Hey y’all!
Well, not going to lie, since I’ve moved, my fitness journey has kind of taken a backseat. With trying to figure out a work/exercise balance and feeling stressed from work to just my general emotions, I just couldn’t get it together and actually stick with a schedule. When the 31 Day Challenge from Tone It up (TIU) came out, I thought to myself Yes! I’ll finally get it together and get back to my regularly scheduled workout! Boy was I wrong!
I started out pretty good. I actually decided to go with a different meal plan. I’m not a huge fan of the Tone It Up nutrition plan. I’m super picky (Really. My diet is like a 12 year old) and so I wanted a meal plan that would be a bit more appealing for my taste. I chose to go with the Lauren Gleisberg (LG) nutrition plan. First of all, it was cheaper (TIU plan $98 vs LG plan $46). Also, I follow someone on instagram who has the handle @tiubogo and she has a cooking session called “Cooking with Bogo” that she does on most weeknights via her instagram stories. I saw some of the meals she was cooking and I was intrigued. The meals actually looked like meals I’d eat. I was sold! I got that meal plan and I plan on actually using it for the Love Your Body series.
I didn’t finish the program out fully. I started out doing about 3-4 workouts a week. They did some live workouts over on Instagram so I did some of those when I was able to. BTW, I love it when they go live. It’s such a different dynamic to the classes in the app. Its more fun. You see their mess-ups and its like oh okay they’re totally normal. I have, however, meditated more that month. The challenge happens during the entire month of October (hence the 31 days of the challenge). Anyway, back to the meditations. I got more stones and I got a sage burning kit (it turns out sage just isn’t my jam but I’m into palo santo) and I tried to meditate every day of the week. Which lasted for three weeks. Sine then, I’ve been mediating off and on (especially with the stress of teaching) and it kinda made a difference. Again, consistency is key.
I admittedly have a problem with that. I admit I felt much better when I stuck to my commitments and actually completed goals. I have the tendency to let life get in the way of my goals. I get depressed and anxious and I just want to go somewhere and hide (hence how I’ve been feeling for the past few months). I felt better when I was working out. It does give you a bit of a mood boost. Maybe it’s the endorphins. Maybe it’s the confidence and satisfaction of you keeping a commitment to yourself. Maybe both.
The TIU Love Your Body (LYB) series is starting again in January. I’m all signed up and I’m super excited to give it a go. There are some changes to the program this time around. Its starting a little bit earlier this year (Jan. 6th) instead of mid January and its only for four weeks instead of 8 weeks like before. If you’re ready or want to give it a try if its your first time, download the app and sign up for the series on their site. If you’re interested in the meal plan ($31), you can find it here. Of course with the meal plan, you have different diet options (Reg, vegetarian, or vegan options).
The TIU app has been totally redone. The way they streamlined everything was pretty awesome. They even have a meals tab that have some recipes for free for those without the meal plan (obviously if you have the meal plan it’ll have more recipes) so I thought that was pretty cool. Of course with anything that’s been updated or revamped, there will be some kinks they have to workout. I’m part of a group on Facebook and some of the feedback I’ve seen have been negative. I think that people forget that when something changes, it’s not going to go so smoothly in the beginning. It’s only been about a month since they changed the app. Is it annoying? Sure! It’s important to remember that things take time to improve. Just be patient.
I just got a new yoga mat for Christmas which is just in time (ha ha) for the series. I actually will try to get back to my norm workout schedule when I return from out of town (I’m going home for almost a week) and I won’t be able to work out at home in Miami (there’s no space for me to do it). I’ll be back right after new years so when I get home, I can jump back in my scheduled workouts. I’m excited this go around. This would be my third time doing the LYB series and I’m excited to see where it takes me.
Are you in?
XOXO,
LolaDasher
Nessa D 