Fallin' off the band wagon...OUCH!

I have had a very rough week... to say the least.  I have been super stressed, exhausted and frustrated among MANY other things all out of my control.  This hit me really hard when it came to sticking to the 21 day fix workouts and eating plan.  I just didn't have the time or energy to think that far ahead when it came to preparing foods or to give it the energy it takes to do the exercise program.  So I bombed. BIG TIME!  For four days straight, I could not find it in myself to get back up on the horse and make this fit into my hectic stressful day.  I couldn't and I didn't want to, because quite frankly, I didn't want to add one more thing to my already very painfully crowded brain.  You might wonder what I was doing over the past four days...ok, here goes: eating pizza, eating Cheeseburgers, eating french fries, chicken Tenders(yum!), drinking wine, drinking more wine, eating HALF a key lime pie(all by myself), corn dogs, beer, you name it, I probably ate it.  The interesting part of these horrible four days of food was, I wasn't binge eating, but eating out of convenience, because I was too busy to prep and actually THINK of what I was going to have.  Part of me was eating this food to spite the diet, because I had already fallen off the band wagon and hey, why not...but mostly it was because it takes time to prepare healthful meals and it takes brain power to make healthy decisions instead of eating whatever is in front of you.  And honestly, when you're so tired and beat down, I didn't give a crap about what I was eating because I was just done.  Done with all my struggles and I started to look at the 30 minute workout as just another thing on my to-do list, instead of "me time".  A refresher and breather for ME. 

Today, I started again with the workout and eating healthy and I'm hoping to do better for the rest of this 21 day fix extreme round, especially since I have high hopes for results.  Although, realistically speaking, I might've just crushed my chances at a huge difference this round because of this last bought with my food demons.  Was it worth it?  At the time, it was damn delicious!  But looking back, I'm sad that I added that much more time to my workout to burn those short enjoyed calories.

I've never been an emotional eater.  Emotional drinker, yes, but eater, no.  So this was very strange for me to see how crazy I was off the diet.  I felt chaotic and completely out of my skin and I didn't like it one bit.  It was really an odd side of me that I had never seen before.  My eating was really reflecting what I was going through mentally and physically with the chaos I was experiencing.

Let's pray that this clears up and my life becomes much more calm.

Happy sweating!!!

Size DOES matter

Resistance band size, that is :)  In doing some of these extreme workouts we use a resistance band.  I bought about 7 different bands before returning them all and purchasing the Beach Body bands, because they are about 4 inches longer than the standard band.  I was attempting the exercises with the standard band and almost folded myself into a pretzel!!!   We were aiming for a flying goose....  Any who, band size DOES matter for so many reasons and if you're going to be doing the 21 day fix extreme, go ahead and invest in the Beach Body bands.  You'll thank yourself for doing so. 

There are some pretty crazy band workouts and since I have never used a band in my life I felt pretty darn awkward.  I was all tied up, upside down and backward and still couldn't figure out which leg goes back and which arm goes forward.  Finally, with my sweet younger sister "coaching" me (more like yelling and laughing at me) I got my act together and figured it all out.  On the move called the Flying Goose,  I just kept telling myself, "I'm a beautiful goose."  "I'm going to be a beautiful goose."  Hey, you do whatever it takes to get yourself through those 60 seconds!  And maybe one day, I will be a beautiful goose!...I mean HUMAN!!!

The day after leg day, ie. band day, I am really feeling my buns and thighs and that's so great!  It takes a lot for me to get the burn in these thighs because they've always been the strongest part of my body, but these workouts are finally challenging them in ways they've never felt and I'm so excited to be seeing dips and grooves that mean muscle.  Not cellulite. :P

I'm sweating a lot more during workouts now.  Not like you really needed to know, but this extreme program, yeah, it's pretty darn extreme.  My clothes aren't fitting a whole lot different as of yet.  The pants are lose around the waist and saggy in the bum, which is fabulous!  But I'm still waiting for big change.  It's easy to get caught up in the immediate gratification and expectation of a perfect body in just 21 days, but I have to keep reminding myself that I've only been at this 2.5 rounds.  That's a total of about 7 weeks!!!  Not that long.  But then, I think about the changes my body has made in just 7 weeks and holy cow it's awesome!  I'm gaining amazing toned arms, my thighs are coming along quite nicely, in fact someone said the other day that my thighs are smaller than hers now.  BIG SMILE :D  Let's not forget that I'm Puerto Rican and we come by large thighs naturally, so this is huge news and something to celebrate!!!

