80 Day Obsession - Week One

I made it through week one of 80 Day Obsession! Week one was full of learning, ups and downs, meal prep, timed meals, intense workouts, challenging new moves, delicious combinations, random things thrown together, early bedtimes, dishes, epsom salt baths and a few tears - but I made it.

The Workouts

The workouts in 80 Day Obsession are intense! This week ranged from 31 minutes to 60 minutes, with most of them being on the side of 45-60 minutes. I was definitely challenged by the movements, range of motion, and intensity.

Total Body Core kicked off the week with a full body workout that engaged the core with each movement. It was a swift kick in the pants but felt great to get started.

Booty focused on, well, the booty and incorporated lots of crazy movements with the resistance loops to target different parts of the booty. It hurt for a few days. 

Cardio Core alternated low and high intensity cardio with tough core moves and it certainly challenged me! 

AAA (Abs Arms and A**) was probably my favourite workout of the week. I really enjoyed the focus on these three areas, the moves and the flow of the workout. It also seemed to go by the fastest, which was a plus. 

Legs - one thing to know about trainer Autumn Calabrese is that she loves working legs whenever she can and it's her favourite day. As I write this post, I can still feel the impact of leg day!!

Cardio Flow was a challenge, especially when I learned that we would be repeating this workout every week and that in week 5 we would increase the number of reps we do, and then again in week 9.

Roll & Release included some helpful guidance for stretches with a foam roller - totally necessary after this crazy week! It's kind of a bonus since Sunday is a rest day, but definitely provided some love for my poor muscles.

The Meal Plan

The 80 Day Obsession meal plan was a really good thing for me. I can fall into a pattern where my eating is really great, but then lots of little treats and extras start to creep their way in. Following this meal plan this week has certainly broke me away from the little treats and extras, and has helped me to focus on eating nutritious food to fuel my workouts.

It felt like more food than I would normally eat, and I'm working to adjust myself to eating a meal first thing in the morning before my workout. I followed the meal plan that I created, but by the end of the week my meals ended up being random combinations of foods that fit into my allotted containers. One thing that helped me to be successful was to keep things simple! I heard this advice before I started the program and I'm glad that I listened. 

I also found that doing a bit of meal prep on Sunday made a big, big difference. I'm going to continue meal prepping, even just a little bit each week as I found it to be really helpful to my success in following the meal plan and my own sanity. On the days I was at the office for work, I packed a large lunch bag with up to 4 meals for the day. When I was home, I followed my set meal times and grabbed what I needed when it was time. Having a plan was key and I enjoyed my meals throughout the week.

I decided to keep things simple again for week 2. I have a couple of meals out this week (last week there was just one) but I feel confident in following my plan and sticking to my plan. I may just be the gal busting out the rainbow containers at a restaurant so that I know I get my portions right.

The Rest

Getting up at 6am on weekdays got easier as the week went on and my body fell into a routine. I found that by the end of each day I was absolutely pooped, so I was clocking a solid 8-9 hours of sleep each night. Autumn talks about the importance of sleep all the time and I found it best to listen to my body - I needed those zzz's.

I didn't have a tonne of social situations this week, so there was very little sneaky food to avoid. I did say no to a gluten free muffin. There was one night I found myself wanting to eat, pretty much for something to do, so I just had a cup of tea. I felt satiated most of the time, so wanting to reach for snacks was mostly mental instead of physical.

Most days I had a lot of energy. The exception to that was after leg day. I had gotten a little less sleep than I had wanted and the workout just tuckered me out. I had a short nap midday and that seemed to do the trick. I find that I start powering down a bit before meals, but I'm getting into the groove and know that I want to stay within that 2-3 hour meal window.

I cried a couple of times during the week, which wasn't very surprising because it's often how I express my feelings. Twice on the first day when I was listening to an inspiring video from Autumn, and then again when Eminem's Lose Yourself came on. (who knew Slim Shady would have such an impact on my feelings?) There were some other tears during one of the workouts that was particularly tough and then on Sunday I just found myself having a low energy, sad day.

