Exercise?

Hello everyone!

I have completed a week of my cleanse, and I think I am feeling more normal now.  I have to say it's been tough. However, I took my final one week weight... Only lost about 2 pounds. I have to say I am a little disappointed. I was expecting more weight loss but it didn't happen that way.

Also, I decided that I am going to begin exercising again.  Last night I tried to do meta and I was able to do it, I only did 20 reps to get a feel for if I was ready, and I think I am.

One thing that's going to be a challenge- having shakes tomorrow when I have work all day and THEN class in the evening, I will literally not be home ALL DAY. I think instead of shakes I will improvise and eat food instead.

Today I am just having a lazy Sunday, going to pamper myself a little with some skincare treatments. 

I hope you had a nice weekend~!

Hello everyone!


I survived another day! I am STILL dealing with cold-like symptoms.

I had my shake for breakfast, a salad with lamb for lunch, and a shake for dinner. However, I ran out of almond milk for my dinner shake, meaning I had to make it with water.

HUGE taste difference!


My blueberry muffin shake became... a blueberry vanilla-ish less satisfying shake.  I really need to get more almond milk. I had no idea how much of a difference it would make without it!

Any of you who have done Clean- how else did you improve the shakes?

Also, any good recipes for Clean approved lunch?


Short post today, but just checking in!


Have a great Tuesday.

Blueberry Muffin Shake??

Hello everyone!




Needless to say, I successfully completed my first day on the Clean shakes. 


I am still experiencing my cold-like symptoms/sinus infection (sometimes when I blew my nose it was greenish, sign of infection, but now it's back to clear) and I am feeling a bit more tired.


I do like, however, how these shakes make going potty easier. I used to be the constipation Queen. Not anymore and I feel better as a result.


One thing I really do want to rave about- the taste of the shakes when done right!


I started out with the vanilla powder- halfway through I will be transitioning to chocolate.  I can say that the way I make my shake with vanilla- it feels as if I am drinking a liquefied blueberry muffin. 


The vanilla has kind of a cake-battery taste to it and the Move fiber gives it that breadlike quality. Add a cup and a half of water/almond milk and a cup of blueberries and blend. The result is a very thick, yummy shake.


I'm currently going through my second day, so far so good- will post tomorrow about it!




Have a great Monday. :) 

First day on the shakes!

Hello everyone!




Today I began my full cleanse.  I started out with a shake for breakfast and a solid meal for lunch.  Here's what I had.




Breakfast:


I decided to try the vanilla flavored Nourish powder first- I thought it was going to taste horrible (Vanilla protein shakes usually do) but I was pleasantly surprised.  I also added one cup of almond milk and 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries (also with the prescribed scoop of Move powder) in the blender and the end result was pretty good- the blueberries made it extra cold which was even better!  I  may try using water at dinner but keeping the blueberries to see if there is a major difference in taste.  


Lunch:


I was semi-naughty here, I had 2 bites of pork sausage,  but my main meal was good.  I had 4 ounces of lean lamb marinated in olive oil, lemon, garlic, and basil cooked and put on top of a small amount of gluten free angel hair noodles. Heaven. 


Dinner:


Will be another shake.




How am I feeling?  I am feeling alright with the exception that my sinuses and head are still acting up and my neck is aching.  I am starting to wonder if this is an actual cold and not detox. A hot shower and early bed tonight are in the plans. 
Also, when you are cleansing, you have to make sure you poop at least once a day.  I have already fulfilled this but there is a chance it could happen again.  The goal is at least once to make sure you are detoxing and getting it out.


Also, the shakes do keep me satisifed in terms of hunger.  Today, hunger was not much of a problem. 


Exercise: Nothing yet but I might try to fit in some stretching or something this evening to loosen up.


I hope everyone had a great weekend, I may do a night report tonight or tomorrow morning. Have a good day!

Abcentric Day 1

Hello everyone!




Quick post before I go to bed-




Had my "Manic Monday" (work + class) and despite that and being tired as hell, I got my workout done!




I did Ab level 1 day 1 and 30 minutes walking.




Now, time to pass out.  Good night everyone!

Last workout-free day for a while

Hello everyone!




Today is the last day before I start Meta tomorrow, and I made sure I enjoyed it, haha. 


First, I went to my local MAC counter and they did a full face of makeup for me, and I bought a new shadow quad and lipgloss. (I have a beauty blog- www.obeybeauty.blogspot.com and I will elaborate there) Then, I went and got a mani-pedi.  I figured I might as well do something nice for my poor callused feet before they start taking daily DC poundings. Now they're soft, smooth, and French manicured. 


