Day 56 of Metamorphosis

Level 6 is definitely going to be faster and easier to finish than level 5… I mean I practically have only several days till the end! But to start with I am not travelling as much as in the last level – or rather not taking long weekends off, which are not very encouraging for working out. I have to say, I really do admire people who go on vacation and continue workout!!! I mean, I can imagine the workouts in the form of walks, jogging, playing badminton and tennis, swimming, cycling… But real cardio and muscle work??!! Hmmm… Well I still haven’t reached that point I guess.

I did travel though – but not for just a weekend. I am now staying at my sweetheart’s in Prague for two weeks. We are living our normal everyday lives and enjoy working in the evenings together and finally have our little dinners together… I might get used to this too much I have to say! It is so different to practically live together, and then see each other over distance. Sigh. But I went off topic.

So, level 6. It still surprises me to a very high extent! And it is not only the different rotations, vectors, the weird moves… It is also about the after-effects. So the last time I had sore muscles was – well, let me try to remember … - in level 1 suppose. Yes, I only had sore muscles in the very first few days of Meta – when the body experienced its initial shock. Then it seemed my muscles had adjusted to workouts pretty fast and knew what they were doing… And imagine my surprise when I woke up on day 52 with my butt hurting!!! I though “Wow, how peculiar! This level rocks! I have the sore muscles again!” And off I went to do the next workout, being particularly thorough on my leg lifts and angles for butt – thinking “Yey, smaller butt, smaller butt, smaller butt!” Well, then imagine my – no not a surprise anymore – more like a shock, when I woke up on day 53 and felt my ABS hurting!!! I thought “What the hell?! How is that possible? I am doing the SAME exercises! Nothing changed since yesterday!” Ah, dear reader, still more to come… Because the next day I woke up with sore muscles in my arms… Then I stopped getting surprised, just accepted it as inevitable and I love to wake up to new sensations in my body, to feel slightly differently, a little more and more alive each day… Because if muscles are sore, it means they are working right? It means they are really really alive… It means I am alive! Hurray to level 6!!! 

(Anyone had the same experience? On Omni or any other Meta type?)

DC is getting more routine-like, but I don’t have patience or very often time to do it in full. So I do as much as I can. So, if I have 50 minutes, I prefer to do the full MS and 20 minutes of DC. Yes, I don’t do full 30 minutes from time to time… Well, the main thing is that I keep to it right? And despite all odds, I do fit in at least 45-50 minutes of workout ever day.

I also started doing DC in the morning just after I wake up, and MS in the evening. DC feels better in the morning, because I still have empty stomach and now it became my substitution for a coffee. Really. I won’t wake up properly if I don’t have a workout: I feel sleepy and lacking energy completely! But I also like to do MS in late-ish evening, because it makes me feel that after eating the whole day I do some exercise still. And I love to sweat and then take a relaxing shower before bed. I complement MS with a nice and relaxed 15-minute stretching, and after that I feel like I am definitely relaxed after the whole day. It works for me, and it is hard to find enough time in the morning to workout for an hour. But I am satisfied with how it works this way.

Oh and one more improvement! We have a juicer here in Prague, so I started having a nice juice each morning. I didn’t find kale or spinach here (what a surprise…), but I am having some apples, carrots and oranges in the juice. Yum. I tried different combinations, and love to add some random fruits and veggies from the fridge. They are all good right?! :) Generally, I have slightly more food than is outlined by the Meta eating plan, but hey - I am keeping it healthy and just right amount of calories... I think. :) I don't go hungry - EVER, and I don't overeat. It is great!

Fresh juice (orange, apple, tomato, celery, carrot) and breakfast (two eggs, little tomatoes, 2 slices of cheese and cucumber). Very filling, and energetic! No coffee needed!

What do you have for breakfast people?

Day 48 of Metamorphosis... and the bumps along the way

Yes, it sounds crazy that I am - still - on level 5, but I had to restart the level, as I had too many interruptions. Now, however I am delighted to finish it tomorrow (if all goes well, and it should), and start level 6! Wohoo!

MS

Don't get me wrong, it was my own decision to restart level 5, but oh boy I am tired of it. I am simply getting bored. I know every single exercise of the MS, and well now can do it in full reps (though it takes me a little longer than Tracy). This hasn't happened with previous levels. But in true, I have done it like 15 times by now! So I am happy to move on. It is true that you get bored of the same thing, and when you are doing one of the MS longer than supposed to, it also loses some touch of excitement. I was always excited thinking "Just 10 workouts like that - get the most out of it!" Now I am thinking "Oh I wish it was day 50 already!!!" So it definitely is time to move on for good.

