Days 7-8 of Metamorphosis

So, days 7 and 8 went well. Both days managed to do the workouts, kept to the diet. I don't seem to progress very fast now, as I can't really increase the number of reps for instance much from day to day, and I am still doing those naughty exercises 3 and 4 very slowly. But I feel great! I feel light, healthy, energetic. Right after the training I am a bit tired of course, but a shower does miracles, and I am back to good mood. Today was tough though. I didn't want to workout for some reason, and it was really hard to even start, to find the strength to do one more minute of DC, then one more... Ah. It felt good though to get over it. I had to say many many many times through sometimes gritted teeth "You CAN do it, Liuba" (yes, I sometimes tend to talk with myself).

The diet... Well, I can't say I am happy with this week. Yesterday (Monday and first week of Week 2) I felt hungry all the time. And I mean it: all the time. It wasn't horrible hunger, but it was always there. Today, however, I don't feel hunger at all and have to convince myself to eat. I just hope, it is not some sort of body adjustment to under-nutrition :)))) Cos that would be bad. I decided to increase the portions just a little bit, so I actually feel NOT hungry after I finished eating - particular for meal 3: make bigger salads, take a piece of chicken a little bigger. Right now my chicken is boiling (yes, I prefer boiled chicken than grilled) and salad is ready (half avocado, some tomatoes and celery - I am addicted to celery these days, so put it in almost everything...).

Dinner:

And the full day diet (it's more than it looks actually...) After the first day, it is enough for me - but then again, my salad is quite big, but I thought I can't harm much with salad. And I added a carrot: I like to chew on something when I work...

Day 6 of Metamorphosis or getting back on track

I decided to count only the days of training. Hence, today was my day 6 with a rest day in between 5 and 6.

I don't know whether it is just the rest day, or a rest day spent in a not such a healthy manner, but it was actually harder to workout today. DC was a killer, and MS a murderer :) DC still gives me a great kick, I like it. I feel my calves' muscles developing from all the jumping, and they look so good already - much more toned, and I feel them sore. I still have not perfected the MS, I still have to stop in between every 10th rep or so (for exercises 3-4 in particular), and I noticed that it is easier for me to do all the exercises on my left leg! That's so odd - cos I have always been right-handed through and through! But all in all even though I went through it, I could not do as good as I did in day 5... And I am back to day 2 weight (:'(), but oh well - I had fun these past two days, and the Chinese dumplings were oh so good! Today I am back to the diet, and all is good (feel much better too, as guilt is not killing me). But the experience of the last 2 days showed how much your progress can be hindered by couple of drinks and a party. Good lesson. :)

I am back on the train though, am training again, going to have salsa training later on, so that's good. As I am past mid-level 1, so I started dreading level 2 already - I read a lot in other blogs and in TA Community, that it is a killer, so let's see. I have some time to get both really scared and really excited :)

Week 2 shopping list

Week 1 is nearly over, and I survived it - even if with some ups and downs... Week 2 is coming, and I have to sort the diet now. 

After week 1 I still have some left-overs (cooked and uncooked). I still have some strawberries I was using for chocolate pudding, some apples (which I bought more than necessary earlier for the blueberry applesause). I still have 2 bell-peppers, a bit of cucumber, some tomatoes, carrots, one celery stick. So, I have much less shopping to do this week. 

Week 2 is a Body Reset Week. As I understand, this is the week, when you really are going to feel you are on diet. :) Oh well, fair enough. But at least it involves more diversity and chewing :)

Meals 1 and 3 consist of one protein option and one veggie/fruit option. Meal 2 is simply a protein bar (under 200 cal, over 15g protein) or you can substitute that with a good protein shake, or Greek yogurt with almonds. 

Meal 1 options are eggs (poached or hard-boiled) or turkey bacon. I chose eggs for all days as a protein option. The fruit options are blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, green apple, kiwi and blueberry, blueberries and vanilla almond milk. As I have some strawberries and apples left, I'm not going to buy anything new for fruit option - simply eat up those.

