Fitness Boot Camp Update // Halfway Through

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Green smoothie bowl with gold spoon

If you’re following along on our Instagram stories, you’re probably like Dang, when is this boot camp going to end?! Not gonna lie, sometimes I feel the same way. Did you catch our last post about why I chose to enroll in a fitness boot camp? Since we covered the why and outlined what I’m actually doing in that post, I thought it could be interesting to do some updates every so often. We’re in the second half of an eight week boot camp; on Sunday, we’ll have exactly three weeks left. Here are a few of my thoughts as of now.

Finding Balance for Special Occasions During a Fitness Boot Camp

I probably couldn’t have planned this boot camp during a more inconvenient time. During the span of the bootcamp, I celebrated my birthday, Valentine’s Day, three friends’ birthdays, now I’m in Hawaii on vacation (more on that below), and I have a girls’ trip with my bestie just before boot camp ends. Every one of those are occasions that I would usually celebrate with cocktails, appetizers, meals out, desserts, and all kinds of indulgences. Heck, I’ve even found that a normal Friday afternoon is difficult because usually right around 5 pm on Friday I pour myself a glass of wine. But not on boot camp, y’all.

The thing that I’ve been trying to internalize, though, is that food does not equal celebration. Don’t get me wrong — I love to eat. But that doesn’t mean that every party needs to be a binge for me. I’ve been working on being more present in my body at social events and not relying on a cocktail or a plate of food to to my socializing for me. (Does that even make sense?) I’m trying to listen to hunger cues and true cravings, but still feel like I can indulge. For my birthday, I made a brownie dessert that was totally boot camp approved and made entirely with whole foods and no refined sugar. Was it exactly like my favorite chocolate cake? No. But did I enjoy it? Absolutely.

Little changes like that are what I’m working on, to be able to make the nutrition part of this boot camp a more permanent fixture in my life. I doubt that once it’s over I’ll be as regimented as I am now, but for me that’s not what it’s about. It’s about making a foundation of healthy habits that I can rely on and come back to after I have an occasional splurge or treat. Before this, I was consuming insane amounts of sugar, and I know now how much better my body feels without it. That’s something that I’d like to hang on to.

Staying Healthy on Vacation

Did you catch that bit about how I’m in Hawaii right now? We’re here for over a week and if I’m being honest, a Hawaiian vacation during a boot camp isn’t exactly ideal. But. I’ve been talking with my coach about it from the very beginning, and we’ve been chatting about ways to stay on track and still enjoy the trip fully. I’m hoping that I can keep the same sense of balance that I have tried to have during special occasions. I’ll absolutely enjoy a drink or two over the course of the week. And probably a special meal here or there. But it’s interesting to be on a trip like this and know that you have a specific mission of maintaining a really clean food intake. It almost takes the stress out of ordering food or deciding what to eat. (It’s kind of how I felt about shopping during my no-buy challenge.) I’m not even looking at the dessert menu, or the appetizer list. I just know that my goal is simple, nutritious food so I hunt for that.

As far as working out on vacation, I usually stay pretty active when we travel, so that’s not as challenging as the food part of it for me. I have a few workouts planned over the week, and we tend to plan activities that keep us moving (biking, walking, swimming, etc.). Overall, my goal is to come home and have my pants still fit. 😉 Ha!

How’s My Progress? Sharing the Numbers

Over on Instagram stories I shared a photo of the sheet where we’re documenting our numbers — weight, measurements, body fat and muscle percentages, and more. You can see the snapshot if you go to our Instagram highlight called “Fitness.” It was interesting, because I did a poll asking whether people wanted to see that information and a handful of people said no! I’m wondering if it feels too personal for them, or if they truly just don’t care and it’s information they don’t need. Either way, the consensus was largely to share the info, and that was my gut instinct as well. I feel like women especially are so secretive about numbers like those. We give them so much power, but really, they’re just figures on a page. I shared because a part of the boot camp experience is tracking progress in that way, but honestly I’m trying to pay more attention to how I’m feeling.

So how AM I feeling? My skin is clearer. My sleep is deeper. My joints hurt a little less than they usually do. I’m almost never bloated. Basically it feels like all the inflammation that I had in my body is subsiding. It’s a good feeling.

Encouragement from Others During a Fitness Boot Camp

My last takeaway so far is how very fulfilling it is to be going through this experience with other people, and how much their encouragement (and yours!) really does carry me along. I can pinpoint moments, big and small, where I would have given up on a tough workout or made a less-than-ideal food choice if it hadn’t been for somebody outwardly rooting for me. I try to do the same for other people. So if you sense that someone needs some encouragement, don’t second guess yourself. Give it freely. You never know how much they need it.

That’s it for now! Stay tuned for dispatches from the second half of this crazy trip. More coming soon! xoxo

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