P90X3 Week 7 Progress - Shout Out to the Mama's!

I wanted to dedicate an entire post to my challengers that are moms. Why? Because being involved in a workout and clean eating program requires prep work and dedication - when you add a child and family into the mix, you are taking the challenge to a whole other level!

One of my challengers has 3 children, one of which is under 2 years old. She is working and managing a business full time along with cooking, cleaning, being a wife and mother. She has found 30 minutes a day to dedicate to exercise and found meals that accommodate the entire family as well. Once she started cooking clean meals she realized how much her children are open to eating different vegetables she was not aware of. Also, her kids love watching the dvds and mimicking Tony Horton. She has really done a great job of working this into her lifestyle and it shows in her results!

Another challenger has a young son - 3 years old, her and her husband are doing the program together - and even workout together sometimes. She told me her 3 year old will hop in and goof around too because he likes to workout with them. She also works full time, but has made this program work with her lifestyle. She was spending money monthly on a gym membership she didn't use, now she is working out at home and gets to spend more time with her family. When you make fitness a family event, you have an accountability partner at home, and this can really motivate and drive you toward success. When one person at home is on board and the other is not, sometimes their eating habits or what they bring into the house can sabotage you.


Now onto their results and victories so far.......

One challenger is 38 years old, she has been doing the program for 6 weeks total. She has been engaged in the group and always follows up on at least a weekly basis. She even took a small vacation and actually packed and planned clean meals for herself and her family, talk about dedication! Here are her results so far - she still has 6 weeks to go and is doing an amazing job!

7 POUNDS LOST

6 3/4 INCHES LOST 

Non-scale victories: She see's strength and muscle definition in her legs and arms. She has seen her confidence come back in areas she has not seen for a few years and her general attitude and mood is better.


My other challenger is 27 years old she is a sweet, fiery :) Brazilian who is an excellent cook, but had to ween herself off of the carbs and rice she was used to eating as the staple of most of her meals. She was small to begin with, but wanted to get healthier. She is 7 weeks into the program, here are her results:

5.4 POUNDS LOST

2 INCHES LOST OFF HER BELLY

Non-scale victories: She said her clothes are fitting better and that she is finally understanding the lifestyle. She is enjoying working out with her husband and hopes to motivate others in her family to do the same.

Fitness can truly be a fun family routine and it teaches your children the importance of nutrition at an early age, something I was not fortunate enough to learn when I was younger. I lived off of Totino's Pizza's and loved the Fun Pack frozen meals. The food I ate was not even real food, it was made of processed, fake ingredients. The turn toward healthy eating with your family was not something prevalent when I was growing up, so it is really encouraging to hear when challengers are incorporating this into their home. The healthy movement for your children's generation starts with what goes on at home. Fitness and health does not have to feel or be selfish - you family will enjoy it and in the future, will thank you for the example you are setting for them.

21 Day Fix Week 1 - AMAZING Results

Challengers are 1/3 of the way through the 21 Day Fix and I am truly astounded with the results so far. Before I get into the specifics on weight loss and measurements, let me review what the program is about a little bit.

The program consists of 7 workouts that you repeat 3 times for a total of 21 days. The program includes color coded containers that you associate with a specific food group. This takes the guess work out of ensuring you are eating the correct portions and getting the right among of protein, healthy fats, vegetables and fruits. At first, the task seemed a little tedious to come up with a meal plan, but it was really quite simple. Below is a sample meal plan from one of my challengers, she is consuming between 1500 to 1800 calories a day on this program. She has really come up with a simple plan and easy way to map out her meals. Click on the image below to see it larger:

Workouts:
7 workouts on 2 DVDs (VHS not available)


Dirty 30 workout**


Total Body Cardio Fix


Upper Fix


Lower Fix


Pilates Fix


Cardio Fix


Yoga Fix

All of the challengers have described the feeling after the workouts as sheer muscle exhaustion, 'jell-o arms' or jell-o legs :). The workouts are fast paced and really target one muscle group at a time to produce effective results. 

For more information, what this quick video:

  

Now onto the RESULTS - let me start by saying two of my challengers struggle with hypothyroidism and have been stagnant with their weight loss for a very long time. The challengers are a variety of ages and at different points in their fitness. Each video has a modifier and since its only 30 minutes it is totally doable. 

Female, age 28 - 
Day 7
3 LBS LOST!
3 INCHES LOST!
She has hypothyroid and has struggled with getting weight off since her second child, but has been able to stay on track and accountable and is doing fantastic so far!
Female, age 36 -7 day weight and measurement stats: 

Starting weight: 189
Day 7: 181
8 LBS LOST!
Measurements: 

LOST 2 INCHES IN ARMS
LOST 1 INCH IN CHEST
LOST 1.5 IN WAIST
LOST 1 INCH IN HIPS
LOST 3 INCHES IN HIPS

8.5 TOTAL INCHES LOST!
One challenger said

'I jumped on the scale this morning to find myself down 3.7 LBS after 5 workouts/days. Yippie!'

