The Mandy Project: 90 Day Before and Afters

I know this is sadly overdue.  I have been trying to get this blog post posted for about 10 days but work and family come first, so without further ado...

I did it!!!!!!!!!!!!

No, I not only did it, I f***ing KILLED IT!

If you haven't been following the blog these past 3 months, click this link to see the journey from beginning to end.

I am about to break all the rules our founding puritan mothers put forth - I. Look. Ah-may-zing!!! Seriously, I can't fit my head through the door these days, I am so conceited. However, I earned every right to gloat about myself because I worked HARD!

I will save the text for the end because I know you probably just want to see the pics.

See the results for yourself.
Side note: I could not find a time at night to take my pics, so the lighting is definitely different in the last set. It also makes me look pasty white, so my apologies to your eyes.



For sarcastic comments see my previous posts on the makeover. 

 

There is no point in posting measurements or weight, because the proof is in the pictures.

What have I learned?

• I do have time to workout every day, even though I have a baby, toddler, household, a job and run my own business, with a singular employee... me.
• It's okay to put myself first for an hour or two a day. This doesn't mean neglecting my family, it just means that I don't HAVE to entertain them during that time. My toddler has learned to entertain herself, or join in on the fun during my workouts.
• It takes a combo of weight training, cardio, and not gorging yourself on crappy food.
• Cardio, which I hate, does melt fat but it's only a small portion of the overall plan.
• Weight training gets you the body you want. You have saggy arms? Belly? Butt? You HAVE to weight train. Plus weight training builds muscle, muscle burns calories at rest... so if you weight train you will melt even more fat while watching your favorite shows before bed.
• We all know we should eat healthy. I ate moderately well, and often, with an emphasis on protein and cutting out cheese. I do not limit my carb intake other than to make sure I don't stuff myself on bread. I also eat at home 98% of the time because taking my children to a restaurant is social suicide right now. 
• What I did do is work hard during every workout and made sure I only had 1 rest day per week. If you are going to do it - DO IT!

 What have I gained?

• Energy. There is no end to my energy these days. Which is good because I have a FULL plate. Life is good and aside from the random moment of overwhelming stress, I have changed my outlook and attitude.
• Self-esteem. I have never, ever, felt better about myself than right now, in this moment. This is coming from a Mother of 2 that will be 35 years old this year.
• Health. There have been illnesses in the house, but I haven't caught a single one!

What have I lost?

• Fat.
• Post-baby flabby belly.
• Wrinkles.
• Brown hair.
• Pasty, winter-white skin.
• The feeling of being so tired I could slip into a coma.
• Back pain.
• My standard Mom wardrobe of plain T-shirts and yoga pants.

Workouts during the last 30 days:
I did get incredibly bored with P90X. The first 60 days were great because the workouts changed, but the last 30 is just redoing everything you have already learned. I decided to swap out the weight routines and do the Body Beast weight routines instead. This program is specifically for building muscle. So instead of doing 3 weight days, 2 cardio days, and 1 yoga day, I did 4 weight days, and 2 cardio days. No yoga: I. Hate. Yoga. I used P90X plyometrics and kenpo x for cardio.

Nutrition during the last 30 days:
I really wanted to do something that would make these last pictures amazing, however, I didn't really do anything different. The only thing I added was to slam a protein shake right after my workout, in addition to the recovery drink. This did help stop the mindless eating I do after a workout because I am starving. Aside from that, breakfast, lunch and dinner remained the same as before.

My final thoughts:

This has been the best thing I have done for myself in almost 10 years. There is no way I could have made it through this past month, with my sanity in tact, without the energy I have gained from these workouts. I haven't been sick since October, right before I started the program.

Dan and I have been encouraging each other to work towards our fitness goals. We have changed our loft into a gym and we make sure each of us has time to complete our workouts. We have even hired a weekly babysitter so we can go on date night once a week. There are so many other good things that have emerged from this project, I had no idea when I started I would be this happy at the end.

There is nothing more rewarding than modeling healthy habits and body image for my kids. I am never negative about myself. I don't stare into the mirror and point out things that need to change. The kids see us workout hard, eat healthy, and encourage each other to be the best we can be. They see me moving heavy furniture, and hanging big pictures high up on the wall. There is nothing their Mom can't do.

What now? Well, I am going to continue on with Body Beast weights and P90X cardio hybrid and just enjoy the results and feeling great. As the spring fruits and veggies emerge in the super market I might be encouraged to switch up my eating habits. I might do a cleanse to see if I can get that six pack to show up. I don't know. Whatever I do, if I get results I will share.

Thank you all for your encouragement and sharing your projects with me. There were certainly times I was ready to skip workouts for the week, but knowing that we were in this together kept me going. Please share your projects with me by private message, facebook, or leave a comment here.

The Mandy Project: Details

I have been getting A LOT of questions about details on my workout, food, etc. So this post is for anyone looking for more information about what I have done so far.

A little back ground info for those who don't know me:



For those of you that haven't started your Project's yet,
know this: A strategically placed baby,
can make you look decent in any photo.
This was before I started.

I am 34 years old with a 2 year old and a 7 month old. I work from home doing small business accounting - with my kids home all the time. I manage to juggle the kids, work and working out pretty well on most days.


Other posts about the progress:
The Mandy Project - How it came about
The Mandy Project - 30 Day before and afters
The Mandy Project - 60 Day before and afters




Here are the most frequently asked questions:

You sound like an infomercial, do you sell beachbody stuff?
I am not selling P90X or any of the beach body workouts. If you want to buy a workout I can put you in touch with a coach, but I am not a coach and currently stand to make no money from promoting P90X. So the information located in this blog is only my opinion and the results have no reason to be "doctored" up.

