Fitness Success

Just over four weeks ago, I started off on a Fitness journey. I've been struggling with weight loss since Maggie was born over two and a half years ago. I haven't been struggling to lose baby weight which is the frustrating part. Instead I've been trying to leave behind the grief weight, the weight I gained when Maggie wouldn't breastfeed, the weight I gained when my Dad was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer and died a few months later, the weight I gained when I was thrust into the roll of caregiver for my Mom while also being the main caregiver for two little girls under the age of 3.

Whew, that first year and a half after Maggie was born was brutal and when I'm stressed, sad, lonely or happy, I like to eat and not move. In December of 2014, I announced that I would be working to get my shit together and I did really well doing that in the past year. I developed a daily workout routine through barre3, I started to eat a little bit better, I learned to say NO and most importantly, to put myself first.

Earlier this year though, I began to drift and feel frustrated. I wasn't losing weight! I wasn't into my workout routine. I was bored. Then I stumbled upon the Little Black Dress program and decided to jump aboard. It was serendipity as the night I signed up, I also met a friend for drinks. I mentioned my new program and she said she was working out at the same gym! I also got a friend from college to join in and that has been amazing! Community is so important to me. It's almost as important as the workout. I need to feel like there are other people who are working hard toward the same goal. Sync Fitness does all that for me. When I'm crawling up the hill, thinking about puking, someone always says, "YOU ARE AMAZING!" I find myself telling people that they have beautiful form and complimenting them. I want to sing from the rooftops. I also wrote about my new found love for Boot Camp on Seattle Refined.

So I'm four weeks into this new regime and so far, so awesome. In the past month, I've revived my eating, identified my stumbling blocks and figured out ways to work around them while beating the 3 p.m. slumps. I've also lost almost two inches from my waist and hips; one inch from my chest and almost 10 pounds. I still have a long way to go but I know I can do it.

The eating plan is so realistic and includes my favorite concept - the treat meal. Once a week, I have something I have been really craving - something not that healthy and seriously, it has been enough. We've been tearing through our weekly organics box. For awhile there the chickens were eating more of it than we were. Yes, they are displeased about this turn of events but we are really enjoying the fresh vegetables and fruit in our diet. Otherwise my daily diet is usually cottage cheese with banana for breakfast, a Zing bar for a snack, a Big Ass Salad for lunch and a healthy dinner of a lean protein and lots of veggies. I've been fully and satisfied.

I took Molly with me to Charity/Family Boot Camp last week and it was so much fun. The gym has you donate to Mary's Place both financially and in a concrete way. They asked for Snack Foods this month so Molly and I took her Give Jar money to the store and bought a ton of snacks.

Molly was exhausted from the workout! It was fun to show her what Mommy does when she leaves in the morning to workout. Molly said that she was impressed which made me smile. She also said she needed a nap after the workout which is how I feel most days when I'm done with Boot Camp.