IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Well, today is the day God placed me on this earth for his divine purpose and i'm overwhelmed with happiness!  I've been celebrating all weekend with family and friends (shopping, eating and spending quality time together) and I feel soooo spoiled, yet BLESSED!  Hubby outdid himself once again!  He did whatever it took to keep a smile on my face and for that I am grateful. I got my day started off right by holding true to my promise of another round of INSANITY!!!

Woo hoo!!! I did a nice warm up and then completed the fit test.  It felt REALLY good!  I'm hoping to crush all of my precious numbers and go extra hard this go 'round.  As you can see from the above pic, i've started to pack on a little more muscle due to my increased weight lifting in my little homemade garage gym.  I'm feeling soooo much stronger so hopefully the added muscle will give me a little more endurance over these next 59 days of INSANITY!

 

 

This afternoon, hubby and I enjoyed a wonderful lunch date to one of our favorite restaurants where we dined on crabcakes and tilapia!!!  I also indulged and some carrot cake :-).  Later, we spent the evening taking the kids to soccer practice... then we picked up my birthday cake and headed home to have a nice meal with dessert to follow.   I've enjoyed my day to the fullest!!!!

I cannot wait to get back into the swing of things with Insanity Day 2 (Plyometric Cardio Circuit) to see how quickly my body will adjust.  Ohhhhhhhhh, I finished the month of September with 116.3 miles for the 100 mile challenge.  I far exceeded my goal and I am beyond thrilled!  I've decided to put my half marathon training on hold until December.  I found another race that i'd like to run for my first half marathon (The Diva Run) and race day is in April.  This is a race for ladies only and it will be held in Myrtle Beach along the coast.  I'm sooooo excited about running it!  I'm going to continue to focus on building more strength, losing a few more pounds and gaining more muscle.... while increasing my speed and endurance.  I CAN DO IT!!!!

AND THE WINNER IS....

Hear ye, HEAR YE.... For those of you who don't know, I was a participant in a 3 month weight loss challenge that basically required me to work harder than hard, make an endless amount of sacrifices and seek GOD more than I ever have my entire LIFE!!!! SERIOUSLY!!! Well, I have just been informed that I WON THE WEIGHT LOSS CHALLENGE!!!!!!!!

This may not sound like a big deal to you but 100 people participated in this challenge and with the help of GOD I came out on top. I won $550 and a brand new Polar FT60 Heart Rate Monitor sponsored by Polar USA.  I'm still in total shock.... I just had to share. No matter where you are in your journey, DON'T EVER GIVE UP!!!! My biggest reward is not the money or the prize but the gift of a healthy life that money and prizes will never be able to buy :-)

I COMPLETED INSANITY!!!!!!

Woooooooo hooooooo!!!  I've conquered INSANITY and........  I'm completely EXHAUSTED!  Never before have I pushed myself beyond what I thought was possible as I have with INSANITY!  After completing Day one (June 4, 2012) I thought I was gonna die!  Seriously, I really did.  I had no idea what was instore BUT I knew that quitting wasn't an option for me AT ALL!  I was determined to continue to push until I couldn't push anymore. There wasn't a week that went by when I didn't question what I had gotten myself into.  There were many tear shed, a few doubtful moments, lot's of screaming, begging and moments when I thought I would literally drown in my own sweat and tears.  Yet, I continued to push!  Not only did I do INSANITY but I jogged/power walked after every workout (total of 147.55 miles of jogging/powerwalking), did strength training and family sports (soccer and tennis).  I chose not to follow the INSANITY nutrition plan because it just didn't fit my schedule and what I was currently eating worked great for me.  I stuck with eating lot's of protein and little to no red meat or pork, plenty of fruits/veggies/water and my daily multi vitamin.  I logged my food into MyFitnessPal daily and wore my bodybugg every day to track my daily calorie burn.  All of these things are what kept me on track toward reaching my goals.

Now that INSANITY is complete, I plan on focusing on building my strength, endurance and speed.  I will get in my daily runs (both indoors and outdoors), power walks and strength training at least 5 days a week.  I have an official half marathon that I will be running in February 2013.  Every month (starting in October) I will run a half marathon (the last day of each month) to see if I can 1. Complete it and 2. Shave seconds and minutes off of my time. I've pondered the idea of joining CrossFit or Bootcamp but for now, I will stick to what works best for me.  This month will be quite hectic with the kids' sports (soccer and football) and the start of a new school year.  I hope to come up with a concrete schedule by September that will intensify my training and help take me to the next level of fitness.  Here are several pictures of my progress from the weight loss competition as well well as my overall progress over the last 9 months.  I will have updated pics in November, as that will make my 1 year fitness anniversary :-)

This pic shows my weight loss throughout the 3 month competition:

The following pics show my progress from INSANITY Day 1- Day 63:

The next pic shows my "Fitness" at the present.... I'm still working on several areas :-)

The final pic shows my progress from before, after and present... 9 months of vigorous exercise/healthy eating: