tracy anderson’s 30 day method q&a

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Being that I kinda sorta consider myself one of the 30 Day Method experts, and since I want everyone who begins The 30 Day Method to be successful, I’ve done my best to put together all I know and all I’ve learned in one place.
Of course if there’s anything I’ve missed or anything else you want to know, feel free to email me and I’ll do my best to hook you up with the wisdom you need.
Okay, so we’ll start with my tips and advice and then I’ll answer the questions that some of you had.
Tips & Advice:
~ Get a friend on board.  If they aren’t brave enough to step up and do it with you, at least have them  promise to give you all the support you will need.  Believe me, even with the insane changes you’ll start to see, every two days you will want to QUIT.  And weekends WILL be the worst.
~Take it DAY by DAY!  If I looked too far ahead on the menu or the calendar, I would freak.  
If I stayed on the day I was in, I was fine.
Stay in the day you’re in.
~Take your vitamins and supplements.  I’m BIG on this, and if you need advice on what to take, click here.
In addition to those on that list, I also started taking Mercola’s Krill Oil with Primrose which I love.
{and it doesn’t stink!}
~ Stretch before and after.  
{I used the warmup from her 2008 Dance Cardio}  
And if your shins and knees are rockin’ it in the not so hot way, ice them after your cardio for 20 minutes, and then maybe another 20 minutes before bed!!!
~ Get on Pandora!  
My favorite “station” for Mat Work was Womanizer Kaskade Mix.
And for Dance Cardio I created a station called Novaspace.
~I would suggest starting with 30 reps and when you stop feeling sore from that or it begins to get easy add another 5 reps working up to 40, 50…or more if you have time.
~Alternate the leg and arm you start with each day.  For example, Monday I started with my right leg and right arm, Tuesday I started with the left leg and left arm.  
~ Mix up your cardio.  I have all of Tracy’s dance dvd’s so I go between them during the week.  
If my ankles or knees were feeling a bit ticked, I spent a day or two on the rebounder….but mixing it up HELPS!
{tip for the rebounder if you’ve had kids….get ALL your pee out before jumping.  and even then, pad up.  don’t say i didn’t warn ya.}
~Try to space your meals about 2-3 hours apart to keep your metabolism going.  And it totally helps to do that by splitting your snack in half, having half mid morning and the other half mid afternoon.
~You WILL be super hungry in the beginning, but as your stomach adjusts the hunger will become less and less.  Try to not to up portions until at least the second week when you can trust your hunger more.
In the meantime, drink lots and lots of water.  It will become another food group for sure.
~If you’re apt to gagging at pureed foods such as I, it’s super simple, don’t puree them.  
{i.e. cream of broccoli, the “bloody mary,” and lots of the cleanse recipes}
I didn’t, and I still got GREAT results!
~You may poo a lot in the beginning, not much in the end, and then when you eat processed foods again, get the toilet paper ready.
That’s all that needs to be said about that.
~You WILL be moody.  A lot.  Or every other day at least.  Prepare your husband and kids and buy them lots of presents to make up for it.
~Say goodbye to your boobies.
{unless they’re fake, and in that case, i’m jealous.}
~Have REALISTIC expectations.
I say this now because I didn’t. 
I wanted to have ALL my issues resolved in 30 days….and while there WERE may-jah changes, I still have a ways to go before the “skin pulls back to the muscle” as Tracy likes to say.
Just be patient with yourself, with the process, and know that it TAKES TIME.
EMBRACE THE PROCESS.
~~~~~~~
Your Q’s and My A’s:
How much does it cost?
For us, I made almost all the lunches and dinners for both Jimmy and myself, so I doubled the recipes.  We also eat organic/free range, which raises the cost as well…so all in all, I think I spent between 
$100-150 each week.  
Keep in mind though that we did not eat out AT ALL in 30 days, so in the end we actually SAVED money!
When did you do your grocery shopping?
I went every Friday morning, and did my shopping for the following week.  Because all the ingredients are fresh they go bad quickly, so sometimes I would have Jimmy stop and get something on his way home from work.
{I have all the grocery lists for each week here}
How much food preparation did you do in advance?
I pretty much made my breakfast, lunch, and snacks the day before whenever I had some free time.  Sometimes I got it done the morning before, sometimes it was after the kids went to bed at night.  
As for dinner, Jimmy and I would make that fresh the moment he walked in the door from work.  
After the first week, we fell into a pretty good routine and I was ALWAYS glad that I had food prepared when hunger would strike! 

How much time did you spend each day between food prep and workouts?
Tracy was not kidding when she said this 30 Day Method would be like a part time job, because it truly does take up A LOT of time.  
Now, I’m a stay at home mom with a thousand other things going on in my day, so I had to quickly learn some time management skills…but it all worked out and I got it down pretty well.  
In the mornings, I’d do some “home schooling” with Chloe, which really means that I put on Letter Factory (reading) or Umizoomi (math), and then I got busy in the kitchen preparing snacks and lunch for my next day.  
That would take at most an hour.
{keep in mind i don’t cook, so i’m extra slow}  
Then at nap time (or quiet time), I did my workout.  
Depending on the sequence, that took anywhere from 1.5- 2 hours each day.  Because Chloes nap never goes beyond 2 hours, I didn’t have the luxury of adding reps beyond 40, so instead I’d put ankle weights on which most definitely did the trick!
{only needed to do this in the first sequence!}
Dinner took another 30 minutes at night, so I would say…
total hours a day maybe 3-4 hours.
Which days were harder?  Was there a pattern through the sequences?
I had heard it said that every third day was hard for others who attempted this, and I would have to say…ummmmm, yes!!!
There is most definitely a three day pattern of:  TODAY TOTALLY SUCKS that transitions the next day into TODAY ONLY KIND OF SUCKS that then transitions the third day into THE ONLY THING THAT SUCKS IS THIS FAT AND I CAN TOTALLY KICK IT’S A$*!
Sounds fun right?
Don’t you totally want to do this?
{YES!  Yes you do, because you will LOVE your results.  So, suck it up girl, suck. it. up!}

When the moves were different in the book and dvd, which did you follow?
Always, always, always I followed the DVD.  I only referred to the book for the explanations, which seemed spot on even when the pictures didn’t add up.
~~~~~~~
All in all, remember:
If you miss a day, substitute a meal, cheat once or cheat twice…
it doesn’t have to end and YOU DID NOT FAIL!
This is a learning experience.
Learn the lesson, pick yourself up, and move on to A NEW DAY.
Every little change you make is a change for the better.

