We’re moving on to the letter S this week. S is for Shape.

It was at this point in our Transformation journey back in the spring that we released the butterflies after boot camp one Saturday morning! Just because we won’t be able to watch them anymore didn’t mean their journey was over. This was just part of their Transformation. Very similar to us! Where are you in your Transformation? I sincerely hope you’re journaling and/or tracking your progress. You’ll love being able to look back & see how far you’ve come!

 I hope you’re all having a wonderful holiday season so far.  Every phase of any transformation is part of the journey! We don’t start at “ground zero” and just “arrive”. . . there are so many experiences, lessons, and victories that are every bit as important as where we end up!

T – Time

R – Remove

A – Add

N – Nutrition

     ALL of these things have been experiences, lessons, and victores (sometimes failures that become lessons) that have been our first steps of this transformation journey. Moving right along –

S – Shape: Shape your body by changing its composition. Building lean muscle gives you a firm and healthier appearance. Your clothes will fit better, and you’ll feel better. Resistance training is key here! No amount of steady state cardio truly builds muscle. Walking is a great way to fight stress, soak up fresh air and vitamin D, and is much healthier than sitting in front of a phone or tv. However, it doesn’t engage all of your muscles. Your joints as well as your muscles will reward you for strength training!

  I completely understand that many of you are not seeing the outer changes fast enough. So we have two things on our plates here: 1) Look at what we can tweak in our daily routines. Can we drink more water? Add more protein? Add more weight and intensity in our workouts? Add in more HIIT circuits for fat-burning? Cut something(s) in our diets? 2) Go back to your journal. Think back on previous workouts and interaction with other people. Look for those non-scale victories. Are you sleeping better? Are you lifting heavier weight weekly? Do your clothes fit a little differently? Have you gotten improved blood work results or doctors’ visits? Maybe you’ve received random compliments from co-workers or friends? THAT is PROGRESS!! So remember to take the progress pictures. Write down those measurements, and journal things weekly about your workouts, your nutrition, your sleep. This is the best way to track your progress. We see ourselves in the mirror every single day, so small change really doesn’t stand out. But comparing pictures every four to six weeks speaks volumes!

Here we are. . . 5 weeks into our transformation journey!  Please keep the things we’ve seen and learned in your heart! Not only to remember just how INCREDIBLY AWESOME our God is, but that all these things hold even more true for each of us than the caterpillars/butterflies.  

Let’s recap:

T – Time ~ True transformation takes TIME. We have to trust the process, keep grinding while making the most of the time we’re given. Time management is a huge component to success!

R – Remove~ We’ve talked about removing bad habits and foods, as well as negative thoughts. They simply are NOT helpful, and they are definitely not productive.

A – Add ~ Add in positive thoughts, good habits, and clean healthy foods. We not only talked about replacing sodas with more water, sugary foods with healthy foods and snacks, but we also talked about replacing time-wasting activities with productive ones such as meal prep, and creating/using night time and morning routines.

N – Nutrition ~ Healthy nutrition is 100% crucial to any transformation. Creating healthy eating habits will not only aid with losing body fat, it also heals our bodies from the inside out! Stress management, digestive issues, energy levels, and decreases chronic inflammation.

S – Shape ~ Sooo many things wrapped up in this one word! The shape of our bodies IS changing. Even if we don’t see it happening fast enough. . . remember all the change happening inside those cocoons that we can’t see? YOUR body composition is changing. 

Remember, if you’ve noticed that you’re lifting heavier weights, moving faster, some workouts are a little easier, that means your muscles are growing, and your body is a fat-burning machine. (Take the progress pictures! I promise you’ll see changes when you compare them) As always, I am here to help you with nutrition and/or workouts.  If you find that you’ve hit a plateau, or just don’t really know where to start and/or what to do, I would love to help you!  Feel free to email me at Fitteachermom@aol.com or click on the “Contact Me” tab!.