Meal 3 has protein options of chicken breast, tofu, turkey burger, black beans (or part of the combined meal option - tuna canned in spring water). The veggie options are also diverse - avocado with tomatoes and cucumbers, kale, spinach, a salad (basically). I chose chicken and tuna for the week (to stay on the safe side without running around looking for turkey burger and tofu, and black beans - well don't want to eat it out of a can, and if fresh, they require too much time preparing). Veggies - I decided on diverse salad and avocado-tomato-cucumber options. And as I already have some left-overs, it would be again easy...

So, my shopping list for this week (I have not done the shopping yet, so will have to go shopping first thing in the morning tomoro):

14 eggs (or 10+6)
7 Protein Bars (Rossmann, <200 calories, >15g protein)
3-4 Chicken breasts
1 avocado
1 cucumber
1 pack tomatoes
2 cans of tuna in spring water
1 pack of celery

What is great about this week is that it is not too expensive, and I can actually eat out somewhere - just getting a chicken breast and some small salad would do the trick. However, I have to say, this week will also be interrupted - on Saturday as well, as I am planning to finally celebrate my bday... So may be we will go somewhere for a dinner, but I will try to stick either with chicken, or simple grilled stuff with fresh salad. 

Days 5 of Metamorphosis or how things can go wrong

So, a bumpy ride on days 5 and 6. Day 5 was good till I went out with friends - then everything started to go all the wrong way. 

Day 5 was a big day in many respects. I definitely did something right in my workout, as I was feeling an amazing feeling of burning - not the usual one, but somehow different, deeper and more pleasant. So, the MS went great (though I still have problems with the pace, and oh so many other things, but I am going through it). I counted how many reps Tracy does - about 40 each exercise on each leg. I managed to bring 1st and 2nd to 40 reps on Day 5, and to about 25-30 the 3rd and 4th exercises. Which I think is good. 

In the evening I was invited to a friend's house for her wonderful risotto and girl-talk :) But I brought my own food (some sweet potato corn and carrot-parsnip), and tried only a little spoon of risotto. But after two glasses of wine, the girls managed to convince me to come to a party with them. Oh well, that's where things went a little out of hand. We had some beers in a bar, and then went to a club. So I was home only by 4 am or so. I had like 4 beers, and danced for like 3 hours. So, no, drink is not good, but at least I danced. Surprise surprise: I woke up the next morning with a horrible hangover and one kilo less of me (my scales actually showed 54.0!!!). All that dancing paid off, but then the drink also let my body know that it was not the best night fir it. Argh!

So in the end day 6 was a rest day. Now it will be Saturdays then - I just was not able to move today. :( I feel guilty, but really there is not much I can do. So, I am working out on Sundays now.

What is worse, I had one more dinner - today! And then I actually had some Chinese dumplings and maaan were they good!!! But oh well I think in terms of weight I now fell to about where I started. But oh well, I had a good day and it would have been really impolite not to eat there (friend of mine is leaving Bremen, and went for all the trouble cooking for all of us...)

So, off to a greater tomorrow. Will get some sound sleep now, so that I can start well and fresh tomorrow. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!!!

This is the cartoon from my childhood, that I loved - about "I think I can" - the part I am referring to starts around 1:10 :)

Day 4 of Metamorphosis or how to deal with bad mood...

Today is the day when I kicked ass, and my ass was kicked too.

Well, after the initial big weight drop, soreness in the muscles, this is the day when the challenge actually starts. I woke up with no energy, in bad mood and weak. While the first three days my butt was somewhat painful to sit on, no muscles were sore any more... An unpleasant surprise I have to say: I love the muscle soreness. I dragged myself to the kitchen to prepare the Blueberry Applesauce (with which I start my lovely days) and could barely move my hands and arms. It was not because of the exercise, no. It was simply because sometimes I am like that, particularly when I don't get enough sleep. Yop, here is the lesson to be learnt: you have to get enough sleep and even more - you body needs it!!! So, you can imagine I had no mood to do the workouts at all. I procrastinated a little instead of lunging into it... Surfed Internet... Read some emails... Then looked at my calendar, where I have been filling in all the workouts I've done and weight, and went to change for my sportswear... I just couldn't ignore it. 

