August / 6 month recap

August Progress : 

-6.5lbs / -42.5lbs total

Still rolling right through. This month was pretty good, I'm happy with the 6.5lbs. In fact, this month I tried three completely different things that I incorporated in to my routine. Again, I think the variety in my exercise is really helping my momentum remain strong, month after month. 

I started bootcamp classes on Wednesday nights [most of the time after I had already done a lunchtime spin class]. The classes are set up outside in a circuit format - pretty much anything you could do with a tire (pulling, flipping, push-ups on one), lifting sledge hammers, running, bear crawls up a hill. It's definitely a nice change from being in a studio or a gym. And it's a crazy calorie burner - I burn an average of 550 calories burned per hour class. I finally got around to borrowing a bike from my mom, since I have been enjoying spinning so much. Last week I picked up a helmet and we rode down to the garden and back this weekend. Round trip it was about 6 miles but it felt pretty good to be on a real bike. I definitely have to learn my hand signals, I almost got hit a few times by drivers not paying attention when I was crossing the road. Now I know what those 'share the road' stickers are all about. At least I have a helmet to protect me, I wouldn't dream of riding without one given the technology distractions driver's have these days [did I sound old there or what?]. Whatever, still stylin' with the helmet :

 

I also started regularly hiking - 'tis the season in beautiful VT after all. This month, I did a short loop around Indian Brook twice, a few hours on the Catamount trail and Mt Philo. Some sort of trail every weekend. I was so proud of Landon he did Mt Philo with us - on the hiking trail, not the paved path. Here's a shot from the Catamount trail : 

 

The great part is that these activities are all highly-enjoyable. I have noticed the improvement in my stamina on hikes. Last year we did the hiking trail on Mt Philo and I had to stop at multiple points to catch my breath. This year it was pretty easy, and I wasn't out of breath. 

So, you're probably wondering how 'Ab Challenge August' went. Well, I'll be the first to admit that I did not do the routine from Pinterest as much as I wanted, maybe a total of 10 times this month. I found that it wasn't practical to do it 3 times a week with everything else I was doing. Plus there a good ab routine in both the bodypump and boot camp clases. I was definitely getting a decent ab workout every week, though, rest assured. Measuring myself today I lost 1" around my waist and 1.5" around my hips this month. Hey, that's not too bad. I probably should've been doing measurements since the start in March, it's another indicator of progress I would've liked to see. I think I'll keep doing it. 

I did want to point out this month was crazy. With Landon's birthday, both of my siblings' birthdays and getting ready Landon ready for kindergarten, there was little downtime for me. But again, I made the time. It's part of my lifestyle now. In six months, I've lost nearly 43 lbs. I'm 36% of the way to my ultimate weight loss goal. I'm realizing that realistically, it may take me more than a year to get to the goal, but I'm ok with that. After all, the last six months have been awesome to say the least. I'm continuing to enjoy every moment of this journey, feeling better and stronger each week, which makes it easy to keep going...so that's what I'll do.