I know, I know... It sounds horrible but it's not exactly what you think.
First off, I have to mentions that I’ve actually been doing Beachbody program since 2012, I believe. I started with Insanity with Shaun-T, then moved on to his program T-25, I became a coach and did 21 Day Fix with Autumn Calabrese, which I will say gave me the best results. However, I didn’t feel like coaching was for me, as an introvert it was hard for me to step out of my comfort zone and reach out to total strangers to ask them if they wanted to come along on a fitness journey, and I know that’s not all coaching with Beachbody was, there is so much more to it but I at the time was just not able to see it, so I ditched it after a while.
However, I did stay with Beachbody, having done PiYo with Chalene Johnson after my son was born and then I got pregnant with my daughter. I don't think I jumped back into working out until she was about two years old. When I did, I jumped into 80 Day Obsession with Autumn. This was a new program at the time and I will say the workouts challenged the physical condition I was in. I think 80 day is the modern day Insanity program. My first week was hell. I threw up the first day, I tried to get with Autumns timed nutrition but my body went into a shock and I was sick for the first week. After that hard first week I was able to get through the rest of the program, focusing more on portion control than timed nutrition. I felt great.
When i finished 80 Day Obsession I gave myself a break. It was a while before I tried Morning Meltdown 100 with Jericho Matthews but I don’t think I got past day 30, I wasn’t feeling the work outs, it might have been me and the limits I was putting on myself at the time, but I couldn’t finish it.
Then during the pandemic lockdown I tried Barre Blend with Elise Joan. THAT was challenging. It was hard trying to gain better flexibility in my body and my feet. I enjoyed it because it had a flow to it and never felt rushed but I couldn’t get through the program. Again, my own limits I was putting on myself.
Then I took a break with working out, we were trying to manage a post lockdown work schedule and moving to a new house on top of having caught covid pre-covid shot. Our household was in no shape to exert ourselves. I had started back up again after finally settling in our home, with #MBF with Megan Davies. I completed the program, however, when the program was done I didn’t go right into #MBFA.
Throughout all the programs I had done, I always had it in my head, ok I finished the program, good for me, time to indulge. And after #MBF it was no different. After a while I tried to get back into the habit having tried 80 Day Obsession again but did not get through it.
Then I took a big break from working out and had managed to gain a lot of weight. I was going through a lot mentally and didn’t even realize that I had gained so much. I had finally changed jobs and was happy where I was at however I was/am moving less. It wasn’t until our weekend trip to Colorado where I had noticed it. There was a specific picture that I remember J had taken of me during our hike at Garden of the Gods. I was on a rock posing. When he later sent me the photo I self-criticized the crap out of myself. I was sitting and my posture was horrible, I was smiling and you could see my double chin.
I had become so self-aware of my “flaws” that when we got back to Chicago I had decided that I was going to get back into working out. I had jumped on the scale when we got back home and realized that I was at my heaviest. And though you wouldn’t notice I was uncomfortable in my own skin, I felt it. I felt it when I tried clothes on that no longer fit, I felt it when I sat down, I felt it when I had picked up my own pace when simply walking, I felt it when a men’s large shirt still felt tight on me. I felt it and I did not like it.
It had just so happened that Lent was coming in, and though I can’t say I follow Catholicism as much as I did when I was younger, I knew that Lent was a perfect time to promise myself to get back into working out. It takes 21 days to create a habit and I had 40 days to use that time to get into one. So I ordered shakeology and recharge, both Beachbody products and I jumped right into 645 with Amoila Cesar, strength training 6 days a week for 45 minutes a day for 8 weeks. It was easy enough for me to squeeze into my schedule and hard enough for me to challenge myself. I loved this program. Amoila, that handsome man, is so inspiring.
Now, every coach for the programs I had done has had their own specific coaching style, Shaun-T pushed you hard and it got your adrenaline pumping and you WANTED to finish the workout, always feeling like a badass afterwards. Autumn is filled with tons of motivational quotes, sometimes for me she talked too much, but I think that was more of an internal struggle than it was against her because her workouts felt like you were working out with a friend, she makes you laugh and she makes you push through. Megan Davies, she is like your badass best workout buddy/gym crush. She’s tough and she knows how to get your ass working in a short period of time. Amoila Cesar, his program focused more on form, this allowed him to talk us through the workouts with his motivational deep thoughts and with growth mindset conversations all while putting in the work.
After completing 645, I was in it. I had noticed some changes, not too much, granted my eating habits were still shitty but I felt stronger. I wanted to see more results. I gave myself a week off. We went to my cousin's wedding in Tennessee and I let myself relax and prepped my mind for my next program. I WAS NOT going to let myself forget about all the work I put in.
I was going to conquer 80 Day Obsession again. When I first completed it I remember how good I felt. I had felt slimmer and my booty felt perkier. I was ready to conquer it again, which I did. By the end of the program I was down 10 pounds, I was happy but I knew if had just gotten my eating right I could have shed more. I knew my mistakes in all of it and in my head told myself “I will get it together soon enough”.
After finishing 80 Day Obsession, I went on to do #MBF with Megan Davies again. I remember the first time I had done it and remembered how fast it went since it was only a three week program but this time I told myself I was going to push forward and continue with #MBFA right after. What I liked about these two programs is that while other programs I had done before had me working out both arms at a time these workouts worked one arm/leg at a time. So you were able to focus on that specific muscle as well as form and the feeling of burnout was less frequent. For me at least.
