Day 2 & 3: Recap

When I woke yesterday morning, first thought was, "bum sore." But when I went to rub out that soreness, I noticed something was there. Actually, something was not there.

To preface this: my bum is not an issue for me. It doesn't sag, to the contrary actually. And it just happens to be tight. Don't hate. So the perfect bum that Tracy talks about, hasn't been a motivator, at all. Rather the teeny tiny arms and flat stomach, are what gets me motivated. More on that another day.

But, back to yesterday morning. The side of my upper bum was definitely pulled, and bolted, to a whole other location. Concaved overnight. Seriously, how does that happen?? Thanks Trac.

The food was fine yesterday. No complaints. I really wonder if the cucumber relish was a typo. Calls for one whole English cucumber, to serve one??? As a snack, that's just too much. Even for a food addict like myself.

Workout: I was tired, and quite sluggish. Maybe 60 reps was a bit too much for day one. So I did 40 reps for the bum, 55 reps for abs, 10 reps for minutes for arms, and 40 minutes of cardio. Definitely lack energy on the cardio yesterday, but hey at least I showed up.

And 2lbs down after day 2.

Today, day three, the minute I woke up I knew I was hit with the Tracy "flu."

This of course comes after the night before thinking, "what if I don't get the tracy flu?" "Am I doing something wrong?" "It isn't working for me!"

Little did I know it was coming.

I wanted to throw up. In fact I eventually did. The thought of that omelette, sounded so sick. To keep myself from throwing up I ate my 1 C. of blueberries, from my day's snack. I opted out of the veggies in the eggs, and topped it with a bit of cheese. Yes, not TAM approved. But I knew it would help my stomach, which happens to be especially sensitive. An hour after breakfast I had my apple, from the applesauce snack. Then a few hours after that, I was feeling loads better. Good thing today was a holiday.

The rest of the food was good. Had it before, knew what was coming.

I love this dish with all my heart. Yum Yum. 

I've decided I can do without eating endives ever again though. That bitterness is just not my thing.

I haven't done my workout yet. Will do. No worries. I have some people coming over in a bit, and then I'll work out.

Despite being a morning person, I've realized I'm better off working out in the evening. Reasoning: I hate the feeling of missing out on something. And since I love mornings, I like to be up really early, getting things done, other than my workout, so I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. In the evening, I really don't care, because I'm not an evening person. And I'm fine working out after a late night out. I'd rather do it that way.

Until next time. . . .

Day 1: Round Two

Day one, round two: feel great. 

Just finished my workout. I dread the but workout, on the floor. Something about getting on the floor I just don't like. Give me '08 Mat Workout with the chair any day. But this is boot camp. And I'm gonna make my booty look fine. 

I did 60 reps on the behind, 10 reps for 5 minutes on the arms, 50 reps on the abs, and 40 minutes for cardio. 

Food, was good. Hungry, but good. 

I felt naughty eat the choco chestnut pudding, since I haven't had sweets in nine days, but, I don't want to mess with the method. If Tracy says eat chocolate, dang right I'm going to eat it. Hey Tracy, want to tell me to eat a cookie?? Huh? Huh? 

Actually, I'm okay without that cookie. Feeling grown up. 

I actually don't like to think about what I want right now as far as food goes. Best for me just to not let my self think about it. 

A few months ago I asked my sister how she got so skinny. She used to be bigger than me, then one days she went and got herself supper skinny. She's Tracy's size, maybe smaller. Any how, she told me "I just stopped obsessing about food. I used to think about it constantly; always planning out what I would eat next; so I just stopped."

 What?? That's exactly me in a nutshell. But controlling your thoughts, doable, absolutely, I know, but nevertheless difficult. Something I haven't quite learned to manage. This blog may or may not be helping. Hmm, no still keeps me accountable to this goal. 

So that is what I have been working on since then. And maybe this boot camp will do the trick.

Because hey if it doesn't, I will never have to do it again. I may also curse Tracy's name. . . . but, I have an inkling that the method will work. If I do it.

Oh and I'm down one pound : )

PS-Thank you Marcia for the support! I really appreciate it!!

Picture by Franco Valiente

Lesson Learned. . . Gosh I Hope So

Changing Tracy's method. . . doesn't work.

Why do we even try to?? She tells us that. Five almonds. Five, can throw off that perfect body during this time.

Well I'm scared of those five almonds now. Lesson learned. 

Since I struggled so much on my first try, I decided to work my way up to BC. It's pathetic. I'm aware. First step, cutting out sugar, done. Well seven days done, but done nevertheless. Second step, cutting out bread, done, only three days, but hey, I don't think that's ever happen. Unless you count when I lived in China, but even there I was known to hunt down bread among the endless bowls of rice. 

