The Big Reveal

Well It’s been 10 weeks since I started this journey, so I figured a post about where I started with my weight and measurements and where I’m at now would make for a good closing post. I am no where near done with this journey but these past weeks have been incredibly beneficial for me. I’ve gotten to try out several different programs before deciding to stick with my favorite. It’s nice to explore and see what’s out there so I know what options I have if I ever want to change it up a bit. Now on to those stats!

As I mentioned earlier, I still have a ways to go before I reach my goal (and healthy) weight of 135-140 but I feel like I have the tools I need to get me there. I’m working hard to keep my diet in check but one of the most beneficial tools to aid in this effort has been the My Fitness Pal app. This is such a great and easy diet aid, basically just helps you keep track of everything you’ve eaten for the day and it also tells you about the nutritional components of each meal and offers suggestions (or warnings when you are getting close to go over your goals for the day). I definitely recommend checking that out and possibly adding it to your tool belt of weight loss aids. Thank you for reading along and joining me through this part of my journey! I wish you all the best of luck in reaching your personal goals!!

You Can’t Outrun Your Fork

When I started this blog I was determined not to harp on nutrition but it is so key to any health regimen that, no matter what workout program you’ve decided on, if you aren’t choosing to eat healthy you won’t get far. There are so many nutrition blogs out there and every single workout plan I’ve tried through BeachBody has it’s own meal plan. I would just like to list a couple of my favorites and hit on some of the key aspects of each.

T25   

We all know that this workout regimen is geared towards those of us that are constantly complaining about not having enough time to get healthy. Their workout requires minimal time and even their meal plan is quick and easy. It really focuses on getting in 3 main meals with 2 snacks each day and they’ve simplified this process by suggesting good nutritious meals that only require 5 ingredients and minimal prep time. They give you some simple equations to figure out what calorie range you land in and then suggest foods that’ll help you stay in that range. This plan is my favorite, I’m a big fan of fast simplicity.

21 Day Fix 

This program comes with 7 containers and each container corresponds with a different food group (fruits, veggies, protein…etc.). The main point with this plan is portion control. To start you figure out what calorie range you’re in (same as T25) and then you have a tally sheet to use daily so you can keep track of how many of each container you consumed for that day. This plan suggests two different ways of spreading out your containers. The energy balancer suggests the familiar 3 meals with 2 snacks option and the fat burner option opts for 6 meals a day, every 2 hours. This plan is great for those of us that want to eat what we like but need some help in controlling how much of each food group we are consuming each day. This plan isn’t the best for me simply because I’m not huge on meal prep and planning all of the meals for my entire day.

There are so many more nutrition plans out there but the jist of it comes down to spreading out your meals to include 5-6 smaller meals throughout your day and choose healthy options that are high in nutrition value (also called high density) and low in calories. Also, make sure you are including the recommended servings from each food group. http://choosemyplate.gov/ is such an amazing resource with so many different tips and they’ll even help you create a meal plan (if these others aren’t working for you), I would definitely recommend checking them out!

Honesty is the Best Policy!

Insanity: The Asylum is not just hard, it’s quite frankly insane! And time consuming! I honestly did that program for two days before I gave up and went back to my all time favorite workout regimen, T25. I’m not just a single mother of two (which would make my schedule crazy enough) but I’m also a college student, which means I have little to no time for self-improvement. Which is why I can’t stick with these programs that have 45-90 minute workouts every single day. I need something that will allow me to get in and get fit without compromising those precious few hours while my children are at school (and I’m not).

Since I was trying to push myself, I started on the first week of T25 Beta, which is kind of like the intermediate level (gamma would be the advanced). I am happy to report that after that first week I was down 5 pounds and lost 2 inches around my waist (which is my target area), so it wasn’t a complete bust!  Here’s what the Beta calendar consists of:

I didn’t do the doubles option, I chose to do the core cardio on Saturday instead. To be honest this is the workout regimen for me, I’ve lost the desire to try out other programs. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it! However, if you haven’t found the program that works best for you I would highly recommend trying out a few before you financially commit to one. Here’s some additional blogs that might be worth checking out if you’re still wanting an outsiders opinion

• P90x Review
• BeachBody Coach Review
• 21 Day Fix Review
• BeachBody On Demand Review

Entering the Asylum!

This week I wanted to start on Insanity: The Asylum. This is an extreme high-intensity workout program that is marketed towards athletes. Here is a little summary of the workouts they introduce in this program

This program has it’s own version of the Fit Test that I completed last week with the original Insanity program

The workouts are segmented into 5 day chunks. The scheduled week of workouts for the first 5 days is as follows:

• Monday – Speed and Agility
• Tuesday – Strength
• Wednesday – Back to Core
• Thursday – Vertical Plyo (that sounds fun…)
• Friday – Rest Day (Yay!)

