Started Back Up... On A Friday?!?!

Why yes, yes I did!!

After over a month of fun, friends, food, fairs, food... Did I mention FOOD?!? I couldn't wait to get back to basics. Too much time on the road, eating grab-n-go food, eating behind the steering wheel, and eating out! It was time. My body was basically revolting! I was exhausted, stressed, bloated, dealing with breakouts and muscle pain... I needed to listen. So I did and Friday it was.

Last Friday was Day 1 of a 30 day stretch sugar free, white free, alcohol free and making sure I eat! Work has been crazy and I kept finding myself looking at the clock around 3pm and realizing I'd only had coffee and a banana! Umm... no, not good.

I have to confess immediately though... Friday didn't go 100% according to plan, but it's gotten better from there!

Let me explain. Friday was freaking CRAZY!! Work has been an endless blur of stress, events, projects and learning my new job. Like I said, time's been getting away from me and Friday was no different. Well, maybe a little. I left work on time and I did have breakfast and lunch. I just failed to eat a snack. I headed to the YMCA to test out a new pair of shoes on the treadmill (hated them!) and then head to head straight to muay thai from there. So, no snack and no dinner.

By 8:30pm I was EXHAUSTED and a bit too low on sugar. Gotta love when the room starts to spin all on it's own, right? Lesson learned!! On a good note, I was testing for my muay thai sash at the time and PASSED!!!

If anyone's curious how crazy of a workout a 90 minute muay thai test is, here's my calorie burn:

Then my testing partner and his wife invited me out for a celebratory beer. Forgetting my Day 1 status, I agreed and thoroughly enjoyed that hard earned beer! The company too... I enjoyed the company too. Needless to say, I stuffed my face with greek yogurt and a low carb tortilla pizza when I got home!

Things improved from there. I had a good weekend and stayed on track. The Hubby and I had a movie date to see IT. Loved it!! I had Sunday to myself and went for a 5 mile run, then did an aerial class with some friends. Talk about FUN!!!

Not my most attractive picture, but I had to tuck my shirt in to my pants or I was flashing the entire group! Either way, I had a blast. I learned how to do flips and weird holds and all kind of other stuff I was positive my body would not be able to do. It was a blast!

Like all good things, the weekend had to come to an end. Monday was a bit, well I was cranky and really didn't even want to be around myself. Tuesday, Wednesday and today I've had to work and then proctor an exam in the evening, so The Hubby has been playing Super Dad since our tag team system has been temporarily benched. I'm not sure what I'd do without him. He's been on 100% kid duty with me helping to get kids up in the morning and then getting home just in time to help put them to bed. I can't wait for tomorrow and a normal schedule!! Through it all, I've managed to stay on track. Not much on the exercise side of things and I greatly miss the dojo, but I did get to go to karate on Monday, got a short run in yesterday to try another new pair of shoes (KEEPERS!!), and hope to go to muay thai tomorrow night.

Today was a good day though. I had my 9-month check in with my weight loss specialist. I can't say enough good things about that man! He was beyond happy with my progress the past month. I'm down another 4 pounds (even with some raging PMS and a very celebratory month) and he was super pumped to see my waist measurement down under 35". He explained that when that number is over 35" on women, they are at a much higher risk for several health problems. He said the fact that my waist measurement keeps dropping also tells him that I'm ridding my body of stored fat. That my skin looks healthy tells him that I'm doing it in a healthy manner. I was impressed with all the little things he focused on that indicated my success to him. He was also very impressed with my activity levels and told me he was proud of me for my successful tests this past month and my training progress for the half marathon. I walked out of his office, after just 15 minutes, on cloud nine!!

Well, I may have walked in on cloud seven after seeing a new set of 10's on the scale this morning... FINALLY!!! I pointed out that it's taken me four months to lose 10 pounds. He stopped, looked at me and said, "You just told me you gained 9 pounds in a weekend the weekend before last... do you really think 10 pounds lost and still going down is nothing to be proud of?" Well put!!!

So, I'm proud!! I started on a Friday and I am still going strong. One small cheat today at lunch, since I followed through with my monthly ritual of getting myself a cheat after my appointment. But I'm back on track this evening and sticking to my goal. Last Friday was one month from the big race. I want to clean my body out and fuel it well for ONE MONTH in hopes that I cross that finish line strong and smiling! Right now I know I'm at least going to cross it about 15 pounds lighter and so much stronger!

I'm a work in progress. I will never stop working on me and working toward my goals. While the road may be a bit bumpy sometimes, it's definitely worth every twist and turn. The people I've met and the things I've learned make me want to keep moving forward to see what might be around the next turn! Today... I hope it's a fun weekend, a few more good training runs and a finish line next month!