Tracy Anderson, You Gotta Be Kidding Me!

You guys. Holy effing S. Tracy Anderson's 30-Day Method is sooo hard! Today is day ten, and it’s a good time to check in. I’m 1/3 of the way through. It’s been TOUGH. Also, I’m sort-of-almost getting to the point where I’m reevaluating.

It’s not just the diet and fitness part. That part, I can sort of deal with, even though it’s very challenging. What’s really getting me is the time commitment necessary. I’m spending an average of three hours a day on this, not including grocery shopping! Two hours of meal prep, and one hour of exercise. It is very, VERY hard, to squeeze three hours of extra stuff into every day. Huge chunks of time are just disappearing and everything in the rest of my life is going cuckoo-bananas because I don’t have time to take care of it. Hours are just flying by. (Alternately, the DAYS are creeping by.) At the end of each day, I make dinner and the next day’s breakfast, lunch, and snack. I feel like some of the meals and most of the snacks are overly complicated, which is why it takes foreverrrr. I am exhausted every night from a combination of exercise and cooking.

The diet itself, I’ve pretty much gotten used to. Is it tough to watch my friends eat cookies and cupcakes and bacon and french fries? It’s actually not that bad. I make sure I eat before I go out, and it’s really kind of fine. However, when it’s time for me to eat, I’m not very excited about it. While some of the food is pretty good, I’m sick of chicken/turkey/fish and spinach/broccoli/whatever. And egg whites. Ugh. I don’t even really like eggs to begin with!

Bored with my meal plan, I took a peek at the vegetarian menu to see what THEY get to eat. And they get to eat all kinds of stuff I’ve been wanting! Skim dairy products, tomato sauce, beans! I know they need to get their protein from somewhere, but why can’t I switch it up a little now and then? Tracy Anderson says NO. We have to follow her menus exactly. She doesn’t give the meat eaters a drop of dairy (not including eggs, eggs, EGGS) until Day 16. The vegetarians get it on Day 2.

The book says that we are to eat the meals exactly as prescribed, and follow the days in order. If we’re still hungry, we can have larger portions. (If you made enough, because she doesn’t tell you how much each recipe makes. Good luck!) She doesn’t want us substituting or deciding which things we want when. But she doesn’t say WHY. And that’s what gets me. I want to know why I need to eat this way. What is the purpose? Does she really know what she’s doing? I have a pretty decent knowledge of nutrition, and I really don’t see why I can’t sometimes have beans for dinner, instead of chicken. Also, haven’t we learned that a little bit of fat is necessary to absorb the fat-soluble nutrients in vegetables? Why then, did I just eat a plate of raw veggies, dipped in vinegar mixed with orange juice? We are not allowed to have any oil, sugar, or salt. (I have been sneaking the tiniest bit of salt on my stupid eggs.)

The other thing I’ve been thinking about is that the things I’m craving are not normal craves. I walked by Economy Candy today and I wasn’t like “Ooh! I want candy!” even though it would have been fun to go inside. (And I LOVE candy.) I’m really craving things like yogurt and granola. Brown rice. Whole-wheat toast! Half of a banana! It makes me think it’s because my body NEEDS that stuff. Even when I’m not on a diet, I don’t eat a lot of red meat. But every once in awhile, my body is like “You need A STEAK!” and I so I eat one, and it’s all good. So I wonder if my body is trying to tell me something.

Carbs affect mood, and I’ve definitely seen an increase in crabbiness. Generally, I don’t do no/low carb diets (anymore) for that exact reason. Also, because I think whole grains are an important part of a balanced diet. In this instance, it seemed like we really needed to do something major, so I went ahead with it. But seriously, this makes South Beach seem like nothing!

While I question Tracy Anderson’s diet plan, the fitness plan is well thought out and makes a lot of sense. She devotes several chapters to explaining why it’s better to exercise this way (as opposed to the diet explanation, which is basically: Just do what I say.) However, I’m still having a little bit of trouble with the workouts.

The fitness routine has been pretty tough for me because I’m still recovering from my neck injury, and because I haven’t been able to work out for the past six months. The cardio is hard just because I’m out of shape. The muscle work is hard because of my disk issue.

A lot of the leg exercises require supporting yourself with your arms. My arms and my upper back are where my problem is, along with my neck, obviously. I had to take a couple days off the workouts last week because my neck and back were hurting. Yesterday, I went to physical therapy and showed my therapist the kinds of mat exercises I was doing, and he told me I am NOT ALLOWED to do those exercises every day. I am allowed to do them three times a week, max. (I can still do cardio daily.) Typical me: Feel a little better and then push myself too hard. So I need to chill out. On the one hand, not doing the muscle work will save me a bunch of time. On the other hand, I am not following Tracy Anderson’s Method exactly. And she is very clear that she wants us to follow it exactly.

All that said, I have lost 2lbs. My husband has lost 8lbs (Grr!), but dudes are just lucky that way. Also, he has more to lose than me. I feel slightly more lean, and definitely more fit. I don’t reaaally care about the number on the scale. I’m in this to lose my saddlebags. I’m wondering if I just eat healthy and kill it with cardio (plus muscle work 3x per week) if I can take care of that (them?) in time for short shorts. At the same time, I’ve come this far, I kind of feel like I should keep going. Maybe just cut some corners on the meal prep. For example lunch would be canned tuna with mustard instead of Seared Tilapia with Mustard Sauce. Seriously, that is what she wants me to cook FOR LUNCH. It all boils down to the meal prep, back to where we started. The thought of making all that food, again, tonight… ugh.