November Photos & Update

Yikes... is it November already?!? It didn't seem that long ago when it was still the start of October. Oh well...

Halloween was fun- I decided on the Spartan costume, and will forever be grateful for the Beachbody programs to even enable me to WEAR one of these outfits! I worked hard in October as I was shooting for the last day of the month- but then the second half of the month sort of fell apart when it came to my consistency. But thankfully the costume still fit. :-)

Then comes November and it's the dreaded fitness photos again. I don't see any change from last month... or the month before. Or the month before. It's frustrating, but yet I'm happy too- as I'm not GAINING anymore! I know how badly I still eat at times- but it's not staying ON me... though I keep hoping to see more improvements after all the hard workouts I've been doing. Just goes to show that's it's not all JUST workouts, and it's not JUST the eating... but it really has to be a combination of the two. Doing both well- and you'll lose weight and get fit. Do ONE of those well, and you maintain what you have. Do NONE- and for sure you will gain weight.
So thankfully my workouts are at least enough to balance out the bad eating that I still have at times. I gotta eat cleaner!!! And keep up with my workouts, of course- but it's the eating that keeps setting me back.

Just to compare this month (above) with October of 08 below...
As much as I keep nothing but maintain, maintain, maintain all year- if I compare with last year, I can see how I've improved and gotten thinner around the middle. My torso/core is tighter! Yay for that!! I see better shape in my upper arms too- but for some reason I just can't see it in the photos. I do feel much stronger than this time last year though! I'm lifting anywhere from 5-10 lbs more per dumbbell than I did before- and for some resistance moves, that is DOUBLE what I was lifting before. I owe it to ChaLEAN Extreme for that one. Woohoo!

I've felt my core get tighter since I started having a Shakeology each day- since mid-July. It's so yummy- and it's healthy!! I feel like it's helping. Helping me to cut some calories here and there- but also helping me to get more nutrition in than what I get with my regular eating. Especially when I don't always eat all that clean- despite knowing better! So Shakeology is helping me to cover some bases in an easy one-step way. Just another puzzle piece that is in place- and works well. :-)

This coming month, I will try to keep up a mix of mostly P90X and Insanity- and hope to see some more improvements by December. But with the holidays coming- even maintaining is a big success!!