Make your mantra:
Winners never quit, 
and quitters never win.
You will win this, and I’ll be right there with you every step of the way!
© 2011 “Le Musings of Moi”
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Comments

  1. Also hydrate hydrate hydrate! Especially on the cleanse. The headaches are no fun if you forget!

    Way to go Summer, we did it!

  2. You are crazy enthusiastic about this.. I hope you get paid some $$– you rocked it!

  3. Love your insight! Keep blogging about this girl! =) You are a total inspiration!

  4. I am so glad I found your blog today. You probably got sick because you are detoxing, so congrats. I want to be a 2! I have gone form a tight 8 to a loose 6 and I am about 2/3 of the way through. I will do it again soon though, because I have missed a few days.

  5. Stuck this post under my favourites to come back and read over and over again!

    I have a sweet gift for you on my blog! Enjoy!

    http://www.militarywifemayhem.com/2011/02/irresistibly-sweet-blog-award.html

  6. I love this, especially getting the friend on board! I so need that! Great tips, sweet Summer! xoxo

  7. THANKS for reminding me .. I had toast. Lots. And voila, weight is back to where it started. but so will i, just start again. And the 90 day meta is waiting 🙂 Do you have that one too? The meal plan there seems partly even stricter than the 30 days, have you moticed?
    cheers, lisa

  8. I am a working Mommy and thought I would cook all of my food from the Method on Sunday. Do you think that would work? I am a distater in the kitchen and need to take my time.

    Love that you posted a shopping list! You are an angel! Let’s see if I can get my size 14 bohunkis back to a size 6!!!