So, until next time,
Happy sweating!!!

21 Day Fix Extreme

So, I did the 21 day fix extreme cardio workout yesterday and it was ridiculous!  I cannot believe this is real stuff that people do to get in shape!  I feel great after each workout is over and I haven't died...I mean, it's a huge accomplishment some of the moves I'm doing.  Holy cow, I feel like after I'm done with this journey, if it ever ends, I should get an award or a trophy or something shiny to put on my mantle.  Seriously Beach Body, this is crazy stuff!  I think the cardio workout is officially the one workout I HATE, yes HATE the most.  It bites!  The 21 day fix cardio was rotten and the 21 day fix EXTREME is even worse.  Funny thing is, I didn't think it could get much worse.  I've got every muscle in my body screaming at me and I just tell myself, one exercise at a time, 60 seconds at a time.  If you watched Autumn demo each exercise that you are to do next, any sane person would turn off the DVD, go grab a beer and call it quits.  Watching her do them is nuts and I'M supposed to be able to just grab a pair of weights and have at it?  Man, I have never felt more uncoordinated in my life!  Let's just say, I'm so glad there are no cameras or anyone outside my immediate family watching me, because at times it's really not pretty.  And I'm not even talking about the dripping sweat, crazy sticky hair and workout pants falling off my bum.  It's a scary sight folks!  It's a scary sight.  BUT, you know what?  In 6 months, I should be rockin' this scary sight and blowin' minds.  That's the plan anyway... :)

In the meantime, I am honing in more than ever on the clean eating portion of this program.  I figure if I'm going to literally kill myself over the workouts, I'd better be eating right to make it all worth it and get the results I deserve.  And yes, you bet I deserve them after what I'm putting myself through.  And I'm so excited to see those results!  Every day I notice a little something about my body that shows me this is all working.  I'm really looking forward to my 6 month photos and weigh in!

Cheers y'all and happy sweating!

Round 2 Complete

It's been 21 days since I started round 2 of my 21 day fix.  I have been feeling strong and confident and doing great only skipping one day of exercise.  My eating has been 80% good with the occasional cheat here or there.  After last round's bummer results I took this round less strict with the diet simply because I was somewhat crushed and giving myself time to "heal" mentally.  So, after these past three weeks I am happy to say I am down another 1.2 pounds, but better yet, my back fat is GONE!!!  That's right folks, no more back fat for this woman!  It's funny, I feel like I still look the same and I still feel the same.  The only difference is my pants have started falling down a bit.  I know this is a great sign whether the scale reflects it or not.  So, things are shifting and moving and my body is sculpting and toning.  Seeing my before picture, round 1 picture and round 2 pictures, it is amazing to see all the changes I have made!  My body image has been distorted for so many years, it's really hard for me to notice any change, but the pictures are proof that this program is working for me and I'm loving it!  As far as the scale and body measurements go, I'm going to rely mainly on my post-round pictures for a while, because it's really distracting for me to focus so much on numbers that I don't have the power to change as fast as I feel they should.  I find it almost unmotivating to step on the scale and see such a small difference for the amount of work I put in.  I find it very empowering to FEEL the changes through my clothes, the way I look in the mirror and the way others comment on my changing body.  This is what works to help me succeed.

Now that I can see things are working, I have decided to move on to the 21 day fix extreme for round three. Yesterday was round one day one of extreme and boy was it hard!  Oh my gosh, I thought my legs were going to fail on me and I almost collapsed right there into a sad sweaty puddle of Lisa.  It is definitely one of the hardest workouts I have ever done!  I am very excited and hopeful that this fix extreme is going to produce super visible sculpting results.

Wish me luck!

Until next time, happy sweating!

(Here are the photos of before, after one round and after two rounds.  I'm a very visual person and this is super inspiring and motivating for me.)