May 2020 to May 2021

May 2020 to May 2021

6 Week Results

I was really hesitant to write this post tonight.  In fact, I thought about not writing it at all, and just hoping no-one would remember that I had just completed my first 6 week program.

Why?  Because I didn’t see the results on the scale that I told myself I was going to get.  But after taking the past 2 days to think about it, I was reminded (once again) that the scale doesn’t define me.  The scale isn’t even a good judge of anything!  It doesn’t measure your body composition, fat to muscle ratio, or fitness levels.  So why do we let a piece of metal define us and give it so much power?

I’ll get to my results in a minute, but I wanted to share some other results from the past 6 weeks.

*My level of fitness has dramatically increased.  Before starting this program, I wouldn’t have been able to max out my treadmill at 10mph, or do push-ups on my toes, or do overhead tricep dips using Jayden (25lbs) and Summer (35lbs) as weights.  But now I can!

*My nutrition has absolutely improved.  I’m choosing healthier foods to fuel my body with and definitely making some better choices!  Even the past two days since completing my program, I’ve made good choices.  In the past my mindset would have been I’m done my program, now time to eat whatever I want!

*My clothes are fitting better and I’m more comfortable with how they fit.  I’m still not comfortable wearing super tight shirts, but that’s totally ok 🙂

*I’m no longer addicted to caffeine!!!

*I am much more active. I’m working out 6-7 days a week and hitting my step goals at least 6 times a week! 

*I’ve even gotten a few comments from other people asking if I’ve lost weight!

So, here’s the scale and measurement results from the past 6 weeks. I lost 3.4 pounds total and 2″ inches.  So you can probably guess why I was a little disappointed in those numbers after 6 weeks.  I do definitely feel like my arms are more toned (see the muscle picture above), and my stomach is starting to show more definition.  (The lighting and shadows in these pictures are terrible though, the shadow has horrible placement on the “after” side view!)  I’m hopeful that the smaller weight loss on the scale is a result of increase muscle mass taking over the fat loss. I’m not placing a lot of value on the scale though, and instead I’m choosing to celebrate those victories above! 

So there you go!  6 weeks done!  Now on to the next 6!

Upper Body Circuit

Bicep Curls and Tricep Kickbacks

I love upper body workouts!  I think it’s because I feel like I can see the results the fastest in my arms than anywhere else.  I started my second set of workouts this week since I’m in week 3 now.  So a whole new routine today!  This one doesn’t look like it’s challenging, but it really was!  It works all the major muscles in your arms, chest, and upper back, so it’s a great mix.  I used 15lb dumbbells and will probably go up to 20lbs next week, and I did this circuit 3 times.

Week 1 Results, The Best Steak Ever, and Maxing Out

Can you tell I couldn’t narrow down the title of this post?  I have so much to talk about today 😉

First up–I weighed in and took my week 1 measurements this morning.  I lost 4.2 pounds last week and I’m thrilled with that number!  I think it’s probably the most I’ve ever lost in a week–thank you 3 Day Refresh! 😉  I’ve also lost 4″ from my thighs, butt, and waist combined. Again, I’m really happy with my week 1 results and it’s definitely giving me the motivation to keep going!

Next up–tonight’s dinner!  I told Mike this afternoon that we were having steak for dinner and he said he had just one request: that it taste good.  (Not sure what that means about my usual steak! ;)) But really, he always uses steak sauce and says that steak is never good enough to eat it without sauce.  So I set out to make the best steak ever, and guess what?!  It was!  Mike took one bite and said “you can definitely make this again!  I don’t even need sauce!”  So we’ll definitely be making this again and again!

Steak Bites

Ingredients:

1/3 cup Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley
2 sizzler steaks

1.  Mix ingredients except for steak together in a ziploc bag.

2.  Cut steaks into bite sized pieces and put them in the marinade.  Squeeze the air out of the bag and seal it tightly.

3.  Marinate the steaks for a minimum of 30 minutes (that’s how long I did it and they were amazing!), up to 8 hours.

4.  Heat a large skillet over medium high heat until it’s very hot.

5.  Remove steak pieces from the marinade with a slotted spoon and place in the hot skillet.  (Discard marinade.)

6.  Cook steak to desired doneness.  I did 3 minutes, then flipped each piece and cooked another 2.  They don’t take long.

