Since going Paleo my family has fallen even more in love with our grill. Paleo and grilling just work well together. The past couple of years I've even been stepping outside my grilling comfort zone more and more. Grilling things I'd never thought to have grilled before and trying new flavor combinations. I have to say I'm pretty thrilled with the results of most of my flavor experiments. In the past I'd never have thought to grill fruit, but it's amazing. Grilling fruit and adding it to traditionally savory dishes? Brilliant. Oh yes, and? New rule: every burger recipe for the rest of forever must contain grilled pineapple. OK, maybe more of a guideline. It's a seriously delicious combination though. This Smoky Grilled Pineapple Burger is always a crowd-pleaser at my house. It's not only Paleo, but Whole30, glutenfree, lower carb, and clean eating friendly. I promise you won't miss the bun! paleo, grilled pineapple burger, smoky...
I was sent a copy of the Built for Her program for review purposes. As always opinions are 100% honest and my own.
OK, first off I need to call myself out on a little BS for my Built for Her Establish phase recap. I totally phoned it in for weeks 2 and 3 of this phase. My calories were high about 4 days, not a big deal, but I had an extra 'treat' meal or two, completely dropped the ball on my food prep, and my effort was just not there. I missed a workout or 2 each week and overall just did not give this phase my best effort. Maybe a little self sabotage going on? Definitely a whole lot of poor time management and not prioritizing myself and my workouts. Maybe I need to add an extra layer of accountability?
Anyway, I don't believe in excuse-making or white-washing my actions. I'm working on the underlying issues; that's the important point here. I almost redid the entire phase because I wanted to give it my best effort, but instead I decided to just do another full week of it. So, this phase was actually 4 weeks for me instead of 3 (but 2 of those weeks were a total wash).
OK, that little confession out of the way, I have to say that I loved the workouts from this phase. They were a total challenge and just so so good! This may sound strange, but I felt like I've never worked out before. Ha, ha, and you guys know I've tried tons of workouts. It was sort of this light bulb moment, like, wow, OK this is working out. They're just different than what I'm used to in such a good way. Change is definitely good.
I struggled to make it through the workouts the first week (probably why I punked out on them the next two weeks), but the last week (that I added on) I attacked them. I called myself out on my own BS and prioritized my workouts and didn't allow myself to phone it in and give a lackluster effort during my workouts. I even upped my weights a little the last circuit workout I did.
Thankfully, I am definitely feeling progress being made. I am feeling stronger and more fit than I did at the beginning of Built for Her. Especially my abs. One of the reasons I decided to extend this phase was that my abs/core were still feeling so weak. I could barely do some of the ab moves at the beginning of this phase. Like I said, feeling so much stronger already! It was definitely a good choice to add the extra week. Amber says in the program that this is the "foundation" phase of Built for Her and I feel like with adding the extra week I built a good foundation for further progress.
OK, on to my results for this phase...
Built for Her Establish Phase Results
Bold are results this phase and italics are total results so far in the program.
Weight:
Stayed the same. Down 5.6 lbs so far
Inches:
Bust -1/2 inch Down 1/2 inch total so far
Waist -1/2 inch Down 1 inch total so far
Hips stayed the same Down 1 inch total so far
Thigh -1/2 inch Down 1/2 inch total so far
Upper Arm -1/4 inch Down 1/4 inch total so far
Calf -1/4 inch (didn't measure at the beginning, just decided I want to also track this measurement after Renew Phase, so no total inches here)
I'm pretty surprised and pleased with these. First thing this morning when I weighed, I initially expect no results this phase. The scale read the same and that's sort of what I expected from my efforts. Then, (the scale doesn't always tell the whole story!) when I took my inches I was pleasantly surprised!
My jeans are feeling loose and I am feeling stronger. I'm loving trying the different macro nutrient approaches and workouts. It's like a little experiment in seeing how my body reacts to different approaches. It's kind of fun and super fascinating.
On to the Challenge phase...
You can find the Built for Her program here (not an affiliate link) and I definitely recommend following Amber on Instagram!
And I'll leave you with a sleeping pic of our new kitten Naya. Because it's my blog and I'll kitten pic if I want to ;)
***Find my Built for Her phase 3 (Challenge) Results and Recap here***
***Find my Built for Her Final Review and Results here***