post marriage weight + what is bbg

My DMs get flooded with questions every time I post on Instagram stories about BBG and I 100% get it. This post is a couple of weeks overdue but I wanted to make sure I was thorough and provided you all with the most amount of details as possible about BBG. Before I get into those details, I do want to share a little backstory of why we started BBG.

POST MARRIAGE WEIGHT GAIN

Ajeet and I started BBG on Monday, April 30 and posted about it like crazy just so that we can be held accountable. Before I got married I used to work out 5-6x a week and was in the best shape of my life! I worked out so much for years to the point where I made myself truly enjoy working out. It wasn’t about the way I looked but more so how I felt, the amount of energy I had, and overall how much happier working out made me feel.

Post moving in together + marriage, I gained roughly 6 pounds after 1 year. Now to some, that may not be that much and since I was actually underweight, it wasn’t the number that bothered me. It was more of the fact that I didn’t feel my best and I knew that I missed being my active self. I’m sure there are a number of reasons behind post marriage weight and if it’s hit you guys too, I’d love to hear your story! For me personally, it was the fact that a lot of major life changes were happening in such a short time span (i.e, getting married, graduating law school, moving to LA, pursuing blogging full-time, etc) and during that first year of marriage, I found myself giving excuses to not exercise. They may have been legit reasons, but nonetheless, excuses.

After settling down in LA and getting the hang of my new life, I knew it was time to get back in shape. I was debating between going back to my old routine (I shared it in a previous blog post) or trying out this program called Bikini Body Guide. When Ajeet said he wanted to try something new, I was ALL for it especially because I didn’t think he would even do this program with me given the name of it! I was honestly so excited that we literally started BBG that very next day! Ladies, if you find yourself a man that is willing to do BBG with you, he’s a keeper. When starting BBG, my goal was not just to lose the weight that I gained. I just really wanted to feel like myself again– feel healthier and overall get that energy back that I used to have when working out consistently. I really just wanted to feel healthier and get that energy back that I used to have when working out. I can’t tell you how many times I talk about my weight or how I look to people and without fail someone feels the need to say ‘oh you’re so small you don’t need to lose any weight or ‘oh seriously you’re underweight as it is’. I’m fully aware of my size and how small I am to some people but just because I’m tiny and I have a fast metabolism, doesn’t mean I’m healthy and in shape. I had to get that out there because I fear some of you may very well be thinking that same thing or can relate to me.

It’s been 5 weeks since Ajeet and I started this journey of BBG and I’m definitely proud of how far we’ve come together and can genuinely say I feel healthy again. That was the most important thing to me. As humans, it’s impossible not to be drawn to numbers so obviously I’m looking at my weight every week to see progress. After 2 weeks of BBG, Ajeet lost 4 pounds and I lost .5 for reference. After 3 weeks, Ajeet was still at 4 pounds and I lost 1 pound. Again, this isn’t about the numbers for us but it’s still nice to see the progress as well as feel it too, you know?

Oh and one more thing before I jump into WHAT IS BBG, I want to emphasize that no matter where you are in your stage of life, it’s never too late to start being active and taking care of your body. It’s SO important to not get lost in how other people look or how you want to look or how you used to look but to focus on celebrating every milestone you hit during your journey. It can be as small as hitting 10,000 steps a day or going to the gym 6x a week. It’s also important to give yourself grace on the days you just can’t. It’s 100% ok to not be in it one day or take a break during vacation. Just make sure to step up your game the next day! 😉

WHAT IS BBG

BBG (Bikini Body Guide) is a 12 week workout program founded by Kayla Itsines. The program is built around 28-minute high intensity resistance workouts three days a week and low intensity steady state cardio sessions the other three days a week (Sunday being rest day). The app is broken down into arms and abs, legs, and full body work outs.

THE HIGH INTENSITY WORKOUTS

The resistance workouts that you do three times a week are broken down into two seven minute circuits. You will be alternating between the two (i.e. do circuit 1, 2, back to 1, then 2). Each circuit is 7 minutes so once you complete the circuit, if you still have time then repeat that same circuit until your 7 minutes are up! So you are repeating that circuit as many times as you can within seven minutes at your own pace. I usually finish each circuit in 4 minutes and have 3 minutes to repeat the same one before moving on.

HOW LONG DO YOU BREAK FOR BETWEEN CIRCUITS?

You are supposed to go at your own pace during the circuits and give yourself a 1-2 minute break between each circuit. However, I have tachycardia (fast heart rate) so I actually take a 4-5 minute break between each circuit.

PS – there is a new variation of BBG called BBG Stronger that involves weights & machines! This won’t be an at-home workout like the regular ol’ BBG but it’s something I’m going to look into!!

EQUIPMENT

Yes, very little though! I use 10 lb weights (Ajeet uses 20-30), a yoga mat, and a jump rope. Ajeet and I are fortunate enough to work out in our apartment gym so we have all of those + the platform bench we need step-ups. If you’re doing this at home, you can use your stairs or your couch (we actually did that a few times!) for those steps!

IS THERE AN APP?

Yes! The app is called ‘Sweat’ and it’s amazing! You do have to pay for the app so if it’s not in your budget but you still want to try the app, you can either do the trial run to see if you like it or I’m sure you can find print-outs online. The app actually times everything for you and you can really keep track of your progress though!

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Phew! That was a lot longer than I expected. Was this post helpful for you? If so, let me know and I’ll definitely write another post about my BBG progress in the weeks to come! Some of you have asked for before/after photos and I may consider sharing that but it’s a little too early on. I want to wait for after the full 12 weeks! 🙂 I really hope you all try BBG and if you do, be sure to tag me and include hashtag #BBGNWN so I can check you out!! I can’t wait to do this together, chat soon loves!