21 Days

Little man is cutting 2 new teeth which means sleep has been erratic. He's been waking up early but then eventually going back to sleep. But if it's after 4am my body won't go back to sleep, so I stay up. On one hand I'm pretty tired, but I'm most definitely a morning person so I enjoy having this little bit of time to myself in the morning to do stuff. I'm especially happy to start writing this particular post at 6am because it means I'm more likely to stick with it today.

My weight loss to date is pretty amazing and I am very happy with the results so far but I've been going through these phases where I lose weight then maintain, lose weight-maintain, and so on. This is a normal and healthy cycle but I think I've finally figured out what my ideal weight should be and I'm so close it's time to just get there. I've lost these 75+ pounds without dieting; mainly just exercise, eating less and making better choices. I haven't been making the best choices lately so it's time to get back on track and get 'er done.

There are vanity issues at play here as well. We have plans to go to Lake Havasu near the end of October for a long weekend. It's a beautiful time of year and I'm really looking forward to relaxing on the boat and in the water. Which means it's swimsuit time. I've been around random strangers in my bathing suit but now I have to be around a bunch of people I know and it would be nice to feel confident in my skin.

The trip is exactly 12 weeks away. And funny, My weight loss goal is 12 pounds away.

So what's the plan? 21 Days. Rather than set weekly or monthly goals I'm going to set 21 day goals. Research shows it takes 21 days to develop a habit so I'm going to split my 12 weeks into 4 segments of creating good health habits and hopefully losing a little weight. And keeping with my strategy of not overwhelming myself I'm going to start with 2 fairly simple goals to ease into this.

My first 21:
Aug 6th-26th
1. Work my core. I'll still do my whole body tone, but I'm going to focus strongly on my core strength. I've found a few workouts online that seem great so I figure I'll just choose 3, give each one a week, and see how it goes. I'll also give you guys a review. First week ab workout.
2. Paleo. I'm not going to go totally crazy but it's time to start eating clean. More fruits, veggies, nuts and healthy snacks. No more cheese crackers, cookies dipped in pb, and pasta all the time. I'm keeping my ice cream though. I'll make another batch of peanut butter that's agave and stevia sweetened, but limit myself to one scoop. Oh and I'm keeping caffeine. You know those cavemen would be stoked on a cup of coffee. My goal is 90 percent paleo, I figure this way I'm not setting myself up for failure.

Here goes everything!

P.S. I've added a 21 Days tab in case you want to keep track of my progress.