Day 63: JOURNEY'S END: Final Results

As I was not home yesterday because of the holiday, I decided to finish on day 63 anyway, and did both my final workout (Max Cardio Conditioning) and the fit test today. A perfectly insane ending. So I started today as I started day 1, with a bowl of pumpkin oatmeal, and went right into the fit test. Oh, and before we get into the final photos, just in case you're thinking this is all well-polished and lip-glossed bliss, here's me at right after the final workout. The REAL Insanity.

I lay on the floor and sobbed after the final fit test this morning. I'm not sure why, whether it was happiness, sadness, relief, or a culmination of all of the health stuff that's happened to me since last fall. This felt like such an enormous physical and mental accomplishment after such a serious illness that I think the fruition of it all was just overwhelming. I was nervous about taking this today after the holiday and all of the eating yesterday. I thought I'd be scrambling to match my day 33 numbers (note that I skipped the fourth fit test), but I killed it -- not only that, but I beat the participants on most of the exercises! Take that, Tonya. You have been served.

Exercise	Day 1	Day 16	Day 33	Day 63	Change (Since Day 33)	TOTAL CHANGE
Switch Kicks	116	121	122	150	23%	29.3%
Power Jacks	48	53	56	67	19.6%	39.6%
Power Knees	91	105	110	116	5.5%	27.5%
Power Jumps	27	33	34	40	17.7%	48.1%
Globe Jumps	7	10	11	13	18.2%	85.7%
Suicide Jumps	17	18	18	19	5.6%	11.8%
Pushup Jacks	20	24	28	32	14.3%	60%
Plank oblique	75	74	89	102	14.6%	36%

Note that this is an average of 14.8% improvement over my prior fit test during the recovery week, and an improvement of 42.25% overall!

I took a short break before taking on the final Max Cardio Conditioning, but even so, my legs just did not want to lift during those switch kicks. But it flew by and I nailed it, knowing I could collapse in torpor for days on end afterward if I so chose.

Here are the final photos (click to enlarge). I didn't weigh or measure today because I have a food hangover from yesterday, but I will try to do so in another day or two. I can tell you that I've checked on and off over the last week and my measurements have not really changed since Day 30. Not only that, but I've apparently gained about 2 pounds back. I assumed I'd just sabotaged myself with eating over the last month, something many of you know I've struggled with. However, my photos surprised me because I am clearly a lot more muscular than I was on Day 30. I wondered if it could be attributed to the lighting change or something, but I don't think so. See what you guys think, and what exactly happened here. I would think my measurements would have gone down with building muscle, even if the scale went up. It's kind of a mystery. Until I saw these photos, I figured my results were better at 30 days. I think I was wrong.

Over the next couple of days I'll post more of my final impressions and results. For now, I need a couple of days to recuperate and then yoga, here I come (back)!

To those of you who are in the middle of this -- KEEP GOING. The end is worth it. You have two choices about where you'll be at the end of 60 days.

Day 43: MAX CARDIO CONDITIONING (and final belly check)

I think I did a little bit better today. I felt like I did more of the exercises, although it took me until almost the end of the warmup to feel like I was really moving. The time change has messed with my head and I've had two lousy nights of sleep in a row where I couldn't fall asleep even after going to bed over an hour late. I'm still struggling with getting my eating back under control, too.

One thing I've noticed is that my calves feel weak during these month 2 warmups, and it takes a few minutes for them to stop protesting and start working. My knees feel good, though. (I notice Mario is wearing one of these open-patella knee wraps during this DVD, too.)

Here is my final belly check before the end of Insanity. To see where I've come from, click on the four-image collage at left. I think I have a two-pack! I didn't start Insanity for abs, but I think it's been the easiest place to see results throughout the program.

Day 30: RESULTS! Part 1: Photos

Here they are. One thing to keep in mind is that in the day 1 photos (like all before/after photos), I had just crawled out of bed and was not trying in any way to get a decent photo, whereas in the 30-day shots I made an effort to get a good angle and wear something other than ugly sweats! But other than color adjustment for crappy lighting, these aren't retouched. I can definitely see improvement and I'm really happy with it! Interesting note... the jeans I'm wearing below and the gray Lululemon yoga pants in the shots at the bottom were too small when I bought them and I've been storing them in hopes I could wear them at some point. Yay!


Click to enlarge the photo below.

Day 16: CARDIO CIRCUIT (and Results, Part 2)

I think I finally fixed the commenting ...? I can't tell for sure and didn't know it wasn't working. Stupid ads.

First, PCC is probably my favorite of the four from month 1, and I was actually looking forward to it today. No soreness today even though I did Insane Abs yesterday and then taught a "fire" flow yoga class last night; I think I'm fully broken-in. I love the mostly aerobic intervals on PCC, especially the ones he tacks on at the end with the flying fists. Usually I get my second wind and pour it on there, but today my steam ran out at the end.


Sean's great month-end photo check-in inspired me to see where I was at mid-week three. Here it is, the belly check. Yes, minor, but noticeable even with having eaten too much salt yesterday. That and my fit test results from yesterday, which I didn't expect to be as improved as they were, have definitely motivated me to keep going and believe that yes, even month 2 will be doable.

Here's my refined recovery drink recipe with a different flavor of juice (slightly less sugar and slightly more salt and adjusted for one quart). Ugh, I realized I made the first batch wrong and added only about half the amount of water I should have, so I was drinking some seriously syrupy stuff. No wonder it was so tasty. For a one-quart bottle (dissolve the salt/sugar in the hot water and then add the rest of the ingredients and shake):

4 T organic sugar
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup peach-mango juice (100%)
1/2 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
1/4 cup hot water
3 1/2 cups cold water
(Per 8 oz.: 65 calories, 12.5 g carbohydrate, 116.9 mg sodium, 32.1 mg potassium, 3 g protein)

Coming tomorrow... more recipes!