After one more day of this, I will start over, and do BC as Tracy prescribes. This time I'll keep it up. No lick, bite, or taste extra. By the book. 

Holy goodness help me. 

Day 2: I'm No Laura Stroud

So, let's get the white elephant out of the room. Or at least my room. 

I cracked. 

Hey hey, it isn't at bad as it seems though. At least for me. Soooo, where to start? I was hungry. No let's rephrase that, I was been starved by a skinny Tinker Bell Nazi. That's too harsh, Tracy hates to be referred to as Tinker Bell. Well you know what, I hate starving. 

It's a heretic problem. The women in my family are well, brats, when, hungry. Seriously, I wouldn't put it past my brothers in law, or dad, to secretly carry around snacks for their sweet wives. 

At least we are aware of it. I texted my friend about how I was just not happy. Zero happiness. 

Kindly she tried to motivate me. "You obviously weren't happy before you started. Or you wouldn't have done this." 

Maybe. 

But, I was happier. Oh rather, I was less crabby. Which, makes me more happier. Right? Right?

Well I got into a whole lot of self loathing. "I'm a size stinkin' zero, why should I be starved?" "I lost four pounds over Christmas break, I was happy doing it in moderation then." I, I, I- eh. As we all know, a size doesn't equate to how one feels. I'm petite, but doesn't mean I'm skinny. Which is more than alright. I'm in constant awe of those women that are completely comfortable in their healthy, but differing bodies. 

But I want skinny, or my version of such. Which, happens to be quite in line with Tracy Anderson's. Hey, funny that right. Yes, no question mark there. Keep rhetorical, rhetorical.  

Soooo, back to the starving. Starving, not going to cut it for me. Yes, I do need to be a bit uncomfortable, relearn the feeling of being unstuffed. Completely agree with Tracy on that. But, there is a limit, for me, and it takes time, again, for me. 

I give all my respect to those that are doing it 30 days by the book. You girls, and guys, are phenomenal. Inspiring. Rock stars. 

For me, it's going to take time. Maybe after this round, I will be able to do it to a T in the future. I will strive for that.

The plan now:

Follow the menu. 

If hungry, eat more, from the menu. 

If, needed, one serving of bread/brown rice, is allowed, each day, for energy and hunger.

Heavy on the "ifs" here. Just because I can, doesn't mean I should. Just giving myself a plan that I can work with. Do. 

So every ten days I will post my progress stats. Let this cyber world know my inches and all that. They are not going to be as staggering as others we have seen, but I still hope for a decline. Thus far, one pound down.

Maybe this will help out anyone else who is in a similar boat. Give those at least some information about how it worked out.  

Until tomorrow! Which by the way, I'm so excited for that omelet. I know Silje said she hated it, but I love omelets. Kinda been waiting, my "whole" two days for this one. 

Oh  workout and what I actually ate today. Silly me. 

Mat workout: 35 reps, for legs and "thass", abs 50 reps, arms 35 reps. Felt yesterdays workout, but nothing too much. Cardio 20 minutes. I don't want to talk about it. Plus, I think I have my problem solved with that. Or so I hope. . . .

And here is a breakdown of the food today: 

Breakfast: not breakfast like, but still yummy. I opted out of the two, red lettuce leaves, as on of my very few substitutions. I wasn't going to buy a thing of lettuce to use two leaves. Nope. I used my arugula instead. Shoot me. 

Lunch: Thanks to Summer, I halved the dressing. The recipes calls for way too much dressing. Even after halving it, I could've fourthed it, or really eighted it. Other than that, it was good. So happy it had an egg in it. I love my eggs. I think I actually jumped into the air when I noticed it called for a hard boiled egg. Thanks Tracy!

Snack: I don't do soy. They say I'm allergic. Though I'm not sure I believe them, I try to avoid it as possible. So, I had the mint strawberry salad. Kind as a default, since it was something I've made on the menu before. After that, I was still hungry, so I made the choco chestnut pudding too, halved. Gasp, a lot of food!  I was happy to not be shaky starving. 

I don't even feel bad about it. 

Dinner: yum yum yum! Holy cow, the raisins in that dish made the meal. It was just perfect. I also love wilted kale and spinach, so another win. And it had chestnuts. Never had chestnuts before BC, and I'm kinda lovin' them. No I really am lovin' them. 

And then my supplemented-after-dinner-snack: a bagel. Lightly toasted, with a bit of honey on top. Mmm. Nuff said.

The server is rejecting my pictures at the moment. I'll try again later.



Keep up the great work for all of you tracying!!

