My Trainer

When working on getting fit and losing weight, a big decision to make is whether to get a personal trainer. With YouTube, Pinterest, and a million blog posts about workout ideas and training plans, it's super easy to get the information you might get from a trainer. So why fork out the money for one? The obvious reason is to be sure your form is correct so you don't hurt yourself, but for me it is worth so much more than that. 

I feel really fortunate to have the trainer I have. She teaches as a group, so the cost is much lower than a personal session would be. She sends a text an hour or so before every workout I've signed up for to remind me. She brings positive energy and motivation to every workout to encourage me to work harder. But the big value for me is having someone who's job it is to cheer me on every day. It's her job to not let me quit or get too busy. Having someone who literally will not let you give up is amazing!

I have worked hard and focused on getting healthy many times in the past, and I've succeeded in losing 10 pounds on my own. But then life happens. Depression happens. I get sick, my kids get sick, my husband gets sick. Holidays happen (as a friend told me the other day "I do really good except for the time from Halloween to Easter"). It's so hard to persist in living healthy when other stuff is going on. I've said on many occasions "that's just not something I can focus on right now in my life." Well, right now I am focused on it, and my trainer has helped keep me focused on it for almost a year now. The only way to make a lot of progress, in anything in life, is to work at it consistently and diligently for a very long time. 

Giving my daughter a piggy back ride is really easy because she is the same weight as the number of pounds I have lost this year!

Doubt

My daughter just turned 7.  She has been frustrating me by freaking out every time she is told she has done something wrong. I don't want her to become the type of person who thinks she is always right and everyone else is always wrong. So I've been trying to teach her to be more teachable. 

These talks have made me realize how much I tend to need to always be right. This need leads to a big fear of being wrong. Putting this blog "out there" triggered this fear for me big time. I'm not a person trainer or a nutritionist, so my advice isn't founded on anything other than my personal experience. The fear of saying something wrong paralyzed me from publishing more posts.  

Even worse, I started doubting my own exercise and diet plans. What if I'm overtraining and I'm going to get shin splints? What if I'm wasting time doing inefficient exercises? What if I'm eating tons of pesticides by not buying organic produce every time? What if I'm getting too much mercury from the fish? What if I'm destroying the environment by using disposable water bottles all the time? (I really do keep buying reusable ones, but they get ruined when I forget to wash them).  Losing confidence in my plan made it a lot harder to stick to. So I spent a month cheating every few days and didn't lose any weight. There were other causes for my lack of progress, like getting sick and having sick kids and stuff like that. 

So for the month of April, I decided to be completely confident in my diet plan and stick to it 100%, because even if it isn't perfect, it was working. I also revamped my exercise plans and goals. With that, the weight started melting off again, and I've made huge strides in my fitness level. 

Point of the story is that I remembered that pride and insecurity are the same thing. When you're trying to change your life, first gather as much information as you can but don't be afraid of not knowing everything. Next make a decision/plan and move forward with confidence, and stick to it. Then be willing, even eager, to accept correction, feedback, and new ideas. 

Rolling

Working out every day can be a challenge because of muscle soreness. Some soreness is going to happen and you can keep going, but the sore quads (front of thigh) and calves that make it hard just to go up the stairs can keep you from working out the next day. Even worse for me are sore knees! I hurt one of my knees when I was 21 and the other one at 26, and when I work out a lot I feel like they are going to give out on me.

Well, I have a secret cure to share....

It's so simple it's crazy! All last fall my trainer said to roll my muscles when I complained that my knees hurt, and I did it every once in a while when it got really bad, but I didn't really believe it would help. Since the new year I have rolled 4 to 6 times a week and my knees haven't stopped me since! 

I really want to explain WHY and HOW this works, but...just google it: foam roller, or muscle rolling. You will also see lots of pictures of what to do and how to do it. Some of the exercise are really intimidating though, and might not be accessible for beginners, so I took pictures of how I do it.  

For the knees, the important muscle to roll is your IT band. 

