Weeks 5 & 6!

I cannot believe that this fitness journey is HALF WAY OVER already!

My new size 7 pants! I am SO sucking it in for this picture, but I always like having something to work toward!

I had no idea that it would go by so quickly. But I am so grateful to myself for starting when I did. Before this 90 day challenge I walked my butt off every day that I had the time to, and all of it is adding up! This kinda stuff takes time! I really started kicking my butt into gear back in December (not including the junky foods I ate during Christmas and New Years). And all of the SMALL changes I have made are what have gotten me to this point in my fitness journey! The small things really do matter! Cutting out little things that you know you shouldn't be eating and adding the extra mini fitness challenges to your daily regimen WILL HELP. Results take time, but if you're willing to out in that time and effort you will see them happen before your eyes!!

Week #5 was an intense one for me. My hubby was away in California on another business trip, so I was Super Mommy again for that week! It was much harder than the last time he was gone, and I'm not sure why. I had a hard time keeping up with my workouts (although I DID keep up with them) and I had somehow lost my motivation!! I was getting more and more worried about myself as the week went on. I struggled a lot! I kept missing my snacks or a lunch here and there, and that may not seem like much, but IT IS SO NOT LIKE ME to get off track. A couple days during that week I never found the time during the day when my daughter would let me have my workout. So I actually stayed up a few nights, way past my bed time, and FORCED myself to do the workouts I had scheduled for that day. NO matter how hard things get or how hectic my life becomes, I know that I want this THE MOST and it is not worth anything to give up on my health and fitness goals.

I never have time to make my workout schedule and meal plans pretty, but I do make it a point to write them down!

Week #6 REACHING THE HALF WAY MARK! Getting to the half-way mark actually scared me. It made my mind reel with thoughts of 'have I come far enough?' or 'will I reach the goals I set out for myself?'. I am so eager to reach my goals and I just want to be SURE that I am putting in all the effort that I possibly can. I have now a little less than 6 more weeks in this challenge, and I am needing to revisit my Original Goals to make sure that I am on the right track to reaching them!
This week, my hubby was back, and after a long talk with myself I had managed to regain my energy and motivation and I got right back on track with my workouts and my healthy eating habits! I do have to admit that I have become a little less strict on my eating 'schedule' because now, if I miss a snack when I really wasn't hungry for it, I am not so hard on myself. If I am not hungry, I don't see the point in stressing myself out and rushing around the house trying to keep the baby entertained while I munch down the designated calories. Stress is one thing I am still learning to let go of. I am just the worry-wart type of girl, always have been and probably always will be. But I have seen how stress kept me from losing some of the weight I had. So with baby steps and learning to just go with the flow sometimes, I am becoming less stressed and therefore able to shed the weight that I am working so hard to lose!
Now I never really need the "cheat" meals. When I am eating healthy, which is always, I no longer crave the sugars or carbs that so many other people seem to pine after. But in honor of Valentine's Day (which my hubby was away for) we made up for it this last weekend by going out to Macaroni Grill. :)
Since I never do cheat meals, I figured that I would go "all out" for this occasion!

My extravagant Cheat Meal for Valentine's Day!

Needless to say, it didn't take long after dinner for me to feel like I was in a sugar coma. I will stick to getting my sugar intake from apple slices thank you very much! The next day was my rest day for my workouts (thank goodness) and I took advantage of being able to relax (and clean house) and "detoxed" myself with a ridiculous amount of water and my wonderful Shakeology.

My "Reese's Peanut Butter Cup" Shakeology!

I always weigh myself on Sundays (unless an actual weigh-in day is coming up in my challenge group), but because I had indulged the night before, I felt it was reasonable to wait until I had flushed all the carbs and sugar out of my system. And it was worth the wait to see what the scale would show me!

Half way point in my fitness challenge journey!

This journey is changing my life completely. Fitness is now the one thing that I get o do for myself each day that is JUST FOR ME. The rest of my time may be dedicated to being a mommy, maid and chef, but THIS is for ME. I am so excited to see the results that I am seeing. It doesn't matter one bit that I haven't reached certain goals yet. I now KNOW that I can reach any goal I set for myself!