When do you find time to workout with 2 kids and work?
I workout when the baby goes down for his morning nap at 9:00am most days. My toddler usually watches TV during this time, or plays around the room I am working out in. Occasionally I will workout after the kids are in bed at 7pm, or before they wake up. Depends on what we have planned for the day and my work load.

How long are the workouts?
P90X workouts are 60-90 mins long, 6 days a week. Sometimes I will skip the warm up and cool down to knock off 10 minutes. If you want shorter workouts, I recommend the P90X3 which are only 30 minutes.


Yoga - Day 45

Why P90X?
I read reviews on hundreds of home workout programs and this one seemed to yield the best overall results. Even compared with P90X3 they said that with P90X you don't really need to watch your nutrition because working out for 60-90 minutes a day, WILL provide results. That sealed the deal.

What equipment do you need?
They recommend a mat, weights, and pull up bar. Our trim is too big for a pull up bar so we have bands and before I received the bands I made do with free weights. I don't use a mat because we have carpet. I started with 5 & 8 lb weights, but now I am up to 15 lbs and sometimes 20 lbs. You can buy bands from amazon for pretty cheap and start with a low weight and buy up as you go. It will be a nice reward for your hard efforts.

How is the trainer on the video?
He is pretty good. As you get further into the program you can pick on things to laugh about, like when he sounds like Casey Kasem "I like fancy hands on this one" or Pauly Shore (he doesn't mean to) "scissors, get it". Sometimes he also yells the next exercise which makes me laugh every time. You just have to approach any workout video with a sense of humor, since you will hear the same stuff over and over and over again.

Explain the program.
I have been doing their "classic" plan which is 3 days of weights + abs, 2 cardio days, 1 day of yoga. You do 3 weeks of this, then 1 week of cardio and the weight routines change but you are still doing 3 days of weights + abs, 2 cardio days, 1 day of yoga. That last month you alternate the weight routines by week and then one last week of cardio. They also have a "lean" plan which is more cardio.  I hate cardio so 2-3 days a week is a stretch for me.

What have you been eating?
Aside from the occasional cheese stick, I stay away from dairy for the most part.

Breakfast: Greek yogurt protein bar or kashi toasted berry crumble with soy milk
Lunch: leftovers from dinner, or amy's non-dairy burrito, or other fast frozen meal. Most weeks we do grab lunch out 3 times a week. It would be one of these: Jimmy Johns beach club or Arby's beef n cheddar. No fries, no chips, no soda. Well... sometimes a cherry coke if I didn't get a lot of sleep the night before.
Snacks: greek yogurt protein bars, cheese stick, or nut mix pouches (like energy mix from planters)
Dinners:
We have a set menu almost every week which includes: Taco night, chili, pasta with Italian sausage, chicken pitas, fajitas, pot roast or corned beef & cabbage, rotisserie chicken & stuffing or rice.
We rarely eat dinner out. RARELY.  Like maybe twice a month, if that.

Do you get hungry?
Yes. Especially if I am weight training that day, I am hungry. I have one rule... nothing after dinner.

Have you cheated on your meals?
Totally. I have eaten ramon noodles, rice-a-roni, and other processed meals that aren't good for me and hold zero nutritional value. I have eaten cookies and brownies and other sugary treats during the holidays. I told myself no more soda, and continue to have 3-4 sodas a week. If it's taco night, you can bet that I am gorging myself on taco's.

Do you ever drink alcohol?
Yup. Hard cider is my drink of choice, but it's loaded with calories and sugar. I will have 1-2 ciders 2x per week. Once in a while I will really tie one on if I am out with friends. This never ends well and I don't recommend it.

Do you take any supplements?
I do not. I used to take a multivitamin and I have gotten lazy and don't even do that any more. I did add a "recovery drink" after my weight workouts. It is just a powder you add to water and it makes it taste like fruit punch. I love it. Is it really doing anything for me? I have no idea.

The first month I did use Designer Protein shakes, you can buy at Target, for snacks. They are only 100 calories, low sugar and lots of protein, but I gave that up because they really don't taste that good, especially if you let them get a little warm because you are doing other things... like changing diapers, folding laundry, making food for kids... you get the idea.

When I did a beach body workout, they pushed shakeology. Did you use shakeology?
I did receive some samples from a friend and I tried it. It wasn't bad if you are looking for an easy way to replace meals, but currently it just didn't fit into my plan. I needed to solely focus on workouts and nutrition is a journey on it's own. I also tried Isogenix shakes and they weren't bad either. Both shake systems have great results if you are looking for something to get your results faster than just working out. I am considering doing a cleanse and a shake system in the future, just not right now.

After you started P90X, how long did it take before you could move again?
That first week hurts. After about 10 days the hurt went away and didn't come back. The plan is 3 weeks doing workout A, 1 week of cardio, 3 weeks doing workout B, 1 week cardio... so after those cardio weeks, switching up the weight training always makes for sore muscles but it's nothing like that first week.

How long before you saw results?
I saw results after 2 weeks, not necessarily in the mirror, but my energy level went way up and I just felt better. At 30 days I could see results in the mirror, at 45 days I felt like Robin Thicke's song "Blurred lines" was playing in the room when I walked in. Now (after 60 days) I look and feel the best I have ever felt in my life. I can't believe I achieved this after only 2 months. My self esteem is healthy again and I am back to my old happy self.

What will you do after P90X?
I am not sure, but I do know that I will not stop. Ever. I have learned that I do have time to workout if I make it a priority.  I am probably going to do another DVD series that focuses more on weights since that is what I enjoy. 90 days after I finish P90X I will probably do it all over again.