Keeping Up With...Workouts (New Month!)

I love a new month!!  And even though this year is kind of flying by, I won't be sorry to see it go.  But I'm still keeping the faith that things will be better and October is going to be a great month!!

I started two new fitness challenges yesterday.  I'm doing the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans push up challenge and when I finish it, I will have completed 10 of their challenges this month.  It was a goal from the beginning of the year to finish a whole year of them.  I'm also doing a butt toning challenge with some friends (and strangers) on Facebook.  I've been in and out of their group depending on what their challenge is, how it fits with the Shrinking Jeans one and how my month looks.  Here are the calendars if you want to join me for one, or both, of the challenges.

The other thing that started this month was teaching at a new gym.  South Beach Fitness opened up in the building where my old gym was.  They hired me back on as a Zumba instructor.  It was kind of crazy to go back to where it all began and teach my amazing friends again yesterday.  But it was SO much fun!!  I know it will never be the same as it was, but it felt like coming "home" again yesterday.  I'm teaching two classes per week there for now, possibly adding a third soon.  This will alter my planned workout schedule a little, but I'm still really focusing on having more strength and yoga on my schedule.  I need to look at it and think about it some more, but I'm going to wait a few weeks.  There are a few variables (Zak's soccer class, the Y schedule & the South Beach schedule) that I want to wait and see how they shake out first.

I had a pretty decent week, despite not staying under my calorie goal both days over the weekend.  Sunday was a planned "cheat" day so I was OK with that.  Saturday I made the decision not to exercise because I was really tired and just didn't think it was the best decision for me or the family.  I didn't go crazy eating on Saturday and was only 200ish calories over which is a big step for me.  I'm finding the balance and I'm proud of myself for that!

Here's how my workouts looked this week:
Wednesday, 9/24 - 60 minute total body conditioning class, walked to school twice
Thursday, 9/25 - soccer class with Zak, 1 1/2 hours of swimming with Zak & Daniel, walked to school once, taught a 45 minute Zumba class and taught a 60 minute Zumba class
Friday, 9/26 - Taught a 60 minute Zumba class, biked for 15 minutes, walked to school three times
Saturday, 9/27 - Unplanned rest day, but a TON of cleaning
Sunday, 9/28 - Planned rest day, fruit picking and about 30 minutes of hiking with family
Monday, 9/29 - Walked to school three times, taught a 45 minute Zumba class and taught a 60 minute Zumba class
Tuesday, 9/30 - Took a 60 minute PiYo class, biked for 40 minutes

Weigh in:
9/24 - 222
10/1 - 218
Change - down 4 lbs!!

Yay!!  I felt really great all week and feel less "puffy" than I have been.  I know what I'm doing works, just have to keep at it.  It's nice to see a giant loss even though I had 2 days over my calorie goal.  I'm not going to make that the norm, but life happens.  This is a good reminder not to throw away a whole week over a bad day!