Post Method week results!

My fellow dieters I'm excited to let you know the results of my weigh-in today! I weigh 158.3 lbs as of today! For those of you who just stumbled on this blog, I just finished the Tracy Anderson 30 day Method, and as of now, I'm taking a week and a half break from boot-camp and doing whatever I like and eating whatever I like! So among the foods consumed were homemade sushi, salads, soups, a lot of apples and celery with peanut butter (I think I finished a whole jar just this week), cupcake, cookies, biscuits with butter and some wine. I only exercised twice this weeks, so it was really a test of Tracy Anderson's claims. She claims that after finishing her program, you can eat whatever you like and if you still exercise, using her method, you'll never gain those pounds back. I didn't really intend to go all lazy and eat so much yummy stuff, but I guess after a long diet and exercise regime, you just want to break loose!!! And imagine my excitement today after I discovered that i lost weight instead of gaining some!!! Very happy!

I also pre-viewed the workout from the Metamorphosis by Tracy Anderson, that I'll be starting next week. I have to say it's more fresh, but I liked the Method better. In the Method DVD and Book every sequence and every set is broken down, so if you need to pause, you can do that. The new DVD will take some getting used to! There's no separate sets for arms and abs, it's just like a constant flow of new moves, so you won't be able to pause it without constantly backing up, which can become annoying and at the same time trying to catch up with everything is frustrating too! I love the new moves though, especially the dance cardio, it's much more challenging and fun. We'll see how this new program will work for us. I haven't decided yet if I will be following the diet Tracy proposes, it's about the same as the one in the Method and I don't really know if I can handle it for 90 days((( I will let you know when I start the workouts. I decided to post once a week for Metamorphosis describing my experience and the new sequences. I also will be taking pictures of myself every 30 days as I go, so we will have 3 sets of before and after pictures during the course of the Metamorphosis trial! Stay tuned!

Final report. Day 27-30 of Tracy Anderson's Method

First I have to mention that the last days didn't go as planned. I couldn't stick to the cleanse menu, all the pureed things were not appetizing to me at all, so instead I just got the ingredients from the meals and ate them the way I could handle it. Also Day 27 turned out to be a day of break from exercise and a diet altogether, because I had a graduation party to attend!)) And it was great! Now that is said and I'm off to telling you my success story!))
  Overall within 30 days of Tracy Anderson's 30-day Method I've lost, drum-roll............... 17 lbs!!!! And 13 1/2 inches combined! So my Wednesday's weigh in was at 159.5 lbs (I weighed again at 159lbs this weekend).
So here are the dimensions Calf started at 16 inches ended 15 inches. Thighs were 25 1/2 in the beginning and 23 3/4 at the end. Hips went from 45 to 41 inches. Waist went from 34 to 30 1/4 inches. Chest was 39 1/2, went down to 37 1/2 inches and the Arm was 12 and is 11 now!!! So here are my before and after pictures:

I also promised you that I would add up all the expenses for food over this month. I spent around $440.60 for my groceries for these 30 days, that makes it about $14 a day. It is way more then I regularly spent, but for some of you I'm sure that will be almost the same if not less. The secret here is not to spent for herbs I think, the fresh herbs were widely used and a lot of times not necessary in my opinion.
My review of the Tracy Anderson's 30-day method is 5 stars!!!! It is awesome, I didn't hope to get results great as these! The workouts were fun and very challenging. The diet was great with certain personal adjustments, that I think each one of us should figure out as we are all different! Considering I was skipping part of the workout sometimes and changing the things on the menu I've got amazing results!
So if you are not sure that this will work for you, I can tell you now with certainty: If you commit to it, it will work for you!
So now the plan for me is to take 1 week and a half break from boot-camp style workout and eating and start Tracy Anderson's Metamorphosis Omnicentric Program! I'm very excited and can't wait! The goal for me is to be 132 lbs by mid-August 2011.

Days 22, 23 ,24, 25, 26 of Tracy Anderson's 30-day Method

The finish line can be so hard to stick to. I'm going through major kicking-myself-to-workout-stage. I skipped the workout on day 24 simply because I felt like I couldn't even lift a finger. And day 25 was only about 20 minutes of cardio, that was all I could handle! I have achieved great results already and this final push is just something I have to go through and I'll be there! Day 22 and 23 went as planned with the whole workout completed. The menu meal swap worked great for me. I was able to stick with the menu and the diet by rearranging some elements here and there. I substituted some meals for the meals I tried before and new I liked them. If some sort of salad was on the menu, that I didn't like before, I tried to find an equivalent from what was my favorite! Today is day 1 of the final 5 day cleanse menu. Tracy includes the cleanse menu at the end so that would accelerate the results. Breakfast was Blueberry Applesause. Yumm!! Tried it before and love it! But after that came sweet potato and corn pudding, even though it sounds good it doesn't really taste good to me. Wouldn't include it in the all time favorite list! There's not much I can do though! Not too many options for substituting here, so i'll have to stick with it for the next few days.
The workout sequence is really hard and I'm usually sweating mid-way through it. A lot of leg work! And some movements engage lower back, or so it feels. Final day is not too far now! I will let you know about my overall experience, my lost weight and inches. I will also sum up my grocery bills, to give you a better idea of what to expect. This last weigh in will be day 30, not the coming Sunday (day 28). I want to see the overall result, so I won't be tempting myself with picking at my weight!

Days 20 and 21 of Tracy Anderson's 30 day Method.

