Grace: Starting Over

I woke up this morning with some sort of kick start in my brain. I have been letting something affect me for so long, coming up on a year in a couple months. I have tried my best to not let this life situation affect me, but I only thought about it in terms of things I went and did, but nothing further than that. It will probably still affect me more than I would like for it to, but I'm going to try and change that. As much as I have control over anyway.
I start a long time ago studying for my CSCS (Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist) but stopped when other things in my life needed a lot of focus. Only to realize today that getting that certification could actually help me out career wise. So I'm starting all over on studying to get this certification and I worry how in the world I will be able to remember all this information that I need to know for the test that I've heard people have to retest on certain sections. But I'm going to be studying like crazy and reviewing sections. Hoping that it will all stick when it comes time that I take my test.
The Atkins diet, Low Carb diet, Flexible dieting, Badass Body Diet, South Beach diet Badass Body diet
There are so many diet trends out there these days it's hard to keep up with what works and what doesn't, what is the healthiest diet trend out there. But I hate calling some of them diets. If they are the proper ones then I call it healthy eating because it is how we should naturally eat.

Badass Body Diet Before (June/July 2015)

I remember when I was in high school/college I thought it was gross of women to have defined abs (visible 6-packs), today I think differently. I have gotten more into fitness than I was back then and although I think it can be taken too far when it comes to aesthetics, I now think that defined abs on a women isn't gross at all.
So last year I had a goal of wanting to lean out my body 1) for my own happiness and 2) to get back at the things that had affected me. I was currently sitting at 121 lbs (pictured right) and wanted to stay there but wasn't happy with some of the areas I saw. And this is where I am at now. Looking at my body you probably wouldn't say there was a thing wrong with it, but I notice some things that I would like to change here and there. We're are own worse critic right? So last year Christmas Abbott published her book, The Badass Body Diet, so I decided to check it out and give it a shot. I read through the book, figured out my body type, and looked through the sample diet plans which I only paid attention to my particular body time and gave it a shot. The ____ is to go through 21 strict days of following the plan she put in place, and of course you could adjust from there after the twenty-one. I had great results after the 21 days (pictured below). If you cheated within the 21 days then you had to start all over. Kind of motivating to stay strict if you don't want to start over for another 21 days huh? The only difference between the pictures besides the physical appearance that you notice was I only lost 1/2lb in my weight.

Badass Body Diet Post 21 days 2015

So because of what has affected my life for almost a year and the recent 2 months of eating things I shouldn't have, I'm starting over. I've posted some of the things I've eaten on my Grace Fitness facebook page and my instagram (tblack88) but what you don't see is the extra heaping spoon of peanut butter I shove in my mouth after eating my nightly snack (the picture that pops in my head on that description...) or the bag of girl scout cookies I've been slowly digging into, the Trios (trying to be sneaky). The things I have posted on instagram and my Grace Fitness page are compliant with the Badass Body Diet but those are my main meals throughout the day. Snacks at night are a completely different story. I've had some days where I have stuck it out on my night snack and other days I just have that craving and completely cave. I try to stick to things I'm allowed to have but on occasion that cookie sneaks in. As I start this process over again I am trying to think of some of the foods that I will miss. Besides my Sunday cheat dinner + dessert the only thing I will be missing while on the 21 days is not having honey to put in my herbal teas. I enjoy warm tea as part of my morning snack, but even though it smells amazing it doesn't taste as great when its just the tea. So I would use a spoonful of all natural honey in my tea to add a little bit of sweetness. But gone is the sugar for 21 days and today marks Day 1 on the Badass Body Diet. I'm going to admit, taking out the sugar besides my fruits is going to be hard but I've done it before and I can do it again. Below are my beginning pictures and as much as I wish I could tell you my beginning weight I currently don't have a scale that works. Not only does cleaning up your diet change your image, but it effects your hormones as well. This is way I have posted a picture of my amazing (full of sarcasm) on here as well. As you can see in the picture my face is broken out, more than the usual, and a lot of it can be stress but a lot of it has to do with my diet as well. So I'm going to try and post some weekly updates for you but also want to blog about other things as well. I've gotten on this fitness blogging kick lately and as much as I enjoy that and helping you out I still love my spiritual blogs and have really missed writing them for you. So I will drag you along on this 21 day re-journey and post some of those mouth watering meals I have during the process.This week I have fixed: Apple BBQ pork ribs (Paleo Leap) via crockpot, sweet potato jalapeno muffins (PaleOMG) and Mexican Turkey Meatloaf (PaleOMG), and some chicken I haven't decided what to do with yet!