This program also requires a lot more equipment, such as a varied set of dumbbells, a speed rope (jump rope) and an agility ladder. Most of which I already have, except for the ladder. I’ll have to check my local sporting goods store and see if I can obtain one of those (I thought about just making the outline on my floor with some duct tape but I’m not sure how well that would work).

Since this is going to be the hardest program I have attempted so far I’m going to stick with it for more than just 1 week before going onto the bigger and badder Vol. 2 version. So next week I’ll add my Fit Test results and some measurements to see what kind of improvement I’ve gotten through these programs.

If you’re looking for another fitness blog, or just general health related information, The BeachBody Blog is a great resource with a lot of awesome tips and topics! Feel free to check it out!

The Road To Change

Lately I’ve been finding myself in a pretty deep rut with this fitness journey. I’ve been following a healthy meal plan and getting in different workouts but the results just aren’t there. I realized that it is time to step out of my workout comfort zone and start on a program that will really push me. I’m not happy about it but the road to change is rarely (if ever) an easy one. Although, once you get past the anxiety and fear of pushing yourself to new heights, the outcome is usually worth all of the pain and then some.

So, for the next three weeks I will be embarking on a journey that I like to call The Insanity Series. This morning I did the fit test for the original Insanity    

I will be making my way through the first week of workouts for that program, which looks like this:

• Monday – Fit Test
• Tuesday – Plyometric Cardio Circuit
• Wednesday – Cardio Power & Resistance
• Thursday – Cardio Recovery
• Friday – Pure Cardio
• Saturday – Plyometric Cardio Circuit
• Sunday – die… uhm, I mean rest…

Then next week I will begin with another fit test but I will be moving on to the first week of Insanity: The Asylum (so not excited for that) and I’ll finish out the third week by trudging through the beginning week of Insanity: The Asylum Vol. 2…… Wish me luck!

If you are still on the fence about starting an at home workout regimen my friend Crystal is an amazing BeachBody Coach. She is incredibly helpful and would love to answer any questions or concerns you have. Her website is http://www.teambeachbody.com/CRYSD13 and she also has a facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CrystalDaviesHealthFitness

Shake it Move it!

This week I was working through Sean T’s Hip Hop abs. This is a fun, heart pumping, sweat inducing dance workout regimen. I feel like it was much less intense compared with the other workout programs I’ve been trying and it was great to change things up a bit! You can tell right away that this is an older program (with a bit of a 90’s vibe) just by comparison of the trainers; Sean T looks so young! I feel like this workout was before he really solidified himself as an extreme workout-generating machine. Here’s the breakdown of workouts and the calendar to follow along with

These workouts start out really basic and allow you to work your way up to the advanced dance moves, which was REALLY nice for me. Here’s a little clip from the fat burning cardio segment

Just to harp a little more on the benefits of Beachbody’s On Demand, I was able to access more than just the workouts for this program. There’s a section for downloading the calendar, the quick start guide, nutrition guide and so much more! If you haven’t already at least checked it out, I would strongly encourage you to do so! Again, you can find all the information about the On Demand program here: http://club.teambeachbody.com/

Let’s Lower that Stress Level!

I don’t know about you but I am incredibly indecisive and one of the most anxiety invoking past-times is choosing an at-home-workout regimen. There’s nothing worse than spending a ton of money on a program that you realize you absolutely hate after the first time you hit play. That is one of the main reasons I wanted to start doing these posts. I wanted to give people some insight into these different workouts offered through Beachbody so you could start to see what may or may not work for you.

This week, however, I want to go into detail about one of the coolest things I think the company has come up with thus far. It’s called Beachbody On Demand and it is a program that allows you to instantly stream several of their at-home-workouts wherever you may be (so long as you have an internet connection and obviously a device to receive said connection and view the workouts on).

This is such a great idea!! It allows you to try out several different regimens without having to commit entirely (and financially) to that one program – so if it sucks you can move to the next one! The workouts that you start out with range from hardcore intense regimens like Insanity and P90X (1, 2 and 3!) to – what I consider – less intense and more fun focused regimens such as Hip Hop Abs and Tai Cheng.  

I’ve been dying to try out Chalene’s Piyo for weeks now. Unfortunately it wasn’t part of the stream-able workouts (a little disappointing) but they do have this section of sneak peaks and in there they had Piyo Sweat, so I did get to try at least one of the workouts and that was a real eye-opener. Turns out I’m not as much of a Piyo enthusiast as a thought! That experience, however, just added to my enthusiasm for this On Demand option. I would encourage anyone that’s a little unsure of what they might be looking for when it comes to these programs to consider trying this out, even if it’s just for the 30-day free trail period. You can find all the information you might need here http://club.teambeachbody.com/

This week I wanted to go for something a little lighter and more fun, so I’m going to be trying out Sean T’s Hip Hop Abs, who doesn’t love to dance?? Should be a blast, I’ll let you know all about it next week!

