Monday, November 3, 2014

28 days later...

What a difference 4 little weeks can make!

You know when you've just had it... Like, had enough?! Enough being lazy! Enough puffing air! Enough with no discipline! Enough not caring!

That is me. I have just had enough living the way I was living. I was lazy, exhausted, cranky, achy. I was ready for a change. 

I started the middle of September after seeing my sweet friend Dawns weight loss journey. Now she was looking GOOD and I wanted to too! So I tried her no junk food challenge for 2 weeks. That was pretty simple... We don't eat a ton of junk food so I thought cutting it out would be a breeze. There were definitely some willpower needed though! 

 But really, I wanted to feel good. I wanted energy and not to feel like in was in my 70s every day. 

One of my best friends, Jenny, was starting another 28 days to fit (Arbonne style) that I had done before and it helped me get on track real fast so I started that program on Oct 6th (first photo above). 

The 28 days to fit program is not for the ill willed. It was tough... No sugar, no gluten, no dairy, no alcohol, no caffeine for 28 days! Whoa! For a wine drinkin', milk guzzlin', coffee chuggin' girl like me... It was hard. 

Hard. But worth it. (Like serving 50+ shots of espresso in an hour at church and smelling like coffee the whole day and almost eating your hands off hard!)

The whole point of the restrictions is to allow your body to detoxify itself... to go from an acidic unit to more of a base unit.  Then when you introduce these things back in, you can feel how they affect your body and being. 

Like I said, hard, but absolutely worth it. The proof is in the second photo. That was taken tonight... 28 days after my start date. 

But guess what?! I cheated... a few times actually. And every time I did, I felt like complete crap. Neck aches, bloating, almost like a major hangover after a fun size candy bar! 

But every day I told myself it was a new day. Start again. Fail forward. 

Just before the 28 days to fit started, I had committed myself to a 5 week exercise/devotional challenge with my friend Allison.  After witnessing my oldest sister Jackies beautiful transformation from exercising this past year, I was ready to get started. Honestly, that one is still the hardest. Exercising. 

I don't know why but I try to convince myself that I'm just too busy. Or I'll do it later. Then something comes up and it doesn't get done. 

Exercise is so hard for me to get my mind into it. But I'm getting there. I just need accountability with others. 

It's a continued journey. I'm inspired by the results. In 28 days, 4 short weeks, I lost 11 pounds.... And 8 INCHES OFF MY WAIST! 

Yay!

So I'll keep going. Slowly improving. Steady. Allowing myself a few treats and rewards but learning that everything had to be worked for... I'm not entitled to eat whatever I want and be lazy anymore. I need to stick with this for my families sake. I am a nicer, healthier person and I want to be around for a long time. When heart issues run in your family, and you feel like you're going to die every time you work out, you KEEP GOING. Slow and steady. One day at a time. And someday soon, you'll be running outside with your kids. You'll look & feel amazing for your husband. You'll feel confident in shorts for the first time in almost 2 decades. You might actually look forward to wearing a swimsuit again. 

A big huge thank you to my accountability buddies. Even if you didn't know you were one, each of you played a big role in helping me stick to my little journey the past 4 weeks and many more to come! Jackie, Dawn, Jenny, Allison & Natalie! THANK YOU! 

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