Snap back to reality....

....oh, there goes gravity..  Oops sorry, was channeling Eminem for a second there. But seriously.  Reality.  Ugh.

I've been back from BLR Chicago for about 5 weeks now and it's been really tough.  I did really well my first few days home and then it was like all my cravings kicked in at once and I couldn't eat clean for more than a day at a time!  Talk about frustrating.  The tough workout schedule pretty much stuck with me though and I've been really proud of how hard I've been working.

Right before I left for Chicago, I started getting some personal training from Dee (my zumba instructor) and ended up deciding to stick with that after I got home.  She's amazing.  She's really helped me to strengthen my core and to tone up my body quite a lot over the past month.  On Mondays we lift together at the gym, rotating back/biceps with chest/triceps...and then (usually) on Fridays I go to her house and she spends an hour kicking my butt with all the pilates equipment she has.  I had no idea how hard pilates was.  But the great thing is being able to see the difference in how I do things now vs. the first time I went there.  It's such a great non-scale way of measuring things and I really needed that.

I had hit my 100lbs lost mark when my mom was visiting this summer.  I spent the next few months after that bouncing back and forth between 100 and 104 or so.  Talk about frustrating.  I ran a season of Jilly's Losers in that time and when we did our final weigh out, I'd lost like half a pound.  The only thing that kept me from wanting to just give up was knowing that I had also been gaining muscle.  I can feel it and it's GREAT!

However great the muscle buildup might be though I knew I had to get the scale moving again.  My last plateau lasted almost a year and I was NOT gonna have a repeat of that. So I started up a mini-season of Jilly's Losers. 4 weeks, hardcore, no excuses, winner takes all.  We're talking a decent chunk of change people.  Now...in the 2+ years that I've been running this group, I have never won a single season.  Sure, I've lost the most weight over time, but I've never actually WON.  I've come close...but I want to win!!  And for the first time I really feel the drive to do so.  I'm more determined than I think I've ever been.

So I sat my husband and kids down and told them I needed their help.  They have permission to stop me if they see me reaching for something unhealthy haha.  I also explained to them that we won't be eating out for a month but then we can go celebrate if we all do a good job.  The great thing about this too is that they've been eating more healthy with me!  Having their support has made this SOOO much easier.  This first week of the mini-season I really buckled down.  My workouts were the same as usual, but my eating was near perfect.  And today it paid off on the scale.  4.8 lbs.  I'm down to 223.4 which is the lowest I've been since starting this journey.  107lbs lost now!  I am SO excited to see my hard work paying off again.  It helps me to want to stick with it.  I REALLY want to get out of the 220's.

This won't be an easy season though.  I've got some serious competition!  I have to say it's great to see the motivation coming back in my group.  It was a tough summer for a lot of people and seeing them get fired up again makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

I really miss being in Chicago and having my meals planned/made for me, but it's nice to see that I do in fact have the ability to control myself at home when I really put my mind to it.  Now to just keep it up.  Hmm...I wonder if I can break 200 by New Years?