Day 48 of Metamorphosis... and the bumps along the way

Yes, it sounds crazy that I am - still - on level 5, but I had to restart the level, as I had too many interruptions. Now, however I am delighted to finish it tomorrow (if all goes well, and it should), and start level 6! Wohoo!

MS

Don't get me wrong, it was my own decision to restart level 5, but oh boy I am tired of it. I am simply getting bored. I know every single exercise of the MS, and well now can do it in full reps (though it takes me a little longer than Tracy). This hasn't happened with previous levels. But in true, I have done it like 15 times by now! So I am happy to move on. It is true that you get bored of the same thing, and when you are doing one of the MS longer than supposed to, it also loses some touch of excitement. I was always excited thinking "Just 10 workouts like that - get the most out of it!" Now I am thinking "Oh I wish it was day 50 already!!!" So it definitely is time to move on for good.

DC

Dance cardio is indeed getting boring. But I have to say I know it by now (which is only logical after doing it for around 50 times...), and sometimes I simply turn it on and start jumping automatically - before I manage to convince myself that I don't need to do it. And then the automatic jumps get more energy and I enjoy it. Sweat is the magic powder after all! ;) I also catch myself that while I concentrate a lot on MS, I tend to drift a little bit on DC nowadays - cos my body and mind know by now what I am doing, and I am not working out the specific muscles, I am jumping and dancing to get the heart beat up and loose some calories in the process. But I nevertheless enjoy it. Why? It makes me feel good. As simple as that. I feel great when I finish it - physically and mentally. I love it.

Food

In terms of diet, I went off Tracy's diet. Sigh. Well, I was going to follow it for around 30 days anyway, and I did it longer. But simply when those Body Reset repetitive Weeks finished, I could not deal with the ones "with diversity any more (starting Week ??? the BRW become diverse, which involves more recipes, and hence more time for cooking...). My PhD taking most of my time (and this is the biggest reason why I actually disappeared for so long). I sometimes work till 8-9, and then drag my feet home (still have to take a train to get home and all) and drop nearly dead. My driving school also continues... And with being busy and not having enough time for anything, I simply could not follow all the recipes of TA Dynamic Eating Plan any longer. But I keep eating healthy and fresh (mostly). I got into a good routine with food, I already calculate or estimate my calories without needing to really calculate them. I eat lots of salads, lots of fruit, add some fish, poultry or meat on top of that, sometimes I have one of those protein bars and protein shakes to keep me up on protein. Eggs, cheese, quinoa, nuts and just a little bit of chocolate are also in my diet. I also sometimes make soups - really with only veggies and not too fat. Yum!

Little bit of smoked trout and some yummy rucola-tomato-cucumber salad. I love food! Mmmm.

My feelings overall

To be honest, I was feeling a little guilty - for going off the diet, for missing some days (4 days for salsa festival and 4 more days for a wonderful weekend in Monaco), for not eating too healthy all the time (I confess to having an addiction to chocolate as of late and I simply can't do anything about it...), for missing the DC sometimes - that's really naughty of me! Monaco has set me off a little bit, as French cuisine offers a lot of temptations! I gained 2 kilos there, but by now they all went off - without even a big effort on my side. So after all I decided to not feel guilty. I am working out, and Meta has my back. I am doing my best, I am not pushing it, but enjoying every single workout. I don't want to suddenly feel so tired I would not want to workout at all. I LOVE the workouts, I feel great after them - both physically and mentally (after all, I never stop to fight my weaknesses, and every little victory is oh so sweet!) I still eat well and healthy, even if I allow myself to eat some bread sometimes. But generally I keep it better than ever before in my life. So why on Earth should I feel guilty??!! I should feel proud and delighted, satisfied and really glad with myself. I am working on myself and doing the best I have ever done! What can be more pleasing???!!!

So, the advice is: be realistic. No, one should not give up at every difficulty saying "It is realistic: I can't do it" I say "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can" and I move forward. But instead of beating myself up, I praise myself and motivate myself to go on, to keep up to the healthy food, to the workouts - to the better and transformed lifestyle. Cos this is my end goal: A better and healthier lifestyle.

And if on the way I look in the mirror and see the beautiful abs and tiny ass - hell, I won't say no!