30×30: Recap #2

Hello, friends, and happy Friday! It’s the last Friday of the month, which means it’s time to check in on my 30×30 goal.

Here’s the truth: until I weighed myself this morning, I had no idea whether or not I even came close to my goal of losing 6 lbs this month. I haven’t actually stepped on a scale since my last weigh-in, a decision I made consciously. I find that weighing myself constantly can be detrimental to my mental health and I decided I would just keep my scale tucked away in my closet for the month. Instead, I would make healthy choices and not base how I felt about myself and the movement I was making toward my goal on whether or not I had lost the appropriate pounds.

This brings me to this conundrum I’m having with my 30×30 goal. I knew when I made this goal that I was setting myself to base how I felt about turning 30 on my weight. If November 28 rolls around and I’m only 10 lbs lighter than I was six months ago, does that mean everything was a waste? Does that mean I didn’t try hard enough, didn’t believe in myself enough?

I don’t want to turn 30 with disappointment. I want to turn 30 with excitement.

But I also really like doing these check-ins. They keep me honest. They keep me pressing forward even when I don’t want to. So I’m thinking of changing this from a “30×30” check-in to a “Healthy Living Update” sort of post. A place for me to come and celebrate my success and my failures, to set goals, and to provide a monthly weigh-in.

It’s something I’m pondering, that’s all. I guess you’ll have to wait until next month (err… September) to find out what I decide! Dun. Dun. Duuuuun.

Anyway, let’s dive into what healthy living looked like for me in July:

I stopped logging my calories. Yep. It just happened one day when I realized I didn’t want to spend all day every day meticulously measuring out and logging my calories. Now, to be clear, I’m still measuring what I eat when necessary, so I haven’t gone off the rails or anything. And if I feel like I’ve had a particularly calorie-heavy or low-calorie day, I’ll jump onto MyFitnessPal to log what I ate and see if I’m in the right range. But I know my body very well at this point and I know what I need to eat. (It’s just a matter of doing it and not turning down my healthy dinner plans for Chick-Fil-A.) It feels more intuitive to do it this way. I’m just listening to my body and trying to choose healthy options when I’m hungry.

I’m working out at least six days a week and doing spin three times a week. Yes, yes, yes! This is by far the easiest part of healthy living for me. I love my gym so much and I’m working out six days a week. I’m doing spin three days a week (and honestly, I’m thinking about upping it to four days! I am so obsessed, you guys.) I’m also trying to do my strength training class at least once a week (twice if my schedule allows) as well as one long walk a week. And when I’m not in a class, I’m hitting the elliptical and step machine for interval workouts. I’m also regularly hitting my step goal (6,000 steps), so that’s awesome, too!

I cut out my mid-day chocolate treat! This was one of the hardest things to cut out because it’s just become a habit to have something sweet after lunch. Usually, I buy a bag of bite-size chocolates and eat two or three after lunch. And having two or three pieces of chocolate on a daily basis isn’t exactly what led to my being overweight, but it’s the fact that I had this bag to pick from throughout the day until I was eating the equivalent of a candy bar every day. Or I was having a few chocolates during the day and then dessert at night, and so I was taking in way too many calories, fat, and sugar from these treats, leading to my weight problems. Sweets are truly what kills me when it comes to eating healthy. I have a raging sweet tooth that I cannot ever seem to get under control. I know it is possible to get a sweet tooth under control and I’m working hard to make it happen. Step A was removing this mid-day chocolate treat.

So, it wasn’t a bad month at all when it comes to overall healthy living. I could have done better, yes, but I tried my best and that’s all that matters at the end of the day. So, what were my results from this month? I lost 2 lbs, bringing my total weight loss to 6 lbs. 

It was disappointing to get on the scale this morning and see that number, but it doesn’t tell the whole picture of my journey this month. It doesn’t tell the story of how my clothes are fitting better and my body feels stronger. Perhaps I’m building muscle or perhaps this just wasn’t the month for me. But that’s okay. I still lost weight and I still worked hard every day to be a healthier, fitter person.

I set some goals at the end of June, so let’s review and see how I did!

• Move my cheat day to Sunday, so that I don’t spend my entire weekends in “cheat” mode

Unsuccessful. Weekends are just hard, that’s all there is to it. I try to do a double workout on Saturdays (which includes an hour-long spin class) to counteract my eating, ha. But I just like giving myself a break on the weekends.

• Work out daily: three spin classes, one strength class, two cardio workouts, and one long walk

I didn’t work out daily, but I did work out six days a week. I’ll consider it a success!

• Cut down on the amount of sweets I’m eating, perhaps by cutting out my after-lunch treat (wah)

Success! I cut out that mid-day sweet and feel all the better for it.

In August, I’m not going to set a weight loss goal. I’m going to track my weight and report it here, but I’m going to try not to judge my month by how much weight I lost. (“Try.” That’s not always easy.) Instead, I’ll judge it by the goals I set and if I worked hard towards living a healthier lifestyle.

• Eat no more than 200 calories from sweets, Monday-Friday
• Get 10,000 steps on my Fitbit once a week
• No fast food and three no-soda days per week