My 21DSD Experience: Week 3 (The FINAL Week!)

The final week is here! Yay! I'm so proud of myself for following through with my commitment to the 21DSD and it turns out this was a very educational experience for me -- and hubs, too! Let's take a look!

Day 15 - Monday, February 3rd

Weight: + .8 lbs.

Physical: Ugh. Mondays, am I right? The day started out slowly but I eventually got moving and was able to knock out a fair share of housework today. I just KNOW I would be so much more successful and feel even better if I could add workouts to my clean eating!

Mental: Bummed about another gain, but I'm looking at the big picture, not that dumb number on the scale. I like that I'm learning how I have to be true to myself. Accountable to myself. No one will necessarily know if I sneak that Snickers bar in the car while running errands, but that's cheating and I want no part of it. I have to answer to myself here, and I'm learning I actually CAN be strong-willed and not allow myself to get away with such shenanigans. Who knew I could be so tough? :)

Day 16 - Tuesday, February 4th

Weight: - .3 lbs.

Physical:  So today's the dreaded day that I straight fell off the wagon head-first. Somehow I found myself eating a Pop-Tart for breakfast and 2 slices of frozen pizza for dinner. It was a bad, bad day.

Mental:  I'm not sure what caused my major flop today. Maybe the 2+ weeks of a restricted diet finally caught up to me and I wanted to eat "normal" for a day? I dunno. Regardless, it was just a slip and not me falling back into the old ways. I vow to make it to 21 days! And I'm proud of myself for learning that just because I slip up doesn't mean I have to completely give up and settle for an unhealthy lifestyle. One bad choice is just that -- one bad choice. It doesn't have to impact the rest of the choices I make. It's okay to start fresh and stay committed.

Day 17 - Wednesday, February 5th

Weight: + .1 lbs.

Physical: Tired today, which isn't super surprising considering my food choices yesterday. Perhaps the guilt overcame me because... hold onto your hats, folks! I FINALLY hit the gym!!! It's literally in a room right next to the living room where I spend most of my day -- haha! And I haven't been able to make it back upstairs since! I decided the quit the excuses and find something -- anything! -- that could be used as my exercise regimen. And I did! I found this beginner body weight workout from NerdFitness (an EXCELLENT website, I must say!) and it seriously rocked my world! I could barely get myself through the circuit once, let alone THREE TIMES, but I really pushed myself and made it happen. It's a super simple workout that anyone can do:

20 body weight squats

10 push ups

20 walking lunges

10 dumbbell rows (using a gallon milk jug)

15 second plank

30 Jumping Jacks

Repeat entire set 3x with a brief rest/water break in between each set.

Mental: So proud of myself for the exercising! Not so impressed with myself for eating almost an entire jar of dill pickles over the course of the day, but I guess it could've been something worse, right?

Day 18 - Thursday, February 6th

Weight: + 1.1 lbs.

Physical: So so so so so so so so so very sore from yesterday's beginner workout!!! It's crazy how much my legs hurt! It's obvious I put muscles to work that haven't seen the tiniest bit of exercise in YEARS. Wow. It hurts so good! I didn't want to let the excuse of physical pain prevent me from continuing with my exercise journey, so I found an interval training routine from NerdFitness to keep me moving. I definitely didn't give it 100% but at this early stage of the game, I'm counting every attempt at movement as a WIN.

Mental: A gain of 1.1 lbs.!? Not cool and slightly depressing following my first workout in literally years. But ultimately I told myself it was a gain of MUSCLE WEIGHT (lol.) and that helped me press on. Haha!

Day 19 - Friday, February 7th

Weight: + 2 lbs.

Physical: Well, I'm still feeling quite SORE from my Wednesday body weight workout, but I forced myself to push through and even hit the workout again today as scheduled! What a surprise! It was TOUGH, though. I couldn't bring myself to get through the 3rd set of 20 lunges and subbed it out with step ups onto my weight bench instead.

Mental: Another huge gain!? What the heck? Ugh. I wasn't happy to see that, but I know deep down that eating right and exercising are THE ONLY keys to getting and staying fit, so I'm refusing to let myself get discouraged and am doing my best to pump myself up! I truly am proud of myself for sticking to an exercise routine, even though it's only been 3 days! LOL!

Day 20 - Saturday, February 8th

Weight: - .6 lbs.

Physical: I stuck with the program and did the interval training today, including some additional upper arm work. It was a great workout and I'm so glad I did it! Of course, I'm also looking forward to tomorrow (Sunday) because it's my day off from workouts.

Mental: Finally! A tiny weight loss! That made me feel so much better. Nothing huge, but at least going in the right direction. My food choices have stayed on par with the 21DSD and I'm very happy that I've been so successful. And I must give MAJOR PROPS to hubs today. He popped open a soda that had been our fridge for weeks, which totally shocked me, only to see him stand at the sink and pour it down the drain!!! I was so terribly proud of him! We still have a little stash of Coke 12-packs in the garage that we'll be donating to our Sunday School class at church next week. :)

Day 21 - Sunday, February 9th

Weight: - 2.7 lbs.

Physical: Feeling great! It's the LAST DAY of my 21DSD and I've learned so much! I've lost a total of 7.4 lbs. over 21 days, which I consider to be a HUGE accomplishment. I was hoping for a bit more weight loss but since I didn't begin with the exercise effort in on Day 1, I'm not terribly surprised. I feel like I have more energy, though, and it seems I'm able to accomplish much more throughout the day than I had before. I'm very encouraged and hopeful that the weight will start to melt off with the combination of clean eating and daily exercise.

Mental: Whew! That was HARD. I honestly didn't think I had it in me to make it through 21 days of this! Seriously, people, think about it: no cookies, no soda, no cereal, no bread, no chips, no crackers, no sweetened drinks, no fruit (except green apples, bananas and grapefruit)... the list goes on and on and I SURVIVED!!! I'm so proud of myself and hubs for doing so great!

I'm seriously thinking about doing another 21DSD along with my exercise new regimen to see what kind of progress I can make! To be honest I think I'm enjoying this massive life distraction because it's keeping me from focusing too much on Chase's heart surgery in May. There's just too much going on there to get into it now, so let's just say that if I had to distract myself with something, getting healthier seems like a good way to go!

Thanks to those of you who followed along on my 21DSD journey!