hey there, babe,
today's newsletter is all about transformations, and to be honest, i'm both excited and nervous to share mine with you. i'm always a little nervous to share "progress" selfies, not so much because i'm in my underwear (i actually have no shame) but because the whole practice of "look at me and how well i can pose for instagram" is at best a little silly and at worst can become obsessive, narcissistic, and deep in the murky realm of social media-induced self esteem weirdness.
truth is, i think vanity can be a great motivator, as long as it doesn't totally take over, and i'm excited to share the results of an unintended experiment on myself made possible by the pandemic: since giving birth to ramona last year, i have basically only done zoombarre/barrebabe method from home - no dancing, no gym, no running, no intense cardio, virtually no pilates apparatus, not even yoga or other classes - and i've been decidedly unrestrictive in my diet and eating habits (quite the opposite, in fact - breastfeeding munchies and pandemic stress eating are real. i don't know my weight, but i know the few weeks i tried noom i was routinely clocking between 2300 and 2700 calories per day, which is really neither here nor there but is definitely not what i'd call restrictive).
behold my progress below and see what happens when you do barre and basically nothing else for a year.
progress, not perfection
with an eye towards postpartum body confidence, the selfies below were taken pretty much exactly a year apart. the left side photos are me about a week after ramona was born and the right side are candid, unedited shots from last week (if there's any doubt on the absence of photoshop, note the line from my apparently too tight leggings haha ). the last photos were taken a year after diego was born for comparison.
why i barre so hard
ok, so maybe i'm no bikini model, but:
1) i'm not done yet;
2) i'm pretty proud to have achieved some sweet results while going at my own pace through workouts of my own design that are chill, centering, empowering & feel-good instead of intense, exhausting, painful & punishing; and
3) i'm so grateful for my beautiful community of online barrebabes because i couldn't/wouldn't have done it without you!
seriously, because you showed up for you, i showed up for me too, and as much as i love barre, i never would've been so consistent without you. so thank you, babes 🙏
this all goes to reinforce my guiding tenets that the best workouts are the ones you'll actually do, and that you'll do them most when you love what you're doing and the energy of those you with whom you move.
the 39-year-old-with-2-kids body you see above was not earned through diets, detoxes or cleanses. it wasn't fought for with blood sweat and tears in bootcamp or by plodding away on a treadmill for hours. if you love those things and they work for you, i applaud and support you, but for those of us who don't jive with the traditional "no pain no gain" approach to fitness, the barrebabe method is here - and it works. i'm living, pulsing, planking proof.
that's it for now, babes. thanks for indulging me and i hope to see your gorgeous/strong/work-in-progress-not-perfection self at the barre soon!
with love & planks,
annie
