health/wellness Archives - Page 4 of 8

My Journey Through the Tracy Anderson 30 Day Challenge

June 5, 2011

I just want to prove to myself that I can finish something I start.
That I am stronger than I give myself credit for.
That I am worth 30 days of getting clean and healthy, without ever once allowing numbers to trip me up!

Day 1

Day 2 and a free jumping tips for moms

Day 3, done!

the story behind me (pun intended) and Day 4!

5 workout tips and DAY 5!!!

day 6 & hanger

trading boobs for biceps, day 7

and i was run-nang, days 8 & 9

chub hiding fashion, day 10

weighing in on weighing, day 11!

lets talk about hunger, day 12

always blame pms, days 13 & 14

picture time, day 15!!!!

monday muse fashion, days 16 & 17

wont you take me to….funkytown? day 18

2 sizes & sweet potato pancakes, day 19

tracy andersons 30 day method, day 20

i’ve lost that lovin’ feeling, days 21 & 22

time to get “things” movin’! day 23

get yourself a sponsor, days 24 & 25

tips on surviving the cleanse, day 2

i got the bug, days 27 & 28

it. is. finished!!!! days 29 & 30

30 Day Method Survival Guide

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the natural antianxiety/antidepressant?

May 24, 2011

You guys know I’ve been doing my research…

and I happened upon some interesting stuff on aminos and anxiety/depression.

Over the last few months, I’ve tried lots of different ones and lots of different combos, but this latest one seems to be having the best effects for me.

{in addition to a healthier diet and exercise!}

{2 tbsp of amino acid, 1 heaping tsp of l-glutamine in water, and 2 muti mags first thing in the am on an empty stomach}

Let me just say…

I am not a doctor.

Nor am I an expert by any means on supplements….

but I do know that a lot of people have been helped with amino acids for their anxiety and depression.

{just google amino acids for anxiety & depression and read up!}

I also know that if you are on an antidepressant, you should ABSOLUTELY check with your doctor before taking serotonin producing supplements.

{apparently there IS such thing as too much of a good thing!}

And if you have tried these before, or are, or are going to…
I want to hear ALL about it!

Maybe I should just write a book on all this research one day.

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dr oz metabolism busters

April 29, 2011

Okay, so I watched Dr. Oz yesterday, and like a good girl, I took notes.

As we get older our metabolism is starting to slow down…and we may need a little push to get things moving in the right direction.

{funny that the first thing is fiber…hmmmm}

Anyway, here’s what he said WORKS!

Konjac Root Fiber

~helps keep you full longer

~take 2-4 30 minutes before meals with LOTS of water

~most potent natural fiber

~stabalizes hormones (HELLO!)

Shiratake Noodles aka Miracle Noodle

~Asian Markets and online

~no calories (what the?!? sign me up!)

~high fiber

~keeps you full

Raspberry Keytones

~helps burn fat

~take once a day

L-Carnitine

~500mg 2x a day

~helps keep you energized

~make sure to take Vitamin C with this

White Kidney Bean Extract

~keeps carbs from being broken down into sugars

~take with meals that contain starch

His advice?

Don’t take them all at once.

Try just one at a time for a few weeks or so, so that you can really see what really is working for you!

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting some of those noodles.

No calorie pasta what?

Sign me up.

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there’s a fitness app for that!

April 26, 2011

Before I go into the great app info….let me share my confession…

After 7 months of ignoring my scale and having NO idea what I weigh, yesterday I finally broke the fast.

And here’s why.

On Friday, after a great week of workouts and eating pretty well, I was feeling mighty fit.

So fit in fact, that I thought, ahhhh today is the day my “skinny day” jeans will fit….and ever so enthusiastically I pulled those babies out and worked my way in.

And when I say worked, I mean, I. had. to. WORK.

And sweat.

And pull.

And work some more.

And suck in.

And pull a little tighter….

until I let out a breath and gave up.

Fit I was not.

