21 Day Fix

I was in the basement one day cleaning when I got sucked into an infomercial for a fitness program (you know you've done it before), and I found myself wondering if it would be the right fit for me.  It's called the 21 Day Fix, and it's based on the idea that you can break a bad habit in 21 days (which neither I nor most psychiatrists will admit has any value, but I digress).

The premise relies on both fitness and nutrition, which is why I was so drawn to it. There are 7 different workouts that follow the workout calendar below:

It's three weeks straight of working out, but the workouts themselves are only 30 minutes, and (dare I say it?) they are pretty fun!  I will admit that I nearly died during the first one, but don't be discouraged-- you will feel so much better if you keep on it.

As I mentioned, this is also a nutrition plan, and it's based on eating at a caloric deficit, which is achieved by portioning food.  To aid this, there are color-coded containers, and you are allotted a certain number of them every day.  The hardest part of this entire process is, as you could imagine, planning.  You have to know what you're going to eat for each meal/snack before you leave the house, or you will not be able to follow this well.  

The first week I did this challenge, I only did the exercise and ate healthier than normal but not according to the guidelines.  When I started to buckle down and really get into the nutrition aspect, I found myself floundering a little.  That's where this helpful worksheet came in handy:

I really appreciated this guiding document from Kimberly Jobs of Sublime Reflection, but it was only available as a PDF, and I wanted to be able to use it to calculate my needs for me.  So, I re-created it using Google Drive, and it's available for download:

CLICK HERE FOR INTERACTIVE SPREADSHEET DOWNLOAD

This document, unlike the original, allows you to play with your meals and warns you when you've gone over your allotted serving.  You can easily see your remaining servings, and when you do exceed what you're allowed, it will let you know:

Clearly, I tried to sneak in too many veggies...

I hope that this document helps you out.  It was created in Google Docs and is therefore a little more compatible there, but it can also be downloaded as an Excel document.

For more information on the 21 Day Fix, check out their website or my Pinterest board.

Re-fashion

It's a new year, and I'm sure you may have guessed that means I'm on a new diet and exercise plan (more on that in a different post), the reason being that I am no longer able to fit into some of my clothing.  However, this has given me a unique opportunity to revisit something I have always had an interest in but never indulged, and that is re-fashioning clothes.

I am a decent seamstress.  I took sewing/fashion classes in high school and even sewed my own prom dress.  In college, my friend Casey and I discovered a book all about re-fashioning T-shirts, and though we did some, we only ever did the no-sew options.

My junior year prom dress, inspired by Beauty & the Beast...

Casey modelling one of our transformed shirts

One reason I'm not really into sewing is because it overwhelms me, mostly due to the yards of fabric needed to make a decent piece of clothing.  When I was in high school and had plenty of classroom space at my finger tips, it didn't bother me, but since then, I have mainly focused on projects that are very limited in size, such as stockings.

What's great about re-fashioning is that it takes pre-existing garments and allows you to modify them without taking up too much time or space.  To make a t-shirt, I would probably need at least two yards of fabric, and I would end up doing a lot of the onerous work, like creating the collar.  For the t-shirt modification below, I only needed a few inches of fabric and got the whole project completed in half an hour.

The inspiration for this particular project can be found here, though there aren't any real instructions beyond: "I cut out the side seams and serged in a panel of fabric on each side and, voila, the shirt fits."

Here's what I did with one of my very favorite t-shirts (that's a little snug these days):

Materials needed:

• Old t-shirt
• Extra fabric (dimensions will vary)
• Sewing machine, straight pins, & thread

Steps:

1. Cut side seams from bottom hem to top and through arm holes; measure cut distance (for me, it was 19.5" x 4" to accommodate .25" seams on sides and .5" hem on top and bottom)

2. Sew top and bottom hems of add-in fabric.

3. Pin and sew in side panels.

It is a pretty fantastic and fun little maneuver, and now I feel comfortable wearing this shirt again.  If I ever got back down to my skinnier size, I could always just re-sew the initial seams.



I also did another shirt, and now I'm afraid I may be addicted...

Now that I have this project under my belt, I am ready to take on more.  Some will be more challenging while some will just be plain fun, but I'm sure a trip to Joann is in order!

Check out other possible projects by clicking here for my Pinterest board.