Checking in with Adri in week 5 of her weight loss journey…
I’m officially feeling good. Got some poundage down, have increased the intensity of my workouts, and am feeling less hungry in general. The best part: got some pants on that hadn’t fit me in months. It’s only a matter of time ’till I can squeeze on those black skinny jeans from last Spring!
Workouts. Alicia has thrown in some new, more challenging moves during our sessions – and I can do them! This week was one of my best; in addition to the personal training twice a week, I ended up at the gym six days for cardio and strength training. Since my knee hasn’t been acting up too badly, I tried the rotating Stairmaster (you know, the big scary one! Alicia says: It’s called a StepMill 🙂 ) to mix it up a bit, and have found that I can handle about 15 minutes on that giant dinosaur of a machine before I’m ready to throw myself off of it and lie convulsing in a puddle of sweat.
When I’m doing my day of “on my own” strength training at the gym, I now hear Alicia’s voice in my head, or picture her standing next to me telling me to quit bitchin’ and finish my reps. Alicia, don’t be weirded out by this – although, I do always envision you wearing the “$5 Charge for Whining” t-shirt. Maybe I should get one of those rubber bracelets that says WWAS (What Would Alicia Say)?
Food. Nothing too exciting this week in terms of cooking and recipes. I’ve gotten in a groove with my snacking/small meals throughout the day, but I’m at the point where I need to switch it up a bit before I get sick of the same thing every day. In my nutrition meeting with Nikki this week, she suggested I shouldn’t be afraid of trying different types of the staples I’ve integrated; like, instead of just having a handful of almonds, try walnuts; baked sweet potato in exchange for my usual butternut squash; cottage cheese more often instead of the daily Greek yogurt for breakfast. It’s common sense stuff that I should have thought of on my own, but I tend to get pretty rigid when it comes to eating clean – so having this prompt from Nikki was great.
Wellness. Thank gawd for Meg. What Alicia and Nikki do for me physically, Meg does for me mentally – and lord knows I need it. During our meeting last week, we discussed my previous food issues and my tendency to obsess…and how that obsession is not sustainable. I’m no longer allowed to look at the numbers on the scale, because I start gauging my success that way. I also need to adjust my view of success if I’m going to keep this healthy lifestyle long term. Since my life has been one big roller coaster of weight loss and weight gain, I need to be more forgiving, feel less urgency, and set my scale of success on feeling good about myself regardless of my weight.
And, man that’s hard. I found myself sneaking weigh-ins while I was at my friend’s house this weekend. Damn that bathroom scale! My goal for this week is to not peek at my numbers…but as someone who works with quotas (both in my career and in my life), it’s going to be tough.
Until next week!
Total weight loss: 9 lbs
Leave a comment: How do you gauge success, besides the number on the scale?
–Be Healthy. Be Balanced.
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