I am half way through the 8-week Tone It Up Bikini Series. Here is a recap of what I ate and what I did during Week 4 and my thoughts on the challenge as a whole at this point. HINT: I’m still loving it!
WHAT I ATE
Monday-Friday: Meal 1: Chocolate Cherry Smoothie with PerfectFit protein powder
Meal 2: Vanilla Chia pudding with berries
Meal 3: Four Bean Salad (Monday I had a leftover veggie burger patty instead) Meal 4: Celery and PB or a Kind Bar
Meal 5:
- Monday: Chickpea & Tuna Cakes with whole grain rice and broccoli
- Tuesday: Zoodles with Tomato Basil Sauce
- Wednesday: Egg and Veggie Scramble
- Thursday: Live Med Salad from Zoe’s Kitchen
- Friday: Leftovers (& wine)
Saturday Meal 1: PerfectFit Ezekiel French Toast (amazing!!!) Meal 2: Cherries and Blueberries Meal 3: Tuna salad on tomato slices with ½ orange Meal 4: Tom Yum Soup from Thai L’Elephant (brothy, vegetable soup)
Meal 5: Heavenly Eggplant from Thai L’Elephant (Lots of veggies with tofu and rice) & wine
Sunday Meal 1: Egg and Veggie Scramble with 2 veggie sausage patties Meal 2: 2 PerfectFit pineapple carrot muffins Meal 3: Tuna salad on tomato slices Meal 4: none
Meal 5: Cod with potatoes and corn on the cob + oatmeal raisin cookies
I am really loving following the Tone It Up meal plan. I will say- I mostly just use their guidelines and make my own recipes rather than cooking the recipes that they have planned each day. I HAVE been trying a lot of their smoothie recipes and I really love them. You already know that I love Blueberry Bombshell, but the Chocolate Cherry Tart smoothie is a new favorite as well. A smoothie for M1 is definitely something I can see myself sticking to long after the challenge is complete. Speaking of smoothies, my Peanut Butter Oat Protein Smoothie was featured on the PerfectFit Instagram account last week! Super exciting- that’s the third Busy Girl Healthy World recipe they have featured!
The first couple weeks of the challenge, I was eating a lot of seafood. I don’t really like to eat seafood very often so I am trying to cut it down for the remainder of the challenge. We had originally planned to go to the shore this weekend, but due to the less than stellar weather forecast, we opted to stay home. We ended up going out to eat on Saturday night instead, but it was easy to stay within the “lean, clean, and green” guidelines at the Thai restaurant we chose- Thai L’Elephant in Phoenixville. They had a large selection of Vegan appetizers and entrees and I would HIGHLY recommend it regardless of your dietary choices.
Overall, I have remained motivated to sticking with the plan. There were a few minor slip ups here and there (like an extra glass of wine or a my mom’s oatmeal cookies on Sunday night), but for the most part I have been really dedicated to it. I think it’s important to incorporate some small, healthy treats every few days in order to keep that sweet tooth and bay and stop you from overindulging. So far it’s worked for me!
WHAT I DID:
Monday
- AM: Cardio Flow + 10 minute walk
- PM: Legs for Days + 20 minute walk
- TOTAL ACTIVE TIME: 60 MINUTES
Tuesday
- AM: Tone HIIT Up + 10 minute walk
- PM: Cardio Abs + Bikini Arms & Abs (2x)
- TOTAL ACTIVE TIME: 60 MINUTES
Wednesday
- AM: Rock Your Body
- PM: 20 minute walk
- TOTAL ACTIVE TIME: 40 MINUTES
Thursday
- AM: Cardio Flow + 10 minute walk
- PM: 35 minute run + 10 minute walk
- TOTAL ACTIVE TIME: 70 MINUTES
Friday
- AM: Booty Workout + 10 minute walk
- PM: Upper Body Total Toner + 20 minute walk
- TOTAL ACTIVE TIME: 70 MINUTES
Saturday:
- AM: K&K Slay
- PM: Toned Abs + 15 minute walk
- TOTAL ACTIVE TIME: 50 MINUTES
Sunday:
- AM: 35 minute run + 10 minute walk
- PM: none
- TOTAL ACTIVE TIME: 45 MINUTES
(Doing an ab routine on my kitchen floor while simultaneously cooking my breakfast-I always have lots of company when I work out.)
REFLECTIONS: I am so proud to say that I have not missed a single workout in all four weeks. I have gotten up for my booty call every single day and I’ve worked out again after work every day as well. Occasionally I have had to switch up the days of the workouts (e.g. swap my Tuesday workouts with Wednesday) because of the weather or other time constraints, but by the end of each week all of my scheduled workouts have been completed. Occasionally, if there is only one workout scheduled I will add in a short second workout (my favorite “add on” is the Cardio Flow routine).
You may have noticed that I dropped the “5 daily moves” from my schedule. I liked the idea of the 5 daily moves, but I was adding way too much time to my morning just fussing with my equipment. I wish they would stick to just one or two pieces of equipment per day with that. I was annoyed about having to pull out dumbbells for one move, my stability ball for another, my kettlebell for another, etc. Maybe that works if you have all of your equipment in one room and can access it easily- but I have a lot of mine stored in a closet and my stability ball stored in another room so to run all over my house rounding up the equipment was annoying. Since I got rid of that piece, I have been trying to take an extra few minutes at the end of my workout to stretch AND to work on my chaturanga because it is SO hard for me. My triceps are getting stronger, but chaturanga continues to be challenging for me. It also doesn’t help that my left elbow pops every single time I lower down/do a tricep pushup. BUT, the only way to improve is to practice, practice, practice!
I am continuing to notice improvements in running. I have been running two to three times a week with River and my 5k time has been improving a little bit each time which is awesome to see because up until I started the bikini series, I had plateaued. I definitely believe the combination of running more, HIIT workouts, and consistent strength training is helping me improve. I use to run three times a week without doing HIIT and my strength training was inconsistent at best—and I wasn’t noticing much improvement at all in my running. I used to be very discouraged by it. It’s a GREAT feeling to check my phone at the end of the run and see that my speed is improving and the run is feeling more enjoyable.
(Sweaty Selfies with the Riv dog after one of our 3-mile runs)
I think that sticking to the twice daily workouts has been a challenge for me on busy days, but also it has been what I am most proud of so far in the challenge. I have really started to notice some improvement in my muscle tone, especially in my stomach and arms. My husband has also told me that he has noticed a difference. This is GREAT news for me and perfect motivation to keep up with the challenge for the last four weeks.
NOTE: I just tried the Honey Lemon Overnight Oats yesterday for my M2 from the Nutrition Plan and it is AMAZING. I want to eat it every day. Definitely going to be my new Go-To M2 for the Spring and Summer months.
Is anyone else completing the Bikini Series? How are you feeling about it at the half way point?
