Ahhh no, this isn't my GymCube 2in6 program completed post, but more like my GymCube reboot post. I was putting all the time I could spare into the Christmas Gifts Guide that I couldn't complete the 2 in 6 program.
Towards the end of the Christmas blogging madness (actually it's still going on haha..), my assigned GymCube Personal Trainer - Kevin (founder of GymCube), gave me a surprise ping on Facebook. I have to admit that I never expected him to contact me, because I assumed that GymCube was like other online fitness company, where people get information, pick their workouts from the website, do their own workouts, and motivate each other on the Facebook group.
GymCube is partly like that, but Kevin has showed me that they are also much more than that.
1. They run Facebook live workouts (timetable here) that you can do at the same time, which is like going to a gym and attend a class, but without seeing other "classmates". So, if you are as self conscious as I am, you don't have to worry about other people staring at you or not able to do a move, but you still get the benefit of attending a class. And you can jump straight into your personal shower afterwards!
2. Your assigned personal trainer isn't just a fancy name for "an email address you can email to" to ask questions!
They will actually contact you to see how you are doing, ask what your goal is and help you get there by giving you a personalised plan, just like a personal trainer would (I didn't even get this service when I joined a gym last time!).
The experience was so weird, to have Kevin ring me on Skype, talking to me for about an hour to help me find the right way to reach my goal. I even thought that I shouldn't be taking up his time as he must be busy, but like he said, I'm part of #TeamGC now and this is part of the service they offer their members.
While assuming (again) that Kevin would jump straight into creating a workout schedule for me (I was dreading it haha), he actually started working on changing my concept of what healthy eating is (he really opened my mind about food and energy!), taught me how to find out what kind of food combo works best with my body (makes me feel happy and energised), and how to use a fairly logical formula to work out how much energy I should be taking in daily that allow me to lose weight, instead of me mindlessly eating what I think is healthy and is the correct portion size.
What about workout? Anything I like and willing to do. Make sense! Why make something that's hard enough harder, by doing exercise you don't even enjoy? There are a lot of videos on GymCube's website with different duration, I just need to find a chance to have a looksy. I really like dance videos as they are fun, so maybe I'll start from there.
After our initial conversation, Kevin didn't just go quiet either. He has sent notes of our conversation to me so I have a hard copy, and replied to my messages whenever he can. Seeing that he must have a lot of other customers he is working with, live videos to film and have a family with young children to look after, I really appreciate the time he has put in.
So now instead of doing the 2 in 6, I have started working on my energy intake, making sure it's below what I need to create an energy deficit, and hence start to loose weight again. So far it doesn't seem that difficult. I'm still eating what I normally would, at the portion where I feel I have eaten enough instead of feeling stuffed, and making sure that I have protein for every meal.
As my body has no problem with gluten or lactose, I didn't particularly go for wholemeal/ gluten free or skimmed milk. I'm still enjoying the food I love, but I'm just a bit more careful with food choices. For example, a much smaller portion of rice will allow me to eat more meat, which I prefer. And if I'm too low on the energy level I need to be, I'll allow myself to indulge in some snacks, as long as I stay below the energy level I need to lose weight.
3. GymCube provides recipes and shopping lists to make batch cooking easier, and they are constantly updating their website based on customers' need.
The first thing I made using one of GymCube's recipe is their Egg Muffin. It is basically an omelette baked in a muffin tin, but without the extra oil, which means that I can have another muffin and still stay in my limit, and I don't have to hang around in the kitchen either as I'm not frying anything! It took me less than 5 minutes to lay breakfast the morning I served the muffins, and it's not cereals!
We (kids and hubby too) really love them, but I realised that I started getting hungry by mid morning and lack the energy to do my work. It appeared that I needed carbohydrate for breakfast to keep me going. So next time I might make them shorter like patties, and eat them with bread instead. It'll be one amazing and super quick breakfast!
I'm not an "egg everyday" person though, and other than egg and ham, I struggled to find other protein food to add to my breakfast. I mentioned this to Kevin, as well as praising how easy it is to make and serve egg muffins, and he told me that I'm not the only one, and he has been wanting to work on this area. To my surprise, they added a lot of recipes to their no egg breakfast recipes post on their website on the same night, with a good variety of sweet and savoury ones, where some are to prep ahead, while others are quick to make.
I think GymCube is very dedicated to their members. They have a lot of information and videos on their website already, and with the Facebook group support, they are a fairly good online fitness website already (let alone that they are in partnership with Reebok!). But what makes them stand apart from others, I think, is the extra care, giving each member quality time to help them individually, allowing them to attend live gym classes at wherever they are (home, hotel room, beach side, etc), and listen to what they need, then really work on it.
Although I'm still fairly new to #TeamGC, from the care I've seen so far, and the ideas about food and energy they believe in (forget about the short living fad diet), you know that what you'll get is a new lifestyle that suits you, makes you happy, and will last.
I'll be reporting back every so often. For now, you can check GymCube out on their website, Facebook and Twitter.
