Insanity Workout - Week 1

So this is my results for the first week of Insanity. This picture is taken after my Insanity so im a bit sweaty here :P

I have been eating around 2000-2500 cals a day. Normally fruits for breakfast and lunch and a big salad and cooked vegetables - sweet potato, corn, zucchini, carrots, mushrooms. 2 times i ate noodles with that as well and some days it was oatmeal with rice milk and raisins.

On monday i also went to the gym to try this RPM cycle class (which i enjoyed and maybe gonna go again) and 2 times jogging on the beach.

I feel some exercises have gone a little bit easier and i feel more strong, but its still a hard workout. I see my sweat drops dropping on the floor while doing push-ups! :D But, im tempted to do 20 mins maybe 2 times a row some days, since i know that the original Insanity is varying between 40-50 mins a day!

My weight is still same, but i kinda feel some difference for sure! :)

Insanity Workout - Day 2

Day 2 - i feel very motivated and good. So far my leg, stomach and arm muscles are hurting already! I feel its working. After this 20 min workout im sweating and gasping :P I have experienced so much more energy, im dancing around my room and just feel so good. It might be "exercisers high" or maybe just my imagination :)

As you can see i have very little muscle tone and i wanna get into a better shape.

in the mornings and lunch time i still eat my bananas either in a smoothie or ice cream, with dates, berries or greens. In the evening i eat my big salad with steamed-cooked veggies or oatmeal with rice milk and raisins. I eat about 2000-2500 cals a day right now.

I am not 100% raw after two weeks trying, even eating 3000 cals a day i felt cravings for cooked food, so to prevent them to get worse i just returned to my low fat vegan meals and currently im very happy about my diet - always room to improve though! :)

This time i decided to try to eat about 2000 cals (or more if i feel like it) a day. Just because i have been questioning why douglas Graham recommends about 2000 cals diet. In one video he says that average man needs about 2700 cals a day, woman 2/3 of it, which is about 1800 cals, little bit more if you are athletic. Also Megan Elizabeth eats only 2000 cals a day, fruitarian Anne Osbourne eats 1500-2000 cals a day, Kristina Carillo-Bucaram recommends 2000 cals, she eats 2500-3000 cals personally, but she highlights that she is a long distance runner and running 6 miles every day! And even i have heard that Michael Arnstein said that after some years eating so many calories from fruit he feels that he dont need that much anymore. So thats why i wanna try eating 2000-2500 cals a day, will see how it goes...

I decided that im gonna post new pictures rather in a longer period of time, because otherwise its gonna take 60 posts! and you really cant see much difference in every post. So maybe gonna post new pictures in every 10 days or smth :)

Insanity Workout - Day 1

Today i started doing the Insanity Workout 60 day Challenge!!!

Insanity is a maximum interval training workout program. You do it 60 days, 6 days a week 20-45 minutes a day.

Look here to see what this Insanity actually is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLK28BHJDd8

I dont have the original DVD (yet) so i just do it with this youtube video which is only 20 min training: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kuy4x_viY4M

It is ONLY 20 minutes a day and in two months you can completely transition your body, at least thats what they say...and thats what hundreds of testimonials and before and after pictures tells you also :)

I started this challenge with a friend, so we both can motivate each other. We´ll see how we go, but right now im am sooooo excited about this!

They also recommend a special "clean" eating plan: lean meats, vegetables, protein powders...but im not gonna follow this one obviously...i have my healthy and even CLEANER diet :P

I just give it a shot, i have nothing to lose. Only some obnoxious fat...:P'

My day 1 picture:

Eating a Natural Diet is 50% and exercise is another 50% of a 100% health

A regular exercise program is the best insurance health policy. Even, ironically, 2 to 3 hours of vigorous exercise daily can help keep a meat-eating, cooked-food athlete - who secures enough rest and sleep to compensate for such activity - fairly healthy! For example my dad eats a "normal" diet (read: 5 food group "balanced" diet with meat, dairy, vegetables, grains etc.) and does a regular exercise - skiing in winter, running, biking, hes work is often in the nature and so on - and he is in a very good shape compared to other people on the same age on a same diet.

It is important to understand that sustained aerobic exercise of half to 1 hour causes blood to rush through our vessels several times over normal, resting conditions. Imagine - within minutes, each individual cell is suddenly immersed in a gushing, rushing torrent of nutrients which bathe the cells.

The blood transport the nutrients, including oxygen to the intestinal tissue fluid. The blood and lymph transport metabolic wastes and toxins to the elimination channels. during exercise, therefore, the accelerated oxygenation improves cellular metabolism: and the higher body temperature mobilizes waste by-products for the accelerated elimination. And because both the blood and lymph circulation are greatly increased during exercise, toxic build-up is reversed.

A person can hardly do anything better each day than work up a good sweat. If you are already on a Ideal Diet - congratulations! - but without regular exercise you simply cannot be fully healthy, period! Without sustained, strenuous sweating your eliminations of fat cells and other wastes are virtually nil.

