Down 5 Pounds

The month of January was a success for me. I went into the month without a strict fitness plan to follow and somehow managed to lose 5 pounds. This is not a HUGE loss but one of many baby steps I'm taking to improve my overall health. How did I do it? Let me tell you...

Exercise
I kicked the month of with a 21 day Shut Up and Train cardio challenge with my friend Moniek of Fit While Brown. Check her out when you get some time. About halfway through the month, I hurt my ankle. I'm not sure how that happened but it put me out of commission for almost a week. Prior to, my fitness routine would include 20-30 minutes of some type of cardio. Some nights I would do kickboxing videos by Fitness Blender on YouTube, other nights I would play Dance Central 2 for 30 minutes with my son. My goal was to move by any means necessary. On really cold nights, I would opt for running in place or around the house for about a mile or two.

Food
I cut back on my carb intake and snacking. I have a weakness for strawberry sundaes from Sonic so I limited myself to one for the month of January. When a sweets craving would hit, I would make a smoothie as a supplement; it wasn't quite a sundae but helped...a little. I also watched my portions and cut out fried foods. It's amazing what can happen when you don't go back for seconds or pile your plate. I'm not a big soda drinker so I didn't have to worry much about that.

Sleep
I am a horrible sleeper. Combine that with a 5 year old who loves to climb in bed with us in the middle of the night, I rarely get uninterrupted sleep. I made it a point to get at least 9-10 hours of sleep each night, sometimes going to bed as early as 8:30 pm.

Stress Control
I ALWAYS have a lot of different things going on and can often cause unnecessary stress on myself. To kick off the new year, I promised myself I would do better about controlling my stres levels and just going with the flow more.

Water
Thank goodness for my husband. He texted me every day at Noon to check on my water intake. I have  to admit that I can go my entire workday without a drop of water. I made sure to drink some water every hour on the hour for the month of January.

Avoid the Scale
I am obssessed with the scale. I used to weigh myself every single day and would get upset with every single ounce I would lose and then come back. For the month of January, I threw the scale away. I refused to get on it and subject myself to any disappointment I may feel. Instead, I waited and when I got on it for the first time in 31 days, I saw the fruits of my labor.

That's it. Just a few simple steps resulted in a 5 pound weight loss. I personally can't see any physical changes but I was able to simple on a pair of jeans I could not previously fit with ease and room to spare. My goal for February is to incorproate more weight training (I'm listening, Moniek!) and press for another 5 pound weight loss.