Sunday, February 5, 2012

12 Weeks are Up

Man, it's been a busy three weeks, sorry about the pause.  In these past few weeks, I finished up the 12 week meal and exercise plan I was on, got new glasses and started a new job!  Hooray! 

But for this post I want to talk about the 12 week plan.  I finished up last Sunday.  As with my last update, it's painfully clear how bad I am at following a meal plan, but I still love the exercise routines that Ali introduced me to. 

Now for the results:  I lost 4 pounds and a total of 4.5".  Which, I feel, is awesome!  I'm not sure I have a ton to lose, so, a bit over a pound & inch/month is not too shabby.

The After, pretty similar, but the stomach looks a touch flatter and there are the new glasses.

The before, for reference

I did almost completely remove dry, processed cereal from my diet (maybe 4 bowls of cereal over the 12 weeks!).  My breakfast now consists of a small bowl of oatmeal, greek yogurt and blueberries.  That's protein, fiber and fresh fruit every morning, I'd say that's a significant improvement from straight carbs and some skim milk.  I now eat more protein and fresh produce, and rely less on carbs, I also greatly reduced my cheese intake (I did not realize how much cheese I was eating).  The biggest lesson I learned from following a meal plan (or attempting to) was portion control.  After measuring my food out, I now know what a proper serving looks like, big lesson. 

On to my strength goals: I'm so excited about these!  Adding Ali's exercises helped me shave 3:32 off of my 10K time (over 30 secs/mile!).  I had been stagnating a bit when it came to my running speed, I'm convinced that squats and sprints helped me out on this front.  I also love my running club, a little weekly competition and some friends to pace you never hurt.  I'm feeling much stronger in my upper body, which is still a new concept for me, I'm kinda loving that my shoulders are looking straighter and stronger, and I feel muscles all over my body that I didn't notice before.

I have no idea if I'm doing that correctly, but I feel strong.

The part where I failed was sweets, though I have baked far less in these last 12 weeks (which means no half pan of brownies in a couple of days), I still eat something sweet most days.  I think I'll try to work on that when I'm not trying to change up everything all at once.  But that may have to wait until after Valentine's Day, I love to bake for V-Day.

2 comments:

Amber said...

It tells you just where I am in my life/where my friends are that when I saw the title, "12 Weeks are Up," I IMMEDIATELY assumed this was a just-out-of-the-first-trimester pregnancy announcement. ;)

You look great! Meal plans are haaaaard, but it clearly worked for you!

leenie said...

Oh no, that is a scary, scary thought, and thanks.