You can see this unhealthy tissue hanging all over your body as cellulite, for example, or by various skin symptoms, such as acne and psoriasis. But have you ever noticed the healthy glowing rosy cheeks of a person who has just exercised? It is because of the greatly increased blood flow and with it, the oxygenation and cleansing of every cell in the body.

And it is proved by science that persons Basal Metabolic Rate is increased for several hours after exercise! This means that oxygenation and elimination are also multiplied 24 hours a day over the exercise era of one´s life.

People who are new to the low fat raw vegan (or cooked) vegan lifestyle tend to focus primarily, if not entirely, on the diet. But this is really only a half of the solution. Fruits and vegetables are good, but not enough. If we really want health we must earn it - work for it.

I recommend to eat a lot of fruits for fueling your body to work out and big green salads to balance it with minerals. If you eat 2000-3000 cals or more natural foods in a day you will have the willpower and wish to exercise! I use to be a lazyass myself. I just couldnt go out for a jog. It was so hard and i had to force myself. And often i gave up completely after just few weeks. But now, while eating lots of fruits, some cooked vegetables and fresh greens (2500-3000 cals a day) i WANT TO exercise. I regularly exercise 3-4 times a week. Normally i go out for a jog in the mornings for 45 minutes and it feels so good. So eat right so you will have the power and will to exercise. But dont just eat healthy and expect complete health, because food is 50% and exercise is another 50% of 100% health.

May 14

Breakfast: 10 bananas, 4 dates smoothie

Lunch: 8 bananas, 5 dates smoothie

Dinner: 5 navel oranges, 5 bananas

Cals: 3251

Have a long day today, which means housekeeping from 9am-2pm and dish washing from 5pm-00:30am.

May 13 - Housekeeping exercise challenge

Breakfast: 10 bananas, 5 dates smoothie

Lunch: 10 bananas, 6 dates smoothie

Dinner: Big salad of lettuce, spinach, tomato, zucchini, celery, carrot, corn

Cals: 3359

Running at the beach 45 mins

We were so busy at work today, at housekeeping. We had like million check-outs today! I love to work quick, being slow makes it all just boring and tiring. So i made a challenge to myself today to finish all the rooms and laundry by 2 pm (started at 9). It was kinda like a big workout day for me :D Luckily i was with a Taiwan girl called Vicky, who is very fast also. So we did like 4 rooms at a time:  all bathrooms, then all beds, then all floors and so on. It was much more faster that way. We have to wash the laundry as well, so we cant clean the rooms all the time, sometimes we have to go and put another load of laundry on or hang them out to dry. Constantly running up and down the stairs, which is great exercise of course :P And we finished exactly at 2pm :)

So i hope you are inspired by this to squeeze some extra exercise into your busy day :) You can do a similar "workout" cleaning your own house ;)

May 12 - Gary Yourofsky

Breakfast: Dateoride with 20 dates and 1 liter of water

Lunch: 12 navel oranges, 2 kg

Dinner: 17 dates with lettuce and few celery sticks, 1 corn kernel

Cals: 3706

Yesterday evening i ate more dates, 14 of them. So my yesterdays calorie count was actually 4133 :P

I ate them while watching Gary Yourofsky´s inspirational and educational speech about animal rights and veganism. I had seen it before, but this time my boyfriend had translated all of it into Estonian language, so you can actually watch it with stonian subtitles on Youtube :) You can see the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es6U00LMmC4

By the way, if you want to translate this video to your language, just write to: hovav14@gmail.com and he will direct you to a page where you can do it very easily. I wanted to have it in my language so i can share it with my family who dont understand english very good. So they will see, why i decided to become vegan. I encourage you to share this video to people who might benefit from it...this means actually - to everybody :P

His informative website: http://www.adaptt.org/

Because we watched his speech until about 11pm, i wanted to get as much sleep as possible and didnt go to run this morning. But i plan to go to bed early today so i can go for a run tomorrow before work :)

I used to had to make myself to do exercise, now i WANT to. I have never exercised so consistently in my life as i have done this year, for 4 months straight. I dont do much, but i do enough. When i eat raw i feel like exercising, but when i eat junk...BAM!!! i HATE exercising :) So eat lots of fruits and vegetables and you will feel like moving yourself, it gives you energy, the fruit sugar our body needs to thrive. Even when you are full of fruit and you cant eat more, you somehow feel lighter than if full on junk, because fruit digests so quickly and easily. It gives you energy after meal instead feeling like taking a nap :P

May 11 - My first before and after pics!!!

Breakfast: 11 bananas, 6 dates smoothie

Lunch: 9 oranges, later 7 banana smoothie with 6 dates

Dinner: big salad with lettuce, spinach, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, champinjons, corn

Cals: 3433

Went running this morning at the beach for 45 mins.