I know that this can be a tough time of year for me and that I'm doing something more extreme than usual. I'm challenging my physical and emotional fitness, so Sunday made a lot of sense to me even though it was hard. I'm thankful for my boyfriend who has been doing everything he can to help and make things easier for me, sweet friends who continue to check in and the awesome gals in my January and 80 Day Obsession groups who inspire me every day. (We'd love for you to join us!)

Epsom salt baths are my new favourite thing and I think I'm going to have a love/hate relationship with my foam roller.

I'm really proud of completing week one and feel great about continuing onward with this program! There are parts that are going to get easier and more intuitive (following the meal plan, knowing how to take care of my body, finding joy in the process) and also parts that are going to get tougher from here (pretty much anything related to the workouts!!) I'm thankful for this process and look forward to how I feel at the end of week 2.

If you want to follow along my daily adventures with this program, I've been sharing a lot via Instagram - you can follow me @ashleydtl or on Facebook. Would love to connect with you there!

80 Day Obsession: Day One

Today marks day one of my 80 Day Obsession journey. 80 Day Obsession is a brand new workout program from Autumn Calabrese (creator of 21 Day Fix, 21 Day Fix Extreme, Country Heat and Hammer Chisel). The program targets your abs and booty over the course of 80 different workouts spread out over 13 weeks (6 workouts each week), along with a detailed timed-nutrition plan. I have been actively watching the results from coaches who were in the first test group over the last few months, and they've really inspired me. I can't wait to jump into something completely new and challenging to kick start this year.

That being said, I'm pretty nervous! This is completely outside my comfort zone - longer workouts, targeting my most challenging area (my core), 80 different workouts, the longest fitness program I've done, along with the timed nutrition plan. Thankfully there is lots of delicious, nutrient-dense food on the plan, but it does require some time and prep to make it happen.

I was like a little sponge this week, learning everything I could about this program - printing off my materials, reading and highlighting, watching videos and reading blog posts. I'm already obsessed! The workouts use resistance loops, sliders and weights, and thankfully I've gotten a bit of practice with all of the equipment doing 5 days of a prep workout. 80 unique workouts for an online fitness program is unheard of, so it's going to be really cool to see how the workouts progress over time and become more challenging.

The meal plan is a huge part of the program and it's going to take some getting used to. I spent the weekend getting ready by grocery shopping, meal prepping in addition to taking before photos and measurements.

I'm not normally a huge meal prepper. I'm good at planning meals and grocery shopping, but I don't usually set out time in advance to get things ready. That being said, the times I have done some prep, it's been a huge help to my week! So for 80 Day Obsession, meal prep is just going to be a part of my life, and it certainly was this weekend.

Following the advice of the test group participants, I did my best to follow the nutrition plan as written, keep things simple and choose foods I enjoy. I added in a few new recipes to try (including some quinoa egg cups for easy morning meals) but there's really nothing fancy on my plan for the week. To give you an idea of what my meal plan looks like, here's a sample day for my first week.

It feels exciting to be kicking off the year with a brand new program and an amazing group of people doing it with me! I'm part of an epic coach test group with more than 40,000 coaches taking part, and I've got a small and mighty group of gals who are jumping into the program in our own private group. I'm already so inspired by their motivation and commitment to the program - it's going to be an awesome journey with all of them. I'm planning to share my journey with the program here on the blog and through social media. I want to inspire others to feel their very best this year and hope that it will be an additional way for me to be accountable.

I'm ready to see some changes in my body, get stronger and truly go outside my comfort zone with this program. The workouts are going to be tough and they will progress over time. The nutrition plan is going to require some dedication in addition to all the planning (did I mention there's no booze or much sugar happening during this program!?) I'm doing it to prove to myself that I can, and hopefully achieve some awesome things in the process.

Over the course of the next 13 weeks, I'll be documenting my journey, nutrition and things I learn along the way. If this program piques your interest and you're not already working with a coach, please send me an email and we can chat about your health and fitness goals.

It's time to get obsessed!

