PIYO Challenge Diary - Week 1 of 8

So I'm trying this PiYo Workout. I feel like I need a bit of a kick in the butt, and this looked interesting to me.  I feel somewhat sheepish about the whole "BeachBody" brand - I  find a name like that hard to take seriously. However, their workouts seem to get lots of positive reviews for being fun, challenging, and effective.

Of course, there is a lot of emphasis on transforming your body in a given time period - in this case, 8 weeks. I have found that "dramatic transformations" do not happen for me...I am trying to find a balance between taking this seriously - because I do want to put in the effort and get the best results I can - and not getting my hopes up. It feels tricky.

Sunday - Prep Day
I am participating in a Facebook group, so will be doing the program along with others. Official kickoff is tomorrow (Monday, July 7), so I've  known this was coming and, and I've known that I need to do some planning. The workout plan is easy enough - they give you one, and I will follow that (as well as I can).

There is also an eating plan which is causing me more of a headache. While I don't expect Husband to follow the plan with me, it will effect our meals, so I've been tried getting him to look at it; he said "Oh, this is a calorie counting plan" and tossed the booklet away. It's a calorie counting plan in that you calculate a calorie range, but then you count servings of types of food, which is similar to the one plan that was ever semi-effective for me. But I'm finding the planning to be a little frustrating, and I feel like I am not getting off to a good start. I think that it is going to require a bit of trial and error to figure this out.

Also, since I want to take this seriously, I decided I should do before pictures (so that I can see evidence of my dramatic transformation), and it seemed like it would be easier to get Husband to take them for me, even though I feel really silly doing it. But of course, nothing involving having my photo taken can ever be easy. It's done, let's leave it at that.

End of the day: Find balance; I can take this seriously without putting too much pressure on myself.

Monday - Day 1
First day on food plan, first workout. Survived! Definitely have to tweak the food plan; I eat slow; I felt like I was eating all day which I do not like.

Also first day back to work after vacation. Just finished trying to deal with my overflowing closets, so many clothing items that no longer fit or that I don't love but can't make myself get rid of, and I walk through the mall looking at pretty things and thinking maybe I should shop. The problem is not my clothes; the problem is I am not happy with how I look. 

End of the day: I need to get to a place where I can be happy with me, and deal with the current clothing avalanche before I think about shopping.

The Rest of the Week
Well, I had good intentions.

What can I say? Evenings are short when when you come home from work, do a workout, practice piano, make dinner and prep next days' lunch, clean up and make time for Husband and felines.  And then hopefully crawl in bed no later than 10:30. I like earlier if I can, so I can settle in and read for a while.

Anyway, PIYO is going pretty well so far. I was apprehensive going in. I was afraid it would be too hard. And some of it is very challenging - there are moves that will take me some time to master. Yet, it's not that much harder than the yoga classes used to attend, and that I liked so much; indeed, some of it feels very familiar, especially since I've been doing a sun salutations workout fairly regularly for the past little while. The workouts are short - it almost feels like cheating somehow, that they are over so quickly. Whether they are going to cause any amazing transformation remains to be seen. I will be happy if I can see an improvement in my upper body strength, since that seems to be the most challenging area for me.

As for the eating plan, I think I need to make some adjustments. I like it in theory, but some if it is not working for me. Haven't quite figured this out yet, but will keep working on it.

End of the day: Keep on keepin' on!

Miscellaneous Ramblings
What else has been going on a Casa Javachick? Well, Husband called the fencing company on Tuesday to see if he could get a ballpark idea of when they'd get around to us. They said they'd look up our contract and get back to us...And a short time later called back and said: "We'll be there tomorrow."

Raise your hand if you think they forgot about us...Yeah, that's what we think too.

By the middle of Friday afternoon, phase one of our new fence was complete. We still need to do the cat proofing bit, but we had to wait for the fence to be installed so we could see exactly what we need to get to finish everything up. But for now, we do have a fence, and so far the cats have not found a way out. I have finally found a little motivation to go out and start cleaning up my garden beds which are in sorry shape.

End of the day: One step at a time!