No More Excuses

I can't sleep tonight... so here's a new blog post coming at ya!  It's been about a week or so of not being able to sleep even though I should be exhausted from all of the extra workouts and running I've been doing since our gym's Paleo Challenge started almost three weeks ago.  

Even with little sleep, I have seriously never felt better.  When I had lapband surgery back in March of 2014, I knew it wasn't going to be a "fix" for my obesity.  They say it in every meeting you go to and you read it in every piece of information they give you, but you don't realize how challenging it will be until you have had your surgery and you still want to do the same things you have always done.  

I've said in the past that my weightloss has been slow, and it has.  I got on the work out train quickly after surgery, and have consistently been working out hard for nine months now.  I strongly believe that working out and eating about 60% of the amount that I used to eat are what caused me to lose between 32-38 pounds in those nine months.  But I stalled... and stalled.... and stalled even more.  I would lose two pounds and then nothing for months, two pounds and then nothing.  Heck, then I GAINED six pounds over the holidays-- I let myself go a bit, but I knew that would come to an end very soon.

It was obvious to me that just like I told myself I understood at the beginning-- the lapband is not going to fix my obesity.  I HAVE TO.

You see, lap band can help me suppress my appetite, but it can't keep me from buying a candy bar in the check out line of the grocery store.  And it won't tell me no when I decide to go through Dairy Queen for dinner after I just worked out.  That's all me.  I have to be the one to fix what is broken. 

Exercise has been a life-saver.  It is my one true passion in my life at the moment. I literally live for it and love it.  Every single day.  But exercise alone isn't gonna get me where I want to be.  

It all finally clicked about six days ago.  I, and anyone else out there, can eat healthier if they really want to.  We can do anything we want as soon as we let go of every single excuse we have allowed to hold us back.  Nothing can stand in our way unless we let it.  Man, do I know that to be so so true now.  

Like I said, I gained 6 pounds over the holidays and on January 5th weighed in at 219.  My lowest at that point had been 213 where I lingered from October through December.  Since then I have been eating paleo and paleoish.  

On three to four days of the week, I eat completely paleo.  This lacks seasoning and isn't super tasty, but is still doable if you plan ahead.  Examples of meals are ahi tuna filet(my go to), chopped steak, chicken, tilapia, salmon, vegetables except for potatoes, corn and beans.  On paleoish days, I eat food cooked from paleo recipes that I borrowed from my aunt.  I typically prep food for three days ahead so that I don't have to worry about cooking every day.   So no dairy, no sugar, no breads, soft drinks, juice-- only water, all natural produce, meats, etc.

The past few days I have been consistently weighing in at 208 so that's 11 pounds difference in 18 days. (43 in all!) That's pretty incredible considering how stalled I've been since my surgery in March.  It also means that I am now considered Obese!  I say that enthusiastically because back in March I was Morbidly Obese according to the Body Mass Index scale and then I was Moderately Obese, and now I'm just Obese.  Next stop-- Overweight... as long as I stick with this new way of life. 

But here's the kicker.... it's not even hard to do.  I'm completely fine with eating paleo. When I've been out to eat in the past two weeks-- though it's only been twice-- there is always something on the menu I can have, even if I have to substitute veggies for potatoes. All you need is a plan to follow and you are set... JUST DO IT!  

Here's an example....  I put the picture below together tonight.  The left picture is of me back in 2009ish and the right is of me a few minutes ago as I was getting ready for bed.  I actually probably weigh the same in these pics or even less back in 2009, but man do I look SO much healthier in the picture on the right.  That just shows what living healthy will do for you, even if the scale doesn't always show it. 

This is seriously the most important of any lesson that I have learned-- YOU are the only thing stopping you from getting what you want.  I've never been more sure of anything in my life.  

Don't believe me?  Just watch-- I'm about to show you...

2014: The Year of Transformation

The year two thousand, fourteen will forever hold a place in my heart.  It's the year things really changed for me, it's the year I found myself again.

According to Merriam Webster, the Word of the Year is Culture.  The Washington Post says it's not a word at all, but a heart-shaped emoji that was used most for society to show their happiness.  But for me, there is, without a doubt, no other word to describe my year than "Transformation."

Not that my transformation is complete-- I still have such a long way to go, but I'm going to spend this New Year's Eve celebrating just how far I've come with this countdown of 7 accomplishments that have made my year.