{although pat on my back for being so accepting of the body i thought was fit!}
Did I just write “fit” too much?
I think I did.

Anyway.

So, I decided it was time.

Time to get accountable and get back on track.

I have to say though, I was ready.

I fully believe that I have overcome those issues, and that the 7 month fast was JUST what God called me to do in order to find healing.

And when I stepped on the scale yesterday morning, and saw a number that was not “ideal,” I didn’t even bat an eye.

There were no tears.

There was no sadness.

There was just an, “ahhhh, okay….so this is where I am….time to make a few little changes.”

Okay, to you, that may sound like your every weigh in.

To me???

That has NEVER happened to me before….I have never walked away from a scale date without emotions.

But, today, I did.

My day went on happily….and other than my workout time, I didn’t really give my body much thought.

It is FREEING.

God has been so faithful….and I am incredibly grateful that I can now move on to my next issue that needs attending to.

ha!

Anyway, the REASON I needed that number was because of this AMAZING fitness app that my friend Bethany turned me onto.

My Fitness Pal.

{it’s also a website!}

And seriously, it’s the best ever.

You put in your stats, and it tells you how many calories you need a day to reach your goal.

Then as you enter your food, (they have EVERYTHING! even fast food & restaurants!), it lets you know how many calories you have left for the day.

AND….

you can enter your workouts and it then factors in those calories used into the additional calories you need to eat.

It’s really quite brilliant.

THEN at the end of the day, when you complete your entries, it tells you something along the lines of…

“if every day were like today, in 5 weeks you will weigh ____”

Genius.

It’s absolutely the most user friendly fitness app I’ve come across, and I am quite hooked.

I’m kind of geeking out about it, I know.

An entire post dedicated to talking about it, and it’s not even a sponsored post

…and the dang app got me to weigh myself after 7 months, so you know it’s gotta be good!

Oh, AND!

Did I mention that it breaks down the nutrition at the end of the day as well???

Telling you how much you got of what, and if you’re over or under certain things like fat and sugar?

Freaking fabulous.

I just love that there is an app for that.

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are you a SAD girl? there’s an APP for that.

March 10, 2011

I used to be a SAD girl.

{also known as a Scale ADdict….}

It used to control my life, my days, my emotions.

Each and every morning I would wake up and right after a good pee, I’d step on that baby and let out a deep breath…hoping in some scientific way that just maybe that breath would release another half a pound.

And then, ever so reluctantly, I would look down and focus in on a number that would then determine exactly how I would feel about myself for the rest of that day.

That three digit number controlled me.

If it was within range of my ideal, I would smile, bounce out of the bathroom and sing a lovely song with the birds outside my window.

If it was above my range, even by a half pound, tears would well up in my eyes and I’d pinch my stomach, my thighs, my arms….and want to crawl back into bed because something was obviously so wrong with me that I couldn’t keep to a “simple” goal.

Can you even imagine such a life?
I bet you can.
Because I know for a fact that I’m not the only SAD girl out there.

This went on for years.
YEARS!!!!
So many mornings wasted. So many days wasted. So many TEARS wasted!!!

If you’ve followed me for a length of time, you know my journey through my body image issues….and you know that finally at one point I just decided enough was enough.

So I schlepped my SAD bootie into counseling and decided to face it head on and find healing.

But I didn’t find healing in just the counseling.
I mean it was good, and it was necessary, and I certainly began to understand WHY I had those issues and quite possibly WHERE they came from….but what I didn’t get from it was a cure.

There was no formula written down that allowed me to be free.
I had to find that for myself…and little did I know, there was an APP for that.Action, Prayer, and Patience.

I could no longer WISH to change…I had to take ACTION to change.
And that is when I gave up the scale for good.
While it didn’t fix me instantly by doing so, it was a HUGE catalyst in helping me to let go of the daily struggle I faced.
{along with that, I read Change Your Habits Change Your Life, which also helped tremendously!}

But in order to find strength for those ACTIONS, I needed a lot of PRAYER.
I had little self control when it came to my bad habits, and I definitely accepted that I needed all the spiritual strength I could get.
I knew that God’s hope was for me to see myself through His eyes.
The same eyes I see my own daughter through….and so daily…hourly sometimes, I would lift up my struggles in PRAYER.
And when I did, He was, WITHOUT FAIL, faithful to provide comfort and strength.

