Happy November! Focus T25 & Shakeology

I have slacked in blogging, but fear not–I have NOT slacked in my workouts.  Roy and I are in week 13 of Focus T25.  We completed both Alpha and Beta phases, and are halfway through the Gamma Pure Strength Hybrid phase.  We will do the Pure Gamma phase next (which is the other way you can do Gamma), while waiting for P90X3, then we’re going to do that!

I have to rave about Focus T25.  I love it and how little time it really takes to get great results.  I’m sure you’ve seen my progress pics after the first 10 weeks of Focus T25.  I feel like I have gotten amazing results and the fact that it’s from 25 minute workouts is awesome.  This really is the way to go.  Roy and I are done, totally, in 35 minutes every morning: 10 minutes to get up, dressed, and push “play” on the DVD player; and 25 minutes of working out.  There is no travel time to/from the gym (which can total 25 minutes or more!).  We don’t even wake Breanne up.  She sleeps while we workout in the mornings, and bounces along in her jumper while we workout in the evenings.  Talk about cute!  I’m going to have to get a video of her doing that 🙂 Our results are awesome.  My goal was never “I want to lose Xlbs” but it was about getting fit again.  Sure, there was some fluff to get rid of, but I wanted to get fit again after having my baby.  I feel like I am in better shape after having a baby than I was before having a baby.  I have been more consistent about working out than I have been before, even when we trained for the half marathon.  After having Breanne, even 3 months later when we started working out again, the thought of working out for 45-60 minutes was daunting.  I didn’t want to do it and I was dreading it.  Then I found Focus T25 thanks to my Aunt Michelle.  It sounded amazing, almost too good to be true, but I was absolutely willing to try it.  I knew that if it was something along the lines of HIIT training, that it would be effective in 25 minutes, and that since it was from the same company/trainer that does Insanity that it was probably the real deal.  Talking with Roy about it, he was all on board to try it so we did.  We are so glad that we did!!  When we started, doing a 45 minute Insanity workout, for example, would have killed us.  After 12 weeks of Focus T25, I’m still sweating up a storm, but I feel so much stronger than I was 12 weeks ago.  What’s super exciting is that Hubby is down 20lbs in these 12 weeks!!!!!!  I’m so proud of him <3 <3 <3  The progression of the programs is also spot on.  Alpha felt like a good wake-up for my body, to get used to moving athletically again.  It was rough the first couple weeks, but I adapted.  Beta was a step up and the first 2 weeks of that was crazy.  Gamma is a step up from that.  I'm actually looking forward to doing 2 rounds of Gamma, because I am barely making it through these workouts.  It will be a very good foundation for P90X3, which has modifiers for ALL fitness levels too.

Why do I love Shakeology?  Because I hate breakfast.  It’s not that I hate breakfast, it’s that I have a really hard time eating soon after waking up.  Usually it’s 3 or 4 hours later that I finally get hungry and can eat, BUT the shake is super easy to make and drink within a half hour of waking up, and a couple hours later, when it’s time to eat again, I can eat my oatmeal and I haven’t missed a meal.  Not eating enough makes it hard to get healthy and lose weight because it slows down your metabolism, sending your body into starvation mode.  Drinking Shakeology in the morning fills me up like breakfast, but it isn’t heavy or hard to eat like breakfast can be.  I get my metabolism going, so I eat enough during the day, and I’m energized because I’m fueling my body properly.  I just drink it with about 10oz of almond/coconut milk, shaken in my BlenderBottle shaker cup.  There are lots of recipes available to mix it in a blender (too long in there and it will start to thicken, like beating cream makes whipped cream)  with ice and other yummy stuff added to it.  I haven’t tried any of those, mainly because I think it’s good just in the shaker cup (I guess I’m hardcore like that lol), I’m lazy and the shaker is one less dish to wash, and I broke the lid to my blender and need a new one.  I’ve added cooled down coffee to my chocolate shake for a delicious and healthy mocha “frappaccino” and I’ve also added cooled chai tea, and some So Delicious Pumpkin Spice non-dairy goodness to it too.  The more milk you add to it, the thicker and creamer it will be.  You can use 1/2 milk and 1/2 water for a thinner shake.

I think that’s all my rambling for now.  I just wanted to put some thoughts down in one place 😉