Ok...here we go. A new month....a new year. Time to get off our collective butts and push ourselves a little bit. This isn't about weight loss so much as it's about living/breathing/moving more...feeling better....improving the quality of our life through fitness. Not to mention pushing ourselves to do a little more than we thought we could.

As always....set a goal for yourself. Something that you know will be challenging. State what your goal is....then come back every chance you get to update your progress.

Make your goal something specific and measurable. XXX miles walking/running/cycling/ellipticing/swimming/crossfitting/weightlifting. Or XXX hours working out this month.....XXX times going to the gym this month....whatever you want.

Here's mine....120 miles running and 12,000 meters swimming. Plus I'm doing the pull up challenge every other day, hoping to work my way up to being able to do a pull up sometime soon.

Everybody join in. This is a new year. Exercise and fitness will make you feel better, help you sleep, speed up your metabolism, increase our strength and stamina, lengthen your life....and make you look better naked. Face it, we could all use that.

Edited January 1, 201412 yr by Butterthebean

I did it! I walked 10 minutes today. My word for the year is "WALK". Right now my neck and back are killing me...but I walked!!

Way to go!

Butter and Rib: You make me sound like an airhead who expected to go from a size 20 to a 4 in a month while eating carrot sticks. A giant "no duh" to the fact that fitness is a lifelong commitment, and a giant "yes indeed, Sherlock!" to eating and drinking properly and that the body will not complete some magical transformation in such a short time.

HOWEVER.

It is not a pipe dream to think that, eating good clean Proteins, low carb, vegetables, lots of Water and Vitamins and sleep and an intense fitness regimen COULD, nay should? yield some kind of something after a month. C'mon, it is not unreasonable to hope that perhaps a pair of pants might fit better, perhaps 1 or 2 pounds might drop, perhaps strength might increase. But according to my scale, my jeans, and my fit test results, none of those things have happened.

I'm not going to eat just to pump up the calories, I need to eat clean for many serious reasons and there is only so much healthful food I can get my hands on.

I'm frustrated.

You know what, I am so disappointed in the "results" from Insanity that I am rethinking my January challenge. 30 days in and if I stare really really hard at a photo I can maybe see a TINY change in my ribcage line from behind, otherwise no changes whatsoever - not on the scale, not in the clothes, not in pictures - nothing. Yes, I AM capable of doing SOME of the exercises more thoroughly now, but my balance has not improved. My point is, is that I have committed in good faith and this program has not delivered. Plus all this cardio I think is actually shooting me in the foot for weight loss, I take in about 1000-1200 cals on Insanity days. What do you think Fiddle? I'm thinking of dropping Insanity alltogether and just doing weights instead.

I agree with BTB and that it takes time to change body composition.

Read the following insanity review (if you have not already):

http://www.lifestyleupdated.com/insanity-workout-review/

Specifically, the section titled:

How Quickly Will The Results Come From The Insanity Workout?

"Then maybe somewhere by the end of the first month you will think that there is no more improvement, but you will be wrong, as the results will come till the end, and even after finishing the Insanity workout.

There is rarely an insanity workout review out there that points that you will see results even after the 60 day period is over."

From my experience and research, it takes about 12 weeks to realize a change in your body composition. I know you have read "Strength for life"; the program is 12 weeks long. And the results do not really appear until the last 3 weeks when the intensity of exercise increases and your body has time to be fully aligned with proper balanced nutrition and Water intake. The net effect of any exercise, weight training and nutritional program is accumulative where results take time to realize. The "body for life" program is the same way. And so is the DVD program called "you are your own gym " (My personal favorite). It was about 6 months until I got the body composition results I was after. And they did not appear until after I finished the "you are your own gym" exercise program (3 days a week) and cross fit PT 2 days a week (for 6 months).

Switching to CF 5 days a week was the catalyst my body needed to realize the body composition change. That was after 6 months of a lot of daily work in terms of working out and paying close attention to diet. It is important to stick with a program long enough and to progressively make it more intense every few weeks (or more insane, in your case) in order to realize the benefits. There is no magic bullet, just a life-based discipline to keep at it even when results do not appear to be keeping up with effort. Hope this helps.