Finally, I had to find PATIENCE.
Or rather, I had to pray for PATIENCE.
Since this struggle didn’t come on overnight, I had to come to terms with the fact that it wouldn’t be cured overnight either.
I would never make progress without a little patience and grace.

And now it’s been 6 months since I’ve stepped on a scale and looked at the numbers (i have stepped on the scale at the doctors, but asked them not to tell me)…and I feel that I truly am free from that addiction. BUT, I am not naive enough to think that I am absolutely healed and cured, and I’m okay with that. Because I am learning that the best things in life take TIME….and on this I will not give up.

I am far from recovered, yet absolutely reformed.

If you’re thinking you couldn’t do it…that you are destined to be a SAD girl for life…
know this:
I could have NEVER imagined giving it up either.
In fact, I remember my sister telling me she didn’t own a scale one day, and I looked at her like she had a third eye.
Who didn’t own a scale and live by it every single day???

A happy girl, that’s who.

And that’s exactly who I’m becoming each and every day I apply my APP.

I have to ask….
Are you a SAD girl?
Are you finally ready to get the APP and join me in recovery?

It maybe tough…but in the end, I promise you…
The freedom you’ll feel is kind of ahhh mazing.
~~~~~~~

{obviously there are lots of people out there fully able to weigh daily and be okay and healthy and normal about it. for those of you, consider yourself blessed, and weigh on!}

*um….i think i found the topic for the book i’ll write one day, ya think?
can you say soapbox?

links are to relevant stories of mine, and in addition here’s more of the story behind me…
in case you missed it.

all images via weheartit

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oh. ma. gah. stones.

March 1, 2011

When I said I might need surgery for those gallstones, I had no idea what was to happen.

About 3 in the morning on Friday I woke up once again in intense pain, and despite the pain meds, it only continued to get worse. Once again we had to wake up the kids and head back to the emergency room for the second night in a row. Within hours though I was being admitted due to high liver enzymes.

{in other words, I was yellow, full on jaundice people! not cute. SO not cute.}

Turns out my gallstones caused pancreatitis, which only seemed to further complicated things.

Without the pancreas issues, I could have had my gallbladder out almost immediately. But because the pancreas is not to be messed with when angry (i guess it could be fatal) I had to wait out the pain in a hospital bed for 32 hours until my levels started to come down.

Might I mention I was not allowed to eat or drink while I waited it out?!?

not good, not good at all.

{after the pancreas calmed, before the surgery, smilin’ through the pain…with kids, life goes on.}

Finally Sunday afternoon, I headed into surgery to have yet another organ, (already now without my tonsils & appendix), removed from my bod.

And, aren’t you having a blast hearing all about it?

That’s what you get from a girl who’s spent a week with the elderly in a hospital.

{who is also, um, slightly medicated.}

What was that about the elderly?

I forgot to mention that because the hospital was full when I was admitted, I got to reside on the floor with the elderly demented patients.

Super fun and lively bunch they are.

The nice thing was that every time a nurse came into my room, they commented on how cute and young and adorable I was.

I think they were just happy I knew why I was there and who they were….

because really not only was I yellow, but I had not showered since Thursday.

There is NOTHING cute and adorable about that, I don’t care HOW MANY old people are around.

On that note, if ever in the hospital make sure to have someone bring you:

baby powder (for dry shampoo, nobody wants to smell the grease)

facial cleansing cloths (nobody wants to see the grease)

