Saturday evening, I posted a progress pic. It wasn’t explicitly a progress pic, but it helped show my progress from a few weeks ago, before I began the challenge. I stated, “Feeling great. Feeling solid. Feeling confident”, with the image of me beside my treadmill on day thirty of the 50 5ks in 50 days challenge, I challenged myself to (and gratefully others are doing with me!). It was also day 20 of the Whole30 portion of the LES challenge.

This morning, I decided to weigh myself – since it is the half-way point for the challenge and all. No change........hear those crickets? No. Change. How in the world can this be? For thirty days I have been logging 3.1 miles (that’s 93 miles!) EVERY day. Well it must be the food you’re eating, one could say. Well, for twenty of those days, I have been eating clean, whole foods; foods without chemicals, unprocessed, and super good for me. That CAN’T be it.

This is where I should say something like, “Well, my resting heart rate is down. My sleep is more solid and deep, which is good. My energy levels are up and I rarely feel the afternoon slump. I’m cooking for my family every day, and I love that my husband and daughters appreciate it. And well, I DO feel a lot closer to God without all the junk making me feel weird. I’m hopefully prolonging my life and setting myself up to deter chronic disease. Oh, and I’m not experiencing negative symptoms resembling autoimmune disease, anxiety, depression, etc.” All this is absolutely true. But you know what? I expected to see the number DOWN. I expect to see something different in the mirror. And frankly, it irritates me. Not because I rely on the number on the scale or my body’s alignment with my own ideal body image to make me happy, but I would like to have had an improvement in physique going into spring break. Heck, never mind spring break, WHO WOULDN’T EXPECT A NOTICEABLE PHYSIQUE CHANGE WITH ALL THE SACRIFICES BEING MADE AND EFFORT GIVEN – regardless of if there was a chance to showcase those sacrifices or not?!

So what gives? It could be a number of things…

• I could have chosen a day where I was retaining water, from my diet and sodium intake.
• I could have a sizeable amount of bowel in my intestines (ew gross, I know).
• I could be doing too much cardio and my metabolism has slowed (I suspect this is part of it).
• I might not be eating enough food to meet the demands of my body, and my metabolism has slowed.
• The number of calories I’m consuming equal the number needed to maintain my weight, with the exercise I am doing.
• The cardio has tapped into my muscle gains, decreasing my muscle mass, also decreasing my metabolism.
• I may be consuming too many carbohydrates for MY body, despite the fact they are approved and good for me.
• I may be consuming too much protein, it is being converted to sugar, then fat – if I’m not utilizing it all in my daily activity.
• My macros for burning fat, may not be “right” for me.
• I didn’t check my body composition, I could have gained muscle and the number alone does not reflect this gain (those quads pumping every day, this could be part of it).
• Perhaps I’m not seeing the change, but others can. (I really should have taken legit before photos)

I’m sure there are other variables that could be playing a role, but these come to mind. What am I going to do? Throw in the towel and say, “Forget it, I’m having the chocolate and cookie and peanut M&M’s and glass of wine!” Nope. I’m going to acknowledge irritation is just a feeling and let it go. Because all the benefits I mentioned DO matter to me and they are non-scale victories I appreciate. However, I am going to change a few variables I know I have control of. Mix it up a bit and see if I can come up with a different equation that will provide a different result, because the image I have for myself IS important to me. It just isn’t what drives me.

1. I’m going to start with cardio. I think it has been too much. But, I’m keeping my commitment to the challenge, because that is also important to me. I’m going to do MORE walking throughout the day, rather than get it all in, in one lump.
2. I’m going to lift HEAVY at least three times per week (I began doing this last week).
3. I’m going to eliminate all the potatoes, bananas, and nuts I have been liberally consuming.
4. I’m going to reduce the number of tortillas I consume; again, they are approved, but could be part of my stall.
5. I’m going to shift to a more fat based diet, to allow for ketosis to kick in (I presume this is implied whenever reading “the body is learning to burn fat, rather than sugars” in the Whole30 literature), not to be confused with ketoacidosis.
6. I’m going to incorporate intermittent fasting on some days.
7. I’m going to enjoy more relaxing exercises like yoga and stretching.

