One down; Forever to go!

I did it! I completed my first full 21 day fix, and I have to say, I'm pretty pleased with myself. I have worked hard and stuck with the program between 80 and 100% every day, and on the days I was 80%, it was because I didn't eat *enough* food-- not because I ate too much or the "wrong" things. I knew that no matter what the official results said, I wouldn't be discouraged because 1. It was only 3 weeks, and 2. I felt so good!

So, I was very pleasantly surprised when not only did my number results seem pretty impressive but I could see actual visible results in my pictures.

My coach likes for us to start by reporting non-scale victories, so some of mine include:

- Better flexibility. I am now thisclose to touching my toes both when standing or sitting and doing hamstring stretches AND to being able to grab my own foot when doing the standing quad stretches. The simple yoga poses are getting easier to do and to get in and out of.

- While I love my friend "Kat the modifier",  I am now able to do at least one exercise per workout without her modifications.

- When I run on the treadmill, my highest heart rate just a few weeks ago measured around 168-170. The highest one I detected yesterday was 164 but most of the time it stayed in the mid-150s.

- My pants are looser.

Measurements.  It was recommended that I only measure my chest, waist, and hips, so that's what I did:

Chest: 47 inches --------- 45 inches
Waist: 44.5 inches --------- 41.5 inches
Hips: 54.5 inches ---------- 51.75 inches

Almost 8 inches down from just 3 measuring points feels great! I thought about adding in some others for my next rounds, but I think I'm happy with just tracking these 3.

Scale weight is next. I lost 9 lbs! I started at 273.5 and this morning, I was 264.5. This was a very pleasant surprise. I'm a bit of a scale addict, and for what seemed like for-ev-er, my weight held steady at 267.5. The last 3 melted off at the last minute (it appeared), and I think I squealed when I saw the number pop up.

Last, but BEST OF ALL are these pictures I'm about to share. I absolutely, positively did NOT want to take pictures because I was absolutely, positively CERTAIN that they would show no results, BUT they did, and I'm so thankful because except for maybe the NSVs, nothing else comes close to motivating me like this.

The front and back views, I can see a bit of a difference...

But it's the side view where I feel like I can really see the inches that have disappeared from my mid-section.

If the non-scale victories and just feeling good about treating my body well wasn't enough to keep me going (it already was), these pictures sealed the deal.

Tomorrow is my "new day 1".  Food is packed, and I'm ready to roll!