Tonight I am going to give myself a full facial at home, cleansing, toning, moisture, and even do a mask this time before bed.


Now my next dilemma is- when am I going to work out tomorrow?


I am leaving the house about 7 am and coming home about 8:30 pm and I am considering the following-


1. Wake up early, do my MS, come home and do  my DC


2. Try to knock both out at once, hoping to get it done and be able to shower before I go to work.  


Also keep in mind that I only have to do it this way on Mondays and Fridays.  What would you do? Do all of it, or split it up?


Hope you all had a great weekend!

A little preparation

Hello everyone-


I decided that my first day back to meta will be on February 13- this coming Monday.  I have already begun preparations.

My copy of the workout tracker-  not the original.  I am trying to get a printable copy of this up but when I try printing from the PDF the image comes out significantly smaller than it should be.

I also stopped over at Costco today for some food.  I picked up one of my favorites- hummus- over 2 pounds (about 1 kg) for about $5. I also got 2 pounds of carrots and 2 pounds of celery hearts. And yes, all 3 are meant for eating together.  I also picked up a big bag of raw walnuts for snacks.  I still have most of my jar of the shake, so that will be breakfast most likely.  I am still planning on trying the Sun Warrior protein to compare it to the wellness formula. 

Sorry for the late post, today was pretty hectic, and we got a snowstorm on top of that.  I hope the weekend goes better!

Have a great day!

Interesting...

Hello everyone!




I still have not fully jumped back on the Tracy train, I need to re-evaluate it again because my schedule has changed a lot, making me wonder if doing boot camp is even time-practical.  However, I have not been inactive- Mostly I have been walking. A lot.  As you may or may not know, I have a small dog- an 8 month old Miniature Poodle.  He has been helping me out, by receiving long walk time with mommy every day, at least an hour daily.  That on top of walking to my school when I have class, which is another 30-40 minute walk each way.




I am also back to work, so I am juggling even more- schoolwork, work, puppy time, errands, etc. Therefore I am thinking of just sticking to meta and building up on my cardio and slowly increasing my leg reps as if I were doing bootcamp. 


Next, I read an interesting article about CrossFit.  I do not want to sound offending/insulting to those who do it, but last year sometime, my blog was attacked by hard core CrossFitters, they were spamming my comments trying to get me to do it, even wrote nasty things about me, Tracy, etc on one of their forums.  Some of them have also gone on Tracy's facebook page to troll and post derogatory remarks, claiming that Tracy's followers act like we're in some kind of cult.




Well, a lot of them are calling the kettle black, and they're the pot.


I came across an interesting article called "Inside the Cult of Crossfit".  The author was writing about how he had a former girlfriend who was really into it and decided to try.  So he did, for 90 days.  He wrote about how really batshit insane some of the people are, and also about the worries of high risks of injury due to things like poor instruction. Hmmmmm. Sounds like a lot of the trash they were spewing about the Tracy Anderson Method.  Sure, there ARE some TAM followers who seem to act like it's a cult. There's some of those people in any kind of fitness. 


If people want to do CrossFit, more power to them! I really don't care what kind of fitness program anyone does as long as they enjoy it.  No need to bash other people for doing something they want.  I don't bash anyone either.  While my blog is mostly about TAM, I really welcome readers from any walk of life to come and discuss. So CrossFitters, TAMers, P90Xers, runners, bodyrockers, whatever your poison, it's welcome here. :)  Just don't be disrespectful like THOSE people were. 


I think next Monday (or sooner)I will start Meta, but until then I will keep up the walking, maybe do some webisodes and stretching. I made really nice copies of the workout tracker for meta, I will try scanning them and see how they turn out.


As for diet, I have been pretty good, not perfect but better than I USED to eat.  I just got home from the store after buying some fresh carrots and celery to munch on.  I have some Miso Chicken marinating in the fridge for my protein for the next few days. 




Have a happy hump day, and see you tomorrow!

Hello everyone!


Today's post isn't much, kind of had a lazy day today.  Some shopping, a little stretching, and catching up on my sleep.   Ok, to be fair I did walk around in the stores and walked my puppy around the block for a while to tire him out.


I did eat well today despite being a lazy bum. 


Breakfast- 3 hard boiled eggs and some blackberries


Lunch and dinner- 4 ounces of grilled sirloin beef and a big green salad with balsamic vinegar on it.


I didn't snack, didn't feel up to it really. For some reason I am having a hard time finding raw walnuts at the store.  Trying to avoid roasted and peanuts are not an option- paleo doesn't allow them, they are a legume not a nut. Interesting.




