Who's that girl?

It's ME!!!

Funny thing happened this week that makes me feel awesome… It was either Tuesday or Wednesday I was standing in the corner of the gym getting ready to start our first circuit rotation and Stacy glanced over at me and had to do a double take cause she didn't recognize me at first… HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!?!?! I'm pretty flattered. The cool thing is that Stacy also sent out an email with an updated summer schedule. In the email she mentioned some of us who have lost bunches of weight over the last few months and "Liz lost 20 pounds in 2 months" was right at the top!!! YAHOOOOOOO… go me! Shout-out to my girl Emily who started the same day I did - she's down 18 pounds so she's kicking some A as well!!!

People are definitely noticing the more compact me at bootcamp and are starting to ask me if I'm doing anything more than just bootcamp and my response every time is, "I just changed my diet and I'm here 5 days a week - no excuses!" Then I get further inquiries into how I changed my diet and I have to say that if I was to try and pin-point the top things I have changed it's 1. Portion Size 2. No processed foods (i.e. nothing out of a box - for the most part) and 3. Counting every single itty bitty calorie that enters this body (Thank You My Fitness Pal, I couldn't have done it without you).

I really don't feel like I'm on a "diet" in fact I hate that word and try to use it in terms of "I've adjusted my diet" not "I'm on a diet". For some reason the dreaded "D" word reeks of failure and never leads to success, rather I feel like my nutritional "diet" is the better route because it's a change in eating behaviors and I'm finally learning what "normal" eating really is. I'm not eating tasteless cardboard, rather I'm paying attention to portion sizes. If I want ice cream, by george, I'll eat ice cream… but instead of the giant bowl in the past that probably consisted on 3 cups of ice cream (i.e. 6 servings) I'll stick with the "normal" 1/2 cup. And I'm satisfied. I do feel bad for all the money my mom spent on sending me to a nutritionist all those years when I was a tween. Mom - some of the info Connie gave me has stuck, I'm just now learning how to put it to work.

I have to admit that it's been HOT and I've been sweating like a pig every morning. I really do feel bad for the person who has to use the fitness ball after all my nasty back sweat has been on it, or the mat that I've been laying on to do pull-ups, etc. Dude, it's gross, but it is what it is, and I am who I am. I've found that if I wear my baseball cap I don't drip as much cause the band soaks up some of the nastyness from my head. I was telling Greg this week that I thought it was supposed to get easier the "fitter" I get, but it's been getting harder and harder every week. I'm sure that has to do with the fact that I've upped my weights, I've graduated to a heavier resistance band, and I'm pushing myself a little more cause I don't have the excuse "I can't do it" anymore.

I weighed in with Stacy this morning. I lost 2lbs from last week, but only 1lb from the week before cause I gained that one pound last week. My measurements are funny… some areas are up, some areas are down and some haven't changed from 2 weeks ago. It's kinda like my body is doing whatever it needs to do to shift my weight around. I'm really not worried about it cause I know I'm working hard and eating well.

Greg and I leave for vacation on Wednesday morning and I have to admit, I'm a little nervous when it comes to staying on track. I just know myself well enough that I'll start working out, but will quit half way through, when I should be doing extra cause I'm sure I'll be eating a lot of food that I wouldn't normally have. I have decided that I will pre-pack some of my normal food items to take with me, such as pre-portioned oatmeal, and some of my sandwich thins, etc. I'm sure I'll feel way better knowing that I have some of my usual standbys. I'm certain that I'll hit this blog up one more time before we head out, but if not, I'll do my best to check in while in the northeast!

HUGS XOXOX