And It's Done...

Above are the final numbers for the gym challenge I had been participating in for most of February and March. I'm on Team #3. So in eight weeks I managed to loose 23 inches total, six pounds, just over 10% of my body fat which equaled 23.3 pounds of fat, and gained 17.34 pounds of lean weight (i.e. muscle). To say that I'm happy with those results would be a huge understatement.

As you can see from the numbers above, the results varied. Some folks did better than I did and some folks did worse. However, everyone increased their health which was the overall goal of the program.

I did find it interesting though that Teams #1 & #2 were coached by the guy trainer at the gym. You can see that they did not gain as much lean muscle. Teams #3 & #4 were coached by the girl trainer and I (may be a bit biased) think we all did an excellent job overall.

The guy with no numbers had to drop out due to illness and the girl on my team just didn't have her numbers up when I snapped the photo.

I'm still continuing to go to the gym and workout although I'm not doing all my workouts there anymore. I'm spending a bit more time at home and also utilizing the local Zumba classes. In fact, one just started back up twice a week just 10 minutes from my house. I really enjoy the instructor and there is such a wide range of ladies who attend - from tween girls all the way up to Grandmas. It's a lot of fun. Zumba is still my favorite way to workout.

The above white board hangs in the women's locker room. Every so often whatever inspirational thing written there is changed. I had to snap a photo of this one as it's a fantastic reminder that we are only limited by what we chose to believe.

Case in point...just yesterday my hubby & I were checking out the new sheep pasture.It's a spot his Dad clear cut a few years ago and is trying to turn in to garden space. This is the main reason we bought the sheep flock - to help clear land. In the pasture are large tree stumps laying around. They aren't attached to their roots and are pretty rotted but still rather solid. I asked hubby if there was any reason I couldn't take some of them out to clear the area. He said, no, but how was I going to move it? I simply said, "Like this!" and picked it up. Of course, I also smacked myself in the face with a root when I put it back down, but I easily picked it up and knew I could walk it off to the side. Eight weeks ago, I would not have been able to do that.

I'm also beyond thrilled to share that I went clothes shopping for Easter. I picked up a skirt I liked in a size I do not normally wear. In fact, it was two sizes smaller than normal for me. I decided to try it on anyway and see if it fit. It did. Quite easily in fact. I even bought a top to go with it - again - two sizes smaller than what I normally buy. I can't begin to describe how good that feels - to see tangible results of my hard work. 

I'm still loosing weight - still very slowly. I'm now down about eight pounds total. I have about three pounds to go before I hit the magical "one-derland." That will certainly feel good as well!