Once More Unto the Breach, Dear Friends, Once More

So, surely I can't be the only person who has tried to start losing weight, gotten side tracked, and had to start all over again.  In fact, I know I'm not alone in this.  I found re-re-renewed motivation to continue with this battle of the bulge that has plagued me for years.  I don't know exactly where it came from, maybe tit was the fact that I didn't like the way I was looking in my clothes, or feeling uncomfortable in my own body, or maybe it was the gut that was staring at me everytime I looked in the mirror, or my mother who kept telling me that the older I got the harder is would be to lose the weight?  All I know is that I had an itch to get started again and a determination to STICK WITH IT!!! 

So, one night I sent a text to one of the ladies at my church, who just so happens to be a Beachbody coach, and asked her if she had a copy of P90X I could use.  She did, and so last Tuesday, on February 18th, I started P90X.  Granted, I had meant to ask for Insanity, (not sure where my mind was), but I figured I'd give P90X a shot since it's what I had asked for and received, and maybe just do insanity afterwards.

In addition to the P90X, I've been logging my calories with my MyFitnessPal app.  I've limited myself to no more than 1,522 calories a day, granted, that's without any exercise.  I've also cut out fried foods and sodas.  I'm letting myself have sweets every now and then, because if I don't I'll binge, and no one wants that!  I'm also still drinking my morning coffee, just a whole lot less of it.  I've also started drinking more tea, sweetened with honey if and when needed.  

I'm a week into it and sore, oh, so, so sore.  I ache, but it's a satisfying feeling!  Besides the satisfying feeling, I'm seeing results already!  In the past week, since starting, I lost an inch and a half off of my waist, an inch off my hips, and an inch and a quarter off of one, (yes, just one -_-), of my thighs!  Now, I went up .2 pounds from where I started, but that doesn't phase me.  Something that people need to understand, especially women, is that the number on the scale shouldn't be the ONLY measurement that you take!  You can be losing fat but gaining muscle while working out and thus stay the same weight, but be losing inches.  You know that saying, "Fat weighs more than muscle"?  IT'S A LIE!!!  A pound is a pound is a pound, whether it's a pound of fat, a pound of muscle, a pound of feathers or a pound of steel.  It's still all just a pound!  Fat just takes up more space than muscle, that's all.  I'm gonna get off my little soapbox now.

Once again, I'm going to try my best to keep up with this blog.  I hope that maybe my journey will help others.  I'm not an athlete, or a personal trainer, or some fitness guru, I'm just a 27-year-old woman that's tired of being obese and is trying to fix that based on the knowledge I have!  If it's helpful to some, fantastic!  If not, sorry, maybe you can just laugh with/at me instead. ;-)

The last thing for this new post; my last ever "Before" photos, taken last week when starting my new P90X workouts and eating right:

Day 1 - Front View

Day 1 - Side View

Granted, these aren't flattering photos, but they're not really suppose to be, are they?  Here are my stats on Day 1 of P90X:

Weight: 224
Fat%: 42.85
BMI: 34
Neck: 14.87
Bust: 40
Chest: 35.75
Waist: 35.5
Midway (around bellybutton): 38
Hips: 48.5
Right Bicep: 14
Left Bicep: 14
Right Forearm: 10.62
Left Forearm: 10.75
Right Thigh: 28.5
Left Thigh: 27.62
Right Calf: 15.87
Left Calf: 15.75

As of this week, after just 1 week of eating right, drinking lots of water, and P90X, here are my stats:

Weight: 224.2
Fat%: 40.63
BMI: 34
Neck: 14.5
Bust: 40
Chest: 36
Waist: 34
Midway (around bellybutton): 36.5
Hips: 47.5
Right Bicep: 14
Left Bicep: 13.62
Right Forearm: 10.62
Left Forearm: 10.5
Right Thigh: 27.25
Left Thigh: 27.62
Right Calf: 15.75
Left Calf: 15.62

How can one not be encouraged to keep going when seeing these sorts of results?  And may I just add, YAY for not losing any in my bust! :-D Also, see what I mean about not relying solely on the scale?  If that's the ONLY thing I went by, I could have been very easily discouraged thinking that I didn't make any progress when really I did! 

That's it for now.  I'll be taking some more pics and posting them to show progress, and my stats as I record them. 

So, as I start my P90X and calorie counting journey, I say to you, "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!"

Sarah