I know it's been a while since I've written. Heck, it's been a while since I've even thought about writing.  This has been a heck of a semester. I make no excuses. My spare time has been spent sleeping or working out. I haven't even been keeping up on my personal development tasks, which is a really big deal for me.  I'm stretched very thin.

In the wake of my double exam day today, I'm giving myself an evening off from studying! I'm even having some weekday fun by going to dinner with my friend! So excited!

Anyways...I really felt the need to write something because I'm currently so proud of myself because for the first time in a long time I am in a health kick that has lasted.  So, let me tell you about it...

I finished the Daily HIIT 30 day challenge a bit late around the end of January and wanted something else that would push me really hard. Well, my friend from lab and I had been talking a lot about Insanity. I've always wanted to try Insanity! So, she loaned me the videos and oh my god, I'm in love! This is my kind of workout - through and through.  

As I've mentioned before, I don't really feel like I'm getting a good workout in unless there is a cardio component to it, but I don't like just running to fill that void because I don't feel like that is getting the weight aspect of a workout in.  I've always liked body weight exercises - essentially no equipment needed and you usually get cardio intermingled with weight lifting.  I really found that in BodyRock and Daily HIIT. But, man, Insanity is that on STEROIDS!

About 10 days into Insanity, I went out drinking with my labmates to celebrate the lab technician getting into graduate school. We all got drunk and I was suffering from the worst hangover the next day. So crippling that it felt like I had undone the last 10 days of Insanity work I had put in.  Plus, to top it all off, we had a women's day discussion where all of the PIs and graduate students got together to dicuss Women in Science.  And I felt so guilty for being there in the state I was in, feeling like I wasn't putting in the effort that I should've been, being that stereotypical person who is just partying their years away.  I wanted to be known as the person who invested more ino their life and into their science than that. So, I decided that day that I'd give up alcohol of any sort for the duration of Insanity.  And since then I have.  It's been 3 weeks and I haven't had so much of a beer to wind down at the end of the day. And I've felt so good!

In addition to that I decided to really commit to the nutrition portion of the Insanity challenge. I've been using a calorie counter on my iphone to keep track of my daily intake of food and keep it between 1800-2000 calories, preferably closer to 1800, as well as keeping my fat intake low (~20%) and my protein intake at a high level on par with my carbohydrate intake (40% each).  It's been challenging and I've really had to seek out recipes that are low carb high protein.  Carbs are very easy to fit into your day, and you do need them, especially when you're doing something physically demanding. But so much of our food intake is carbs, and it doesn't need to be. I've gone through almost a whole huge jug of chocolate whey protein powder, eat beef jerky like a fiend, and find myself to be never without my water bottle.  I also have come to the conclusion that tuna is the best thing ever and a really easy thing to up my protein intake and to incorporate into my lunches.

I am in a health kick that has lasted.I feel so good. I feel so strong. My arms have definition like they've never had, and my stomach is getting more sculpted. I'm even getting a little bit of a V-cut in my abs!  And the craziest thing is, I haven't lost any weight! I've actually been fluctuating around one of the heavier weights I've been at in a while, but my clothes still fit great and in some instances they fit better or looser.  It's strange to be almost at the weight I was pre-Weight Watchers, but in the same size clothes as I was post-Weight Watchers.  Just further proof that the scale can be deceiving!

I'm so excited about this, and am even more excited to start Insanity month 2 on Saturday and see where that month will take me!  See - it is possible to stay fit and healthy during graduate school! This isn't something that has to be sacrificed!

Until next time!