August was a verrrrry challenging month. After Edz finished summer school, we left for a 2 week vacation at Dan’s parents house on Long Island. And while the time away is lovely and I always look forward to it, it comes with difficult parts as well. The biggest one being sleep. Edward isn’t the greatest sleeper at the best of times, but while we are away it’s even worse. The sleep deprivation gets to all three of us and every year it seems we come thiiiiiisclose to just leaving. But we never do. We stay. Because when it’s not stressful and tiring, it’s fun 🙂

This year Edward was IN LOVE with water. The ocean waves, sprinklers, showers, you name it. So taking him to the beach was a real hoot. He loved throwing rocks, being buried in the sand, sitting in the water, and mostly watching the (enormous) waves crash onto the shore and splash him.

Now as far as exercise and nutrition goes, we both (Dan and I) went in with a plan. We knew what our “luxury” meals were going to be, and we also knew we’d be cooking and grilling a lot. In years past, we let vacation be our excuse to over indulge like crazy. We would drink a lot, eat tons of snacks, go out to eat tons and those meals were always not so healthy. This year, we made a conscious effort to really reign it in and not go crazy.

Here are some of the meals I had while I was on vacation.  If you put your mouse over the pics, you should be able to see what each meal was.

We also went out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants for a date night (I was very restrained as it was an Italian place, but I chose fish and just had a taste of Dan’s lasagna), I had frozen yogurt twice (Buddah Berry…sooooo good), and we went for our favorite, traditional summer lobster rolls at John Scott’s Surf Shack twice (I didn’t eat the bread but I DID eat the fries).  While eating at home though, I made sure to have plenty of veggies and control my portions.  I also had very little to drink which helped a lot.

Now since I was staying at my in laws, I obviously had access to a kitchen. I know not every vacation is like that. It would’ve been WAY more challenging to stay at a hotel and eat out all the time. BUT it still took a definite shift in my mindset and discipline to not let vacation be an excuse to just eat and drink whatever I felt like. So for that, I’m extremely proud. I also brought our blender so we could drink our Shakeology and that was a huge help. This blender is VERY portable and we would’ve brought it on any vacation even without kitchen access.
In addition to eating well, I worked out 13 out of 14 days.

I did Country Heat and Dan did some big bike rides and also P90X. Because we have Beachbody On Demand, we didn’t need to bring all the DVDs. I just brought it up on the laptop and we streamed it online. Brilliant.
Edz loves watching us workout, so he was cool with it 🙂 Admittedly, he’s more a fan of watching Autumn and Tony on the workout than watch US doing it. Lol

So now for the results. Was I able to continue my 5lb loss streak?

YEEESSSSS!!! I did it! Even being on vacation, stressed out, sleep deprived, and having (earmuffs gentlemen) PMS, I managed to keep my eating relatively in check and work out. The result is another 5lbs done and dusted.

And now for the big visual before and after…. Here’s May to August.

This result for August is a huge win for me.  It proves that I CAN lose weight on vacation even when conditions made me often want to drink and eat all the things.  It’s mindset.  Once you decide you’re committed, the body does what it’s told.

I also think doing Country Heat helped shave inches off and build some muscles in my core and legs. Dancing tends to work some of the more hidden muscles you didn’t know you had.  If you look at the before and after from July to August, it’s subtle, but you can see I’m trimmer.  Man I love Country Heat.  30 minutes of dancing and boom, there you go.

Some awesome non scale victories to report as well! Today I tried on my infamous pregnancy jeans. THEY FIT! A litttttle tight in the thighs still, but they definitely qualify as fitting. I also tried on some old shorts from a couple years ago. They’re size 16/14. They fit pretty good too! They did not fit last month, so that extra 5lbs made a big difference.  I need to invest in a full length mirror so I can take better pictures.  Until then, you’ll just have to trust me 😉

 

Not only that, but yesterday I was able to take off my wedding rings and clean them!  I haven’t been able to take my rings off in years!

 

I am really, really proud of my accomplishments so far.  The Trifecta of Awesomeness (workout, magic shake, accountability group) continues to work for me and I love watching my friends getting great results too!  I was showing my before and after photos to one of my closest friends, Angela, and she said something that I had been thinking as well…Look at what can happen in just 4 months!  4 months of being really committed.  4 months of being consistent.  What if I hadn’t started this 4 months ago?  How big would I be?  How much more depressed would I be?  Imagine if I had started in January instead of May?  How much closer to my goals would I be?  How much happier and healthier would I be?  I know that this time next year, I’ll be REAL glad I started back in May 🙂
The important thing, of course, is that I decided to change and I show up EVERY SINGLE DAY.  It’s the only way the magic works.  You can absolutely buy a program and a shake, but if you don’t show up it won’t work.  Ain’t no magic in dusty dvd or a shake that’s not getting drunk.

I actually am starting to see and feel a difference myself. I know that must sound weird, but it’s kind of taken this long to be able to look in the mirror and SEE myself different. It’s really cool. It’s like an old friend returning. I’m like, “Hey! I know you! How you been, stranger?!”  I’m very much looking forward to September.  Having a more regular schedule will be very helpful.  Plus, I’m excited to see all my gals in the group and the results that are to come from kicking this month in the teeth and showing it how strong we are!
As always, if you’re interested in joining me on this journey, I would LOVE to help you.  Click the contact button at the top and let me know you’re ready!