#7:  Making it through Lapband Surgery and the awful three-week liquid diet 

This consisted of ten day of clear liquids and two weeks of full liquids while healing from surgery.  It was pretty painful the first few days after surgery, but all of that is really a distant memory now.  Last time I was at the doctor's office, I took a picture of a lapband so you can see just what I had put inside of me this year.  

#6: On my 90th day of exercise in a row, I got first in the scaled division in my first ever Crossfit Competition.

This was a very unexpected moment.  I tagged along with some girls at the gym because I thought it would be a great way to celebrate my 90 day mark.  I had no expectations of winning, even though my division only had six people in it.  This was a turning point for me-- realizing that I was an athlete again, after a six year hiatus. 

#5:  146 Days of exercise in a row!

I originally set a goal of working out 90 days in a row, but I couldn't stop there.  I made it 146 days of literal blood, sweat and tears before taking my first rest day.   I have worked out no less than 5 days a week since then.  After years of yo-yo workout programs and diets, I have finally found something that works for me at 573Fitness in Bonne Terre!

#4: SKINNY JEANS!!!

For six years, I have not bought a new pair of jeans because I thought they made me look even bigger than I was.  They were also not comfortable because they would always cut into my stomach.  Even on Casual Friday at work, I would just wear my work clothes because they were more comfortable for me than jeans.  

I recently went shopping and thought, what the heck, I'll try some out.  I was able to fit into size 16 skinny jeans.  That's progress! 

#3:  Not just skinny jeans, I was able to wear clothes I hadn't worn in years!!!

My wardrobe definitely expanded as I started to fit into things I haven't been able to wear in several years.  There were also many dresses and outfits that I had bought but never worn because I didn't look good in them.  I'm finally getting to a point now where there are things in my closet that actually are too big on me-- it's almost time to let some of them go! 

This picture is of a dress that I only wore once for engagement pictures in early 2013, but that I was very comfortably wearing in October for a wedding.  Now that dress is on the verge of being too big.

#2: The Tag Team Throwdown

I covered this in my last post, and this was really the best moment of 2014 for me in this weightloss, health-gain journey.  I have had so much fun training with my 573 family and can't wait to see what the new year brings.   At the Tag Team Throwdown, I beat my Clean and Jerk max from the first competition in Union by 15 pounds, I finished every workout with my partner and friend, Alexia, and I went total Beastmode on the last workout for one epic crossfit moment.    It was a weekend I won't soon forget.

       (Comparision pic of my first competition on the left and the Tag Team Throwdown on the right.)

#1: My TRANSFORMATION

Now that BEST thing I am celebrating on the last day of 2014 is my Transformation that has already happened and that continues every day.    Here are some pics that show just how far I've come.

Thank You!

It's been quite the ride these past nine months.  I have made some important changes in my life, but still have a long way to go and a lot of work to do.  

For my last post of 2014, I'd like to thank each of you reading this blog as you have helped me more than you know.  The comments, likes, private messages-- they all keep me going, remind me why I'm doing this and fill my heart with so much love and excitement.  This is what life should be-- people supporting other people, no matter their differences, opinions, beliefs.  We all can use a little encouragement, and my heart is full because of you. 

Emergency Doctor's Appointment & the Tag Team Throwdown

It's been an interesting past week, that is for sure.  Over the past few months, I have been training for my first "real" Crossfit Competition with my WOD- partner, Alexia, that took place on Saturday, December 13th.  Though I almost didn't make it there.

Emergency Doctor's Appointment:

On Thursday morning, I woke with an extremely uncomfortable feeling where my band sits at the bottom of my esophagus.  I can't really explain it, but it felt like my stomach was going in and out of my band.  By the afternoon, I decided it was time to call the doctor to see what they thought I should do.  They asked me to come in on Friday to get checked out.  The whole time I was worried they would tell me I couldn't exercise for a while, and that all the hard work Alexia and I put in over the past few months would have been for nothing. 

I showed up at the doctor's office and waited for two hours before I finally saw my surgeon's assistant, who is the one who usually does my adjustments.  After talking about what was going on, she told me I could be experiencing one of two things:  I either had something stuck and obstructing my band or I had a prolapse, which means part of my stomach actually came out above my band.  Both could be caused by my band being too tight so we decided the best thing to do would be take out one full milliliter of saline from my band.  

I immediately felt better, but she told me I could come back in on Monday to get an x-ray if the pain came back.  I've actually been SO much better since she took out the saline from my band.  I can actually eat a meal in 20-30 minutes again instead of taking almost an hour to get just a small amount down.  I'm able to get full and stay full for longer and hopefully that means I'll start to see the numbers fall on the scale again.  (I again haven't lost anything in almost two months.)

