The End of the Beginning

Today was the final weigh-in of our Biggest Loser contest! I busted my butt and starved my tummy to finish extra strong. In the last week of the contest, I lost a total of 7.2 lbs! I did most of it in the last 3 days though. Throughout the week, I have been putting in extra long cardio workouts, but during the last couple of days I didn't do any weights in order to avoid muscle weight gain. Since last Sunday, I've logged 6796 calories burned with my highest day being 1299 calories and my lowest 800. I have been really watching what I've eaten and throughout the week was limiting my sweets, but on Thursday I decided to totally cut out all sweets and starches for the rest of the contest. I kept under my WW points (too far some days) and only ate green veggies and lean meat (with the occasional sugar-free jello and a couple of pieces of bacon to satisfy my sweets craving). Because of my lack of carbs and thus energy, I felt HORRIBLE after my workouts on Thursday and yesterday, but Friday I actually felt okay. During the rest of the day (even during my 2 hour workout sessions), I was surprised at how okay I felt. I'm sure that being in shape already and having a good amount of muscle made all of the difference.

Sooo... after 8 long weeks, I have gone from 178.6 pounds down to my final weigh-in weight of 155.8! Nearly 23 pounds lost! My final goal is 155, so I have a little bit of being a "loser" left, but I'm definitely happy with my 12.77% weight loss! I was thinking about hitting the gym this morning to do my body comp analysis, but they don't take appointments on Sunday so I'd be at the mercy of whoever is working it anyway. Plus they didn't open until 10am today, and I'm not supposed to eat or drink before going and after 3 days of nearly starving myself, I didn't want to wait until after 10:00 to eat something! So, hopefully they'll squeeze me in tomorrow morning.

Speaking of tomorrow, I start a boxametrics personal training class tomorrow. From what I can tell, it will just be me and another lady with our personal trainer, and the focus of the class is to workout like we are training for boxing. I don't think there is any actual boxing involved, but with still not being able to get on the treadmill and the pool at the gym being closed for the next couple of months, I wanted to try something new to boost my workout.

We still don't have the final results of the contest, but regardless of the outcome, I'm still overly excited with my results during the last 8 weeks! As the title says, this is just the end of the beginning of a new lifestyle for me. I don't require as much sleep, I don't require as much food, and I just feel better about myself!

And now, here are my "after" pictures. I've been waiting for the day when I could post these for 8 long weeks!!!

My Official Side-by-Side Before & After Pic
Aside from the smoothing of the bumps on my sides, notice that the front of the pants was pulled tightly in the tummy in the before pic and it's not in the after, and you can see my collar bone, rib bones, and even my ab muscles (even if they aren't a six-pack, yet) in the after pic! I love it! Oh yeah, and I think I lost like 5 lbs in boob alone!

An Overlay Picture showing the difference of my before and after

An After Picture in Tight Clothes
These are the type of pants that I've been wearing to workout lately. I love looking at myself in the mirror when I'm wearing pants like these that don't hide any of my flaws and still feeling good about wearing them!

Side-View After Pic
I wish I had taken a side-view before picture, but for some reason I didn't even think about that. My lower stomach still has a little ways to go, but after having had 2 kids and a c-section, I don't know if I'll ever get that back, so I'm happy with what I've got. Plus, check out that butt! I've got my "Kolumbuns" back! :D