Female, age 42:
13 days on the program
LOST 2.5 INCHES ON CHEST 
LOST 2.5 INCHES ON WAIST
LOST 2.5 INCHES ON HIPS
7 LBS LOST!
7 INCHES LOST!


Last but not least, is Nicole. She is 29 years old and was diagnosed with hypothyroid and has been struggling with her weight since. She is lethargic and before 21 Day Fix had been working out everyday and eating well, she had lost 4 pounds in a matter of 8 weeks before starting this program. She is now on day 7 of the fix and here are are her results so far:

Starting Weight: 107.2lbs
7 Day Weight: 166
LOST 4.2 LBS!

LOST 1.5 INCHES WAIST
LOST 1 INCH ON ARMS
LOST 1 INCH ON LEGS
LOST 1 INCH ON CHEST
LOST 1 INCHE ON CHEST
5.5 INCHES LOST TOTAL!!!

She lost more weight and inches in 7 days on The Fix then in 2 months trying other food plans, she has been persistent and stuck to the plan. She was the one who created the meal plan posted earlier in this blog. She is really inspiring and I cannot wait to continue to share her results. She is determined and motivated ~ NICE WORK NICOLE!

Thinking about buying The 21 Day Fix? February is a great month to do it, 1. because it is on sale - $70 savings, 2. because this month is the Beachbody cup and it would mean a lot to myself and my team if you decided to take the leap this month. Take a look at the flipogram below to learn more about Shakeology, the Fix and the Beachbody cup :). To order Click Here!!

P90X3 Week 6 Progress

I used to believe the myth that as a woman I should not lift heavy weights, or even lift at all - boy am I glad those thoughts did not stay with me. I used to be the girl on the treadmill, then the elliptical, then the stair master. I needed to burn calories! I figured out very quickly after completing Chalean Extreme, that I needed to lift and go heavy to boost my metabolism and lean out the way I was wanting to. Week 6 involved heavy lifting and my muscles are definitely CONFUSED. Every part of my body was sore at some point this week.  I increased the weights I was using (something my past me would have been hesitant to do), last week I was using 8-10 pound weights, this week I increased to 10-15 pounds. My push up and pull up form have improved significantly and I am able to do 2-3 reps more of each. I got on the scale this week and was absolutely shocked, not by the number on the scale but by the .6% body fat percentage drop from last week. This was a huge victory for me in the fact that it allowed me to throw my old unhealthy - weight loss tactics to the way side, I am seeing first hand that lifting weights does not make you bulky!

I want to go into more detail regarding the workouts in Block 2 for those of you who are still on the fence about whether P90X3 is the right program for you, so here you go:

Day 1: Eccentric Upper
- This 30 minute video involves various pull-ups, push-ups, and exercises that fatigue your triceps, biceps and back . All of the moves are based on slowing down the negative motion of each exercise. For example on the pull bar you would start in the full pull-up position and lower yourself down slowly and then pull-up quickly. Or each push-up you would lower down slowly (3 seconds) and then push up as quickly as possible. Completing the exercises this way allow you to focus on having great form, also eccentric exercises have been credited to challenging muscles up to 30% more than regular exercises which produces much faster results! Every exercise in this video was completed this way, so after this workout my arm muscles were twitching the rest of the day. Killer!

There were 3 types of eccentric push-ups completed in this video. The first was a standard push-up, the second was a military push-up and the third was a staggered push-up.

A military push-up involves keeping the elbows close to the rib-cage, so it targets the triceps much more then a standard push-up.

A staggered push-up involves having one arm graze the ribcage in military style, while the other arm does standard. This requires you to stay very rigid in the core, working your abs. I am still not able to do this completely true to form - hopefully by the end of the the 90 days I can!

Day 2: Triometrics
- This 30 minute video involves 3 levels of one exercise and each is completed for 20 seconds. There are a lot of balance related moves in this exercise. I really liked this program because you had three levels to choose from, let me tell you I was having to do the modified version of each exercise for almost the entire video. I did not want to compromise my form so even doing level 1 or 2 of each move left me very sore. Cannot wait until I can do the whole 30 minutes completing the hardest versions of each move!

Day 3: X3 Yoga-
- Wednesday yoga is something I absolutely look forward to each week. At first, I was unsure if I would want to do yoga each Wednesday, but it really what has helped with my tight muscles. I can stretch and increase my flexibility to create longer -leaner muscles. The routine is NOT easy and I am hoping that one day (in the far future) I can do some of the advanced moves with Tony.

Day 4: Eccentric Lower
- Again this involves focusing on the negative movements but it is all lower body. Squats, forward lunges, side lunges, leg extensions, calf raises, bridges and several other exercises make this video extremely effective. Form is very important in this video to make sure you are not injuring your knees. Bands or weights are used - and you definitely can go heavier here because you are using some of your largest muscles groups.

Day 5: Incinerator
-  The name of this workout says it all! You are going to burn, burn, burn your muscles until you can barely eek out one last rep! The video goes through a sequence of exercises, working opposing muscles groups to exhaustion back-to-back. By the end I could not do another full push-up or pull-up.....burn out!

