Category: Operation Find My Abs

Cross Training Level 3 Week 11

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You guys! This week I am super excited! I was FINALLY able to get back down to my lowest weight. I had hit my previous lowest weight right before my anniversary March 2018. Then I started running and needed to fuel my runs so I gained a little (15-18) pounds. Since then, I have been slowly losing and trying to get back down to my lowest weight. I am excited to say, not only did I get back down there BUT, I was able to beat my lowest weight by .2! I am officially the lowest weight I have EVER been in my adult life!!

Down 1.8 pounds this week

Cross Training Level 3 Week 9

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This week my focus started on Saturday. I actually tracked my reset day and made sure to actually stay under the recommended calories for the day. I also made sure to eat a low carb dinner that day and knew I needed to get right back on the plan the next day with as many heathy, whole foods as possible.

I also decided I would add in A LOT more veggies for each day. Most of my carbs for the week were made up of veggies, broccoli, stir fry veggies, cauliflower rice, and spinach. These really help bulk up meals and give you all those micronutrients your body needs.

Lastly, my hubby reminded me on Sunday, when I inevitably craved something sweet, that I could chew on a piece of gum and help quench that craving 🤦‍♀️. I had totally forgotten that trick!

Overall, I had a great week of yummy, heathy, nutritious food and I can’t wait to do it again!

Oh, I dropped 2.2 pounds!!!

Cross Training Level 3 Deload Week!

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This week was deload week for me. It is a week where you get to take it a little easier on the workouts and get ready to hit it hard the next week. It was a good week and I was able to complete all of my workouts.

Reset day was uncontrolled, I had stopped counting what I was eating on reset day which most likely resulted in me eating too much. As a result, I am up .2 again this week. So back to tracking reset day!

I submitted my beginning weight and measurements for the Transform App August challenge. This challenge will include both my 4 year fit-aversary which is in a few days and my birthday towards the end of the month. This is the first Transform challenge that I do not have weight loss as my goal. I am focusing on getting back to health. I need to focus on eating healthy foods, in healthy portions, and working out for my health.

I have been on a weight loss journey for so long (besides the few months spent in running training) that I am tired of being in a weight loss mindset. I will still be weighing weekly but my main goal is health. I need to focus on building my energy back up. I have been feeling a little run down, most likely due to a very long time at a deficit. Don’t get me wrong, I will still be eating in a weight loss deficit BUT, if I feel super hungry one day and feel that I need some extra food, I will eat it.

I have also been eating a lot more dairy as of late so I am cutting back some. I do not like cutting out entire food groups, just limiting. I love my cheese!

I hope everyone is starting August strong! Let’s do this!

Back on Plan

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This week was awesome! I was finally able to get back on my plan. No extra cheats or snacks during the week. Everything was going great. I have also always been a daily weigher. Not because I am obsessed with the scale, more because my body is a science experiment and I want to see what any changes to my diet and exercise routine does to my weight. So this week I decided I was only going to weigh on Saturday.

I had reset day last Saturday. I also received a test of a supplement subscription box so I started trying some of those out this week. I also changed up my breakfasts for the week. So while I thought I was staying under my macros, one of these supplements must have been messing me up because I ended up with another gain of .2, which is totally not a big gain. And could totally be the last of some bloating from last week going away. Or the scale just wasn’t my friend this week. Who knows!

What I know is, I did not like not knowing what my body was doing throughout the week from daily weighing. What I know is, I did not have a since cheat or BLT (bite, lick, taste) all week. What I know is, I felt fantastic all week knowing I was sticking to my integrity.

That is what I know and that is why I will continue forward. I know this plan works. The scale may or may not agree with the weight loss plan week to week and that’s okay. The scale is a tool. I feel great and I will keep going!

Thank You Hormones!

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This week started off great, I was sticking to my macros, getting my workouts done. And then hormones hit. I was having ALL. THE. CRAVINGS. Mostly for the 3 chocolate bars that were for some reason STILL in my pantry, which I bought a couple of months ago. So, I ate them. Not all in one day but one each day for two days, then I managed to get it together for the day before weigh in, and then finished it off on reset day.

I am not going to regret this. Hormoes are a mean thing sometimes, and I legit could not stop thinking about the chocolate bars. Now they are gone.

What have I learned? Maybe buying chocolate bars and leaving them at eye level in the pantry is not such a good idea. Also, moving around my meals a little so that I can have that little taste of chocolate after dinner like I wanted at the end of the week. I have been eating a Built Bar at snack time, I will just move it until after dinner, this should satisfy that craving.

So overall, I was not surprised by a 1.2 pound gain because 1. Chocolate bars, and 2. Hormones. Half of the equation I could have controlled and half is completely something that is out of my control. I will do better next week!

Progress!

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I knew this week would be a good week. I really made sure to get my workouts done, I made sure to follow my macros for the week, and I drank all of my water. I lost 1.8 pounds this week! Yay!

