Wow, just realized I need to start keeping track of my TAM Bootcamp progress, but because I did things out of order everything is a little out of whack. In actuality it's Day 6 of the menu and Day 16 of Sequence 2!!! How did that happen? I know it sounds a little backwards. Well, everyone who gets Tracy Anderson's book knows it's a 30 Day Bootcamp of the Big 3 combo: cardio, mat/floor exercise and accompanying fixed menu. The problem is at first I didn't really pay attention to following the rules to a "T" (no pun intended)! I completely ignored the menu and I started to do Sequence 1 exercises, but only 4x/week for 3 weeks. Then I proceeded on to Sequence 2 for 5 days straight. The thought of following the bootcamp rules was not my priority until I happened upon Laura Stroud's blog describing her 30 day challenge. What compelled me the most was the huge weight loss she achieved by doing everything "by the book". I am a person that is not easily convinced to do everything a book says! I've got a technical background and always have to have actual empirical proof to be convinced of anything as opposed to just plain textbook theory...Everything about TAM was more theory to me than actual results until I started to read all the successful reviews and testimonials by everyday people....I actually discovered Tracy Anderson by accident googling on the web because I was in the height of my frenzy to seek out new forms of exercise to keep my routine from getting boring or stale.
My weight loss journey began around May of this year...My weight had crept up to 160 and I was not feeling good about myself. I used to travel a great deal for my job so I was much more physically active and as that became less frequent I was ultimately just tied to the desk doing phone and email and not getting enough exercise and definitely not eating right. Add to this a hypothyroid condition that just doesn't maintain a normal metabolism in the first place. My husband and I were out having dinner somewhere and when he said, "Hey when you turn 40 next year we should do blah, blah, blah"...I totally lost concentration of what he was saying next as the number hit me. I was turning the big 4-0! I decided right then and there I didn't want to be unhealthy anymore and didn't want to jeopardize my chances to bounce back into a healthy lifestyle. So I made the commitment and set my goal to reach 125 before the end of the year...or at least try to reach that weight or lower it by then somehow, some way!
Just a little background of how I arrived to this point of choosing to do the TAM Boot Camp...in May I started taking Alli and trying to up my exercise by walking daily and doing weights at home. I lost my first 5 to 10 lbs, but I quickly realized I needed to increase my activity. I went back to Atkins in June and lost some more weight to about 143, but plalteaued and realized losing the weight this time was proving to be more difficult than a couple years back. I realized I needed to increase my physical activity even more. By the end of July I joined a gym and even signed up for personal trainer sessions. I also started taking pilates and yoga at a local studio simultaneously so my week was always filled with either being at the gym, pilates or yoga everyday. I was really trying to fill up my week with as much activity as possible so my body would not get bored by always having a variety of things to do! This worked too push the weight loss along again and I got down to about 138.
About this time is when I discovered or started reading about Tracy Anderson. I was really intrigued by the program. Part of me felt it couldn't really be true and how could following her method exclusively be better than all these things I was already doing?!?! There had to be some gimmick! Well let me tell you I found out through trial and error and regret I didn't do things "by the book" from the very beginning.
First I got the Mat Workout DVD and started incorporating it 3x a week into my already busy week of gym, pilates and yoga. It was tough, but I started to see results. I was not entirely convinced I would need her method of cardio because I was already doing this at the gym, why bother? Also I was put off by the fact that doing any other form of exercise was pretty much prohibited. Again, I was stubborn and didn't listen. Then as I started to really get into TAM further I learned the hard way why Tracy strongly advises against this.
During this time I was seeing my Personal Trainer 2x a week. She was really good at mixing up my workouts and even running me through drills just like a football player with squats, lunges, etc. It was all really physically challenging, BUT there were two separate occasions wherein the exercises she had me do really overexerted my muscles and caused pain and to not be able to workout for the next two whole days! Once was when I pulled a muscle in my tricep and the second was with my inner thighs were so sore I couldn't walk for the next 2 days. Needless to say I was not happy about this AT ALL especially since I was trying to do a different form of exercise everyday! After this happened the light bulb finally went off and I realized you can actually injure yourself and not be able to continue exercising whether it's pilates, yoga OR TAM! It is not productive if you hurt yourself during exercise...Most importantly it was the further realization that I would never injure myself this way doing TAM and that was the whole premise for the strong advisory this whole entire time.
So I completed my run of personal training sessions (because they were prepaid and I couldn't cancel them) and about this time ordered the book in September. I wanted to start dedicating more time to TAM and slowly stopped going to pilates and yoga. The amount of time to do both cardio and mat was pretty extensive and hard to fit anything else in. Plus Tracy herself again had advised against combining yoga or any other type of exercise during the bootcamp. I had been doing the treadmill workout at the gym, but started to do the dance cardio from the book as well and was seeing some amazing physical results! I was back into size 4P pants, but was fluctuating at 135/136 in weight. I couldn't believe my eyes, but the clothes are what told the truth on the results. In one month or so I had gone from a 6P to 4P even though my weight was not at the ideal weight I had thought was supposed to be appropriate for the size I was all of a sudden fitting into!
So here I am today. I am trying to start all over again, but I can't really go back to the time I was doing Sequence 1 and "add the menu". I JUST started the menu this past Monday and have already lost 5 lbs!!! Can't tell you how pleased I am to get past this plateau!!! I am finally on my way to my goal weight before the end of the year!!! I'm so happy about my decision and I just honestly wish I had done it much, much sooner. I thought at first the menu was going to be really tough, but in actuality I am finding I really enjoy it and this way of eating is actually turning out to be much more doable than I had ever imagined. To this day I can't believe all the amazing changes I have experienced since I started following the Tracy Anderson Method and most importantly how quickly the results! Goes to show you don't necessarily have to always follow everything by the book... =D
