Things I've learned: 

1. If I don't track, I may not eat too many calories but I eat the wrong portions of fat, carbs and protein. I've definitely gotten better at knowing when I'm getting too many of one or another but tracking takes the guess work out of the next meal or snack. 

 

2. I really don't need as much food as I thought. One thing that was awesome, was I only had a moment or two in the last 6 weeks, when I was really hungry. Most days I felt satisfied. The days I was hungry, I either ate too much all at once or ate too little fat or protein. 

 

3. Planning is everything! To be fair, I 

 already knew this, but it was reinforced big time by this experience. 

 

4. Going out to eat or being out of my normal routine made it much harder to track and stay on track. I love to dine out but I found myself not wanting to go out, simply because I knew I'd likely over eat and feel like crap. This was a double edged sword. Great, because that's less money spent and motivation to stay on track. Sad because it took the fun out of going out. I learned to really choose wisely when and where I went. This makes the experiences more memorable and worthwhile. 

 

5. It's not easy, but it's not hard. his is the most important takeaway for me from the last 6 weeks. I was TERRIFIED that I'd fail. I was TERRIFIED that I'd be starving or feel deprived. It was not easy to track every bite. It was not easy to say no to extra helpings or adjust my snacks to what I need, not what I wanted. It wasn't hard either. It was simply a set of decisions, choices to make or to not. It was box A or B. Yes or No. When it really came down to it, it just wasn't that hard. I really wanted a change. I really wanted to prove that I could do it. 

 

The last 6 weeks have taught me so much. I hope my journey has inspired you to want to try hard things. I hope I have shown you that you can do hard things, but it won't be easy. I hope I have shown you that it's possible to create positive change if only you're willing to put in the work and commit to the plan. I also hope you see that it only took 6 weeks to create some change... just imagine what 12 or 24 weeks could bring! 

Please share with me what you've found valuable and what hard thing you're going to tackle next! New Paragraph