Progress….

I have been talking about my weight since November of last year. When my scale tipped 181 pounds I knew it was time to make a change. There is no way I worked so hard to lose 50 pounds to gain it all back. In November I didn’t beat myself up, I just took charge of the situation, signed up for Jenny Craig and got to work.

With Jenny I was able to make progress, I lost about 10 pounds but I admit that I wasn’t committed to eating correctly. I was however very committed to exercising and I like to believe that I was building muscle even if the scale wasn’t moving very much. Although I know the key to being my best self is to incorporate both exercise and healthy eating into my life I just wasn’t motivated to cook, eat properly, etc.

A couple of weeks ago, I finally decided to make a serious change. On April 1, I decided to try eating Paleo. The night before (after having spent 4 glorious days on a Disney cruise) I weighed myself and the scales said 176.6. Although I am sure that much of that was water weight, I was ready to break that 170 pound threshold. I’d heard about paleo and decided to give it a try. As luck would have it, I also had committed to teaching Zumba, so on April 1st I began practicing. I practiced up until my class that Wednesday night -eating mostly Paleo along the way….I’ve adopted an 80-20 approach. I eat Paleo 80% of the time and other things 20%. Well, in that period of time I lost 8 pounds! I was drinking water, eating right and felt great!

I’ve continued with Paleo and two weeks later, look at my results….

Overall since November I lost 16.6 pounds…but in reality, in 19 days I’ve lost 12.2 pounds! MAJOR!!! And seriously, by focusing on my food and ramping up my exercise, my body has responded. Running is great, I love it. But, it is NOT the best method for weight loss. So, over the past few weeks I’ve been adding different types of exercise to the mix: Bootcamp, Zumba, total body toning, step aerobics and of course I still run! And I’ve been cooking! My meals are simple and honestly I don’t really miss anything doing Paleo. No diary, grains, sugar, alcohol…..okay, I still like a nice drink or two on the weekends but it is easy!

I think a visual of my change will really show how far I’ve come. So here are photos from November, I think February and a photo from today!

 November 2011

                                                                        February 2012

Today

And my numbers are pretty good too…..

November                         Today                 Change

Weight: 181.7                  164.4                  17.3

Bust: 39                             37.5                      2.5

Waist: 32.5                      30                         2.5

Abs: 34                              32.5                     2.5

Hips 44.25                        42                       2.25

I feel pretty good so far. I am going to keep it up because I am really ready to do this! I would love to get back to my goal weight by the end of May…..we will see what happens! I am continuing to keep up with the strength training and mixing up my workouts. I am very hopeful that my body will love it. And I have a true goal – I’d want to be a FITNESS MODEL by the end of the year. Stick with me and see what happens!