The Bod Pod

Yesterday I went and had my body fat % measured. I felt like I was going into the future as I stepped into the Bod Pod! It really did look like a space craft. The test was simple enough, you sit inside it for 2 45 second tests. I had been led to believe by someone that this was all done by water displacement so as I stepped in I expected it to start filling up with water. To my relief it did not. Apparently that was the older way of measuring body fat %, the Bod Pod is the way of the future. LOL!

As I had expected, my body fat % was way to high!! You get the results from the test right away and they go over them with you. My % was 30.6! Not happy about that at all, not that I was shocked though. Lesson is, don't spend months out of the gym and expect to still be in shape! They also went over how many calories I should be eating just to maintain my weight, and although I still want to drop a few pounds my calorie intake was way too low! The said I should be eating about 1800 a day to maintain my weight, as long as my workouts stay the same. I don't think I'll ever eat that much, but I definitely need to bring it up from the 1200 I have been consuming  a day. 

My goal during this 60 day is to lose around 10 pounds and then maintain that weight by dropping fat and gaining lean muscle. I want to see my number drop from 30.6 down to hopefully the low 20's. My plan for doing all this is to jump start my challenge with a 9 day done exactly how it's written. Then I will follow a 5/2 schedule for the rest of the time, but do 1 scoop of the IsaLean and 1 scoop of the IsaPro in my shakes. I also plan on doing the belly buster for some extra protein. 

I plan on following the 8 week to bikini body workout program. When I was looking over it I was pleased to see that most of the workouts looked pretty quick, no more than 30 min or so. 

http://extreme.lifeplusfitness.com/bikini-body-8-week-program.html

I'm excited to take this journey, but I know it's going to be a lot of work. I'm hoping my motivation of a bikini body in Vegas will keep me going strong! 

Keys to Success

I often get asked "what can I eat during this?" Or "do we actually eat real food?" My very first 9 day cleanse I remember eating only baked chicken, green beans, and roasted sweet potato! I was not sure what I could eat and I knew I wanted to get the most out of my cleanse so I was eating only what I knew was ok. Boy am I glad I have evolved from this!
When coaching we tell people to make sure their meal consists of a lean protein, veggie, and good carb, but you can go beyond chicken, green beans, and sweet potato for every meal! I have a huge cookbook of recipes now that I've gotten off of different websites, from friends, or just my own creations that consists of these things but are much more adventurous. The key is to PREPARE!! I like to tell my new cleansers to plan out their week worth of meals and prep ahead of time. That way there's no thinking or second guessing. It also helps ensure that you aren't going to the pantry and fridge looking for a "quick fix" for your hunger which will very likely be a bad food choice. Keep your meals within 400-600 calories, but don't close yourself in the box of chicken, veggie, carb!
www.myfitnesspal.com is a website that I love to recommend! Not only can you track all of your calories, (which I highly recommend new cleansers do) but you can actually input a recipe and the serving size and it will break down the calorie and nutritional content in it for you!! They also have a large database of food that includes Isagenix in it!!
I find that prepping on Sunday for the week is a easy way to do it. This week I've prepped salads in a jar for both the husband and I. All we have to do is reach in the fridge for a healthy meal already put together, dump it in a bowl, and enjoy! Doesn't get any simpler, or healthier for that matter! Here is tutorial for a salad in a jar.

    

You can get creative with your salad. I always add meat to mine to up the calories and also make sure I have a lean protein in there. I put my meat on layer 3, right on the dressing. This week I made taco, Greek, and caprese salads. 

                                      

During the 60 day challenge I will be sharing some recipes with you to help you explore healthy and very yummy eating! Healthy doesn't mean boring!!

Body Fat %

While at the gym yesterday, my one day a week I actually get to go to the gym, I decided to sign up to have my body fat % taken. Curious about what this actually would entail they took me back to look at the machine. It's this little pod, almost like a one man space craft, with a bench in it. I'll sit in there and they'll fill it with water. Apparently the body fat % measurements come from the displacement of the water and other body measurements. I'm looking forward to having it done and then comparing the results after the 60 day challenge is over, but I'm not looking forward to the before number!
Like I mentioned before I only get to the gym one day a week, some weeks not even that. It's so hard to take 3 kids to the gym when there isn't an appropriate parent/child workout area. I have a babysitter (for the moment) come once a week so I can run errands and make it to the gym. Otherwise I do home workouts. I have found some great ones. I'm a picky person when it comes to my workouts from home given that I only have 15-20 minutes at a time before someone is trying to kill someone else, someone needs juice, has a dirty diaper, is waking up from a nap, or wants the movie changed! You other stay at home moms feel my pain! So here are a few of the SHORT/little space workouts I've found. By the way, I made up the titles to them.
One Room Workout
20 jumping jacks
:30 high knees
:30 butt kicks
5 jump squats
10 front kicks
:30 mountain climbers
:30 water break
5 burpees
20 jumping jacks
:30 jump rope
5 split jump squats
10 front kicks
:30 march
:15 high knees
:15 butt kicks
:30 water break
30 jumping jacks
:40 jump rope
5 burpees
:20 jog in place
:15 run in place
:30 water break
20 jumping jacks
10 lateral jumps (I call them ski jumps)
5 jump squats
:30 jump rope
5 tuck jumps
:30 water break
20 jumping jacks
:25 high knees
5 squats
:40 march

50-5 workout (doesn't look like much but it's a killer)
50 jumping jacks
50 crunches
45 jumping jacks
45 squats
40 jumping jacks
40 push ups
35 jumping jacks
35 crunches
30 jumping jacks
30 squats
25 jumping jacks
25 push ups
20 jumping jacks
20 crunches
15 jumping jacks
15 squats
10 jumping jacks
10 push ups
5 jumping jacks
5 crunches
5 squats
5 push ups

Abs
Do each exercise for 1 min
Leg lifts (lay on your back, lift your head, put your hands under you low back for support, lift legs together and back down)
Flutter kicks (done the same way except you're alternating legs lifted)
Scissor kicks (same form but cross legs over each other when in the air)
Iron cross (lay on your back with your arms out to your sides, like you're on a cross, bring knees to 90 degrees, keep them together and down to your side, then rotate to the other side.)
Plank
Reverse crunch
30 push ups

I'm sure any of these moves could be looked up online if you're not sure of the form. They are just a few of the ones I've found that I've liked lately. I try to get in at least 2 in the day somewhere. I'm looking forward to finding new ones and sharing them with you all!!

The countdown has started!

Well this will be my second 60 day challenge. I thought I'd document it this time in case there were some really bored people out there that cared. I guess there might be a few curious people out there that haven't yet tried Nutritional cleansing and therefore haven't experienced the amazing benefits! Let this be your window into the healthy, energetic, fat melting, craziness it brings!

I will be kicking off this 60 day challenge on April 1st in preparation for summer. My goal is to bring down my percentage of body fat and be toned enough to feel comfortable in a bikini on my trip to Vegas in June. I'll be keeping you all posted on the steps I'll be going through to get ready for this journey, the workouts I will be doing, my weigh ins, my meals, and everything in between.

I have a facebook page dedicated to people who would like to join me on this journey. If you have thought about nutritional cleansing, but never been adventurous enough to try it, let this be your invitation! There is huge success in cleansing with groups! We will have prizes, giveaways, coaching, recipes, and workouts all there to help you succeed! Contact me for more info!!
trawickshaw@aol.com

In case you needed a little more incentive, here are my results from my last 60 day challenge!