Week Three Recap- Tone It Up Bikini Series

Week three is done!

Next week is the half way point and I think I will weigh myself then. I am not terribly concerned with how much weight I lose because I know the number doesn’t matter and it is about how you fit in your clothes but I figured I would check in with my progress at the halfway point. Shana cracked and couldn’t wait until the half way point and she’s lost weight! So that is encouraging and a nice boost to work harder and push even more.

Results are motivators and not only results on the scale. Although I haven’t weighed myself, I know things are changing for the better. My clothes fit better after only three weeks. I don’t feel bloated as often and the mirror is starting to reflect my hard work. My endurance is up, I am able to run further and take less breaks.

Don’t get me wrong, I still have a lot of work to do but I genuinely feel good after just 21 days.

So to dive into week 4, I am going to share some of my favorite fitness thingamajigs with you!

My Garmin Forerunner 225 Sport Watch

My (super wonderful) boyfriend bought me this watch about 4 years ago for my birthday and I have gone through phases of wearing it constantly to not seeing it for months however for the Tone It Up program, I couldn’t live without it. It comes with a heart rate monitor so you can truly see which type of workouts work for you as far as getting your heart rate up and burning calories. I burn the most calories doing spin and get excited after each workout to see how much I put out in the gym. It is also great for runners as its GPS feature tracks your run and tells you how far you’ve gone, how fast your miles are, etc. Plus it is comfortable and super easy to use. Mine is so old they don’t sell it anymore but this one looks similar, if I ever upgrade mine I am going right for the purple one!

Frank Body Coffee Scrub

I love Frank Body and have officially justified my purchasing of excessive coffee scrubs because K & K told me too. Coffee scrubs smooth out your skin, help with cellulite and are a great way to relax after a week of busting your ass. I like to take a bubble bath, relax, read and do one of these amazing scrubs before getting out. My personal favorite is the Peppermint Coffee Scrub.

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This Nasty Ass Sweat Wrap

This thing is gross in the best way possible. Wear it around your waist during you cardio routine and you’ll sweat actual bullets. I love to sweat during a workout and so this wrap, weirdly named sweet sweat, is my new bestie.

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This Pep-Start Morning Eye Cream

This list is getting strange, you probably thought I was going to recommend some cool running shoes and here I am talking about beauty products. I can’t help it. These 4:30am workouts occasionally (read- always) have me looking a little haggard and exhausted. This eye cream is my saving grace before work. It hydrates, replenishes, tightens and gets rid of dark circles. Try it, come back and thank me.

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These DELISH Sweet Tater Chips

Sometimes ya girl just needs a damn chip and I am pretty sure (I might be making this up) I read on one of the 5,000 TIU document pages that if you must eat a chip, make it a sweet potato chip. Did anyone else read that? Well, I only eat half the little bag, before 3 pm and the ingredients are: Sweet Potatoes, Sea Salt, and Sunflower Seed Oil. That is it! I buy these at Starbucks every once in a while and they are strange when eaten while drinking iced coffee, just FYI.

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Ok those are my current obsessions, what are yours!?

Week Two Recap: Tone It Up Bikini Series

Two weeks down in the 8-week Tone It Up Bikini Series!

This week was pretty uneventful. I am happy to report my pants all made it through my workouts, crotches intact!

Here are my week two thoughts-

Food

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I have really been off the exact meal plan because I am a creature of habit. I only eat TIU approved ingredients and portion sizes, I just make the same things a lot.

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Here is my typical day food-wise: for breakfast I have the egg white muffins loaded with veggies and a side of fruit or a protein pancake which I have officially mastered making. For my first snack I have celery with almond butter or a PB protein ball (crack balls) with a small piece of fruit. For lunch I have leftovers from whatever I made for dinner which might be a little bit of quinoa topped with chicken or shrimp, veggies and hot sauce. Or I will make a salad although I really tried to love kale but simply hate it (has anyone tried baby kale? Looks like spinach but tastes like shit- wtf). For my after lunch snack (or M4 as the TIU community calls it) I always have olive hummus and cucumber, my favorite. For dinner, I stick to lean protein and veggies. After dinner I have a cup of coffee and sometimes dark chocolate or another approved desert.

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Side thought-

I have read time and time again in the program that this is all to serve as a guide so I am tweaking it to fit me. Sometimes I feel like that means I am not totally in but most times I feel like I am creating a lifestyle I enjoy and know will last beyond the 8-weeks.

Workouts

I flew solo most of the week because my TIU bud was sick! Shana spent the beginning of the week on the couch, covered in snot, while describing her phlegm situation to me in way too much detail. By the end of the week she was back in the gym with me kicking ass.

