Six days and 5 nights in paradise might seem a short time, but it’s enough time to undo a lot of hard work.

On July 20, I weighed in at my doctor’s office at the lowest I’ve ever been: 135! And they were using the same scale I used at the gym, a professional grade Health-O-Meter. The nurse remarked that the weight loss was a great achievement. Of course, it was no small feat, given that I was required to fast for at least 12 hours for a blood sugar test.

In retrospect, 12 hour fasts are common in my schedule. With the exception of coffee in the mornings, I don’t generally eat my lunch until 1-2pm. My last meal in the evening usually occurs around 8pm at the very latest.

Fast forward to the Hawaii vacation, access to all my favorite Asian foods and –wham– an easy 8-10lbs regained (back to 145lbs on the night I came home). But some of those pounds dropped easily within the next few days, putting me back on the 140 line.

Some of the vacation photos I took are a really eye-opener though. 30% body fat on a 5’3″ frame just isn’t very flattering…and I actually purchased a new bikini set during the trip. There were soooooo many “beautiful” people on the island, I just didn’t feel comfortable in my own skin. Again. Ugh is for ughhhhleeee!

Ok, so enough self-reproach. I’m launching a 4 week challenge to myself (inspired by NerdFitness’ current 6-week challenge) with some very specific goals to achieve:

1) Eat paleo/primal for a 4-week stretch (the longest I’ve done is 2 weeks straight) . On those days that willpower weakens, achieve at least 70% primal eating.

2) Eat at goal 1300 cals (net) a day for 6 days a week (I can do 5 days straight, but break on the 6th–so time to push the envelope). Realistically, I should feed my body more during strength training days–but with the idea of keeping the goal in sight.

3) Push-ups: 100 pushups a day for 4 weeks. Everyday. For the last 19 months, I have not gained the upper body strength that I desired. Time to shut up and do the work.

4) Strength training: lift weights on my dinky/ghetto barbell set, even if I never add another plate, for 4 days out of the week. I might shop for a kettlebell on this one.

I had planned on starting this yesterday on 8/12. I was off to a great start until today–ice cream ruined me (and I was actually craving bread pudding) and no gym class today.

The game starts tomorrow. Let’s see how we play. 

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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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