I scrambled myself off this laziness attack, moved the furniture for the workout, prepared water, got my weights close and started with DC. In the beginning I could barely step-touch... As minutes passed, my body warmed up, toned, and slowly but steadily the mood started to creep up. Wow! By 5-minute mark (she mentions it) I was already jumping with a huge smile on my face, breathing hard like an elephant. And - surprise - today was the first time when during DC I did not pause to look at the time: how much more do I have left. At some point I was very very tempted, but instead I simply concentrated on TA dancing it off and my own movements. I had to slow down a couple of times, and by the end I was definitely not in my best shape, but the last several minutes - they add a spin to the whole workout I think, cos in them I love to jam - and amazingly enough, I find strength for it. My arms are still all over the place, I still can't repeat so many fast little leg-crossed jumps, but oh well, I continue jumping and smiling.

I rocked the MS as well. I was more concentrated, I tried to do as much as I can. And as I didn't have the sore butt any more, I actually started feeling the exercises in other muscles: on my back and side thigh and hip for instance. Empowering feeling. But, after I took a shower, while I still was in good spirits, I felt "Ohhh my poor muscles" - my legs in particular felt like clay - you know that modelling clay kids play with? So, you can put it in shape, but it's so soft, it can fall pretty fast... This is how I feel today - especially in my legs. They feel a little like shaking, but oh well. Work can't wait. But I am doing it with a smile. All the laziness is gone, I smile and even don't get annoyed with colleagues, and go through the day with head up and happy.

All in all, even though I am a little exhausted today the rest of the day, but I found a great way for improving the mood - even if it is not the best day when you wake up:

1. Keep smiling!
2. Do the workout and keep smiling!
3. Sleep well and enough (everyone needs different amount of time, I know that if I sleep less than 8-9 hours, I'm dead throughout the day)

PS As I expected, not much of a weight decrease today: went down to 55.0 (-100 grams or so)

Day 3 of Metamorphosis

Well, I know I know, I promised not to write every day, but well I need it. Cos another surprise: -0.6kg (1.3lbs) this morning (55.1kg/121.2lbs). This is like the lowest I have been for at least a year. When I reach 52 kg mark, it will be the lowest in like 5 years I think... :)

DC was good today, but yet again, I tried to increase intensity - do it a little more energetic. There is still a LONG way for improvement of course, but today I was sweating like a pig on slaughter :) I can't say I like sweating (and even though Tracy is asking to start liking it), but I was never a much sweating type, so for me it is simply uncomfortable for now. But knowing that with that sweat the inches are going makes me like it a little more. But I have to say I will stick with this intensity without increasing for the next couple days, as I felt like dying by about 20 minute mark, and one of my legs started hurting a little - from all the jumping, I'm not sure. But I will take it easy. Joints and muscles have to get used to jumping.

MS was as excruciating as ever. It gets only slightly easier, but not really. I tried to concentrate on the movements, the angles, all the comments that Tracy gives to make all the exercises correct. And that paid off - one of the moves is actually much more difficult than I originally did it :) HAHA Found some more pain for myself :) But at least I am doing it correct. I still have problems with wrists - they hurt a lot, so I have to change their position often. But all in all, very fulfilling workout and I start to really love it. I was sweating even then (not like pig anymore, but still quite substantially...).

