Not a bad week, all things considered. Most people would be very happy with a gain in lean body mass. And I am happy about it, believe me! But I need to keep an eye on the fat gain. Granted, a gain of .1lbs is tinyl — it’s the pattern it could represent that’s the problem. If bad eating habits are creeping in, I need to nip it in the bud. Bad eating habits tend to grow — along with your waistline! That’s why a feedback loop is so important.

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I’m sitting here, early Monday morning, a little flabbergasted. When I woke up this morning and realized it was a weigh-in day, I started composing my blog post in my head while I was still in bed trying to wake up. Meaning, before I even weighed-in! Even though I did well food-wise last week, I knew the results would be off because we had friends over for supper on Saturday night. And, well, you know how that goes, right? Wine, appetizer, wine, meat and vegetables, dessert, another small slice of dessert, coffee. I was motivated to eat well and exercise hard on Sunday, believe me. (Cardio Coach 7 was brutal…but in a good way… heh heh.)

I know how my body usually reacts to a week-end like that, but it surprised me this morning. I do believe my body is turning into a fat-burning machine. It finally “gets” what I want it do!

Here are my starting measurements, plus last week’s and this morning’s weigh-in:

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Had some great results this week! And I reached my body fat goal from my last challenge (where I missed by just a small percentage). One thing about goals and deadlines: I’m reading The Body Fat Solution by Tom Venuto (review coming once I finish the book). In it, he talks about setting your goals in pen and your deadline in pencil. In other words, your goal is fixed but the deadline can be a bit more flexible. Not that you shouldn’t be focused on the deadline, but sometimes we underestimate how long something will take.

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I took a break from exercise and calorie counting after ending my last 12 week challenge (see the final results here). I didn’t go overboard and overindulge myself. I found I kept pretty much to plan, except for a bit of extra chocolate and bit of extra wine. The big difference was no exercise. But I did walk, got in 1 heavy Cardio Coach session (Volume 6) and one 7.7 (4.75 mile) hike.

As for my fat loss goal, it’s harder to lose the fat as you get lower down in body fat. I’m assuming I may not be able to achieve a .5% average of body fat percentage loss per week, so I’m going to be a bit conservative in my goal. But I could be wrong and make my way down even further!

So, without further ado, my fat loss goals and starting measurements for this 9 week challenge:

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This is the start of a brand new challenge after finishing my last 12 week challenge (from July 12th to October 5th). I’ve got a lot of momentum now, so I have a bit less preparation to do. If you want to read a more detailed post on getting ready for a weight loss challenge, read this post.

Some of you may note, I’m calling it a “fat loss” challenge. I know a lot of people focus on weight, but, to me, it’s all about losing body fat. I don’t want to lose weight, if it means losing muscle. But I’ll kiss that fat good-bye without a second thought!

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