So here goes my first before and after pictures. But im sure theres more to come ;)

BEFORE

Picture on the left was taken in August 2011, picture on the right was taken in December, when i was my heaviest ever 64 kg. It was my first year struggling with raw foods. I was on and off raw foods and cooked junk foods. I was constantly undereating raw fruits, so i binged like 3 months straight! 

AFTER

Pictures taken this morning May 11, 2012. Weighing 59 kg (im 160 cm). In January i started slowly transitioning to raw foods. I couldnt do it overnight as you can see on pictures above, so i was taking it slowly this time. I became cooked low fat vegan first. Then step-by-step leaving out salt, condiments and grains from my menu and simplifying my diet more and more until i was eating only sweet potatoes and steamed corn for dinner as my only cooked meal with a big salad. So i was eating already about 80-90% raw foods (fruits for breakfast and lunch). But this time i have never restricted my calories. Currently i have been 100% raw only 1 week, but i will see how it goes. If not, i will return to my sweet potato and corn, no biggy ;) As you can see from my posts before i eat 3000 cals or more, but i feel lihter, because its fruits and vegetables! :) Eating the way nature desiged for us. No need to cook your meal or disguise it with condiments. My digestion is amazing, my skin is clear, i have more energy and i feel healthy :)

May 10 - eating and doing nothing :)

Breakfast: 10 banana and 6 date smoothie

Lunch: 7 bananas, half a little pineapple smoothie, 1,5 cup coconut water and 7 dates

Dinner: 2 banana ice cream with 5 dates, 3 bananas and cinnamon, big salad with lettuce, spinach, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, celey, 1 corn kernel and 1 carrot

Cals: 3890

Yahoo! almost 4000 cals today :D what can i say, i had time to eat! lovin it!


Today i have a free day from work and tomorrow as well :) Today i did no exercise, just resting. Went to the shop to buy a big load of salad material and a 15 kg banana box and 3 small boxes of dates.

Me and my boyfriend are travelling in Australia, staying in Broome currently and work here to save up some money to go back to Estonia for few months and maybe even to Thailand or Indonesia for few weeks to eat some DURIAN :)

Anyways...i am working in housekeeping 5 days a week, and in the evening washing dishes 3 times a week. Some days i have 12 hour workday. Housekeeping is very good workout - i am constantly running around, making beds, mopping floors, cleaning and doing lots of loundry. 5 hours housekeeping burns about 1000 cals! And at dishwashing i have to be very fast, constantly moving and holding heavy pots and plates, carrying dishes from one kitchen to other and so on. Its about 7 hours and another 700 cals.

In December i was weighing 64 kg, this morning i was 59 kg! I would like to be somewhere around 54 kg, but i dont wanna pay too much attention on my weight, but just how i feel and to be healthy.  I am not gonna restrict my calories, i just eat as much as i want.

When eating raw, i have very good elimination and going to nr.2 about 4 times a day. when i was low fat (cooked) vegan it was only about 1 time a day, maybe 2. My skin has got so much better! I used to have very bad ACNE. I was using a lot of make-up every day and had a facial 1-2 times a month! No i dont use any creams, or face washes or make-up. I just eat fresh fruit and vegetables and my skin is clear! :)

My hair started to fall out about 4 years ago. It came out in big bunches and shower was covered with hair and also i had to sweep the floor every time after brushing my hair :S But now i have very little hair falling out and i have tons of new hair growing which are about 10 cm long now :)

ok, next post tomorrow ;)

May 9

Breakfast: 10 bananas, 6 dates smoothie

Lunch: 10 bananas, 7 dates moothie

Dinner: 3 banana ice cream, 9 dates wrapped in lettuce

Cals: 3482

Monday, tuesday, wednesday i work 12-13 hours a day so i have no time to write more about my day. But i try to include more information on the other days :)

May 8

Breakfast: 10 banas, 6 dates smoothie

Lunch: 2 banana ice cream, 6 dates, 9 bananas

Dinner: 6 bananas, 1 zucchini, 2 corn kernels

Cals 3618

May 7

Breakfast: 8 bananas, 4 dates amoothie

Lunch: 10 bananas, 6 dates smoothie

Dinner: Banana-date dessert: 3 chopped bananas, 6 chopped dates with 2 banana ice cream and cinnamon

Cals: 2973

At lunchtime i was very hungry already, probably should have had more cals for breakfast...

May 6

Running at the beach 45 mins

Breakfast: 9 bananas, 4 dates smoothie

Lunch: 10 bananas, 6 dates smoothie, 1 small head of iceberg lettuce

Dinner: 6 bananas, simple salad with 1 big zucchini noodles and 2 big corn kernels

Cals: 3538

May 5

Running at the beach 30 min

Breakfast: 8 bananas, 6 dates smoothie

Lunch:  1 litre coconut water, Apple Pie in a Glass x2: frozen banana cream mixed with apple, dates and cinnamon (See recipe in 80/10/10 recipe section).

Dinner: grapefruit, little bit of pineapple, iceberg lettuce

Cal: 2829