Motivation Monday: 21 day fix reflections

Yesterday was the "end" of my 21 Day Fix experiment.  I say experiment because I really didn't have all I needed to follow the program as written.  I didn't buy the shakes or the workout DVDs, so maybe if I'd had those my results would have been better.

Basically, I had no results.  I took "after" pictures yesterday and I really can't see any changes - in fact, I think I looked worse but maybe it was the lighting in my bathroom.  Who knows. In any rate, I have no intention of posting the pictures because I really don't want pics of me in a bikini floating around the interwebs and frankly, no one wants to see that anyway.

As you can see, my weight didn't change and really none of my measurements changed either.  Maybe my hips and waist but that little of a change makes me wonder if I just had the tape measure in a different place.  It's hard to stay motivated about something when you've been working at it for weeks with no real results.

I haven't given up yet though.  I created another menu this week still in the 1500-1800 range and I've added workouts from the 30 Day Shred DVD to shake things up a bit.  The shred is kind of killing my calves though - to the point I had to bail on my 10 mile run on Saturday because they felt so off.  I'll keep with the Shred this week but I won't be doing any of it next week because I'd really like to run my half marathon.  Undecided about how much heavy lifting to do. After The Donna Breast Cancer Half, it's time to start really ramping up my running again so plans need to come together and pant sizes need to drop.

A fresh start? 21 Day Fix

It's been a bit quiet around here for the past few weeks and honestly, I'm ok with that.  I reached out to my FitBloggin tribe and said I've been feeling like I'm in a blogging rut.  The consensus was to take a break until I felt like I had something I wanted to say.

I still don't know how often I'm going to post, but today's post is here in an effort to make myself accountable to something.  As you can see from this little measurement comparison, I have not done very well on the "let's not gain all the weight after your marathon" plan because I really didn't have a plan.

I tracked my food here and there on My Fitness Pal and I've been working out a lot (usually 4 strength workouts plus 6 cardio per week) but my weight just keeps going up and my pants keep feeling smaller - an not in a good way.

I've been looking into Whole30 (too restrictive to attempt with my family) and getting back to more Paleo-ish (also too restrictive because I miss eating grains).  I've also talked to a number of friends who are gung-ho in Shakeology and the 21 Day Fix.  Even with all the "sales", it's more than I wanted to spend on workouts I would not want to do because I hate doing DVDs and the shakes I've tried I haven't liked.

So, I'm compromising in an effort to get a fresh start and get back on track.  I've decided to follow the portion sizes of the 21 Day Fix eating plan (google it and you'll find the container sizes as well as how many of each you get for your calorie range).  I'm also still tracking in MFP because I'm curious how it really comes out calorie-wise.

I've created my week 1 plan, prepped a few things (like a bunch of cooked-up chicken breast) and so far so good.  I never eat mid morning or mid afternoon, so scarfing down my "meal 2" in between therapy groups felt weird today.  I might just add those meals into lunch or dinner since I really don't have time to eat then.  I also haven't figured out how to plan for longer workouts.  This weekend I have a 10 mile run and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to have enough calories.  You aren't supposed to use sugars on this plan, but I'm going to continue to use my gu for long runs and unless I find something that doesn't taste like poo, I'll continue using my coffee creamer as well (coconut milk this morning was GROSS).  Work in progress, I say.

Anyhoo, I took some "before" pics this morning that will probably never see the light of day or this page because no one needs to see me in a hot pink bikini looking like a chubby Casper, but at least I'll have something to compare with in 3 weeks.

Now I'm off to eat my lunch and get dinner going in the crockpot.  Happy Monday, friends!