriously! I can't believe that I crushed the fit test! I am actually looking forward to working out for the next two weeks just so I can do the fit test again to see my next set of results!

EEK!

<3,

Kell

Week 2 Insanity Review

Things are starting to change. I am not dreading my workouts anymore. In fact, I might actually be enjoying them. But don't tell anyone. I will deny it. I am a lifting girl at heart ;)

This week brought more of the first month DVDs: Cardio Power and Resistance, Pure Cardio, Cardio Recovery, and Plyometrics Cardio Circuit. 

I am discovering that my favorite workout really is Pure Cardio. As I was doing it this morning, I was trying to figure out why I like it so much. I came to the decision that I like that the exercises don't repeat! You do one minute of each exercise and then you are DONE with that exercise. Sometimes it's really hard for me when I have to do a circuit 3 times. Especially when I don't like some of the exercises (can we say HIGH KNEES? I friggin HATE high knees!)!

My one new workout this week was Cardio Abs. Honestly, the first part of the workout was easy. It was a lot of jumping like in the typical Insanity workouts. The tough part came when we had to do floor work. Did I mention that there is NOT one crunch in this entire workout??? There were lots of leg lifts, c-sits, and other crazy stuff. I'm not sure how I'm gonna feel tomorrow, but I'll let you know when I post my second fit test results, which will be tomorrow! 

I really can't believe that I'm already done with two weeks of Insanity. I honestly never thought I'd make it through the first week.

Oh - a few more things! 

#1 - The HORRIBLE soreness that I experienced in week one has subsided in week 2. I am able to function really well, yet I still feel my muscles being worked. I REALLY think that drinking my R&R after each workout is making a HUGE difference!

#2 - I have not lost a single pound.  Not one. I fact, I have gained a pound. BUT my pants are fitting better. I am feeling like I'm losing some of my stomach fat. Only time will tell, but I'm excited. I've heard from others that during the first month of Insanity, the weight loss is minimal but you are building muscles and losing fat. I can't wait to see what week 3 brings!!!

<3,

Kell

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

A challenger in a group that I'm participating in posted this recipe this week. I am all about trying out new things. Quite frankly, my hubby is sick of the same old things I make for dinner each week.

So tonight I gave this Chicken Enchilada Casserole a shot. I really liked it but it was a bit too sweet for my taste. Next time, I will probably substitute salsa for the tomato sauce and tomato paste.

Here's how I made it this time (and it was really good!):

Ingredients:

- 4 whole chicken breasts, boiled and shredded

- 1 1/3 cup (2 servings) cooked brown rice

- 1, 15oz can organic whole sweet corn

- 2 cups shredded 2% cheddar cheese, separated into 1/2, 3/4, and 3/4 cups

- 3 Tbsp organic tomato paste

- 1 1/2 tsp chili powder

- 3 cups organic tomato sauce (no salt added if you can find it)

- 3 tsp chili powder, divided into 1 1/2 and 1 1/2 tsps

- 1 tsp cayenne pepper, divided into 1/2 and 1/2 tsps (if you like some kick - I didn't use it)

- 6 brown rice tortillas, thawed if using frozen tortillas (I used food for life brown rice tortillas from the frozen food section)

Directions:

- Turn oven to 275 degrees.

- Wrap tortillas in foil and place in the oven to warm.

- Combine shredded chicken, 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese, corn, tomato paste, 1 1/2 tsp chili power, and 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper in a large bowl.

- Section off the chicken mixture into 1/4 sections. You should end up with 4 equal servings.

- Combine tomato sauce, 1 1/2 tsp chili powder, and 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, mixing well.

- Layer a small amount of sauce in the bottom of an 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish. 

- Take tortillas out of the oven and turn the oven to broil.

- Lay in a tortilla.

- Top tortilla with 1/4 of the chicken mixture.

- Layer sauce on top of chicken mixture.

- Lay in another tortilla.

- Top with another 1/4 chicken mixture.

- Layer sauce on top of chicken mixture. 

- Top with a third tortilla. 

- Sprinkle 3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese on top of tortilla.

- Repeat the above steps for the second casserole.

- STOP here if you are freezing one, or both of the casseroles. Cover the casserole and freeze. 

- TO COOK THE CASSEROLE - place under the broiler in your oven for approximately 5 minutes. Watch the cheese and top tortilla CAREFULLY because if left in a few seconds too long, it will burn!

- Take out of oven, allow to cool, and cut into 8 servings. I cut mine like a pizza.

- ENJOY!

