OFFICIAL: Round 1, Day 1: Here We Go

I hate Mondays. And today was a very stereotypical Monday.

Meal planning is hard. I made the mistake of not prepping last night and I overslept this morning, so there's that. I'm going to blame the apocalyptical storms that have been hangin' out over Florida for the last two weeks. This morning, it was pitch black at 7:15 when I managed to pull my phone off the nightstand and leapt out of bed. My goal was to make it to work alive. Considering they shut down multiple bridges and roads were starting to close, my 40 minute (max) commute turned into an hour.

I realize these are all excuses. Lesson=learned. Meal prepping is clearly the answer. 

So this is what I count as the beginning of my 21 Day Fix. One of the girls at work is starting hers this week (I'm pretty sure, anyway) and I have my full grocery list purchased. 

I can't hold in my excitement anymore--I did the entire work out today with zero "additional" breaks (aka me pausing the DVD player while my breathing catches up with the rest of me). NONE. Zip. I'm not saying it still wasn't ridiculously hard. I'm also not saying that my quads are thrilled with me. 

Along with my quads, my butt hates me, my shoulders hate me, my abs are still twitching and my hamstrings are like, "Whoa, hey there. Didn't realize we could move like this..."

Seriously. The best work out I've done so far (though I feel like I keep saying that?). It may just be thirty minutes but Jeez-Freakin'-Louise. This thing is no joke. Autumn does not play.

I kept up. I didn't modify nearly as much as I did last week. I pushed myself harder on all of the work outs, but specifically the Knee Pulls.

[Okay, side note: I just got up to switch the laundry from the washer to the dryer and it took me a solid 60 seconds to get into a standing position. Ouch. I have no shame. Quads, you'll thank me later.]

Anyway. Knee Pulls. So Autumn mentions focusing on your quads, your hamstrings, your butt and your abs on this one. I think the last time I did this, by this point my quads were screaming and so I didn't really put the "umph" into it? But this time was different. And so I gave it my all. I mean, now my butt and my abs think I'm a jerk, but it's cool. Tough love, kids.

Bottom line: I feel so ready to take on this challenge. I'm hurtin', don't get me wrong. But it's a good kind of hurt. It's the kind of hurt that makes me want to keep going. I've already broken out the muscles, might as well keep toning. 

I was super bummed I missed my window to make my Shakeology this morning, but I kinda forgot from last week when Autumn reminds us that after a work-out like this, Shakeology is probably a good idea. So bam. I did strawberries, blueberries & raspberries (totally picked out the blackberries from yesterday--their seeds are just too much), a little bit of almond milk, some water (I did half and half this time), 1 scoop vanilla Shakeology and half a banana.

And frozen grapes for later!

Things you should take away from this entry: don't move to Florida unless you enjoy apocalyptic weather; it doesn't get easier--you get stronger; life's too short--be healthy; your quads (and other body parts) will hate you for a few days, but they'll love you in the long run!

This is it, kids. I see my life changing in a big way. Color me stoked. This Monday may have started  off kinda shaky, but the sun is out and life is good and it couldn't feel any less like a Monday.

Count Down: To Tomorrow

Today was pretty basic. Sundaze. I stayed up talking with a friend until 3:30 in the morning (actually, I went to bed around 11, passed out, he woke me up around 12:30 and we spent the next three hours laughing and being stupid. So I was pretty sure I would sleep til noon today, but I had so much I wanted to get done that I knew I needed to force myself up by 10:00. 

I managed to get out of bed around 10:15. I went with Shakeology for breakfast (it's so easy and so filling, so that's probably how I'll do my daily Shakeology going forward).

Today (even though it meant cutting out the coffee), I decided to try a different recipe. This time I went with:

- 1 scoop Vanilla Shakeology

- 1/2 cup of vanilla, unsweetened almond milk

- 1/2 a purple of frozen berries (I bought a massive bag of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries--all mixed. $11 at Walmart and pretty sure it'll last me a solid month)

- 1 banana (I realize I probably overdid it on the fruit today, but I'm pretty obsessed with fruit, sooo...)

