Sleeping situps and stomach stroking: My week of weird behaviors

This past week has been truly crazy. It could have been a complete disaster for me weight-wise. But it wasn't. I lost a pound this week. The old me would have been like, "A pound? That's all?!? Failure." And I'm not going to pretend like the new me isn't a little disappointed. But the bigger part of me knows that I'm 150 lbs smaller than I was this time last year. Obviously I'm not going to drop 6 or 7 lbs per week like I did in the beginning. It still is a bit galling to know that I could drop that kind of weight at the start while barely working out at all, and now I can only drop a pound while killing myself in the gym 2 hours a day, 6 days a week. Oh well! It's the price of being smaller.

So like I was saying, this week was crazy. I was planning my mom's retirement party for Saturday and there were like a million things I had to get done. I got a combined total of 4 hours of sleep over 3 nights. I forced myself to the gym those days because I knew the last thing I needed was to get off my routine again. I actually closed my eyes for a little nap while simultaneously doing sit-ups. I was that tired. It probably looked pretty special. I can't say they were the best work-outs ever, but at least they happened. My food intake was pretty sporadic. I didn't eat as often as I should have, and when I did eat, they were family meals that weren't great calorie-wise. But I controlled myself. I didn't go crazy eating, and I didn't force myself to sit in the corner eating a carrot while everyone else got to eat cake. I mean, that's been my whole goal here, to create a program where I can actually live my life and not be constantly resentful of the food I can't have. So after all that, I'm pretty happy with my weight loss this week, plus it brings my total to over 150 lbs lost in almost a year. That's pretty crazy to think about.

I thought I would share a weird and funny new habit of mine. Like I've said, my weight loss has slowed down as I've gotten smaller. But I've really been focusing on strength training and working on my ab muscles in particular every day, so the inches are really flying off.  I can actually feel stomach muscles. And in my upper abs, I can actually see the muscles! I can also feel my ribcage even sitting, whereas before I couldn't even feel it while stretched out on my back. Those ribs were buried under mounds of fat like a secret treasure is buried under the sand. You're so welcome for that visual. Now don't get me wrong, there's still some muffin top issues, but much less than before. Before it was more like one of those mega muffins from the grocery store. So lately without even realizing it, I keep putting my hand on my stomach. It's like I'm reassuring myself the muscles are still there. It probably looks weird, but it is a totally unconscious thing. Hopefully no one thinks I'm pregnant since the only people I know who constantly touch their stomachs have a bun in the oven. I'm also happy because the other day I suddenly realized I was sitting with my legs crossed. I had just been doing that lately without even thinking about it. I know to a lot of people that wouldn't be anything to get excited about, but to a girl who could barely even cross her ankles before, it is pretty awesome.

Next week, next Wednesday to be exact, will be one year since I started this crazy adventure. In one short year, I have changed my entire life. I plan on posting all of my monthly progress pictures on here next week, as well as the pictures I'm having taken later this week. I've only posted my beginning and 30 week pictures on here before, so most of these are never before seen shots! Haha, I thought I would be dramatic there like they do on reality shows or something. But seriously, it's pretty cool to see all the pictures lined up month by month. Plus, you can check out my sure-to-be-cheesy beach photo shoot from later this week. Hey, I've earned a cheesy photo shoot!