Keep Calm...Dammit!

It's been awhile since I've stepped on a scale. I'm pretty sure I've made it known that I don't like the scale and it doesn't tell an accurate story of what's going on with your body.

I normally just use my measurements and how my clothes are fitting as a guide and I adjust things from there. Well, today I stepped on the body mass calculator, in order to log all of my numbers for the official start of the Focus T25 challenge group that I am running with a friend, and the number wasn't pretty.

Now in the rational part of my brain, I know why there was such a jump in the number on the evil little piece of bathroom equipment, but the rational part of my brain was abruptly over thrown by the irrational part of my brain when I saw the number. I immediately began to freak out and wonder how this could be. I mean, yeah, I haven't followed a program for a while and yes, I've been a slacker with running...but I've been okay with my eating and I have been active. Where did I go so wrong? How could my clothes still fit well if there was such a jump?

Then I took my measurements and laughed at myself. They are all the same except for my thighs...they went up quite a bit and I always had a flat booty but that is no longer the case since I started running and squatting. THAT is my answer right there. I have built a lot of muscle in my lower body over the past few months. Now I know not all of it is muscle, the time of day as well as the month plays a role in a woman's weight and I know there is room for improvement with my diet, but once again, measurements told some key plot points to the story.

It's scary how quickly the rational part of my brain shut down and how upset I got over a number on a scale. I believe part of it has to do with how I refuse to go back to were I came from. It's actually a big fear of mine, so knowing I've been off my normal routine and not as good as I should be with nutrition, teamed up with a weight spike, freaked me the fuck out!

On the bright side, I feel a little clearer on my goals, know that my nutrition is key and I'm truly looking forward to getting to know those participating in the challenge and seeing what a full 60 days with this program can result in!

Have you ever experienced a moment like this? Where you know better but your emotions just take off and leave common sense behind?



 

Refocusing

More often than not, I seem to be refocusing. I refocus on workouts, nutrition, cleaning schedules, and priorities in general. Life seems to be a constant juggling act, and more and more items keep getting tossed in. It's hard not to drop something from time to time.

Running is the item that got dropped a while back and you know what? I miss it.

I set a goal for this year to hit 500 miles and I stalled out at 250 due to illness, frustration and then the heat. Frustration and heat are excuses and I know it. I know that you have to push through frustration and I know that there are ways around the heat. The time has come for me to stop making the excuses and start logging miles again. I'm a happier person when I run and I'm tired of feeling like a quitter.

This past week I started to refocus with Focus T25. The amount of sweat my body produces in 25 minutes with these workouts, is both amazing and gross. I'm hoping to build my cardio back up with this routine, so easing back into running will be a little smoother.

The next part of my refocus plan is an August "Clean Eating" accountability that I will be running over on the Facebook Page. I'll be posting the basics of clean eating, shopping guides and recipes over there each day. My eating has been pretty good, but it took a nose dive during Mike's vacation this past week. I'm hoping that as a group, we can stay accountable, help each other find new recipes and form new, healthier habits. I've always had success while working in groups and I'm hoping that those participating will too.

As well as the clean eating accountability, I plan on sharing a daily yoga workout on the Facebook page each day. If there is one thing I've learned during my fitness journey, it's that no matter how badly I suck at yoga, it is important to my routine. I'll benefit from a stretching/muscle recovery aspect as well as mentally with meditation/stress relief. I always feel better after doing yoga, yet I always manage to skip it...I clearly make no sense and need to fix this.

Ultimately, life happens, and our grand plans don't always work out as planned. As long as you take a moment to stop, see where things went wrong and refocus, your goals can still be reached.

Are you ready to refocus with me? What aspect of your routine do you need to focus on?

Changing Course...Again!

One might say that fitness program ADHD kicked in, another might say I gave up, but I'm saying it sounded better on paper than it actually played out in real life...and it happens!

If you follow me on twitter or know me in real life, you might have seen me posting that I was doing Insanity AND Body Beast. I started Body Beast out of curiosity with Mike and I had been wanting to do another round of Insanity. In my head, doing both together seemed like a good idea and I've pulled doubles before. I wrote out a schedule, figured I'd be done with the whole Insanity program by the start of the final Body Beast phase and hopefully I'd gain back some of my cardio endurance while building some more lean muscle. Sounds great right? Yeah...well...introduce the kids being home on summer vacation and the never ending list of things I've been working on and time gets kinda slim. I was also super sore from Body Beast and found that I was dogging it in the Insanity workouts due to that. Sigh...

After a brief phone call with my coach to discuss the Body Beast program, he confirmed that I had indeed lost my mind by attempting both programs together and I decided to back off. I also decided that my days are too strained for time during the summer with the kids home so I've just been focusing on my July Challenge.

In the past I would have beat myself up over a decision like this, or kept pushing myself to prove a point. Thankfully, I have grown by leaps and bounds since I started exercising and I now just listen to my body and do what works for me.

The other day Mike and I were talking and we decided to get the new Shaun T program that just came out, called Focus T25. It's a 25 minute workout, 5 days a week with a full rest day plus a stretch day. I definitely have 25 minutes a day to workout, without having to cram it in somewhere, so we are really excited about it.

Here is a video that shows what the program is:

I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of results I can pull from this workout since it's only 25 minutes a day. I know that I have to give it my all for those 25 minutes and that there will not be any breaks, so I'm a little nervous, but excited. I also know that I need to clean up my nutrition for maximum results as well.
Do you think this is a program you would want to do? If it is, comment below or contact me on my Facebook page. A few of us are planning on starting a "Challenge Group" on August 12th for Focus T25, and I'd love to have you join us!