3 Days from Month 9 No Soda Challenge, 60 Days Isabody Challenge

It's hard for me to believe. In just three months, I'll have completed my year without soda. What I thought would be the most challenging part, proved to be the easiest. That was the giving up of soda. What I thought would be the easiest part - losing weight after giving up soda - has proven to be the hardest for me.

I am 60 days into my Isabody challenge. I have shed a total of 25.5 inches of unwanted body fat. Sadly, I haven't lost anything since I posted the last time. But, that's mostly because I stopped being faithful to the Isadiet and stopped adding in the extra exercise I'd been doing. Those choices kicked my butt and for about a week, I went from losing weight to slowly having it creep back into place.

Let me tell you - it was an incredibly discouraging thing to take that tape measure and see those inches were starting to return. Part of me felt like saying, "Well, if I'm just going to end up back where I was what's the point of all this?" but, that was the negative part of me. It's the part that has kept me from being as proactive about my weight as I should have been all along.

The other part of me said, "Okay, if I'm putting the weight back on, let's take a look at the choices I've been making and get back to doing what was working."

I realized I had dropped my planking. I had reached being able to hold the plank for a full 70 seconds and then let laziness take over and gave up doing it. I wasn't following the Isadiet. I was only taking one shake a day rather than the recommended two, and I wasn't keeping my snack choices healthy.

I'm happy to report, though, that putting the exercise back in its place - in addition to all the walking I do - and getting back on top of my diet resulted in me being at maintenance of the inches lost rather than having lost ground. I'm making sure I eat right, eat regularly, and keep my hands off the sweets. It's okay every once in a while, but when it becomes a consistent part of my diet, it quickly becomes a real problem.

What I've learned from this experience is that bad habits are easy to fall back into, but those bad habits can quickly undo all the progress you've gained from making good choices. You have to be vigilant about your choices, and you have to keep measuring yourself to make sure you're headed in the direction you want to be headed. Running from the tape measure won't help.

I think that's true about any positive change we want to make in life. We need to find a measuring tape for our changes, use it regularly, and keep track of the positive gains we've made. We also need to be honest about where we've fallen short and take steps to get ourselves back on track as soon as we're aware of the problem. Losing the weight is a harder battle for me than it might be for some, but it's a battle I'm determined to win.

8 Months Without Soda, Day 36 IsaBody Challenge

When I started this journey 8 months ago, I anticipated a grueling battle. I thought the hardest part of it would be giving up soda. That part proved surprisingly easy, and each change that I made for the better made choosing to give up something new easier. It boosted my confidence, but it didn't produce the results I wanted. I wasn't losing the inches or the weight I expected.

For the first time in my life, I dieted. I stopped putting sugar in my drinks and I started counting calories. It took me six weeks of that before I saw a very small movement on the measuring tape, although nothing was moving on the scale. It was frustrating and defeating.

Thirty-six days ago I said yes to an offer from my little sister to try out a program she'd been using successfully. I wasn't expecting much. The first day, I wanted to pack it back up and send it back to the company she'd bought it from. The shakes they wanted me to take didn't taste "delicious" as advertised. I thought, "If they aren't honest about how this stuff tastes, how can I trust them in any other aspect of their business?"

However, there was the Isabody Challenge. I could potentially win myself $25,000 just for putting myself on their system for 30 days and seeing how it went. I asked myself whether I would be willing to do this on a dare if there was $25,000 involved - and I had to admit that the answer was "YES!" That's when I knuckled down and decided to give it my best. After all, at this point, I didn't have anything - except unwanted weight - to lose.

I've only lost 5 lbs in the 30 days I've been on this program. However, what I've lost even more of than pounds is inches. By my husband's advice, I'm going to reveal before and after pics as well as a inches comparison chart.

	Day 1	Day 35	Inches Lost
Neck	14.25	13.75	0.50
Upper Arm - Left	15.50	14.25	1.25
Upper Arm - Right	15.00	15	0.00
Chest	42.50	39.5	3.00
Diaphragm	38.00	34.5	3.50
Waist	39.50	34.75	4.75
Abdomen 6" Below Waist	46.75	44.5	2.25
Buttocks 9" Below Waist	44.50	42.75	1.75
Upper Thigh - Left	26.50	24.5	2.00
Upper Thigh - Right	26.75	24.75	2.00
Calf - Left	17.50	17	0.50
Calf - Right	17.75	16.75	1.00
Upper Knee - Left	17.50	16.25	1.25
Upper Knee - Right	17.75	16	1.75
Total Inches	379.75	354.25
Total Inches Lost		25.50
Weight	195.00	190
Weight Lost		5.00

After struggling so hard with little to nothing to show for it, I feel so good about my results that I can't help but share it. It's not just that I love the way the numbers are dropping, it's how I feel and how my clothes fit. I'm comfortable in a size large for the first time in several years. 

I still have a sizeable gut, but I have literally been watching it shrink over the last month. My gut depth is at only 2". When I first thought to measure it, it was at 3 1/2". That means I'm not just losing weight - I'm getting healthier, too. Oh! And one more thing - I can now go 70 seconds of planking. It's tough, but I can do it.