On my way

Ever since I moved countries last year (and to be honest, even way before) I've had a hundred and one excuses to why my exercise routine has been on hold.
I got into a very good routine when I did the Michelle Bridges "12 Week Body Transformation" a few years back, together with a fab group of girls in Brunei. The challenge worked great for me, I lost 10+ kg doing that, and felt amazing afterward! I stayed pretty much at the same weight for a long time, but then it started creeping up again, more... and more... and more... and in the end I felt like this:

As time went on, I grow back into my bigger clothes, and out of them too... and into even bigger clothes and then one day, I finally had enough!
So, last month I signed up for a new challenge. I knew to be successful, I needed to commit to something. I decided to do the "Primal Transformation XVII" at a gym not far from where we live.

So, we have now just finished this program that has been running for five days a week for the last four weeks. It began and ended with an assessment which included squats, burpees, lay down/stand ups, bear crawls and a timed run. I was pleased to see how much I improved across the board on these exercises.

I have really liked the daily workouts, which have been very basic - we have been running, jumping, pulling, lifting, carrying - all movements that your body is meant to do. It's been good to be part of a group, going through this together, even if we were all on different fitness levels. Everybody has been really supportive towards each other, and we've managed even to have fun during our sessions!

There was also a nutritional part of the program, which started with the detox I've already written about. After the detox, we were supposed to eat "clean", think Paleo diet, but stricter. So I have been cutting out sugar, gluten, carbs and alcohol. I also did the intermittent fasting, most of the time, that is no eating before 12 noon. I think I'll continue with that, or do some version of 5:2 maybe.

The result?
Well, I didn't loose as much as I had expected. I was hoping for at least a kilo a week, but I've only lost a measly 1,8 kg. I must admit I feel rather disappointed. What did I do wrong? Haven't I worked hard enough? Sometimes I haven't been all Paleo, but I have still been under my calorie goals. So I'm not where I would have liked to be, but there you go. (My good friend Pia lost 10% of her body weight! That's an impressive result!)

I guess I have to look at it differently. Now the challenge is to keep at it! Now that the program is finished, it's all about getting the good habits to stick! I will continue to attend the morning WODs. That, together with my Zumba, and the healthier eating should get me to where I would like to be soon enough, I'm sure. I'm on my way.