Just a Few Opinions.

Hi everyone!

Still waiting to heal up and get my workout done, but this post isn't really about me this time. 

I have lately (and previously) read both a lot of hate and praise for Tracy Anderson and her method. Just thought I would write things that are commonly said and state my opinions on the subject as intelligently as possible.

1. Tracy's diet is dangerous/unhealthy/etc.

Well, in a lot of ways, yes it is, especially for the long term.  In her defense, she does say that this is not how to eat for life.  However, I disagree with her saying how her way of eating is the only way.  MANY people have done her method eating healthfully making their own choices and had great results. On Tracy's Facebook page recently, someone asked if the diet plan was absolutely necessary and they replied that it is optional and that many have achieved results with their own eating plans. (This was said after people came out of the woodwork and shared results)

2. Her method injures people.

In my opinion, I think this is a fairly weak statement against the method IF you are paying attention to your body and doing the moves correctly in the sense that ANY exercise can result in injury. Even walking can cause injury (look at me and my poor ankle for example).   You hear about athletes getting hurt ALL the time. Any exercise done in bad form can also cause injury. It's not TAM specific, it's common sense and fact.

3. Her method is not for people with a lot to lose.

Are you kidding me? I know people who have lost 60-70 pounds doing the method and eating reasonably.  ANY type of movement, when done consistently will cause weight loss especially in conjunction with eating right. However, everyone's body IS different and responds to different workouts accordingly. Which leads me to my next one...

4. Tracy's claims that other workouts make us bulk up are bullshit.

Well, back to the whole "everyone is different" statement, I can attest to the contrary- I have tried a lot of workouts in the past.  Notably, I tried to do P90X at one point. Guess what happened? NO weight loss, seemingly NO fat loss, I was just a heavier, more "solid" version of my previously and still obese self.   Some of us DO bulk from certain exercises, some of us do not.  To quote one of my professors, there are no rules, recipes, or regulations when it comes to human beings.

5. Tracy's fans are all a bunch of crazy cult people who are brainwashed by her "teeny tiny" decree.

Well, I do know a lot of people who are big fans of the method and I have yet to meet a "brainwashed" one in the bunch.  Hell, some of you may even think I'M brainwashed too. Your opinion.   Most of the people I know who do TAM do not fully buy into her "teeny tiny" and "perfection" claims, myself included. I call this blog my Teeny Tiny Quest as a play on her words, and perhaps maybe one day I will be close to teeny tiny with hard work and dedication.   As always, I am sure there ARE some who are brainwashed. 

6. Tracy should not be making videos, she is not a certified personal trainer.

Yeah, Tracy and SO many other "trainers" you may be familiar with- to my knowledge, Tony Horton (p90x), Jillian Michaels (Yep, THAT Jillan from the Biggest Loser), Possibly Billy Blanks (the Tae Bo guy) and many more (Kim Kardashian, anyone?)  ARE NOT CERTIFIED PERSONAL TRAINERS!!!! Shocker!  (If I am incorrect in saying that any of these people are not certified, I apologize. I searched and found no evidence that they have any certs) And yet, people still trust in them to change their bodies and their lives. 

In short, I believe Tracy can do things for ME, but as far as everyone else, they need to make that choice on their own.  I, for one find it difficult for me to stick with anything that I do not enjoy, ESPECIALLY working out.  I finally feel like I have found something I actually do not want to curl into the fetal position and die at the thought of doing. 

Disclaimer- these are MY opinions. If you read this and think I'm an idiot, cool. If you think I'm brilliant, why thank you.  I am not a certified trainer/dietician/etc, just a girl with an opinion.

Happy Mother's Day!

Hello Everyone!




I would like to wish a happy Mother's day to all my readers!  


Last year, Tracy put up a blog post about Mother's day and tips for busy moms to stick to the method better.


The blog post can be found here: http://tracyandersonmethod.com/2011/05/happy-mothers-day/


Sometimes I do like to go back and look at old blog posts by Tracy.  Some of them are kinda interesting. 


Have a happy, healthy, safe Mother's Day!!!

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!

