So apparently I haven’t done an update post since the mid-way point of this round of IM:30, and now I’m about to do my end results post. Whoops! I don’t know where that month went. I guess I lost it in a blur of workouts and protein shakes. Anyway, here are my stats and pics:
Weight: Day 1-132; Day 60-126.2
Stomach: Day 1-33.5″; Day 60-33″
Waist: Day 1-29″; Day 60-27.5″
Hips: Day 1-38″; Day 60-36.5″
Chest (over boobs, no bra): Day 1-35.5″; Day 60-33.5″
Chest (under boobs): Day 1-29.75″; Day 60-29″
Triceps (flexed arm straight): Day 1-11″; Day 60-11″
Calves: Day 1-14.5″; Day 60-14.25″
So, that’s a total of 5.8 lbs and 6.5″ lost.
And just as I said back in July when I posted my 30 day results, I don’t really *SEE* a big difference between these two pictures. I look pretty much the same, at least to me. BUT, let me tell you about the difference in how I FEEL. I don’t know what it is, but something really *clicked* during this round of IM:30 for me. Now, during the first round of IM:30, we followed the Nutrition Guide pretty closely. While we allowed ourselves a few cheat meals, for the most part, we followed the book for the whole 60 days. And honestly, I was pretty miserable. I know I wrote about it here, but I was hungry most of the time, because the 1200-1500 calories per day that were allowed under the guide (and even though the IM:30 guide doesn’t spell out the number of calories, it’s the exact same plan as 21 Day fix or the other BB programs which do) just weren’t enough when we were doing such hard workouts. Plus, I was just generally pissed off and in a bad mood. A lot of that was probably due to the general detox that my body was going through since I started this plan right after being totally decadent throughout most of December.
But I also just felt like I was in prison. I know I said that before, but the lack of flexibility and choices just REALLY brought me down and I was not happy about it. And yes, I know that there are technically an infinite number of choices to eat while on the IM:30 food plan, but having to follow the 4 protein, 3 veggie, 2 fruit, etc. just really sucked for me. I know that lots of people really love this plan because of how easy it is, but the rigidity of it just wasn’t for me. Plus, I knew that there was no chance in hell that I was continue to eat high protein/low carb forever, so I knew it wasn’t something that could work for me long-term. Which is why this time around we decided to sort of wing it with our food. We set our rules in place that I wrote about here (eating out only once a week, one lunch out, try to keep protein up, etc.) but for our meals during the week, we didn’t really follow any specific sort of “plan”. Since my husband is vegetarian, I would say that we probably tended to eat more vegetarian meals, but not always (well, he always ate vegetarian, but sometimes he’d just grill up a chicken breast for me to add or something like that). He does focus on meals that use whole food ingredients, and he always buys organic when it’s an option. So I guess we were doing a variation on traditional clean eating because we were avoiding processed foods and just really eating stuff that sounded good to us. We definitely ate more carbs than would have been allowed on the IM:30 plan, but with my husband marathon training, he HAD to keep his carb intake up, and you know I’m not going to pass up on carbs…they just help me feel better while doing these workouts! We also allowed ourselves more “treats”–we made a lot of homemade popsicles, we also bought a bunch of these Luna brand popsicles that are SO good. The cookies and cream and the salted caramel are awesome. And when we went out to eat, we ate whatever the hell we wanted. Appetizers, entrees, desserts, drinks. Whatever. Now, granted, we weren’t going out to eat mozzarella sticks at Applebees and TGIFridays. We were always picking local restaurants that focus on local, fresh ingredients, so even the choices that felt over the top were still “better” than choices we might have made elsewhere. What I’m trying to say is that I felt really good about what we ate for the past two months. I feel like we made smart decisions but didn’t deprive ourselves. I didn’t feel like I was starving. I wasn’t angry about not getting to eat good food. I wasn’t bored with my food. So I think we might have found something that actually works pretty well for us.
In addition to the food revelation, I also had some body revelations during these two months. I decided that I was actually pretty damn happy with how I looked. Could I be thinner? Of course. Could I have more muscle definition? Of course. But I’m really feeling good about where I am at right now. My clothes fit me better than they have in forever…in fact, today I am wearing a suit that I bought when I was in law school in early 2005. And it fits great! I’m not squeezed into it like a sausage casing! And you know what? I’m actually about 10-15 pounds heavier than I was when I bought this suit, but that’s just proof that weight doesn’t mean a damn thing! Because I was not fit at all back then. I probably would have actually died if I had tried to do an IM:30 workout then. Seriously. I was getting ready to head out somewhere this weekend, and I had on a jersey maxi dress–you know, the ones that cling to every single imperfection. But I felt GOOD. And I told my husband, “You know, I don’t want people to look at me and think ‘oh, she’s too skinny, she needs to eat a cheeseburger,’ I want people to look at me and think, ‘I bet she works out…'” I don’t really know what caused that shift in my thinking, but I like it. I want to keep it up and keep kicking ass, but I’m not entirely sure what’s next for me in terms of fitness goals. But, I know that I will keep y’all posted!
Pura Vida Girls 