First, I did not buy the program from a coach or from the BeachBody website, I bought it on Amazon with Prime delivery -because I'm an immediate gratification type of person. This of course was after countless "look at me" posts and pictures passing through my facebook newsfeed - how annoying! Nevertheless, I was intrigued and began researching the program and finally pulled the trigger on ordering. I was excited when it arrived and voraciously tore into the materials. Then it sat - for months - six months.
As a teacher, summer is a super-convenient time for me to try new things and commit time to taking care of myself. Plus, we have an upcoming tropical vacation that I can use as a goal. Of course, I am already foreseeing a few pitfalls within the upcoming three week period in the form of attending concerts with friends. But, it's more than I did yesterday, so anything is better than nothing, right?
Summer is also a super-convenient time to commit to eating more fresh fruits and vegetables. Our garden is currently cranking out cucumbers and snow peas, plus I can never pass up sweet strawberries in season.At first, since I have more than 21 days before our trip, I was simply going to start with the workouts for a week and then add in the nutritional element. But then, as I stood slicing veggies for a salad, I just decided to start filling the containers. It was easier than I had originally thought. As I scoured the lists, I realized that we actually have most of what is recommended in the house on a regular basis. Great! I kept thinking: "How am I going to eat all this??" In addition, it was going to be tough to consume so much protein. But why am I so fat? It's definitely a combination of being quite sedentary, making poor food choices, and not eating enough. That's right, as I gathered all of the food that I would need for the day, it became clear that I have been starving myself.
It took about 20 minutes to pack everything up. I did each serving separately, rather than create a salad or portioned plate. What I like is that when I get hungry, I can just grab something that's ready to go. I'm all about convenience and while pre-packing my portions required time and effort on the front end, it much easier to do when you're not hungry - which is when we tend to either make terrible choices or overeat. Anything we eat will require prep-time - unless it's processed garbage. Thankfully, we buy mostly organic and avoid processed foods, but when you're hungry, it's too easy to nuke a hot dog to scarf down while you bake a pan of tater-tots in the toaster-oven.
So now that my food was squared away (see what I did there?), I did some web-surfing, then finally resolved myself to doing the first workout: Total Body Cardio Fix. I have but two-words: HOLY MOLY! I'm a former athlete trapped in fat-chick, but thankfully I was smart enough to start slow and listen to my body. I followed the modifier, and couldn't complete the full minute on some of the exercises. That's ok though, it's more than I did yesterday. But, I fear that it's more than I will be able to do tomorrow. After shutting off the DVD, I could barely stand. My legs were shaking and I had difficulty balancing. Dripping with sweat, I crawled up the stairs (thank God for having a split-level with half-staircases) and stumbled into the bathroom to strip off my drenched workout clothes and change into a bathing suit so I could jump in the pool.
I don't think it has ever taken as long as it did to change clothes. Eventually, I made it back down the stairs and outside. I was so stiff, I had to will myself to walk. In order to get into the pool, I needed to drag myself up the ladder using my arms. Now usually, I slowly descend, step-by-step into the pool. But today, I just slid in, again relying on my arms for control. Finally in the water, I used a noodle to float around, allowing my body to slowly cool down and waited for my heart rate to lower and my breathing to relax. Once it did, I hoisted myself back up the ladder, and placed my knees on the platform. St this point, it was clear that my legs would not be cooperating any further, so I slid down the ladder once again and forced my tin-soldier legs to carry me to the deck, where the sun could soothe my aching muscles. Throughout my life, whenever I engaged in strenuous exercise, I felt it the next day. Never have I ever experienced such soreness minutes after a workout. HOLY MOLY! I hope tomorrow is easier or I will not be able to continue.
The rest of my day consisted of grabbing a container from the fridge whenever the mood struck me; and in this way, rather than in a strict 3 meal/3 snack manner, I consumed most of my allotted calories. My mistake was waiting for DBF to return home before eating my last protein. He arrived over an hour later than anticipated and boy was I hungry! But I was patient, and once I had my last meal, I was satiated - with one caveat: wine. I did have two glasses of wine at the end of the day, like I usually do. I like my wine and although I know I'm supposed to replace my yellow containers no more than 3 times per week in order to enjoy one glass, I don't foresee myself adhering to that restriction. We'll see what effect (if any) that has on my results. In the meantime, it's more than I did yesterday.
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