Beast up! - week 1 down!!

I can honestly say that I wouldn't have done what I needed to do last week without my accountability partner. I'm so glad I agreed to this program with him.... Or at least, I was until Wednesday when legs day showed up on my calendar. Ugh. For those who follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you know my knee was bothering me leading up to the Chicago  marathon. After a full week of recovery, I was sure I was ready to go... (You ready for this?) I was wrong. 

But as with anything else, the most you can ask from yourself is to push and truly and honestly reveal your best. As you can see from the accountability photo below, I didn't finish legs day. Yes, that was very very frustrating for me. So what? I'll do more of the workout tomorrow... Then the week after.... Then the week after that. Might it take me a little while to really see results? Yeah, maybe. But did I give it everything I had? Oh yeah. Did I ensure that I had proper form and was doing the moves in a safe way with balance? Absolutely. Done. Put it behind me. Do better next time. 

How well do you listen to your body? Do you stop, pause, or modify when you need to? Are you truly honest with yourself when it comes to translating your body's message into action? 

Another modification I've had to make this week is my nutrition. I stuck to a meal plan last week that felt alright the first few days but after a few days, I was "off". I contributed it to the new workout program, stress at work, etc. Luckily for me, my accountability partner is a little bit of a myfitnesspal stalker and realized that - while I was following the plan - I wasn't eating very much! My net calorie goal at the end of every day (calories eaten - calories burned) was just 1500. That's not a lot!! Now, logically, I knew that but I was so blinded by my goal to lose weight that, like so many, I pushed through and committed to recalculating my goal at the end of the week. Recalculate we did and my new goal is 2200. No wonder I didn't feel so good!!

I share this because not eating enough is - in my experience - the most common mistake made when trying to lose weight.  Calories are burned by your metabolism all day long and your metabolism works a lot like a fire. It can be hard to get going and a pile of logs generally won't burn themselves. Working out is one of the best ways to light that fire... Think of your sweat session as a way to light the match. You can help the fire burn hotter faster with good kindling (things like my 5 day challenge starting on Monday ... Anyone? Anyone?) but to really sustain this fat burning, disease fighting, sickness preventing, energy providing, health building, confidence boosting fire, you need to continue fueling that fire with good logs (healthy, clean food for those still following the analogy). Moral of the story? Work hard and eat smarter!! 

What change could you make this week to improve the logs you're putting on your fire?