So, the diet is still kicking, and there is no way I'm gonna give up now after losing so much in water and bloating in just 2 days. I get invited to dinners, but I feel fine with that - I can just bring my doggie bag with my TA food and may be introduce others to the yummy pudding - it tastes delicious for anyone :) And so far I have no problems refusing to go to lunch with colleagues and so on - I have my food, my diet, and I am proud I am doing it. Though of course, this is only day 3, but I think I can do it. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

Results of day 3: So far I lost about 1.4 kilos (around 3lbs) out of the max 7 I want to lose (and I know it would slow down starting tomoro or the day after - I am now losing a lot of liquids and bloating), I love the way I feel, I can FEEL I am lighter and slimmer when I touch my tummy, I get out of bed and right away feel smaller :) That's a great feeling. I feel energetic throughout the day and even have energy to still do some salsa in the evenings sometimes. Yey!

DVD's

As I heard a lot of talk about the problem with DVD's - particularly with the 3rd disk (for transform 4-6), for example crazilittledi on Youtube, whom I have been following to know more opinions about Meta) has a couple of videos on that... Also many people complained in the TAM Community, and it seems that the biggest problem is with Omni DVD's. 

So, the advice one can give you:

• Make sure that Omni is your correct body type (may be it is better to get Hip or Glute - depending on your tendencies).
• If you are sure Omni are the disks you need, make sure you check them as soon as you get them (this means not just checking the surface, but playing them - each of the transform videos - at least in fast-forward and stopping in some places)!  If they are damaged (not playing, etc), you should write the services right away, because (especially if like me you are living outside of States) shipment will take some time (though I think I got mine quite fast: only 14 working days). 

I checked mine and seems like I lucked out: all DVD's work, and each transform video works. Phew. :)

Day 2 of Metamorphosis

I am not going to write every day's progress and experiences, I promise, but today... Well, today was a bit of a surprise for me, so I thought it would be good to share it.

To be honest, considering I don't have that much weight to lose (if any at all), I have not and will not expect rapid declines in my weight (if I lose 5 kilos by the end of the program, that's gonna be great). Moreover, after all the food yesterday - all in total I ate like 1.7l of food (not counting the juice) - I was not thinking I was on diet anymore. In the evening before going to bed, I simply sighed and thought "Oh well, who cares if I don't lose weight, I'm still within the normal range for my height" (163cm). So in the morning I simply step on the scales to record the weight of today, no expectations. And after I saw the weight, I had to step back off, look at it in wonder till the blinking number disappeared and just step back up... And again the electric scales show the same 55.7. Same time, same clothes (=no clothes), exactly 24 hours after the previous measure... 0.8kg off? nearly a kilo? 

I mean, I understand, it is not permanent, it is probably all the water and all... And tomorrow I will be back to my 56.5, but hey - I have NOT been under 56 in the past half a year!!! When my scales showed 56.0 were the  happy days. So, whatever it is, it is the first day in the past 6 months or so i actually went under 56, and I am happy about that. 

I walked quite dazed away from the scales, into the kitchen to prepare some Blueberry Applesauce for breakfast... I think I am still surprised, but, boy, it is encouraging. I started my workout like I have the last chance to dance in this life time :)

So, DC went OK, though as I was dancing like crazy, I got pretty tired after 15 minutes, so had to bring it down a notch. Then again jammed in the last 3 minutes or so. I still feel like a hippo a little, heavy and uncoordinated, but better than yday. Still can't follow all the arms motions, but I'm trying. Some movements feel a bit weird, but I will get to it. I am not a very sweating type when I do sports (I'm more like a face-reddening-type), but jeez I was sweating like hell.

MS killed me even more today. I guess because I was pumped from the scales' revelations, so I was really into it. I switched legs today - doing left first, and right second. And I thought my left leg would fall off somewhere in the middle, and I would have to get to emergency... I was really struggling even with right leg (which is so obviously stronger) - exercises 3 and 4 are excruciating (funny but I know this word after reading Harry Potter). But went through it, slower than Tracy does (hence - less reps), but at least I did it  all, with only minor little breaks. I have to say, it was the first time in my life I was swearing in full voice... All the advice on how to deal with struggling (like trying to distract your mind by thinking of something pleasant, planning the day, planning what you would write later in the blog - that actually helped me, watch at the shadows on the wall....) - is weeeeell forgotten when you start to really struggle.

