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I haven't done my workout for today. I'm giving my body some time to recover from the few poor choices I made last night, like beers 3 & 4. And half of 5. Otherwise, I was the picture of moderation. I had Shakeology for breakfast, Healthy Choice Rosemary Chicken (not buying again, it was tasty, but my body rebelled), a banana, and a goat cheese salad for dinner.

Then I was being social. I had decided to go to a bar in town to celebrate a new brewery now distributing to Texas, and had my first pint there (it was planned), but the manager saw me and offered to buy me and my friends a round on the house. And, well, free beer? yes, please. So came the first unplanned beverage of the evening.  After that, it was Girls Pint Out at Saint Arnold Brewery.  I had planned on having a beer, or two there. And I had 2 beers there. It was a great evening with great ladies. I even chatted with a few who have been following this blog (HI!) and realized that I haven't been linking a lot lately. At the beginning, I was linking everything like crazy for reference. I find that I like reading blogs that link things that I'm curious about. I headed home and had half a beer with my man before crashing out. I was sure that today, the day that I'm actually going to weigh in, that I would be up from yesterday when I weighed in at a new low. Well, nope! I'm down a couple tenths of a pound from yesterday. Not all is lost from a bit of indulgence. Just can't make a habit of it!

So here goes:

Weight Management & Accountability: Weight Watchers I'm going to meetings once a week, tracking food and beverages on my phone, and using the ActiveLink to track activity. So far, it has made a huge difference in how I approach food. I'm sure I could use a free calorie tracking app, but I've done that before & failed. I need to be able to check in with other people once a week.

I also, yeah, write in this blog about my experiences. The ups, the downs, the struggles, and the victories. This keeps me in line. This keeps me looking forward. This keeps me focused. Sometimes it's about the journey, not the destination.

In addition, I participated in a challenge group on Facebook put on by my friend and fitness inspiration Jennifer Burgess.  Now that the 30 day challenge is over, I'm in the followup group where I've met others who are sticking to their journey!

Supplements: I'm drinking Shakeology for breakfast every day. It's not your average shake mix. It starts my day with a good dose of protein, but also lots of great vitamins and nutrients. I tend to have Chocolate with a few dashes of cayenne pepper in it each morning. Greenberry is the other flavor I've tried, but this sweet tooth is kindof off it lately. If you love love love bananas, Greenberry is your elixer, though. I haven't tried the Vegan Chocolate or Tropical Strawberry, yet. I might switch up my subscription, so that I can cycle through everything.

Workouts: I am following the Beachbody program from Chalene Johnson called ChaLEAN Extreme. It is a 90 day program (with schedules for continuation afterwards) that goes through 3 phases. The first 30 days is the Burn Phase which starts you into learning how to do all the moves, starts working your muscles and reving your metabolism. The second 30 days is the Push Phase where you really push the limits of how heavy you can lift. There are fewer reps, so you really do get strong during this phase. I was really surprised with how I progressed. The third phase is the Lean Phase. I'm in my second week of that, right now, and wow. It works your abs, it works your cardio. You are lifting, balancing, and moving all at once. I can't wait to take my results in a couple weeks!  As far as the schedule, each week of the 30 days is the same 3 days of weights broken up by rest & two days of cardio.

 

I plan on incorporating TurboFire once I finish and doing a ChaLEAN Extreme/TurboFire hybrid program. I have to face it, I love lifting heavy! Plus, it's really good for bone health. TurboFire is an intense cardio program. The fat melts off you (from what I've seen of my friends). I'm going through the Fire Starter Pack to prep for going into the whole program. And it is INTENSE! But I love it! It does take a lot more coordination to get into it, but that's what I'm aiming for.

I'm glad that I started out with the program that's getting me strong because then, when I add in more cardio, I'll have muscle under there! I've been thin without muscle. It's not easy to maintain. But, Muscle Burns Fat. It revs the metabolism. So I'm going to continue with a program that incorporates both.

So that's that. Work out hard. Stick to the plan. Keep healthy snacks on hand. And LOSE!

~Katie