You might remember a while back I posted about starting my 12 month (eek) journey on the Results With Lucy fitness plan, and oh my how time has flown! I'm now a good 8 weeks in to the first phase of the year long regime, so I thought I would share with you some first impressions, thoughts and results!
At the moment I'm on the New Beginnings phase of the plan, which lasts 13 weeks in total and is designed to get your fitness levels up, get you eating right and changing your lifestyle habits for the better. Now I'll admit, at the start of this I was honestly a little skeptical; I've done various diets and fitness plans in the past but have always struggled to stick to them, so why was this one any different? 8 weeks in though I can say that my habits are changing and I'm completely and utterly sold on the Results With Lucy way of doing things!
Firstly, let me tell you a little about the plan and the idea behind New Beginnings - it's fairly simple to follow with four workouts a week, ranging from 30 to 60 minutes and varying in intensity and focus area. Once you sign up to the plan you get access to all of these that are planned in on set days for you (you can change the days you do them to suit your lifestyle, but you must do all four a week, in the order they are given), plus there's a video bank of loads more workouts in case you want to add something else to your routine! You then eat a balanced, nutritious diet of three meals a day, and healthy snacks if you need them, all of which are listed with easy to follow instructions in a handy recipe bank on the site.
WHAT I EAT
One thing I love about the plan is the variety of food I can eat, and the number of recipes available. Meals typically are carb free or low carb, usually substituted with wholewheat alternatives, oats or pulses, plus lots of fruit, vegetables and healthy fats. My typical day would start with a bowl of greek yogurt with linseeds and nuts, baked oats with berries or a smoothie of bananas, yogurt, peanut butter and almond milk, depending on how much time I have in the morning. Then for lunch I usually have toasted rye bread with various toppings such as poached eggs, chicken and avocado or feta and tomato, or leftovers from the night before's dinner. Then at dinner time itself I usually go for a chicken dish such as thai curry with brown rice, or chicken baked in tomatoes and peppers.
I've noticed that since starting this eating plan, I've not felt as hungry between meals, so haven't felt the need to snack anywhere near as much as I would normally! The meals are always nutritious and filling and leave me feeling great - my IBS symptoms that would sometimes flare up after eating have almost disappeared! If I do get peckish I now reach for rice cakes with peanut butter (I use Meridian), a couple of squares of 70% or higher dark chocolate (which I would NEVER have eaten 8 weeks ago as I'm a Galaxy or Milkybar girl through and through) or I make my own peanut butter cups from one of the recipes on the plan!
If I'm travelling for work I now carry a pot of cashews and almonds and a piece of fruit incase I get hungry on the go, and I now drink ALOT of water, usually 2 litres a day. Alcohol is limited to the bare minimum, which I'm actually finding okay (if I want to treat myself to a couple of gins with slimline tonic, I do!) and soft drinks are a no no, but again, no biggie for me.
HOW I EXERCISE
As I mentioned, on the plan you are expected to do four workouts a week which are all set out for you in your online portal. I tend to also add in an hour long gym session each weekend where I do a mix of cardio and weights at my own pace.
The workouts on the plan start with a warm-up, then you do 3 or 4 videos, around 5-10 minutes each that are designed to target different areas. So for example I could do an arm workout with dumbells, followed by an ab workout which is all floor-based, then a 10 minute burst of cardio. All workouts then finish with a cool down designed to stretch out all the muscles you have used. My favourite are the pilates and yoga inspired ones as they really chill me out afterwards!
Each week the intensity of the workouts increases, which so far I'm enjoying and managing to keep up with (just about), and every four weeks you are required to do a fitness test to analyse how your fitness levels are improving. You can see my results below - check out that plank! I'm so pleased with my results so far, and if you asked me to do 41 press ups (albeit on my knees) 8 weeks ago I would have laughed in your face!
RESULTS SO FAR
So now on to the results! Its worth pointing out that one of the key things stressed on this plan is to gauge your results by your measurements rather than the numbers on the scales. This is mostly down to the fact that the programme is encouraging lots of workouts to build and tone muscles, and with muscles weighing more than fat, you could end up gaining muscle weight. We all know that seeing the number go up on the scales can be disheartening to say the least, which is why they say to step away from the scales. I will admit though, I have been weighing myself just to see where the land lies - I have seen a loss so far, but that's because I was carrying some weight that needed shifting, but now that's going, I'm not expecting the pounds to drop that much going forward, if at all!
8 WEEK PROGRESS
CHEST -2.5"
ARMS -2" (1" on each)
WAIST -2"
STOMACH -0.5"
HIPS -3"
BOTTOM no change
THIGH -3" (1.5" on each)
TOTAL -13 inches
WEIGHT -8 lbs
I'm not quite ready to show you any before and after photos (that's going to take some hella courage!) but I think for just 8 weeks of work, the results speak for themselves! Aside from the lack of loss from my derriere (which is proving harder to shift and usually the last place I lose from), I've never done anything like this before where I've seen such consistent results over the first four, then eight weeks, so I'll be interested to see how things pan out over the coming months!
I'll be posting my New Beginnings overall results in the next month or so, as I've still got another five weeks of this first phase to go, but if there's anything you'd like to know, just drop me a comment below or you can keep up with my progress via Instagram here. So far, so good!
Are you on the Results With Lucy plan? Check out the full range of plans here if you're interested in joining.
C x
8 WEEK PROGRESS
CHEST -2.5"
ARMS -2" (1" on each)
WAIST -2"
STOMACH -0.5"
HIPS -3"
BOTTOM no change
THIGH -3" (1.5" on each)
TOTAL -13 inches
WEIGHT -8 lbs
I'm not quite ready to show you any before and after photos (that's going to take some hella courage!) but I think for just 8 weeks of work, the results speak for themselves! Aside from the lack of loss from my derriere (which is proving harder to shift and usually the last place I lose from), I've never done anything like this before where I've seen such consistent results over the first four, then eight weeks, so I'll be interested to see how things pan out over the coming months!
I'll be posting my New Beginnings overall results in the next month or so, as I've still got another five weeks of this first phase to go, but if there's anything you'd like to know, just drop me a comment below or you can keep up with my progress via Instagram here. So far, so good!
Are you on the Results With Lucy plan? Check out the full range of plans here if you're interested in joining.
C x
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