Go all the way from hips to just above the knee joint. It's just above the knee where I get knots I need to work on. The hand on my hip is often on the floor for balance. 

The other main muscle I roll is the quads, and I do right in front along with just off to each side. 

(Confidence level: butt pictures! All of the pictures I've seen online of this don't make it clear how you support yourself with the other leg)

I also always need to roll my calves. 

The way I see other people get their calves rolled with a purvottanasana pose (backwards plank) is impossibly hard! I use my hand to push down to get enough pressure. 

It takes a little bit of practice to roll the back, but it helps a lot too. Doing bridge pulses is a good way to build up strength to be able to do this. Reposition for low back to high back. 

Watch your hair!

I just barely realized how to get my glutes. 

Before I tried to get them by just sitting on it and rolling, but I never felt that do anything. 

Each muscle I roll up and down about 5 times, and when a spot hurts I hold it there longer. You know you're doing good when it hurts so bad you feel a litte nauseous, that's a knot that you need to roll extra!

I'm probably missing some important muscles...write in the comments your favorite roll! Or your favorite stretches to help with soreness!

These foam rollers are in the stretching area at the gym. You can also buy them for $20-$30 at Target. Now you CAN work out every day! You're welcome. 

Oh Nuts!

I'm a big fan of nuts! Especially almonds. They are my favorite healthy snack, full of healthy fats, fiber, and vitamins! In fact, I love them so much, it's a little bit of a problem...for years I have eaten them freely thinking it's healthy so eat all I want! Clearly that didn't work out for me, so today I decided to take a look at my portions of almonds. 

The package says the serving size is 1oz which on average is 22nuts= 160 calories =14g fat= 22%dv

People say "a handful" is the right amount. We all have different sizes of hands, but this is how many I grab in a handful:

Handful of almonds= 37 nuts=264 calories which is about 23g fat = 40% dv

But that's not the amount I would usually eat, I always dumped some in a bowl to eat, about like this:

Bowlful =106 nuts=757 calories 

which is 66g fat =100% dv 

At that rate, I often ate a whole bag in about a week and a half! A whole bag of almonds from Costco is about 7680 calories ...in10 days! No wonder I gained weight! 

Now that I'm paying attention and working on losing weight, I've had to decide how many nuts to eat. Nutrition labels give a daily value of fat of 65g. Using the myfitnesspal app, I've calculated my daily goal to be 57g which is 30% of my calories on a 1600 calorie diet. 

Most days, these are the healthy foods I eat that make up my main sources of fat:

3oz Salmon =11g fat

3eggs= 13.5g

Salad Dressing (olive oil)= 14g

String cheese= 6g

1/4 Avocado = 5g

1 T Chia seeds= 3g

All together that makes 52g fat...leaving not enough room for my almonds! On days I have chicken instead of fish for dinner, I can have my nuts. Otherwise I have to choose between the avacado or string cheese and the nuts. 

When I do get to eat them, even the 1oz serving is too much! I portion them out into 100 calorie packs in ziplock bags to keep it under control. 

14 nuts=100 calories = 9g fat=14%dv

(I really like cashews too, you get 10 for 100 calories)

Couch to 5K

I did it! I didn't think I could, and I was afraid to try, but I just pushed really hard and I did it! I felt like I would die halfway through, but the last 1/4 I got my second wind. 

That's probably what I will say when I finish a 5K, but today I said it after jogging for 3 minutes straight. When I started I could only jog for 15 seconds at a time. The couch to 5K program starts with intervals of jogging 60 seconds and walking 90 seconds, so I had to create 3 levels before that of 15, 30, and 45 seconds. 

I started working on it last fall, walking/jogging outside. But then it got cold and rainy, and it took me a while to figure out a schedule that I could get to the gym. On the treadmill I found that my natural jogging pace was 5 mph. After a couple of weeks my shins started hurting, a lot. The gradual progress and walking and jogging intervals were supposed to help me avoid shin splints, so I was frustrated.  I felt myself wincing every time I did a jumping jack, or any other jump. I didn't consult a doctor, because I hate figuring out how to do that, but the internet made me think maybe I was getting stress fractures. Whatever the cause, I needed to back off and come back at it differently. 