Figurerobics Day 2

Hello everyone!

Day 2 (yesterday, these posts are usually delayed a day)’s workout was a doozie.

Day 2 I did the Figure Dumb (short for dumbbell I am guessing) and all I have to say is ow. Just ow. The good, got a good workout in ow, but still. In this video you use dumbbells (the ones in the video are 1.5 pounds, the lightest I have is 3 pounds that I use for my Tracy workouts.)

This workout killed me. By the time it was over I was absolutely DRENCHED. I also could not do all of the reps that they were doing, especially on the legs.  I am noticing a pattern in these videos, that all the moves get repeated, so you’re doing 2 sets of reps. For legs I could only do one, sometimes not able to do the full set even (but still eked out some reps, so I did try.) Maybe it has to do with me using 3 lb weights instead of 1.5 but I doubt it, the leg work didn’t require too much dumbbell involvement, but squats, lunges, and some other leg moves.

Again the audio is in Korean, subtitled in Japanese, still really easy to follow.

Part 1: http://youtu.be/F6f9NKAjeMM

Part 2: http://youtu.be/dA1_AK2W_0o

Part 3: http://youtu.be/elMXnmzkDIA

Part 4: http://youtu.be/CQSQ3F-5xk0

Part 5: http://youtu.be/rkFLoepDv9Q

So far I have found that these workouts only LOOK easy (especially if you’re unfit like myself) but can actually whip your ass.   I was so tired and sore from this workout, (and it was blazing hellfire outside) that I did not go for my walk as planned. But I did sweat profusely for 30 minutes, that’s something.

Have a great day!

Boot Camp Day 7

Hi everyone!


I have stuck with it for an entire week!  Out of curiosity, I weighed in.

Starting weight 280.4 lb
Day 7 weight: 269.5.  10.9 lb LOST in a week! I am sure a lot of it is water but still, weight is weight.  I also notice I fit in some of my clothes better.


My exercise: I didn't get all of the workout done but I got the important part- CARDIO. 30 minutes of cardio step touching.  It's been hellishly hot here where I live, and I live in an un-airconditioned place aside from my bedroom.  So, in my room I did arms and abs (no room for legs with my bed there) and then braved the oven that is my living room to do my cardio. I did take a water break every 10 minutes so I wouldn't pass out.

Diet again was good-

Breakfast- Mushroom Omelet Roll up

Vegetable soup with white beans. Again this recipe says to puree. Still, tasted good. Almost the same as puree of broccoli soup. 9/10.

Snack- Cucumber Relish (used old pic) Didn't put mint on it, much better. 8/10.

Dinner: Ratatouille and Escarole Salad. I finally found out what a ratatouille even was. Delicious.  And for a recipe for one this is a HUGE portion, this is on my big dinner plate. Escarole was blech, it's really bitter raw. Splashed it with lemon juice and it helped a little. Entree- 10/10, Salad 6/10

3 more days and I move on to Sequence 2. I can't believe time is flying.  I'll be back on Omnicentric metamorphosis before I know it!

It's finals time, Black Swan and Ballet

Hello everyone!

It's finals week, and I admit I haven't been as consistent at the method as I wanted to be.  However, I have some good news at least.

I took another hop on the scale- 268.6 lb- a total now of 8.5 lb in the past couple of weeks. Smiles!

After May 11 or 12 (not sure which day my Chem final is on) NO MORE SCHOOL UNTIL JUNE! And after that all my classes will be at night so I can squeeze some time in during the day to work out. I'm working to eliminate as many excuses as I can. Also after this period is over I am going to hit the Junger Elimination diet and finally, finally start my cleanse and boot camp on June 1! 

Over the weekend I saw Black Swan, and that movie was very motivating to me, because of how hard Natalie trained for it.  The workout she did is also available to the rest of us:

www.balletbeautiful.com

I do want to give these workouts a try too, they are also not bulking.  An example of how the moves work:

Also I am going to force myself to make time tonight to do some cardio. 

Have a great Monday!

Days 57-58 Metamorphosis

Hi everyone!

* TMI ALERT! * If you don't like reading about other people's periods don't read further!