DC

Dance cardio is indeed getting boring. But I have to say I know it by now (which is only logical after doing it for around 50 times...), and sometimes I simply turn it on and start jumping automatically - before I manage to convince myself that I don't need to do it. And then the automatic jumps get more energy and I enjoy it. Sweat is the magic powder after all! ;) I also catch myself that while I concentrate a lot on MS, I tend to drift a little bit on DC nowadays - cos my body and mind know by now what I am doing, and I am not working out the specific muscles, I am jumping and dancing to get the heart beat up and loose some calories in the process. But I nevertheless enjoy it. Why? It makes me feel good. As simple as that. I feel great when I finish it - physically and mentally. I love it.

Food

In terms of diet, I went off Tracy's diet. Sigh. Well, I was going to follow it for around 30 days anyway, and I did it longer. But simply when those Body Reset repetitive Weeks finished, I could not deal with the ones "with diversity any more (starting Week ??? the BRW become diverse, which involves more recipes, and hence more time for cooking...). My PhD taking most of my time (and this is the biggest reason why I actually disappeared for so long). I sometimes work till 8-9, and then drag my feet home (still have to take a train to get home and all) and drop nearly dead. My driving school also continues... And with being busy and not having enough time for anything, I simply could not follow all the recipes of TA Dynamic Eating Plan any longer. But I keep eating healthy and fresh (mostly). I got into a good routine with food, I already calculate or estimate my calories without needing to really calculate them. I eat lots of salads, lots of fruit, add some fish, poultry or meat on top of that, sometimes I have one of those protein bars and protein shakes to keep me up on protein. Eggs, cheese, quinoa, nuts and just a little bit of chocolate are also in my diet. I also sometimes make soups - really with only veggies and not too fat. Yum!

Little bit of smoked trout and some yummy rucola-tomato-cucumber salad. I love food! Mmmm.

My feelings overall

To be honest, I was feeling a little guilty - for going off the diet, for missing some days (4 days for salsa festival and 4 more days for a wonderful weekend in Monaco), for not eating too healthy all the time (I confess to having an addiction to chocolate as of late and I simply can't do anything about it...), for missing the DC sometimes - that's really naughty of me! Monaco has set me off a little bit, as French cuisine offers a lot of temptations! I gained 2 kilos there, but by now they all went off - without even a big effort on my side. So after all I decided to not feel guilty. I am working out, and Meta has my back. I am doing my best, I am not pushing it, but enjoying every single workout. I don't want to suddenly feel so tired I would not want to workout at all. I LOVE the workouts, I feel great after them - both physically and mentally (after all, I never stop to fight my weaknesses, and every little victory is oh so sweet!) I still eat well and healthy, even if I allow myself to eat some bread sometimes. But generally I keep it better than ever before in my life. So why on Earth should I feel guilty??!! I should feel proud and delighted, satisfied and really glad with myself. I am working on myself and doing the best I have ever done! What can be more pleasing???!!!

So, the advice is: be realistic. No, one should not give up at every difficulty saying "It is realistic: I can't do it" I say "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can" and I move forward. But instead of beating myself up, I praise myself and motivate myself to go on, to keep up to the healthy food, to the workouts - to the better and transformed lifestyle. Cos this is my end goal: A better and healthier lifestyle.

And if on the way I look in the mirror and see the beautiful abs and tiny ass - hell, I won't say no! 

Day 44 of Metamorphosis

Yesterday and today were tough. Level 5 doesn't get much easier: my arms are still about to fly off when I'm doing the arms section, my abs are in pain when I'm doing lying abs, and by the end of the leg section I feel like both my feet and bottom are about to fall off too. But all of those are great feelings, and then standing in a long-ish shower, I enjoy the hot water caressing my aching muscles. I love hot and contrast showers after the workouts - they bring back the strength and refresh. Sometimes I also want to have a bathtub, to be able to take quick baths very fast, but oh well - in my next house. 

Wally and Gallo - our teachers, from
La Sandunguera dancing school.