This new year, I knew I still wanted to train to run a 5K, but I needed to keep it low impact until I get under a certain weight. I don't think my shins are made to handle the force of this much weight jumping. I decided to go with a "jogging" pace of 4 mph. True, many people can walk this pace. It's a really awkward pace for me, but it's the fastest I can go without leaving the ground. My heartrate goes all the way up and I have to push myself to do the intervals, so I guess it's enough. 

At my new pace, I've been able to keep going 3 days a week for 6 weeks now. My progress feels slow sometimes, but I felt a huge high today from the progress I did make!

Cafe Rio for 312 calories

Cafe Rio, Chipotle, Qdoba, Costa Vida, they are all the same idea: assembly line Mexican food. When the new Cafe Rio opened near my house I couldn't wait to eat there! Then I remembered that their meals average 1000 calories. I decided to look up their website just in case.  http://www.caferio.com/nutritional-new  As I suspected, a salad with all the fixings is 1200 calories!  Years ago, trying to be more healthy, I would always ask for a wheat tortilla instead of white. Guess what?! A wheat tortilla has less fiber than white! That is 1 gram compared to 2 grams, and it has 4 grams of sugar compared to 1 gram of sugar in a white tortilla. Crazy right?

Well, I figured out how to order a great salad without going over my usual lunch "calorie budget". I know it's hard to say no to the yummy tortilla, but when you realize it's like eating 4 slices of white bread (420 calories), it gets easier. Next you ask for half portions of the rice and beans, or just pick one if you don't really like the other. For meat I picked the Fire Grilled Chicken because it has twice as much protein as the shredded chicken that I used to always get. I still get the guacamole because healthy fat is an important part of my lunch. I ask for extra pico de gallo and use that as the dressing.  I say no to the cheese, but it only adds 30 calories if you really like it. Yes to the calorie free lime and cilantro! Lastly I say NO to tortilla strips which would add 150 calories. 

Sometimes I feel crazy for paying full price for half of the food. But then I remind myself of the healthy yummy lunch that I can get when I didn't have time to run home and make it. 

Clothing Thrift Shopping

(Feel free to scroll past my thoughts straight to the tutorial)

This may seem a little off topic from weight loss, but actually it can be a huge part! Feeling comfortable and confident in your clothes really affects how you feel about your body. Many people's weight loss goals are simply "have my clothes fit better" or "fit into my goal jeans". But, what do you wear in the mean time? Do you live awkwardly in clothes that don't fit and feel worse about yourself every single time you get dressed? How many years do you spend thinking you need/want new clothes but decide to wait because "I want to lose 10 lbs first"?  I jealously see people talk about cutting down their wardrobe to high quality staples, but I don't want to invest in clothes that are a size I don't want to be!

For me, I spent about 4 years wearing clothes that were too tight. Then I gave in and bought a bunch of new clothes that fit. Then, giving myself permission to be the size I was, contributed to gaining 30 more pounds over the next 4 months, and 20 more over the year after that. This is when I started thrift shopping.  

I think that thrift shopping is very healthy psychologically. You get a sense of accomplishment for finding great clothes at such a great discount. You don't have to deal with the guilt for overspending.  Even if you really overdo it, it's hard to break the bank with such low prices. For me a shopping "binge" gets out the feelings that make me want to binge on food. Then, when it comes to losing weight, you can have plenty of clothes that fit you in the size you are now, but you won't feel bad for the money you've spent on the clothes when you lose weight and they don't fit anymore! (Truth be told, this does lead to having a lot of clothes in your closet and you risk becoming a hoarder, but I have no good advice for helping with that situation)

By the way, it's also great for kids clothes! They grow out of clothes so fast!

