I am at a plateau......

10 pounds more, that is it....and I will have reached my weight loss goal.....for a while there I was on a roll, pounds were shedding like there was no tomorrow..and granted, I was coming off of a pregnancy(I only gained 18 pounds with both of my boys, so really I was just needing to really tone the belly area since I lost most of the weight when I had my 8lb boy), I had really cleaned up my eating habits, thanks to The Eat Clean Diet.  But, now my body has decided to put a halt on the weight loss...which is good in a way because it forces me to re-evaluate my eating habits, my workouts, and see where I need improvement...my checklist:

1. Diet....am I eating enough protein/complex carbs? what am I snacking on? I am going to really focus on upping my protein intake...higher ratio of protein to carbs makes losing body fat easier and boosts the metabolism

2. My exercise program...with Bootcamp Madness, our routine varies everyday and we are working different muscle groups but I might think about kicking my strength training up a notch...and while I have got in a comfortable pace with my treadmill running, I think I add more sprinting to my treadmill workouts, and get outside my comfort zone..I am participating in the 20DayHolidayWorkoutChallenge with Iowa Girl Eats and am loving the accountability factor with other bloggers.

3. Water....drink plenty of water...which I do, so this is checked off. ( A little side note with that, when I went on maternity leave, they had to lessen the water delivery jugs since I wasn't there, but had to ramp it back up when I came back)  Drink water 30 minutes before the meal to make you feel full. 

So after careful analyzing...
 Diet...I really need to refocus on that.  Yes I am still eating clean, but it is the unhealthy in between meals snacking on the pretzel m&m's, the bites of a cookie here and there....those little bites add up and with the holidays, I have lost all control....but I am refocused now and ready to go!  I have to get back to my protein/complex carb snacks every 2-3 hours. Am I going to deprive myself of those goodies, heck no, but I am going to be more aware of what i am putting in my body and minimize it....I am also going to be more diligent about tracking it.  I have the app My Fitness Pal on my phone and it is awesome.  You can input your food on exercise to see where you are calorie wise...they have a barcode scanner, a great database of food, and you can use it on your computer or your phone...Highly recommend it. 

How are your fitness and weight loss goals going?  Do you have any pointers? Would love to hear them.

Namaste