I have a confession to make... In terms of diet... Well, I have had a little bit of chocolate addiction in the past two days... I mean it is after Easter now (technically Orthodox Easter is this weekend, so I'm not supposed to celebrate quite yet), and all the Easter chocolates are on sale. You can get all those yummy eggs and rabbits for half or even 1/3 of price! And I simply couldn't walk past them. So, I obviously excluded the choco pudding from the diet, as I already had enough of chocolate to last me at least a week... But still - too much sugar in my diet :)

In the next couple days I'm gonna keep really busy, as a Salsa festival is taking place in Bremen, and I am volunteering with some help (keeping the long story short, I'll say that I am volunteering): reception, some food and drinks tasks, and hosting 2 artists. Besides that I am going to have dancing workshops whole days on Saturday and Sunday. So, I'm saying all this, because I might have no time at all to get back here till Monday or so, and I might as well skip the DC a couple of times: after all I will be dancing up to 6-7 hours a day... I think that is enough of a cardio... :)

And just some memories - my salsa performance in the end of last year (November) - before I went for three months to a cold and dark Stockholm... I love to look at those pics and hope that one day I might do it again - now looking much better too! :)

Rest day and the power of indulging

Today was my rest day. Not very resting though I have to tell you. I woke up at 6am because some builders were making noise outside my window... At 6am!!! I am still sleeping at that time, and they are already "noising" around!!! And I have to tell you, I went to bed only at 2... So, not much sleep.

At 9 I had to be at the university at the structural equation modelling (SEM) course - which to be honest was interesting and exciting, so I was not - thankfully - falling asleep. After that - as a normal PhD student - I got so excited, I went back home and started using SEM for my own data... By the evening I was exhausted from work, and sleepy. 

I did let myself indulge in a little bit of dinner: carrot-parsnip puree, quinoa (yes, I found it thanks to one of my readers Nina - Thank you so much!), several olives, a slice of cheese, pureed tomatoes with garlic and some weird bio-diet-ham (of only 8 cal a slice... weird! but I simply had to try it). All that with a little glass of wine, some candle light and instrumental piano music of genious Ludovico Einaudi... Perfect evening, just wish my sweetheart was here in person and not just on Skype... :)

Dinner, Week 7 with some extravagances... :)

I LOVE candles... Long time ago I used to find them a waste of time and space... Now I love the little flames...

TA Diet controversies...

Everything in the world has its critique. Everything. Everything can be praised and criticised, and in the end of the day - except for may be maths and physics - there is no ultimate truth. So in this post I wanted to raise an issue of TAM and Meta major criticism - its diet.

First and foremost, I have to say I am NO dietician or a doctor, all the statements below are only my own opinions, and what I discovered works for me. In no way am I advising anyone to follow anything I am saying below. 

So... There has been a lot of talk about the evil of TA diet... Recently I ran into this article by Rebecca Wilcox... It is pretty old already - about a year old, but well it does talk about TAM and Meta, and the diet I am currently on. 

Before I get into a long discussion about it all (which I want to try to avoid not to bore you all too much), I have to say I read all of that (the critique I mean) before I started Meta. Meta was not a rushed decision for me, it was not a whim one Sunday evening or an idea that may be I'm lacking some excitement in my life. I am not - and Meta was a choice I made after analysing the scene... I am a PhD student after all: I don't make rushed decisions normally, and I can't afford spending money without some thought behind it. I am careful in making my decisions, and would always investigate and read a lot before starting a new venture. When I needed to buy a new laptop, I actually spent a week on learning about computers, reading about them, and getting to know what characteristics were most important for me - again as a PhD student. I don't rely on advice usually (may be unfortunately - this would have made my life so much easier) and I don't believe commercials. I also don't really care how stars look - they are there and I am here, I have to be realistic and down-to-Earth. I have to understand what is good for me - just for me - and not for some rush towards a "Gwyneth body". And I think this is in a way where it started wrong for the author of the above-mentioned article... She tried to reach something she is not, and didn't listen to herself and her body.

Hence, regardless of what you are starting (school, hobby, training), you have to listen to yourself! When you starting a new workout program or a diet - you have to listen to your body, it won't lie to you. And if you are good at it, you will understand when it is just lazy (i.e. making up excuses for not doing a workout) or when it is actually suffering, or in pain. And the earlier you notice this, the better.

So, coming back to the above mentioned article... The main argument of it was "I did get the Gwynie body, but I starved in the process"... Then there is a lot of evidence from nutritionists, dieticians, doctors, etc., who basically say that this diet is a "pamphlet of patients with anorexia nervosa", that it is only 700 calories a day and lacks calcium, iron, carbohydrates, proteins, salt etc.... Basically, it is hugely imbalanced, and non-nutritive against what it is proclaiming (to the other criticisms I will get in a separate post I think). 

