November Recap

As much I remind myself to get on the computer to actually post these, I get distracted and haven’t been posting them. I’ll be trying to make more of an effort to do them weekly like in the beginning. Instead I’ll be combining this past months post into a monthly recap. 

I started the first week off strong. My brother, myself and my SO all have a group chat to keep us motivated. I suggested we take turns that week and come up with a small challenge. A few of them were drink 100 oz of water, complete two miles however you wanted and burn 500 calories in one workout. It was fun, we all completed them and it was just a little boost to keep us going. 

My grandmother started her off season at the beginning of the month and decided to come visit us. My grandmother loves to cook and doesn’t do healthy. My plan was make sure she enjoyed herself but cook dinners at home. This would allow us to do our own breakfast and lunches and if stay on track with a healthy dinner. That plan didn’t go like I thought it would. She loves Paula Dean and I had taken them to Savannah years ago so she could go to her restaurants. My grandfather has since passed away and the only thing she asked to do was go to her seafood restaurant. 

The food, although not on my diet, is amazing! They even had a huge outdoor play area that the kids loved. I don’t remember it being there at all last time. She also insisted on making me tacos for dinner one night. While I lived in Clarksville near them, I’d always get an invite to taco night with my grandparents. She remembered how much I loved them. I couldn’t say no. All in all, my eating was all over place. My sweet husband also surprised me twice with Starbucks. He knows I love the Cinnamon Dolce Latte, also not diet approved. We talked on that a bit one night and we both agreed, my time with my grandma is limited. I don’t know how much longer we’ll have her around but while I do, making precious memories with her and my family will come first and I was okay with any weight I was going to gain while she was visiting. As a surprise we drove by PD house. She has a hard time getting around but she talked about getting to see just a glimpse of it from the road, for days.

By the end of her visit, I had only gained a fraction of a pound. Following her visit, I had a week before I left to TN. I stayed on track. Not much change on the scale but I have started to notice the muscle at the tops of my thighs from all the leg extensions. Heading to TN, I had no plans on sticking to diet or a workout routine. I would be staying at my dads and we had our family Thanksgiving, a birthday party and no workout equipment. As we left out, my oldest child was running a fever. He spent several days laying around. Thanksgiving Day, Sunday for our family, I woke up with diarrhea. Lasted 24 hours. Then the baby got a fever. I don’t know if getting sick was the reason I didn’t gain any weight that week but I’m just going to assume so. They didn’t have a scale so I missed a week of weighing in. Was for sure I’d gain something by the time I got home. I weighed what I’d been weighing all month. 

We got home and had a tiny Thanksgiving with my SO and a work buddy. I got back in the gym just in time to start my cycle. This month has been interesting to say the least. I’ve got a few days left and need to lose 2 pounds in order to keep on track with my goal of five pounds a month. I’ve been the same weight since the end of October. Small changes here and there but consistently 170 pounds. I’ve been ahead each month so December I need to actually put in the work. I do believe knowing I don’t have the cushion will get my butt in gear to step up my game again.

I weighed in today just for an idea on how much I still needed for this month. I’ve got four more days to lose 1.5 pounds. I am going to do it! Next update you all will be able to celebrate with me, reaching my monthly goal and reaching 20 pounds! 

October Recap

It has been a month since my last check in. It’s been a weird month for me. We started out the month with my in laws coming to visit. It was so nice having them here. I was in a challenge with my SO the first week that finished the day after they arrived. I won! After that we took a break while they were here. I stayed mostly on track with my eating, only indulging in Mellow Mushroom for my SO birthday. His mom was trying to not disrupt our progress and got tiny cupcakes instead of a huge ice cream cake that they normally do. They were only 100 calories.

The last couple of weeks has had a handful of hurdles. The flu, SO in a two week class, SO grandma from New York calling on their way to Florida saying they wanted to visit the next day and just being in a funk on my end. I haven’t been as dedicated as previous months. I have mostly stayed on track with my eating which means I’ve been maintaining my weight loss. This is the most important. Any other time I’ve gotten off track and made every excuse not to get back on track. Then I’d go ahead and eat whatever I felt like. 

