Feeling Fantastic!

Beth:

It’s been awhile since my last blog – sorry for the delay! Because we live in Syracuse, NY and only have a short window of nice weather, I’ve been taking full advantage of the season!

As of last Friday (July 6) I am down 8 pounds! I can’t tell you how good it feels to step on the scale and see the numbers move down! But weight isn’t the only factor we are considering as a part of this BetterU challenge. It’s overall health and well-being. I can say that after three weeks – I feel fantastic! I have gotten to the point where I can’t wait to go to the gym! My friends and family who are reading this have probably fallen off their chairs! Beth?? Working out?? Seriously? Yes – seriously!

My new love is the elliptical machine. Gold’s Gym has these really cool machines with a TV attached so I can plug in my headphones and watch anything I want! Ellen, Keeping up with the Kardashians, MTV, etc. It’s a great distraction! While I work out, I can see the number of calories I am burning and it really pushes me to continue.

The reason I haven’t blogged recently is because I was on vacation last weekend in Lake Placid. I was a little bit nervous about going away and sticking with my diet and workout routine. I’m not going to lie – it wasn’t easy! The nice thing about our vacation was that it was very active. Lot’s of walking and sightseeing. We also hiked one day at Ausable Chasm which burned a lot of calories. The cool thing is that I didn’t officially ‘work out’ or ‘go to the gym’ but my personal trainer always says that you just need to ‘keep moving’. I was very active while we were away! Between hiking, walking, etc we were always moving. And, it was FUN! I was with my family and we were exploring and seeing new things. Eating was tricky. Looking back, I’m pretty impressed with how I did! For the most part, I made great choices. I did splurge and have Ben & Jerry’s ice cream one day but it was early afternoon and I knew we had a long day of walking ahead of us. The key for me is to never let myself get to the point where I am STARVING. Because then, you eat anything you see (at least I do!) Little snacks throughout the day are KEY. And I drink a lot of water.
In week four, I can say wholeheartedly that I feel really good. I don’t crave sweets and ‘white’ carbs as much as I did before. I look at food as ‘fuel’ and make good choices whenever I can. Tracking my food choices, water and exercise in my mobile app is also a great tool to stay on track.