Regrettably, yesterday (day 57) and today (day 58) are exercise-free. Not because I got lazy, not because I made up some lame-ass excuse (like I used to), but because I have been having a monster period. And I mean monster. Bleeding through the highest absorbency tampons I can manage every 2-3 hours and cramps that could kill an elephant.  I've had this problem before and when I went to the gynecologist I was told being overweight can really do a number on one's period.  I'm heavier now than I was then and I am paying the price.  I would have gone to the gyno already but I do not have health insurance until July, so I am dealing with it as I was told to before- heavy period = no strenuous activity.  I hate this because I really WANT to do my workout. More than anything. I was all revved up and ready to do it today (since bedtime last night, thinking this would die down by then) but no.  I am actually really upset. This issue and my school issues have put a big fat dent in my progress, which is why I am taking this meta as a learning experience and doing it better over the summer when I have no such obligations, and hopefully I'll have seen the doctor about my feminine issue and start straightening it up.

I may take a walk today but that would be kind of pushing it.  I REALLY hope I am able tomorrow! Come on body, I'm doing this for your own good. COOPERATE!

Sorry for my rant but I want you all to know I am not slacking by my own choice. I hate it. 

Have a great day today and get your workouts in for me.

Pre-bootcamp training final thoughts

Hello all!

After falling off of the bootcamp wagon due to my physical inability to go further than sequence 1, as I  mentioned before, I am going to be starting with the basics.  If I was lighter, bootcamp would have been much more doable I think. 

I decided to give my old friend, Mat Workout another go. I remember it being doable, but very challenging. In a good way! I also only remember being able to do about 10 reps on each leg. My goal- do 40 easily!

I also remembered the fact that I have the Tracy Anderson Connect abs, butt and arms webisodes. I have never actually DONE these, and so I gave them a watch.  Looks like a similar workout to the Mat workout without the chair and I think this will be my next transition after I master the original Mat workout. 

One thing I do miss that the older Muscular Structure work has that the new one does not is weighted arms. I remember when I first ever tried Tracy's workout, I saw results in my arms much faster than when I was doing PD1.  Also a huge plus that Mat has against PD series is the standing abs are easy to follow along with after watching it once or twice.

Last, but finally  not least, I have noticed myself tightening up in a bad way- loss of flexibility.  When I can squeeze it in, I will steal my roomie's P90X Stretch DVD- a whole hour of good stretching.  I want to get my hands on Ballet Boot Camp's stretch DVD as well.   Stretching time would be before bed, something about stretching out before bed makes it a lot easier to fall asleep. 


Going to weigh in before work tomorrow too, on the GOOD scale. The tricky part will be subtracting clothes weight.  My home scale is loopy, every time I step on I get a different result. At my job, the gym has a scale that gives consistent readings! 

Alright, enough rambling, time to go to bed. Got a busy day ahead!

Day 39-9/9/10

Hello!

Lately I notice a few people who ordered Tracy's new book have already received it and from what I hear, has a LOT of useful information as well as a cardio section without a lot of space/choreography needed.  That's reallt good to hear, I want to buy the book too but want to wait until it comes to bookstores (later this month I believe) so I can give it a look before I buy it. (I always like to do that with books, peruse it a while before purchase)

From what I hear on the Facebook groups I am in, the book is supposed to be pretty good.

I finally went back to work after a long summer off- being home all day with little to do was getting boring.

Here's what I ate today- My calorie goal was 1695

Breakfast-

Oatmeal- 150 

Whipped butter- 67

Brown sugar- 45

Lunch-

Healthy Choice Chicken Parmigiana meal- 350

Snack-

1 serving of Sun Chips- 140

Dinner-

1 cup of egg noodles- 220 

Butter- 55

6 ounces Grilled beef with spices (no oil) - 373

Dessert-

1/16 chocolate silk pie- 280

Grand total- 1680 calories!