Today was my weigh in and the result is 162.7 lbs and 2 3/4 inches lost overall. The weight lost this week is 1.8 lbs. That would have been much better if not for a friend's birthday party yesterday, where I had 2 glasses of wine and the tiniest piece of cake I ever had in my life)) Even though it didn't seem like much it affected the results I believe. (I did a sneak peak at my weight yesterday before the party and it was 162, so .7 lbs are due to the splurge). I am very happy with overall results, regardless of these tiny mishaps. Overall results so far after 20 days of the 30 Day Method are 13.8 pounds and 11 1/4 inches lost!!! This is great! I've never had results like this before, on any diet and workout plan combination! I was not as determined before, I did 5 days of working out tops instead of 7 now, but I still believe that this program is the best for me.
I've learned to eat better, and exercise better! I know now that once I'm done with a boot-camp style this program applies I will be able to have a normal diet and workout regime and not gain all these pounds back. I will definitely keep this blog and let you know in a year and years to come how my weight is behaving!
So today is day 21 and that means new and last sequence of muscular structure workout. I am about to start it and it looks very challenging. Tracy describes it as "an exciting part of the 30-Day Method. It is when you'll begin to really see your results. It's when unbelievable things start happening." How exciting is that! Even better results!))) I am very determined to finish it at the same pace I started or at least do my best to keep the reps and the time of the workouts stable and not give up to the laziness!))
Tuesday the 17th will be the end of the program. And that is 10 days away! I'm very excited and can't wait to see how awesome I will look!))

Day 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 of Tracy Anderson's Method

This has been a rather busy week again and I didn't have a chance to  share my experience of the past 4 days. Today is my day 19, that means in two days time i'll start on the last sequence of exercises, and I'm sure it'll be even more challenging.
For those of you who are not familiar with Tracy Anderson's Method, here's a brief description. The method is a combination of muscle structure workout, the dance cardio workout and a diet plan. The muscle structure workout is split in 3 different sequences, first and the easiest one is days 1 through 10, second goes 11 through 20, that's the one I'm currently doing and the last one is days 21 through 30. Her philosophy is that while we have over 600 muscles in our bodies only the large muscle groups are usually engaged in most of the workouts out there. She designed the specific movements to activate the smaller muscles, or what Tracy calls them the "accessory" muscles, that start working and pulling on your bigger muscles therefore creating a leaner body, the body that doesn't look bulky, but toned and lean. Her cardio is designed to work together with the muscle structure workouts and help you burn as much fat as possible so the skin gets more toned. She also claims that doing the combination properly the way she "prescribes" will get you rid of the cellulite, I still have all of mine present, but hey, I'm just half way through this! And last but not least is her diet, which is low-carb, low-fat, no salt or sugar or spices. It's nevertheless very yummy, the only time I felt really hungry adjusting to it was the first 2 days. It's also very nutritious, so you won't be dragging your feet. I have more energy then usually now that I am doing this program (except for one of the days when I skipped my dinner and that threw me completely off balance!).
Now back to my workouts and plan. So this week was busy but I still managed to do all the workouts with a little less reps in muscle structure on one of the days and a little less of cardio on the other. While doing cardio at the end of last week and beginning of this week I had a really hard time jumping along, I thought I pulled a muscle in my calf, it was not very pleasant! So those of you who are reading the book right now and going through the section where Tracy says you have to wear very good sneakers that give you good support, don't go frowning and thinking "I can do without these" it's really important to have a pair! I think the problem with my shoes is they are running shoes and really soft ones so I'll probably get a new pair of the type Tracy recommends!
The workout sequence right now is much more complicated then the first 10 days set, but I was able to up the reps on day 16 already and still try to keep it up now. I've got the 1 pound ankle and wrist weights, but I still didn't try them out. The abs is more challenging in this sequence then anything else for me. This workout needs a chair too, so equipment grows:) now besides the mat and sneakers we need a chair))
The diet! Well it's going good now that I replace the things I know I will have a hard time eating with the ones I've already tried and liked! My absolute favorite for now is "Steamed Turkey Breast with Wilted Kale and Raisins" it's amazing and I'll be definitely having this at least once a week after I'm done with my plan!
So nothing new good or disappointing about a diet now, I'm about to go do my shopping for the weekend and keep you informed about the coming workouts and the weigh-in!

Day 14 of Tracy Anderson's 30-day Method

This week's weigh in was not as exciting as previous, just as I expected. But still I believe, I got great results considering how I was slacking due to some schedule changes. The weight loss this week is 2 pounds and 3.5 inches combined (that is off my calves, thighs, waist, hips, arms and chest). That brings me to 12.1 pounds and 8.5 inches lost in two weeks, and I have 2 more weeks to go!)) So I'm very happy and positive!
The food disappoints me more now, unfortunately. But i found a way out, or so I think. I will just try to substitute the meals I don't like or I feel wouldn't taste good, even though I didn't try them yet. I know Tracy doesn't recommend doing that, but I figured I'm still using her menu, just adjusting it to me, so it shouldn't be so bad!
I've noticed that I barely get through my days and have to literally drag myself around a lot of times, so I decided today will be a day off the workouts! I am not happy about having to do this, but I'm doing this to get to the healthier life, not drive myself nuts and lose all the energy I've got!
My dinner tonight is flank steak, first time in 14 days, so I'm pretty excited, I love the steak!)) So I'm off to have my dinner)))