You’ve probably heard of BeachBody. Or at least you’ve heard of P90X. And you want to get in shape, you really do. But with the toddler at your feet, the baby on your hip, the phone to your ear, food attempting to become dinner on the stove and your next shift at work in bold on the calendar…. working out just seems so out of reach. You are supermom (or superdad). If only getting in shape and eating healthy were easier! I’m told it can be, with the BeachBody 21 Day Fix Extreme.

The idea behind the 21 Day Fix Extreme is eating healthy and working out hard. Autumn Calabrese, the trainer, is a mom herself and understands how hard it really is to be a supermom. So she made the eating healthy part easy, while the getting fit part pushes you to your limits in just 30 minutes and can be done right at home.

Eating Healthy with the 21 Day Fix Extreme

The basic idea is portion sizes and the right amount of each food group. You start by using the book to determine your caloric need (whether you want to lose weight or just build muscle) then look on the chart to determine how many servings of each food group you should eat. Then simply use the containers to keep your portion sizes in check.

I used a permanent marker to label each container so I wouldn’t have to remember which is which. And I wrote Peter’s and my allotted number of containers on a whiteboard so we could keep track of how much we have eaten and how much we could eat each day.

I love this way of eating healthy. We are able to get used to better portion sizes and understand how much more fruits and veggies (and less carbs and other categories) we should be eating. Rather than getting frustrated reading labels and counting calories, we are actually redefining the way we eat. When I want a snack, instead of reaching for junk food or crackers, I remember I need more fruits and veggies and grab peppers or strawberries instead.

Getting in Shape with the 21 Day Fix Extreme

The workouts in the 21 Day Fix Extreme are extreme. They are rough. Autumn pushes you to the limits. There are 7 workouts, one for each day of the week, each targeting a different area of your body with varying exercises and varying weights. It’s an intense 30 minutes workout each day, with two additional 10 minute extreme workouts you can do if you want to push yourself more. We can make time for 30 minutes a day. It means less computer time, or less tv time, or less time to play Soda Crush and Minecraft. It’s important to take care of ourselves and to teach Micah good habits by example.

We are on day 5 today. Pylo on day 1 about killed me. We don’t work out much and are both rather out of shape. We only made it through half of the pylo workout and my legs were jello the rest of the night. We don’t make it through the 30-60 seconds of most exercises and we don’t use the heavy weight when she does. I’m sure we will get stronger and better each week and will surely be excited to feel the change by week 3 though! Playing catch with Micah while working out definitely adds a challenge though!

Autumn Calabrese is an awesome trainer. Period. I already love her way of encouraging and pushing us to the limit without guilt-tripping or being cheesy. She’s upbeat and keeps reminding us why we to get in shape. The only thing I don’t like is that all the people on the tv screen are in great, amazing shape. They don’t look like average people, which is intimidating. And they sweat and take breaks or mess up once in a while because the workouts are that intense. It’s encouraging to see that even they struggle some though, makes me feel less like a wimp!

My Review of the 21 Day Fix Extreme

I’m always skeptical of before and after photos. People can change the lighting and suck in their gut and look 10 pounds skinnier and more defined. So I’m excited to see what this can actually do for us. It doesn’t promise a ton of weight loss, though it does say we’ll be “ripped”. I just want to get in better shape and develop better eating and workout habits. Peter wants to lose a lot of weight and get in shape, so we need to develop good workout and eating habits that will last much longer than 21 days. I’ll post in a few weeks after we are done and let you know when we think and how we feel!