{The Start of Body Beast}

BODY BEAST

If you have been following me for a while you know that I'm in love with the 21 Day Fix Program. It helped me lose 35 pounds, helped me get from a size 14 to a size 6, and it taught me how to eat properly with portion controlled containers with a specific number of food groups needed in each day.

A year later, I am happy with my weight and progress and am finally at a point where I feel comfortable in my own skin. 
I think it's time to kick it up a notch and see what weight lifting can do for my body.  I LOVE working with weights!  They make you feel stronger and more toned, like a BEAST!

I have watched several other coaches get AMAZING results with this program.  It is not a program for beginners, that is why I'm glad I started with the fix to warm up to using weights.  That program teaches proper form and modified moves for beginners.  The Fix introduced me to what weights can do for my body, and now it's time to get BEASTY!!!

Our Body Beast program arrived quickly on Tuesday and this is something that my husband was pretty pumped to do as well.  So we're going to be doing this together.  

We couldn't' wait to try out these workouts so we broke it out and started trying them out this week before officially beginning.

I LOVED the workouts. 

If you enjoy weights, and pushing yourself a little bit more, this program is for you!

And guess who makes an appearance; pre-bachelor days -- Sean! 

 

Had to stick that in there, I loved him, #eyecandy

 

This weekend I really wanted to make sure I understood the nutrition plan because as Sagi says:

 

"Nutrition accounts for 100% of your results.  It influences your recovery.  If you don't eat the right foods you simply cannot get the results you're looking for".   

 

The nutrition plan was a series of steps you walk through to figure out your caloric need.

Based on the calculations and the results that I'm after, I need to eat about 2000 calories. I will be honest with you guys, this sort of scares me to eat this much food.  I'm not a calorie counter but I believe my days typically total 1500 calories.  To jump to 2000 is SO different for me.  But I know it's got to be all good healthy food to fuel my body for not only the workouts, but to gain the muscle.  This is very different from what I'm used to.  But I'm going to commit to this and see how this goes. 

 

Am I taking additional supplements?

I will continue to drink my chocolate shakeology each day along with an extra protein shake after my workouts and a fuel shot for muscle recovery.

 

Man, I really hope I can stick to the food!
 

 

Now, the meal plan.  I'm not even kidding when I say I have spent hours humming and thinking about this meal plan. 

I wanted it to be as close to what it details out in the plan as possible.

 

Here is the breakdown of what my 2000 calories should consist of:

 

STARCHES - 5

LEGUMES OR PROTEIN LIQUIDS - 2

VEGETABLES OR BALANCED LIQUIDS - 4

FRUITS OR CARB LIQUIDS - 5

PROTEIN - 9

FATS - 4

(Shakeology consists of 2 PROTEIN AND 1 FRUIT servings)

 

I was rearranging, moving things around and switching things up trying to squeeze in these servings in different ways in my meal plan which really wasn't working for me.  I think I need more practice with this.

(This is why I LOVE the fix for the simplicity of it)

 

So after hours on my excel sheet trying to figure this out, I gravitated back to what I know from the fix and created a meal plan with a variety of the food groups above, and just made sure I added more protein at each meal to support the new muscle growth.

 

 

This meal plan may not be for everyone.  I have repeated a lot of the meals because with our busy work week, it just works for us.  It's easy for me to take some time on Sundays and prep these meals in bigger quantities and then have them packaged up and ready to go in containers for the week.  In the morning I just grab and go!  

 

I am not following the plan exactly and after I finish this week I can track how I was feeling and how it worked for me.  I just wanted a starting point with adding more calories and more protein into my diet this week.  

 

Next week I'll give you the low down on the BEAST workouts, the equipment needed and fill you in on how lifting weights can be beneficial for your health and goals.

 

Have a wonderful weekend

~ Jenn