Serve hot.  I served ours with bite sized potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts.

Finally, tonight’s workout.  I did cardio intervals on the treadmill.  I started with a 5 minute warm-up at a moderate pace.  Then I started the intervals–1 minute of running and 30 seconds at a recovery (fast walk) pace.  Each time I ran, I bumped my speed up a little higher.  The faster I went, the faster I wanted to go.  I was surprised how fast I was able to go.  I think it helped to know that I only had to do it for a minute, so I could give it all I had.  You can do anything for a minute, right?!  For my last interval I decided to push it to the max, literally, and so I maxed out the treadmill.  It says it goes 10 mph, so wow!  That was both terrifying and exhilarating.  I don’t think I’ve ever run that fast.

So, on to week 2!  Let’s do this! 🙂

Willpower

How much of what we do is based on our mentality and what we *think* we can or can’t do?  How often do we limit ourselves in what we think we can or can’t do?

I’ve realized this week how much mindset and willpower comes into play on the journey of weightloss and getting healthier.

I’ve noticed how often I just do things out of habit.  Eat bits and pieces of the kid’s food even though my food is right in front of me.  Snack as I’m making dinner even though we’re about to eat dinner.  Grab a can of pop because I have one every day, so I have to, right?  WRONG!  This week I’ve really tried to break some of those bad habits, and I’ve been pretty successful.  Today I had my first drink of pop since Sunday (I was drinking at least once can a day).  After the first three days of caffeine detox (yes, even just the caffeine of 1 can was enough to give me major withdrawal headaches!), I realized I didn’t even miss pop.  I had it tonight because I wanted it, and that was ok, after a cup I was done and I don’t *need* (or crave) anymore.  I feel like I finally have control over that habit.  Another big thing was when I bought Summer a package of Lofthouse sugar cookies at the store yesterday.  Usually I would think nothing of having one or two along with her, but they sat in the passenger seat beside me and they didn’t even look that appealing.  I just reminded myself of how much sugar was in them and that it wasn’t going to help me on my goals.  (Now tonight I had a homemade chocolate chip cookie, and it was definitely worth the sugar!)  But I’m learning to make those choices, and choose which things are worth splurging on and what isn’t.  (Because when we go down for Tulip Time dinner next week, I’ll definitely be splurging on a deep fried Snickers.  So bad, but so good.  And, I’ll keep the balance by bringing some food from home from dinner so I’m not eating all fried foods.)

Ok, that was a really random rambling paragraph, but that’s ok.  #myblogmyrules 😉

On to workouts…yesterday was Upper Body.  I wrote up this routine and ended up really liking it.  It’s a little random, especially the arm circles, but there’s a reason for those.  The other day I was putting stamps on 200 envelopes at work.  In the process of that, I realized that my arm was getting pretty sore from that repetitive motion, so I decided to incorporate some endurance moves too. I loved the Romanian Deadlifts into Overhead Press too, I intended it as an upper body move, but I was surprised how much it worked my hamstrings and booty too.  Bonus!  (Let me know if you need descriptions of any of the moves or modifications for anything.)  I did the rows, curls, and deadlifts with 15 pound weights and the extensions with 10 pound.

For today’s workout, I walked all over downtown Holland for Tulip Time this morning, I tracked 4 miles on my Fitbit (probably a little more because it isn’t completely accurate when I push the stroller.)  Then tonight I did about 25 minutes of steady cardio on the treadmill.  I blew my step goal out of the water as I’m now at 15,052 steps (compared to just over 2,000 that I had on Thursday!)

I’m looking forward to Monday, and I’m excited to see what the scale shows.  Even if the number doesn’t show what I’m hoping for, I’m still counting this week as a win because of all the willpower I’ve learned to exhibit, and the bad habits I’ve already been successful in breaking!