I decided to cancel my x-ray since I'm feeling better and will just wait until my January appointment to see if I need to get any saline added back in or if I'm in the "green zone" where I currently am. 

Tag Team Throwdown:

For those of you that haven't attended a crossfit competition before, this one was a pretty big one.  Alexia and I were one of 44 teams in the Women's Scaled Division and took 25th overall.  That's pretty good considering some of these women have been doing this crossfit thing for years.   

There were three workouts throughout the day, and what was awesome is each team from our gym went at different times so we all got to cheer for and support each other throughout the day.  It really was so much fun!

Here's a pic of our 573Fitness Crew!

WOD 1:

The first WOD was one partner finding their one-rep max on the Snatch lift and the second partner finding their one-rep max on the Clean & Jerk.  Yes, I'm aware theses lifts sound a bit perverted. :-)

Alexia got 95lbs on her snatch and I got 140lbs on my clean & jerk for a team total of 235lbs placing us 17th in the competition after the first WOD. 

Here's a video of my Clean & Jerk Max:

 

WOD2:

This was our most difficult WOD, for sure.  We had to do the following with a time cap of 10 minutes:

150 meter run

21 synchronized burpees

63 jumping pull-ups

150 meter run

15 synchronized burpees

45 jumping pull-ups

150 meter run

9 synchronized burpees

27 jumping pull-ups

Once you completed all of that, if you had time left, you did as many 65lb snatches as you could and that would be your score.  We completed the workout in 9 minutes and ended up doing 11 snatches in the last minute.   We really could not have done that WOD any faster, and it moved us to 28th place out of 44 teams.

Here's a video of some of those jumping pull-ups and snatches.  You can tell we are absolutely dead. 

WOD 3:

This was our favorite WOD and turned out to be one of my favorite moments of the year.  This workout also had a time cap,  this time of 11 minutes. 

20 Toes to Bar

30 Wall Balls

60 Dead lifts at 115lbs

20 Toes to Bar

30 Wall Balls

50 Power Cleans at 85lbs

20 Toes to Bar

30 Wall Balls

40 Shoulder to Overhead at 65 lbs.

It was a perfect example of Alexia and I coming through in different areas that were our strengths.  I did the toes to bars while Alexia did the majority of the Wall Balls, we split the deadlifts, and Alexia knew I was dying during the power cleans so took over the last ten while I got ready for the last set of toes to bars.  

As I posted on Facebook, the really amazing moment of the day came at the very end of this workout.  We knew going in that we wanted nothing more than to finish.  We didn't care what place we got in the competition, we just wanted to finish all three workouts and the day could be considered a success.  

Because Alexia was able to finish out the power cleans and the wall balls, I took a few breaths before picking up the bar for the last 40 shoulder to overheads of the workout.  With less than a minute left, I needed to do all 40 as quickly as possible.  There just wasn't time to switch off back and forth between Alexia and me so in my head I told myself that I had go until the clock stopped.  

Before I knew it, I had 12 more to go at the ten second mark.  At that point, I wasn't really even feeling myself lifting the bar, just thinking "there's no way I'm going to make it."  But my arms kept moving and Alexia kept screaming the number of reps I had left.  Before I knew it I had done all forty and the clock hadn't stopped yet. We finished it with two seconds remaining.  

It was crazy.  Our gym-mates were cheering, strangers were clapping and I dropped to the ground!  Brandi, from the gym, even asked me if I wanted water and my response was, "I don't know."  Needless to say, I needed a minute to recover.  Later on as I was watching another heat do the workout, I heard a couple who I didn't know sitting next to me talk about what I had done-- it was pretty cool.  

It really was all possible because Alexia and I played up our strengths and she carried us through the power cleans and wall balls.  If she would have been just two seconds slower on any of them, we wouldn't have been able to complete our workout.  

It was the perfect ending to our very first crossfit competition together.  I couldn't have asked for a day or partner!

Here's a video of the end:

 

Some additional pictures of our day:

Eight Months Post-Op: Inches Over Pounds

This month has been full of ups and downs... literally.... on the scale.  On any given day I weigh between 213 (My lowest at this point) to 217 (What I weighed two months ago).  Like I've said many times, the scale has not been my friend over the past several months. 

The best way for me to see the difference that my new exercise and lifestyle are making is by measuring different parts of my body and how my clothes fit.  Though I have only lost three pounds over the past two months, I have lost another 1.5 inches in my waist, an inch in my hips, almost an inch in my thighs and an inch in my arms.  So I know I'm still making progress, just not on the scale.