After completing both #MBF AND #MBFA, I went on to do LIIFT 4 with Joel Freeman. I enjoyed this program A LOT. It was 8 weeks, 4 workouts a week, which meant I had three recovery days, which also meant that if I was busy on a scheduled workout day I had room to switch things around. This program was all about…well, lifting, but every workout had a different focus, if it was shoulders one day you also did cardio or HIIT. If it was leg day you also did interval training and all workouts ended in core or ab work. It was consistent work and it was UH-mazing. I didn’t know my arms could be so defined. At this point I was no longer interested in the scale. I always knew that the scale is just a number yet still on my weak days I let it define my progress. I no longer wanted to know the number, I wanted to SEE the muscle growth, I wanted to SEE my own strength, I wanted to SEE progress. I can honestly say that I would not mind doing that program again. Joel was always straight to the point, get in, put in the work and get out. I loved it! I ended 2022 with this program and I will say it was the perfect way to end it. I felt motivated and I felt so proud of myself for having completed FIVE programs in the span of 10 months. Needless to say I had my goals set up before the New Year even started.
The start of 2023 I slowed down my pace a little and did Job1 with Jennifer Jacobs. This was a different program for me because for one it was only 25 minutes a day and on cardio days you could swap out cardio with cycling and since J bought a peloton during the pandemic that wasn’t getting used very much at that point, I took advantage of this. What I enjoyed about this program was that it was 25 minutes a day, 5 days a week for 4 weeks. Needless to say compared to the other programs I had done, this one flew by. Like LIIFT4, it was a program I enjoyed very much and would not mind doing again. Jennifer, like Joel was get in, push through, get out and enjoy your day. I really enjoyed switching out cardio days for cycling because if I know one thing about myself it’s that I. HATE. Cardio. I will never understand why I can’t seem to get my breathing right during cardio. Ha-ha.
By March of this year I was already two phases deep into 80 Day Obsession again. Yes, my third go around for this program. It’s a program I love to hate.
At this time I was a year into working out, proud of myself when I did the worst thing I could do to myself… I stepped onto a scale. Yep, it was in the heat of the moment, I was in my brothers’ bathroom and there it was, the enemy, the scale. I took off my shoes and stepped on it and saw that from the last time I had checked the scale, when I was down 10 pounds... I pretty much gained it back. And there I was again, in my head thinking, “How is this even possible?” “I know my eating hasn’t been up to par but I haven’t been eating like crap the WHOLE time...” Then I remembered… “Muscle weighs more than fat.” And “You can’t out train a bad diet.” I could feel the muscle growth in my arms and in my legs. I may not have slimmed down the way I wanted to but my muscles were getting their pump. I had to keep telling myself these things in order to not bring myself down and give up entirely. I also had to take accountability for not taking my nutrition as seriously as I should.
But here I still am, less than a week and a half left in phase 3 of the 80 Day Obsession and though I’m struggling to find my motivation to press play, I am pushing through to the end because I wouldn’t be happy with myself if I just ditched it now.
With ALL of that being said… I’ve come to this conclusion. I think I am done with Beachbody/BODi. Not because I don’t enjoy the programs, no, but because I have enjoyed the programs so much that, I now feel confident in going and entering a new phase in my fitness journey and that’s, taking all that I have learned and all the muscle I have gained and going to the gym.
This has been a goal of mine since I set my goal up at the end of 2022. I told myself yes, I can keep going forward and doing Beachbody/BODi workouts however, if I want to get stronger and gain more muscle and build a better booty…. I need heavier weights, weights that I just don’t have.
Before this, going to the gym was intimidating to me. So many machines that I didn’t know how to use. Not knowing how to set up a training schedule and things of that nature. Granted Beachbody/BODi has taught me a lot about form and training with dumbbells but I’ve gained so much momentum in my fitness journey that I’ve followed a lot of fitness influencers on Instagram and have watched my share of training videos on TikTok and YouTube. I no longer feel intimidated to go into the gym. Some machines are just the same as working with dumbbells, and it can always be substituted when I'm ready.
So that’s where I am at, and why I am giving a fond farewell with Beachbody/BODi. After completing 80 Day Obsession I will be taking all that I have learned and diving into the gym world. I've worked hard for this and I'm excited to get started.
My journey with at home workouts with Beachbody/BODi has come to an end, not entirely of course. I’m sure I will still keep my BODi on demand membership in case I can’t make it to the gym or just want to add in an extra cardio session at home.
I may not have much knowledge in this fitness game, I mean I’m still very much learning what is what, proper form, what macros are, calorie deficits and calorie surplus’ and carb loading, what creatine and BCAA’s are and if I need to include them in my regime, how to build a schedule that works for me, but most importantly I'm learning how to love my body and trust the process. I read somewhere, "You can't heal the parts of you that you don't love", which really spoke to me, as I'm starting to learn that if that working out is all a mental process. You're body can do anything, it's your mind that plays tricks on you and makes you think you can't do it. Trust. The. Process. and Keep. Going. because not only has my fitness journey been about muscle gains and weight loss it has been such a mental and spiritual journey. I know, you may hear it a lot but working out really is all mental. Don't get me wrong I still very much struggle to push through a workout or a set but the feeling of getting it done and getting through it is so freeing for my mind as well as my body.
I’m on to the next chapter in my fitness journey and I could not be more excited about it!
I’ll make sure to write an update post as soon as I’ve gotten into the gym flow groove and let you guys know how it’s been going!
All of my fitness and health aficionados and gym rats out there who have stumbled on this post, any tips for starting my gym journey? Any tips on getting started on eating cleaner and/or meal prepping tips? Please send them my way! I need them!
To all my readers who have heard of Beachbody/BODi and want to know more or are doing a program right now and want some advice on how to keep trucking through the workouts message me! I’m no longer a coach but I’ve done enough workouts to be able to give you some perspective. Even if you are on your own at home fitness/health journey, lets chat! I would love to be in contact with people who are on a similar journey. Let's learn from each other!