I have been with Extreme Fit for almost 2 years…give or take a few months here and there. My scale hasn’t really moved. I knew I had to change something because working out wasn’t my problem. I knew it was what I was eating. I was halfway keeping a food journal. I wasn’t honest. I tried to eliminate dairy and sweets. That only made things worse. You can’t live a normal life when you eliminate a food group. If you think so, try it. You’ll eventually get into a fight with your spouse because he (or she) put cheese on your sandwich. I tell you from experience.

I guess I thought because I was (or am) burning 600-700 calories, I needed to eat like a champ. I would come home and act like the Tasmanian Devil. It wasn’t necessary. I had just spent an hour sweating, crying and bleeding. (Yes bleeding. I recently lost a layer of skin on a rock on the palm of my hand while doing a burpee. No pain no gain, right?!) Yet I guess I totally forgot all the hard work I did because my actions showed it.

I had to have a heart to heart conversation with myself. Literally not figuratively. I was working out and my scale wasn’t moving. (Sidebar: Google “Why The Scale Lies” and read that article.) I had to ask myself the honest question of “Why”. I had to be honest with myself. I knew the answer but didn’t want to admit it. On top of that, I honestly felt (and feel) super hypocritical to be blogging for a company called “Extreme Fit” and be the size I am. Not that I would say I am a “Fatty Fatty 2 by 4, can’t get through the kitchen door” kind of gal. Save your comments. I just want to be able to hold my head up high when I talk about boot camp. You cannot, I repeat CANNOT take one or two classes and expect results. So I decided to make some small changes because I have a mentality of put up or shut up. Ok really, I can’t use the phrase I love because it’s not polite BUT it involves going to the bathroom or getting off of the golden throne.

Here’s what I did y’all. I changed my hours at work to come to an early morning class in addition to my night classes. I sure did! Do you know how hard it is to get home from boot camp at 7:30 at night and be back at & working out by 5:00 AM?! It stinks!!! I changed how I’m working out too. I try so hard to push myself harder than normal. It’s up to me to set that standard. Standing around while listening to instructions doesn’t help at all. I changed my eating completely. I’m trying my best to eat 3 balanced meals a day. I eat a small snack in between and only if I’m hungry. I used to think I needed to eat a snack at 3 because it was 3. Nope. I have to figure out when I’m hungry and when I’m not and ignore the clock. That hasn’t been easy. I changed the amount of water I drink. I don’t know how many ounces or cups or servings. I do know that I have doubled my water intake thus doubling my trips to the golden throne. See kids, it always comes full circle.

Guess what happened: Within four weeks I’ve lost a little over 7 pounds. I sure did. Again, save your comments. In life, you get what you give and I wasn’t giving. I would tell you I was but I wasn’t being honest. As my dad would say “The truth hurts” and boy does it!

I have a long road to travel. If I told you the pounds I have to lose, you wouldn’t believe me. If I told you it’s easy, you wouldn’t believe me. Well maybe you would. However it is hard and it would be easier to quit. So when you’re frustrated at yourself remember that eating a piece of cake isn’t going to kill you. Doing 1,000 jump ropes isn’t going to kill you. It might but we’ve all heard it before “Nobody died from boot camp. If they do, you can all go home”. Just so you know, that last part is a lie.