This is how my body has changed in 12 weeks with the Kayla Itsines workout program

Burpees, sit-ups, jumps, and push ups. Quinoa, cucumber, avocado, and egg. These excercises and foods have allowed me to make a small transformation of my body and mind.

Twelve weeks ago when I told Fernando Baeta about the experiment I wanted to do, we didn´t have a president, Game of Thrones was airing the first episodes of the sixth season, Gasol still played with the Bulls, and I weighed 63.8 kilos.

Its been three months since I discovered Kayla Itsines, the fitness guru from Australia who runs a huge empire and makes the other main fitness apps available for body molding nervous.

With her app, “Sweat with Kayla”, its taken me 90 days to transform my body into something it wasn´t before: a candidate for a great body, free of a little excess fat and with a brain full of confidence, that now allows me to pick out tight dresses I would only dream of in the past. I´ve lost a total of 3 kilos, a drop to 60.8 and I am down one size from a 38 to a 36.

Let me tell you about this process.

THE REASON FOR IT ALL

In the beginning of May, the heat was setting in and I wasn´t feeling happy with my body. “Its OK, happens to everybody”. This is what I would tell myself to try to convince myself that the three rolls beneath my breasts were just something I had to live with. I had given up and was resigned to watching TV on the sofa while eating bags of snacks, with nothing to interrupt me or make me get up quickly to do sit ups or sprint like a gazelle.

A friend told me about Kayla and her incredible workout routine that could knock anybody out. I replied in bisbelief “ I bet that doesn´t really work”. And that was that until one day I said that´s enough. Enough of having to stick my gutt in, enough of junk food, and enough of not having any routines other than work. I shouldn´t be embarrassed I know, but sometimes your self esteem can hit rock bottom and you need to do something to get it back .

I downloaded the app and payed 54.99 euros. I went home and took one of those typical before and after pictures that I´m sure you´ve seen all over Instagram and that I am so embarrassed to share.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE MIND

I didn´t like what I saw in the mirror: I hated the rolls that I had suffered for years and wanted to tear them off to end the suffering. It was my first work out day. It was the first day I looked in the mirror knowing that in a few weeks they would no longer be there. My friends thought I was crazy to go through what I was about to go through: 12 weeks following Kayla´s plan, with double circuits of weights, steps, benches and jump ropes. 

I wanted to die the first day: I was destroyed sweating like I hadn´t in a long time and a part of me asking myself “How could I have agreed to do this?”. The other part cheering me on to achieve the goal I had set for myself. In the end this became a hard goal to achieve but not an impossible one. The change is noticeable, and not only physically but most of all mentally.

On the one hand I felt overwhelmed and on the other I was happy. I felt overwhelmed for different reasons. I was overwhelmed at not being able to do the excercises because I was sick, or because I didn´t have time, or had designated my free time to something else. I was so overwhelmed that my personality began to change and I started to reject myself. It is not easy to fight the inner demons that take us over the edge into depression and that attack us when we are at our lowest.

I was also overwhelmed because I wasn´t seeing results from one day to the next. “It´s normal Patricia” I would tell myself trying to convince myself that by the end I would have a six pack to show off as I strolled on the beach. Ok I don´t have a six pack but I´ve got something better: my self esteem is up in the clouds. I like myself, I love myself and I´m way happier with what I see in the mirror now. What has been the price?

WHO SUFFERS MOST: THE BODY

This is where the effort I´ve been making these neverending weeks comes into play.

The app is structured in the following way: a part for resistance (legs, arms, abs, or complete body); another dedicated to rest and recuperation. Each resistance circuit lasts 28 minutes and is made up of 2 circuits that last 7 minutes and are repeated twice.

In each circuit there are four excercises that can be repeated as many times as you like or can resist. In total there are three days where you do resistance and cardio, and two days for rest and recuperation. I explained all this in previous articles published here, here or here. 

Experiences should be criticized with proper argumentation and I have plenty of that because I suffered this in my own skin. I explained this here, when I went to a crossfit event where a trainer spoke to me about the advantages and disadvantages of this kind of excercise.

This resulted in Kayla denying me a one on one personal interview. Her press agent requested that I erase that article in order to get the interview but I couldn´t succumb to erasing any negative comments about her workout routine because the article was already out. I´m sorry that for now, you, my readers, won´t get to hear more about the guru who can´t accept criticism.

ESSENTIAL: SUPPORT FROM ANONYMOUS PEOPLE

Many people asked me about the complexity of the matter. I have been answering all questions in my Instagram's profile. Thank all of you who have stopped by to show your support along the way. Some got onboard and began training with me. Others had started before me.

Is the case of the girls who arrange groups to meet in the Retiro park. “In order to participate in the plan you need to have a certain level, I started from zero and got injured in the first week” said Reyes as we spoke on the phone. “It has a lot of good things, quick changes, you meet people. But the truth is that someone who has never done excercise will experience physical problems”.

Throughout these 90 days I have read a lot about Kayla and her empire. Many assure that her method works and other like me still question the success of her famous BBG after having suffered it first hand.

Yes, I have lost weight. And yes I am happy with the results but no, this girl has not discovered America. There is a great advertising campaign behind her app. Huge events and tours where Kayla moves thousands of women. You can´t pay for that. Each photo she uploads on Instagram is a dose of energy that flows through her millions of fans and encourages them to continue each day.

ITS YOUR BODY , ITS YOUR SUMMER, ENJOY IT

A few days ago she admitted having made a mistake in the choice of the name of her famous #BBG.

If there is something I have learned it is that having a great body is as relative as you want it to be. Every time anybody tries on a bikini they have a bikini body. Their bikini body and no one elses. Its true that I have lost three kilos and I´m down one size and that I have thinner arms and a thinner waist and legs, and it´s all thanks to this program. But if you decide to do it you need to know one thing: please, don´t do crazy things. Everything is not OK and we are not all candidates for these excercises that require some experience.

Nobody should ever tell us what we should wear or how we should feel in order to be happy with our bodies. And if in order to feel good we have to sweat our hearts out like I did, then so be it. Our lives are ours to enjoy and the best is always yet to come.