The New Me - Month One

One month ago, on Oct 13th, I decided to make a change. I was finally ready to start working off the extra baby weight. I mean really get the weight off. I was motivated. I had to get started that day for fear that my motivation would subside and I would come up with one more excuse not to get started. Speaking of excuses, I have come up with plenty of them. Here is my top 5 list of excuses and my best reason to overcome that excuse.


Overcoming Excuses:

• Excuse #1: I have ZERO time to work out. We have 3 girls ages 4, 2, and 9 months, and they take a lot of joyful energy to raise. I work three days a week and two Saturday mornings a month. Once a week, my husband and I play on a coed soccer team, we attend church, we go to a Bible study, and two of our girls have soccer lessons. Not to mention all of the time needed to keep our house in order. Zero time.
• Overcoming: If something is important to you then you will make time for it. I now lift weights or run after the girls are in bed for the night, but before I tackle the house work. Sometimes I run in the morning before the girls wake up
• Excuse #2: We don't have our weight set, and even if we did have it, we don't have a place to put it.
• Overcoming: On Oct 13th, we picked up our weight set from where it was being stored at my work the past three years. We made room in the garage (sacrificing my husbands car getting to park in there), and we put the weight set together. I started lifting weights that night.
• Excuse #3: I'm tired and I love to sleep. Remember the three sweet girls I mentioned before? It never fails that someone wakes up at least fifty times (ok, maybe it's just once or twice) a night so I rarely get a full nights sleep especially with the crazy time change and runny noses from all of the weather changes. I don't cut into my sleep for anyone, except my girls.
• Overcoming: No matter how much sleep I get, life still goes on. Believe it or not, I now attend Boot Camp on Wednesday's at 5:30am. So, now I only cut into my sleep for my girls and Boot Camp!
• Excuse #4: I have a fractured rib from a soccer injury in mid August. From my past experience with the same type of injury, it takes 6 months to fully heal. I guess that means I shouldn't start working out until mid February, right?!
• Overcoming: Anything can be modified. Our weight set has two sets of weights and three workout stations. I can't do one of the stations until my rib heals so I make the most of the other two stations knowing that I'll add in later what I can't do right now. So far, I've only had to modify one thing at Boot Camp. I've been able to do everything else.
• Excuse #5: Before having my girls, I was athletic and in great shape, so I kept telling myself that once I started working out, it would be so easy to get back to where I used to be.
• Overcoming: Easy? Really? If it's going to be that easy then why haven't I already started to work at it? Why am I not already seeing results? What's stopping me? Nothing now!

My Goals: I feel that goals are very important because they help you stay on track. They should push you to do your best, but they should also be attainable. I have three goals that I have written down to keep me focused as I work to get back in shape.

1. Family Goal: To be a role model for our three girls. I want them to look up to me, and not someone else.
2. Personal Goal: To be satisfied with how I look and to be comfortable in my clothes. To be honest, I want to wear a two piece swimsuit again and people not be able to tell that I've had three kids (or any kids for that matter).
3. Lifetime Goal: To simply be healthy. My family has a history of cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc, so I want to be fit enough to potentially ward off some of those ailments.

Workout Routine / Accountability: This list helps to holds me accountable to actually do the workouts. If I'm going to tell you about my journey, then I better have a journey to tell. I committed to lifting weights every other day for the first month. Once I get a routine (aka habit) down then I might put weights and cardio on specific days of the week for month two.

• Day 1, Oct 13th: I took my measurements, my weight, and before pictures. I plan to share these pictures with you in the future so that you can see that this progress happens in real time, not in a week like those "get quick result" scams want you to believe.
• I lifted weights (full body)
• I ate 5 oreo's to celebrate the start of my journey. I'm just being honest. Don't judge.
• Day 2: Played back to back indoor soccer games. Cardio - check.
• Day 3: Weights, lunges
• Day 5: Weights, lunges. I don't see a change in my body, but I'm starting to feel a change.
• Day 7: A friend invited me to try a F.I.T. (Fun, Intense, Training) Boot Camp class in her neighborhood from 5:30-6:15am. I went, and I LOVED it. Don't get me wrong, it was brutal and I was extremely sore for days; therefore, I joined the class the following week.
• Day 8: One week down! I feel good and my body feels tighter even though I still can't see a change.
• Day 9: Soccer, crunches
• Day 10: Weights, lunges. My core and back are feeling stronger.
• Day 12: Boot Camp w/weights at 5:30am. I heard a song on the way home that said "waiting for always to change." I decided that I was no longer going to wait for always to change. I was going to make always change.
• Day 14: Weights. I can visibly see a change today - my stomach looks and feels a little tighter. I still have a long way to go, but this is some good motivation. I feel better in my clothes today.
• Day 16: Soccer, weights. I upped my weights today.
• Day 18: Weights
• Day 19: Boot Camp w/weights. We ran our best mile in class. I had not timed my mile, much less ran one since hurting my rib, so I wasn't sure how it would go. I ran alongside a good friend, my silent motivator, and we even sprinted at the end of the mile. Our time was 9 mins and 58 seconds. We originally thought our time was 8:58, which would have been awesome, but also pretty hard to top on a regular basis. I'm still impressed with our time, but I'm fairly certain positive that I could not have kept up that speed for many more miles.
• Day 20: Weights
• Day 21: Ran 1 mile. Core feels tighter.
• Day 22: Weights, crunches
• Day 23: Soccer
• Day 24: Weights
• Day 25: Boot Camp w/weights
• Day 27: Weights
• Day 28: Ran 1.21 miles.
• I've committed to eat like my Hypoglycemic Meal Plan recommends to help me lose the extra weight. I have low blood sugar so I have to eat 6 meals a day to maintain a steady sugar level. I was diagnosed with this 11 years ago so I know how to control my sugar with what I eat, but I also know how to cheat. I'm not saying that I'll never cheat. I'm just saying that if I do cheat then it will be less often. :)
• Day 29: Soccer, leg weights
• Day 30: Weights
• Day 31: One Month Down!

Month One Results:

• I'm seeing muscle tone again
• I feel healthier
• I'm motivated to continue
• I have more energy
• I'm sore pretty much every day and I love it
• I haven't checked my weight yet, but I believe that I've lost 1-2 pounds. I know this is not a lot, but I'm in the process of burning fat and building muscle so I'll take it. I feel like I will lose more weight in month two since I've altered my eating habits.
• I've lost 2 inches in my problem areas. Woohoo!
• My (very unprofessional) calculations show that I've lost a total of 3 3/4" all over, but that seems like a bit much so I'm curious to see how I measure at two months.
• My favorite quote from my Boot Camp instructor is when she says "it's hard" and we respond with "it's worth it."
• I'm proud of myself and this journey that I've started!

I've given myself 6 months to be get back in the shape that I want to be in so I'll update you again at month two.