and your own pillow (which has nothing to do with grease, but still very important!)

Anyway here I am at home finally, SHOWERED, loaded up on pain meds, and ready to embrace bed rest for the next week.

{bed rest that includes taking care of the kids while Jimmy’s at work, so life as usual really.}

And to think….it all started back at Walmart.

In the words of my friend Lacey, who knew screaming kids could cause gallstones*?!?

Or mmmmmaybeeee…

it’s all WALMARTS fault?!?

oh. ma. gah.stones!

*side note

what DOES cause gallstones sometimes?

losing weight too quickly.

{Rapid weight loss, particularly eating a very low-calorie diet}

i had symptoms of “sludge” (sexy, I know) and severe gallbladder attacks shortly after losing the pregnancy weight from having Chloe.

once again, they flared up after the 30 day method…

the doctor couldn’t say for sure this is what caused mine, but just wanted to put it out there.

and here i am, passing it along.

and pssssssss…..

thanks for all of you who were so SWEET and SUPPORTIVE on facebook and twitter.

your comments kept me smiling when I wanted to cry, honestly.

makes me just want to mwa you all!

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my method after the madness

February 22, 2011

Madness.
That’s what I call Tracy Anderson’s 30 Day Method.

Result producing madness, but nevertheless, madness.

A lot of you have asked, would I go back and do it again knowing what I know now?

And the answer is, Absolutely!

But would I ever do it again, the full 30 days diet and all?

Um, absolutely NOT!

Who am I, if not truthful?

The only reason I say that is because I’ve realized and then forgot,
and then just recently realized again….
that total deprivation = failure.

For me.

When I was pregnant with Taylor, I developed gestational diabetes and had to endure 5 months of pregnancy eating barely any carbs and absolutely NO sugar. Can you even imagine??? Your first pregnancy and you aren’t allowed to indulge in the slightest???

Torture is what it was.

And while all’s well that ends well, the diabetes went away with delivery and Taylor was born healthy and ~~happy~~ colic…still there was the whole cranky baby’s mama who had gone without carbs and sugar for far too long and it was time to self soothe.

Woah, the self soothing!

Hello fast food restaurants!!

Hello chocolate cake and pizza!!!

Hello Mikes Hard Lemonades!!!!

{okay, so that last one was more to numb the breast feeding pain* I was enduring at the time…but still, 4pm every day I indulged!}

*click that link if you ever endured breast feeding trauma, you won’t be sorry!

And to be honest…the same sort of thing happened after I ended the 30 Day Method….except instead of Mikes Hard Lemonade, I discovered an old love of Pinot Noir.

Because even with the choco chestnut pudding, the entire month of the diet, I couldn’t help but still feel slightly deprived.

And when all was said and done, while I had a few new recipes and a bunch of new taste buds for healthier things, I still had not in the slightest lost my desire for carbs and sugar.

Maybe it will be different for you.

Maybe IT WAS different for you….but for me, I don’t think any diet can cure those kind of genetics.

{my mom used to hide red licorice in drawers and you should have SEEN the amount of sweets my grandma hid in her basement freezer!}

I’m telling you, we get these “lindley arms” for a reason.

Genetics.

Anyway….all that to say….

I’ve been searching high (in the cupboards) and low (at little ceasars) trying to figure out where MY balance is.

How can I incorporate the things I love, yet find a way NOT to go overboard and still manage stay healthy and fit?

You always hear about the 80/20 rule, and I think that’s fair, and most likely doable.

And I know there are a ton of ways to make that work.

Two days on, one day off…five days on, two days off….all days on, with one cheat per day…

The trick is finding what works for you, and what will guarantee your success.

