21-Day Fix, Week 2

Well, week two of the 21-Day Fix was significantly better than the first week, but it still wasn’t perfect. I had one cheat afternoon this week, a significant improvement over last week’s 2.5 bad days.

I stuck to my eating plan Monday through Friday last week, through lunch on Saturday, and all day on Sunday. All in, I think I had a deficit of about 3,000 calories over the course of the week, which would be just shy of a pound of body fat.

Unfortunately, the scale isn’t reflecting that hard work at the moment. You see…I’m at the point of the month where I generally avoid the scale. I’m in the midst of the roughly five-day period where my body bloats up in anticipation of “my time” of the month. Sigh.

Still, I’m optimistic that when I do step on the scale again, I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

What do I think about the fix so far?

I think the 21-day fix is fantastic for raising awareness of what I should be eating (and it what quantities), but I think it’s a little too restrictive for me to maintain full-time. I miss the ability to have a glass of wine with dinner, or some cheese and crackers for a snack if I’m feeling like it…even if they aren’t the healthiest for me.

But…I think the fix is great for the work week.

I’ve learned a lot about spacing my calorie intake during the day, and I’ve also learned some really easy meals and snacks that I can take with me to work. More importantly? I realized making a protein shake before work isn’t as much work as I thought it would be.

My plan when I’m formally done with my 21-day fix is to move up to the next calorie level (right now I’m at 1,200-1,499) and to aim to stick to the fix Sunday-Friday (more realistically, through lunch on Friday). And if there is a happy hour midweek, I won’t sweat it!

Also, I want to keep it up with some of the workouts! In particular, I want to continue doing the Upper Fix, the Lower Fix and the 10-minute Ab Fix once or twice a week. I need to do weight training and ab work, and I really like the workout I get in just 30 (or 10) minutes with those videos…and from the comfort of my living room.

With just one more week to go, I’m pretty excited to step on the scale on Sunday morning and to take some “after” shots. I’ll aim to share some before and after comparisons with you next week!