Result after two days: minus 0.8kg, I feel great, as if I am flying (I don't take drugs!), I feel lightness in my whole body, my back and shoulder muscles are extremely sore and glute muscles are aching to sit on. The feeling is welcome though and I can't wait to train them again tomorrow. I still feel my muscles awakened even much later after the training. Ah, good day (I even squeezed in laundry for the time I work out)!

Week 1 diet

There are only two words describing week 1 diet: LIQUID and HARD! I know this is kinda funny, but very true. It is mostly puree-based (so if you like something crunchy and going to do this diet, you might as well forget about crunchy every other week...) - hence liquid; and I can't say it is so little food, but it is hard to fit in 7 servings of food a day, which are not such a nice 'consistency' (to be very honest, I am not very fond of purees ever since I had to recover from wisdom teeth surgery) - hence hard. 

So below all the meals (the menu) - not in order I ate or they are present, but in random order more or less, with pics. Then some tips on cooking them. Then the reflections of each day.

Day 1 of Metamorphosis!

Today my journey started. It is hard, but I am positive that I can make it. I woke up after refreshing 7 hours of sleep. The advice is to get at least 8 hours of sleep, so I will try to increase this and will go to bed early in the next days.

As my weight tends to jump within a 2-kilo margin, I decided to weigh at the same time every morning - when I am out of bed and before eating. So I started off today with 56.5 kilos. I know it is not much at all (in the past 3 days my weight ranged between 56 and 57.9), but i don't have that much muscle. What is my goal? Well, I don't have a clear ideal weight. But I checked out this body-fat-calculator (of course it is not as precise as other measures can be, but it seems reasonable enough, and I only need it for a little guidance) to figure out how much would be healthy for me - for my size.

So my calculations are:

• My weight: 56.5 kilos
• My body-fat calculated at 26% - which is not bad at all (for women 25-31 is acceptable as is seen here), but one wants to be in the "fit" range I suppose, so around 20-24. But I think while this is an estimate calculator, it is quite off - I definitely have more than 26%...
• Lean body weight: 42 kg
• Then the minimum I should get to is around 52 - which should still be a healthy and fit weight...

Hence, I will say my goal for the next 4 months is to lose around 4-4.5 kilos, maximum - 6-6.5. But for me the main thing is actually in the measurements. I want to lose 10cm off my waist, 10cm off my but, and tighten up all around. I will keep you posted how this goes.

About the day so far...

Th DC went surprisingly well (in the sense of endurance). I know the general recommendation is that if it is too hard to jump yet, one should step-touch, and then increase slowly the amount of jumping. I was semi-jumping from the beginning to the end, and in the end the last several minutes (the moment when the music is becoming more intense, and Tracy becomes more motivating), was a blast! I was really dancing my ass off in those several minutes. I can't wait to get to the point when I can dance like that the whole cardio, cos it is fun. For now though I am careful in order not to feel any pain or stress in my joints, and not to over-exhaust myself, and have to step-touch from time to time. But I have to say overall, I did feel a bit like a hippo in a skirt (and I was NOT wearing a skirt) - I was so awkward in these sexy dance moves... I managed to fit in the whole dance cardio in the little space I have in my living room: about 2x2 meters probably, so that was good. Kicked my little coffee table though a couple of times. Oh well, as long as I don't hurt myself or my furniture, I consider it all a success... :)

The MS though was much tougher. Arms again are my weak point - no surprise there. I had to shake them off like twice during the arms series. I still LOVE standing abs, but when I got to the floor work - maaan that was painfully embarrassing :) First, my wrists gave up pretty fast... So I did half of the exercises on my knuckles. Second, my supporting legs are killing me when I am doing it (I hope it is because I am learning how to balance...). And third, the leg feel like stopping moving after several reps. Well, to say that I did not expect this is to lie, but I was hoping I would do better in MS than DC, which turned out to be the other way around... MS so far killed me, I hope to get better tomorrow - now that I know what awaits me. Ah.

