Ultimate Reset, Day 1.

I promised I would post my before photos. Day One is a humbling day for me.

Eight months ago, I felt like I had turned a corner. I cleaned up my nutrition, stopped giving up before I started, lost about 10 pounds, felt AMAZING. Worked out every day, felt like my body was no longer betraying me. Hashimotos Hypothyroid has made my body my enemy for a few years. I keep working. Keep battling. And in January, I felt like I was winning the battle.

This summer, with stress and frustration and simply not enough time to prep and stay focused with my nutrition (despite a nearly perfect workout regimen), I feel the effects of that. Acutely. This is where I’m starting. Six pounds up from what I had lost.

Nope. This is not my happy face.

I’m working on it.

Day one of the Reset looked a little nuts–did most of my shopping for the week, did some prep work with a few of the recipes (baked my sweet potatoes, the lentils, the quinoa, the miso soup), but started the day off with a sinus headache. Because I’ve cut all caffeine with this proces (which may or may not be permanent), I think what I could have possibly headed off with a cup of coffee just stuck around and intensified throughout the day. I wound up flat on my back by 3, lights off, ice pack on my forehead, magnesium citrate and peppermint oil to help. I’ve been able to function until about right now…it’s 8:15, and I’m thinking about bed.

A little extra sleep might not be a bad idea.

In all, I felt like I had a lot of food. I found myself THINKING about food all day…I knew I had work to do to prepare it, so it was on my mind…which meant I felt hungry when maybe I wasn’t. Pretty proud of myself for sticking to the plan when I could have grabbed a snack. That may seem like a small thing, but in my world, justifying a hand full of chips or a marshmallow as I throw one in the cereal treat bowl to make a sculpture…that’s just part of my routine. THAT’s a habit I want to break.

This morning’s workout was  Bee’s Yoga for Release–part of the plan for the Ultimate Reset on Beachbody on Demand. It was…meh. I get the point of it. It’s very difficult for me to not push myself in a workout, even when I know I need to be chilling out. I plan to try to stick to it, but…I may need to branch out. Gently. 😉

Looking forward to sleep. Looking forward to tomorrow’s meals. One thing about this plan? It’s delicious. No question about that.

I really know what to do.

I’ve been off track. Off kilter. Just…off.

I know something’s wrong. I told my doctor, we’ve run blood tests, we’re talking about everything that has to do with hormones and absorption and adrenals and thyroid and blah blah blah.

The reality is that it’s time to buckle down. It’s time to eliminate the things I know do me absolutely no good (sugar. alcohol. many grains.), re-introduce the things that do (fruits. vegetables. water. clean foods.). Give my body a chance to rest and reset.

So. I know what to do, and I’m doing it.

It’s looking like Beachbody’s Ultimate Reset this time around.

(You knew it would be Beachbody, right?) Straight forward nutrition. Intentional breathing and light movement and serious attention to the details of my nutrition and how I think about food and my body. 21 days of no excuses.

I’m sitting here drinking my last glass of merlot. I just prepped my breakfasts for the next 3 days (I make things a few days at a time because there are 5 people in this house and we eat a lot. We need a second refrigerator. Not kidding.). Tomorrow, before I make cakes and build flowers, I will grocery shop for the week, and I will not be adding junk to the house. Period.

My intention is to post daily through this process, to make observations and generalizations and just to be honest with my progress. I would love to lose a few pounds. I would love to sleep amazingly. I would love to feel better–my digestion is off and I know that’s about my nutrition. I would love to just literally be able to say I stuck to the plan 100% by the end of three weeks.

Three weeks is a long time.

And the pictures I take tomorrow morning will likely humble me.