- a handful of ice

This. Was. Delicious. Holy cow. Screw the coffee latte thing I made yesterday! This was amazing. The only thing that bugged me were the seeds from the blackberries. I hate those in general when I eat blackberries, so I may be super picky and pick out the blackberries tomorrow. Other than that--DELICIOUS.

I did some laundry. For lunch, it was some turkey lunch meat, kale, cucumber and carrots. Ran some errands, finally (because somehow Mother Nature decided to COOL IT and stopped the rain. HALLELUJAH, I thought the world was ending and was starting to price out boats because I was pretty sure if it kept up, I would no longer be able to get to my car. On the upside, it seriously looks like a waterfront view off my patio...and I'm not even paying for waterfront!). 

So then I went to get my nails done (treat to myself and it stops me from gnawing on my fingernails). On the TV, I immediately recognize what's happening and almost do a double take. It's a Paid Programming Ad for 21 Day Fix!! It was...exciting? I don't know. I was almost proud? I wanted to tell the girl next to me, "I'm totally doing that." But I refrained. Usually I hate ads but it was cool to see all of the testimonies and the people who had met their goal weights off of this program.

Anywayz.

Dinner consisted of baked chicken, steamed veggies, and a little kale and salad dressing. It was pretty yummy. Chicken was a bit bland, but hey. Getting used to it. I also had a massive headache this afternoon. I can't tell if these are symptoms of sugar withdrawal or caffeine withdrawal or both. Probably both. I sucked it up (and took some ibuprofen) and pushed through it.

I decided to check out Beachbody-On-Demand since I have access to that now, too. I stumbled across Insanity. I was pretty terrified to try it, but kinda decided why not? and gave it a go. Sooo, it was intense. It's still right around 30 minutes (33 minutes, to be exact). It really took a lot out of me. It was a lot like Total Body Cardio Fix, in my opinion.

My "official" 21 Day Fix Challenge starts tomorrow--I've just been getting a head-start. So tomorrow we go back to Total Body Cardio Fix and my quads are already crying.

But I can do it! No giving up. Not gonna happen. Oh! And frozen grapes are amazingly delicious for a nighttime snack. Seriously. Ice Cream Who? Frozen grapes, all the way. 

Pray for me tomorrow; more specifically, my quads.

Xoxo

Day (what day is it?): Shakeology and Upper Fix (take two)

So this week has been pretty insane, to say the least. Shingles, crazy work schedule, booking private planes and all that fun stuff (not for myself, I should probably add...) so I've been thrown off the metaphorical 21 Day Fix Horse. Last night, my Shingles patient needed to go to the store so I figured I may as well pick up a grocery or two...

I'm not sure where this motivation came from entirely (yesterday was an awful day at work. I was tired, grumpy and wanted nothing more than to stuff my face with junk food and let this 21 Day Fix Horse [let's call him Bullseye..."Ride into the wind, Bullseye!"...anybody? No? Just me? Cool...] ride into the wind...). But somehow, someway we get to the store and I'm like, "I'm going to pick up a few things, cool?" He agrees. I start down aisle one.

Well, $85 later...my fridge is stocked, my pantry is full and I'm all about this 21 Day Fix thing all over again. So I've climbed back on Bullseye who never left my side (just call me Jessie!) and we're back at it.

So this morning I went for eggs with some steel-cut oatmeal, banana and a splash of raw honey. It was...okay. I'm not going to lie, eating eggs but holding the salt was pretty frustrating. The oatmeal was pretty good! I had to refrain from dousing it with honey or something sweet. 

Lunch I went for my first Shakeology. I think I had higher hopes for this in that it would easily replace my daily iced coffee (or should I say, caramel or vanilla cream with a splash of iced coffee...). There's a recipe on the Shakeology flyer that you get when you buy it--1 cup of black coffee, 1/2 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk, a scoop of Shakeology, a tsp of raw honey and some ice. It was no caramel macchiato, but it wasn't terrible.

