Thursday, June 10, 2010

Breakthrough

This week has been a week of breakthroughs.

After working my butt off learning baby girl's schedule last week, we are finally getting to enjoy it. She is happy, talking, eating, sleeping, and sleeping. Did I mention sleeping? Once we got her to sleep most of the night last week, she decided to revert back one night and wake at 2 am. I decided I had had enough. For the past 14 weeks I have tried not to let her cry at all for fear of waking my son (and husband). I finally decided to do the dreaded "cry it out". I never had to do this with my son because he was able to establish great sleeping habits by 6 weeks.

With much anticipation, I warned my family it was going to be a long night. I told everyone to be ready for crying and I promised it would be worth it. So....3:30 am rolls around. I hear her stirring. I go in, give the pacifier and walk out vowing to not go back in. Like always, pacifier falls out and she starts to fuss....then cry...here we go...2 minutes later she was asleep. Blake never woke up, neither did my husband. I was back asleep until 6:30 am.

Why did I not do this weeks ago? Sigh...

So after really having full night's sleep. I'm talking 9-6:30 am, I have had a fitness breakthrough.

The past 14 weeks:

My workouts were driven by the need for Red Bull. Meaning, I would drink one then do 20 minutes of exercise to justify drinking it.

My workouts were driven by the need for sanity. Meaning, I would look at those moments away from my children alone as "my time". Listening to music, clearing my head.

My workouts were driven by the need to remember that my body used to be able to do these things. I missed running and lifting so much. After 9 months you forget your body used to be capable of such things.

Last week I began really feeling my workouts. I noticed I was putting in effort, keeping my abs tight during lifting, not taking as many breaks on the tm, pushing myself a little harder. Last week was a breakthrough of sorts. I was now working out to lose weight. Not just to move for the sake of moving. I was working to look better. Not just to be proud of being there in the first place.

It feels great.

To pay attention to your body, what it's capable of and appreciate that you can work hard again.

I have now been taking my class for about 3 weeks. I wish I had taken measurements prior to starting. Who had the time though? Although my weight is the same, I feel really strong and tight. Don't get me wrong, I will not make the excuse that 'muscle weighs more than fat'. (by the way really? A pound of muscle weighs more than a pound of fat?). The scale is still a good indication of weight loss and I need to pay attention to that first. But since we have had this breakthrough week I now have 2 sleeping kids at the same time and can take measurements. The other good indicator of weight loss.

Measurements 6/10/10:
Biceps: 11.5 in
Abs at belly button: 34 in
Hips: 38 in
Butt: 39.5
Thigh: 23 in
Calf: 14 in

Hard to swallow those numbers. Still feeling like I look better than those numbers would indicate. That's what a breakthrough week is all about. It's about re-evaluating, refining focus, and remembering the goal.

Now that we have had a breakthrough week, the goal is to step up the intensity, fine tune the diet and appreciate how strong I have been feeling.

What's your goal?

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