Being A Woman

 I made it through the "week before period hell" ( or lady days as we jokingly call it around here...if you haven't seen the commercial that came from you must...hilarious. You can view it here ) and came through the other side. That week is what brings me down...so tired, craving anything salty or chocolatey, and all my motivation says "see you on the other side...if you make it through...". It becomes purely about mental toughness and it's a hard won fight friends. I stay off of the scale, which I try to anyway (it's my nemesis and really not a good indicator of progress) but during this week I know I am particularly susceptible to "all my hard work isn't doing anything so I may as well just give up and eat what I want...yolo baby!". I of course always regret it once I've made it through but at the time I just don't care.

I really pushed myself hard to exercise even though it was really challenging and everything ached, and I only mildly indulged my cravings. It was worth it, as I knew it would be. I took this picture to keep myself on track. That's progress...I'm actually getting some nice definition in my arms.

I got on the scale today too and after much hard work and multiple workouts a day I am down 12lbs since March 29th. That's decent for five weeks, more than two pounds a week and I am doing it with a reasonable diet which has not been my M.O. in the past. I am not cutting anything out. I get sad on no carbs and while I've mostly cut sugar I really enjoy my morning tea with sugar in it. I don't want to feel like I'm depriving myself as for me that's just not sustainable. I'm not trying to fit into a dress for an upcoming wedding in two weeks (or something else to that effect), what I want is steady long term progress. This is about becoming fit and healthy.

I am excited for the Colour Run coming up in Ladysmith next weekend. I think it will be so much fun and my daughter Ella can't wait. I'm thrilled to be able to run this with her, not only is it excellent mom and daughter time but I also feel like I'm setting a great example for her on the importance of being active and having fun while doing it. Fitness isn't a chore, it's a positive thing, both mentally and physically..a must!

I saw my sister in law last weekend and we had a nice chat about running (she runs much faster and farther than I do) and the importance of cadence. I tend to run with fairly long athletic strides, but she suggested faster and shorter strides to increase speed. I tried this at the track a couple of days ago, repeating "light and quick, light and quick" (thank you for that Mandy!) in my head while I went and my pace was quite a bit faster. My average is usually about 7.10-7.25 min/k and this run was 6.41 min/k as you can see here from my Map My Run app.

I'm continuing to do the Kayla Itsines workouts (and they continue to be really hard..lol) as well as some yoga to keep everything stretched out and limber. It's that effort everyday that brings change.

Hope you're having a great week!