Sunday, February 8, 2015

Beachbody 21 Day Fix Complete Review


What is it?

The 21 Day Fix is one of Beachbody's amazing programs. It has a unique take on how to get proper nutrition and it has 30 minute workouts for every day of the week. 

What you get

With this program, you get seven 30 minute workouts (eight if you buy from a coach), a 10 minute workout for abs, a nutrition plan that includes the containers you see above and a shaker bottle, and a tape measure to measure your progress. If you complete the program, you also get a T-shirt.

The Workouts

Total Body Cardio - This workout uses weights and cardio at the same time. All of the moves get your heart rate going while also working your muscles pretty good. The first day I did this one, I was sore for four days! I had been working out for close to a year. I've done Les Mills Combat and PiYo plus a lot of other stuff, but this thing killed me! You can read a play by play of this workout on my post from Day 1 of 21 Day Fix

Upper Fix - This one is all about the upper body, but we didn't just sit there doing bicep curls and tricep extensions for 30 minutes. No no no. This is the entire upper body, it's not just about the arms. There was more shoulder, chest and ab stuff than arms really. You can read a play by play of this workout on my post from Day 2 of 21 Day Fix

Lower Fix - This one is all about the legs and glutes! It was hard! My first day was especially hard because I was still sore from Total Body Cardio! This has lunges and squats galore! There is also a section on the floor. Floor work sounds like it should be easy because you're on the floor, but this was far from easy! You can read a play by play on my post from Day 3 of 21 Day Fix. 

Pilates Fix - I had never done Pilates before this workout. It was crazy intense. This may have been the hardest workout for me. There is some leg stuff in her that was just torture on day 1. I was still sore from Total Body Cardio plus the prior day was Lower Fix. We were on the floor for this entire workout, but it was crazy intense. You can read a play by play of the workout on my post from Day 4 of 21 Day Fix

Cardio Fix - This one was straight up cardio. No weights, no strength moves, just pure sweat. It was intense and I got a good calorie burn. It was hard. I had to modify some stuff. It was good though. I needed to get my heart pounding! You can read a play by play of the workout on my post from Day 5 of 21 Day Fix

Dirty 30 - I'm not really sure how this one got it's name, but this one is amazing. Everything is compound moves and the moves alternated with something on your feet and then something on the floor. You can read a play by play of the workout on Day 6 of 21 Day Fix.

Yoga Fix - There are no rest days, but day 7 was Yoga which was great because after a week of crazy hard core workouts, I was ready for a nice calming yoga workout. I was a bit skeptical because I'm really picky about my yoga, but she did a good job with it. It was calm and relaxing. It started with some strength moves and then went into stretching. You can read a play by play on Day 7 of 21 Day Fix

10 Minute Fix for Abs - This was a 10 minute ab workout. It was all about crunches. My abs were pretty sore the day after this workout! It's only 10 minutes, but it's intense. You can read a play by play of 10 Minute Fix for Abs.

Plyo Fix - This workout is the free one you get if you order through a coach. If you don't have a coach, you can sign up with me as your coach so you can get the free DVD.  Plyo Fix is all about Plyometrics. That's stuff like jump squats, jumping lunges and those push ups where your propel your hands up off the floor. Crazy stuff for someone who is 259 pounds, but I did most of it! I modified the jumping lunges, but I did the rest of it. I didn't jump very high, but I jumped. My Tuck Jumps were ugly, but I jumped! You can read a play by play of Plyo Fix

21 Day Fix Eating Plan

The 21 Day Fix eating plan is based on a container system. There is a formula to figure out how many of each container you get to eat in a day based on your weight. For me, I got 6 green, 6 red, 4 purple, 4 yellow, 1 blue, 1 orange and 6 teaspoons. The book has a list of all the foods that go into each container. The green is veggies (lettuce, broccoli, carrots) and all the fruits that we think of as veggies (cucumbers, peppers, eggplant). Red is proteins including chicken, lean beef and yogurt. Purple is fruit that we traditionally think of as fruit (grapes, oranges, apples) and berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries). Yellow is grains (whole wheat pasta, whole grain bread, quinoa, rice). Blue is healthy fats (nuts, cheese, avocado). Orange is more healthy fats, but they are different (seeds, olives, dressings). The teaspoons are healthy oils (olive oil, walnut oil, nut butters).