It’s been a good feeling to know that life can get messy and I didn’t fall back into old habits. Maybe I just needed a break but I still made sure I didn’t ruin all the progress I’ve made and for that I’m proud. I have worked out just not on a daily basis like before. Some weeks a little more and another week hardly at all. I’m hoping come November, I’ll find that drive again. 

I have been doing my weigh in every Wednesday! Below I’ll share the weigh in from my last post as well as all the following weigh ins, my current total weight loss and how much I still have left. 

Sep 21st

Current Weight: 176.0

Sept 28th

Current Weight: 173.2

Oct 05th

Current Weight: 172.4

Oct 12th

Current Weight: 173.0

Oct 19th

Current Weight: 172.0

Oct 26th

Current Weight: 170.8
Total lost: 17.2Pounds left: 27.8
I have just shy of a week left in this month and am still hoping to reach the 60’s. Was hoping to reach 168 and make it an even 20 pound loss but I’ll be happy just being able to say I’ve made it to the 60’s! I’m currently only 0.8 pounds away and almost 3 pounds to reach that 20 pound mark. As far as my goal for the month goes. My goal has been five pounds a month. I needed to reach a 15 pound loss by the end of October so I am still on track and slightly over that goal. I knew there would be months like this which is why I haven’t adjusted my monthly goal of five pounds. Having been ahead allows me to take the breaks needed with that wiggle room all the while staying on track for the end goal. 
One big accomplishment that I almost forgot about was going up in lifting weight. While doing the Buckedup Bootcamp they have me doing 3 sets with anywhere from 10-15 reps. I had started out at 70 pounds for my machine row and leg extension but I was only doing reps of 8-10. After doing so many reps with the bootcamp, I was easily doing the 70 pounds and have now bumped up to 95. I’m going to work on getting myself back up to the 3 sets and 15 reps with ease at this weight. This has been my method for weight training. Once the ease comes with maxed out reps, I bump up the weight with fewer reps. 
Another non scale victory is my calves! I tried on a pair of heels and the muscle definition in them has completely boosted my confidence. I know I’m building muscle but it has been hard to tell under all the fat. Not gonna lie I was totally checking them out in the mirror and when my SO got home my daughter was telling me to put them on for a fashion show. As we strutted around that was the first thing he noticed was my calves and how toned they looked. He talked me up like crazy and it just felt really great in that moment. 
Not a health or fitness goal but more of a personal one has been reading. I started back in September after not reading in so many years. I made a small goal of five books for this year. After I passed that I made a new goal of 25. I’m currently at 20! I grew up reading all through school. I remember an awkward conversation with a football player asking me why a cheerleader would read… I’ve always loved it and I’m very much enjoying getting back into it. 
And lastly, I know there’s only a few days left but my goal for the week is to lose the remaining 0.8 pounds and get myself back on here to regularly update. This space has always held me accountable and kept me focused. Next week I’ll have worked out my new plans, goals and will be updating you all with some new stuff. Let’s make November count!

Week Seven Recap

(Once again, forgot to post it on Wednesday.)

My back is finally getting better! I can barely feel now and haven’t had any issues with it during my workouts. I still avoid using that area as much as possible but when I do a little bit, it hasn’t aggravated it. My SO had to leave for the weekend for work. Friday-Monday which meant I had all three kids at home on Saturday and Sunday during my workouts. This proved to be a challenge. Between the three of them, I ended up pausing my workouts about a 1000x each day. Even Friday with just my youngest was a rough day. But something was better than nothing. Because he was gone, I also wasn’t able to get any recipes posted like I had hoped. 

Monday was the start of a challenge I joined. Bucked Up Fitness was offering a free 8-week challenge. There are prizes to be won if you purchase one of their supplements. I haven’t decided if I’ll be doing that to enter for the prizes but it is nice having pre-planned workouts each day. Monday was legs, Tuesday was upper body and today was an active rest day. I got on the treadmill today and set it to a 10% incline and just walked for about 20 minutes. I plan on going for another walk outdoors with the kids later today. The goal is to reach 10,000. Active rest days are exactly what they sound like. Staying active but also giving your body a rest. 