I will add about diet in a new post.

Pre-Day 1 Preparations...

I received the DVD's last week. I got the food processor. I got the sports shoes. I got the mat. I bought all the groceries. This means, there is no way back. I am starting the journey tomorrow.

Before the start of the programme, I decided I need to eat my favourite foods, as I won't be able to for some time. I also had a couple of beers, and some Baileys - as I don't really want to drink in the next couple of weeks. Or may be only some wine occasionally.

Today I have spent two hours preparing some food... (I use the little sticky notes to remind me how many portions are in each container, so I don't eat too much... though it seems a lot of food, I don't think I will have a problem eating too little :D)

And to be honest, I had couple of problems

1. Portion sizes. I honestly do not know what size the apples are in States, but 4 steamed apples + 1/2 cup of blueberries does NOT make 8 oz (about 230 gr) portion (I ended up having twice as much actually!). I mean, it's not bad - I did follow the recipe, and if the portion is bigger - oh well. Better for me, I won't survive on too little food anyway.

2. The food does take some time to prepare, so it is far better to leave some time for it, and not leave it to the last minute. Even though it seems easy: put it in the food processor and voila! But it still took me 2 hours to prepare 3 meals (out of 7) for 4 days. I also made Blueberry Applesauce 1 portion for tomorrow. But this means, that a) I will have to cook the rest 2 meals tomoro and b) spend another 2-3 hours cooking up for the rest of the week on Wednesday or Thursday. Oh well. It was me, who got myself into it. But main note: if you want to succeed, don't leave it up to chance, leave enough time for cooking.

OK, so I'm off to bed, and gonna start my day off with Tracy - 6am up, then food (Blueberry Applesauce), then DC and MS (decided to do the MS second to keep it pumping through my body), then shower and then I have Maths course from 9 till 5pm. Crazy I know, but I am bringing my little boxes with my purees tomorrow.

Anyhoo, will update you later on my BIG START!

Week 1 Shopping list

As I decided to do it all and follow the diet as well - at least in the beginning, and I need to organise myself, here is my shopping list for week 1. It does take some time to arrange this all (the list on Tracy's community web-site helps, I just need to adjust it a little to me and the measuring system I am used to) but it is better than spend 3 hours in the supermarket trying to figure out how much of this and that you need - and actually NOT to forget anything.

I will try to update these every week - that is if I will stay with the diet. Will also keep you posted on how is the diet. So far, it seems quite a lot of food, so I have the hope that it is manageable. But seriously, in my calculations it makes almost 5 apples a day!!! That's freaking a lot of apples!

See the list below....

Coming soon... the Metamorphosis!

It's been nearly a week. I have to say, as I was moving, I didn't have enough time to train every day or even every other day - I did only 2 workouts since Feb. 9th. Bad me. But oh well, this is the time to get ready, the challenge starts later...

At the same time, I have come back to my salsa dancing, so I had already 4 hours of it in the past 3 days - which I think is OK. Though, I have to say, I don't get such a workout while we train. There is a really good warm-up when we get drilled on shines, but it is only 10-15 minutes, then we start learning either new shines, body movement, or sequences, hence, it is not so much of physical training... But it is good to be back dancing, see the same old faces around and enjoy the atmosphere.

And finally, big news: I am finally starting Meta on February 20th, 2012. It will be my first day. So, I am prepared - more or less. I have the mind set to do it - and that is the most important thing. I have my mat - and as I heard a lot of people in the community talking about high impact on the hip-sides in many exercises during the MS, I bought a thick 1.5cm mat, instead of the thin yoga-mats. I have the food processor - got it online and it arrived yday in a huuuge box. I will go shopping on Saturday for all the groceries I would need for week one (shopping list will follow soon). I will have a difficult maths course next week 9 to 5pm, but there is nothing I can change, and to be honest - I don't want to. I want to start with Meta as soon as possible. I was simply waiting to move back to Bremen, feel a little settled, and start my transformation. Yey!

