Well hey folks! I’m so happy to say that my Oxygen Challenge ended last Friday! Woot!!
I’m so glad I did it! It was great, I learned so much and I’m happy with my results! I plan on doing a separate post all about it, but for now I’ll just share some of my final results.
I got my body fat analysis done at Complete Nutrition at the start of this challenge and then again at the end. It’s really a great thing to do and is so informative!
I was happy to see that I’d lost 8 1/2 pounds! That was more than I thought I’d lost! I lost 5 pounds of FAT! I also lost a pound of muscle, but that’s to be expected since I was leaning out and eating at a caloric deficit.
I was a little disappointed to see my body fat percentage was at 21.4%, but it’s okay.
When I started the challenge, my body fat was 23.4%, so I guess I’m happy to see that I’d lost 2% body fat. I’m just disappointed it wasn’t more. I was also disappointed because about a year ago, my body fat percentage was 20.9%. I was hoping to be lower than that this time. I did weigh 5 pounds more then though….3 pounds of that was muscle. 🙁
FYI, I think my ultimate body fat percentage goal is 18%. I know it will take quite a bit of work and dedication to get there, but I’m determined to make it happen!
I was happy to see I’d also lost some inches on my body. I took my measurements at the beginning and end of this challenge. I lost 2 inches around my chest, 2 inches around my hips, 3 1/2 inches around my waist and 2 inches around my thigh! I was surprised to see I’d lost so many inches! Woot!
Here are my official before and after pictures…
I sure felt chubby at the beginning. I’d been livin’ it up for a little too long! My clothes were starting to not fit me too well and I just didn’t feel comfortable in my own skin. I knew a change was necessary!
Now, I feel so much better, my clothes all fit me like they should and I just feel good. I feel leaner, stronger and I have more energy and stamina!
That challenge was a lot of work though, I must say. I loved it, but it was tough to stay mentally focused and committed for soooooo long (almost 14 weeks!) I’ll save a lot of my thoughts and the things I learned for the post I’m going to write all about the challenge, but for now I’ll just say I’m really happy with my efforts. I absolutely killed it the first 3 weeks of the challenge and the last month of the challenge. I did a’ight during the middle of the challenge. I still worked hard, but just coasted a little bit.
Now that my challenge is over, I’ve been taking a short break. I needed to take things down a notch for my mental sanity. I’m not going crazy, but I’ve just been eating a few more carbs and indulging just a bit. It’s been very nice!
However, I don’t want to give back any of my hard work and progress, so after taking a week “off,” I’m going to get right back “on” on Monday. It’s been a nice break, but I really enjoy taking care of my body, working hard and being disciplined more!
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Well, I thought I’d also share a couple of recipes I’ve been enjoying lately. We planted a garden this year so I’ve been gettin’ really creative with the tomatoes and zucchini! Ha!
I made this yummy Garlic Parmesan Zucchini Noodle recipe last week and it was so good!
I found the recipe at www.inspiredtaste.net. I used grated Parmesan instead of shredded and dried basil instead of fresh because that’s what I had on hand. It was fabulous, but I’m sure it would be sooooo good with fresh basil!
I served mine with some grilled chicken on the side to get my protein in!
I also want to mention that I used grated zucchini instead of zucchini noodles because I had a bag of leftover shredded zucchini in the fridge from some zucchini bread I’d made. It worked out great! I’m sure spiral zucchini noodles would be prettier, but the grated zucchini tasted the same, of course!
I will definitely be making this again!
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I’ve also been making fresh salsa a TON this past month. It’s so quick and easy to make and it’s sooooooo good! I’ve been putting it on eggs, chicken, tacos and dipping homemade chips in it that I made from Joseph’s lavash bread.
I originally used a recipe I’d found on AllRecipes.com, but I’ve since adjusted a lot of the ingredients and spices and I also added garlic. Here’s how I’ve been making mine….
Fresh Homemade Salsa
Ingredients:
- 4 cups chopped tomatoes, liquid drained
- 1 small green bell pepper; chopped (~3/4 cup)
- 1 small onion; chopped (~1 cup)
- 1-2 medium jalapenos; chopped (leave seeds in for more heat….1 jalapeno=medium, 2 jalapenos=hot)
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro; minced
- 2 cloves garlic; minced
- juice of two limes (~3-4 Tablespoons)
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
**NOTE: this picture shows A LOT more tomatoes than you need for this recipe!! Ha ha. Those are just all the tomatoes I had from my garden at the time. 🙂
Directions:
**NOTE: I used a small food processor to chop all of the veggies and it worked better than my full sized food processor. My full sized food processor seem to just pulverize everything!**
- Wash and chop tomatoes…
- Drain the liquid from the tomatoes. I like to put the chopped tomatoes in a colander and shake it a bit to remove most of the liquid and a lot of the seeds.
- Wash and chop the green bell pepper…
- Chop the onion…
- Wash and chop the jalapenos. Kev likes his salsa HOT, so I’ve been leaving the seeds in and using two jalapenos…
- Chop the cilantro. I’ve used fresh and dried in this recipe and they both turn out great!
- Mix all of those ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Add the garlic, lime juice, cumin, salt and pepper…
- Mix everything together. Refrigerate for at least an hour to allow the flavors to blend. Serve and enjoy!
This is such a yummy salsa recipe! We’ve been loving it. If you need a good healthy homemade “pita chip” recipe, you can click here for that as well!
I hope you guys enjoy these recipes!
Well, I gotta hit the hay, but I’ll leave you guys with some interesting pics we took last weekend…
My family is growing, folks!! Gah! I think my daughter might be done growing (she’s 5’7″), but her little brother is gaining on her! She was not a fan of that! Also, I’m not sure if our oldest son will grow much more or not, but I think he may just be a little taller than Kev now! Freaky. Kev is six feet tall, FYI.
It sure is a weird feeling to have such big kids wandering around here! They’re great kids though and I’m glad they’re mine. <3
I hope y’all have a great night! xoxo
You look amazing, I can totally see a difference.
Thanks so much Abby! I really loved this challenge!