I have heard so many people say "you must have good luck, because I never find anything good", or "you'll have to take me because I don't have a good eye for it". Well, I admit, it is a bit of an art, and it takes practice, and I'm happy to take you, it's really fun for me! But that is why I decided to make this tutorial about it!

TUTORIAL:

1. Plan enough time, it takes longer than running into Target! But it may be faster than going to the mall...with driving time, parking, crowds, and going to 3 different stores. 

2. Note your options, if it doesn't go well at one store don't give up, try a different one or location next time. There is Goodwill, Value Village (Savers in some states), DI, St. Vincent, anyone know of any I'm missing? My favorite is the Value Village in Kent. 

3. Guess what? On Wednesdays-Sunday, certain items are 50% off! And then the following Monday they go down to $1! The tags are color coded, so the discount is on a certain color each week. So for me, Mondays are Value-Village-Day!  

Guess what else?! Most Monday holidays like Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Presidents' Day (maybe other holidays too, I haven't noticed) EVERYTHING is 50% off! Sometimes the store gets picked clean on these days so go early!

4. I think this is true for all shopping, have an idea of what you want, you won't have time or energy to go through every section. You won't be happy when you get home if you needed new pants and got new sweaters 😜.

5. Ready to start? Go to your size and flip through Every Single Item. It's not like other stores where a color or print pops out and you look at it, or you see it on the mannequin and find it in your size. Grab anything that looks ok, or fun, or interesting. 

      5a. You aren't deciding at this point whether it might fit (every line of clothing has different sizing) if it looks in the ballpark give it a try!

     5b. You aren't deciding at this point if it's worth the price. Everything is under $10, if it's more than that it's because it's a high quality brand and/or brand new with original tags, so trust me, you want it. 

     5c. You aren't deciding if it's really "you". This is why it's fun! Try something different, go outside of your box. Today is the day you get to try being bohemian or sporty, or retro, or girly, or whatever you think you're not! True, most of them will be duds, but one or two will surprise you how amazing you look, and they will become your favorite clothes. 

     5d. You are noticing quality of fabric, brands, and wear/stains. Obviously don't grab things with holes or pills, now is not the time for careful inspection, but a quick check is important. If the brand is a Walmart or Target or other inexpensive brand only pick it if you really like it. If you're on the fence about something and don't recognize the brand, you probably have a smartphone that you can quickly google it with. Of course it's totally okay if you ignore brands, it's just a tool to help you estimate the quality. 

    5e. Trust your instinct! I touch every single hanger and flip through them at about 2 or 3 per second. I put about one in 10 in my cart and only stop to consider every once in a while. I fill my cart with almost 10 times as many clothes as I might actually buy. 

6. Time to try them on! You still aren't making decisions, you are checking for fit. Make 3 piles, no, maybe, and yes. When I'm on the fence I take pictures in the mirror and text them to my sister.

 If you have shear shirts that need an undershirt then grab something similar to what you have at home to try on under them. If you have a kid with you, be sure to grab a toy or two for them to play with while you spend forever trying things on. By the time you're done, you'll know which of your maybe's you actually like and switch them to yes. 

7. Deciding. It kind of depends on how many clothes you found, how many you need, and your budget. If you barely found enough, then you just carefully check each one for stains and snags. I tend to wear clothes out between my thighs so I always check for wear there. Also check the care label, if it's dry clean only and you don't do dry cleaning, then it would be a problem. As with all shopping, you consider the price vs. how much you want it, and you estimate your total to know if it's in your budget. If I have a good day and have way more clothes than I can buy, I sort them by type and price and then pick my favorites from each stack. Then I do my careful check of my favorites and if any fail then I pick a replacement. 

There you go! It's everything I know, and it's how I feel like I robbed a bank every time I buy clothes. It takes some practice and some luck. I know people who get whole shopping lists including great Christmas gifts from thrift stores (not just clothes) so if you want tips on that, I'll send you to them to ask 😜. 

