April

Another progress/goals post! This one is less numbers-ey and more general, but I think I have some pretty cool stuff to share.

The scale has been a bit nudgey recently. I dropped down to 145.2 last week, which felt pretty nice. Since then, I've been bouncing around closer to 150. Gonna keep on keeping on and hope for some downward progress. This weekend didn't help - definitely ate above and beyond my normal cal intake with a bacon cheeseburger (with the bun) and some fro-yo (with caramel and reeses, nom). It's back to healthy eating and paleo this week.

I'll admit, it is frustrating to look back and see that almost a full two months ago, I was at 149. I haven't had a ton of significant weight loss since then. A stark difference from 5 years ago when I was losing 2 pounds a week like clockwork. Granted, that didn't stick so what good was it? I know it sounds silly, but I really wanted to be under 140 for Tough Mudder - for the sole purpose of having less weight to pull over walls/up ropes/over fire. Granted, it still could happen (I have 8 weeks until TM and losing a pound a week isn't out of the question), but I feel like the way things have been going, it will be difficult.

But since we all know the scale is only one small metric worth following in this whole process, there's been other things worth noting....

1. ...Like the fact that I can do pushups now. Real ones! And not just two of them before I collapse onto the ground in a huff. I can do 10 in a row without a problem. And I can get down more than halfway (not ALL the way but close), so they actually look like real, legit pushups. Pretty cool.

2. I can do bicep curls with a 15 pound weight. A month+ ago I couldn't even do one with 15lbs, and I was using 8lbs weights. But now I can do five or six with a 15er! So that's cool too. I've also got more definition in my arms and triceps. Beast mode!

3. I have a lot more endurance running-wise. I did a hill workout on Saturday followed by a 6-miler on Sunday, and felt pretty good. Back in early February, I was ecstatic for running a whole three miles at one time. So the fact that I can do almost 5 miles of hills plus a 6 miler the next day is definitely progress.

4. I'm making a little bit of progress with my pullups. I'm not entirely where I want to be but I'm working on it. I can get myself up just a few more inches than before.

Goals for April:

1. Clean up my weekends. I love the routine of the weekdays because it's easy to stick to the plan, but when Friday comes around I just want to let loose a bit and not worry so much about counting calories, eating strictly paleo, etc etc.

And I think letting loose a bit is a good thing, but I know if I can contain myself at least a little bit on Friday and Saturday, I'll see more progress on the scale. And I still haven't given up my goal of  <140 for TM. This coming weekend will be tough (but also insanely fun) with PAX, get togethers with friends, and not a ton of time for workouts. But, perseverance! And planning.

2. Keep on track with my new workout plan (gettin right for the summer, holla at Kanye!). I've got a good thing going and want to step up to the challenge and make it happen. So far so good this April. Planning out what I'm doing each day has helped tremendously. And of course it would. When you don't have a workout plan for the day it's far too easy to either skip out entirely or convince yourself to push less than you could have.

3. Clean the apartment. Like, major spring cleaning. Dusting, organizing, purging, sanitizing, cleaning. When I have a clean, uncluttered living space, I always feel better in general, which helps me out on a lot of fronts.

What goals do you all have for April? I think a collective goal should be to enjoy the warmer weather. Who is psyched for spring?!

NO MORE!!!