You Win Some, You Lose Some

Ever have one of those want-to-hide-under-a-rock-because-nothing-went-right type days? Well that was me, all week. This past week was an epic fitness-journey fail, so much so that I’m actually ashamed to be writing this post. However, I think it is safe to assume that we are all human on here and every single one of you has been where I am, maybe more than once. If not, well more power to you (and would you like to write this blog for me??). Okay, pity party over, let’s get down to this week’s exercise regimen.

Ever heard of 21 Day Fix, created by the lovely Autumn Calabrese? Well she came out with a revamped version, cleverly titled 21 Day Fix Extreme. Having been working through the challenging Focus T25, I thought I could easily jump right into this one…. Yeah, that was a mistake. Not only does this regimen consist of daily workouts (which I totally did not keep up with) but you also have the option of upgrading to the ultimate kit and tormenting yourself with doubles on four of the seven days.

Another damper in my overly enthusiastic approach was the fact that you need a lot more equipment (compared to T25). To be exact, a heavy-set of dumbbells, a light-set of dumbbells and a resistance band are needed for each workout (and a medium-set of dumbbells for the core-focused doubles option). May not sound like a lot to some people but for me that was a major hurdle. In fact I tried to get away with just a heavy-set of dumbbells and the resistance band that I already had but that did not play out so well.

Since I was only able to get through three of the seven weekly workouts, I decided that I couldn’t really give this regimen a fair review. For those of you that haven’t tried the original 21 Day Fix this site gives a pretty detailed review of it and what it is all about http://unlockweightloss.com/ and I would definitely recommend checking that out before trying to attempt the Extreme version. If, however, you are ready to move on to the next challenge in the 21 Day Fix series then I would check out this awesome bloggers review http://soreyfitness.com/beachbody-2/21-day-fix-extreme/ 

I’m still trying to decide if I should stick this out for another week or cut my losses and move on to another regimen….. I guess we’ll find out next week.

Ready… Set… Focus!

The first week… always the hardest. You’re trying to rearrange your schedule to fit in a workout, redo your meal plans to include healthy and nutritious choices and convince yourself that you really do want to hit that play button each day… This first week was also made that much more difficult for me personally because my nephew was staying with us for the duration of his spring break and my usual schedule with my children was completely thrown out of whack. Add to that the fact that the only TV in the house (and consequently the one I need to use for my workouts) was constantly claimed for ps3 games with the occasional Netflix break. So, now that I’ve gotten my excuses out of the way, let’s get down to the actual workout program. This week I was trying one of Beachbody’s newest hits – from the amazing Shaun T – Focus T25!

Focus T25 is a workout regimen designed specifically for those of us with less than optimal schedules and little to no time for exercise (as we often claim). The program is split into two phases: alpha and beta. Alpha phase is the starting point and the workouts in this phase are geared towards building good form and a solid foundation to set you up for the beta phase. The program also comes with a calendar for both phases, each lasting 5 weeks. The workouts are scheduled for Monday through Friday (with Friday being an optional double-day). Since I only get one week for each workout program I can only tell you about the Alpha phase. The first week of Alpha phase is as follows:

• Monday – Cardio
• Tuesday – Speed 1.0
• Wednesday – Total Body Circuit
• Thursday – Ab Intervals
• Friday – Lower Focus (optional Cardio as a double)
• Saturday – rest
• Sunday – Stretch 

Although alpha phase is the starting point, these workouts are not classified as easy in my book. In order to fit these intense workouts into only 25 minutes there are no breaks and no introduction to any of the movements. Basically you get to learn everything as you go and it might take a few times before you actually have the moves down to a point where you can finally start to push yourself and get the full benefit of each segment. There is also a modifier, doing each move with decreased impact while still keeping a solid tempo, for beginners and anyone concerned with the possibility of injury. One of the best aspects of this program is that very little equipment is needed, a yoga mat and light weight dumbbells or resistant band (included with the set) is pretty much all you’ll need. Most of the workouts, especially in the alpha phase, use your own body weight to provide the resistance. One of the biggest challenges with this program is the fact that you have to be motivated and willing to push yourself (I was burning over 500 calories on that first Cardio workout). Because if you come at these workouts with an attitude of minimalism and only give half effort for those 25 minutes you will not see the results you’re hoping to achieve.

So, to reiterate, the good points of Focus T25 include:

• Short, high impact workouts
• little equipment needed
• modifier for beginners or those with increased risk of injury

And the not-so-great points include:

• No breaks
• Little to no introduction into the movements of each segment (learn as you go style)
• Need to be self-motivated and willing to push yourself the ENTIRE 25 minutes