My haul this week from a 40% off activewear sale: $50 for 5 shirts, 2 warm workout pants, 2 capri workout pants, and a light jacket.

The Pain is Gone!

Halfway into my second 24 day challenge, I realized something...my joints had stopped hurting! I can't remember how long ago they last hurt. What is different? What fixed it? Do I just have less depression from all this exercise? Is it from getting enough of some random vitamin? Is it caffeine in the Spark making me just feel good? I fear it has something to do with gluten...

http://www.thelifeisamazing.com/everyone-ignores-12-signs-you-should-stop-eating-gluten-immediately/

With symptoms 1, 2, 3, 5, and 10 that have all gone away during this time that I happen to have not been eating bread, do you think it means something?

Hawaiian haystack dinner for 300 calories!

Tonight's dinner:

I threw the chicken in the crockpot at lunch time with an onion and some sugar free BBQ sauce. When I got home I shredded the chicken and let it soak up all the juices. It needed some salt and garlic powder to get it to taste right. The flavor reminded me of Hawaiian sweet and sour chicken, so I served it over brown rice with pineapple and cooked carrots on top. With steamed asparagus and broccoli on the side, it made a great dinner! The chicken was a little too yummy though, so I had a hard time not taking seconds 😉.

Eating out for under 600 calories

Tonight we went out to eat at Azteca. Mexican food is infamous for being unhealthy, but surprisingly this is my go-to place when I want to eat out while watching what I eat.

Rule 1-refuse the basket of amazing freshly fried chips that they bring to your table without asking. 

Rule 2-ask for water with lemon to drink. For me, the lemon makes it feel like a step above eating at home so I feel less deprived not ordering a drink. 

Rule 3-ask for a nutrition menu! Your guess at what will be best is never what is actually the lowest calories. 

Rule 4-get the rice and beans substituted out for steamed veggies. I LOVE the steamed veggies they serve at Azteca, it's a great mix and cooked just the right amount! And say no to the tortillas, but keep the guacamole, that's healthy fat 👍

So I got the Steak Mexicano. It's grilled steak, green peppers and onions sautéed in zesty Azteca salsa! The PolloMexicano is great too (same thing with chicken). 

Quick chicken curry for 422 calories

Tonight's dinner:

I like to make curry from scratch with fresh garlic and ginger and cilantro, but that takes almost an hour, so I don't do it often! I was excited when I found some curry simmer sauce at Costco that fit into the 24daychallenge because it had no dairy or added sugar or other bad stuff (I think it's even vegan). It's super spicy for me, so I only used a half serving of it. 

It took me less than 15 minutes to put together. I cooked some mushrooms, then added the simmer sauce and canned tomatoes. I used frozen pre-cooked chicken strips because I didn't have time to thaw and cut up some raw chicken, it's a good shortcut that gives me no excuses for not having time or energy to make a good meal. I let it simmer for about 10 minutes, just until the chicken was heated through. Then I stirred in some fresh spinach and cooked it for about a minute.  I cook a batch of brown rice once a week and portion it out into single servings, so I already had that ready. This dinner was so easy that it was ok that no one else in my family wanted any, they had leftovers. 

Glazed Salmon dinner for 377 calories

Tonight's dinner: Pan-Seared Salmon with Honey Glaze on a bed of Spinach

I don't remember where this "recipe" came from, but it's super easy and I love it! First put a little salt and pepper on salmon, and put it in a nonstick pan on medium high heat. Turn after 3-5 minutes  and cover until cooked through. While you wait, mix 1tsp honey with 1/4 cup red wine vinegar. Remove Salmon from pan and place it on your bed of spinach. Now add your honey/vinegar to your pan and return to the heat. I think this is called deglazing? Or something like that. It's this magical process where the vinegar dissolves the dripping and scraps in your pan and that completes your glaze with fish oils, and then most of the vinegar evaporates, and then you drizzle it over your fish! And it is a dressing on your spinach at the same time! You just won't believe the great flavor you get from so few ingredients!