After lunch, I decided to go back to the Upper Fix because I hadn't made it all the way through the first time. Here's what I noticed:

Holy warm-up, Batman! I did it. I did it in FULL force! I didn't have to modify squat! I DID IT! This is only my 4th time on the warm-up and I'm already noticing that I can keep up better than ever before. If I wasn't so winded, I would do a happy dance. (I said I did it, I didn't say it still wasn't a work-out).

Arms. I love arm days. I don't know if this will change over time, but I. Love. Them. Sooooo much more than leg days. No joke about it. I'm not going to bore you with the details of the work-out ('cause they're in my last blog). My arms were still all shake-y, especially on those push-ups and the plank, the plank about killed me on round two! But I felt like I could fully conquer arm-day with zero problems.

Mid-afternoon snack: I had some whole, raw almonds. Again--almonds are weird without salt. Not a bad weird, necessarily. Just...something I'm going to need to get used to.

Dinner. Oh, dinner. So I was craving junk food. This surprised me. I was like in full-on "I'm going to eat the pantry whether you like it or not, Bullseye". Well, thanks to my "no more buying junk food" kick, there was literally no junk food to eat. So I look at my keys and I'm fully prepared to go find junk food. I even went to my car! I even got in my car! I even started driving.

So Florida is all about these torrential, hurricane-themed down pours over the course of the last 2 weeks. Pretty soon, I'm going to need a boat to actually leave my doorstep. So as I'm driving, I'm looking at the sky and it's really getting pretty dark. Like End-of-the-World dark. "I mean, I might as well go home and eat something there, I don't want to get stuck in this mess," I literally said to myself.

The child in me is screaming: "WHAT?! No! There's no junk food at home! Just stop at 7-11! Get a Slurpee!" Nope. No stopping. I drove home, I had some kale with carrots and cucumbers with a little bit of balsamic dressing. And that was that.

I've popped some grapes in the freezer for a snack later, and I'm feeling so badass that I'm planning to do the ab workout DVD shortly. Two work outs in one day? Who am I?

The main point I would like to make in this entry is: life is going to happen. Things are going to happen where maybe you can't have the best meal one night or you have to skip a work out because someone you know gets Shingles and has to go to the ER. But you HAVE to Keep. Going.

Keep Going.

It's as simple as that. And if I can do it? I promise you, you can do it too.

Day Two 1/2 (Sort Of): Upper Fix

Day Two. How do I feel?: Upon waking up Tuesday morning, I typed up an e-mail to my boss that went a little something like this:

Dear Boss,

I cannot come to work today. I know yesterday was my birthday and you're going to assume I'm hungover, but I promise you that is not the case. I physically cannot come to work today. Like, my legs won't move from the horizontal position. Please excuse my absence. If you have any questions, call Beachbody and ask for Autumn. She'll explain.

 

You would think I turned 80 on Monday instead of 26. I managed to talk myself into swinging my legs over the edge of my bed and making my way to the bathroom (not without gasping and muttering "ow" with every, single, tedious step). Somehow, someway I managed to leave my condo. Walking down the stairs sucked. Then sitting in my car sucked. Then getting out of my car was even worse. Oh, and I work on the second floor of the building, so you can imagine every time I needed to go downstairs for something... You get the picture.

Overall, Tuesday I didn't feel "more energized". I would like to point out, I've only done one day of this shin-dig, I did actually feel more energy Monday after I did it (well, after the feeling of wanting to puke/pass out faded), so then I stayed up later and ended up not being able to fall asleep until midnight. Also, I haven't started the nutritional part yet--which I definitely think isn't benefiting me any. I'm hoping once I start on the nutritional part and really jump into this thing headfirst, my energy will be up.

Anywho, on to day two!