Diet: to be or not to be?

I have continued doing the Mat workout. I think I am doing it better by now, my arms are not killing me the very first 20 seconds anymore, and I can make it through only with 10-12 short 1-2 seconds resting breaks. I like it a lot, it makes me feel alive and living every day. After doing it and taking shower even life seems much better and sunnier. :)

The next question so far is diet: to go for it or not?

I found somewhere that of course Tracy recommends to do the diet for at least the first 30 days - even if one is not interested in significant weight loss.

On the one hand, I am not so interested in the weight loss (or rather I don't really care), but I want to see if the training really works better with the diet...

On the other hand, if I do want to loose some weight, I should really do it proper, as for me it would be difficult to loose much weight: I am already in the "normal wight" category, so loosing those 5-7 kilos, will be extremely hard.

It might add some more stress on me, but hey health starts in the kitchen and if Tracy can get me into a habit of eating more healthy, I can do it!

So, in the end, I decided to try the diet. At least the first 30 days - so I can try several of the Nutrient Boost and Body Reset weeks. Then I will see if it makes too much hustle, or if I simply don't like it, or it is a bit too expensive for me, etc. And again, if I want to truly do it right and get results, I should do it proper.

I will later try to organise all the groceries (TAM webside provides a good groceries list for shopping, but I will need to convert the measures for our European realities), and will post my shopping lists for each week - as long as I am on diet of course. Good that some recipes repeat themselves, so it would be easy to get used to preparing them.

What I need for now - and is on my shopping list to buy:

• Food processor
• Steamer
• Juicer

As I can't afford all this at the same time, I decided to first get an OK-ish food processor - it is essential, the rest is possible with easy appliances (using a little basket to use with pots instead of an electric steamer, and the good old cloth for manual juicing...)

This is the food processor I chose so far: Beem D1000.610 Sensation from Amazon.

Cardio and Mat

So, today I woke up again with some sore muscles - but just a bit. Oh how it is welcome though. It is a pure pleasure, I would even say - delight :)

Today I was trying to work, but it didn't turn out so good - can't concentrate for the past couple weeks (!!!). So instead I started procrastinating and thought the best way is to workout. At least it is useful.

So I did 40 minutes of Beginners Dance Cardio (BDC) - in the end was sweating quite a bit. Then decided to continue the Mat workout. So all in all, 1.5 hour training today. Nice procrastination huh? Mat was again challenging, and I honestly couldn't do it all. The arms section is simply killing me, today I even missed the section with weights. The standing legs and butt section is sooo much worse on my right leg - because my left (supporting) one is killing me - almost literally. :) I sometimes had to put down the right leg - not cos it got tired, but because the left one was on fire... Hmmm what else. Lying abs is still hard, but I try to muddle through. And my absolute fav still is standing abs - so much fun!

All in all so far I feel great - as if I can feel every muscle in my body, I straightened out and feel like I'm reaching the sky, I even feel more energetic. So, will try to work now... :) Wish me luck.

TA Mat Workout

So, today I woke up with a bit of abs muscle pain. But oh my - does it feel good! I absolutely love this soreness. As promised earlier, today I tried the Mat Workout. There are some videos of it available on Youtube.

(I am not sure it is legal to have those videos on Youtube actually, but I was not the one who put them up there...)

So, my impressions? I am happy so far. If the workout of muscular structure (MS) will be similar, I should be happy with it - at least in the beginning. I like these kind of simple exercises, which you do on your own, in a bit of your own tempo... it is in a way really calm. However, it is indeed - for me for sure - very challenging. I was sweating - and its not like a jumping cardio or anything... The arm section is really long for me - my arms were on fire most of the time - I could not do all of it, had to have a "shake" once in a while, but I guess its good, right? The abs section is good, and even though I really hate doing abs, as I feel nauseous every time I do it, but this one was good - I didn't feel bad at all. It was challenging, so I couldn't do all of it, but I tried. I absolutely love the standing abs section! And I really don't want a six-pack, so a sexy tummy it is :) I like Tracy's explanations in this DVD, and I really like her almost serene attitude. Very easy to follow and - well in a way - relaxing. What I also found great - it got me all moving, all body. Though I needed some more stretching in the end, so I did an extra 10 min on stretching and stuff.