Last week, I had split my reset day into two meals on two different days. I also had a larger dinner one night early in the week and tried to eat less the rest of the week to make up for it, which didn’t work so well for me.

This week I made sure to keep reset day to reset day, and stuck to my macros for each day after that. It sure did pay off! 1.8 pounds in 1 week gets me back into the 160’s again. With no special events or weekends in the immediate future, I will be focusing on following the same pattern for the next few weeks and see what happens!

Vacation Bible School & a Vacation

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Last week was VBS week at our church. We do our program at nights so that those of us who work can do so and then teach in the evenings. My plan for the week was to stick to my plan all the way through dinner and then I would have a cookie or a slice of cake from the teacher’s lounge. At our church, dinner is provided for the teachers by other members of the church. I ended up a little in weight for the week but nothing alarming.

Then Friday started my 4 day vacation. For this I planned to spend the weekend with my husband, daughter, and brother in law. I also had no plans to stick to any kind of diet. I ate what everyone else ate and by the end my body was so ready to be back to healthy food again.

By Tuesday, my weight was up 8 pounds. I knew it was completely from sodium and unhealthy choices. From Tuesday through Friday I stuck 100% to my macros. I made sure not to have any extra BLT’s (Bites, Licks, and Tastes) and I ended up with a gain of .4 for the week.

While on vacation we kept it somewhat active. Andria and I went to the aquarium, we all went hiking, and I walked a 5k. These are not things I would have done pre-healthy journey.

Today is reset day. It’s a planned day to enjoy the foods I have wanted through the week and just give my body a little extra fuel. Tomorrow is always back into counting macros and making sure to get my workouts and activity in.

I have been slacking on some workouts for a while so this week I am aiming to get all 5 of my cross training workouts done. I downloaded a new goals app to help keep me accountable. Also, writing about it and posting in public helps keep me accountable. It’s time to get back on the horse. 2019 is the year I will finish my transformation tattoo and get my phoenix tattoo!

Breaks & Cleaning & Vacations, Oh My!

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I was in week 6 of the Cross Training equipped program. Everything was going well for day 1, which happened to be an upper body day. Day 2 came around, lower body, and I just was not feeling my workout. I decided, it was spring so I would start cleaning my house for “spring cleaning.” I started at the back of my house and would clean for an hour each day, in the time I was normally working out. I was still hitting my step goals, but I wanted a little break from cross training. Please Note, I never took a break from following my nutrition, I stuck to that the whole time!

What I never expected is it would take me almost 3 weeks to get all the rooms in my house clean. Now, when I say clean, I mean baseboards scrubbed, walls cleaned, doors cleaned, floors, everything. I made sure that it was clean from top to bottom. The last day was on Good Friday. My brother in law came to stay for Easter weekend so I had to finish up before he got here. Then I took a few days off from all activity except for steps until he went back home.

When I started cross training again, I made sure that I started on the week I had stopped with. I didn’t want to have almost 3 weeks of completely skipped workouts! So I have been getting them all done!

Last weekend, we planned to go to Missouri for my husbands birthday, and to get a chance to see his family. So I took Friday and Monday off from cross training workouts, I took Friday-Monday off from nutrition. I did my best to not stuff myself with food while we were there, which I am VERY prone to doing when we go on vacation. It was a good time. I definitely bloated like crazy while gone. I came home to some very high numbers on the scale, but it is falling away quickly with a return to my normal meals.

I also made sure while we were in Missouri that I kept my water intake up. I actually bought a gallon jug to drink from so I could easily keep track of how much I had to go.

Now that we are home, it is good to be back to the foods that my body needs. It is always good to get back into routine. And it is definitely good to get back into my workouts. This week happens to be week 8 for workouts which is a deload week. So I am slowly easing back in to getting cross training workouts done 5 days a week. I missed Monday due to being on the road but have been able to get the rest of my workouts done this week.

I will probably not adjust my nutrition on Saturday since I know any gain will still be excess bloating from all the sodium on our trip. It usually takes my body 2 weeks to return fully to normal after a trip.

I cannot wait to see where the rest of my phase takes me!

Cross Training Level 1 Week 7

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I started off my week with a reset day. We had some gift cards from Christmas so we took Andria to Build-A-Bear and then went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch. This lunch ended up lasting a couple of meals as we all ended up with leftover cheesecake. I spent the whole week trying to work off what I put on after that meal.

One meal will not make or break your journey BUT it can derail you for a week. My body usually recovers well but goodness knows how many calories I consumed last Saturday. What is important this week is that I got back on my plan Sunday, and I did all of my workouts for the week. The weight will follow, it may have ups and downs from week to week but the overall trend is down.

This week is going to be all about getting my metabolism boosted back up again. I am excited for a couple of the meals I get to work into my macros. Let’s take this week and crush it!