I did it!

I did it!  I lost more than 20 lbs in this, my first VIP challenge.  I know I haven't checked in here for over 10 days.  It wasn't because I stopped or faltered or cheated or anything like that.  I simply dedicated all of my spare time to working toward my goal.  In my book, I smashed that goal by losing 23.6 lbs in 6 weeks. AMAZING!

Let me back up-- The last time I checked in here, I had set a goal of losing 4 lbs in week 5. I did not quite make it as I only lost 2.9 lbs, leaving me with 4.8 lbs to go for the final week.  I lost 8.2 lbs this last week!  Again, amazing!

Here's what I did: First, I upped my ESC to over 1 hour every day.  I couldn't do it all at once, I had to make time 30 minutes here, 40 minutes there, etc, etc.  For the last 10 days, according to my Jawbone, I averaged 22,826 steps.  Second, I followed the VIP Emergency Instructions.  I think I mentioned those a few posts ago.  Essentially, the instructions were to eat fish and asparagus for every meal (5 servings) for the last four days of the challenge.  On the day before weigh-in, I did a mini-fast.  I ate nothing after 11:00 am and drank only 16 oz of water, 8 oz of black coffee, and a Smooth Move tea at 4:00 pm. For the record, the Smooth Move tea did nothing for me.  Third, I believed.  I set out to prove to myself that I could do this... workout 5 days a week at 5:30 am, eat clean, and lose 20 lbs, and I did it, and then some!  I'm very proud of myself.  I haven't felt this proud of myself since I passed the bar exam in 1998.

What's next?  Another challenge.  Yep, that's right.  I'm doing it again.  20 more pounds need to go!