Week 4 Update - End of 30 Days

This Tuesday it will be 30 days since I started this challenge. I have to say I don't know how I feel, so I'm going to list out the good and the bad feelings.

The Good:

• I feel I have made the diet and exercise a habit. I look forward to my gym schedule and have been able to keep to it easily. The diet has been fine, as far as preparing and food choice, and the science behind increasing my protein has made a lot of sense to me, making it easy for me to adopt the change.
• I can tell I am slowly developing muscle in my arms. I can't believe I hardly ever worked them out before. I also can tell a little bit of a change in my legs as well, but I'm still on the fence about how much of an improvement I really made.
• I ran a 10K! That makes me super excited. I think I really would have struggled with that before the 30 days. Even though I didn't train for the running like I should/could have I still think it was quite the accomplishment for me.

The Bad:

• I really flunked out this past weekend in Charleston. I was so pumped to stay on track and even prepared snacks and breakfasts, as well as looked up what I would eat at restaurants before hand. I did well Friday, only indulging in a desert Friday night. I didn't drink and I stayed in my calorie range. Saturday morning came along and I ate right for the race and even had a muscle milk right when I was done, instead of opting for the bagel or muffin I really wanted. Then at lunch it's like I lost the will. I just wanted what I wanted and it snowballed out of control after that. I literally stuffed my face for a day and a half and drank alcohol! I did make it 30 days without alcohol since I hadn't drank for a week before I started the challenge...but still. Yes I realize its OK to indulge every once in awhile, but why do I let myself go to such extremes?!

Now that I am back from Charleston I am back on track. I weighed myself this morning and I was 144lbs. That's two pounds heavier than when I started this 30 day challenge! I'm hoping I am just retaining water and that is not a solid 4lb gain. My better sense says that is all it is.

I plan to continue with my eating and exercise habits. I've been allowing myself "cheats" all along as it appears my will power was not iron clad. I am human I suppose. What I would like to improve on in the next 30 days is getting my binge eating under control when I do let myself indulge. I want to learn the concept of moderation and practice it often so that I don't feel so deprived that I find myself back at the beginning.

I will do my measurements and body fat percentage tomorrow night to see if there indeed were changes that may not be as noticeable as the number on the scale. This was not a lost cause to me. I feel I could have done better in certain areas, but I have pushed my mind and body further in the past 30 days than I ever have before.