The Mandy Project: Day 60 Before and Afters

You thought I bailed on The Mandy Project, didn't you? Oh ye of little faith...

I made it though the holidays, parties, and a week long vacation.  I never skipped a workout, until the vacation where I took 5 days off. This will extend my project into February, so the final 90 day pics won't be taken until around Feburary 8th.

Workouts: I am still following the P90X classic plan. The only changes I have made are to skip the 90 minutes Yoga session and do one of the other harder cardio workouts.  I have also gotten sick of push ups so I added some chest presses and flys in lieu of push ups.

When I started this I was using mostly 8 lb weights with all the exercises, now I am up to 15 lbs and occasionally 20 lbs.

Nutrition: December is a tough month to stick to anything. So I didn't do much. In fact, with all the festivities I probably had enough alcohol to hinder my results.  I also went through a week of sleep deprivation while on vacation, so I was drinking WAY more caffeinated soda than I would ever normally drink.

I added a recovery drink right after my workouts. I am not sure what it does exactly. Dan had bought it months ago, so figured it couldn't hurt. I also tried a few packets of shakeology, but other than that, I ate and drank normally with the addition of more soda and alcohol. Not a great month, but the project isn't over...

The Results

	10/31/2014	11/30/2014	12/31/2014	Difference
Right Bicep	9 3/4"	10"	10"	+1/4"
Left Bicep	9 3/4"	10"	10"	+1/4"
Right Forearm	9"	9"	8 1/2"	-1/2"
Left Forearm	9"	9"	8 1/2"	-1/2"
Bust	34"	34"	34"	0
Chest	32"	31"	28"	-4"
Waist	31"	27 1/2"	26 1/2"	-4 1/2"
Hips	37 1/2"	34 1/2"	33 3/4"	-3 3/4"
Right Thigh	20 1/2"	19 3/4"	19"	-1 1/2"
Left Thigh	20 1/2"	19 3/4"	19"	-1 1/2"
Right Calf	13 1/2"	13"	13"	-1/2"
Left Calf	13 1/2"	13"	13"	-1/2"

Starting weight: 114.0 lbs on 10/31/2014
30 Day weight: 111.8 lbs on 11/30/2014
60 Day weight: 110 lbs on 1/4/2015

Now for the pictures... 

Yup, I could kick some ass now.

Ew! I still can't get over the change in 2 months.
Especially to my face.

It's hard not to smile now.

Doesn't look like much has changed, but it has.

Much better...



Bye-bye saggy post baby belly!

I am also getting taller... or I couldn't figure out how to shrink
this picture to match the others.

Some other accomplishments these past 30 days:

• I managed to not catch the cold that both my kids had!
• My hair is now back to blond, even at the roots.
• Dan and I had this conversation a few days ago:
• Dan: "You are dressing sophisticated these days."
• Me: "What does that mean?"
• Dan: "You don't dress like you are 18 any more, but you don't dress like a Mom either. You dress really nice, like a professional."
• Me - recalling in October when he said I dressed like a Mom. New style: Nailed it!

I am really enjoying taking before and afters. There will be more in the next 30 days and I am also figuring out a few more before and after projects I can blog about.

How are you doing on your project? Did you start one yet? Quit bitching about it, and do it! Report back and as always, thank you so much for reading!!

The Mandy Project: Day 30 Before and Afters!!

I made it through the first 30 days and I never missed one workout!

(Cue the cheering and applauding.)

A run down of my workouts: I did P90X the original version that I bought off ebay. I decided to do the "classic" plan which is 3 days of weight lifting, 2 days of cardio, and 1 day of yoga (which is actually 90 minutes of pure torture). That was for the first 3 weeks. The 4th week was all cardio and yoga. I did substitute a rest day that week for a really tough cardio session, since I was going to be stuffing my face for Thanksgiving.

Let's start off with the numbers:

Starting weight: 114.0 lbs on 10/31/2014
30 Day weigh-in: 111.8 lbs on 11/30/2014

I am SO glad I took my measurements, because where you can't see the results in the pics, you CAN see the results in the measurements!  

	10/31/2014	11/30/2014	Difference
Right Bicep	9 3/4"	10"	+1/4"
Left Bicep	9 3/4"	10"	+1/4"
Right Forearm	9"	9"	0
Left Forearm	9"	9"	0
Bust	34"	34"	0
Chest	32"	31"	-1"
Waist	31"	27 1/2"	-3 1/2"
Hips	37 1/2"	34 1/2"	-3"
Right Thigh	20 1/2"	19 3/4"	-3/4"
Left Thigh	20 1/2"	19 3/4"	-3/4"
Right Calf	13 1/2"	13"	-1/2"
Left Calf	13 1/2"	13"	-1/2"

When I took the measurements each time, I did it 3 times to make sure it was accurate. I am totally blown away by the loss in the hips and waist.

