I haven’t had much to blog about in June, though I am happy to report that I hovered in the 138-140lb area for most of the month. I believe I also lost about 1-2 percent body fat within the last 30 to 40 days.

The grill has been my best friend for the past few months. I’ve been smoking and grilling my proteins and veggies on the weekends–cooking in bulk–and taking my food to lunch every workday. The only exceptions have been those days I go out with friends or to the movies–I love dine-in theaters, though I know that’s a habit I’ll have to break if I want to make progress.

I’ve tried to stay aware of hormonal changes that alter my mood and appetite. I’m not sure that being 44 means I’m more or less prone to hormone shifts (premenopausal?), but I was fairly certain staying on birth control (synthetic estrogen) kept things more manageable. Depending on the reading material, estrogen has varying (positive and negative) effects on muscle building.

I started out strong doing barbell weightlifting, but slacked off in the last 2 weeks. When I was doing them, I observed some noticeable gains in strength during my kickboxing classes. When I slacked off, it was hard to get back up to the weights that I had already achieved. So lesson here is don’t backslide so you don’t have to keep retracing your steps.

With summer in full swing, I’ve been avoiding the outdoors…not because of the heat, but because of those DARNED mosquitoes. I swear I am barely standing outside for 1 minute, and I’ll have been stung 5 times. I have the bites to prove it! With West Nile on the rise in our area, it’s not recommended to be outdoors during dusk and dawn—the coolest time to be out running or walking.

The approach that yielded the best results is due to cleaning up my diet. When I’m sticking to my calorie goals with my pseudo-Primal/Paleo diet, I make great strides on the scale. It also allows me to save money for the really girly things, like new clothes, facial and pampering, makeup, etc. (I soooooo want a new squat rack and Rogue Fitness bumpers and barbell.) Bad habits and food choices continue to undermine my goals, but not to the point where I undo all my hard-earned 10 lb weight loss.

In less than 30 days, I’ll be on my way to Hawaii. I hope I have enough time to reach a mini-goal of 135lbs or at least look halfway decent in a bathing suit.

Of course, we all want to see results overnight, and it’s been a challenge trying to realign my expectations. I have to be happy with progress.

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