I finally found the time to put my progress pictures together side by side. Here they are in all their glory. I tried to keep them consistent so that I could tell if there was a change and not wonder if it was just because of the background or the way I was standing. The Before picture on the left was taken on June 28th at 24.7% body fat, and the picture on the right was taken on August 26th at 17% body fat. I definitely see a difference. What do you think?
It’s been so busy lately with school in full swing I haven’t had much time to create a post but I’ve managed to keep up with my FB page with tips and hints. I didn’t realize that each class was going to have a handbook with different rules to follow each night. Check the planner, do homework, parent sign this for this class and that for that class. Nothing is signed in the same place or follows the same rules. Some you can take two nights to sign and some as I found out need to be returned the very next day. Yes, I was late on one of my signatures and had to write a note to the teacher for myself! Eeesh!
Last Monday was weigh and measure day, and I officially met the goal of 17% body fat! (Please note: despite dropping almost 8% body fat, I was not even down an entire pound.) As a reward, my trainer is going to bump my calories up to 1800 per day for two weeks instead of my usual 1300 calories after I finished out this week. I can’t even describe the images that went through my mind. 500 calories is a huge amount of food when you are talking clean foods! I will get to have things like oatmeal and sweet potatoes. I never thought I would be so thrilled to have oatmeal.
Now that I’ve been eating like this for 8 weeks or so, it’s funny how the frame of reference changes and your body adjusts. The other week I got a banana as a reward after my leg workout. I’m used to eating berries and other low calorie fruits but nothing as substantial as a banana. I was shocked at how amazingly good that banana actually was. I tore into it like my dog Thing Two would attack a pot roast. This past week something happened though. Maybe it was the reward dangling in front of my face like a carrot on a stick, but my body responded and dropped some weight. I started Monday at 141.6 and ended up on Saturday at 134.8??? I got off the scale and back on twice to make sure.
As of this morning, it bounced back up a little to 136 on the nose but still that is incredible to me for one week. I’m going to ask for one more week before bumping the calories back up. I want to see if this is a new trend in weight loss for me, but I also want to enjoy the lower weight for a week just in case all that extra food weighs me down. Silly, I know but I have to enjoy the accomplishment for a bit. Tonight is weigh and measure day again so I’m definitely interested in the fat percentage after this. Hopefully it is down again.
I’ve been experimenting with some new recipes this week from Clean Eating magazine. I’m thankful and lucky that The Kid is very adventuresome in her eating. She is willing and happy to eat things that most kids won’t even consider. I chalk that up to a benefit of having food allergies. See, there is always a bright side. Tonight we are having spicy mussels steamed in chicken broth with cherry tomatoes and red peppers. She also gets to have crescent rolls on the side. I will have a side of broccoli. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
I’m also on the hunt for good, light crock pot recipes and hopefully will have some of those for you as the weather gets cooler. The past few weekends I’ve been making shredded pork loin in different flavors. It’s so simple to put the loin in with spices and out comes shredded pork for salads and sandwiches. Crock pots are so wonderful to save on time. I love coming home and dinner is done for me and waiting. I may splurge and get a fancier one that has a warming feature. Oooh, I live a wild and crazy life.
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