Oui Fresh Beauty Box Review

I have been following Elsie and Emma from A Beautiful Mess for years - through their blog, social media, their apps and books. I was very excited a few months ago when I saw that they were releasing a subscription box through their Oui Fresh brand that was all about natural beauty care!

I went back and forth over whether I should get the November box, and before I knew it, it had sold out! I didn't want to experience the same sad feelings and so in December I took the leap and subscribed. I decided that it would be a sweet way to practice some self care over the dreary winter months. It took a little while to reach me here in Toronto through the holiday craziness, but last week I got a notice from the post office and got to fetch this beautiful, yellow, sunshine-y box of goodness from Oui Fresh.

Each month the Oui Fresh beauty box features an awesome selection of non-toxic makeup, skincare, bath and body, and wellness brands curated by the Oui Fresh team. They score the items through the Environmental Working Group Skin Deep database, which is a great place to check out ratings for beauty care products. If the item doesn't meet their standards, it doesn't make it into the box. It's not just about including products that are "all-natural" (which is such a loosey-goosey term) - the items in the box will never have artificial fragrance, sodium laurel sulfate, parabens, phthalates, or any known carcinogens (like formaldehyde, mineral oils, ethylene oxide, and crystalline silica). With all of that in mind, I knew I was in good hands!

The December beauty box did not disappoint!

Each box comes with a couple full sized products as well as some samples, along with a cute print that doubles as a little menu with descriptions for the items in the month's box. This box had 3 full sized products and 2 samples, with a theme of treating yourself and helping to achieve a gorgeous glow amid the stress of the holiday season.

I've already given each product a whirl, and I'm in love!! My absolute favourite is the Bless Beauty Balm by Leahlani. This was one of the full sized products and a little bit goes a long way. It's beautifully moisturizing and nourishing - perfect for this winter season. I've been using it as a nighttime moisturizer and my skin is happy happy happy. My skin tends towards dry, with a bit of sensitivity and is has felt amazing each time I put it on. I've already investigated where I can find this product in Canada, and it looks like it retails for about $61-$67 in Canada, which is more than what I paid for the whole box!

I'm also really stoked about the Oui Fresh gloss in Cosmic Brownie. This is a shade that I love and is perfect for everyday wear. It's moisturizing while adding a sweet hint of colour, and has already become a staple in my purse. I was very curious about Bioessence Squalane + Peptide Eye Gel and have started using this bad boy each day. To be totally honest, I'm the WORST at regularly using skin care products, but it's something that I'm hyper-conscious of as I get older. I've only been using it for less than a week, but the stats on it sound great, so I'm trusting the process! The Oxalis Feel Good potion is another item I've stashed in my purse for moments of stress or anxiety, and I've been loving the blend. It's very comforting and soothing. And the Kaia Naturals bamboo wipes were a great addition because they're a product I know and love! I love them for travel, they're very hydrating (unlike a lot of other wipes) and they biodegrade in 70 days if you plant them, which is very cool.

As a Canadian, a lot of other boxes I've seen have just seemed too expensive once you factor in the currency conversion and shipping - but the Oui Fresh box proved to be pretty reasonable for the value that was offered in the box. The subscriptions vary from $20-$30 USD depending on the length of subscription that you commit to, plus shipping which was just over $10 USD. With the conversion, each monthly box works out to around $42-$45 CDN, which felt reasonable to me for a monthly self-care treat. I haven't researched the value of all the products to purchase in Canada, but this box would have been well over $100 to buy them individually.

I just got notice that my January box is getting ready to ship and I can't wait until it comes in the mail! I had been contemplating a jade roller in my life and lo and behold there's one for me waiting in there. If you're thinking about grabbing one for yourself, be sure to get yourself on the waitlist so you know when the new box is released. The last few have sold out within 1-2 days of the contents being posted.

I'm glad I took the leap on this subscription box and am looking forward to this sweet treat over the next few months! The Beauty Balm is a new staple for me and I'm so happy to have discovered it. I likely won't do an unboxing for each, but if you follow me over on Instagram, I'll be sure to share the goodness on my story when I receive it. Hooray for self care!

Do you receive any subscription boxes? What's been the best product you've received?