Christy: Week 4

Happy Birthday to me! Yup, 41 today! And I feel so good! Two years ago I had really wanted to be at a healthier weight when I turned 40... it didn't happen. I am testament that just because you don't succeed the first time, try, try, again! The best present was that I had a great week in terms of my physical workouts. I met my goal of working out 5 days and exceeded it by finally getting over the hump of being able to run 2 miles without stopping once! It was a mental break through for me and a much needed one since the week was laden with emotions.

On Monday I found out that my estranged Dad suffered a heart attack and has been in ICU all week. Talk about a lifetime of emotions surfacing all over again! If ever there was a time for me to indulge in eating it would have been this week. However, I didn't! I tried to turn the situation around and remember that I value my life and I am proud to make healthy choices in terms of eating balanced and in terms of maintaining a positive attitude.

My workout goals this week are to continue working out 5 days a week, with one of them being weight lift Wednesday.  I've been incorporating lunges on my cardio days and want to continue to do this until it's less painful! I plan to increase the poundage of my free weight arm exercises and I've been considering meeting with a trainer just to familiarize me with the weight equipment because there are a few machines I'm a little awkward to try out!

As for eating, I use myfitnesspal.com to record my calorie intake & output. My goal is to consume 1200 calories or less/day and to "bank" those calories I burn in my workout. I could probably afford to vary my diet a bit, however, since I've been using mfp for a few months, I know what foods I can make easily that also won't blow my daily intake. I also started taking Centrum multi vitamin for women under 50.  Its a horse pill but it also packs pretty much every vitamin known to man! I did not have time to research, however, it was on sale and it's a brand name that been around for a while so I'm trusting that it will help me accomplish fulfilling some of my body's needs. I have got to get on the drinking water band wagon! Its been two weeks in a row where I find myself barely drinking anything at all (maybe 4 glasses of water/day). I need to get back into that habit!

My main regret is that I was unable to stick to my sleep routine. I went to bed more than once at or after 11pm instead of 9pm and one night I was up with my son from midnight-4am assisting him while he had the stomach flu.

I lost 2 pounds this week putting me at 156lbs. Another mental feat in that I can actually say to myself "you are in the 150's"...and getting to 155 is doable which means getting to 145 is also doable! Neither will be possible without stepping up my game. Motivation enough for me! Now if I can only get my iPhone to shuffle music on it's own like it used to!

I thought I would post a couple "before"(August 2012) and "now"(January 2013) photos. My focus areas have been my stomach, booty, and thighs.