We’ll see what this does for me the next few weeks. I presume I’ll see a difference, but if not, I’ll simply troubleshoot again. I'm sure that cookie that has been tempting me all morning wouldn't have been wroth it anyway, and I KNOW it certainly won't help me get closer to my goals...right?! ;)

And on the eleventh day, she kept going! Man, the 5k challenge started strong. Mostly because the weather was so nice and it was refreshing to be outdoors. Then, winter decided it wanted to revisit and my trusty treadmill had the joy of keeping me accountable. This...was not so refreshing.

Fortunately, I have been blessed to be on vacation the past several days getting my mileage in, both running and walking, and even skiing one day. Again, I feel refreshed by the outdoors!

I am MOST REFRESHED by the gals also taking on the challenge. Daily, I see a post, or receive a text, letting me know their 5k is done for the day. How awesome is that?! I love knowing I'm not a lone. I love when women support one another. This motivates me and encourages me to keep going.

So with close to 56 miles under my belt, between the 5ks and just every day walking, I'm ready to go into the next leg of the journey fired up. Ready for another week of 5ks to account for my FitBit activities.

Those of you killing it every day, keep it up. I'm proud of you! We're going to FINISH THIS TOGETHER!

I have really been LAZY when it comes to my work outs. By that, I mean I haven’t been. I was experiencing a lot of pain in my left hip for quite some time, and I just felt like babying it. That somehow rolled into doing nothing at all, with the exception of my run last Monday. I’m not sure if it is the 55 degree weather we have in our forecast for today or what, but I am in the mood to run! I have 50 days until my first 5k of the season, and I have this crazy idea to do 50 5k’s in 50 days. That is 3.1 miles every day, leading up to the first 5k my hubby and girlfriends, and hopefully a large part of our community, will participate (note I did not say run ;) ) in on April 9th.

No, I do not plan on RUNNING every day. I am going to mix it up on a day to day basis. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I will complete with a steady state run. Tuesday and Thursday, I will HIIT it with a run walk, run walk cadence. Saturday and Sunday I will walk at a nice fat burning pace (for me, about 4.4 mph with a 3% incline on the treadmill). I’m pretty sure I’ve shared this before, but cardio is a stress reducer for me. I enjoy it. It helps my oxygen circulate. It helps with the fluff I feel when I’m not working out. It just feels good to me. It is restorative.

Am I trading in cardio for weights? Nope. I plan on weight training Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday – mainly to preserve my muscle. It seems like stressors would like to crouch in on every side, right about now. So I am going to be proactive and do what I know to do to keep being overwhelmed at bay. This is just ONE of my tactics, one I learned the hard way.

It’s here, day 43 of the challenge. I haven’t updated the past two weeks, for two reasons. One, I pretty much experienced the same thing for the past two weeks. Two, I have been busy and I didn’t take the time to do it. But here is a brief update:

Days 29 – 35, not much took place. I continued to have a ton of energy. I continued to eat Whole30. I continued feeling really good. From an exercise standpoint, my enthusiasm waned. I didn’t get as many work outs in as I would have liked, but it was ok. From a spiritual standpoint, God continued to become more prominent in every aspect of my life. I sensed a new direction for devotions. I sensed what my next steps were. And I really settled into the lifestyle being lived for the past several weeks.

Days 36 – 42, a lot seemed to take place, from a task perspective. Work, home projects, projects with my daughters – all kept me busy. Busy kept me out of the gym. I still don’t feel guilty about it, but I am ready to get back into a four times a week routine. A couple of the gals and I were able to meet for dinner Friday, and I am blown away by what God has done, is doing and will continue to do! Seriously. I am overwhelmed at how things came together – I’m in awe.

Last Wednesday we collectively decided to begin re-introduction, so we were ready to go into Thanksgiving informed and prepared. I learned quickly gluten is not my friend. I had a pretty serious reaction to it when I re-introduced it last week. Needless to say, I am steering clear of it, from here on out. Rice seems to be ok, as well as peanut butter. I’m not much of a dairy person, so I see myself leaving it out completely, but I will re-introduce tomorrow.