Before I went all “holiday eating” on my a$$ back in October, I had found some success in eating healthy Monday through Friday, and allowing my weekends to be free.

The problem became that I never defined “free.”
And free soon became, eat as much as you can of what you love and then spend the next week working all that off….

Eventually that caught up with me.

And my a$$.

So.

Here I sit, three weeks post 30 Day Method, trying to figure out what will work and trying to set healthy limits for myself.

While I’m content-ish with where I am physically, I would also be okay with a little more improvement…something a little closer to the boot camp success perhaps.

Although, I don’t think I can ever live up to and keep up with a size 2….
I’m pretty sure size 2 girls don’t eat pizza once a week…and if you do and you are, please don’t tell me.
My heart can’t take it.

So.
I’m still pondering…
but I think until things “smooth” out body wise, my best bet is to stick to healthy Sunday night through Friday Night (because that’s generally easy for me), and allow one free meal (ahem, pizza) and one cheat dessert (winchell’s you won’t ever lose my business!) on the weekends.

Once all feels right again in my clothes and I’m comfortable with my progress, I may go back to allowing two full free days…within moderation.

And I’ll need to find a good definition for moderation when that time comes.
{ideas?}

In addition to that, I’m super excited because I’m getting ready to begin a new supplement regimen (per the mood cure, which i just finished reading and HIGHLY recommend!), and from all that I’ve heard, it should provide some amazing results!
{Not so much in achieving the perfect body, cause that’s definitely not my goal…but more in finding a balance within my life as well as my cravings.}

And finally, to answer a few of the questions you guys had:

For my workouts, I just started Tracy Andersons Metamorphosis program today (omni) and am planning to do that in addition to a dance cardio dvd (in place of the omni cardio) 5-6 days a week.

And no, I still have yet to step on the scale.

I have no plans as to when that will change, but should it change, you will most definitely be the FIRST to know!

Anyway, enough about me…

What about you guys?

What have you found works for you in finding balance in health and nutrition?
Share with me all your secrets, trials, and tribulations…

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far from recovered yet absolutely reformed

February 9, 2011

I absolutely would not be complete without my method of journaling*.

What started as a log of my fights with my sister in 3rd grade, has now transformed into a method of therapy* for me even when I don’t even intend it to be.

I’ll just get this bug that I have to write, honestly and transparently, and I must. do. it. now.

Then I’ll sit and without any premeditation, suddenly it all spills forth*.

My heart writes what my mind can’t speak, and once it’s poured onto paper, sometimes with tears flowing… I’ll set down my pen and breath a deep sigh of relief.

Because suddenly I’ll understand.

Maybe that is true intimacy with God, maybe it’s His way of speaking through me….

but when I have those moments with my journal, it’s a moment treasured and sacred.

Recently, I had a night like that….after months of having not written.

It was shortly after I finished the 30 Day Method, and I had been feeling…unsteady.

I went to my journal, ready for some therapy.
And not 30 minutes later, I felt secure.
Secure in my journey, secure in the lessons, secure in my God.
I had an unbelievable sense of peace.

Reading back over it a couple days ago, I realized that I needed to share it with you guys.

Though those words held close to my heart and soul, were not meant simply for me.

I understand that my struggles are not mine alone.

And we were never meant to walk this road alone.

*{links to other journal entries of mine i’ve shared}