Hope you all had a nice weekend, tomorrow back to work. Yay. :P

Abcentric Day 14

Hello everyone!

I completed 2 whole weeks of Metamorphosis and dieting!!!! Being the two week anniversary, I would like to take some time and reflect on it. 

Things I am proud of from these past two weeks:

1. Keeping to my diet pretty well- avoiding those grains (except last night but we'll get to that). 

2. Doing SOME form of movement EVERY DAY.

3. A HUGE weight loss

4. Starting to jump around during cardio instead of just step touching the whole thing.

Things I wish I could have done better:

1. More consistency with cardio. There were a few days when I DIDN'T do cardio at all *like this past weekend*.  I really need to do it every time I work out. There's really no excuse for it. My legs aren't broken. 

2. Push myself a LITTLE more with the muscular structure work. If I really wanted to and if I took the time, I CAN do 40 reps per leg. Sure, it would involve a couple of sit breaks between sets of 10-20 but I technically CAN do it.

I am starting to get to thinking about stepping up my game with the cardio but I know in my gut, it's too soon, I cannot jump a whole 30 minutes yet and here my brain is like MOVING FORWARD.  When I am strong enough to jump through the whole 30 minutes I want to start giving her other Cardio DVDs a try. The ones that involve learning combinations. Those are actually harder in the sense that you move your legs in even MORE ways than before. 

Ok let's talk about yesterday.

I kept my Leg reps at 25 again, which burned but something in my head was thinking I should REALLY try to go for 40.  So for day 15 I think I shall.  NO CARDIO AGAIN. I don't know what came over me this weekend but it needs to be nipped in the bud NOW.

As for diet...  Well, last night I had wheat. I had a cheeseburger WITH the bun and something called cheese curds (which are like fried mozzarella sticks except these are smaller pieces of cheddar) which are, of course, BREADED.  When I got home, I felt like I got shot in the ass with a HUGE tranquilizer dart. Not doing THAT again for a LONG time. Feeling like that, honestly, SUCKED. And now I sit here blogging and also a bit bloated (as if PMS bloat wasn't enough, the wheat just added insult to injury).  Today I am cooling it on the starch again, drinking lots of water and plan on sweating it out in a major way tonight.

I hope you guys have a great Monday- get that workout in!

Abcentric days 3-7

Hello everyone!

Sorry about the lateness. Also notice I changed back to Abcentric.  I have reasons for it. 

I changed back to ab because after previewing hipcentric future levels I was like.... Blah. It looked really repetitive to me, and only seems to really work the hips (which I don't have much of.).  So, I decided to do the centric I PAID for, which is Ab.

I can pretty much sum up the past few days' workouts in one description.  I did 30 reps of MS (I can't seem to get past that many without being sore as hell) and 30 mins of DC... And this is where it gets better-

I can now start JUMPING in the cardio section. Not the whole 30 minutes but at least like, 20% of the time I can jump along with Tracy.  The first time I did it I wanted to cry. I really didn't think I would even be able to do THAT much this soon.  Also, NO pain. No knee pain, hip pain, ankle pain, etc from jumping. I am now trying to focus on building up my endurance with that. 

Also I think my diet is playing a HUGE role in this, but another post on that later.

Just trying to catch up a bit here. Can't WAIT to start Ab 2 because I am so sick and tired of level 1. Really.

Have a great day!

Hipcentric Day 1 and 2

Hello everyone!




I'm a little late in posting but so far I have completed hipcentric days 1 and 2 out of 90.  I also did something different on day 2.


Day 1 I did my 30 minutes of cardio, and level 1 MS, with 20 reps a leg. Nothing special.


Day 2- I did my MS with 25 reps a leg (increasing by 5 a day until I hit 40 and can stick with it) no cardio because it was REALLY late at night, and I did  my special new thing-


Some of you  may be familiar with the fact that continuity has bonus arms, which is like unweighted arms with 1 pound wrist weights involved.  The light bulb went off in my head that I know of another arm section- The TA Connect/Malawi Arms webisode.





She starts out unweighted then adds in the 3 lb weights. I didn't do this. Instead, I put on my 1 pound wrist weights and went through all the motions following Tracy (she doesn't use the 3 lb weights at all, her trainers do) and boy did that hurt. In a good way! I worked up a good sweat doing that  before starting my Meta MS.  I think I am going to keep it up this way, my arms can always use the extra help. 


Have a great day!!

The shake mix has arrived!!!

