Moving Forward

Today is Day 20 and I am not exactly on the plan still.  I am still eating according to the plan but I had a ton of leftovers from week 2 so I am finishing those off instead of making the new things I was supposed to for week three.  I maintain that every recipe I have tried has been delicious but after 8 days of having lentil soup for lunch I am sort of over it.  : )

I have begun tracking my foods in Sparkpeople.com because I feel like that is the natural next step for me.  According to that some of the recipes are actually lower in calories than the cleanse says they are.  I have also begun stepping my workouts back up.  Instead of just doing yoga I am doing three hours of cardio a week in addition to my two hours of yoga.  The combination of those two things might explain why I have begun to feel hungry even after I eat.  According to my heart rate monitor I am burning about 600 calories with each cardio session and some of my meals are closer to 100 calories than 200.  Anyway, Sparkpeople makes sense for me.  It is free, it is thorough, it is easy to use and I have had success on it before in terms of weight loss. 

As this cleanse comes to a close I am pretty close to my previous goal weight.  One thing I have learned though is that I can change the shape of my body.  I have always been bottom heavy, pear-shape galore, because of that I never really thought I could do much to change that.  I have some serious German genetics working against me, ask my cousins, all of them, except the boys which is totally unfair, but that is another story!  But you know what, I can change the shape of my legs, my hips, my rear.  I will never look like Kate Moss but I don't want to.  I want to look like me, only fitter.  That being said, I think I am going to amend my goal weight or maybe my goal pants anyway.  I am not so hung up on a number, I care more about how I look in clothes.   

I also have to say that eating this way has left me feeling great.  I will add back bread and probably to some extent, everything I have eliminated but I am going to base my diet on fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and lean meats.  I don't feel like sugar has the same hold over me it used to.  I really do want to change my diet.  I did not eat terribly bad prior to the cleanse but I often felt like I was a slave to food, like I had no choice, I just could not make good decisions.  When faced with a choice between an egg white veggie omelet and biscuits and gravy I just never thought I could be satisfied with the egg white option.  Now I know I can be.  That does not mean that I will never choose biscuits and gravy, but if it can be a choice instead of a magnetic unavoidable type draw then I feel like I have won the battle. 

When I am all done I will spend more time thinking about all of the changes my body and mind have gone through.  Until them I am going to coast to the finish line where the SAG awards, some organic Belgian chocolate, a glass of wine and some cheese and crackers are waiting.  (In reasonable moderate amounts, by my choice I should add.)