I had the dates wrong a few weeks ago and I’ve gained back a week. Miscounting is both a good and bad thing. Good, because I have more time to get ready for the stage. Bad, because it’s one more week of work. I think the good outweighs the bad at this point.
The Progress
Over the past two weeks I’ve seen a LOT of progress in my body. The carb cycling has definitely kicked things into motion and I have abs! Well…sort of.
The picture above is from the first morning I woke up and really noticed a difference. My tummy has always been my trouble spot. It’s where MY eyes go in the mirror and is the first place I notice weight gain. It’s the spot that I always wanted to go away. So when I saw this – I seriously woke Kirk up to make him look. I am so proud of the progress I have made – all without any crazy restrictive diet. I eat a lot of food!
The trouble is, these abs don’t stick around very long (yet). As soon as I eat breakfast and start drinking my water for the day, they fill back out. But the great part is being able to see the progress and knowing that if I stick with it, they will continue to improve. This motivates me to stick with my diet and push hard in the gym.
By the way, my post-workout abs would have been amazing for me a few months ago! I hope you don’t see this as bragging (which is NOT my intention), but rather proof that you can do it too. You just have to put in the work in both the gym AND the kitchen!
The Workouts
Now that I’ve shared little about the progress, it’s time to talk about the workouts. This week I’m starting another group of workouts. They are scary. I did the first strength workout today and it clocked in around 1 hour (not too bad!), but the cardio is ramped up now. With a total of 60 minutes each day (with one day off), I can do the full hour in the afternoon or split into two 30 minute sessions.
With 3 weeks left I can do this. I know I can make it 3 more weeks and I’m excited to see what changes are still to come. My goal is to keep finishing workouts with a smile on my face. I might complain a little when I’m getting starting or while I’m pushing through a tough interval, but I want to finish with a smile on my face. That’s the thought behind a new hashtag I’ve been using recently: #movehappy. It’s my reminder that I’m blessed to be able to move & sweat, so I want to enjoy the process! Just something that makes me smile. And maybe that smile will be contagious and you’ll move & smile too.
While I only post weekly updates here, I post most of my workouts on Instagram throughout the week. I hope you’ll follow me there to keep me accountable & motivated!
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Questions for you:
- What was one workout that make you smile last week? #movehappy
- Do you focus on a “problem area”?