I had a bit of an adjustment period. I was a bit hungry during the day, but then at night, it was like I could eat all this stuff because I had all of these extra containers to eat up. Once I switched it up and moved some of those containers to earlier in the day, I wasn't nearly as hungry. I did feel a bit restricted though. I didn't want to go out to eat with my husband because I didn't really know how the food would translate into the containers. I just didn't go out to eat for 21 days. The point of this is to form a habit and stick with it beyond the 21 Days, but I actually stopped the nutrition part of it after the 21 Days. I wanted to do the nutrition plan while I was doing the workouts because I wanted to try it out, but I like to mix things up with my nutrition as well. I found myself in a rut with 21 Day Fix. I was eating the same things day after day after day. I don't get bored with eating the same food, but I know that my body can adjust to constantly eating the same things so after my 21 Days was up, I switched to Weight Watchers. I'll do the 21 Day Fix nutrition plan again, but I wanted to try something different. This journey is all about finding what works for me and to find what works for me, I have to try a lot of different things. I'm not saying the 21 Day Fix nutrition plan is bad. I think it's amazing, but I did the 21 days that I set out to do and now I'm trying something different. 

I logged what I ate every day and posted it. They are all tagged with 21 Day Fix if you'd like to see what I was able to eat in a day. I also logged my "cheats," but I didn't count any containers for them.

My Results

I lost 7 pounds during the 21 Day Fix. I could have lost more, but I had some salt issues in the last week. If I eat to much salt, I don't lose weight. I retain water like crazy, but once the water is gone, I haven't lost any weight. It sucks, but that's the story of my life. I lost a half inch in my chest, a half inch in my right right and a half inch in my left bicep. Weird, but true. My numbers aren't very impressive, but I hadn't lost any weight in a few months. I finished 21 Day Fix in January and I think it was the previous September when the scale had moved last, so while 7 pounds isn't crazy impressive in 21 days, I was thrilled. 21 Day Fix was what I needed to jump start me back into weight loss. I wasn't perfect with the nutrition either. I ate raisins in my salad and I ate my Graze.com snacks each work day, but I still lost weight. You don't have to be perfect to lose weight with this program. You just need to be better than you were. I hadn't had any problems working out for the previous few months, but I had problems controlling my nutrition. 21 Day Fix helped me get that under control. I was eating healthy meals, but I was eating a lot of junk food for snacks. Doing this program got me to kick my sweet tooth (again). It's just what I needed when I needed it.

Want to Learn More? Watch the Video!

5 comments:

  1. Thanks a lot, I lost 1 kilo weight in a week with natural way following pro fitness coach guidelines. Get free coach online ProFitnessCoach4u

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  2. This is actually the kind of information I have been trying to find. Thank you for writing this information.
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    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you found it helpful. I know it can be challenging finding out details about workout programs. It's like this big mystery where everyone has the same vague information.

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  3. Do you know the 2 biggest reasons men and women stop exercising?

    1) Lack of time
    2) Lack of motivation

    Let's tackle "Lack of Time" today with 5 ways you can get your
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    minutes in the gym.

    Here are 5 ways to cut time from your workouts.

    a) Supersets

    I use "non-competing" superset. This means, choose two exercises
    for different muscle groups - and preferably completely opposite
    movements. For example, choose a push and a pull. That way, one
    muscle group rests while the other works...and you cut the rest
    time you need between sets.

    b) Choose a better warm-up strategy

    Don't waste 10 minutes walking on the treadmill. Instead, use a
    total body circuit of bodyweight exercises as a general warm-up, and
    then move directly into specific warm-up sets for your first two
    exercises.

    c) Pair dumbbell and bodyweight exercises together in your
    supersets

    This saves you time at home (you don't need to change the dumbbell
    weight between exercises) and in the gym (you don't need to fight
    for 2 sets of dumbbells).

    d) Choose Intervals over slow cardio

    The latest research shows more weight loss when people use
    intervals, and intervals take half as long to do.

    e) Limit the use of isolation exercises

    Pick multi-muscle exercises, such as squats, pulls, pushes, and
    rows. If you have time, you can squeeze in some dropsets for arms
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    45 minutes per week, isolation exercises must be the first to go.

    In addition, don't spend more than 10 minutes per week on direct ab
    training. It's not efficient and won't give you rock hard abs
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    Get your very own copy of Turbulence Training & the Nutrition Guide here: ===> 5 Ways to Cut Your Workout Time <=====

    Workout less, live life more,

    Craig Ballantyne, CTT
    Certified Turbulence Trainer
    Creator of Turbulence Training

    PS - Don't know where to start?

    If you are a beginner, start by reading Dr. Mohr's nutrition
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    Beginners should also start with the Introductory TT workouts to
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    ReplyDelete
  4. Started this program with friends. I knew you'd have a full write up! Thank you!

    ReplyDelete