Very discouraged, need help!

[DonnaHenry]

Thankyou and bless you for your encouragement! It is hard, I am swelling this week and don't know what to do, swelling more each day in legs especially. I go to the bathroom like crazy. My body was used to a 5 day a week workout at the gymn an hour a day for 30 years, then I switched to this! I got better results with the intense cardio at the gymn. I feel I am getting all isometric exercise rather than the other, I don't move as freely or walk as fast because of it. I feel slow and bulky. I do feel the muscles building more but they are fatigued, especially my legs.

Blessings!
Donna

[DonnaHenry]

Makes sense, but the t-tapp trainer I saw priavtely reccomended this 5 day a week schedule and that i needed to work 4 or more days to get past the metabolic break for fat burning and inch loss. It was never suggested I work out every other day or do less. Maybe I misunderstood something. Thank you : )

Donna

[DonnaHenry]

Thanks for your care! I am listening to everyone and I will try to do less and see what that does.

Blessings!
Donna

[DonnaHenry]

I don't know about alfalfa? I saw the trainer in January and I did ask for clarification by email twice and she did communicate. The emphasis was doing more, getting past the metabolic break, not stopping short of the gold was her words. I was encouraged to do a minimum of 4 days straight to get the full benefit. It is possible I misunderstood but I don't think so. She didn't tell me when to stop working through the 4th day or when to do less. I didn't want to take advantage of her time because there is supposed to be a fee and right now I can't afford to pay for more training. Thank you!

Donna

[DonnaHenry]

Oh thank you Mindy, you are so sweet. I am taking in all the good advice and will try doing less and see what happens. Blessings!

Donna

[BlessedMama]

Donna, I wonder if she meant just for a few weeks, like a bootcamp? I just can't imagine anyone in T-Tapp saying to continue that schedule indefinitely! I e-mailed Michelle (a wonderful trainer who contributes her time to the forums) and asked her to check on this thread. I know she'd be able to assess things and give you good advice.



The Less is MORE concept is so hard for all of us, yet many of us can say that it does work!

HUGS to you!

[nanburr]

I would think you would have "broken through" that metabolic break by now, although I'm no trainer.

I also am a sweller, especially at this time of year. It doesn't matter how much alfalfa I take or how much water I drink, how much raw food I eat or how much salt I avoid. I am also hypothyroid; I have probably been for many, many years, but it was only discovered 2 1/2 years ago. I noticed that I swelled less when my meds went up, but then the doctor took me back down, saying he thought I was too high. I've gone up and down, and now I'm taking a higher dose; it sort of scares me because I don't just want to keep going up and up and burn out what I have naturally.

Meanwhile, when my meds are higher, I can tell it is easier to build muscle. I read somewhere that many thyroid patients have it harder in the summer. That is a mystery to me, but it does seem that it may be true in my case. I have more energy in the winter now.

As for the T-Tapp, I have found that if I am being consistent and working hard, and then take a day or two off, I lose more water and inches. I overtrained. I couldn't believe I was overtraining, because it didn't seem that you could overtrain in such a short amount of time, but I was so fatigued. When I took days off, I lost inches. This has happened to me more than once. Now I have learned that the hard part for me is staying consistent. To maintain, I need to to BWO 5 days/wk, or TWO every other day. But I start missing extra days when I go every other day, and I think I lose some ground. But I'm learning to just hang in there and keep going and not beat myself up. The extra energy is worth my continuing to move forward. No doubt about it, I feel better when tapping the right amount for me: energetic, not fatigued. I think T-Tapp should make you feel better instead of worse. If you are constantly worn out, there is a reason!

That balance is no doubt different for everyone, but with all your experience, I would think that it could not hurt to take a couple or more days off, see how you feel, and then do BWO for 4 - 5 days and another day off, and see what you think. You can ALWAYS crank it back up if you want to. You are not going to harm yourself by backing off for a little bit. Don't worry about "ruining" what you may have accomplished, about metabolic breaks or neurokinetic flow. You will have plenty of muscle memory by now, and it will be fine. I remember thinking, "When is all this loss supposed to happen?" For me, it happened when I backed off after about a 10 day boot camp. I could never hold out longer than that. I thought everybody had to do a boot camp, but apparently, many people never do that.

