Sunday, February 26, 2012

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.  :)

3 comments:

  1. Congrats on your great Feb! I had a totally lackluster month where I drank roo much wine, ate too much fruit and not enough meat and veggies. We are going on vacation this week but as soon as we get back I'm going to refocus and bust my stall (and get rid of whatever I gain on vacation).

    My burpee number was 57 so I'm right there with you!

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  2. You have really made some great changes. Congrats and keep going!

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  3. So happy for you! Keep up that routine and you're going to see more fat loss!

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