My Husband and I are like most people – we try and take care of ourselves, despite a busy life. We make an effort to eat fairly healthy foods, get exercise, and some proper sleep. We love the outdoors, and enjoy hiking in the fresh air and sunshine during the Spring and Summer. When it’s warm out, taking care of yourself seems so much easier!
Once the cold weather hits, it’s natural to crave “comfort foods”, and just want to stay in where it’s warm and dry. Whenever I start eating the wrong kind of foods, and exercising less, my energy level just goes way down, and I feel sluggish. This has been the case the past couple of months – I have just been feeling kind of “blah” after being really sick for a couple weeks over the holidays. It’s not just a physical feeling – it almost feels like you don’t care about much of anything, and one day just blends into the next. Clearly, this is not a nice way to be feeling.
Every couple of years, we try and mix up our workout routine. There is nothing worse than getting bored of something, because naturally, you won’t stick to it. We used some exercise videos about 4 years ago which were really good, then we bought a home gym and used that for a couple of years. The time for something new and different is here once again.
We were watching Dr. Phil about 3 months ago, and he had a show about a new workout/nutrition program aimed directly at women, called The P.I.N.K. Method. It looked really interesting ( and fun! ) so I went online and did some more research on it. I liked what I saw, so decided to order it for the New Year. I had planned on starting in January, but ended up getting so sick in Dec/Jan that I had to wait a while to get my strength back. The last thing I wanted to do was start something when my body wasn’t ready for it.
I started the Reset Phase at the start of Feb. – this is a time period before you start the workouts, and all you do is eat better, and consume fewer calories. I repeat – there is no working out during this Phase. The length of your Reset Phase is determined by your height, weight etc. My main purpose for doing this workout program is to get my energy back, but I have to tell you – they were not joking when they said that you will likely lose some weight even in the Reset Phase – I certainly did. I couldn’t believe it – I was not doing anything different, just eating much better. ( and I have to add – they have lots of “menu suggestions” and recipes, so you never get bored, or feel you are “missing out” on anything.)
After that, I moved onto Phase 1 of the Workouts. There are 3 Phases, and each one lasts 3 weeks. After each Phase, you go back on Reset for a few days, to let your body recover. On a normal week, you work out for 6 days, and get one day of rest. I have just finished my second ( of 3 weeks ) of Phase 1. The food is delicious, and the workouts are great – challenging, yes, but awesome!
Most importantly, I am feeling much better, both physically, and emotionally. My mood has improved drastically, and I can actually fall asleep at night – often out of sheer exhaustion, but I’ll take it, as a chronic Insomniac! I am really enjoying The P.I.N.K. Method, and would absolutely recommend it to any ladies out there who are looking to get rid of the Winter “blahs”, or if you feel the need to do so for other reasons. ( health/weight loss etc. ) The bottom line is: it works!
Like I said, I have done the Reset so far, and am about to start week 3 of Phase 1 Workouts, but I’ll keep you posted as to how things go. If this sounds interesting to you, you can find out more about going P.I.N.K here.
