The End of the Cleanse

Yesterday was my last day on the Advocare 10day cleanse. I actually made it completely through and my husband also completed the entire cleanse with me which made it much easier when I was food prepping for two and we were eating the same dinners! I love it when we workout together and eat healthier together! He really is my best friend! <--Insert googly eyes

I haven't taken my measurements yet because I have just been TOO busy but I did manage to sneak in some pics and my post weight. 

First I want to talk about what the Cleanse did for me this time. 

I really want to change my way of eating and in order to change it I must first change my way of thinking. I am really focusing more on my relationship with my Savior. Not only what He desires me to do but how he desires me to treat my body. I have been reading ReShaping It All by Candace Cameron Bure and she gives some great scripture references to how God expects us to treat our bodies. I really believe that once I can totally focus on taking care of this body because that is what is expected of me from God, the process will become much easier. 

I am also in the process of learning how to fuel my body. Give it what it needs so that it will do what I want. I have been very encouraged by the large group of mommies who have came out publicly with their post baby bodies being all ripped and toned. Not perfect but I'm not striving for perfect just real. These moms have took a lot of flack from the public over their fitness and I think it that if we would all stop be judgmental then we could put an end to all this bullying. Bullying is a whole other post so I'm not going there but as far as these women go...I have been inspired.

Now onto what I learned. The first few days were rough. I ate like CRAPOLA over Christmas ya'll!! Tons of Oreo Balls, Peanut butter bon bons, pasta, pasta, more pasta and then some more bon bons. I think I made two separate batches of No Bake cookies (my absolute fave in the whole wide world) and I ate a good 75% of them myself. 

Surprisingly I only gained about 4lbs but the lack of lifting and running really put a hurting on my muscle mass. I felt bloated, yucky and didn't want to do anything. This cleanse is the kickstart I needed. 

I also started P90X3 the same day I started the cleanse so after a few days of being tired I became concerned about my caloric intake. Let me say I HATE counting calories and that's why Paleo always worked good for me, I ate however much I wanted within the realm of what I could have. No counting and keeping up. But the more fitness blogs I read they really stress keeping track of it all!! Calories, fat, sugars, protein, etc....omg how was I going to keep up!! Well I logged back onto MyFitnessPal (it had been well over a year since I even opened that App) and holy moly, it SO much better!! I can scan my food and add my own recipes and look up everything under the sun! Then it graphs it all out for me!! I had no ideas the improvements they made and I feel quickly in love with my app! 

(USER NAME IS punkslilangel) not SweetSouthernMel!! FIND ME AND ADD ME!! 

I was only eating about 800cal a day when I logged my food!! No wonder I was so stinking tired! So I sat down and watching the video on BMR, done some calculating and figured that my caloric intake needs to be about 1400-1600/day. I still fell under that each day of the cleanse but I stayed away from all grains while on the cleanse so that hindered me some. 

After I got my intake up to about 1300 I started to feel awesome and guess what....I lost 5lbs!!! WOW I increased my intake of good stuff, started P3 and lifitng and seen a big loss!! I consider 5lbs a good number since even last year when I was at my fittest I was stuck between 134-135 and now I am at 132! 

I can also see BABY ABS!!! WOOT WOOT! Belly fat really is all in the diet! 

I am going to continue eating as if I were still on the cleanse with just a little more headway on some whole wheat bread and Steel Cut oats.  

For the next 20days I am going to allow myself 3 cheat meals and 3 glasses of wine. I really want to see what my body is capable of in the first 30days of P90X3 but to really see those definition changes I have got to cut down on my body fat %. We are going to WV this weekend and Superbowl is in a week so there goes two of my cheat meals but I have a plan because we all know that...

FAILING TO PLAN IS PLANNING TO FAIL!!

Now for a couple before/after pics...

I SEE BABY ABS on the right!! 

So I have decided that I really don't like this bathing suit. I bought it last year from Venus and though it was cute but even as I get smaller it isn't flattering for me! 

Not HUGE changes in the pictures but I feel like I can see huge changes in myself and for that I am proud!!

