Body Forward Challenge : Prep work

So last week I decided to make a few changes even before I decided to do the Body Forward Challenge. Little things, like upping my water intake and working on portion control. I went to the gym during my lunch just to get in some light mileage on the elliptical and inch towards fitness. I got in a good sweat, got my heart rate up and was excited to start making these changes.

That's ultimately when I realized I needed The Plan. The all-encompassing to-do list that would put me on the track to success. So I bit the bullet, signed up for Body Forward and waited for my products to arrive, which they did on Friday!

This HUGE box arrived via UPS and I couldn't wait to dig into it. 30 days worth of stuff was a LOT. Two flavors of protein shakes, boxes of packets and containers of powder. A shaker with a bright green top for said shakes, which was currently packed with a sample of five different Isagenix add-ons.

Time out. Why Isagenix? I asked myself, I asked Val and did a little research. Could you do the 30 day challenge without Isagenix? The answer was no. In order to really track your diet and make sure your body was getting the exercise it needed along with nutrition, you needed the products. It's a CHALLENGE, meant to expose you to new ways of eating, thinking, planning and exercising. I was intimidated. I mean, what if I hated them? Don't you get tired of drinking your meals? Why can't I just eat a sensible breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks? I knew my answer to that one immediately...if I could do it on my own, I would have and would have already done it. Val answered all of my questions (plant-based nutrition, tastes great, perfect for on-the-go moms, high protein, soy and gluten free, some dairy free options).

Back to the box. It was also full of bottles of powders to mix with water (for cleansing, mental clarity), bottles of pills (natural accelerator), something called "Snacks" (which looked nothing like the snacks I know), a training manual and CDs and a measuring tape.

I got an email with instructions on how to set up my Trainerize app, PDFs of the calendar I need, the recipes, the plan itself (checklists! oh how I love a checklist!) and the workouts.

I had all the things I needed to get me started and to be successful, and for once, I was really excited about doing something hard, something different, something new.

On Saturday I decided I needed to test out one of the shakes to make sure I could even stomach it. I went with the Natural Berry (dairy free) one and mixed it up with 8 oz of cold water. I immediately realized that it would need to be colder. The taste wasn't bad, but I like stuff COLD. So my first plan: put my water in my shaker cup the night before and refrigerate. I read over the plan, looked at some of the recipes and had them in my head when we went grocery shopping.

Since the plan includes shakes for breakfast and lunch and only cooking dinner, I actually spent less at the grocery store than I usually do! I mentally purchased lean proteins, veggies and fruits with the stuff I normally buy; the only real addition was nonfat greek yogurt (plain) that I can mix with fruit and oatmeal and call "dessert".

My second "aha" moment was that I had chosen the beginner at-home workout, and that would allow me to make room for excuses once I got home. No no, you're doing this Jessica. So I asked Erica to switch me to the gym workout. When I reloaded the app, I noticed I had the Intermediate Gym workout. Hmm. I looked through it and was immediately intimidated. I couldn't do this stuff! And it was 5-day gym instead of 3-day like beginner. I thought. I thought some more. Maybe I should do the intermediate? Maybe I should REALLY challenge myself with this. Then I kept it real. I need to set myself up for SUCCESS and starting with a plan that I know I can't maintain is not the way to do it. I emailed Erica again (already getting my money's worth out of the Fitness Coach part of this challenge!) and asked her to correct the mistake. Once the beginner workout loaded, I skimmed it and knew THIS was my ticket to success.

I should have spent all day Sunday poring over the workout plan, the diet plan, and really digging into what I would be doing for 30 days. But I'll be honest: it was Mother's Day. I didn't want to. I read just enough to get me started on Monday and decided Day 1 is more important than Day Zero, and really just hoped I could get it together and not let myself down. By far, the worst thing ever was taking my "before" pics on Day Zero and seeing myself in a sports bra. And then I had to take them again, because they didn't upload to the app the first time. My second round of before pics were post-Mother's Day- lunch, which involved two glasses of wine, Caesar salad and lobster ravioli. Doh.

I went to sleep feeling discouraged, hating that I let myself get so unhealthy, terrified of the next 30 days.