Hello everyone!




My Tracy shake powder has arrived today!  This entry will be pics of the bottle, and a list of what's in it.  I have not tasted it yet, I wanna wait until Monday morning to have it for breakfast and see how I feel, etc.


Took some pictures of the bottle. If you got the 14 day shake, you will get one bottle, if you ordered the 28 day like I did, you get 2.

I ordered the chocolate flavor but it also comes in vanilla. It DOES have its own measuring scoop in the can, and each shake is 2 scoops. 


Here is the full ingredient list (it's not on the main webpage for the shakes, unless I'm missing something)


(Proprietary blend of Rice protein isolate concentrate and pea protein isolate, Aminogen (an enzyme that helps protein absorption), L-Glutamine, Glycine, and Taurine), Evaporated cane juice (this ingredient might be a no no to some people because yes, it is a form of sugar), cocoa powder, fiber complex (Inulin, Beta Glucans, Oat fiber), Sunflower oil, IgG 2500 (in short, a blend of immunity boosting enzymes), Natural flavors, Medium chain triglycerides, Arabinogalactan, Broccoli seed extract, sodium chloride, xanthan gum, guar gum, potassium citrate, sodium citrate, stevia leaf extract.


How does it taste? Don't know yet, going to start having it for breakfast on Monday morning when I start hipcentric, or I might try it in the morning tomorrow. Not sure.  


The pricing is 69.95$ for 14 days, 120$ for 28 days (28 days is autoshipped and has free UPS shipping, so I guess you do save a little money with that.)


Going to do some workouts today too, this morning I already did my webisodes.  Have a great Friday and to my military readers- Happy Veteran's Day!

I'm almost back...

Hello everyone!

I have been really busy since I last blogged, I helped someone move and I have been trying my best to recuperate my sprained ankle. 

What I hate about my ankle is that it will feel good, even improved for a while, then it will swell up again and hurt a little. It's really annoying me.  

I also have 2 quizzes this week to study for among other things.  I will be back to my workouts soon, I promise!  

I just wanted to check in with you guys to let everyone know I'm ok and I haven't officially quit, this is just a short hiatus. 

Have a wonderful week and I hope to be back soon!

Ankle update and a huge item on my wish list

Hello everyone!

I haven't been working out like I'd have liked, a lot is going on in my personal life, really stressed and time crunched. (Raising a puppy is a big one on this list!)

My ankle is also on the mend- I can walk and stuff on it without pain, the pain mostly comes with rainy weather.

Lately I have been looking into rebounder workouts again. Like this:

I do have a rebounder but as I discovered earlier this year when I tried to use it, it's sort of loud and squeaky and I am paranoid that the thing will bust under my weight.  It has a weight limit of 300 pounds but I still don't trust it too much.

That said I want to start saving up for a ReboundAIR.

www.reboundair.com

These are expensive, about 300-400 dollars, however they have a lifetime warranty, as well as lifetime wear and tear coverage. Meaning- I break a spring, my mat starts to wear out, I get a replacement.  Also their quarter-fold rebounders hold up to 400 pounds.

I probably will start rebounding just doing a simple bounce for a while to strengthen up, then move on to the dancey moves. 

Also I really really REALLY need to start cleaning up my diet and going back to being a low carb vegetarian.  That was helping me a LOT. 

Have a great weekend guys, get your workouts in for me!

Meh. Short post.

Hello everyone!!

Day 2 went like shit. Total shit.  

I totally went WAY over my points yesterday (eating most of my flex points too) and really had no excuse for this.  I am going to cut myself a little slack because I am getting used to the amounts of food I can have on weight watchers.

Also a lovely friend of mine sent me this book:  The Eat Clean Diet Recharged!

I want to start implementing her rules of eating (except maybe the 6 small meals thing, which to be honest is a little impractical to me. I want to train myself to eat when actually hungry.) while keeping within my weight watchers points and exercising.

As for exercising, I did go for another painful walk last night. No DVD this time, just a brisk walk.  But what matters is my heart rate did go up and I did sweat. 

That's it for today (gotta head to work). Hoping the next day is better!

New plan- short version!

Hello everyone!

I have come up with a system to get myself in fighting shape for Tracy.  I really am starting to think that it's not QUITE what I need to lose this massive amount of weight I'm carrying.   I am breaking this down into 2 phases.

Phase 1:

Weight watchers

Walking/Jogging

Chalean Extreme

Why Chalean Extreme?  Yes, I am afraid of bulky muscles. However at this point, building more muscle will help get the majority of my excess fat off so that I can do TAM more effectively. 