I one hundred percent researched the work-out at work Tuesday afternoon. I think I was slightlyyyy hoping I would see something like: Ultimate Quad Work-Out! and quit instantly. But instead, I read: Day Two: "Upper Fix". I was ecstatic. Upper--aka no legs. None! Nada! They can't possibly make me use my legs 'cause that's not upper. Duh. A kindergartner could tell you that... (foreshadowing: I was super naive to think this...).

So my review of the Upper Fix:

I kind of forgot that even though Tuesday was an "upper body" day, I would still need to warm up my legs. I supposed I assumed that maybe the warm up would be different? But alas, no. Same warm up. Same, killer leg movements. Ouch. However, even in the incredible pain I had felt from the legs (my legs were like jello on Monday), I felt like it was easier to get through the warm ups this time around. Yes, my quads were throbbing and burning and pulling in every direction, but I was able to push through it a lot easier than the day before.

So this work out consisted of 5 different exercises with 2 rounds. We started with a "bent over row". You could use weights or resistance bands. I chose the bands because my weights have yet to come in. Autumn tells the girls they should be using a set of lighter weights/resistance--anywhere from 2 lbs. to 5 lbs. (my resistance bands start at 3lb-6lb resistance) and then the heavier set should be 5 lbs. to 8 lbs. She says to start with the heavier pair for the first exercise. This thought was terrifying. I literally yelled at the TV, "WHY do you like to kill me right from the get-go?!" In my mind, Autumn/Beachbody has some sick fascination with pushing you to your limit before it even really begins.

Basically with the resistance band, you keep it held down under your right foot. Your left leg is at a 45 degree angle lunged behind you. You do a "rowing-like" motion with the weights or resistance band handles. I realized when I started doing this exercise that I really wasn't feeling much of a burn...at all. I even craned my neck to look at my little cheat sheet that came with my resistance bands to make sure that I was, indeed, using the "heavier" (more resistance) of the bands. Huh. As if on cue, Autumn tells us that the girl using the resistance bands decided to make hers "more resistant" by making a loop on the floor with a little bit of slack from the band and standing on it. Basically, creating more resistance. So I did it! I was actually able to follow along and IT FELT GREAT! This is only day two and I'm already keeping up better than I was before. I definitely felt the pull, but it wasn't anything like the feeling my quads were feeling the day before. Autumn stresses squeezing your shoulder blades together and keeping your abs tight--both things I had to really focus on, but I was glad I had that reminder. It made me realize I was working out the right way.

Next you go into something she calls the "Transverse Twist". I have to admit, I felt pretty badass with this one. Feet hip-width apart, knees bent a little, and you punch the weight across your chest and then pull it back, then go in the other direction. Autumn noted it was really important to keep your abs tight and rotate your palms to face the ground. Again--two things I had to keep in mind. I also had to focus on not punching so hard to throw out my elbows--which I was doing quite a bit (read: clearly a badass). We were supposed to switch to the lighter weights for this but I kept the heavier resistance band (seriously though, why am I so convinced I'm a badass right now?! Newsflash: you wanted to cry every time you had to sit down after that last workout, let's not overdo it). I switched to the lighter resistance band when I realized this was more of a "safety thing" with the elbows and didn't really limit my badass-ness.

Then were the push-ups. My arms still didn't feel like they were dying (until push up number 12 or so). I changed it up and did the modified (from my knees) and then the regular every-other-one. My arms were shaking. I hadn't realized it had been so long since I'd done push-ups. Sheesh. Also, during this round I decided that I'm prettttty sure Autumn is a mind-reader. I was just thinking "I can't do this anymore" when she told me to take the word can't out of my vocabulary.

...that was a little bit scary.

Anyway--here's the reason why A) this is two days late and B) I didn't finish this day's work-out.

I ended up having to take someone to the ER. We were there for 5ish hours. He has Shingles (did you know you don't have to be 50+ to get Shingles? Because that was news to me...) then I went home. I climbed into bed around 3ish in the morning on Wednesday. I woke up roughly 3 hours later to go to work. I felt like I was dying at work all day. I went home last night. I called my Grandma to wish her a happy birthday. I picked up the boy's prescriptions from Walgreens. I took a shower, realizing I hadn't showered after my Upper Fix the night before (and then went to work anyway. Gross). I opened my computer to watch an episode of Friends and before I knew it, I was asleep. At 8:30.