Where am I with weight loss? I am down three pounds and some inches. Again, not a dramatic change compared to others, but that’s ok. I have gained SO MUCH MORE from this challenge. I am more sensitive to the Holy Spirit than I have been in a long time. I feel energetic and wake up ready to go every day. My relationship with my husband has improved 100 fold. My children and I are much closer and more devoted to one another. I have gained some pretty wonderful friendships and I have a clear vision of God’s will for my life.

This is why I don’t see much changing. I thought I would take a break from Thanksgiving until January, simply because I felt I “deserved” it. However, after some conversations, time in God’s Word and presence yesterday, and then two messages that came from two separate Pastors, I need to “Keep going”. It doesn’t make sense to potentially undo all that has been gained, just to have a break. It makes more sense to keep in place the very elements that have brought me here, and see just how further He can take me.

So, I am going to begin the Shepherdess study Monday, December 1st; I have no idea how long this may go, but it could be a while. I am going to transition to Paleo indefinitely. Finally, I am going to work out four days per week, incorporating lifting and HIIT cardio. In the meantime, I am going to finish strong and encourage my husband and girlfriends to do the same. I am going to look forward to date night this weekend, and celebrate our crossing the “finish line” TOGETHER. And then I am going to enthusiastically “keep going”!

Day 16 - Holie canolie, the energy! This is the day I woke up EARLY for a 5 am spin class and crushed it. Yes, I had to keep the tension down a bit, but I still gave it my all and felt great. My energy did not bonk once throughout the day, I felt great going into the evening making a homemade apple pie for my daughters, and fell a sleep right away.

Day 17 - Had a health and wellness check-in at work and gained some valuable information. My weight was down another half pound, my waist down a half inch from a few weeks ago, blood pressure pretty low (so low I asked if it was ok), and my BMI is  down a point. All good things, because now I am into the healthy/normal range for all categories!

Day 18 - Energy continued. Which was good, the work week was pretty intense as we were working towards a very important meeting on Friday. While I didn't get an intense work out in over lunch, I did get some much needed yoga in. It was AH-mazing. All in all, all went well, not complaints.

Day 19 - Energy still outstanding and feeling well - until I wasn't. Going into the meeting for the day, I was feeling as though I should have something in my stomach, since I didn't know when I would be able to eat next. I had ordered RX Bars and decided I would try one of those, breaking my fast at 8 am, rather than 12 pm, like I had all week. I felt sick the entire time after, very nauseated. Once I ate lunch, I felt better, but realized the figs and dates in the bar most likely had more sugar than my body could handle, causing my sugar to fluctuate, making me sick.

Day 20 - I woke up three times dreaming of FOOD! Honestly, I thought the dreams part of the timeline were not going to be an issue for me. However, when I woke up feeling bad that I ate a whole dish of pumpkin delight, and another eating and bathing in chicken wings, I knew this phenomenon was REAL! My goodness. So. Real. I went to spin class hoping to burn off the calories, that is how real it was to me. Following spin class, I again had an RX Bar. Again, I felt nauseous. This time though, I KNEW my blood sugar had spiked and was coming down. I had that anxious feeling. I also felt my blood pressure was down. I remedied with a big bowl of chicken broth and a healthy serving of creamed coconut milk. I have determined RX Bars, although Whole30 approved, do not fit for me. Which is fine, I like eating all the other foods anyway.

Day 21 - I feel like I have that tiger blood! I slept great last night and forced myself to sleep-in two more hours (I woke up at 5:30 on a Sunday). This week I am going to return to lifting and HIIT. Not sure if I'll do the Tuesday spin class or not, I don't know if I really love it (although I love being with other ladies from the challenge who are super awesome), but I know I love lifting and HIIT.

My schedule will most likely look like this:

Sunday - Upper Body, Steady State
Monday - HIIT
Tuesday - Lower Body
Wednesday - Glutes, HIIT
Thursday - Upper Body and Yoga
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Spin (HIIT)