With steamed veggies and some leftover rice, I had an awesome dinner!

Salmon dinner for 337 calories

Tonight's dinner:

First: MUSHROOMS! My new favorite addition to a healthy dinner is mushrooms. You don't need to cook them in fat, they sweat as they cook in a frying pan so they don't stick. They add bulk to your meal without adding many calories, and with a little protein and fiber it's a great healthy food!

Now, this is how my family likes fish. Bake at 450 for 17 minutes with lemon pepper on top. I put foil in my baking dish and put the fish in and fold the foil closed making a pouch so the fish doesn't dry out. Easy!

I just can't handle a huge serving of one kind of vegetable, but when I make 2 or 3 (or even 4) kinds I enjoy it a lot more! So tonight I had green beans and yellow squash with my mushrooms. Next time I think I'll have less rice, because I was so full I didn't really need that much (but it was yummy!)

My Salad

This is what I eat for lunch every day. 

Every time I am with a friend at lunch time I make enough for them, and they say it's amazing!

Here is the breakdown when I started having it:

Eating this for lunch does not leave you feeling deprived!

Now that I'm used to eating healthy and eating less, my salad looks more like this:

I decided I prefer eating nuts on their own as a snack, and I stopped needing so much rice and chicken to feel satisfied. Today I plan to eat Salmon for dinner, which has a lot of fat, so I decided to have a little less dressing. When I plan chicken for dinner I have the full serving of dressing on my salad. 

How do you like to make your salad?

Calorie counting

Last summer I tried using the MyFitnessPal app for calorie counting, and I gained 10 pounds.  Writing down everything I was eating while I was eating it made me stressed out and fixated on food and I ate more and more.  Then I did the Advocare 24 day challenge last fall, where the focus was more on what to eat and what not to eat rather than calories.  During that I kept portion control in mind, but didn't control it carefully.  I think that was a good way to learn it with less stress.  Now that I'm doing the challenge for the second time, I feel like I can handle calorie counting to get better results.

I have learned that the trick is NOT to put your foods in as you're eating them! I feel way less stressed about it by putting everything I plan to eat at the beginning of the day, and then just follow the plan.  When I'm not making the decision when I'm faced with the food, its so much easier to be good! This way I can check that I will have a good balance of fats proteins and carbohydrates for the day, and know if I will be needing more of something.

So the calorie totals for meals in future posts are all screen shots from MyFitnessPal.  If you get the app and start using it, add me as your friend!

Rewards

For losing weight I needed some extra incentive. Being healthy, feeling better, looking better, and having more energy are all obvious and natural rewards for getting into shape and losing weight. But there are days when I want to eat a doughnut and can easily decide I don't care about those things. An additional reward is needed to get through those days. I've heard of, and tried many times to give myself some kind of incentive like this including a clothing shopping spree, new highlights for my hair, and a vacation. All of these incentives were "when I lose 30 lbs" or when I get to a certain weight. Sometimes I gave myself a deadline, sometimes not. The problem every time has been that I get discouraged because it's so far away, or the deadline is too close and I can't get there in time, and I give up. Even worse, it has made me hold off on doing things I really want to do because I'm saving it for me at my goal weight. This time is different. This time I will get a reward every 2 months no matter how successful I am. I feel like a genius because I have figured out how to give myself rewards that scale, thus eliminating discouragement. 

Every 2 months I will take the number of pounds I have lost and add a zero to it. This is the number of dollars I can spend on a spa day!  So even 4 pounds would be $40 which would get me a

manicure and pedicure or a mini-facial, both great rewards. If I lose more like 20 pounds, that is $200 which would get me a super awesome and relaxing day with a fancy facial and a massage. It's such a great plan because working harder gets me more, but roadblocks and struggles don't put an end to it. 

I've thought a little about how this reward system could work for other people, maybe on a tighter budget. You could reward yourself with time spent on a home facial or manicure and pedicure, 10 or 20 minutes for every pound you lose. Just imagine rewarding yourself by spending 2 whole hours taking care of yourself! Hopefully your significant other will be in on your plan and be supportive by taking care of everything you would normally be doing during that time. Maybe they will even want to contribute by giving you a massage for part of your reward time!  

