The Fix is On!

I have always loved the promise of a new page on the calendar and July is one of my favorites…  My younger brother and older sister both have wedding anniversaries in July.  The Captain’s birthday is in July.  And we have our best Summer weather and hottest, sunniest days in July. It was alway the best month to be sailing and enjoying the long blue days and afternoon winds.

The noisy heron chicks high up in in the oak and pine trees in the park across the street from our apartment will be testing their wings soon; the ducklings on the lake have grown out of their yellow downy coats, and the painted turtles will be coming out of the lake to lay eggs on the shore.  The roses are at their showiest right now; the butterfly trees are blooming and the city is bustling with tourists. Everyone is happy and smiling and friendly. 

I do love July.

And I have a fabulous month somewhat planned.  The transgressions of June are forgotten behind me, and the Fix is On!  That is my mantra for the month of July.  I intend to get my food plan back under control and work hard on regaining the muscle size and strength that I have lost, and also lose about 5 pounds before we head to Portland, OR at the end of the month to celebrate The Captain’s birthday.

I have taken the Beachbody plunge and purchased The 21 Day Fix… a diet and exercise program that focuses on clean eats, portion control and daily workouts.  This box of goodies arrived on Monday afternoon.

It doesn’t look like much does it?  But after I opened it all up, I was happy to find…

A shaker bottle, several brightly colored food containers, 2 workout DVDs, a booklet explaining the eating plan, and a START HERE guide to the whole works… there are a couple of other pieces with additional information including one about a 3 Day Quick Fix that is apparently a shed-some-pounds quick method.

First, in  the interest of full disclosure here… I do believe you know I am a Weight Watchers fan, and work part time as a meeting receptionist.  So why on Earth would I purchase another company’s diet plan?  Doesn’t Weight Watchers work?    Well, yes, in fact it works very well.  I have been a loyal follwer and member of Weight Watchers for many years… and I think it is a fabulous program.  But honestly, I am human. I get bored. I like to try new things… and this 21 Day Fix is something I have been reading about for a few months now… and using the colored containers for portion control in the food plan are the gimmick that hooked me.  I am also quite interested in the workouts.

There is a 30-minute workout to be done each day … a different one for each day of the week.  One one DVD, they are Total Body Cardio, Upper Body, Lower Body, Pilates. Cardio, Dirty 30, and Yoga.  There are also 2 ten-minute abs routines, and another DVD that has a 30-minute workout on it that is called Plyo Fix.  I haven’t viewed or tried any of them yet.

So… I have joined a private Facebook group set up by Danielle Prestejohn, who is an independent Beachbody Coach, and also a NASM certified trainer, a certified holistic health coach,  and has a MS in Nutrition.  Danielle is also a FitFluential Ambassador and writes a blog I read regularly.    Already there is a nice camaraderie in the group and I do think there will be lots of support and sharing of information and motivation there too. 

At the beginning of this post I mentioned that  I have the month somewhat planned.   It is my intention to follow the 21 Day Fix eating plan to the letter.  As for the exercise/workout part of the plan, I am going to assess that daily and see how I can work it in to my schedule.

That is because I have recently started the 9-week Metabolic Aftershock workouts.  

from their web site

The Captain and I are doing them together.  On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings we are doing the prescribed 15-minute high intensity full body workout, followed by about 5 minutes of cooling stretches and we have been following that up with a 30 minute brisk walk to complete the cool down.   There are 3 phases in the plan and the idea is to follow each phase for 3 weeks.  Each phase has 3 different workouts A, B, and C, so there are 9 different workouts altogether.  I am really enjoying them and I do like to work out with The Captain.

Right now we are still in phase 1, on week 2.  The workouts so far have been lots of pushups, Batmans, squats, hip thrusts, lunges and split lunges.. .body weight only, no additional weights.  (I haven’t peeked to see what is to come.)  They are really hard, and the annoying instructor yells a lot,  but they only last 15 minutes.  I have been feeling the heat from them for several hours after they are done, and I like that they leave me feeling energized and eager to do more.  I  can still go for a run, or a hike, or play tennis or perhaps even do a 21 Day Fix workout… see where I am going with this?    When I was doing 40 – 50  minute strength routines with dumbbells I was pretty much too tired to want to do any more vigorous activity that day. 

So, I am thinking that I can do the Metabolic Aftershock workouts as scheduled, and then either fit in the appropriate 21 Day Fix workout, or another activity of my choice.  I will assess as I go and do what I can.

All in all, I am very excited about my plans.  I have Day 1 of the eating plan under my belt, and so far so good. Yes, it takes some planning. And, I do better with planning so I am happy for that, too.

I can’t wait to share how it’s going.  Wish me luck!

What’s in store for you in July?