Day 1: Not AS Bad As I Expected

Okay so my first thought about day one, is not that bad. I'm not dying of starvation nor was the workout killing. Here's the breakdown:

I started with 20 reps for the muscular structure. That seemed really low, at least for me, since I've been tracying for quite some time now, but she advises just that, so who am I to mess with the method?? I really tried to focus on the cross-vectors while doing the moves. So much that it took me an hour and twenty minutes to do the muscular structure. My bad. . . . But honestly didn't feel like it. Maybe I will in a day or two. Anyone else have experience with this?

Cardio was refreshing since you don't have to learn any new moves. Thank goodness for that! Though I miss those routines. Ah well, ces't la vie. I did both sequences twice, 40 minutes. I'll bump up to 60 in two more days, as Tracy advises.

Food, which is really why I'm where I'm at right now. Breakfast was DElic! Though I didn't even get to eat it until noon. I'll take any excuse to buy strawberries in the dead of winter. I really thought I wouldn't even want the agave syrup on it, but that actually turned out to be really good. Can I please have this for breakfast every morning Trac?? Though I must digress, one cup is not exactly the most filling breakfast. I could have supplemented it with some scrabbled eggs, bagel, muffin, something. But no the point of Tracy's 30-Day Method is to woop us into teeny tiny, fabulous, I-will-be-thankful-later bodies. So one cup. Grr.

Lunch was also delic. The steamed spinach and kale was soososo yummy! My problem with this meal, and latter ones to come, is why do the recipes have a make portions larger than we are directed to eat? I'm already spending enough mulah on this diet, I don't really need to spend extra for kicks and giggles. Nor do I need to cook extra food only to taunt myself with how I can eat it. Not nice, not nice at all.

Which brings me to the snack. Holy cow, that pudding is so yummy. Thank you thank you! Of course it makes two servings as well. Which at first I wanted to curse Tracy's name for doing that, but it turns out four ounces was. . . simply perfect. I guess you know what you're doing afterall Trac. . . .

Dinner was a little too lemony for me. I actually rinsed my final four asparagus off. Don't worry, I will drink the lemon back in my water. I couldn't finish all the fish, and now I'm really hungry. I don't know if anyone else has this problem, but I can't eat so much of one thing. Makes me kinda sick. So I was full of fish and asparagus, I could've really gone for a roll and butter. Mmmm, I want bread. I'd even drop the butter part to have an everything bagel. Hey a girl has got to have her carbs for energy to workout. I know I know, that is where all the veggies come in. But seriously, one month without bread, grrr I say. I would just have one bagel Tracy, just one.

Though that just one is of course why I am here right now. It is never just one. If I made it just one in the first place, I could have just one right now. But just one turns into three toasted bagels, WITH the butter, and two cupcakes. I fully believe in the 80/20 rule, but clearly don't actually follow it. I stay away from greasy fried foods like the plague, but I see a cute sprinkled vanilla vanilla cupcake and have NO problem with it. They should make cupcakes look ugly, like fried chicken. That, or better yet, I should have self control, and see a treat as a treat, and not go at them as if they are going out of stock.

Which brings me to my final thought tonight. It's only a bagel. Or it's only a crispy-outside-chewy-inside chocolate chip cookie. Yeah I've been wanting one of those too today. And I'm not that hungry. When I don't allow myself to brood over it, I'm really fine. At least on day one, we'll see how day two goes.

Week One Grocery List

I know there are grocery lists out there for BC, but, none of them where as specific as my type A personality needed them to be. So I thought I'd share my list for any one else that wants a really specific list. 

Week One:

mint (5 tsp)

basil (3 Tbs. + pinch + 14 leaves)

parsley (3 T. + 2 sprigs) 

chives (1 T. + 1t.)

bay leaf (1)

cilantro (3 t.)

fresh cracked pepper

cayenne pepper

peppercorns (6)

strawberries (1 C.)

whole pitted dates (4, or prunes/dried blueberries)

lemon (5)

medium to large apple (2)

blueberries (1 C.)

oranges (4)

mixed berries: strawberries/raspberries/blueberries/blackberries (1 C.)

pomegranate seeds (1 T.)

kiwis (4)

mango (1/2 of)

grapefruit (1)

honeydew (1/2 C.)

red seedless grapes (1/2 C.)

celery (3/4 C. + 1/8 C.)

sweet potatoes (1 C.)

drained plum tomatoes (1 C.)

plum tomato (1)

spinach (3 1/3 C.)

either/any: asparagus, brussels sprouts, mushrooms, eggplant, tomatoes (8 oz)

red leaf lettuce (2 leaves)

avocado (1/8 of)

tomatoes (3/4 C. + 1/2 of)

english cucumber (1/4 C. + 2)

cucumber (1)

edamame, fresh/shelled & frozen (1 C.)