I had to think long and hard about what thing I always want to do, but I have a hard time treating myself to. Maybe your thing has nothing to do with a spa day or relaxing. Maybe it's buying supplies for your favorite hobby, or going on a fancier or longer date than usual. My advice is just not to make it something you need or want to do regardless of your weight, you don't want to wait to live your life. And my big advice is to have a reward that scales up or down according to your success, life isn't a win or lose game!

2016 FTW

This is what I call my plans for this year (FTW means "for the win"). You may call them "resolutions", or "goals", but it's my plan for losing weight and I'm sticking to it. 

My plan has 3 components:

1. Healthy eating 

2. Cardio

3. Strength training 

For eating healthy, I still can't wrap my head around the "lifestyle" concept. If you tell me I can never eat chocolate again, then I will eat all of the chocolate immediately. But, I am so competitive at heart, that the idea of a "challenge" works for me, I will win all of the challenges. The Advocare 24 day challenge was very doable for me, so I'm thinking that I will do a challenge every month this year, and then take a week break between each to eat the foods I've been missing. This will work well for a few reasons. First, this follows the 80/20 rule I mentioned here, just on a monthly basis instead of a weekly one. Second, when I want and crave a food, writing it down on my "break week" list and knowing I can have it then really helps me move past it. Third, I have found that Spark works really well for me at first, but my body builds up a tolerance so I need to take a break from it to reset its effect.  (Note that you cannot do the herbal cleanse tablets part of the 24 day challenge every month! I don't do that part anyway because it isn't allowed with breastfeeding)

For Cardio, I tried to fit it in last fall, but I didn't make it a priority. This year I plan to do Zumba on every Monday, Friday, and Saturday because those are when they have classes I can get to. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I plan to go to the gym and walk/jog on the treadmills, just 25 minutes for now, followed by some time stretching. It turns out that the kids LOVE playing at the kids club at the gym, so all the time I'm spending there is good for them too!

For strength training, I will continue going to Bootcamp 3 days a week.  On the other days I do it with my friend, we aim for 2 days a week.

That's my plan! What do you think? I have a great reward system figured out, but it's a little long so it got its own post. 

After the challenge

When the 24 day challenge was over, I was actually afraid of going back to my old way of eating. I wanted to keep eating the way I had learned to, and I think that's the point. I scoured the Advocare website for advice, and they recommended the 80/20 rule. Then I had to Google what that meant. The idea is that you eat healthy 80% of the time, and give yourself a break or indulgence 20% of the time. This way you don't feel deprived and desperate for sweets all the time, but most of the time you are eating right. So if you eat 3 meals a day, that's 21 meals per week, so 4 of those meals can be whatever you want and the rest are healthy.

With that in mind, my first 4 meals of the week were indulgences, and the next day I decided that a new week was starting...haha, that's not really what happened, but it was kind of like that. I'm just not organized enough to keep track of it that way. Plus, I'm like a shark smelling blood when I eat sweets! I can refrain just fine if I haven't indulged in a while, but one taste wakes the beast inside and I must eat all of the sugar on the planet. For me, that's what food addiction is all about. There is this feeling of zero self control that eats away at me. If it's an option, I will eat it all!

So, I did my best to stick to the challenge rules, and it went ok for 2 or 3 weeks. Halloween happened, and let's just say there was a shark attack. I tried to recover and keep eating healthy, but I started feeling so burned out, and by December I had given up completely. 

I realized that Spark had been giving me energy and will power, but my body was used to it so it no longer had the full effect. I tried to only drink it on days I felt like I needed an extra kick of energy. It was working so poorly by Christmas time, that I didn't even bother. By December 31 I had gained back half of what I lost on the challenge, putting me back to 265lbs. I spent that night brainstorming a new plan.