204- Highs and Lows

February has been a good month for me.  It was my "January" if you will...my month of renewed resolve, focus, and determination.  I wanted nothing more then to bust through the 38 pound loss holding pattern I kept gravitating to, and stopping.  I had an AWESOME challenge buddy- seriously, she was so great.  We did pretty regular e-mail check-ins, and I hope those continue, even though our challenge month together is almost up.  


So a little preview to how the month went can be summed up in a few of the experiences I had the past 2 days.  I'll do my regular March 1st update with pictures and such, but until then, you get this:


Highs:

• My Citizens of Humanity jeans officially fit me.  I'm THIS close to being able to actually wear them in public.  I haven't been able to fit into them like I do now for 7 years.  7 YEARS!  
• I went wedding dress shopping on Saturday and it didn't suck.  I went one month ago in mid-January and it TOTALLY sucked.  
• My inches have changed significantly since January.  
• Just for fun today, I decided to go old skool and bust out a Jillian Michaels Shred video (level 3) it was not even an issue.  I did all the advanced moves, in fact, for one of the moves in level 3 (one arm cleans) I used my 35# kettlebell.  I used to use (1) 8 pound weight.  I think in the video they were using 5 pound weights?!  

Lows:

• I did the Crossfit Games Open workout #1 (12.1) yesterday in my living room.  I did not sign up for the Open, but I know TONS of people that did.  Facebook posts with numbers of burpees performed were flooding my page.  I was curious, what would my number be? I discovered that the loft in my living room is a perfect 6" above my reach (which is the standard you must jump to at the end of a burpee for it to count).  The majority of people I know got anywhere from 70-120.  I thought 70 was an attainable goal for me, 10/minute.  Oh, how wrong I was.  55.  55 was my sad, sad number.  Actually, that was the impetus for doing the Shred video, I needed an ego boost.  Thanks Jillian, worked like a charm. 
• New LOW weight- ha, maybe this should be a "high" but its a new low, get it?  I'm now 45 pounds down from where I started 2 years ago.  Take that plateau.  

So, what did I do this month to kick my butt in gear in addition to all the stuff I have already make habit?  

1) one gallon water/day

2) began eating within 30 min of waking (I was waiting 1- or more hours longer and I guess that puts your body in fat storage mode)

3) Eat every 2-3 hours

4) Increased my protein like MAD (about 1g/pound of weight)

5) No sugar, lean protein, low salt

6) Increased veggies like MAD

7) Increased fish oil and added vitamin/amino acid supplements (AA's preserve muscle when working out a lot, also called Branch Chain Amino Acids)

8) Three days of high protein/veg/natural fat (burn days) followed by one day of refueling with carbs (sweet potatoes) but lower fat. 

In reality, many of these things weren't new, I started increasing my water intake in January, aiming for a gallon a day.  By the time February rolled around, getting a gallon down was not hard.  For the past year and a half I have been striving to eat a diet that is high in quality protein, getting my carbohydrates from vegetables, no processed foods, and no sugar.  I was unfaltering in this goal the past 24 days (check out my food/exercise log).  I believe I have made much of this list habit, and plan to continue to stick to the list above as much as possible.  If I go to a restaurant, it will be on a "refuel" day.  I do plan on eating a wider selection of meats- um...haven't had bacon in over 3 weeks!?  Ridiculous.   Must rectify soon.  :)