Own It

Sometimes you look back at your life and regret things. And then sometimes you look back and see how far you've come. This mind set totally depends on where you are in life and if you're aware of who you are. In the mornings, I fall in between both of these two places depending on the day, but I fully intend to end each day knowing who I am and that I'm an over-comer.

I am strong, I am bold, I am beautiful, I am a little crazy, I am kind, I am a child of God, I am empowered, I am a winner. I am also slightly crazy...

My managers at my job both work out at this gym in town and were always talking about how hard the workouts were, how sore they were, and how much, despite the hard work, they loved going. I'm very much about trying new things and challenging myself but have been not so great about that in the past year or so. Hence the weight gain. Half of what I lost I was well on my way to putting back on. So the smart person that I am, decided to sign up for a free trial. Cause, why not? I can't be that out of shape right? So so wrong.

The free trial isn't sugar coated, it's not watered down, and it's hard. But if you need someone creating a workout and telling you what to do, like I do, and if you can push yourself and keep going, then this place is awesome. Being true to who I am, I pushed too hard (during the warm up...) and pulled something around my hamstring, but I finished the workout.

I'm not sure if you all have heard of D1 and their bootcamps. If you've done them, you KNOW. If you haven't, you just. don't. know. You don't.

I am on day four if you don't count my trial run. I go to the 6AM bootcamp. I hate waking up to get sweaty. But it's so much better to get this torture out of the way when it's cooler in the morning as the gym does not have air conditioning.

I got really excited my first day because Andrew the trainer asked if everyone knew how to karaoke. I was like, yes! I do! How will that work though if we're running around the field? He gave me a puzzled look, which I returned because it was slowly dawning on me that his karaoke didn't involve singing... what he really said was carioca, otherwise known as the grapevine. So yeah, starting off on the right foot here.

I've been introduced to box jumps, box pushes, medicine balls that I've lugged down the field and back countless times, tires and hammers, SO MUCH RUNNING, and jump ropes. I can't even begin to tell you how much running. I hate running, but if it makes me better, I'll do it, begrudgingly. Also, I've skipped more in the past two days then I have my entire childhood. I had to seriously delve into my memories trying to remember if I actually did skip in my childhood and the conclusion I've come to is there is NO WAY I skipped back then. If I had, I wouldn't suck so bad at it now. Have you ever tried to skip backwards? No? Imagine that, well, we had to. I looked so special. I actually stopped a few times to ask myself what was happening, as it wasn't skipping, I'll tell you that.

I could go on and on about what I've been challenged to do, but I'll save some for later ;) Here's a little nugget to end with:

Own it. Whatever you're doing or want to do. Pick it up and run with it, no one else can do it for you. Pick it up and don't look back, because whatever is behind you doesn't matter. For me, keeping my eyes on who God says I am is the most important thing. He says I'm a winner, that I'm awesome and beautiful. He says I can do this and He's right there with me.

Starting the week off right!

I've been frustrated with my stall in weight loss, especially since I know I need to be down 5 more pounds by next Thursday for the weigh in. I was pleasantly surprised when I finally managed to get rid of that one pound that has been coming and going for the past week on top of 1.5 more! Total weight loss since beginning my Keto diet is 19 pounds in 38 days. Not too shabby. The real test will be at weigh in and finding out how much was fat vs. potential muscle loss.

I don't know if I started back on the downward slope because I went to the gym twice this weekend and walked the dog for a while yesterday, or if my body is just going through its cycles. Either way, I feel good. I'm back in ketosis after having a sugar binge last Thursday... oops.

I've been slacking in the creativity area when it comes to making meals. I've leaned heavily on my tuna and chicken salad and chicken and broccoli. I finally made my "gourmet" chicken salad this weekend. I baked my chicken tenderloins coated in a dry Italian dressing packet. I then threw them into the food processor with my EVOO and sugar free pickle relish. Boom, three days of snacks done.

Then it got crazy. Meat crazy. Observe... vegetarians, please avert your eyes.

 

I purchased ground beef and ground turkey and cooked the hell out of it this weekend. I then proceeded to get my carnivore on. I didn't even attempt to make it look pretty, I just wanted it in my belly. I threw some cheddar and ranch and then gorged on my meat bowl. The second photo depicts my need for mac and cheese... an endless gap of mine I'm hopelessly trying to fill. I'm totally down with the results of this attempt. 2 cups chopped zucchini, #howevermuchyouwantof lean ground turkey, 1/4 cup cheddar and a little bit of garlic salt. This will become a regular in the dinner rotation.

 

I'm meeting a new friend from church out for dinner tonight before our last newbie church meeting... the menu looks challenging, so it should be interesting to see what I end up consuming. But going back to church, it's been awesome to be able to get there every Sunday for the last 4 weeks. I'm going to miss it with my next three weekends of being out of town. Very happy to be apart of a modern church that posts it's sermons online to listen to when you can't attend! Yay Life Church!

 

Go make good decisions! Happy Monday!