Day 79 of Metamorphosis

Today was a particularly hot sunny morning. In the mountains you never know what to expect... Yesterday we woke up to a thick fog - I couldn't see beyond our garden nearly. By the evening it was raining... In general it was a humid rainy day. Today it is crispy hot and sunny. And believe it or not, it is nearly impossible to do DC in the heat. I survived for about 20 minutes. After that panting and sweating, barely able to say a word, I moved into the house, where I found just enough space for the MS. Ah. But after the sun-sauna of DC, MS was really challenging. I was still exhausted, but I pushed through it. It was a great feeling to go through it. And my sweetheart is really taking care of me - by the time I finish shower, the breakfast is ready. Ah. I envy myself to be honest :))))

My breakfast: eggs, some ham and some bread (yeah, yeah, I know, but it is sooo good),
fresh juice, coffee and some fruit

Great day here in the Swiss Alps today, work is moving along, but not as fast and productive I was hoping for... Oh well. I only can do the best I can. :) Just have to make sure I actually do it. Having problems with not beating myself up, so try to stay reasonable.

Just our view for a little inspiration...

Just one more day and I'm moving to level 9! And then just another 10 workouts, and I will gloriously finish Meta! I have to be honest and say that I have never thought I would be writing it when I started... Yes, I wanted to succeed, but I was not at all sure. What a great feeling it gives. And also gives me strength in my PhD: if I can do Meta, I can do almost anything!!!!

Have a good day everyone! 

Day 68 of Metamorphosis!!! WOW!

Holly-molly! Day 68???!!! Already!!!??? I'm on disk 3 and I just have two new MS workouts left in Meta... Wait... WHAT??? I still can't believe it...

So anyway, today was the day like many others. I was tired, couldn't get up at 6 am, woke up around 8. By the time I did my DC, had a shower, ate my yummy breakfast, got ready - it was already 11... So, I was in office only by midday, and then a friend dropped by my office for coffee... And you know how it goes... So started work much later than I hoped for... But - when my colleague walked into the office, she stopped and asked "Wait, did you lose more weight?" And no, I did not, but I guess I toned more, and she said that I look so much more toned and slimmer. 

Then I went to salsa – finally after not being there for about a month. And I was really shocked and surprised. Because Wally (our trainer) started saying from the minute I walked in “Wow, Liuba, you are so skinny!” And then everyone was talking at the same time on the same topic... And several of my friends who came in – even those who have not heard this conversation with Wally – were saying that I lost weight. So, the secret is to be away for a long time, and then people are surprised. :) But hey – I don’t even notice if I am smaller than I used to be or not anymore. I simply get used to being how I am at the moment, and then I stop being surprised… Ah, that all made my day today.

And you know, the best feeling throughout all those conversations, remarks and questions (i.e. “How did you DO it??”) was that I actually achieved it. Yes, it is great I actually weigh less now and I love the feel of my body when I am stretching in bed in the morning – it feels lean, strong, small, and simultaneously soft and muscular. But the best thing about people noticing is that I set the goal 3 months ago (holly molly! Has it been already 3 months??!!), I told people about it and I stubbornly went forth to achieve it. I didn’t give up on the way – not once. I did have bumps on the way (I still do), I do overeat sometimes, I am lazy sometimes and it is hard to start the workout, I procrastinate (something that I have to deal with seriously from now on), I sometimes don’t have time even for 30 minutes cardio, but I put in as much as I can – even if it is just 10 minutes… I did it all myself! I am strong enough and disciplined enough for that! This gives an amazing feeling. Now I have to be just as strong and disciplined in writing my PhD...

As the workouts go, I am definitely not in love with level 7. I heard I’m not the only one… It is hard and… well just hard. Super hard. It has lots of exercises in plunk-push-up position – and I do not like those. I feel like my arms are still not strong enough to hold me in plunk position… If it is not plunks, then it is a lot about balance. Try to balance on left knee and right elbow, while doing some stuff with right leg and left arm… Honestly, this almost feels like some kind of torture! I feel it in my ass, and my abs, and my thighs… I feel it everywhere. I actually am sore from time to time during this level. And feel like I need more sleep. But anyway, as soon as I could do all the reps, I added the ankle weights. And boy that took me back to 25-30 reps again (instead of 40…) Wow.

On the bright side, I had a bit of a breakthrough with DC I think. Not that I like it more than before. No. I am of course used to it by now and my body knows it well. But these past two weeks I tried to really make myself perform. And well surprise surprise… It was not that hard actually… You know, I am naturally a performer I think. I like to be cute and shiny on stage. I used to for ages – ever since I got over my childhood shyness I guess (and having one pretty embarrassing stage appearance, which I will never forget, but which probably changed me and challenged the performer in me), I have loved stage. I wish I could sing… But I tried acting, poetry reading, now dancing… When I was performing salsa last year, my trainers asked other more experienced and advanced dancers to come and look at me… They used to stop us (we were performing in a team of 3 couples) and tell the others “Liuba is outshining you all, you have to start performing, and not just going through the dance routine desperately trying to remember the steps”. And thinking about it, I was constantly wondering why was it so hard to perform DC for me?.. Well – duh! Cos there is no audience! No one to smile and flirt with, but then we did train dancing in empty rooms too. So I started imagining there IS an audience in front of me, started smiling and flirting… For a laugh sometimes I would put my little stuffed animals in front and do the DC “for them” :) Or turn on the camera and film my "performance" (no, not a soul is going to see it...)… This changed my DC completely. And I know now what the difference is between performing and just doing the DC. After each time I actually performed, I was sweating like CRAZY. Really – I don’t even know how to explain it. I drank half a litre of water after that in one go and was feeling like I perhaps ran a marathon, but definitely not a half hour workout… But the most surprising thing – I tend to check my heart rate from time to time… Throughout the performing workout my average was 150-158!!! Compare it to 120-130 of when I’m just doing it on a moderate speed. I am not ever sure it is actually healthy to have such a high heart rate… But the difference is obvious. After such a workout, I take some protein shake – cause I feel like I might start shaking from exhaustion. And only then proceed to MS.

