One thing I notice about myself is that when I back off from posting on my blog, posting food and workout pix, it's usually because I'm slacking off on those actual activities. It makes sense then that I have ignored my blog since July 18th. OUCH!!!
While I don't have an actual good reason I do have excuses. Mostly being that my Birthday month was August and I had a dear friend in the city for 7 weeks, which meant lots of hanging out, ice creams, a big ol pasta dinner, a fancy dinner out, Starbucks, and then some harder beverages every so often. This meant I wasn't on top of my meal plan AND I was slacking on my regular workouts. I wasn't tooootally lazy, there were lots of walks to parks and afternoons spent in the pool, but overall my consumption was WAY off from what I was expending.
Then there was that binge I had when I totally fell off my Whole 30 on day five. It was pretty epic even by my binge standards. The first few indulgences Rock would ask me if it was compliant and I would give him the glare. Then I began to give the staredown. Then he stopped asking all together. Sometimes you have to hit the bottom of your pit to climb out again.
So here I am. Climbing back out again.
In order to do this there has to be honesty with oneself. So myself yesterday I stepped on the scale to discover that not only was I a little up but I was WAY up. Are you ready for it??
I weighed in at 173.8 lbs yesterday morning.
Pause. Oh. My. GOSH!
Mild panic attack.
Deep breathes.
Look in mirror. It doesn't LOOK like I put on that. But my scale is fancy shmancy and new so it is likely very accurate. My clothes do feel a touch snugger. I feel sluggish myself. The only consolation in it was that the new scale tells body fat percentage and listed it at 28.5% and my BMI was still in healthy range. That was reassuring because those are the numbers that I am more interested in anyways. But still. That is one HECK of a gain.
So after my freak out I knew I needed to really go back to basics. Now that I think about it my whole past year diet wise was kind of wacky. I lost a lot of focus. Not that I wasn't trying. More like I had too many things to focus on. Mostly because I do so much researching and considering and researching some more. All that information out there, much of it contradictory, can really become overwhelming.
As I said I am returning to my basics. Nothing too crazy. I have to return to what was a very key activity for me and that was tracking. I CAN NOT emphasize enough the importance of tracking. Seriously. I don't care how you do it. App or old fashioned paper and pen. Calories, My Fitness Pal, or a WW points style. Just that you freaking do it. NOTHING, I repeat NOTHING, acts like a wakeup call like tracking does.
Oh, there is another consolation too. I am fairly confident that this weight will come off easily. Most of this gain is either one of two things. Bloat…from too much sugar, low quality carbs, and salts. What isn't bloat I consider to be "new" fat. It hasn't unpacked and set up permanent shop on my hips. It's more like a squatter, waiting for an enforcer to come and kick it off the property. Well here I am. Enforcing. Not get the frig off.
Even one day in and already my behaviours (and theories) are reinforced. I'm already down to 171.5. That's right. In one day of truly making conscious choices and ensuring I worked out, I went down 2.3 lbs. Yes, yes, probably all water weight, which makes it in line with my theory anyways. Or is it a hypothesis. As long as the first five drop with such ease the remainder will be easier on my psyche to lose.
In any case, I'm still on my adventure. Ups and down and plateaus, and falling right off a cliff into an abyss are all a part of it. My plan is my safety net though. Not all is lost. And just for some simple math I want to show how my journey has progressed over the last three years.
July 2011 250 lbs
July 2013 155 lbs
Nov 2013 149 lbs (right after I finished the 21 Day Sugar Detox)
Mar 2014 157 lbs (added 8 lbs muscle due to P90X3)
Sept 2014 173.8 (What the whaaaaat?????)
What happened between March and September definitely threw me. As I said above most of the summer was a wash due to fun fun fun and the late winter and early spring were a wash due to stress stress stress. Combine and shake for a powder keg.
One things is for sure is that I have learned some major lessons. One is to never take success for granted. It is a constant daily activity. Another is that complacent behaviour can kill every ounce of moving forward. Lastly, is that life is constantly evolving and throwing shiz our way. We can't stop those things from happening but how we respond and push through makes all the difference. What we learn about ourselves, our habits, and our choices can help break you through to that next level or hold you back.
I will not let anything hold me back from reaching MY goals. Is there anything holding you back from YOURS? What is standing in your way. 99% of the time we are truly he ONLY thing standing in our way. I hear it all the time. Heck I do it too. We say "when I…then I can…". When never happens and you can't ever start. Start now. We have to own up to these choices. We have have recognize that WE are in charge of our bodies. WE have to stand up for our health.
I'll hop off my little soapbox now. It may hurt just a little, I did some P90X3 this morning, lol. I feel very positive about my direction and plan to have a most rockin' week.