My clothes also fit so much better.  I got out a box of winter workout clothes that I haven't been able to wear in a few years and they all fit.  See, I wasn't crazy for saving all of those clothes after all?!?  I also have been wearing all sorts of dresses that have been sitting in my closet for a long time.  Some of which are even a little too roomy now.  


The first two shirts, I have never been able to wear before.  The third one I have not worn since my husband and I started dating three years ago. 

Adjustment via X-Ray:
The non-scale victories have been great and are what is keeping me motivated to get to the gym 5-6 times a week and continue to work with my band on what I can and cannot eat.  I do think I finally have the restriction that I need from my last fill.  

Normally, once you get 6-8cc in your band, the doctor will not put too much more in at a time to make sure you can still get some food and liquids down.  This past adjustment I had on October 29th, was a new experience.  My doctor wanted to make sure everything looked normal and also wanted to see just how restricted I was before putting more saline into the band.

I had to wait around for the afternoon where I got my fill under an x-ray machine.  It was pretty awesome despite having to drink that chalky gross liquid stuff. What was so cool is that I could see the liquid go down and go through my band into my stomach.  The doctor confirmed what I had been saying from the start, that I was not very restricted.  She decided to go ahead and put in .75 more cc's totaling 9.25 currently in my band.  

I definitely have had a huge amount of restriction since that fill, I have to be careful of what I eat or I'll have to throw it up to get it unstuck, and I also am eating slower than ever before.  It usually takes me thirty minutes to finish a small meal.  So I'm hoping that I'm where I need to be with the restriction, and now I need to focus on eating those foods that are good for me so that I am making the most of my band's restriction.  I have a history of making the wrong choices when it comes to eating healthy foods and I'm sure the holidays are going to test that even more.  But I know what I have to do to keep on the right track and I'm the only one who can make it happen. 


Eight Month Post-Op Progress:
For now, the inches are what is helping me stay on course.  Though I REALLY wanted to be in "onederland" by the end of the year, I don't see that happening.  So far, in this eight month journey I have lost...
-- 38 pounds
-- 9.25 inches in my thighs
-- 4.75 inches in my arms
-- 10 inches in my waist
-- 7 inches in my hips
-- 3 inches in my bust

That's not too shabby.  


Tag Team Throwdown:
Coming up next, I will be participating in the Tag Team Throwdown crossfit competition in St. Peters, MO on Saturday, December 13th with my wod partner, Alexia.  We've been training hard over the past month or so for this event and I am so excited! It's such a great way to see the progress we both have made, accomplish something together that we never would have thought possible just a year ago and also make memories with the other members of our gym participating.   Hopefully my next update will be showing off our great results from competition that is a little over two weeks away!

Here's a pic that Brandon Aubuchon took of me in the middle of 50 overhead squats from Sunday's workout dedicated to my WOD-Sister and Tag Team Partner, Alexia and her own weightloss journey.  It was a great turn out and fun work out!

Addiction & Hitting the Reset Button

My posts are starting to become a monthly checkpoint of where I am in my weight loss journey.  I've mentioned in previous posts that my workouts are strong, but my diet leaves a lot to be desired, and never was that more true this past month.

I have finally come to terms with the fact that I am an addict.  I am addicted to sugar, desserts, and all things bad for me.  If it's in this house, I will find it and I will eat it.  You may think I'm joking and that I am just being one of those people who throw that word around, but I really do believe it is an addiction. 

Many people think that weight loss surgery makes you automatically skinny.  While it does help me eat less than I did before, I still have to make a decision every day on what kind of foods I let in my body.  And for some reason when it comes to sugary treats, I feel no restriction at all, which means my band does not prevent me from eating as much as I want.  I learned from the Facebook Lapband group that these are considered "Slider Foods" because they go down our band very easily.

I got out of hand this month-- I found I was having dessert every other day, if not every day.  My mom would bake a pie for the Cardinals game, we would buy candy for movie night, I just had to try all of the desserts at our friends' housewarming party.  It really is an addiction-- one that was quickly getting out of control.

I needed to be reminded of how I felt at the beginning-- when I was making better choices and knew what it meant to be truly hungry from my initial ten-day clear liquid diet and seven-day full liquid diet.  I also really needed to de-tox my body of all the shit I was putting into it.