Hang in there. There are a lot of people here who want to encourage you. Glad you wrote. You have no idea the people you may help by having posted.

Nancy

[montanamama]

Just one more thing, Donna, I lost a lot of weight in the last 10 months, but I did not go down a size until I had lost about 30 pounds, which took about 4 months (not done with T-Tapp....that would have helped fer sure). Looking at my chart I have kept, I lost 36.5 inches before I was able to go down a size in clothing. Talk about discouraging! And I got almost no notice of my weight loss until I hit about 50 pounds. When you are a slow losing combo who loses all over evenly (which sounds like you) you are losing on your earlobes and calves and forearms and toes and etc etc etc as well as the places you measure. So keep at it. I bet like me you will suddenly start to lose like crazy. I saw my mom in December and she didn not notice my weight loss even though I had already lost almost 50 pounds. Less than two months later, I passed a critical point and, though I only had lost 10 more pounds, I had gone down a couple of sizes and my size difference was very noticeable (AT LAST!) If I had only been going by size loss and notice from others, I would have given up long ago!

[Muckler]

Thankyou and bless you for your encouragement! It is hard, I am swelling this week and don't know what to do, swelling more each day in legs especially. I go to the bathroom like crazy. My body was used to a 5 day a week workout at the gymn an hour a day for 30 years, then I switched to this! I got better results with the intense cardio at the gymn. I feel I am getting all isometric exercise rather than the other, I don't move as freely or walk as fast because of it. I feel slow and bulky. I do feel the muscles building more but they are fatigued, especially my legs.

Blessings!
Donna

I just wanted you to know you're not alone, and I thank you for sharing your experiences so I can see I am not alone!

I'm one who used to do more strenuous cardio workouts and got far better results, but due to lack of time, I sought out an exercise program I could do quickly. I read so many good things about T-Tapp, I decided to try it.

So far, however, after doing Basic Workout Plus every other day for a month, I gained five pounds and a total of two inches overall. My jeans are tighter and my abdomen is thicker. I am not happy about it.

As an experiment, for the next 30 days I am going to aim for every other day with my trusty 25-minute cardio aerobic workout that gave me success for the past 15 years. I will measure myself in a month and see how it goes.

[monica213]

Hi Donna,

First I can say you ARE overtraining. I think you misunderstood the trainer also. NO T-Tapp trainer would recommend a weekly bootcamp, no matter your fitness back ground. We (the trainers) even have to pay special attention to avoid it. A trainer would (should) NEVER charge for you to ask a question about her recommendation also.

I am going to give you a free 2 week schedule that I want you to follow to a T <hah! pun intended> Do not add anything to what I give you. and when you start back into the workouts, use the advice following to help you with form, as I can tell by what you have said that your form is off and you are probably not using full muscle activation during the movements. Please check in with me after the 2 weeks and we can go from there.

SA - PBS ONLY
SU- PBS ONLY
M- PBS ONLY
T- PBS ONLY
W - Inst 1
TH - Inst 2
F - Inst 1
SA - Inst 2
SU - OFF (can do PBS)
M - Inst 1
T - Inst 2
W - SATI
TH - total workout
F - OFF

Teresa calls flattening the lower back "curling the core" due to the fact that many of us have a curve in that area and that’s the center or core of the body. This is a term that Teresa uses to help get Tappers to "tuck their body under" when the lower back (lower lumbar area) has a greater curve. There needs to be a "straighter line" - in other words, not a "sway back". When you tuck your butt, it is more than initiating the move from your butt or tailbone. Applying these tips can really take your workout to the next level.

Curl the Core - On the Floor
If you are a beginner you might want to practice this first on the floor to get the feeling of it. Lie on your back on the floor with your knees to the ceiling, toes forward and heels near your butt, now press your shoulders into the ground, make donut fingers (making a "donut" with your thumb and fingers, then press the thumb into the index finger), then press hands into the floor to help activate the muscles equally. Make a "W" with your arms keeping the hands even with the shoulder, now tuck your butt so that the lower lumbar area touches the floor (with NO air space).

