The Final Countdown…

Here we are – June 10. I have 20 more days to meet my goal of 22% body fat. I have to admit that the past 10 weeks has been very interesting and has actually made me adjust a few of the challenges and ways that I have been working with my own clients. Perspective is always a great thing and just as I strongly believe that every gynecologist in the world should have to spend 4 hours naked in stirrups with nothing but a paper sheet as people parade in and out of the room – I now believe that every weight loss coach set an aggressive goal and work their butts of to meet it. Only when you have done something or been through something yourself can you teach others how to do it. I have always believed that but now have an even greater respect for it!

I have to admit that the last two weeks have been very difficult for me. I have been facing quite a few different challenges. I hurt my calf muscle during a step class a month or so ago and even though it hasn’t bother ed me really – the last few weeks it has flared up but only during step class or when we ran the hill doing inclines. It is frustrating because in my job it is hard to let an injury heal properly as there is just not enough chance for muscular rest so I have been avoiding all impact and incline workouts for 2 weeks now. That is a lot of cardio to miss hen you are not only used to it but working towards such a goal. On top of losing some of my workouts – we have entered the dreaded BBQ season! And yes I know that you can eat lean on the BBQ and we always do – we actually eat better in the summer actually – but at our house, summer time bbqs are accompanied by summertime drinks. THOSE can sneak up on you no matter how lean you make them and as much as I want to reach goal, I always am not willing to sacrifice my quality of life. If losing body fat means that I can no longer drink wine in the hot tub with my husband on a summer evening or sip mojits by a fire with friends – I would rather be fat!

This is something that I stress to my clients – balance and moderation. If I completely cut out those drinks, stopped taking my daughter to Tutti Frutti after gymnastics or stopped drinking a Venti Mocha (skinny and sugar free of course) at Starbucks, I would definitely reach my goal faster – but those things are important to me and to my family. I would rather take longer t reach my goal than to cut out those things. Results = Time + Effort. I personally prefer longer time over higher effort to get the same results. Some people want faster results and are willing to do more to get their faster and that is OK (as long as it is healthy), but for me, for my family, food and drink is a part of our culture, part of our life and it is not something I am willing to tamper with – too much.  I don’t mind substituting burgers and hot dogs for chicken breasts and pork chops or potato salad for tossed but ask me to live on vegetables and water and you can forget it! A life of never drinking a beer, sipping a glass of wine or having an ice cream sandwich ever again – that is no life for me. You can be healthy, you can lose weight, burn fat and gain muscle without deprivation – trust me, I am doing it!

So to compensate for these challenges and a lack of sleep due to a baby boy with a cold and some teething issues (I mentioned before that when I am tired – I want to eat!) I have tried really hard to focus more on my eating. I have a terrible habit of eating before bed – no, not just in the evening – but RIGHT before bed and that is not a good thing. If you read my newsletters you will know that I recommend an evening snack – but only if you can have it two hours or so after dinner and at least 2 hours before bed. My habit of night snacking is not that disciplined – I often have a snack on my way to bed! I know, I know, it is awful and I have chastised more than one client for doing it. it is one of those awful things I do that weighs heavily on my mind because I KNOW better! I know better and still find myself looking in the fridge at 11:00pm after snacking at 9! This is the unhealthy habit I am confessing to you in hopes that coming clean will give me the extra support I need to replace this habit with a newer one, a better one. It has been a week now of slapping my own hand at night – it has been working but  I know me and I am never that easy – so when you see me – give me that look and remind me again – OK?

Anyway – here I am, 10 weeks down and 20 days to go and I am happy to say that I am still on track for that 22% body fat measurement on June 30 because this morning I measured in at….

23% body fat and 162lbs!!

**insert happy dance here**

That has been a loss of 2lbs and 1%BF in the last 2 weeks for a total loss of 17lbs and 6% body fat in the past 10 weeks! I didn’t calculate the inch loss this morning but I can tell you that I am trying on a pair of size 6 jeans on Tuesday because these 8’s that I traded my 10’s for a couple of weeks ago – feel like they are falling off of me – even with the elastic belt! Numbers may not lie but neither do our clothes! You know what I am talking about – we don’t need a scale to tell us whether we are smaller than we were before – our clothes fit differently and you know what – mine certainly do!! Now I have to admit that I am skeptical about getting into these size 6’s (even though they are a larger fit than most jeans), but even the fact that I am trying them makes me pretty damn happy!

So here we are – 20 more days… the final countdown!! How are you doing on your goals? I want to hear from you – don’t just leave me hanging out here alone all naked and vulnerable… tell me!!!!

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 10th, 2012 at 7:02 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.