I was able to mark off a new TVL goal of 20,000 pounds lifted in one session. Today is also weigh in day. I had gained a half pound last week after having to take most of the week off. But I am finally seeing some progress again and can’t wait to crush this next week. I weighed in today at 176 pounds. This puts me at a 12 pound loss with only 33 more pounds to go. I’m still striving to reach the 60’s before my in laws get here. That will hopefully be my drive for the next two weeks but I am happy with any progress! I am currently 2 pounds over my goal for this month and will be shooting for two more this week. 

A little off topic but what are y’all reading? I’ve just got back into reading. I tried over the years and just couldn’t get into the random book I would grab. I finally gave into the Colleen Hoover books and I’ve enjoyed the easy reads. I’ve just started branching out and really enjoyed those as well. I think I’ve read 10 books this month already. Send me your favorites. Bonus points if they are on Kindle Unlimited. There’s been so many recommended on BookTok but the majority of them aren’t on there so until I can make the drive out to the boom store, I’m limited. 

Week Six Recap

(This post was made yesterday. I just can't post it from the app and forgot to get on the computer to publish it.)

What a week it has been. Probably my hardest week since I began this journey. A couple of weeks ago I hurt my lower back during a workout. I’ve been seeing a chiropractor since then and it was doing really well. Not completely gone but just a small inconvenience. I went for my appointment on Thursday and left in with my lower back hurting. By the time I got home it was like it had just happened all over again. The next day I spent the whole day in bed trying to let it heal some. Rotated between ice and heat and prayed the pain would be better the next day. 

It wasn’t as bad on Saturday so I did a small workout. Sunday came and I was just frustrated. Frustrated with not being able to workout on a regular basis because of this injury, frustrated that I couldn’t go as hard as I wanted to and feeling like I could be much further along if I was just able to do everything without the pain. Stubbornness kicked in and I pushed through a good workout. Well, that was a dumb decision. I was really hurting afterwards. Because of where it’s at, it makes it hard to stand up, sit down, roll over in bed, carry the baby around and really anything that uses your lower back. It’s not just inferring with fitness but daily life. I took Monday off even though it wasn’t as bad that day because I had another chiropractor appointment. 

I filled her in on all the pain and she adjusted me but also worked my left glute with the massage gun to loosen it up. Because I’m slightly twisted it’s taking my body some time to adjust and my left side just doesn’t want to losses up. She has me icing after each session, before and after working out. I will admit, I forget to do it before my workout. On a positive note, my little hunchback it almost gone. I stand up straight with ease now and not nearly the tension in my shoulders I’ve had for so long. 

This week our water cooler arrived! I don't know why I am so excited about it but I refuse to drink tap water. We have a filter on our faucet and then fill up a Britta Filter Water Pitcher for the fridge. I like my water cold but the pitcher doesn't hold enough and by the time I need to fill up again, it hasn't had time to get cold. We buy water bottles too but they aren't cold and I go through so many of them. So this new water cooler has been great and the older kids are able to fill up whenever they want and are actually drinking more water. A win all the way around.

The replacement parts for the weight bench have finally come in. The parts got lost in our move. One part was on back order but we are still able to use it again. Once it got built I set a base for what I am bench pressing and made some goals for that. I've also made some goals for my TVL (Total Volume Lifted) during my weight sessions. I've had them in my phone but I will update my Goals tab with what I started at and which ones I've already beat as well as my future goals in those areas.

As for my weigh in this week. Last week I weighed in at 177.8 and this weeks weigh in was 178.2. I gained about 1/2 a pound. I definitely didn't expect to lose anything this week and I'm happy with only a half pound gain. I tried to keep my eating on track. I'm just ready to get back to normal and be able to go as hard as I want to while I still have the drive and motivation. I am loving the changes I've seen so far and I think that is my biggest drive at the moment. I noticed a change in my face, not as much double chin.

To end the week, my SO surprised me with an outfit from SHEfit as a celebration of losing 10 pounds. He got me the sports bra I've been interested in for about a year now and a matching pair of workout leggings. If you haven't checked out their sports bras, go check them out!

I am going to have some free time this weekend so I will finally be adding some of the recipes for you guys. Can't wait to share those.