Curl the Core - Standing
When you understand and "feel" this movement then get into the Plie stance and stand in front of a wall. Now press your back and shoulders against the wall. Make sure you press your lower back into the wall so there is no air space. You want to be able to do some Plies in that position, while keeping your shoulder and back (including lower back) pressed against the wall. You can also keep "donut hands" against the wall as well. This helps to engage your lats. Pull your elbows towards the side of your body and keep your hands down to shoulder level. This is the feeling you're working towards when you're tucking your butt.

Curl the Core - Sitting
You could also do this during the day when you're sitting. Make sure to get your shoulders and hips in alignment, then I press your lower back into the chair and tuck butt at the same time. You should feel your stomach muscles engage. This can help shave off inches for your torso and abdominal area.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When you see a gain in the thighs it is a result of a few things with form:

1) not keeping shoulders in alignment with hips throughout the entire workout, but especially on Plies and Lunges

2) relaxing the thigh muscles at the top and/or bottom of each Plie and Lunge

3) not tucking butt enough throughout the entire workout and/or letting the butt go out on Plies

Shoulder to Hip Alignment: This is the most important linear alignment issue for T-Tapp. You have to get this down in order to get results with the program. It's really very simple, stand up straight and roll your shoulders back. That's it! Sometimes easier said than done. You need to concentrate on doing this throughout the entire workout. For example, if you are doing the Plies and you lean slightly forward, the butt goes out, which causes you to inactivate the muscle attachments in the stomach, torso, and thighs. You start to create momentum and isotonic movement and you will create bulk. This is a big tendency for Short Torso and Combination body types, so if you're in this category you need to pay extra attention to shoulder linear alignment during the Plies (and each and every exercise) to spot check yourself. You can read more on this subject in Teresa's article Importance of Shoulder Rotation/Linear Alignment found in the Newsletter Archives (http://forum.t-tapp.com/showthread.php?t=912).

Plies: Form check to make sure you have your heels right underneath your armpits and feet are at a 45 degree angle; it is not necessary to have a greater angle like a ballet dancer. When you begin to squat you need to tuck your butt - a full pelvic tilt until you feel your hip ball attachments activate. Now, try to go down into the Plie Squat while twisting your knees out further and further until you reach the squatting position. You are still balancing on the outside edge of your foot with NO WEIGHT ON THE BIG TOES! Your goal is to get your knees 2 inches past the little toe - you may not be able to get there yet, but it's a matter of flexibility that will come with time. HOLD YOUR SQUAT! Now tighten the Latissimus dorsi muscles (the lats - sides of your body where your bra strap normally is) to keep your upper body isolated and increase overall fat burning. Once you are ready to do Plies, concentrate on going into a squat like described above and then when you are coming back up against gravity you are going to TUCK YOUR BUTT HARDER and try to TWIST, TWIST, TWIST your knees out (if it helps try to twist from the hip ball joints) as you straighten your legs (should fully straighten at the top)...KEEP THE THIGH MUSCLES TIGHT THE ENTIRE TIME AND DO NOT REST THE MUSCLES AT THE TOP OF THE PLIE and then go back into your squat. This move will completely eliminate the inner thigh, outer thigh, hip and butt. The reason why you see the gain in the thighs is because you are probably not tucking the butt enough, the shoulders aren't in alignment, and you're relaxing the muscles at the top of the Plie. You just need to make sure that your muscles stay tight the whole time and you'll be able to reverse the bulk.

Lunges - General: The same form tips on Plies apply to the Lunges. Make sure that you keep the thigh muscles tight the whole time. Common error is to release the muscles as you come all the way up on the lunge. This defeats the purpose and you can actually build bulk. In the lunges make sure you remember to push/roll out your knees and tighten butt when going down with gravity, but it is even MORE important to push/roll out knees and tuck more as you come up. The lunges are like one continuous movement; you don’t want to pause at the top or the bottom. Once again you want to keep the shoulder to hip alignment. Don’t lean into the lunge because it will put pressure on the knees. If you have a problem with leaning into it you can actually lean slightly away from the lunge.

Front & Drop Lunges: Your back foot needs to be straight, no turnout. Your legs should be hip width apart; you’re not on a balance beam! Each time that you come up you need to lift your back heal so you are on the tippy toes. Apply the general lunge form for each of these lunges as well.

These are the three main things that you should work on to correct the inch gain. If you have any other questions please let me know. Also, keep me posted on how the form tips worked for you.