My response to that.... 

Week 7 diet

So, I am starting week 7 diet tomorrow. I did the shopping yesterday, so my fridge is stuffed - mostly with fruit and veg... This happens a lot lately, but it is still overly full (and I live alone, so it is only my food!!!)

OK, so in this week's menu we have:

• Power Juice
• Chocolate Pudding
• Kiwi Basil Puree
• Waldorf Salad
• Veggie Snack
• Carrot Parsnip Puree +
• 1.2 c red quinoa
• Fruit Puree

I substituted the Waldorf Salad with Chili, as I really didn't like the Waldorf Salad, but the reason for that may be lies in the fact that I did not use chestnuts for it. And I absolutely loved the Chili. I know it is not the best substitution, but at least I will enjoy it. :) So my shopping list was a bit different from the one on TAM web-site - including Chili ingredients. I couldn't find quinoa... Actually still have no idea what it is, had to Google it and read about it on Wikipedia, and check out how it can be called in German. :) Still no success - even in the international cuisine shelves...

So, my shopping list:

• Chocolate/chocolate chips (I still have the rest of the ingredients)
• 3 cups spinach
• 2 English cucumbers
• Pack of celery
• 1 lime
• 1.4 kg ground beef
• 6 tomatoes
• 1 jalapeno
• 1 large or 2 small zucchinis
• 1 red bell peppers
• Roasted garlic
• 6 parsnips
• 3.5 cups quinoa
• 14 kiwis
• 40 basil leaves
• 2 oranges
• Pack of strawberries
• Pack of blackberries
• Pack of blueberries
• Pack of raspberries
• 2 big bunches fresh mint

So, today I am cooking. Chili and carrot-parsnip puree are ready, I just have to finish the chocolate pudding, and the rest I would prefer to eat fresh.

Here I also wanted to mention the vitamins and other supplements I am taking. I used to take multi-vitamins, but now I decided I need more attention to certain functions in my body, like eyes, my brain (concentration and memory), bones and muscles. They supplement each other, and the same vitamins do not repeat from one pack to another. 

I also started taking L-carnitine - just to try it out. We'll see how it goes and if I will see any interesting results. :)

Have a great Sunday everyone - and a good rest of Easter weekend!

Foods in weeks - what is it? - 6 and 6.5?

So I finally have time to talk a little about food... Yes, I am not using "diet" on purpose right now, as...  well I wasn't so good following Tracy's diet in the past 2 weeks. All the roller-coaster of life started in the end of Week 5. Which was already past 30-day-diet-trial-period I set for myself from the start. I have to say, I almost arrived at my desired weight, so now I am concentrating more on keeping it and not gaining more. Though I would still not mind to lose another 1-2 kilos. But... well, I had some things going on, so it was pretty hard to stick to the diet to the T. 

In the end of week 5 (Nutrient Boost...) my sweetheart was visiting from Prague - and hey I just can't resist going for a nice dinner out with him (or two! :D) So we again went to the wonderful Le Gril place on the Weser river bank (definitely recommended to anyone visiting Bremen!!!) - I tried to stick to the grill and salad, and nothing more, and as before Le Gril didn't disappoint us - it was yummy-amazing! :)

With a little bit of dry Martini... romantic atmosphere... great company... What else do you need?!

Beef steak and some salad

Week 3 diet

Week 3 is a Nutrient Boost Week and it is a little puzzling for me. That is the main reason I am coming to writing about it only in the end of the week.

I will start with the menu: first the 'oldies' - the ones which were also available in week 1, then the new dishes too.

Power Juice - I have written about it before, and as before I am unfortunately ignoring it for now... As I don't have a juicer, and I can't be bothered going through a more difficult way of getting the juice (blend it and then squeeze through some cloth). I simply don't have time for that.

Gazpacho is as good as ever. I can't say I love it, but it is tolerable. Funny enough, I made it several times already, and every time it is a little different consistency. :)

Blueberry Applesauce - still love it in the mornings before work out.

Chocolate Pudding - I love it, but I decided not to have it this week, as almost every day I have one or another occasion at work (birthdays, meetings, special occasions) when we drink coffee with cookies and cake, so I have a little bit of that instead (but really like ONE Rafaello, or half a little piece of cake).

Turkey Spinach Crumble is one of the new things on the menu and involves turkey minced meat... A lot. Cooked with a very yummy herb combination... But all together it is basically turkey.