Now for the best part... the pics:

Results after 30 days. <sniff> Makes me all misty eyed.

Disregard my hideous face, of course I was talking
while Dan was taking pictures.



This one probably shows off the biggest change.
Flatter stomach and arm muscles.



Tan by L'Oreal Paris Sublime Self-tanning wipes.

Some pics you really can't see the results,
maybe by day 90.

EEK! I still need some major work in this area.
Keeps me motivated.

So this is doing P90X without an eating plan. I did keep it moderately healthy: No mindless snacking, no sweets, a few hard ciders, and an occasional soda if we are out. If you have read my other blogs in November, you know that I did cave to the occasional Teddy Graham or two.

My energy is through the roof, and I can tolerate a whole lot more because of it. My toddler just turned 2 on December 1st and her favorite phrase is "NOOOOOOO MOMMY!!!" which she screams at the top of her lungs - especially in public.

I rewarded my hard efforts with some blond hair, as you can see from the pics. It's all coming along folks!

December has a lot of holiday festivities, so it will be a little harder to stick to a consistent diet. I am going to try to keep it clean in between parties, and in January keep it really strict for the final 30 days.

For the complete Mandy Project click here!

Did you start a project of your own? What is it? Leave your comments and feedback to help inspire other people that are struggling to start.

The Mandy Project: Day 20

For the record, that is not my arm.

 

For the complete Mandy Project click here.

It's day 20. Only 70 more days left.

My workouts have progressed like this:

• Week 1: Excited and in excruciating amounts of pain.
• Week 2: Motivated to see if I could do better than week 1. Still sore.
• Week 3: Ugh, I really don't want to do this, but I made a commitment. Butt and abs are still sore. I am pushing myself hard during the workout, but I have to force myself to get off my ass and push play. I haven't missed one yet.
• Next week is all cardio and then the workouts are switched up. I think this will help keep me on task.

My eating strategy progression:

• Week 1: Definitely ate light meals. No issues. Mostly nauseous.
• Week 2: Still watching my food intake, without real difficulty, although by the end of the week I was starting to get hungry more often.
• Week 3: I am starving. I don't understand why, considering I am still eating normally. I ate a half a box of teddy grahams crouched in a corner of the kitchen. I felt like Smeagol from Lord of the Rings.
• I have joined a 5 day clean eating crockpot group to help keep me accountable. I hope this jump starts my healthy food efforts, and keeps me out of the toddler snack cupboard.

My accomplishments:

• I retired the rest of my maternity clothes for good. No lingering pieces in my closet to default to when I just don't feel it.
• I upgraded my swim suit from 2-piece "mom" suit back to my pre-baby bikinis.
• I have to wear a belt with all my jeans now. The belt notch is back to my pre-baby notch.
• I can stay up until 10:30pm. (Although I prefer not to.)  
• My energy is off the charts! I've been cleaning closets, moving furniture, and I still have time to make dinner and give the kids a bath.
• My stress level is WAY down. There is just something about being able to handle all the crap that falls on my lap, as long as I am taking care of myself first.

Honestly this project is really shaping up to be a game changer.  My kids are going to know the real me, not the stressed out Mom they have been with so far. I am able to run around, play, dance, give piggy back rides, and just have a whole lot more fun in general now.

Kenzie has been getting into it too. When Dan's home, I do my workout in the morning and she creeps upstairs to join me occasionally. P90X is much harder with a toddler sitting on your abs.

She refuses to workout with clothes on.

Coming soon... 10 days away from the first set of before and after photos. 

The Mandy Project: Botox

There are not many before and after photos of Botox on the internet, unless you are looking at a doctors website. So here are the real before and after pictures from a normal 34 year old female.

I know there are a lot of people shaking their heads at me right now, but this is The Mandy Project. This is what I want for myself. I am not doing this for anyone else except me. So either read on, or shut it down.

To view the complete Mandy Project click here.

First of all, there is a lot of confusion over Botox. This does NOT plump up your face/lips/cheeks or anything else. This just freezes your muscles so you can't make wrinkles. That's all. It reduces wrinkles in some areas and can eliminate them in others. There are lots of areas you can't use Botox, like in your laugh lines, or under your eyes. You will not get Meg Ryan lips or look like you have had a facelift. The plumping of the face is dermal fillers. Totally different.

This is NOT Botox. This is dermal filler.

 

To be honest, I don't know what this is...

So now you know what it's not. See what it did for me...

I was doing my best surprised look.
At day 5 my eyebrows were too pointy.
At 2 weeks my eyebrows are no long pointy and everything is pretty smooth.
Don't pay any attention to my after-workout hair.

