Time to shake things up!

Donna

Happy Memorial Day!  As a United States Navy veteran, I feel beyond blessed that I am able to pursue my dreams and aspirations, as many service members will not ever have that opportunity.  Let’s remember those who have gone before us while serving this great nation and never forget the sacrifice that they made.  On this day, we remember you!!

So while you’re eating that hotdog….wait no!! Put that hot dog down!! I have great news to report. I have officially lost 5 lbs!!  Woohoo, celebrating small victories!!  My inner hater may say 5 lbs in 5 weeks is not the best number since The Biggest Loser contestants can lose that in one day, but I gained 1 lb of muscle mass and have gone down not 1, but 2 belt buckle notches!! Oh yes, the pants are getting looser. This has been an awesome week.  Lawson had his last baseball game of another great season, which we celebrated with an end of season bowling party and played a parents vs kids kickball game (highly recommend, so much fun).  I LOVE my baseball family and will miss not seeing them every day. 

As far as my fitness goals…I talked with a nutritionist this week and gained some great insight to the composition of my body.  This has sparked me to make some big changes.  Up until now I’ve been hyper focused on losing weight by increasing my cardio.  I’m proud of the progress I’ve made with running and the hours I’ve clocked on the pavement, but I think I’m killing myself for little results.  Running has without a doubt helped get my ball rolling with weight loss, but I am pulling back on cardio.  I will still run 1-2 times a week because I really do enjoy it…but I’m refocusing my time at the gym to something I feel may be more beneficial, weight training.  With this new plan comes a new focus on food.  I have researched and formulated a decent food plan that I can follow which increases my protein intake by a significant amount. 

I started this journey 6 weeks ago very strong.  The past few weeks I’ve had some setbacks that I believe have hindered my progress.  I’ve encountered some emotional obstacles and I’ve done my best to juggle  scheduling conflicts.  Now that baseball season is over and school is finishing this week, I feel re-energized to put the focus back on me.  Another big stress that I haven’t mentioned is that my husband and I are planning to build a house.  We finally closed on the land this week, but had been in contract for almost 2 months.  The stress of negotiating and budgeting to finance this project has affected me without a doubt.  So that is done!  No sports, no school, land is ours….I feel free of stress. Life is good!

So who’s with me?!  I am excited, motivated, and ready to pursue this next level of self-fulfillment.  Here’s to a week of chicken, salmon, steak and lots of green veggies!!!