Weekly TAM Update, Week 3 and Food!

This was my third week doing TAM (Tracy Anderson Method), and I have to say that I still love it! It still kicks my butt, which is exactly what I wanted. The dance cardio is getting easier, although I have been having some knee pain and shin splints. I’ve tried a few different things for the pain and am taking it easy on myself, and I know it will get better as I practice. Even with the pain, I really think it’s fun! I’m on the second level of the muscular structure work, and at times I have to admit it feels a little like this:

(photo from here)

I’ve been enjoying it, though. I have three more days on this level before I move to something new. 

For my stats, I’m down another 2 pounds this week, which makes 5 total pounds lost since starting TAM and 30 total from my highest point. Go me!!! With TAM you take your measurements every 10 days. My first 10 days I didn’t loose much inch-wise, just 1/2 inch off each thigh, but I’ll take it! I will measure again in 3 days, too, so I’ll update again next Friday. (Shhh, don’t tell, but I might have cheated a little and peeked at my waist just now, and I might or might not be an inch smaller there now!) I know things are changing because I’m swimming in my clothes. Happy dance! That means I need to go shopping soon!

Now let’s talk about one of my favorite things, food! Tracy has a food plan to go along with the exercise DVDs, but like I said, I’m not doing it. I really like her concepts about not eating any processed food, cooking from scratch, eating tons of fruits and veggies. I don’t want to “diet” while nursing, though, but I also don’t want to eat everything in sight either, because that’s why I’m in this mess. So instead, I reached for my trusty buddy, this book:

(Photo from here)

I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love this book. I originally checked it out from the library about 5-1/2 to 6 years ago, before I lost some weight and got pregnant with Sweetheart. It was a fun read, Mireille is a good storyteller and I read it fairly fast, but I returned it to the library without actually doing much else. I then got on the scale about that same time and was shocked to see that I had dropped 5 pounds. Just from reading the book, I dropped 5 pounds! That was the first time I really understood that loosing weight is more about a change in mindset than a change in the body. So I bought the book and did everything in it, including learning to make the most decadent croissants ever. And the weight pretty much just fell right off. 

The basic concept of the book is this. Every person has two sides of themselves; they have the side that wants to be thin and healthy and beautiful, and then they have the side that wants to eat and be satisfied. These two sides seem to be opposites, when if instead you can get them to make friends and play nice, suddenly everything falls into place. But how do you do that? First, go get her book because she explains it better than me, but the general concept is that if you eat really good, high quality, yet healthy food and you really take the time to savor and enjoy it, you need less to be satisfied. High quality food involves a lot more cooking from scratch, nothing processed or from boxes and lots of fresh food in season. And it involves chocolate, hooray! But only the good stuff, no crap chocolate here. 

The recipes in her book are a little too, well, French for Marquis’s taste (other than the croissants), so we don’t use many of them. The book I use probably five or six days a week is this one:

(Photo from here)

We get Cooking Light Magazine and we love it, but I especially love this book because all the recipes in here are so stinkin’ fast to make. I have a really hard time with the concept of eating for fuel instead of for enjoyment, and Marquis has an even harder time with it, so food at our house has to taste good, even if it is the healthy stuff! I have loved every recipe I have tried from this book, and have only received a veto on one of them from Marquis. And for my picky boy, that’s big!

We sit down together every night at the table at the same time to eat dinner. It’s something that I love, and something that has become more and more important to us. And I’m so excited to be getting better at making yummy, healthy food for my family!