(Karena, left, Katrina, right) (source)
So here is my story:
On Mother's Day (May 10), I had my lovely mom and little brother over for dinner. All was well and good. The next day, my mom called me and mentioned that my stomach looked bigger, and asked *gasp* if I was pregnant (Answer: NO). Her question shocked me, offended me, blah! It was rough. I hung up on her by the way. Before I go further, I really do not think I looked pregnant on that day, and I'm not sure where my mom was going with asking me that. (Also, I should note that I find pregnant people to be beautiful, but it was not necessarily a compliment to me in this context). But after the shock wore off, I thought about my body, how I felt, and how I had been absolutely not prioritizing fitness or health for the past year since I injured my IT band in the Summer of 2014. How did I feel? I felt extremely stressed because of my job, and uncomfortable with myself because I was becoming even more "skinny fat." My clothes fit, but not well. I have always been petite, but I was just not feeling confident in my body. I reflected on how I was not prioritizing exercise. I went from working out 3-5x per week for two years to 0-3x per month. And, well, I was eating like crap. I was eating pizza, burgers, cookies, ice cream, sugar cereal, beer, wine, and all the other goodies, all the time!
So on May 11, I decided to make a change. Despite it being sparked by a dumb and untrue comment (which my mom later apologized for), I decided to make a change for myself that I knew deep down for awhile that I needed to make. I started my search on Google, and though I cannot remember how I found it, I stumbled upon the Tone It Up (TIU) website and started reviewing the success stories, workouts, and recipes. Then I checked out Instagram posts about TIU. Two things struck me: 1) The women following the TIU plan, who seem like normal people, were getting AWESOME results, over a reasonable time period (but not too quick that it seemed like a sham); and 2) It seemed do-able for me and my schedule. TIU is a lifestyle, and it was much welcomed.
(My "before" pictures. I am naturally narrow, but not feeling or looking toned)The gist of TIU is two workouts per day: Morning Booty Call (BCWO) and PM Workout (PMWO), which averages to about 45 mins - 90 minutes total per day, depending on the day (or, 3-6% of your day), combined with a clean eating nutrition plan. At any given time, there is usually a "series" going on, which is a themed workout challenge spanning over a certain period of time. For instance, when I started TIU, I started right in the middle of an 8-week Bikini Series (read more here). The Bikini Series ended two weeks ago, and then started up again, coupled with an additional four week challenge from the book Fit, Fab, Fierce. I decided to start the Bikini Series from week 1 despite starting in the middle of the actual series, so I am on Week 6, while the majority of the TIU community has re-started and is on Week 2. I figure once I finish the 8 weeks, I will rejoin them at Week 4!
TIU provides free workouts on their YouTube channel in order to complete the challenges, but they also offer DVDs with additional workouts for more variety and challenge. Do I sound like an infomercial? Sorry! I'm just excited about this still.
Finally, free recipes are posted on the TIU website, and you can find tons of clean eating recipes on Pinterest, but TIU has a complete Nutrition Plan with tons of recipe and advice along with grocery lists and daily meal plans. After two weeks of following the program, I caved and bought the Nutrition Plan, and am very happy I did!
(a few items I've enjoyed from the plan)
So, this post was supposed to kind of be a starter as to what I've been doing lately exercise-wise, and to explain any future posts related to Tone It Up and my journey. :)
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