Week 5 Reflections

Week 5 was the toughest so far. I started getting that ominous tickle in my throat and on Monday I was officially under the weather. I tried to rest as much as possible because I didn’t want to miss bootcamp, but I still had to take it easier than I would have normally during the workouts.

The warmups were especially difficult this week. My body complained at me pushing it. But after that point, something magical happened: I didn’t feel sick anymore.  I came prepared with cough drops and tissues, but didn’t need them at all while I was exercising.

My body bounced back so quickly it was a record for me. I got sick and got better within a week, when usually getting sick and getting over the sickness takes me three weeks. I know this is just one of the many ways that the combination of eating healthier and exercising regularly has done for my body. I’ve become a well-tuned machine! ;) Or something like that. But I can definitely tell the difference of limiting my consumption of processed foods.

Both the limitations and resilience of our bodies are surprising. Despite being sick, I still felt stronger than in previous weeks. I was able to do more pushups in good form and I surprised myself by doing quite a few of the partner pull-ups...which a month ago I know would have been too difficult for me. And, most exciting of all, I feel a little muscle starting to grow in my arms :)

I’ve noticed my face also looks a lot thinner. Now I look at tagged photos of me on facebook from over the summer and I can’t believe how round it looked! Not gonna lie, this week I went through them and definitely untagged a few. My stomach is also getting flatter...I still have a lot of work to do, but when I poke it feels hard! My abs are waiting to make their appearance!

The best part of this week was that one of my friends finally came with me on Thursday for the “warrior” workout. I think she really liked it and it was interesting to see her being impressed by me doing the exercises, since I was exactly were she was a month ago and couldn’t do them very well. It’s put this journey in perspective...in just a short amount of time I’ve been able to improve and I hope to continue working on my form and strength even after the 60 days are over.