My Personal Workout Update

This Monday marks Day 1 of my 4th week of Insanity. I am finally shaving off one pound at a time and held at 131.0 today.

I have a ton of people asking me, when are you going to stop losing weight? And here's my thoughts on that question. It's easy to reach a goal weight...and be done, and then just 'maintain'. However, the last time I was 'maintaining', by doing my routine workout, my routine 'eating'...3 lbs. creeped up on the scale. My goal at the first of the year was to continue to weigh in from 130-134.

Last month, I hit 136 while 'maintaining'. I guess you can't call it 'maintaining'...but gaining, right? I know some of you think I am being rediculous, but if you seen how hard I was working out, my 4 days a week, you would understand my frustration with a 2 lb. gain.

The truth was that my eating was getting out of control. I was cheat eating. I was eating a few bites of the kids' noodles/spaghetti, I was having 2 Fiber 1 bars/day, I was having the last bites of basically anything that was on the kids' plate - AGAIN. This is a consistent area that I struggle with.

But instead of focusing on 'not eating' their food, I focused on eating 'my food' while they ate. My tummy was full and it was easier to just toss what they didn't eat in the trash. And then, I focused on the exercise component. Although they say it is 20% - exercise and 80% - food in losing weight, I knew in addition to stopping the cheat-eating, I had to step it up with my exercise program as well.

As a result of get stricter with my food (the 80%): measuring out my servings, cutting the kids' food out, cutting the bars out, adding more water, fruit, lean meats - I've dropped weight.

Getting more consistent with my workouts also helped do the trick. I went from working out consistently 4 days, maybe 5, to working out daily - 6 days a week. I'm still only working out around 45 minutes. (It's the most intense 45 minutes of my day, by the way.)

I did what I needed to do. I was honest with myself and admitted where I was slacking off in my eating, I confessed that my workouts were not priority. I basically identified what I needed to change.

Then, I came up with a new goal. My goal wasn't necessarily to "LOSE WEIGHT". I set a measurable goal of "Complete a workout program, start to finish". With the exception of missing 2 days due to a serious sinus infection/bronchitis last week, I have not missed any workouts.

The results: Down 5 lbs. in 3 weeks! I have this week to finish out, then a 'Recovery Week'...and then the Insanity get's even more insane for the last 4 weeks. I'm hecka nervous, the titles of each workout on the calendar have the word MAX in them. Yikes is right!

Going back to the word maintaining...I don't think for me that the goal of 'maintain' is good. "Maintain" means: to keep in a specified state, position (as per dictionary.com). But when it comes to weight loss, I feel like 'maintain' becomes stagnant. You are no longer challenging yourself, so you get lazy. When you miss a workout, it's easier to not be focus on eating good. So my advice: Never just maintain.

If you get to a weight that you are happy with, then set a goal of running in a 5K/10K, complete a workout program, take a karate class. Set a goal of something that has exercise at the center, something that will keep you focused on training your body. So my advice:

Don't maintain, don't gain - just keep training your body!

Don't know how to step it up & train?

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