Intro

Hi friends,
my name is Rebecca, and this is going to be a blog about my TAM journey.
What is TAM you ask?
I am referring to the Tracy Anderson Method. Specifically, this blog is regarding her Metamorphosis series, for what she calls the "abcentric" body type.

A little background.
When I was younger (I'm in my mid-thirties now), I had ridiculously fast metabolism, and ate accordingly. I was a gymnast through ninth grade, and continued to be athletic up through about my 1st year of college.
When I graduated high school, I was the same height I am now, 5'6", and I weighed 105 lbs (48 k). I ate HORRIBLY - this means a ton of food, with no regard to a particular vegetable and fruit addition (Although I always ate fruit) and I consumed a lot of candy (particularly peanut butter cups), and a lot of soda (mostly colas).

... admission: I'm still eating this way. Although I eat more vegetables now.

I was thrilled when I gained the "freshman 15" - hooray for boobies! And I didn't complain when another 10-15 lbs slowly creeped up on me. I still felt good about my body, I had curves in all the right places, and my husband thought I was hot.
I'm in nursing school right now, and due to this plus increased cortisol in the last year and a half, I have gained approx 12 lbs.

My goal weight is around 130lbs (59 k) - and I am currently at 146 lbs (66.4 k).

According to the National Institue of Heart, Lungs and Blood BMI index, I am currently at 23.6, which is within normal range (18.5-24.9)
http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/

My goal weight would give me a BMI of 21.0.

About the Tracy Anderson Method, and why I chose this..
Before starting nursing school in August of 2010, I was running semi-frequently with my (now former) boss, and she was encouraging me to run 5Ks, 10Ks, and to train with her for a half marathon or three.
I never made it to the half marathon, and the last 10K I did (almost a year ago, while in school) I walked a great portion of it.

Tracy Anderson's says her method is simple.. you do cardio for 30 minutes, then 30 minutes of mat work (which, by the way, on other blogs I've looked up, many highly recommend the mat work prior to the cardio, and having previewed my DVDs, I can see why!), 6 days a week.
You also must stick to her very strict diet plan, where she claims to detoxify you and reset your metabolism.
Now, I'm a scientific kind of girl. I have a hard time taking anyone's claim at face value. She doesn't promise you anything, but says her plan will only work if you stick to her diet ONLY.
Her diet looks like it's about 700 calories or so a day. Um. Not gonna happen. She also doesn't like running, because she says you will "bulk up".  I intend on running, 2 times a week, about 2-3 miles each time.



She also recommends you use no more than 3 lb weights. Ok, how about I start with no weights, and if I wanna go to 5, great, 10, awesome! I think muscles (some, don't get crazy here!) are sexy!

I can see how doing this workout 6 days a week will have some great results. I am going to eat better, but I'm not going to do Tracy's diet.  I chose this probably because I was feeling depressed about the way my body has been changing, and stumbled across her infomercial - not for the first time, either! I had been interested previously, but had forgotten about her and her plan.

I will keep you posted on my journey - new measurements and weights (maybe) will be posted every 10 days.


I used to say, I don't want to lose weight, I want to redistribute my body mass. This still mostly holds true, plus a few lbs shed, too!
Thanks for reading!

-Rebecca