But here I am. And I will post those pictures. And the girls in my challenge group will be posting in our facebook group. And if any of this looks interesting along the way, well…drop me a note. 😉

What to Do When You’re Discouraged

My sweet friend, Lauren, yesterday had a bit of a 30-day breakdown. She’s been doing PiYo now–her very first home workout program–for 30 days. She saw some serious results in her first two weeks, then some minor results in week 3, then in week 4…nothing. Not a thing. Here’s what she had to say:

“I’ve plateaued… Like for over a week, plateaued… I’m eating as healthy as I can…and I’m PiYo-ing every day, and drinking way more water than I ever have… Discouraged doesn’t even begin to explain where I am… Yeah, I am more flexible, and while my stomach looks smaller, my measurements aren’t changing… Having a hard time pushing play tonight…”

I totally feel her pain. I do. I think anybody who has worked out consistently has felt this pain at some point along the way. And what’s more discouraging than not seeing any results over a long period of time, and KNOWING how hard you’re working to change your life and your body?? I don’t know about you, but it makes a pint of Ben & Jerry’s and a movie night on the couch with late-night pizza delivery pretty appealing. Pushing play? Counting grams of protein? No thanks.

But. Almost always there’s something in the big picture that’s not quite right. If you’re being totally honest about pushing play every day, and completely truthful about your nutrition being dead on…and those are huge things to admit, even to yourself…then it’s time to dig a little deeper. I am, by no means, an expert on fitness or nutrition, but I’ve had a little experience (and I’m a little bit of a nerd where reading up on this stuff is concerned…and I know some really smart people). Here’s what I had to say to Lauren. And I’d say the same to you. (And then I’d remind you that building muscle means better fat-burning potential, even if you can’t see the muscle. And then I’d ask you if you’ve ever noticed that someone with a six-pack doesn’t necessarily have a smaller waist size than somebody without one…but…I’d rather have the six-pack. 🙂 )

Anyway, here is my response (And read the article at the end. It’s good stuff. And says it way better than I can.):

“OK. First. Stop. Breathe.

Are you breathing?

Now. Listen. You are on Day 30. One month into a fitness routine. You are expecting a heck of a lot of your poor body in one month’s time. One week of no change in your weight/measurements could very well mean that…well, yesterday you oversalted yourself. Or you’re ovulating. Or something didn’t work itself out quite right in your body. Or you’re stressed (oh, your body does NOT like stress!!). Or your muscles are catching onto this whole thing and are either 1) inflamed (swollen, holding onto fluid, rebuilding), or 2) expanding. Which is HIGHLY possible. Muscle gain happens with this program because you’re building muscle by tearing it down (remember how sore you are???). You don’t always lose MORE fat than the muscle you gain!

Additionally, in the first 30 days of almost any program, I always gain weight. Always. My body has become a well-oiled machine where changing up fitness routines goes–it has a routine. First, it balks at me, like, “HOLY HECK that was new!!” and takes a little time to adjust to the new thing I’m throwing at it. Then I feel like I’m going to die a little bit because it catches on…then it REALLY gets it. Like, “Oh, yeah. I remember,” kind of getting it. The one thing my coach said to me that stays in my brain always are these three words: TRUST THE PROGRAM. Do you think they spend millions of dollars marketing and developing these programs because they don’t work if you do them as they’re written? HECK NO!! They know what they’re doing. Go look at some of the before and after pictures if you need proof. They are real people. Real results.

Don’t give up. Don’t beat yourself up. Push Play. Every day. Keep doing the right things that you know you should be doing and don’t stray from them because you’re discouraged. Trust. The. Program. This is a marathon, friend. Not a sprint. And changing your life takes time. Even if you only lose 5 pounds in the course of 8 weeks…it’s five pounds you wouldn’t have lost (and lots of beautiful, fat burning muscle you wouldn’t have developed) if you hadn’t done anything, right?

Breathe some more.

And go read this: Ask The Expert Why Do You Gain Weight When You Start Working Out ”

Discouragement happens. Don’t let it derail you. Let it motivate you to be consistent. Weed out the junk. Get through the program. Take your before measurements and pictures and be consistent. Then take your afters…and be amazed.