So. About This Fix.

Today on the podcast, we offer some of our funny stories and our hard lessons from the last week. Hope you enjoy!

Click here to listen.

Yesterday I told you about the eating and exercise adventure we've been on with the 21 Day Fix. If you're curious about it, I thought I would spend today telling you things you might need to know for further consideration. {FYI, I am not a coach, nor do I get any sort of anything if you decide to sign up. I'm just telling you the ups and downs of my journey in case you're reaching the same breaking point I did and are curious about how it works. But if you ARE in need of someone to help you, I can send you in the direction of Sarah, who has helped me so much!}

But first, the results: Yesterday was my weigh-in after the second round of the fix. In truth, I was not surprised, yet a little disappointed with the results, because they were not as fantastic as the first time. I wasn't surprised because I had noticed a significant increase in muscle in my arms and legs and abs that did not appear in the first round. I figured an increase in muscle would mean a decrease in pounds lost, and I was right. Overall I lost three pounds in the second round. I wanted ten {dream, big, right?} but definitely hoped for five. Three was lackluster to me. I also lost 2.5 inches this time - and I was definitely hoping for more there. It was 12 inches on the first round.

Having said that, I am now down 11. 6 pounds from November 30th, so I'm trying to focus on THAT number instead and not on this round's results. {PS - this is also why I prefer not to get weighed in general, because I get WAY too fixated on numbers.} Ryan is still proud of me, and I'm working on being proud of me. I still know the system works, and I still know I will continue with it, even though this round was not what I'd hoped for. I will say I do feel better about myself - considerably better - than I did at the end of round one, despite the dramatic increase in pounds lost that time.

Now...back to things you might need to know: 

* I signed up for this program really quickly. I normally like some time to think about decisions like this, plan ahead, get my mind acclimated, etc. It just didn't work out that way this time, and because of that, my first week was heinous. I found an eating plan on Pinterest and picked it because it was there and looked like something I could comprehend. TRULY, that first week was the closest thing to feeling like I was "on a diet" that I experienced the entire time. I did feel deprived, and that wasn't a great start. In the weeks since, I've learned more about the concept of the nutrition portion of this plan, so I have been able to customize my own meal ideas and hunt for other plans on Pinterest that are more exciting and filling. So if you possibly can, take some time before you start to do your research, learn the program, and give yourself an advantage in understanding that this is is not a diet, but truly a doable, lasting lifestyle change. 

* The 21 Day Fix is made up of an exercise routine as well as a nutrition plan, and to achieve good results, it's really important that you commit to both parts of the program. Prior to starting this, our workouts had been sporadic at best. Beginning a routine of daily 30-minute workouts was a big adjustment, and for the first week, I truly {TRULY!} thought I might die. I could seriously barely move. Walking became limping. Climbing stairs required pulling myself up each step by double fisting the railing. We won't even go into the pain of getting up and down off chairs and {gasp} the toilet. If this happens, you will have a series of days when you think you will never get better, but you will - in about a week. And though you may scream in pain, don't stop working out during the days that hurt. You may have to modify every move you make, but keep going. It helps work out the kinks.

* Speaking of modification, in every workout video, there is one woman who modifies each move. She may become your new best friend. Even after two rounds of the Fix, there are still some moves I have to modify. It is better to modify than to do nothing. 

* If you have a sugar addiction like I did, you will also have a withdrawal period similar to what I imagine drug addicts face. {Sugar addiction is actually a real thing - and coming down from it is absolutely NO JOKE.} I had headaches, I was so mad about everything, and I hated life and everyone in it for about four days. And then it got better. {I actually wrote to Sarah, the one who helped me get into this, and asked her at what point I might stop hating people.}

* Apples, pineapple and other forms of fruit will come to feel like dessert, which is its own form of sad for dessert lovers everywhere. But true.