Day 6: MMX
- This was a fun workout! I was punching, jabbing, kicking and crossing my way into a sweat. This video involved a lot of sprawls so prepare yourself. Sprawling, is like a burpee, except you put your chest all the way to the group and then jump up completely into a standing position. If you like marital arts or MMA fighting you will definitely enjoy this workout.

- Day 7: Rest or Dynamix
I decided to rest this week, but Dynamix essentially is very low impact exercises and mostly stretching type moves that will get your muscles just warm enough to get some deep stretching in.

Onto Week 7!!!

Thyroid Issues Anyone???

I am not a doctor or nutritionist, however, I watched my mom struggle first hand with hypothyroidism and I wanted to write an encouraging post for those who may be living with this. She struggled for years, yes years to get diagnosed. One would assume once you are diagnosed that you can get out the streamers and balloons and have a party, because there is a medication you can take that will make it all better......WRONG. This was just the beginning of her journey that included  countless doctors visits, dieting, exercise, and all of this was not easy on the wallet either. It was emotionally draining - no matter how hard she worked she did not see the scale budge. But, there is hope!

My mom tried several diets - low-fat, low-calorie, low-carb, etc, etc but everything really started to click for her when she began eating whole, natural foods along with her Weight Watchers program. When she cut out processed foods - I am talking about the low-fat, sugar free type foods she really saw the weight start to come off.  Now she has incorporated Shakeology into her daily routine and is even doing P90X3 along with me! 

There are certain foods you can focus on and otherS you can avoid that may help mitigate your thyroid issues. First let me get into the typical symptoms of a hypothyroid:

- weak, tired, sluggish
- depression
- dry skin
- brittle nails
- heavy menstrual cycle

Now, if you have a thyroid that is on the brink of being diagnosed, a little sluggish or if you have been diagnosed, here are some foods you can try incorporating into your daily food:

Foods rich in Vitamin A:

Cooked carrots
Cooked sweet potatoes
Mangos
Cooked squash
Cantaloupe
Tuna Fish
Sweet mini peppers

Foods rich in Iodine:

Himalayan Sea Salt
Potatoes
Kelp
Kombu
Cranberries
Yogurt
Strawberries

Also, it has been suggested that if you have thyroid issues you should avoid large quantities of cruciferous vegetables like kale, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussels sprouts and collard greens. 

My mom's journey is truly an inspiration, after 3 plus years of trying to get her weight under control the clean eating and exercise really started to click. She is now down 55+ pounds and still going strong. It was not quick or easy, but it is attainable. Everyone's body is different and finding the right calorie intake, combination of foods and exercise is key to seeing results. So, don't give up, keep fighting, keep tailoring your diet, change up your exercise and eventually you will find what clicks!

Before:                                                                     After:

    

                                             

Happy Thursday everyone!

P90X3 Week 5 Progress

Week 5 has come to a conclusion and the amount of sore I experienced this week was NOT like Block 1. I started the beginning of Block 2 workouts and it was great to mix it up this past week. This program focuses on muscle confusion - so mixing up the routine really produces the quickest results.
I really have enjoyed the workout schedule this week.

Here are the workouts we completed this week:

Day 1: Eccentric Upper
Day 2: Triometrics
Day 3: X3 Yoga- I am loving the 3o minute yoga and my body totally is needing it too
Day 4: Eccentric Lower
Day 5: Incinerator
Day 6: MMX

Day 7: Rest or Dynamix 

The eccentric upper and lower workouts really focus on strength training and exhausting the muscle groups. I definitely reached for the heavier weights this week, which felt great. I am feeling stronger and more agile each passing week. Triometrics focused on one move that has three levels. You work through each level and up to the advanced if comfortable. I was dripping with sweat during this routine and literally experienced muscle fatigue throughout my entire body. The MMX workout is meant to mimic some MMA type moves and really gives a full body workout.  

Here is a move from Eccentric Upper called the Rocket Launcher - it really targets the triceps. We only did 10 reps so choosing heavier weights was key.

Triometrics involved a lot of balance, one move called The Duper Skater involved balancing on each leg for over a minute while doing moves that a speed skater would. My legs were shaking!!

I noticed this week that staying hydrated was of vital importance. Drinking half of body weight in ounces of water was extremely important so that I was not dehydrated and to help with the soreness I was experiencing. The great thing about this series is that it is only 30 minutes. I know I can push to my hardest for a full half hour a day. I am not sure if i will want to go back to do longer workouts. I am seeing results, feeling the improvement and not gassing out halfway through. 

Meal planning was essential this week. I needed to make sure I was fueling my body with the right nutrients to produce the best results.   I have a serious issue with my sweet tooth, I feel like I need something sweet after each meal. I have found that the following snacks really help curb this, yet they are still a healthy option:

-Vanilla roast or cocoa roast Almonds

-Greek yogurt with agave and berries

-Dark chocolate with strawberries

-Chocolate Chip Quest Bar

-Apple with almond butter, cinnamon and honey

-Frozen grapes

-Kind Bar

Here is my meal plan, I like to keep it simple so the prep and time it takes is manageable:

Now onto week 6, cannot wait to see how my challengers take on Block 2 and what changes we see in our health and bodies!