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On Thursday, after getting to work I was sitting at my desk doing not a damn thing and felt a sharp pain in my back. Apparently (according to my chiropractor) I pulled a muscle in my upper back so that caused me to take my work out on Friday easy. By Saturday I was back to normal although it was a rough 24 hours for my body. PLUS Shana attempted to share her sickness with me but my immune system told it to kick rocks so I only battled a sore throat for a few days at the end of the week.

I have a love hate relationship with the videos. I have to watch them the night before or else it just becomes too frustrating to follow along at the gym. I did achieve my goal of getting to the gym earlier this week.

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Misc-

The TIU community is all over insta and I have become slightly addicted to posting pictures of our food/workouts and general shenanigans on IG (Come visit! IG Name- TIU_VB_BikiniBabes). K & K pick a few accounts each week to win prizes and I am determined to WIN.

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Week One Recap: Tone It Up Bikini Series

Well, one week down in the Tone It Up Bikini Series program.

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Overall, the food prep is down right tiring. Initially, I was trying to follow the meal plan exactly as laid out. If the plan said protein pancakes, I made pancakes, if it said egg frittatas, I was making them. I won’t be doing that from now on. I am a creature of habit and sometimes I like variety but mostly, I like what I like. For instance, I am not a fan of eating slices of avocado. One morning the breakfast was two egg muffins (this is not their TIU name but what I have come to call them. I don’t plan to type out Springtime Egg Frittatas every time I mention them), sliced avocado, and a slice of dry Ezekiel bread. Instead, I smashed up the avocado, spread it on bread, topped it with a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, chia seeds and one small over medium egg. Another example, I don’t like smoothies unless someone else is making them. I hate washing a blender and I love coffee so it becomes strange to me when I am drinking a breakfast smoothie and drinking a coffee (am I alone in this?). No breakfast smoothies for me.

Now that I understand all the food the program pushes, I am kind of doing my own thing with the ingredients while also trying out all the new recipes that I know I will enjoy. I eat 5 times a day, I eat the right portions, I am getting used to wrapping everything in a raw collard green and I am having vino withdraws so I think I am doing everything right. Despite that, the foods K&K push in this program do one very important thing. They give you energy, make you feel good and since committing to them, I feel better in just one week.

I have been healthy my whole life. My dad was a body builder and still is crazy when it comes to health and wellness. Ice cream, cookies, sugary cereal and all that good stuff was not food you would find in my home growing up. I know how to eat healthy and I often do because I have low energy and need nutrient rich food to get me through my day. If I went out to lunch and ate mashed potatoes and chicken fingers I would literally slump over asleep at my desk an hour later.

Lately though, I have been slacking. I eat good 80% of the time but give in 20% of the time to my boyfriend who eats stuffed french toast, an entire container of Oreos and popeyes fried chicken every time his heart desires, which is often. And of course, he has like 10% body fat, a rock hard bod and zero problem areas (why God, why?).

Sticking with this meal plan and way of eating is keeping me honest. I am motivated by the fact that Shana is doing it alongside me and helping me cook and try new recipes. My boyfriend is also on board, waiting until I fall asleep to eat all the chocolate mini doughnuts and cheering me on constantly.

As far as working out, my only complaint is that the workouts are often in the form of a video and it is just weird to watch a video through my cellphone while at the gym. I can’t hear anything or see really when I am standing up and I find it frustrating. This week, I plan to solve that problem by watching the videos the night before and writing the routine down. Another thing I personally have an issue with is feeling guilty that I only have 45 minutes in the morning instead of one hour. My goal for next week is to be at the gym at 5am instead of 5:15 so I can get the full hour before 6am. This means moving my wakeup time from 4:45am to 4:30am and my little yorkie Max, who hates waking up in the morning, is not going to be happy.

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Just to wrap this post up I have to tell you all this surreal and embarrassing moment I had this week at the gym, so we can end on a laugh together, at my expense. Shana and I were doing the HIIT cardio video which includes jumping squats, burpees and all things hellish. At the end of the workout I was stretching and mid butterfly stretch I looked down and realized the entire crotch of my pants had ripped, and not recently, most likely at the beginning of my workout. I am assuming the material just blew out from the friction of my thighs rubbing while I was kicking some serious ass haha. What is really horrifying is that I don’t usually wear underwear when working out (TMI?) because it is just too many layers and there’s no point. So I am basically doing the butterfly stretch naked at this point, in a public gym. DEAD. Luckily, I don’t think anyone saw but that was a very interesting way to begin my Thursday.

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On Saturday I went out and bought new, heavy duty, workout pants.

Check back in with me next week for my week two update!