baby carrots (3)

kale (2 bunches)

mushrooms (4 + 1 C.)

broccoli spears (1/2 C.)

broccoli florets (2 1/2 C.)

beets, red/golden (1 C.)

sugar snap peas, deveined (1/4 C.)

hearts of palm (1/4 C.)

bell pepper (1/4 of)

sweet red pepper (1/4 of)

white asparagus stalks (3)

baby arugula greens (2 C.)

white, red, purple carrots (1/2 C. of each)

endive (2)

vidalia onion (1/4 C.)

garlic clove (1)

shallots (2)

green onion (1 T. + 1)

Bermuda red onion (4 T.)

cod/halibut/tilapia/sole/sea bass (6 oz.)

skinless turkey/chicken breast (9 oz.)

boneless chicken breast (18 oz.)

salmon fillet (14 oz.)

shrimp (4 oz. + 21-25 pieces)

tuna steak, sushi grade (4 oz.)

chocolate chips (1/2 C.)

cocoa powder (1 T.)

unsweetened coconut flakes (2 T.)

agave (2 T. + 1 t.)

yacon syrup (2 t.)

low-sodium vegetable broth (8 1/2 C.)

chestnuts (2 T.)

eggs (6)

golden raisins (1/2 C.)

coconut water (4 T.)

quinoa (2 T.)

raspberry vinegar (4 T.)

dijon mustard (1 T.)

olive oil spray

sherry wine vinegar (2 t. + 2 T.)

balsamic vinegar (2 t.)

rice vinegar

maple syrup (1 T.)

low sodium soy sauce

honey (4 1/2 t. + 1 T.)

Price: about $150

Me: Underconstruction

Me:

Here's another girl jumping on the bandwagon of Tracy Anderson's 30-Day Method. I think I should start out introducing myself. To whoever you are reading this. Honestly, I don't expect really anyone, but maybe  one of my best friends who is another devout Tracier, (yes I conjugate Tracy's name), to read this. But somehow putting this on the Internet, gives me a sense of accountability, to follow through, even it is just to the vast, untapped information out there in cyber world. So that is why I am here writing this blog.

I must put it out there that I'm not going to advertise who I am. I'm well aware that you can find my IP address, which I know nothing about, nor do I care to find out about for this purpose. But for the mass, who don't care who I am either, I will not be changing my IP address or anything of that nature. I just happen to work in an environment that prides it self on the utmost professionalism and image. And showing off my unglorified midsection now, and glorified one later : ), wouldn't really help me climb the ladder at work. I'm no one important, really. I just don't need to embarrass my boss, fellow staff, and or end up in the news. I think we all try to strive for that right? I hope for whoever reads this, if anyone, that's alright.

But here are some things I'm happy to share about myself. I started tracying in July of 2009, and haven't lifted a forbidden 3.1+ lb weight since. I've also introduced many, many people to Tracy since then. You can't keep something this good a secret. Hmm, maybe I should get commission for all those customers. . .  . Anyhow, I identify a lot with Tracy and her struggle. A girl who understands needing dessert every night, or after every meal, is my kind a girl. Her approach, is simply refreshing and right. That being said, I continued to run. My marathons are like my blood. I need them. Running made me feel like nothing else can. Also, I eat whatever I want. I'm a healthy eater, except for the treats and eating past that satisfied point. So maybe not that healthy after all. . . . A few months ago I was really having a falling out with Trac. (Yes we are a nickname basis.) See I knew we all needed a new plan every 10 days, she herself tells us that, but we don't have a new plan every 10 days. When would this website actually come out? She's busy with her celebrity clients, I know. And who could blame her? They bring in the dough that us at home followers just can't. But I couldn't just wait around. I'm not getting any tinier by doing Mat Workout anymore. And honestly I felt the 30-Day Method was just another temporary fix. That all changed when I found Laura's AH-mazing, all inspiring, HOLY GRAIL results blog. My goodness, her change was phenomenal. So I decided then and there, I'm doing BC, 30 days, by the book. Of course I had to wait until now, I had already signed up for a race with a friend, and then there was Christmas, which I knew Tracy would not support me running during BC, nor dieting during Christmas, so January 3rd became the day.

I've been so excited for this to start. Those results, just what I'm shooting for. Of course, it will be hard. Days of wanting to quit, arguing with myself, hurting, crying, sick, hungry, moody, cursing Tracy's name, all of it I expect. But it will be worth it. Like Tracy said, "There is no fairy dust. Only you, your commitment, and the workout." I'd like to say there is fairy dust, it is in the tools she gives us, to achieve perfection. But we must use that, work for that, so here is to sweatin' fairy dust!


Pictures, stats, grocery list, prep and all that to come soon.

Alice