So now it's Thursday. Thank you, life, for the curve balls. Though I plan to jump right back into the Fix tonight :).

And next week I get to start the nutritional side! And Shakeology! Color me stoked.

Well, that's all folks! What you should take away from this blog entry: Upper Body Fix is fun! Shingles is not. My legs still feel like they're going to fall off. My armpits hurt a tad and my shoulders could use a massage, but it's nothing like the pain my quads felt so I'll stop complaining. Oh, and clearly I think I'm a badass. Til next time! :)

Day One (Sort Of): Total Body Cardio Fix

So this is day one--sort of. If you read my last blog, I'm not planning on starting the full nutrition plan until this weekend after pay-day. I'm planning on eating well this week no matter what--minus today because it was my birthday and work brought in cake (can you really blame me?!). I kept it to one sliver of a slice, though! That counts for something, right?

Day one in the 21 Day Fix is the Total Body Cardio Fix. I had read horror stories regarding this work-out but didn't really take them seriously. I don't think I fully understood how intense these work outs would be considering I can do them from home in my living room. Well, let me tell you (or let my quads tell you, rather)...

It starts off with a warm-up. There's a group of people keeping up with Autumn Calabrese (the creator of this masterpiece [or nightmare, however you decide to look at it]) and then there's a woman who does a modified version of the warmup or the exercise. I foolishly thought I could keep up with Autumn and the rest of the crew. I was horribly mistaken.

I think the moment I realized I was in trouble was when I became aware that we were still on the warmup and I was looking for a water break...

It's been 7 months since I've gone for a run. It's insane to me how hard of a hit my body has taken in seven months of limited to no physical activity. 

The workouts go something like this: Autumn goes over two exercises--the first one is something she calls "Surrenders". She even states that this one is the hardest of them all, because we have the most energy right off the get go. Uh, I'm not sure who she's talking to but I already feel winded... Why in the world would we start with something that sounds so terrible?! The Surrender consists of holding weights at your shoulders parallel to the floor, then taking turns--first set of these exercises you kneel onto your right knee, then bring your left knee down, then up with your right, up with your left. Repeat. I was about ready to surrender after this set, but somehow kept going into the second exercise.

The next exercise are the side-shuffles. Sounds easy, right? Well, after those Surrenders, my knees, quads and shins felt like they were waving a white flag. I definitely went with the modifier for the first few rounds. Instead of two shuffles, I did one. Ideally, it's two shuffles to the right, reach down to the floor between your feet (shoulder-width apart or a little bit more) keeping your back straight and your head up--chin parallel with the floor, then shuffle left and do the same thing. 

Then you go back to Surrenders (I did the modifiers on this round--which consisted of doing the same motions, only minus the weights).

Then back to the shuffles. Because I modified the last round of Surrenders, I was able to do the full shuffle exercises.

She highlights these "twenty second breaks" at the beginning--saying we'll need them. Twenty seconds have never gone by so quickly before in my entire life.

Round two.

We start with something called "Squat Wood Chops". I felt excited about this round because it's name reminded me of pork chops... Clearly, I'm delusional by this point (and very obviously hungry). But no, this exercise is where you basically bring the weight up over your head as you squat--not my most favorite, as I mentioned previously. My. Quads. Are. Dying. They hate me by this point and I'm only pissing them off more. The second exercise is called Cross Country Skiers, which genuinely scared me at first. You basically lunge-jump while lifting a weight of your choice above your head. I modified this one a bit and didn't really "lunge-jump", more just lunged while lifting the weight above my head. Now my shoulders hate me. Fannnnntastic. Again, you do each exercise a couple of times (honestly? I didn't pay attention. The only things I listened for her to say were: "Ten more seconds!", "Okay, five more seconds!", "DONE!")

