21 Day Fix...That's a Wrap | Tucson Boudoir Photography
So I've come to the end of my 21 days and I'll forewarn you, this might get a bit long.
The Exercises
Really this is what I was most interested in - 30 min workouts that still actually do something. I wanted it and I got it. The workouts are almost all high intensity workouts with 1 min on and 15-20 sec rest (Pilates & Yoga are the different ones). I had workouts where I was sweating hard 5 mins into it and others that I had to challenge myself to make it harder, and even a few that I had to modify to something easier because I couldn't complete the minute. The variety in the workouts meant that I never got bored throughout the week and I spent a fair amount of time trying to remember what was in the workout that I was doing (which is great for forgetting how much it hurts). There is a modification for everyone (and I mean everyone) so there's no excuses that you can't keep up. And seriously, its 30 mins, you can find 30 mins in your day.
In my last post I mentioned my plan to add the ab workouts and then do doubles this week. Sadly this all went a bit wrong this past week when I did something to my hip. I decided to make some modifications to the workouts, only doing 1 per day and even swapping a cardio out for an upper body to keep the focus off that stupid hip.
I plan to do the 21 days again, but with much less focus on the meals and really digging into the workouts more.
The Meal Plan
I suck at meal plans. When I did P90X I lasted for less than a day. Seriously. But I was bound and determined to make this happen, after all it was only 21 days, 3 weeks. Easy Peasy. So you guys all heard about how I fell off the wagon in the first week due to some unplanned travel. But once I got home, I hopped back on the wagon and stayed there. No beer or wine for 2 weeks (that may be a record for me). I kept on plan I'd say 98% of the time, but it was usually small things like an extra veggie container or a bit more than a teaspoon of peanut butter. The cool thing about this plan is that nothing is off limits. I do take a bit of offense to that because it is hard to figure out how to classify some foods, but overall you can have some fun with it. I tried out cauliflower pizza crust, mac'n'cheese with cauliflower and miracle noodles on this plan. I discovered that there were parts of my day where I may not have been eating enough of the right food. The last 2 weeks I also tracked my calories as best as I could and I found some days I was eating WAY under (as in, not even consuming 1000 calories) and I knew that wasn't healthy so I made a few changes and targeted 1200 to 1450 a day, which I know is still low, but again its 3 weeks and not a lifetime. The point is to create a good sized deficit and my choices for food certainly achieved that. I did Shakeology for breakfast nearly every day and the first week and a half I found that I stayed full for quite some time. The last week and a half I found myself really hungry by mid-morning and counting the time till I could have my snack (I try to keep to a schedule). I may continue to have it as it is pretty easy to toss together in the morning. I even went camping for a night and just froze a shake before I left, it was ready to roll in the morning with me.
Overall
Given that I knew going into this that I was not going to be one of those "I lost 25 lbs!" cases, I'd say this was a good kick in the butt to start working out again. You'll see below that my results were certainly not astonishing and frankly I'm trying to figure out where those inches came from! Sadly the inches didn't come off the spots I really wanted (thighs & hips) but one can't spot reduce even though we may desire it. Even though no foods were technically off limits I still found myself picking the same things over and over again because it was easier than dreaming up new dishes. I don't think I could continue to eat like that for any long period of time. I struggled with 'creative' food (ie anything that was "mixed" - like how do you count potato salad?).
So would I do it again? Sure. In fact I'm going to do another challenge round at the end of October but I'm only going to follow the workouts. I was relatively confident in my eating before, but I know my portions had gotten a bit out of control so the only things I might hold over are trying to minimize my carb intake (I would like to see my abs someday) and keeping an eye on portions. If you're interested in joining an upcoming 21 Day Fix (or PiYo or any other Beach Body program) challenge, contact Kim Aguirre on her coaches page.
If you missed my start and halfway posts, check them out here
Final Measurements
21 Day Fix - Before (L) After (R) - See what I mean? Where did those 6" come from?
Have any of you tried any of the Beach Body programs? What successes did you see from it?