(Turkey crumble together with the veggie snack: I find it a bit difficult to eat meat/poultry on its own...)

Waldorf Salad - this I found the most strange. But may be it is because I could not - yet again - find chestnuts, so substituted them by blueberries... Can't say it worked out, as basically this 'salad' has chicken breast, blueberries (chestnuts), red grapes and parsley... Strange and for me it is like sweet chicken. Hmmmm.

Chili is probably the yummiest and for me the most questionable item on the menu. Chili? Healthy? Well, there isn't any oils or salts... Mostly it is a LOT of ground beef, zucchinis, peppers, garlic. That is about it. Oh and lots of cumin. I actually do love it, but I feel somewhat guilty to eat this meaty meal. And again, it is a LOT of meat!

(In preparation...)

(Final result. Very very very yummi... And I love cumin, so it is a great dish. Though again, I would say not enough veggies.)

2 Veggie Snacks every day - a really yummy snack, but then I would consider anything containing celery and cucumbers yummy :)

So, as you can see the diet is very different from week 1, even though it is also a Nutrient Boost Week. But week 3 is definitely a nutrient boost week... When I started it, for me it was too much food. Honestly. I hit a 54 kilo mark and it didn't move for several day (until today - which is strange). I had no desire to force myself eat more than I could, so I naturally excluded some of the meals - sometimes no veggie snacks, one day now blueberry applesauce. I still try to keep as much as I can with the diet. But honestly 1 kg of turkey, 400 g of chicken and 1.5 kg of beef in one week is a little too much for me. I don't eat meat every day in my normal diet, not to mention several times a DAY! So, all in all, I am indeed a bit surprised, but what can I do? I am still sticking to it. But advice to all of you out there is to listen to your own body. This is a bit too much for me, but may be it is OK for you. Also, I found planning a little more meals in the morning is better than in the evening. So for instance I have all meat done with by 13-14:00 and then I only have veggies to consume. I still despite of the diet am losing weight... Well sort of.

I had a stable 54 kg for several days, then today I woke up with 52.2... I do NOT know what happened. Honestly. There were several things I did yesterday differently from the other days:

1. I tried to exclude blueberry applesauce, but have veggie snacks instead (I honestly don't think this had anything to do with the loss)

2. I ate all meat till about 14:00, then moved to gazpacho and veggies.

3. I have a glass (well, OK two...) of wine yesterday after I came back from work at 22-something.

4. I had a pineapple (a small one) yesterday before wine...

So, really I think may be the combination of things made me drop a lot in one day. I have no clue. But we will see how it stays up. I don't think it will, at least not this very moment. I think it will go up to 53 and stabilize there, and then again may be spike down...

All in all, week 3 diet is good, a lot of food, hence you won't be hungry! That's for sure. I like the meat, but for me its a little too much. But in a way it is good not to have to deal with lots of purees again :)

PS Happy International (Post-Soviet) Women's Day! :)

Week 3 Shopping list

Week 3 is again a Nutrient Boost Week, and after 1 day of it I have to say I again feel it is too much food... As there are some mistakes in the shopping lists on TAM website, and I always have some stuff left over, I create my own lists. Also as I still had some groceries left over from last week (like chicken breast, onions, carrots, etc.), i had to buy less, but still the whole shopping got into 43 Euro - not the cheapest diet on Earth I must say.

My shopping list:

• Pack of kale
• 2 packs of spinach
• 32 apples
• 3 packs blueberries
• 1 kg ground organic turkey meat
• 10 basil leaves
• 30 cloves roasted garlic
• Coriander
• Pack of strawberries
• 23  tomatoes
• Parsley
• Cilantro
• 1 Pack mixed bell peppers, 2 red bell peppers
• 3 English cucumbers
• Fennel seeds
• 1 pack dried blackberries
• 1 small pack red grapes
• 1.4 kg grass-fed ground beef
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
• 2 large or 4 small zucchinis, diced
• Pack of celery
• 1 lime

Below you can find a full table of all groceries for each recipe (with transformations for kg) and from it you could create your own shopping list.

Days 11-12 and rest day

I started level 2. Overall impression of level 2: it is tough, but doable. For me actually it became more interesting and challenging. In level 2 the exercises become more difficult, and one has to really keep attention up: to note all the angles and turns of wrists, feet, etc. Here angles become even more important. So beware!

