Week 22 Recap

Before I get to the recap, let's have a moment of silence for all those people who take shortcuts with their weight loss - you know, like magic pills, diet fads, etc., etc. They somehow lose weight by seemingly not changing their lifestyle. I don't know about you, but when I get the body I dream of, that I know is hidden inside me somewhere (and it's not a matter of 'if', just 'when', because it WILL happen) I think that people will probably inquire about how I did it. Maybe they'll ask me my 'secret'. And this is what I will say : I changed my lifestyle, made sacrifices and healthy decisions not once in awhile, but EVERY day. I pushed myself and sweat like crazy working hard a minimum of 5 days a week, sometimes more than that. I MADE the time, I MADE myself a priority. I researched the right foods to eat, I adjusted my food intake based on what my body was telling me. Because when (and not if) I get to the top of this fitness/health mountain I am climbing, I want to know that I created this body of mine, just me. It was my own doing and hard work, not because of shortcuts or doctors or dangerous extremes. Enough about that....

Week 22 aka my birthday week hooray! Since I have started losing weight, I have been trying to hold myself back from buying any new clothes. However, soon it's going to be necessary. Enter a good reason to spend a little dough on myself : birthday cash. I've ordered a cute dress for my birthday night, four sizes smaller than  the last 'sized' dress I bought (numbers, not letters). It's the smallest I've been in about 3 years. It was delivered to me on Wednesday, and I immediately pulled it out of the box. I actually slipped it over the dress I was wearing, without even unzipping the side - and it FIT! This was not a stretchy material either, sort of chiffon-like. Not only that, it was a little big, I probably could have ordered another size smaller. WHAT!?! - so exiting. First new item of clothing I purchased since I have been losing weight and it was kind of big. It's a pretty rare occasion where I over estimate the size I am. I digress...back to the recap.

This week I had fun working out! I received a Polar heart rate monitor as a birthday gift, which allows me to see a) my heart rate at all times and b) calories burned in a workout. I've been sort of guessing the calorie burn (based on time input and my current weight on MyFitnessPal app). Now I have a much more accurate number. I also was given a 10 class pass for boot camp! Hoping to start that soon.

Workout this week:
Monday : Spin & Sculpt class/20 min. on the elliptical

Tuesday: Bodypump (burned 325 cal)/Treadmill jog hike (361 cal) = 686 calories burned!


Wednesday : Lunch walk 2.8 miles (280 cal)/evening walk 2.2 miles (280 cal) = 560 calories burned!


Thursday : Bodypump (465 cal)

Friday : Day off

This was an extraordinary cool experiment. The two bodypump classes were the same this week, but at Thursday's class I made it an absolute point to push myself.  I found, somewhere, the athlete in me. During the lunge track (towards the end of the class) I actually caught myself smiling during the last set of squat jumps, realizing the pure power my legs had. If you don't know what squat jumps are, they are exactly what they sound like, a squat and a jump, then back in to the squat, and so on, and so on. I jumped higher and squatted deeper with each rep, sweat pouring in to my eyes and my legs burning. I kept telling myself : turn the pain in to strength, and I did it. I forgot about the pain and found my stride. While others in the class were stopping, I jumped higher and let my muscles catapult me in to the air. I may have only jumped a foot off the ground but it felt like five. My hard work was rewarded with 145 extra calories burned than the class on Tuesday. A heart rate monitor was a brilliant idea as a gift. I can't wait to try it with the spin classes so I know which burns the most!

Instead of telling you about the food I'm eating this week, I'll just show you a picture of my fridge:

Now in case you can't see it (I know it's a crappy pic) -

Top Shelf: Blackberries/Strawberries, tomatoes from the garden, broccoli from the garden, OJ (for Landon), pickles (made with cukes from the garden), Raw milk from Family Cow Farmstand (YUM!)
Middle shelf: Butter (you sure as heck won't catch margarine in my fridge), chard, kale, cukes and beans (all from the garden)
Bottom shelf: Hard boiled eggs, light bread (35 cal/slice), sour cream, pork/steak
Drawers: Squash (from the garden), garlic scapes (from the farmer's market).

Let's just forget about those frappaccinos - I got them for camping, had one, and haven't touched them since. From this picture I can say about 90% of the food in here is local, fresh and organic. My breakfast, lunch and dinner will all have food from this stash this week. I rarely eat anything out of the cabinet - if I do it's organic rice. This is a fridge I am proud of, with many things that were grown by us! Also you may notice there is nothing 'low-fat' or lean protein. Never fear! I have shrimp in the freezer and usually have some sort of poultry for lunch from the cafe. But remember, the fat content of the meal is actually what keeps you full. So no, I don't eat bone-dry chicken breast all the time. I'll take a steak or some pork any day of the week! Fat is good, as a country we absolutely need to get over making everything low fat - it's not natural, and definitely not as tasty.

So, has my hard work paid off this month? On the scale this morning I was down another 2lbs this week, 7.5 total for July! That's 35.5 total! My official weigh in day isn't until Monday and I'll finish off the month with a progress post.