I hope you enjoy my new found recipe. I know my family sure did!

<3,

Kell

Week 1 Insanity Review

Ok - so I wrote this blog post last Sunday and then I pulled a "Kelly". I forgot to post it! So - here it is in its unedited form. Look for my week 2 review tomorrow! Haha!

Well, it's the end of week 1. I made it through. I did every workout and gave each one 110%!

I'm not gonna lie. It wasn't easy. I've said it before and I'll say it again. 

I HATE cardio. 

This is what I look like each morning before I work out...

I would much rather be lifting, but Insanity is something I have to conquer. I fact, this is me each morning!!!

So I'm giving it my all.

My two favorite workouts this week were Cardio Recovery because the stretching felt AMAZING and I also Pure Cardio because it was short and intense. I like it when my workout is shorter than normal.

That's going to change this week because I get to add in Cardio Abs after Pure Cardio. I'm not too sure how I feel about that yet. I'll let you know on Friday :)

What I can tell you is that the next 7 weeks are going to be a struggle for me. Each day I find myself trying to come up with excuses to not do my workout. In the end, I always do it because I know I HAVE to. It's not really a choice for me anymore. It's something I have to do. 

Another struggle is going to be eating clean. For some reason, I am having a really hard time with that lately. All I want is junk :( I KNOW it's not good for me. I KNOW how I feel after I eat the junk. I KNOW it's hurting my progress. But for some reason, I just want to eat junk.

Maybe it's because I don't get a lot of clean eating support at my house. My hubby is an eater. He eats a lot and wants the foods he is comfortable with. Down home cooking with lots of fat, grease, and beef. I can't and won't do any of those. I would prefer to eat grilled veggies every night. So, eating right is going to be a struggle. But I'll conquer it. I have to. I need this jiggle gone. NOW.

I would love to tell you that I'm down 3 pounds this week, but I'm not. I actually gained 4 pounds. I'm pretty sure it was because I ate a bunch of junk yesterday at my daughters first birthday party. I'm sure I'm nice and bloated. I gonna work really hard on eating well this week and weigh myself mid week again to see how it's going. Hopefully I'll be back under 150 quickly!

Ok - enough rambling for today. I need to hit the sack while both kids are sleeping in their own rooms! Woo hoo! No feet in my back for a little while tonight!

Lots of love!

Kelly

Time to get Insane

I you know me in real life, you know that I'm NOT a cardio girl. I a fact, I'm the furthest thing from it. I LOVE lifting weights. 

But -and this is a HUGE but - I need to lose these last 10-15 pounds. I just can't seem to get rid of them with lifting. 

So I'm doing it. Something I SWORE I would never do. Maybe the blog post tipped you off. Maybe you think I'm just a little nuts. Whatever you guessed, you're right.

INSANITY.

It's calling my name. It's 60 days. It's going to be a HUGE challenge for me. 

But I'm ready for it. I'm ready to take this next step. I'm ready to be at my "goal". 

Wait a minute - I'm lying. I'll never really be at my goal. I ALWAYS going to be a work in progress. So, maybe I'm just ready to tackle something that REALLY scares me. 

Yeah - that's it. Inanity scares me. A ton of cardio scares the CRAP out of me. I quit soccer after 8th grade because I HATED running. But I'm gonna do it anyways. I'm starting on Sunday June 2nd and will finish on Wednesday July 31. 

Anyone wanna do this with me? Are you ready to face your fears and PUNCH them square in the face? Leave a comment or message me on FB (FB.com/kelly.elizabeth.71271) if you want to join me!

Lets do this!

<3,

Kell

Refreshingly Clean Spicy Italian Cucumber Salsa

God has blessed me with MANY things. My stunning beauty. My quick wit. A phenomenal taste in clothes. An amazing rack.  HAHA - if you know me in real life - you know that is totally not me. Ok - maybe the rack part is me!

One thing I was NOT blessed with was the cooking gene. I have struggled ALL MY LIFE with coming up with healthy, tasty, and quick foods.


Yesterday, my hubby helped a friend move. He came home and politely ordered me to make him this salsa that they had for the crew at the move. It seemed simple enough although some of the ingredients seemed a bit strange to me. But, I took his word for it, got the ingredients at the store this morning, and made it when I got home. I also bought some Stacy's Pita Chips because who can have salsa w/o having chips to dip IN the salsa?!




I took one bite and was BLOWN away. The odd combination of foods WORKS! This salsa is amazing. It would be perfect for a snack beside the pool this summer or even as an appetizer at a party.