~~~~~~~

february 4, 2011

I feel as though God has truly been at work in me…molding me and bringing me through some awful yuk on the inside.

And while I know that I am far from “recovered,” especially in light of my body issues….I know in my heart that He has absolutely “reformed“ me.

It’s almost as though I’m coming out of a dark tunnel and I can see the sun ahead and I can see that there is, in fact, an end.

Then when I look back and see all the darkness that surrounded me and how far back that darkness extends….I can’t help but feel incredibly broken and sad for the girl who’s endured it all.

Yes, I know I am that girl, and that she is still in there somewhere…
and all it could take is one step back, one misstep away from Him, and she’d be back.

But that’s what is different, I won’t ever go back there.

I just can’t.

My life is intended for more.

I understand now and grasp that I will not find lasting happiness in a flat stomach, I will not change lives by being what the glossy pages of magazines say is “perfectly thin.”

I will not fulfill my life’s purpose in striving for physical perfection.

I wasted too many years.

I cried WAY too many tears.

I lost out on so many moments because I’d lost my focus.

It’s all about balance now, finding my balance, which is different than hers or theirs.

I went from one extreme to the next and now I feel my pendulum is swinging towards home.

My home.

My comfortable place to be.

It feels good and it feels right.

And even though those times were rough and dark and sad, I know God allowed it and I KNOW He will bring beauty from my pain.

{words that feed my soul}

I pray that from my pain, I can bring beauty into the lives of others.
Keeping them from this.
Holding them through this.

And if not for anyone else, at the very least, for my sweet Chloegirl.

It just overwhelms me to see God so incredibly faithful to me.

To see He HAS been working when I honestly believed He wasn’t there, believing He’d just had enough.

But, maybe I believed that because I was the one who, in fact, wasn’t being faithful.

But still…

there He remained.

Loving. Patient. Forgiving.

And doing all He could while I did my best to catch up.

So, here I am Lord.

Doing my best.

And as I rely on His truths and on HIS STRENGTH…

I feel more apt to let go of my own self imposed strongholds.

He’s working on me.

I know it.

I feel it.

I welcome it.

And I love it.

~~~~~~~

Regardless of what it is you struggle with..
whether you think He understands it or not…
I hope you know…
you were NEVER meant to walk it alone.

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if you thought you were dying, you’d eat it too

February 3, 2011

Holeeeeee

Crap.

This whole being sick for 4 days?

I mean….

Not cool.

What’s really not fair, is that after 30 days of eating cleaner than I ever have…

all it took was being sick to bring me right back to old habits.

I was telling a friend today that I never get the kind of sick where food doesn’t sound good.

Oh no!

I get the kind of sick where I feel that I absolutely MUST be about to die, therefore I should be granted a last meal for every meal until death occurs.

Only death never occurs, and instead I’m granted a few extra lb’s and a fair bit of regret.

{yes, I AM a middle child…what made you ask?}

At some point in my fever, I came up with a BRILLIANT idea that if I made the cleanse foods and had them all in my fridge, I might be apt to eat those instead for 2-3 days thus reversing any damaging effects of my last few indulging days….

Except that with my fever gone today, waking up to a fridge full of 4 oz bland foods, I found myself questioning how genius I really am.

I made it through the day, until I decided that huh…

sniff sniff…

….yup!

I was definitely still stuffed up, still had possibilities of dying…

and so how could I possibly deny a dying girl some extra chocolate chips?!?

Well I wouldn’t.

I couldn’t.

So after I licked up the 4 oz of pudding, I opened the bag of chocolate chips and went to town.

{my “town” was, at present time of writing, 2 small handfuls. so not that bad…}

Where oh where are those lessons I learned now?

I guess the good thing about being sick at the end of the boot camp, is all the sleep I have been enjoying.

This must be what retirement will be like.

{If retirement, you know, included a 2 and a 5 year old waking you up at 5 in the morning every day.}

But, I’ve been making up for the early mornings with a nap every afternoon,

and a party with NyQuil every night.

{note to self: do not text after NyQuil. you are the only one who thinks you’re funny at that time.}

I live like a rock star.

I will tell you, for those of you who thought “i can’t believe she put a picture of a size 2 on here!”

Well, the moment I ate pizza?

{like it was just the pizza…DE-NI-AL.}

Not so much a size 2 anymore.

Feel better, now?

I know I do!

Who wants to try to keep up with a size 2 anyway???

{not me, not me, not me, not me….the more i say it, the more it’s true, right?}

This is where I need to take my own advice, and grant myself a little grace, know that I don’t have to be perfect….

And,

say it with me,

embrace the process.

But at least I’m back from the dead people!

I’m alive and I’m ready to perform again.

Tomorrow is a new day.

And tomorrow…

it.

is.

on!

Right after one more handful of chocolate chips.

And then again right after Saturday night when we have friends over for our Pizza/Just Dance party.

And then again right after…
Wait, isn’t it Super Bowl Sunday?
So after that…again…
and then….

Like I said, who wants to be a size 2 anyway?

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tracy anderson’s 30 day method q&a

February 1, 2011

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!

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