Round three. Ohhh, round three. I wasn't sure I would actually make it to you. I'm still not too certain I'll be conscious by the time you're over. We begin with the Weighted Jog, where you hold the weight straight out in front of you, arms parallel with the floor and jog in place. Shockingly--I'm still shocked--this wasn't bad? I'm thinking at this point my body went numb and I simply couldn't feel the pain anymore. Then there were the knee pulls, which consisted of also holding the weights, standing in a lunge and bringing the knee behind you up to mid-waist level. This one was one that I definitely felt in my butt and my quads. Holy quads. Like I really don't even know how I stood in the shower after all of this.

I was extremely thankful for the last round, as it focused on the abs. I still had to do some movement with my legs, but the "frog crunches" wasn't nearly as scary as it sounded. I liked taking the focus off of my quads and onto my abs--however now my abs feel like they hate me, too. MY WHOLE BODY HATES ME.

...but it'll love me later on.

As an overall review--so far, so good. Autumn is encouraging and seems to know the exact moments to say something like, "I know you feel like you want to quit right now, but you can push through it. Tell yourself you can push through it." As crazy as it sounds, in those moments I did want to quit, and in those moments I did tell myself to push through (I'm pretty sure my legs were yelling back: "YOU TRY 'PUSHING THROUGH'! NOT AS EASY AS IT SOUNDS!") But we did it.

Also--I will honestly note that I took breaks. Yeah, it happened. You're supposed to do it straight through but my out-of-shape self couldn't handle it. It got to a point where twenty seconds wasn't long enough, but that's OKAY. At least I'm telling myself that's okay. One day at a time, folks.

I'm stoked for this program. I'm excited to get on the nutritional part of it, as well (I'm blaming the pain on the cake; yeah, let's blame the cake). Here's to a new year! 

21 Day Fix

Twenty-Six.

I've gotta say, the last twenty-six years have been pretty great. I've lived experiences, traveled within the country and outside the country, I've done things I never thought I would. I'm old enough now to realize that in my adult-life, I've made those opportunities and those things happen.

Recently (actually since Easter), I've wanted to get on a health-kick. And by "wanted", I mean that I've talked about it a lot. I went to the gym once! It was Easter Sunday. It had been three months since I had gone for a run. When I moved back from California and lived with my parents, any time I needed space I would go for a run on the trail behind their house. Since moving into my own condo, that thought had gone out the window. 

Working out on Easter Sunday felt great! I felt motivated. I felt ready. I was excited. I was ready to make this a routine (or was I?). 

And then that very next day, a frog jumped on me and changed my pace. At least, I like blaming the frog. I mean, it was somewhat reasonable to blame the frog. I really did some damage to my toe and my foot, so I was in a walking boot for 4 weeks. But now I'm out of the boot. The first few weeks after being out of the boot, it was pretty much impossible to get my foot in a sneaker without tears being shed. But now that's different. I haven't even thought about my toe in a few weeks.

About two weeks ago, I just decided to make a change. I don't know how and I'm not sure why, but I ordered the 21 Day Fix Challenge from Beachbody. And then I ordered weights, resistance bands, a yoga mat. I got a blender for my Shakeology shakes, I ordered a new work-out outfit (I had to bribe myself somehow--I mean, once the clothes are on, I may as well work out, right?). 

I haven't yet been able to stock up on the necessary groceries--fresh produce, frozen berries for my shake, chicken, lean meat, etc. but I'm planning on doing so on Friday when I get paid. However, I felt ready to kick it into gear today, so I'm going to start with the first work out. So this will really become more like a 28 Day Fix, considering the food portion (just as important as the exercise) will technically begin next weekend/Monday. Can't hurt to get some work-outs in?

So this is my blog--detailing jumping into the work-out routine at 26, from a girl who really has never pushed herself to "work-out" all that frequently. Running is one thing--weights and all these crazy moves Beachbody likes to throw at you are another.

Here goes nothing!