 

My scowl with an "11" between my brows.
Day 5 I could still see tiny lines.
2 weeks after, no lines at all.
Downside: My toddler thinks I never get mad any more.

Wrinkles around my eyes.
At day 5 there was only slightly less wrinkles.
At 2 weeks the area is nearly wrinkle free.

I wish I could show you a good before/after full face shot, but there isn't one. I either doctored up the photos I had, to limit the wrinkles, or the light diminished them. I guess it doesn't really matter. Here you can see that even after the Botox I can still make normal facial expressions.

Angry is the only one I really can't nail
down any more. My kids love it!

If you are considering Botox yourself, here are a few more details you might want.

Does it hurt? Not really. It was a series of about 14 shots to my face. The needle is incredibly thin so mostly it doesn't hurt at all. There were a few times Dan stuck the needle in too deep and it hurt for a second but otherwise, it was totally worth it.

Usually you pay by the unit. The average total cost of a unit is about $10-$15 and the total is usually between $375-$550 depending on if you use "Botox" or "Dysport" which is cheaper. Also depends on how many sights you have done and how much they need to use on you in each sight.

Who gives it? Some dentists, some doctors, all dermatologists, some nurses. You will know. They will advertise it. You may seem skeptical about going to a dentist for Botox, but how many other doctors do you know that give shots to people all day long?

It takes about a week to see results and it lasts about 3-4 months. Over time you might only need it every 6 months.

If you do it once you are going to want to do it again, and again. So beware.

The Mandy Project: Day 10

The Mandy Project: Day 10   Click here to see the whole project.

Let me start off by asking: Do you have a project yet? Make one.

The workouts:

As a reminder I am doing P90x (the original version).

The first 7 days were hard. I didn't know how hard to push myself during the videos, the 60+ minutes seemed daunting, and frankly just nailing down some of the moves seemed impossible. I wanted to take Tony (the trainer in the videos) and punch him in his fat neck, especially when he said the words "double time".

3 days were spent strength training + doing Ab Ripper X which is exactly what it was doing to my abs. Ripping the hell out of them and making them useless for the entire week. Do you know how often you use your abs in one day? Far too much. It hurt when I laughed, coughed, sneezed, tried to breathe... pretty much anything and everything and they STILL hurt!

The cardio workouts were Yoga, Plyometrics (jumps, squats, etc.) and Kenpo (just like Tae Bo from the 90s).

The two times I have done plyometrics I have almost puked. That's a tough workout. I was sweating and jumping, but after it was done, I really did feel great, I just had to be carried up and down the stairs the rest of the day.

The yoga workout, you would assume would be relaxing. I, of course, was sadly mistaken. I spent 90 minutes sweating and straining to get through it. This video is my least favorite. At several points I considered just shutting it off, but then I thought of all your emails telling me about your own projects and I kept going. So thank you readers, for sharing your hopes and plans with me, to keep me moving.

The Kenpo workout was my favorite video by far. I love pretending to beat someone senseless. I gave it my all and I was so sore for 2 days following. By the end of this program just let someone try and attack me, aside from the knives I carry, I will also be able to gouge your eyes out, kick you square where the sun-don't-shine and give you a mean left hook.

Overall, I was nauseous a lot but as the week wore on I started to look forward to my workouts. Maybe it's because that is ME time I desperately need and don't really care that I am spending it sweating and nearly puking on the floor.

The Diet

I still don't have a hard and fast diet plan. No drinks other than water and protein shakes. Oh no wait... I did have some wine and a cider on Friday when we had company over. No candy, baked goods, or other goodies.

If I want a snack I eat a bag of nut mix, strawberry zone bars, or a 100 calorie protein shake. Breakfast consists of 2 scrambled eggs and sometimes a strip or 2 of bacon. Lunch is a turkey wrap with some broccoli slaw (comes in a bag next to the cut up & bagged broccoli and salad kits) and a dash of Italian dressing. At dinner I just watch the amount that I eat. We usually have taco night, a pasta dish (no cheese), or chicken and veggies. So nothing too remarkable at this point.
 
Results so far:

I know it's only been 10 days, but there have been some changes.

I have more muscle definition in my arms and legs, which I thought was all in my head. How can I see results in only 10 days? However, Dan commented on my biceps as we were passing the baby between us at dinner. Of course they were probably just swollen from the beating they took that day, but it's a win!

Weight is the same; 114. I wasn't looking to lose pounds so that doesn't matter to me.

My clothes still seem to fit the same and I still have the post baby belly, you know loose and spongy.

I am not going to measure or take new photos until the 30 day mark. What's that? You want to see the before photos? I have uploaded them and they are ready to go but I just can't push that "post" button. I seriously can't. Once I have some results I will be able to share. Or possibly after a few pinot grigios this weekend. Who knows...