So, all in all, I loved my workouts and am getting closer to level 8!!! I’m amazed! And only one thing pressing and stressing me and making me down – is my PhD, which is not going so well. But I still hope I will find strength – also from my workout and healthy lifestyle successes – to be more disciplined and work more.

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! 

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...

Level 3 grand results, before and after (with pics!)

Level 3 is over.

Wait, WHAT? HOW? WHEN?

Yop, this is approximately my reaction on the day I fill in the workout calendar for day 30… I loved level 3 so much, I enjoyed doing every single exercise in the MS, I loved all those exercises for my bum… And now it is OVER? I didn’t put enough of effort into it, I didn’t have enough time to rock it and enjoy it… I didn’t… I didn’t… I didn’t…

It is like when someone you care about leaves for good – even if it is not totally out of the bloom – you sit there stunned questioning, how could that happen and why haven’t you told that person more often how much you cared. Well, same here :) I feel like I haven’t put enough effort into the level 3 workouts, because constantly there were some distractions and urgent things to do. And now that I have to move on, I don’t feel ready. But life is inevitable, and it is my own fault I didn’t enjoy the moment while it lasted, so I will try to do the level 4 better. Learn on your own mistakes, people!

Lots of bumps on the way during level 3. For one thing, I completely lacked motivation on some days– just didn’t want to do anything. But then forced myself to start the workout and felt much better after it – at least about myself. At the same time, I had lots of work (presentation for faculty), which I had to do last-minute as I didn’t do it earlier (again, my fault!). And I was smart enough to start driving school now. Yes, I don’t have a license (still) and yes, I will have it sometime soon. I decided I am already too old NOT to have a license, I need to do it and Germany is as good as it gets in terms of licenses. Even though it is expensive, it is pretty much accepted everywhere and is given without an ending date. What can be better?! Hence, I am going to driving school three hours each morning for 1.5 weeks… All these matters put together at the same time, I found myself running out of time every day. Sometimes I had to shorten the Cardio by 5-10 minutes or so. And I missed it all together twice.

Sunday was my day 30 and that was the culmination of my struggle against work and laziness. I also made a mistake of starting the workout too early after I ate (and I noticed, I don’t like working out in the second half of the day – as I am already ‘heavy’ and everything aches by the evening, I totally prefer morning before breakfast). So Sunday workout was heavy and hard, I felt like a cow on ice (with no ice) – that was a horrible feeling of being old and tired… And that was AFTER my rest day on Saturday. And as I didn’t give enough time for digestion, I felt nauseous throughout the workout… Honestly, I was nearly in tears, and was feeling horrible for not giving justice to the wonderful level 3… My last level 3 workout didn’t give me any pleasure – such a shame!!!

The next day – Monday – I took another rest day. First, I needed to get some rest and sleep (which I ended up not getting), and second, I still had to finish my presentation for Tuesday… So level 4 had to wait, I was working till late at night and going to driving school for 3 hours each morning. I did get back on track yesterday, and now after driving school bO-O-Oring theory class, going to meet my supervisor and then head home for a nap and my MS (DC done in the morning).

Level 3 has taught me a lot. It taught me that it is better to workout with a smile than tears. So next time I feel SO bad, I would stop and take a rest day. There is a fine line between laziness that stops you from starting the workout and actual suffering throughout the workout. Overcoming laziness is hard, but really really important. Suffering should never happen. Struggling – yes, suffering – no! Even a hard workout (when you honestly want to swear and say all the bad words you can remember) can be extremely enjoyable and refreshing.

But despite of – or may be because of – all the bumps, I did manage to surprise myself with results…

Day 15 of Metamorphosis

OK. So I haven't been very active here lately... for several reasons. First, yes, I was waaay too busy. I had work, numerous meetings, had to go from one university in Bremen to another (hour one way!), seminars, and again work...  I still fit in the workouts and diet, but never got around to write about them. Second, I didn't really have many changes. Just didn't. And third, I was (and still am to be honest) a little puzzled with the diet, so I didn't know exactly what to write... But I will write a separate post on that...

I am on day 15 of my Metamorphosis now. Or L2D5. I can well understand why level 2 is difficult. MS has those horrible blanks and lots of exercises on balance. The DC is not getting easier - it is a very HIGH impact exercise. However, I notice that without putting too much thought into it, my body remembers many moves and transitions between them, so I get better and better in terms of following it at least. I don't have the thoughts like "MAAAAN, where did she go NOW?!" :) I don't get lost at all, even if I am doing some of the moves with one-count delay - but that is natural.

All in all, still going strong, still have motivation and determination, even if less time than ever. But oh well.

Have a great day y'all!