WEEK 12 is in the books! That means I have been at this whole “weight loss thing” for 3 months! Now is around the time I wish I had taken pictures because when I look in the mirror I am not SEEING what the scale is telling me. The crazy part is I know WHY I feel this way and I coach our clients all the time about this phase of the weight loss journey.  Yet I am standing here in the mirror this morning looking at myself like “shouldn’t I look better than this for losing 23LBS?!" Now don't rush to tell me I am being hard on myself because I KNOW I AM, but that is just who I am. I am not depressed because of this, I am frankly annoyed and it makes me want to work even harder. What this week also boils down to is I am not taking my own advice. BUT... I would have to say that it is a lot harder to listen to my own advice now that I am standing in the shoes of someone trying to lose weight vs. coaching and motivating our clients here at 95. I have learned very quickly on this journey that it is WAY harder to take the advice, then it is to give the advice. It’s not that I'm ungrateful for the progress I have made, it’s just “the cream rises to the surface”. Now what do I mean by this? Let me break it down.

So when you first embark on your weight loss journey it's because you have become "fed up" with the way you look and feel as a whole. You just have an overall sense of “ugh…yuck, I Don’t like what I see”. There really is no DISTINCT part of your body you don’t like, the whole thing has “gotta go” you feel me? ????

As you start to lose weight you will start to notice “my waist is smaller, my jeans fit better, my face is slimming down” …then you look at your lower abdomen in my case like “WTF is that thing??????Has it gotten bigger? Is that even possible?” NO it has not gotten bigger, it’s the “cream rising to the surface” Since the rest of your body is coming along so well you can’t help but focus on this one particular area and let me tell you it can get in your head.???? Oh hi Negative Nancy, so nice of you to join us again in week 12!

Let’s face it, it's actually FACTS that women retain the most body fat naturally in our hips, lower abdomen and butt. Why are we cursed with is?? Oh, well for child bearing reasons of course! What a surprise. Long story short as a woman our bodies naturally want to hold onto the fat in these areas the longest, which is why it is THE LAST area you will see results from. Which is why I am left staring at my lower abdomen today like…could you please start your disappearing act?! I literally feel like my last 7-10 lbs is just chilling right there. LONG story short, I should have taken solid “before” pics. The pictures would have been able to show me that I have lost a significant amount of weight in my stomach region, even if I don’t FEEL that way. My waist went from 34 inches at my first checkin to 29 inches today! YESSSSSSS!!!!

Let’s talk about this past week when it comes to food. What a cluster f*ck. I was so busy I was forced to “eat out” SEVERAL times (which is why I fell a bit behind). I weighted in the morning at 164.4…(really with the .4??) Whatever, I am going to round it down because it wasn’t .5 ???? So this past week was another 2 lbs which I feel could have EASILY been 3 if I hadn’t had to eat at restaurants so much. Now I say “had to” because I was traveling for work, had working lunches and a few meetings. With that taken into consideration I refuse to eat a cold 95 meal on the go and I also am not going to eat one of our meals at a restaurant … (I am not afraid to admit that I am not that “hardcore”).

Lessons learned this week??? TAKE BEFORE PICS NO MATTER WHAT. They will help you in your moments of doubt, like I was having this morning. AND this weight loss journey is a MENTAL struggle more than it is a struggle to stay on track with food. Frankly, sticking to the food program is EASY compared to washing out the negative thoughts that float around in your head! Stay strong, keep focused and know that you are NOT in this thing alone.

Need support? I can help!

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Email: Lindsey@95Nutrition.com