All of my hard work this week paid off!  I lost an inch off of my waist!  Back to a 26”.  My smallest was 25.5”, but I’m happy with my results this week.

I’m going to meet my boyfriend’s family this weekend at their family reunion.  I know I’m going to be tempted to eat junk, but I’m going to make a conscious effort to not eat any unhealthy foods.  I love the way I feel right now and don’t want to mess it up!

I’ve managed to maintain the weight loss over the past few months.  Well, somewhat.  I’ve gained a few pounds (I’m up to 121 lbs from 118 lbs), but they will disappear soon enough.  I fell off the horse after school let out last week, but I’ve gotten back on this week.  I’ve been eating healthier (remember, that’s the biggest part of losing and maintaining weight!) and gotten back to boxing.  I took 2 weeks off boxing and had been going to the gym instead because of work.  There was no way I was going to hang around an empty school until 6 pm to go to boxing.  So, I was running on the threadmill and outside on Base, but not doing as much strength training.  It’s good to switch it up every now and again!

So, that means only one cheat day per week.  Yes, I was starting to do 2 and 3 times for a couple of weeks – NOT GOOD!  The important thing is to recognize that you’ve gone off track and to just get back on without being too hard on yourself.  We all make mistakes and no one’s perfect!  I tried to avoid the negative self-talk, “You’re so fat!”, and seeing the numbers on the scale and the extra inch I put on my waist was motivation enough to step up my workouts and cut out the junk.

The important thing to remember is to not be too hard on yourself if you’ve stepped away from good eating habits and intense workouts.  You’re only human and we’re not perfect!

Exercise is also a very important part of being healthy.  You have to step up your workouts though.  If you go for a 30 min walk 3 times a week, that’s not going to get you to where you want to be!  No, I’m not talking about people who are obese, but those of you who are wanting to lose 20-40 lbs.  You’re going to have to be consistent as well.  Yes, I’ve been boxing for almost 3 years now, but I managed to gain some weight 2 years ago even though I was boxing.  I have to admit, I was boxing once a week and attending a beginner hip hop dance class (which wasn’t a very intense workout compared to boxing) and eating whatever.  That was not what helped me lose weight.  I gained about 10 lbs!  What I needed to do was increase my boxing workouts from 1 to 2 or 3 per week.  I still attended dance class and then started teaching boxercise twice a week.  I also went to the gym and worked on my cardio.  I discovered running and absolutely loved it!  You have to increase your workouts and really push yourself!  No one will do that for you.  If you REALLY want it, you can do it.  You have to be stubborn about it.  If you find yourself cheating, making excuses and skipping workouts, then you have not hit rock bottom and you are comfortable with being overweight.  Only YOU can do it.  No amount of advice will help.  It’ll be “yes, yes, I can do that”, but really the info is going in one ear and out the other.

Your body is temple.  Treat it as such!

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been sorting through my summer clothes and have gotten rid of most of the clothes that are now too big.  Lucky for me, S. came by and brought me clothes that she didn’t want anymore.  Everything she brought me fits!  A variety of size 2 or 4 clothing.  I never thought I’d see the day that I would be wearing clothing of that size.  I thought it was not possible to go below my usual size 10/12 and fitting into a size 7 back when I was 25 years old was the biggest accomplishment ever.  I guess I was wrong.  Pleasantly wrong though! 

Something that I was pondering this weekend is how my weight loss has not only helped me to get into smaller clothes, but also a dramatic internal change has occurred as well.  Since I started boxing, I feel so much stronger, not only physically, but mentally too.  It makes me feel independent – that I don’t need anyone to help me.  In turn, my self-esteem has increased and it’s made me become more assertive in life and work.  Imagine… all this because I wanted to lose 10 pounds.  Who knew losing 25 lbs in the end would make me a better person, inside and out.

Transformation of the body can lead to a complete metamorphosis.

I decided to take Thursday off from working out.  My plan was to go to the gym on Friday instead.  Unfortunately, that wasn’t in the cards for me.  Thursday night was met without much sleep.  The only thing I was able to keep down Friday was some crackers, Gatorade, some 7-up and later on, some chicken noodle soup.  I felt much better by Saturday and since I missed my “cheat” day, I figured I’d be safe to have it that day.  Big mistake.  Huge!  It hit me again on Saturday night.  Sunday was spent resting.  Thank God I felt somewhat better today and was able to make it to work.  I did take today off from boxing though.  I haven’t been eating very much, so I wouldn’t have the energy to go anyway.  Tomorrow will be good for me to get back to it since I’ll be coaching.  I’m hoping that this is the end of it – I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.  Well… maybe… Kidding!

A word to the wise: if you’re under the weather, take it easy and rest because you may not be completely over it.  Don’t push it too hard!

Well, back to the grind tomorrow!

This is my knee after the car accident.  It required 5 double stitches: 5 under the skin and 5 topical ones, so 10 total.  And yes, the white part is the bone.

This is another view of my knee.  They had to cut my fave jeans to get to it! 

Here are the 10 stitches I received… the ones you see are the topical ones.  I swear my dental surgery (gum graft) hurt less than this!

Here’s my other knee.  It was pretty banged up too – swollen and bruised.

I guess I was lucky that my knees weren’t broken!  They hit the dash and that’s what cut my right one.  Things are progressing nicely though.

This is what my knee looked like once the stitches were taken out.  The bandages that were on irritated my skin – it was all dry and flaky for a week or so.