Here's my version of Ryan and Melissa's Spicy Italian Cucumber Salsa:

Ingredients:

• 1 seedless cucumber, skin on, diced into small pieces
• 1 small/medium red onion, diced into small pieces
• 1 15 oz can organic whole kernel corn, drained
• 1 can Rotel Tomatoes, most juice drained out (you could use organic tomatoes and add in jalapenos, but I didn't wanna mess with it today)
• Italian dressing to taste (I use my own homemade Italian dressing which is a packet of the good seasonings dressing, rice vinegar, balsamic vinegar, EVOO, and water. I am not giving you my exact recipe cause then I would have to kill you)

Directions:

1. Get a pen and paper to write this down because it's very complicated.
2. Combine all the ingredients, except for dressing, into a large bowl.
3. Add as much Italian dressing as you want, stopping when you have the taste you desire!
4. Bust out your pita chips and NOM NOM NOM!

Now go shopping for all these ingredients and EAT THE FOOD!

<3,

Kell

Finding a new normal

These past two weeks have been UNREAL in my house!

My son got the flu two Saturdays ago. My husband got the flu the following Monday. I went back to work that Thursday. Friday, my daughter's first day at daycare, I got a call that she had a fever of 102. She screamed all weekend. I got the flu Sunday. We also took my daughter to Urgent Care on Sunday and she had her first ear infection. I missed my 3rd day back to work. My 4th day back to work, I got sick AT work and didn't think I was gonna make it home. I ended up being sick from Sun - Thursday.

So, now that it's Saturday the 13th, two FULL WEEKS after the craziness began, I think we are finally settling into a new routine. It hasn't been an easy one to come by and it is exhausting. Here's what my days a FULL TIME working mom of two look like:

5:00am - wake up and work out
5:45am - shower
6:00am - get dressed and check in with my FB groups.
6:30am - nurse daughter
7:00am - make shakeology and out the door
7:00am - 8:00am - en route to school with dropping off kids at daycare on Wed and Fri.
8:00am - Noon - teach kids
Noon - 1:00pm - pump and eat lunch
1:00pm - 3:30pm - teach kids
3:30pm - en route home
4:00pm - unpack from day, nurse baby, get dinner ready
5:00pm - dinner
5:30pm - feed kids
6:00pm - bathe kids
6:30pm - I nurse baby to sleep while hubby gets son ready for bed.
7:30pm - kids are in BED!
7:45pm - get lunches ready for tomorrow, defrost milk for baby for tomorrow.
8:00pm - check in with FB groups
9:00pm - BED!

I can honestly say that I feel like I'm on a non-stop hamster wheel. I have NO IDEA what I would have done if I was still very overweight and eating unhealthy. The ONLY WAY I can get through my day is because I fuel my body correctly and start each day with a blood pumping workout.

I want to be a stay-at-home mom more than anything. I know that my children will be ok if I continue to work, but the TRUTH of the matter is, I won't be ok. I miss them. I miss being here with them. I miss my son asking me to lay down with him. I miss nursing my daughter during the day. I LOATHE my pump. I miss making PB&J sammies for my son for lunch. I miss having time to try to catch up on laundry. I miss playing Candyland at 11am.

The ONE THING that makes me working bearable, is that my students at school are the SWEETEST kids in the entire world. They love playing in band and they really make my job easy. It's so much easier to teach kids who WANT to learn!

One nice thing about being sick all last week, I didn't get to use my meal plan that I worked so hard on! I didn't eat at all on Sunday or Monday. I had Shakeology on Tuesday and then got sick again. Wednesday was 1/2 a plain bagel for breakfast, a cup of brown rice for lunch, and a cup of whole wheat pasta for dinner. By Thursday, I was able to eat some real foods. So, for this upcoming week, I am doing the exact same plan! I have all the ingredients already, I just need to buy some fresh lettuce and turkey breast! Easy peasy and CHEAP grocery week!

^^^ dates are still from last week - I'm not redoing it! #lazygirlproblems

Hopefully I have shared enough with you, my readers, so that you realize that I am a REAL person with REAL issues. I don't have everything figured out. I don't have all the answers. I'm not always perfect. In fact, I slip up a lot. But, what makes me different from your average Joe is that I realize that it's PERFECTLY OK to slip up. I'm not gonna let one bad decision, one bad day, or heck - even one bad week - ruin all my progress! I'm gonna enjoy this crazy ride that we call life. Some days are good, some days are bad, and some days all we can do is laugh!

<3,
Kell