In day 11 I had to separate the DC and MS - as I didn't have enough time in the morning (overslept) and it felt like I was much stronger when I was doing MS. I am not sure if it is about the change, or because I was not already exhausted by DC, but it went almost easy. Then I had my rest day, and on day 12 - 4th of March, I went to the consulate to vote and had salsa, so I only did MS in the evening. Will get back to DC tomorrow - for sure!

Diet... Well, what can I say - I was off it for 1.5 days almost. Though I still tried to keep up the more or less healthy food. But yesterday was my birthday, so my sweetheart arranged a couple niceties for me - so sweet! He whisked me off to a hotel with spa, got me a cake with candles (I really begged to get something really really really tiny - I am still on diet!! :D), a wonderful present, romance, champagne, amazing dinner, and then salsa dancing. We got a little too much of drink - oops, but it was a wonderful day. And I had some nice and not too unhealthy food...

Breakfast (birthday cake and champagne):

Lunch (small chicken soup and a salad, ate 2 pieces of bread :(...):

Dinner (rumpsteak with rucola and tomatoes, tomato salad):

(I know, I know, it's a steak, but at least I ordered it without any sauce (and it is protein after all!), and also had only fresh veggies with it, rather than any bad roasted potatoes and other unhealthy fatty things.)

So, the diet was not too bad, but well not precisely what was prescribed... But overall, I had a great weekend, and I loved it and felt great! :) Back to the diet - week 3 starting tomorrow!

Day 10 of Metamorphosis

So today started a little late, and as I have some repair works planned for the evening, I decided to skip on the office today and work from home (good old academia!). I can't say it is always productive, but sometimes it is - I love to work on my laptop.

I also tried to change my schedule a little bit: try to workout not the first thing in the morning, but after lunch - to see if I like it better. And well, I don't. Well, I guess everyone has his/her hours for certain things. So for me morning are still not very productive work-wise (I think my brain takes much longer to wake up, so normally for me mornings are spent in administrative jobs and correspondence), and so working out in the morning makes so much sense - I don't have to think that much :) Today I stayed at home - not much administrative work here. And well,  emails were sent, I tried to work, not much luck. Then I had lunch and work started a little bit better. An hour or so after lunch I worked out, and hey - surprise surprise, I felt myself much heavier (even though I did feel more strength), but it was hard to do DC. MS though went better - I don't know if it is because it is day 10, or cos it was not morning. But I did it almost to the dot with Tracy! Impressive!!! :)

Anyhow, I finished level 1!!!! Congrats to me!!! Tomorrow starts level 2! I am excited (jubilant I would even say), but also really stressed: I heard level 2 is a real killer, and I previewed it and I did feel like it was all in fast forward. That would be hmmm interesting. I'm afraid, I will be really sore after that and will have to pause a lot. Oh well, bring it on!

I will publish my results of the full 10 days tomorrow (may be with pics - if there would seem to be a visible effect), but a little sneak peak:

• Today my scales surprised me with 53.9 kg (118.6), which means I lost around 2.6kg (5.7 lbs) in the last 10 days!!! As I wrote before, my desired weight is between 50 and 52 kg (~112-114 lbs), so hey I'm not so far from that :) So I will stick with the diet for the first 30 days I think and then will go off it, but continue eating healthy and not too much. I think already now I won't be able to eat a lot: my stomach seems to have become smaller. 
• As for how I feel, I feel absolutely great! I feel light and stronger I remember myself feeling! I wake up and I like to see myself in the full-height mirror. I am energetic, and I have to say even though sometimes don't feel like doing a workout (=lazy!), I feel like I am missing on on something vital till I do it. My body loves it, I can feel it! 
• In terms on cm/inches, I am not sure... But I have a flat stomach already - I just need to get nicer abs of course (even now I can already make out some muscles forming!!!), but still. Amazing! I also feel like I def lost some inches in my waist, but even my thighs look thinner and better defined. Tomorrow I will give some more details on how many cm/inches I lost too.

The diet today was OK, but not more than that... I finally did the poached eggs for brunch - really yummy!!! And yes, I love my spices - or rather herbs, so here it is with a little bit of parsley and dried garlic and majoran. Nothing bad or unhealthy. :)

And somehow today is the day of trying new things... So today I'm having a tuna-fish salad for dinner. Yum!!!

And in the end of the day I relaxed a bit... Had two (!!!) little Kinder bars (240 calories together) and a little bit of nuts... Not too bad, may be 250-300 calories extra, but we'll have to see how it will show on my scales tomorrow... Sigh.

Have a fantastic day everyone!!!

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...

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. 

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.

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....

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.