December Update: My workout is being changed up

You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage - 

pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically - 

to say 'no' to other things.  

And the way to do that is 

by having a bigger 'yes' burning inside.  

The enemy of the 'best' is often the 'good.'  

~Stephen Covey

So another month has passed and much of it has been same old same old stuff, but there is plenty of new so let's get started. I am not feeling particularly wordy today, so here I go with bullets:

• Recovered from my slow start to November and was rocking out the workouts
• Up'd my weight is almost everyone one of my lifts
• Ran the Berekley Inaugural "Half," the 10 mile option. Took a wrong turn, ran 11.7 glorious miles. Looking at race photos from March of this year and this 10 miler, I look leaner, stronger and the smile says it all. I ran truly happy during the 10 miler. Fabulous time, great cool/cold temp running.
• Skipped the traditional Thanksgiving with my family at my home then with my husband's family at their home later that evening by going to LA to spend it with my cousin, her husband and 5 year old. It was great to visit and lounge around, but even better than that? My kids met them for the first time and built a great bond with her son.
• Went to Disneyland- kids first time, had a blast, they didn't melt down. WIN!
• Ate at my favorite deli in LA, Canters
• Took Wednesday after my AM workout to Tuesday off as order by my PT so I could practice how to breathe and engage my core properly
• I lifted that Tuesday and Wednesday 12/3-12/4 and found out I had to stop lifting the afternoon of 12/4. Like stop olympic style lifting all together.
• I feel a little lost not lifting, I had been doing so well and making noticeable gains both physically, mentally and increasing weight.
• Skipped the last two December 5K options, considering a run this Saturday or Sunday, but probably won't get a "race" in this month.
• Killing it on the treadmill. My old cruising pace was 5.0, kicking it up to 6.0 to run, sometimes 6.5 or 7.0. Now 5.0 is a good warm up or break between sprints, but I can cruise at 6.0 now and sprint at 7.0-8.5. Feeling strong.

Pretty short recap I know, I am still digesting the new routine my physical therapist has me on. My core does not engage properly so I am retraining it to work correctly which means baby steps with the workouts. So do over head weighted exercises, bridges, some tricep and bicep stuff, pull ups and dips on an assisted machine thing, squats and a couple more things. All my push ups are wall push ups until my core works correctly. Very different that what I am used to. It is a good workout, but doesn't feel strenuous enough nor do I break the sweat I'd like to either. Not sure how long I will have to take this approach or if I'll ever go back to more traditional lifting like bench press and dead lifts etc. I am scared I'll gain the weight back and lose my muscle mass. Skinny means such a different thing to me now. I feel great and haven't totally dropped a pant size despite losing about 8 lbs since September. My quads are getting pretty big, my tush a little tighter. This month I am doing a squat challenge with a couple friends since squats is one of my limited approved exercises. Hoping to have a great lifted bubble butt in a month LOL

Diet: Pretty much eat what I want, but have learned so much about moderation these last 3 months. Might consider low to no gluten and low to no dairy come January to test the effects on my body with regard to muscle and other inflammation as well as bloat and digestion. I am not intolerant to the best of my knowledge, not allergic and definitely don't have celiac. However, I do have some issues known to improve with these types of diet changes. Difficult for me to wrap my brain around because bread and cheese are my #1 and #2 favorite foods, but vanity is my new best friend. I like looking good, I like feeling good because it makes me think I look good too and geez-oh-pete feeling good and looking good does wonders for my psyche. We'll see. I plan to start slow in December. Gluten will be so much harder than dairy and I am not sure I am going to go full force with by product than I am going to look at the contributing foods. That's for another blog post I guess.

Why I Kick A$$: I'm really feeling the transformation in my posture and breathe with my CORE rehabilitation in such a short period of time.
Big Picture: Trying something new is not the end of the world and I need to embrace "new normals."
Thankful Three:

1. For health insurance and an amazing PT
2. For my current job, location and work-life balance
3. For my health, I am so blessed to have mobility, workout options and the desire to be fit to feel good.