All in all, I like it. Can't wait to start Meta. And can't wait to go on diet. :)

Today I also recorded my measurements first time. Will do it again on the first day of Meta and every 10 days of training then.

Restlessness

I am so so so bad at waiting. I just suck at it - honestly. Waiting for the DVD's to arrive - which would take other 1-2 weeks I would assume - is a disaster. Knowing how bad I am at waiting, I also ordered some other stuff online (like shampoo - yes-yes I frequently order haircare online cos I like to try the different types which are not sold in shops in Germany! - vitamins, some clothes...) - so all of it will be waiting for me (notifications at least in my post box) when I arrive back to Bremen. Yey!

But anyway, today my restlessness got to the extremes, I could not simply work... And decided to do at least something! I started preparing myself a little bit for Meta, but thought it would be nice to stick to TAM even now... As I mentioned, I previously had some of TAM DVD's, though never got around to use them. And I thought it would be nice to start getting prepared a little bit. So I took the Beginners Dance Cardio and learnt the first section today and danced it for like 25 minutes, then took the Webisodes for arms, abs and butt (got those from my sis), and done those. All together about an hour. I didn't sweat too much, but then again, the Dance Cardio was quite easy. Will try to go into the second one tomorrow and then combine them together. Might be better then.

As it is Saturday tomoro, I'm also thinking of trying the Mat Workout tomoro - will see how it works.

Fingers crossed. And PLEEEEAAASE - post office, work fast! :D

Why TA?

So the big question is, why did I choose Tracy Anderson Method (TAM) and Metamorphosis (Meta) in particular? 

For several reasons (read below).

Dance Cardio's List

So, apparently dance as a form of fitness is really really really high these days. When I read the reviews on Meta, many people mentioned that it was hard for them to follow the same dance routines every day for 90 training days (which ended up being about 105 calendar days - 3.5 months minimum). And as cardio work out is the key to loosing weight (besides of course what you actually eat), it is also essential for getting healthy. Muscles training is all good, but if you don't train your heart and lungs, you won't ever make it on top of the hill or would be able to run a marathon (well, for a marathon, you also need to run of course). Hence, cardio is not only about figure, it is essential for health. So, the last thing I want to do it skip the cardio. I solemnly swear that I will do cardio, to the best of my abilities and fitness level from now on. It has to become part of the lifestyle.

But to be very honest, I don't like all those Tae Bo and Extreme.... I like to dance. So, I decided to check out different dance fitness DVD's, to see what is out there. And to tell you the truth, there is a lot and a lot!!!

Here are some of the really famous, and less famous programs - some of which you can also do in a studio (e.g. Zumba), but there are also DVD's available. Below you can read a very long post with examples and videos. I am also providing - where available - links to where you can buy the DVD's, and I am using more Europe-friendly options. :) But in general, for especially US-based, Total Fitness DVD's seems like a good place to start shopping for DVD's. This is not really  review, and when I am expressing my opinion - it is only mine and I can be wrong, as I have NOT tried all of the programs below. So, it is up to the users to actually make their own opinion about all of them. I find TaylieTotGetsFit Youtube Channel really good in terms of reviews about different fitness programs. Finally, if you have other suggestions for the list, let me know - I will put it on as well. I am only one person, I can not know it all of course (and I am not saying I ever will :D), and there is SOOO much out there, it is nearly impossible to make a comprehensive list. So, there are some of the options of fitness through dance - this page might be where you start choosing.

Note: I will update the list when I have time.