One Year of Project Maxout!

I'm now over a year into my journey. I never committed to being as fit and healthy as I can for this length of time. What a ride! What great opportunities to learn through it, especially learning how to navigate through different aspects of life, including travel and sickness. Here are the top 5 things that I remember, not necessarily in order, but each one holds its own merit.

1. Women don't release fat like men. Fat release for men is straightforward and easier. For women, it's more like a journey through spaghetti. Our bodies are more complex and therefore respond differently. Results are gained by staying the course, no matter what and working through plateaus patiently. A plateau does not mean the journey has ended. It means your body is working through something. Stick with it and keep going.

2. The scale is not the key form of measurement. We'll go through plateaus, yo-yos and some spikes because we looked at a dessert and thought about it, or eating out, as examples. The key is to track your weight and look at your trend. If you're moving in the right direction overall, pat yourself on the back. It took me one year to release 22 lbs and shed several inches off my body. At the beginning of my training a year ago, I wore size 14 clothing. I now wear size 4 and counting down as I'm noticing changes indicating my clothing is getting slacker.

3. Be accountable to someone other than yourself. It's said that teamwork makes the dream work. Absolutely! My team included the three people I chose to report to every day. I told them my weight, whether I completed my workout or not and on the non gym days, what my exercise consisted of. I also shared how I felt and asked them questions. I chose three fit and healthy people whom I felt would be bold enough to hold me accountable. They did. I'm now in my second year of being the new Risel and I am still accountable to them. They want to see me through to the finish line and beyond.

4. Water and nutrition for shredding fat was easier than I thought. Drinking 4 litres of water at the beginning of the journey seemed like an impossible feat in my mind. A couple of weeks into the journey, I got used to it. When I didn't drink that amount, my results were affected, especially when I was on track with everything else. Keeping my food really plain and simple without salt, sauces, spices with salt and excessive oils or fat were a main part of my nutrition. My taste buds are now used to what food naturally tastes like. I'm also used to weighing and measuring my food. Prior to learning how to eat this way, I used to think people who weighed and measured their meals were strange. I can say I benefited greatly by becoming this person.

5. Consistency is key. It still is the most important factor in the journey. I created great results when I was consistent with my water intake, exercises, food plan, fasting and sleep. Even eating the exact same thing consistently helped because our bodies love consistency. The scale would spike when I wasn't consistent in one or more areas. A year ago, I didn't understand why being consistent with exercise was necessary. Today, I exercise 6 days a week and I enjoy it. It's a part of my life. I no longer sit for long periods of time. My body tells me to get moving if I am sitting for too long or taking too long to start my exercises on the non gym days. Being consistent in the gym can create phenomenal results much faster as well. Yesterday I celebrated an achievement. For the first time in my life I increased my weights in every single exercise I completed. A couple of weeks ago, I celebrated being able to do a side plank properly for the first time as well. I was in awe when I was able to lift my body off the floor effortlessly. I always did a modified version of the side plank prior to this.

The journey continues into year 2 and beyond. This is one of the most meaningful investments I've ever given myself and boy, oh boy, it is totally worth it!