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Hitting the Reset Button
A lot of people online do what they call the "Five Day Pouch Test," which is going back to a day or two of the clear liquid diet, then full liquid diet and then soft foods. I decided to do a miniature version of this since I felt my eating had taken a turn for the worse and because I had been stuck at 217 pounds for almost 2 months.

I decided to do protein shakes on Monday, protein shakes and full liquids like soups and some chilli on Tuesday and Wednesday and then soft foods (tuna and seafood) on Thursday and Friday.  I did have some dessert and a few pieces of candy at a Halloween party on Saturday, but that was planned as a cheat day.  Sunday, I was back to protein shakes and high protein foods.   All of this while exercising every day. 

Let me tell you... I feel SO much better!!!  I am also down three pounds!  I haven't been 214 pounds in three years so I'm pretty excited with the way things are trending on the scale.  It really has given me the motivation and confidence I have been missing the past few months and I finally feel that getting under 200 pounds is a possibility for me.

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Non-Scale Victories
As mentioned previously, what isn't seen on the scale, but is just as satisfying, is when I find Non-Scale Victories or NSVs that are a testament to how far I have come:
--Things as simple as I can now fit a normal towel all the way around my body when I get out of the shower!!!
--I wasn't worried that any of the seatbelts wouldn't fit on the Six Flags rides during our anniversary trip in September.
-- But the BEST NSV actually came from someone who started coming to our gym.  He told me that he read my 90 days of exercise blog post and it really resonated with him.  He said it is what motivated him to get back in the gym. 

I always thought it was silly when people said I was inspiring them, but in this instance I realized maybe I am making a bigger impact than I thought.  Oh, and I think my heart exploded with pride at the same time.


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Progress Pics 
--Another great thing that comes with this journey, is seeing how different I look in my clothes.  I haven't really gotten small enough where I can't wear my clothes anymore, but they definitely fit differently.  And I have some pictures below that show it.

-- I'm also including a few more transformation pictures that served as a reminder this past Saturday in my "Basic Bitch" costume for a Halloween party compared to some pics that were taken in 2013. 

                                                   July 2013                       October 2013

                                               October 2013                   October 2014

Notice I have a drink in my hand in both pics. That's another thing that I am taking a break from over the next month and a half.  I was starting to have social drinks every other week and it really wasn't helping with my weight loss.  So back to being my husband's DD for the time being.  :-)

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What's Next?
Over all, I am feeling good.  Though I do believe my restriction isn't quite where it should be even with the 8.5cc of saline in my band.  My 7 month appointment is on Wednesday of this week and I am expecting to get another fill.

I also have signed up for my next crossfit competition and am partnering with one of my favorite people I have met since joining 573fitness-- my friend, Alexia!  I am so excited to train with her over the next 6 weeks so we can reach some new PRs during the Tag Team Throwdown on December 13th in St. Peters.

Thanks for following along on my journey-- I am really just getting started!

Six Months Post-Op Progress

It's hard to believe six months has gone by since I had lapband surgery.  Even though the progress hasn't been as much as I was hoping for, my life has transformed in a way I didn't think possible. 

The lapband is a bit tricky because you can't just rely on it to keep you from eating large amounts or bad foods-- you have to make a conscious decision every day on what to and what not to eat.  And I can honestly say I still have a lot of work to do in this area.  I still eat bad things for me and when I'm hungry at 10p, instead of just going to bed, I'll have a bowl of cereal or something else not very healthy.

However, I do eat about 50-60% of the amount of food that I used to, which you can imagine cuts a lot of calories out of my diet.  Instead of gaining weight like I was doing for the past two years, I have been losing... even if it has been at a slower rate than I would like.  I have also started drinking protein shakes in the mornings instead of cereal or oatmeal, which is helping me make sure I get enough protein in every day. 

6 Month Appointment & Bloodwork
Last week, I had my fifth fill at my six month post op appointment.  I now have 8.5cc in my band that holds 15.  Most people are in the "green zone" when they between 6-8cc, but I guess I'm a "special" one who has not really felt restriction or the band working until the past two months. I have been able to tell a big difference since last week.  Unfortunately, it's been a lot of trial and error with me eating certain foods that I have been able to digest fine the past six months, but now they seem to be getting stuck. 

I think yesterday was the first day since my fill that I did not get something stuck to where I had to throw it up to get it unstuck.  Sorry, I know that's gross, but it's a reality of life with lapband.

During my appointment last week, they also took 12 tubes of my blood to do my six month blood work.  My veins have always been hard to find and they had to stick me in three different spots to get enough to test.  I wanted to pass out, but just kept telling myself, this is part of the process of me getting healthy again.