I hope ya'll have a great weekend!!  

Love,

MEL

My New Year Challenge

Welcome 2014! I'm actually starting this year on a good note for once! Even though I did over indulge during the entire month of December I am slowly getting back on track. 

One thing I learned about myself in 2013 is that I NEED accountability. I need some sort of challenge or goal that is known to people around me for me to follow through. While the end result is great with our bodies there really is never an end result. 

Let's be honest, as women we are forever dissatisfied with one part of our body. I wanted to lose weight last year. I did it, felt comfortable in a bikini at the beach, kept the weight off (plus/minus 3-4lbs). I let some of my muscle decrease though which made a huge difference in how I felt. Even though my size 4 jeans still fit I just didn't feel "FIT". 

I don't want to be criticizing myself continuously so this year I decided to not pay attention to the scale but pay attention to my Body Fat %. This means lots of lifting heavy crap! I do enjoy weight lifting and am looking forward to starting back up with the new P90X3 on Sunday! 

It is only 30min a day which I know I can do. I loved the original P90X but those long 1-1 1/2hr workouts became hard to fit in. I want to do more than just the 30min a day p90x3 but on those days where between work, church, kids, dinner, bath and bed I only have 30min I know it will get done. 

No falling off the bandwagon!

I entered a challenge group with some ladies in my area. We all pitched in $10 and set three fitness/health goals for ourself. Each of our goals are different and they must be challenging(meaning losing 3lbs couldn't be one of them). Whoever reaches all three of their goals first wins all the money. 

We are in our own little contest, a private group where we hold each other accountable and we have a leader to report to weekly. She also posts monthly challenges we must do on top of whatever other fitness activity we are doing. 

So for the New Year, New Me Challenge my Three goals are:

1) Complete P90X3 without missing a day (unless I'll in which the day must be made up)

2) Lose down to  24% body fat

3) Complete 5 Unassisted Pull-ups 

The second goal will be the hardest for me because I love food!! I'm a lot like my fellow weightless blogger Mama Laughlin because my love for Reese's goes deep but I also don't want to just be comfortable in a bikini this year. I want to ROCK in a bikini this year! 

Diet is 80% of body fat loss and the other 20% comes from lifting heavy and HIIT cardio (not a fan of this either) so it is going to be challenging but hey...that's why it's called a CHALLENGE!! (Not a resolution that always gets broken)

I am only using my fitness IG account now so you can follow some of my food choices, my P90x3 challenge and some updates on there easiest as blogging is becoming more and more difficult to fit in. I will do a big post on Sunday though with my before pics....OH WAIT I forgot to mention the hubs is doing P90X3 with me so I'm hoping to have his Before pics too!! (That is if he cooperates and lets me take them). I will also put all my stats and measurements in that post. 

This year is about becoming FIT and learning to love my body and treat it as the temple of Jesus that it is. I'm currently reading Reshaping It All by Candace Cameron Bure and she is giving some great scripture references to why we should be taking care of our body. 

We bought our son a. Samsung Galaxy Tablet for Christmas a few years ago. When we gave it to him we out it in an Otterbox and had a nice long talk about how important it is that he take care of it. Keep it clean, be careful not to drop it, don't spill any juice on it and treat it responsibly. He has done a very good job and it is still running just well s what it did the day we bought it. 

God did this for us, be paid a HUGE price (sending His son to die) for us. He gave us 1 body to take care of and treat well. Why is it so easy for us to take care of our material items (home, car, iPad, iPhone, etc) but we can't seem to take care of our body? The one thing we have COMPLETE control of?? This year I'm on a spiritual journey too. I long to become closer to Christ and love my body the way he does therefore treat it the way he made me too.

The best way to keep up with me is through IG SSmGetsfit is my account name so look me up!  

For now I'll leave you with some pictures from my fitness journey last year , it feels so good to be able to write about the next step and not about repeating step 1 again because I let it all go!

Looking forward to a New Year and even better Me!! 

Much Love,

Mel