kayla itsines week 12
Wow. I cannot believe I have finished Kayla Itsines 12 week bikini body guide! Feels surreal that it has already passed so quickly … 12 weeks is a really interesting amount of time. In the grand scheme of things it really is not that long, but at the same time, so much can happen in 12 weeks. In the course of these past 12 weeks, I have:
- finished Kayla Itsines bikini body guide (try it here for free for a week!)
- finished my first year of graduate school (don’t know how that happened lol)
- watched my blog grow, receiving over 1,400 visitors at its peak
- became an I’m Fit Possible ambassador
- joined the POPSUGAR select fitness program
- continued my yoga practice and am much more flexible
- can do over 180 push ups in a 30 minute workout session
- can now do 70 pound lat pulls
Okay, I will stop there haha! Those are the accomplishments I am most proud of 🙂 And of course I am extreemely proud of my boyfriend for getting into the PhD program at the University of Utah, but I can’t really count this as my own personal accomplishment now can I? 😉
I am so grateful to everything that has occurred in the last few weeks, and I cannot wait to see what the future has in store. Your reality is what you make of it, so make sure you are doing what makes YOU happy. Do not focus on what others will think of you or what they will say. Although for the most part people are supportive of what I do, I still get some passive judgement about the choices I make. But I don’t really care and if I have to continue to state why I am doing what I am doing, then I will continue doing so.
You are probably all wondering whether or not I will be posting progress photo’s, huh? 🙂 I do want too, although I am not sure when (check on my instagram because if I do post them, I will post them there). Don’t get me wrong, I am EXTREMELY proud of my progress, although I do worry about the negativity I may receive: “There’s no change.” “She look’s worse” etc etc. It isn’t like I have developed a six pack or a thigh gap lol, but I have tightened up a lot and am much stronger although I do not really think the photo’s can accurately convey this. I am definitely going to continue with the bikini body guide and will probably just repeat it until Kayla’s new book comes out. Maybe that time round the abs will be showing 😉
Also I just wanted to share this graphic with you that my friend sent me. I think it is fantastic and fits in well with my philosophy that diets are unnecessary!!
Honestly yours,
Alice
7 Comments
Oh, and I wanted to see your progress photos! 🙁 But I can understand you. Those comment´s on kayla´s Instagram pictures like “She looked better before” – or “I do not see any difference” are so disappointing when you work out for over 3 months!
Be proud of your achievements!!! You and the other BBG-Girls are my motivation. 🙂
@einekugelerdbeereis (Instagram)
Hi Julie!
Aw, thank you so much for your support – on the blog and instagram 🙂 Honestly with Kayla’s BBG, people expect big and dramatic changes which is really what makes me nervous about posting my progress. It is small, not big and dramatic, but very meaningful to me 🙂 I might post it eventually and then delete it after a few days. We shall see. Wonderful people like you make me want too!
Thanks again for the lovely words Julie xxx
I’m about to finish week 5 of the guide and am starting to feel kinda discouraged, I’m hardly noticing any changes in my appearance and though my diet hasn’t been as consistent as it could be, it’s kinda frustrating 🙁 how long did it take for you to start seeing changes? Was progress slow at first and become more noticeable in the later weeks? Were you already physically active before you started the guide (like me) and think this may be why progress is slower? Would love to hear your thoughts, glad you were happy with the experience 🙂
Hi Em,
Oh you are so not alone! I felt like that as well when I was first doing the guide. I only started seeing progress at the week 8 mark and honestly even then it was small progress. I was very physically active before I started so perhaps that is a factor. My diet has always been a weakness so I am repeating the guide and being very strict about my portions (I tend to go a bit crazy when I eat out).
Take a hard look at how you can improve on your diet – how are your portion sizes, how much are you really eating, etc. And then ask yourself if you are truly pushing yourself 100% during the workouts. Can you push any harder?
Hope my comments help you. I know how incredibly frustrating it can be not to see progress. If anything, you could always have a consultation with a professional about it. I had a skype consultation with Stephen Box (of Body Type Nutrition) to help determine what I could do to shape up mt diet, which helped SO much!
Alice xxx
I’ve been doing Kayla’s BBG for resistance, and then supplementing it with workouts like bootcamp and spinning for cardio. London has some great classes, like this morning I went to Psycle – definitely the most stylish studio ever: http://hyhoi.com/2014/05/psycle-spinning-workout-interior-design/
Hi,
I know this is an older post, but I just found the blog and I’m on the end of week 3 (LISS today), and just had a few questions. In one of your posts, you mentioned counting macros, which is something I also do, and I was wondering if you drastically changed yours, or lowered your carb intake during the 12 weeks?
I recently upped my carbs so I was at maintenance level rather than cutting calories (I eat roughly 1800 a day, 120-150g of protein, 45-50g of fat, 150ishg of carbs- I try to balance it out and if I eat higher carb one day, I try to lower the fats that day and vice versa, but I’m generally good with keeping to them). I’m not trying to lose a drastic amount of weight because I’m already at a healthy range and I don’t have a lot to lose number-wise, I just want to see some muscle tone. But since starting her program, I’ve gained a few pounds, and I can’t tell if there’s any changes to my body at all, or if maybe this is fat gain because for a long time I was very restrictive with fruits and ate very low carb. Did you have any weight fluctuations the first few weeks, or were the changes you saw consistent? I am very careful of my serving sizes, and limit my fruit and dairy servings to the recommended amount in the help guide (I messed with carbs and proteins as those were just not working well for me). The only thing that has changed since starting the guide was that instead of eating 130g of carbs, I’m at 150, which isn’t some crazy amount, especially since I’m also more active now.
I notice that the exercises are feeling much easier by the end of week 3 so I know in terms of performance there is improvement, so I’m trying to stick to it and see where being consistent takes me, but I’m also worried about if I should be changing my intake. I don’t expect to have an amazing transformation, but I also would like to see something after all the effort being put in.. I was wondering if you had any suggestions? And when did you start seeing changes in your body? I feel like even in photos, I’m not sure if there’s a difference and it’s a bit frustrating. I love the workout, but I hope I see some results along with it 🙁
Hi Rachel!
So sorry it took me so long to reply; I wanted to make sure I gave you a proper answer since you took the time to write such a long comment.
For my first round of BBG, I was counting macros and was keeping my carb intake relatively steady; I did not lower or raise it. I was eating about 150-180g of carbs at the time but found that I didn’t really see the results I wanted. My second round of BBG, I followed Kayla’s HELP guide which has you follow serving sizes rather than macros. Although the photos don’t do the progress justice, I lost 7 pounds and was much more successful.
I would err on the side of caution and think that this may be muscle gain rather than fat gain, but if you continue to notice an increase in weight, it might be worth rethinking your macros. Unfortunately I am not a macro expert and honestly did not have much success while counting macros so I can’t offer any concrete advice unfortunately. Your carb count sounds fine although it could even benefit from being a little higher due to how intense the workouts are.
I’m sorry I can’t be of more help 🙁 As I said, I really noticed my best results when sticking to the HELP guide quite strictly. My first time round, I did see the most noticeable progress by the 8th week however, so give it time. I absolutely understand your frustration though … I feel like even though I have made progress, my progress photos don’t really reflect how far I have come and plus I still seem to have this annoying layer of fat that won’t budge. The best advice I can give is to stick with the workouts and monitor your food intake and stress levels (i.e. are you sleeping well and etc) as stress can make your body hold onto fat. What sort of foods are you eating?
Feel free to email me at honestlyfitness@live.com if you would like any more advice, and good luck xxx