The End of Month 1

So I officially started My Year of Healthy Eating on September 24.  That is when I attempted the LA Weight Loss route.  I have learned so much in the past month and I really feel a sense of accomplishment.  I have been eating clean for 3 weeks now.  I feel so much more energy and I love that my clothes are feeling loose and comfy.  I am also starting to look forward to my strength training days.  My inner thigh has been bothering me after my long runs, so I'm excited to complete my 1/2 marathon and Ragnar in November and then I can concentrate more on strength training.

I found 2 really fun things this week.  First, I have been experimenting with Tabata training a little for awhile now, but I haven't loved it.  However, this week I found out how much fun YouTube is.  I found so many fun, 4-minute Tabata videos.  The ones I have done so far have been challenging and I am sore in places I haven't been sore in for a long time!  Success!  I tend to come up with excuses to get out of doing my lower body strength training days, but these videos really worked my calves, and glutes.  OUCH!  My favorite videos are by genghisgirl or BexLife.com, look for 4 Minute Tabata Workouts.  Thursday was my "rest" day on my strength training schedule and since I had ran 10 miles on Wednesday, I did 4 Tabata sessions with 5-10 minute rest breaks on the elliptical, just to shake things up. It was lots of fun!!!  Today I worked abs, back and chest with a 30 min interval warmup on the elliptical.

This week I felt a lot less tempted to eat sweets.  I don't know what changed, but it was just easier to eat clean.  I bought a bigger cooler on Wednesday for the days that I work.  My struggle is that when we are super busy at work it's really difficult for me to get my mid-morning and mid-afternoon meals. I have been drinking a protein shake for these times, but sometimes I need a carb too. I'm going to have to do some more research on a drinkable lp/cc quickie meal.  Overall, being prepared is proving to be the key to success.

This week, I also continued to cook clean meals. I did make some family favorites like fajitas, but I just made sure it was clean. I still have some unclean food in my pantry that I am slowly weeding out. Since I don't live alone, I won't be able to toss out all unclean foods,  I just won't eat them. I would get in lots of trouble if I threw out Mike's smarties and cookies. All in all, I feel pretty good about what all of us are eating. My family is being very supportive, which makes it so much easier and enjoyable.

I had to look over my October goals to make sure that I accomplished everything I wanted to this month. I actually met all my goals except I haven't tried out kefir yet.  I still have 5 days though, so it will get done!  I still have my ups and downs. I actually felt pretty good about all that I've done, until today. I still struggle with wanting a flat belly- TODAY!!!  I have to keep reminding myself that THIS IS A PROCESS!  In all the success stories I have read, it took the person at least a year and some even took 3 years, to get a bikini body.  I just need to be patient and not give up!!!