Sorry you're frustrated globe. I know it's gotta be agonizing. My only point was....hang in there. Keep doing the right things and give it more time. You're improving your health everyday even if you don't see it. Eventually the results will become visible.

Thanks for facilitating the Fitness Challenge again this month, Butter!

OK - so I'm cleared for all exercise now, so I guess I'm on the hook to start doing some light resistance training starting with my upper body.

I'm going to do:

12 days of "push" exercises

12 days of "pull" exercises

85 miles on the elliptical & treadmill

(I'm off to a good start on the miles - I did 3.8 miles yesterday!)

Happy new year to everyone! Here's to your health!

(My edit - I just increased my milage by 5 miles...What am I thinking??????? LOL )

Edited January 2, 201412 yr by McButterpants

Ouch, hope the ice is helping -- two toes in a few months....painful! Are you rolling over as you run? Husband has a dropped foot and there are amazing orthotics out there. He has a brace but there are much subtler devices. May be worth a trip to the podiatry unit.

LOL.. Thanks but anyone who knows me knows I won't be wearing any orthotics. My problem is I trail run in vibrams which offer no protection when you stub your toe on a hidden tree root while barreling through the forest. Occasionally these things happen.

It's not my first broken toe and likely won't be the last. The way I look at it....it's less painful than dying from obesity.

Fiddle - thank you for the research, I think perhaps that "insanity" just isn't for me, you mentioned that it wasn't until you did the Your Body is the Gym thing that you saw results. When I was doing crossfit I was only doing it 3x a week and after one month my a$$ looked GOOD!! In my frustration I was willing to overlook the fact that I am definitely stronger, more able to attempt -sometimes even complete- all the moves. But Insanity just isn't my thing I guess. When any of you were really hitting the gym hard because you were still losing your weight, did any of you work out like a maniac while eating perfectly and NOT lose weight? Because that is the situation.

It's possible that you're building muscle. I haven't been losing too quickly the last few weeks but one positive I notice is that considering what my weight is, I'm wearing at least a size smaller than I was the last time I weighed this much.

not wearing a smaller size, same clothes and bra still fit the same.

how does the 30 burpees a day challenge work? Progressive? Unbroken? With or without weights? There are so many variations. For example, Over the box- burpee, jump over the 24" box, burpee, repeat ( onto box is easier) Over the bar - burpee, jump over the barbell, burpee, repeat Over the erg- burpee, jump over the rower, burpee, repeat Burpee pull-up- burpee, jump into a pull-up, drop, repeat Burpee broad jump, burpee, broad lateral jump, repeat

Just do 30 burpees a day no matter what. Any variation you choose. I am going to start doing over the box this week to add a degree of difficulty to my (now named thanks to fiddle man) Manmakers holding 30lb dumb bells.

I don't run I have never been able to run. I don't like going to the gym. I love to Zumba I have been slacking I hope to get back into the swing of things. I was going everyday of the week one hour a day. Some days 1 1/2 hours a day. I can do so much more today than I could do just over a year ago.

One CF session down, 9 or 10 to go...

3.75 miles in today...MTD is now 8.4 miles.

750 yards swimming. Really was not feeling it. Fluff...I know you can relate to this since you swim regularly....but it hurt my broken toe to kick my feet in the freestyle. I could do side stroke and breast stroke with no pain. Those frog kicks didn't seem to bother me. Unfortunately I suck at breast stroke....and both of those strokes are more tiring to me so I did not get my full distance.

I hope I can return to running in a couple of days.

Meanwhile...here's a little piggy that is nicely swollen.

750 yards swimming. Really was not feeling it. Fluff...I know you can relate to this since you swim regularly....but it hurt my broken toe to kick my feet in the freestyle. I could do side stroke and breast stroke with no pain. Those frog kicks didn't seem to bother me. Unfortunately I suck at breast stroke....and both of those strokes are more tiring to me so I did not get my full distance. I hope I can return to running in a couple of days. Meanwhile...here's a little piggy that is nicely swollen.

OMG BUTTER!! And you still go on...you're my hero!