The test results came back the very next day and for the first time in a long time I did not have elevated blood sugar or elevated cholesterol.  EVERYTHING WAS NORMAL. Woop Woop!

Working Out
Even though I broke my streak of working out 146 days in a row, I have still consistently been going to the gym 5-6 times a week or running outside to make sure I keep going on my progress.  Also to be expected, my body at times gets pretty worn down where I have to take a step back and allow it to recover.

This happened last week while I was lifting and ended up pulling two ribs out of place.  Luckily, my friend Alexia is a chiropractor who was able to pop them back in. (Thank you so much for that!!) Four days of cardio instead of lifting and everything is about back to normal.  It's very strange how stir crazy I was going in just those four days not being able to lift.  I really have grown to love it again.

My Progress
It is hard for me to see a difference in my body from pictures over the past few months even though I know I've put in a lot of work and feel better than I did back then.  These pictures usually make it easier to see the difference, but for me, the changes are becoming harder to notice.  I'm not sure if that's just the "fat girl" in me that will always see me a certain way or if I really have stalled as much as I feel I have.

On a positive note, I am down to 217 for a total weight loss of 34 pounds so far.  I know that's great, but I catch myself comparing my journey with others who have lost more than me in only three months.  I know you aren't supposed to compare, but it's easy to do... especially considering how many WLS people I follow on facebook and instagram.  But I also know I am building a ton of muscle because even though I've only lost seven pounds in the past four months, I've lost 4.25 inches in my waist, 3.5 in my hips and 1.5 in my bust during that time. 

So while I have a long way to go, in order for me to continue to bust through this plateau, I'm going to celebrate these past six months and push even harder going forward.

So here is the breakdown-- in the past six months I have lost...
-- 34 lbs
-- 8.45 inches in my thighs
-- 3.75 inches in my arms
-- 8.5 inches in my waist
-- 6 inches in my hips
-- 3 inches in my bust
-- Total of 29.7 inches

My goal is to be under 200 by the end of the year, but it will take a lot of hard work and will power to make it happen.  Wish me luck!

My Very First Rest Day

Yesterday was my 146th day of exercise in a row.  It started with a WOD at the gym followed by 6+ softball games in a local tournament.  It was a great day and 573fitness came out on top after a five extra-inning championship game.  My first time playing softball in over five years and I still got it.

If you remember, my original workout challenge was to exercise 90 days in a row(read blog post here), which turned out to be a lot easier than I first imagined.  And really sprung me into this amazing and fun new lifestyle where I look forward all day to the moment I get to go to the gym.  On my 91st day, I wrote of my transformation where I gained my new mindset and determined what I was going to do next-- 180 days of exercise in a row.

In the past 146 days, I have walked, swam, played tennis and volleyball, dragon boat raced, white water rafted, ran a 5k, got closer to my goal of a ten-minute mile, averaged six crossfit workouts a week and competed in two competitions.  It's been fantastic, but also extremely tiring at times.   

So today, Day 147, I am taking my very first rest day.

I have no doubt I could have kept going to day 180 and beyond.  But when I think about what my real goal is here-- it's not to exercise a certain number of days in a row, but to live a healthier and more fulfilling life.  The only way I'm going to do that is if I am healthy in all areas, not just the gym.

My workouts have been great and I'm starting to step them up by doing extra workouts with a small group of girls at the gym.  But I still struggle with eating the right things, drinking enough water and probably the biggest one-- getting enough sleep to function properly.

Those are the things that need my focus now, but I will not let up on the exercise.  I've decided to allow myself one rest day a week if I really need it. That way I still have something I have to work towards each week, but I can give myself a break and flexibility when I need it.

What I've Learned
While it was sometimes difficult to get a workout in during the past 4.5 months, it was  NEVER impossible.  One thing I have learned through all of this is that there really is NO EXCUSE.  We will always be busy, we will also have a million things going on and conflicts that come up, but if you are being truly honest with yourself, you know that the only excuse for not making it to the gym or eating the right things, is that you simply did not want to badly enough.

I'm not saying that important things don't come up or that you don't deserve to splurge a bit every once in a while. I have a lot of work to do in this area, but I now know it is all up to me-- I'm the only thing that can stop me from getting where I want to be.

I have definitely sacrificed plenty in the past 146 days by making my workouts and me a priority for the first time in a long time.  It's been challenging, it's changed some of my relationships with friends and family, but more than anything it has been one of the most rewarding things I've done.  And I don't plan to stop.