Last December I had kind of reached my breaking point.  It was time to get serious about living a healthy lifestyle again.  I love being healthy.  Some people might roll their eyes but I love it.

I love cooking and eating well.

I love exercising and getting a good sweat on.

Most of all, I love sleep.  LOVE IT.  Lack of exercise and poor nutrition was messing with my sleep which was basically making me a bitch to be around.

I fell off the wagon and it sucked. I had enough of living an unhealthy life and I was ready to jump in and take control.

I connected up with my friend Rose who was running a fitness challenge group.  In the group we would be doing the Insanity Max 30 workout.  I told Scott that I was going to do this and he jumped on board as well.  We were all in and ready to get started.

We started the challenge the week before Christmas.  We don’t travel for the holidays so sticking to an exercise routine wasn’t going to be an issue for us.  I was excited and totally ready to get started.

Being completely upfront and honest, I had my doubts about this program.  I’m a little skeptical of at-home workout programs.  I don’t know why, but I just have it in my head that they are not effective.  Maybe it’s all the cheesy workout commercials that are on TV.  Maybe it’s from watching my mom try to Jane Fonda her way to a flatter stomach when I was a kid.

Somehow I came to the conclusion that working out at home isn’t really a workout.

But I was committed because I had to do something.  Going to a gym isn’t an option and running is off the table for now.

Scott and I started this program and never looked back.  It has been amazing.  At first I was going to write a pros and cons list but I couldn’t come up with any cons.  Truth.

DETAILS

The workouts are 30 minutes long and which makes it really easy to fit into the day.

There’s no equipment needed.  The workouts alternate between cardio on some days and strength training on others.  No weights needed for strength training, it is all body weight movements (think pushups, squats).

Each workout, I burned between 250-350.  More calories if the workout was cardio based and less for more strength training.

There is a dedicated modifier which comes in handy if there are some moves you can’t do.  This program incorporates a lot of plyometric exercises so there is a lot of jump moves.  I personally cannot do most of that stuff because I have crappy knees plus I’m carrying around a lot of extra weight.  I modified some of the moves.

The idea is that you go until you Max Out.  Meaning, you go until you have to actually stop and take a break.  You write that time down and then jump back in and finish the workout.  You don’t stop at your max out time, you just make note of it and work to do better the next time.

The program is 2 months long, 5 days of exercise and two days off.  What I really enjoyed about this program was seeing improvement as I progressed through the workouts.

I got to a point where I could do some of the jumping moves.  I could go down farther in pushups and hold them longer.  Some of the moves that I wasn’t able to do at all, I was able to do by the end of the program.

Seeing improvement kept me going.  I also felt awesome after every workout.  Completely tired but awesome.  I love that feeling after a good workout when you got your butt kicked.

Plus since I was working out at home, I could hit the shower and put on my jammies right away.  This might be my favorite part!

I loved doing this workout program.  It pushed me, I was burning a good bit of calories, and I was getting a good sweat going.  I felt amazing.

RESULTS

By the end of the program I had lost 10 solid pounds.  I do not have before and after pictures to show you because I’m not at a point where I’m comfortable showing that publicly. I also didn’t take any measurements but I know that I lost some inches in my chest, stomach, and thighs.

I followed my own diet plan and I did this program over the holidays which meant we were still having some treats and I was drinking beer on the regular.  Despite all that, I was able to lose 10 pounds doing this program.  Scott thinks he lost around 5 pounds but I think he lost more than that.

For both of us, our stomach areas have gone down a great deal.  For me this is most noticeable because I can see that it’s not as big and I can feel that as well.  I can tell it’s missing which is such an odd sensation.

Because Scott’s stomach is a little flatter, his snoring has gone away which makes me giddy with happiness.  Snoring is caused by a lot of things and some of those things can be controlled with lifestyle changes.  Eating well and exercising can go a long way to kicking the snoring problem to the curb.

By the end of month two, Scott and I were able to go the full 30 minutes without stopping.  This is HUGE. The first week, I was maxing out at like 6 minutes in and by the end of the program I was able to go through the whole workout without stopping.

I plan on doing this program again in a couple of months.  I want to get better and work on being able to do most of the moves.

The next challenge I’m doing will be the 21 Day Fix Extreme.  It starts in a couple of weeks and is all encompassing as it focuses on exercise and portion control.  If you are looking to get healthy and want to join my challenge, just let me know!  I’ll be doing the workouts and going through the program with you so we can support each other.

Later this week I’ll talk about why this program gave me my fitness groove back and why it inspired me to become a Beachbody Coach.