2 months in the making.

The past couple of months have been kind of hard. 

Right around the end of July I was kind of horrified at having lost all of my progress, slowly and surely. The mirror told me, the scale told me, my hatred of jeans told me... And sudden love of skirts... So I painstakingly got back on the horse. It has not been without struggle though. That horse is hard to ride. 

Getting back into the swing of showing up at the gym is a  trial all on its own. First off, you have to prioritize it again. You've convinced yourself that time allocation is at max capacity... So some days you go, most days you don't... But you HAVE TO make it the most important part of your day. I was on the master cleanse for about 10 days- so avoiding social food situations was a great excuse to be at the gym. I'd do some light cardio and the full body challenge from Pinterest (squats, plank, push ups and crunches) and it kept my mind busy for a while. The sauna aided in detox as well. 

By the time the 10 days were up, I had lost some weight (albeit water weight) but the desperation to keep it off was enough to get me to keep showing up. Then a miracle happened... I started going in the morning !! This has quickly become my new favorite endeavor. Going to bed early enough to wake up at 5 am has obliterated the permanent dark circles under my eyes, and really helped my skin look fresh. The gym is a really nice place in the morning- you can watch the news whilst on the treadmill and it is never full. The people who are there at that time mean business- so no barbies pretending to sweat through their makeup or douches making eye contact through the mirror. 

It's a good vibe, and after a week or two the "morning rats" accept you as one of them and you start getting head nods of acknowledgement. You get pretty good at packing your entire day into a work bag and a gym bag. But the best part....

MORNING WORKOUTS YIELD RESULTS! Seriously. Putting your body in burn mode early in the day changes the way you lose weight. So.... though the amount in pound sis not that huge (8lbs) the visual difference is pretty noticeable ;) Without further ado, here's a picture....