30 Day Update!!

Week 4 and a little bit of week 5 all led up to my 30 day mark in this 90 day challenge! I waited "patiently" to step on the scale until the BIG moment yesterday! I am very proud of myself for being able to glare at the scale all week, but NOT get on it. I just want to say how incredibly proud I am of my other challengers in my group! We have all been kicking BUTT on this challenge! I am so amazed at the results I am seeing from all the other ladies in my group. But what I get to share today is my progress and my results from my first 30 days!

Day #1 vs. Day #30: Progress is Progress!

My first week, the scale didn't seem to want to budge. I thought I was going to be stuck above 140 pounds FOREVER. I don't know why, but it hardly even occurred to me that this challenge really was going to get me back down to my pre-pregnancy weight! I was just going into this challenge to get anywhere closer to feeling like a REAL person again instead of the blubbery, baby-capsule that I had felt like for so long. And now I feel like I can SEE the pre-pregnancy me right around the corner! And it's only been a month! SO CRAZY.

My scale gave me incredible news yesterday morning! I have lost 7.2 pounds in the last 30 days!

I didn't really feel the need to "calculate" how many inches I lost because my first measurement was my right bicep...and it got BIGGER since my day #1 measurements! All thanks to my P90X. :) OH! After my second week of doing solely P90X I changed it up and did all Turbo Fire on week 3. AND THEN, when Turbo Fire gave me and my asthma a run for our money, I manipulated my schedule to an infusion of Turbo Fire 3 days a week, alternating with the muscle building videos of P90X the other 3 days of my workout week. Not every workout is for everyone! I have found my happy medium, and it is apparent from my results that it is working for me! Losing the baby weight AND building up the muscles I forgot I had!

This week I was so excited to see results at the 30 day mark, I skipped my cheat meal! I was STRONG and managed to make my family's favorite cookies for my in-laws to try and I didn't eat any of them! Although I will admit that I licked the spoon after mixing the batter. Lol!

Being STRONG in my mind is being able to choose to say NO even to my favorite recipes!

Random Thought! For the life of me, I could not figure out how the HECK all these girls in the Turbo Fire videos kept their hair up during all the action and jumping around! I have long hair, but not thick hair, and I was resorting to using a new hair tie each day so that it was still elastic enough to hold my hair up for the entire workout! That was just ridiculous! I knew there had to be a better way. When I was at the little grocery store the other day I found my solution! These things work SO WELL! So if anyone else has my same problem, go look for these nifty hair ties, they were my life savers!

Miracle Workers.

OK! Back to business! My 30 day photos are taken and I am so excited to see a change in myself compared to a month ago! It's hard to see the results when you are looking at yourself every day in the bathroom mirror. You could be making SO much progress and never notice until you compare pictures from then and now! I do apologize for looking like I just rolled out of bed...because that's exactly what I did. I was far too excited about my 30 day results to care about my hair or face being done. In the same outfit as my first day photos of course!

Yes, I'm short and these pictures make me look even shorter!

Right bicep is getting so much more muscle! Can you tell which arm I carry my daughter around with? Lol.

Not all mommy tummies flatten out after child birth. I am having to WORK at it.

 

 

 

Getting there! One day at a time. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Some random additions I made to my first 30 days were that I participated in a January Crunch-A-Thon on Facebook put together by my AMAZING Coach Marlena Hedine! The challenge was a fun little something that I could do to help myself make progress and really FEEL as though I was pushing just a little bit harder each day. I completed 6,000 crunches in the month of January! How crazy is THAT?! It's amazing how being part of groups, or challenges or just setting small goals in your mind can PUSH you farther than you thought you could go! I am currently participating in the February Challenge as well, and already having so much fun with it! Along with that I have also set my own goal for myself of doing a February Squat Challenge I found on Instagram. Set goals for yourself! Write them down! Look at them every day! Make smaller/short term goals! It is FUN when you reach little milestones in your journey to fitness!