* We learned that for me, it was important to have a couple of cheats a week. Not a couple of cheat DAYS, but a couple of cheats. {That could be a Starbucks drink, a cupcake at a party, something along those lines.} Because this is NOT a diet and it IS a lifestyle change, I was committed from the beginning to retraining my mind to understand that every food on the planet is not evil. On our anniversary, I had a cupcake. A big cupcake. The whole cupcake. And I savored every bite. On my mother-in-law's birthday, I had a little piece of cheesecake, and it was heavenly. On Bre's birthday, I had one small square of pizza and a little helping of cake and ice cream. I don't want to be "that girl" at every event who pushes away the treats and says "I can't have that." I enjoy food and I want to be able to enjoy food. So this was a permission I gave myself.

* The nutrition plan is not a calorie-counting plan or a fat-gram-counting plan. It's a learn-your-food-groups-and-learn-some-portion-control plan. You can have almost any kind of food on this plan. You just can't eat the whole casserole dish full of it. But one thing my rule-loving mind didn't comprehend until a couple of weeks in was that it was okay to break up the portions. I thought I had to eat a WHOLE serving of veggies or a WHOLE protein at a time - to make the measuring work out. Then I learned it was {gasp} permissible to have HALF a serving now and HALF a serving later. That helped me enjoy a variety of foods throughout the day.

* One reason I picked this program was that I did not want to be dependent on a shake or supplement for my entire life. Beachbody has a meal-replacement shake called Shakeology, and while I don't intend to consume it for the rest of my life {can't afford to, for one thing...it's not cheap!}, it became a lifesaver on this program because it felt like a frappe every day and that was something I mentally needed to succeed.

* If you're female and reading this, I want to be honest and tell you that in the first round, my PMS cravings almost killed me. Like seriously almost killed me. Sarah encouraged me to eat extra eggs or nuts to help with the urge to eat, you know, an entire cheesecake. While a cheesecake might have been more fun, the eggs and nuts actually did help the cravings.

* This may not be true for everyone, but for me, having a 2 week break between the first and second rounds was good for me. It allowed me the freedom to eat some treats I couldn't have on the Fix, but also gave me a chance to prove I could implement the portion and food group rules on my own. I gained a lot of self-confidence in that in-between stretch. {And I'm currently in a one-week break in between rounds 2 and 3.}

* Most Beachbody coaches offer a free, private Facebook accountability group to help. It's kind of scary to think about being accountable to perfect strangers, but my goodness - what a help it has been to me. Ryan is, of course, always encouraging and supportive to me in any endeavor I try, but being able to stay accountable to a group of girls struggling in ways similar to my struggles was such a blessing. And to be able to email Sarah with questions was a massive help. So don't be too proud to take advantage of these kinds of assistance.

* One of the hardest things for me at the beginning was making the menu plan. The first few times, it took about an hour and a half because I had to do all the counting and dividing and planning. It felt daunting, and this is the very sort of thing that keeps a lot of people from eating healthier foods. Ordering pizza and grilling hot dogs takes a lot less mental stamina. But as time went by, I got faster at it, I learned more of it naturally, and it wasn't as daunting. If you truly make this a lifestyle change, it is a process that you have to learn, and retraining your mind on anything will take some time. It's worth it, though!

* Ryan did the program with me hard core for the first week because he needed to lose weight for his insurance physical, but after that, he was hungrier than the allotted portions could fill. And he didn't need to lose any  more weight. So to make it easier, I fed him what I ate, but just more of it. I didn't follow the portion control as closely for him because it just wasn't enough to satisfy him. He enjoys all the foods I offer him from the program and says he feels content with them! He still does the workouts with me almost every day, though.

So that's been the summary of what I have learned doing this program. One last thought for you: I seriously considered waiting until the new year to start, but I think one of the best decisions I made in the last year was the choice to start on November 30th. Though the month of December was hard in ways I'd never known, being one month farther into the journey when New Year's resolutions rolled around was quite a mental boost. So if you're waiting for the perfect time to start, there isn't such a thing. Just jump in! That whole cliche of "a year from now, you'll wish you'd started a year ago" is actually true. Also true for a month from now.