Phase 2: Metamorphosis by Tracy, continuity, etc. to burn off lard and slim down any bulky muscles I may have built with Chalene. When I am lighter I will be able to do the workout a lot better, and not be too heavy for dance cardio. 

I plan on getting back to TAM when I hit around 200 pounds. Chalean Extreme is a 90 day program also.

I am really excited to be starting this. I will take new before pics (I do look different, at least I think so) and measurements. 

Starting this on Monday, have a great weekend!

Beginning the Clean Program!

Hello everyone!!!

I have decided that as of August 1, I will be starting Dr. Junger's Clean Program.  A friend of mine was kind and very generous enough to send me the kit (Again THANK YOU!) and I might as well use it and it would be in my best interest to do so.

I looked through my cabinets and found some approved items:

Dry chickpeas

Dry Cannellinis

Dry Lentils

Canned Black Beans

Canned Kidney Beans

Red Rice

Brown Rice

Miso paste

Tea

Olive oil

Sesame oil

Almond Milk

Frozen asparagus

Frozen green beans

Frozen snap peas

Organic Gala apples (not sure if they're still good)

Kimchi (Made with cabbage, onion, garlic, sea salt, and chili pepper, which is OK IF you know you are not allergic to nightshades. I do not think I am.)

My friend and I took a ride to whole foods and I picked up some more:

Low-sodium organic Tamari (gluten free soy sauce)

Quinoa (really cheap in bulk)

Organic walnuts

Almond butter (for eating with apples or celery)

Rice pasta

Quinoa/Amaranth/Rice pasta
Brown Rice Syrup

I forgot to pick up nutritional yeast (for that cheesy flavor) and sea salt.  We might go back to the store and I might pick up some teff flatbreads so I can make sandwiches.  

Another thing I noticed- You cannot have any form of beef on this cleanse but you CAN have Buffalo.  My friend told me that she had buffalo before, and it tastes just like steak.  Next time we go shopping I might pick up a few Buffalo steaks to freeze/use.

Really excited about this, this will challenge me and really help me expand my culinary horizons in a way.  Anyone else doing this, or going gluten free?  Any tips/tricks for a newbie?

Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday to me!

Hello everyone!!!

Sorry I have been a bit quiet here. This week has been less than ideal, at least in terms of working out and dieting.

It's probably been in the news, a great deal of the United States has been going through a horrific heat wave. High humidity plus temperatures in the 90s (F) or 30s ( C ). It has been absolutely miserable- especially since every room in my apartment is NOT air conditioned (and very humid) except my bedroom. My SMALL, no-room-to-work-out bedroom. Today we finally have some relief- thunderstorms and a drastic cool down.

The humidity and heat made it just plain unsafe to work out in my living room, and I have been eating takeout and fast food because cooking in my kitchen was just masochism.

Speaking of bad eating, today is my 26^th birthday! And birthdays mean treats, at least in my case. Yesterday I had a lovely lunch with my friend, some starbucks, and even hit Target and picked up 1 pound wrist weights for continuity! Accomplishment!

So the plan is- enjoy my birthday weekend, then hit Metamorphosis and veganism hard on the following Monday. I already re-did my calendar to reflect it. :)

Have a great day and a great weekend!

Lazy Day...

Hello everyone-


Yesterday was somewhat eventful, at work we had a huge power outage that resulted in my getting to go home early. I took the opportunity yesterday to enjoy being free during the daytime and took a nice leisurely walk for about a half an hour to loosen myself up.


A friend of mine sent me a DVD made by Madonna's former yoga trainer- Bryan Kest's Power Yoga Collection.  It has 3 levels- beginner, intermediate, and advanced.


What is power yoga? In a couple words, ashtanga yoga (the kind of yoga Madonna does).  I have always wanted to try but previous resources seemed very intimidating. I gave the beginner level of Bryan's DVD a quick watch and it seems pretty doable for a beginner like me.  I will review the DVD later when I do it a few more times.  


Today I feel honestly, like a lazy sack of crap. I blame it all on my last week not being on Tracy's diet and not getting enough sleep. I really need to start sleeping earlier. Lately I have been running on 4-5 hours of sleep a night and my face especially is suffering not to mention a general lack of energy from it. 


The solution- Since my holiday weekend started yesterday (after the power outage) I am going to take the time to actually get some sleep and rejuvenate myself because I start my omnab (omni/ab) workouts on Monday and perhaps try some yoga over the weekend.


If I don't post before the holiday, have a happy 4th of July!