Exercise-

Didn't do any TAM today, work started at 3, I figured I would work out in the morning, but instead woke up at 8, ate breakfast, felt sleepy again and thought I would just take an hour nap, instead I woke up at 12:30 p.m., and then had to start getting ready to go to work.  I came home, ate dinner, and now I feel pretty sleepy again.  Tpday I have been feeling fatigued and I don't know why, as I do eat enough calories, try to get enough sleep, etc.  

A question for you ladies- when you became more active, (if you weren't previously) did it affect your monthly friend?  I think recently becoming more active is affecting mine, I feel all the symptoms but am a couple of days late already (and no, pregnancy is not a possibility)

Day 37- 9/7/10

Hello!

Today I threw all of that laziness out of the window and had a pretty strong day today.  Had pretty healthy food too!

Calorie goal today: 1350

Breakfast-

1 bowl of oatmeal- 150 calories

1/2 T of butter- 75 calories

1 T of brown sugar- 45 calories

Snack

15 creme brulee flavored rice cakes- 120 calories

1 can of sugar free Red Bull- 10 calories

Lunch

2 cups of whole wheat pasta- 350 calories

1/2 cup marinara sauce- 70 calories

1/2 T olive oil (in the boiling water) 60 calories

Snack

Microwave fat free popcorn mini bag- 100 calories

Dinner

1 cup of corn- 120 calories

 4 1/2 ounces grilled filet mignon steak- 215 calories

Snack

2 mint lifesavers- 30 calories

12 cups of water (3 of my bottles worth)

Total calories: 1345 calories: goal met!

Exercise-

Did my Perfect Design 1, it is now to the point that I memorized all of the leg movements and it is now a little easier to do 20 of those each. I do the beginning legs without the dvd, laying down abs and onward I go with the dvd.  At the end of the arms section there is a little leg section which is lifting your legs in an attitude position 2 different ways. These STILL kill me and I can only do 10, always have.  I still feel like my hips and hamstrings are really really tight and I think this is what is doing it.

As for cardio- I went to the park today and did moves from the treadmill webisode, and tried out the GOOP dance cardio routine.  I was able to power through 10 minutes of good, high impact, sweaty cardio, after 10 minutes I was absolutely beat. Also since PD1 tires me pretty well too, I take that into consideration.

I'm glad I got back on the wagon strong! Have a great night!

Day 35- 9/5/10

Hello again!

This has been 5 weeks into it, although week 5 wasn't stellar at ALL.  However, there's always next week to do better!

I did get the opportunity to see an excerpt of Tracy Anderson's new book (Comes out this month actually~), and all I have to say is DO WANT!

The link to the excerpt is here:

Book Excerpt

 I have discovered that my hormones are my main weakness. I do however give myself credit for not going crazy with the eating every day this past week, as I normally would. I have a terrible feeling doing PD1 after all this slacking is going to hurt. In a good way.

Next week will be better- We have a holiday in the US, I have the day off tomorrow from class but NOT from Tracy Anderson. :)

Have a great week, and see you tomorrow as usual!

Day 27- 8/28/10

Hello-

This time, today was a good diet day and a bad exercise day... I really need to break out of this hormonal trap.  My gynecologist even told me you do NOT have to give in to those cravings.  Tips she gave me to try and get around them (that I shall try following now that I remember)

1. If you're craving, brush your teeth.  Food is much less appealing with a minty mouth

2. Not around the toothbrush? Chew minty gum or have a mint.

3. Drink water!

Well today I ate very little because I slept in again... Until 2 pm (like I normally do on Saturday)

I slept through breakfast and lunch, when I woke up I had a shake.

Dinner:

Rice

Japanese style curry with beef 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_curry for those who don't know how it looks/served/what's in it

I also found that a store by me sells Pepsi Throwback.  Pepsi Throwback is Pepsi, but made with cane sugar instead of that high fructose corn syrup crap.  It also tastes a hell of a lot better. They also make Mountain Dew that way too.  I don't know if they sell these outside of the USA, as other countries already make their sodas this way sometimes. (Example- Coca Cola from Mexico)

Exercise: Had a MAJOR case of the lazies/fatigue.  This has not been my weekend.... Monday is also a weigh in AND measurement day~  I am excited to see how my progress is going, if at all.