Athleisure

It's been almost 2 weeks since I started the Tone It Up plan and I immediately started feeling 100 times better. I've had a few challenges on the way so far with family visiting (who wants to visit / eat with someone on a diet? Not me!) but there will always be things on the calendar trying to get you to fall off course. There may have been a piece of cornbread and one or two extra cocktails (maybe even a beer flight - whoops) while they were here, but everything I've done has been with intention rather than just going back to bad habits - and that's my top goal with this new plan. If I indulge, it has to be worth it, and I have to make up for it with a workout or making better choices in the meals following (something I didn't always do before). If you didn't read my Before post, check that out for more background on why I'm starting this, why this plan, etc.

If you follow me on Snapchat or Instagram, you've been getting all the updates but here's a quick recap of where we're at. I originally planned to go this alone since I missed the Bikini Series bandwagon back in April when they all started. THEN last week I found out they will be doing a  ROUND 2 of the same series starting this Monday, June 27th. The community support is a big part of the appeal, so I decided to start over on Monday with the group. These first two weeks that I'm in the middle of are just a bonus. It's been great to get to know the plan, gather the gear I needed, make a bunch of the recipes, and learn what might be my top challenges. So far, so good (aside from my few slip-ups).

What I'm loving about is that it fits so well into my life. I can do the workouts at home, which means I can do them while Sailor is napping or quickly in the morning before Ian leaves for work. I used to go to the gym and take classes pre-baby, but that would take 2 hours out of my day. I love how easy it is to fit these in. 20-40 minutes and I'm back downstairs onto the next part of my day. The food is another thing that's so easy to make work in a normal day. I love the recipes, but I can also easily order at restaurants and share the food I make with family. A huge plus! So far, I'm obsessed with their protein pancakes, kale salad, peanut butter and jelly balls, chickpea "Bikini wraps", and all the smoothies.

SO a few of you have told me that you're thinking of joining me on this adventure too which I LOVE. Have you been getting ready? What have you been doing? Do tell! To make it a little easier, I'm going to share a few of my tips for you as you get ready to start. If you're not doing this specific Tone It Up series, no worries! You can still get a lot of ideas from their site and YouTube channel or just do your own plan and check in with me so we can motivate each other!

Here are my tips so you can get started on the right foot.

1. Bundle is best. They have a couple different options. The Bundle is $170 and gets you the daily journal which I find SUPER helpful, and the Beach Babe 4 "premium" workout videos on their site which I have been doing for all my workouts. Once you join, you're a member for life and you get all the future versions of the plan. This also includes the whole recipe book and nutrition plan which lays out what to eat every day and which workouts to do. I find this to be SO KEY. By the way, I am NOT affiliated with Tone It Up, I just chose it as my plan, haven't gotten anything for free, and I am a fan.

2. Get the gear. Before you start the workouts, you're going to need some gear. To figure out what I needed I just watched some of the videos to see what they were using, and then gathered some stuff online and at Target. See what I got below.

3. You do need the protein powder. I love theirs for the fact that it's not filled with random chemicals and it tastes great. You can use whatever powder you want, but do get some as many of their recipes use it.

4. Get your family on board. Have a talk with whomever you spend a lot of time with. It's a big change to your lifestyle and you will find it much easier if your hubby will eat some of this stuff with you. It's hard to imagine doing this if Ian wasn't OK with eating a lot of these recipes, not to mention being on baby duty while I work out first thing in the morning. Even my parents are going to be eating a lot of these recipes with us when we go to MN next week!

5. Clear some time for this. Especially that first week when you're getting used to everything - learning the recipes, seeing how much time the workouts take, etc. I was obsessed the first week and spent a lot of time on the meal prep and grocery shopping and stuff. When it's all new, everything takes longer to do and you want to get in a groove. It was a big time commitment at first, and then it becomes more second nature as the days go on.

Of course, fashion always comes into play in anything I do and this is no exception. While I haven't bought any fun new workout clothes yet (I'm saving those for personal rewards for milestones along the way), I decided it would be fun to incorporate workout clothes into my daily style. Basically, athleisure and I are going to be BFF's all summer. That way I can always sneak in a workout whenever I can without having to change clothes, and it gives me fashion inspiration as a reminder of what I'm doing for myself.

So are you in? Let me know in the comments if you are and let's do this!

On Me: Leggings / Jacket / Top (old Lululemon but similar options below) / Shoes / Bag / watch

Gear: Resistance bands / Protein powder ( both on sale til Saturday with code HAPPYSUMMER20) / 5 lb weights / 3 lb weights / Yoga mat / Foam roller / Scale / Stretch bands / Water bottle / Kettlebell / Exercise ball

[show_shopthepost_widget id="1713788"]Photography by Heather Kincaid