Flashback Friday and Giveaway Winners

As I mentioned in my last post, John threw me a surprise 30th birthday party last weekend.  As if the surprise of the party wasn't enough he also came equipped with surprise photos of me growing up.  Yikes!  There were plenty of embarrassing ones to say the least.

Because I enjoy a good laugh (even if I'm the one being laughed at) I'll share a few...

Grade school- where I wore polos every.single.day. 

Wowza, I remember that being a favorite tank of mine.  Not a good look at all.
In college, on a softball trip.
Sorry it's blurry, it's a picture of a picture.    

I don't even know who those people are!

Ahhhhh, that's better.  

Ok so since we're talking flashbacks I was taking a look through my progress pictures and found this...

This is totally out of my comfort zone to post these but I hope by sharing this I change the way some of you view "progress".  Just don't ask me why the fitness industry poses people this way, ok?

The first picture on the left was taken in November, the middle one about two months after that, and the picture on the right in March.  This is four months progress. I lost inches all over and body fat but here's the kicker the difference between the first photo and last photo?  Only about five pounds. 

Last week I was hovering around the same weight I was in the picture on the right when I remeasured.  Down 2% body fat and a few inches.  

Starting to see more muscle! Excuse the rat's nest on the back of my head.

Then tonight I took this photo...

BAM!

Yes, I have officially turned into one of "those people".  Ya know, those people that take photos of themselves flexing in their bathroom.  It's awesome, you should try it.  And just for the record John encouraged me to share this photo.  Don't judge.  

Ok in all seriousness though, tell me if this sounds like you....

You're in a good mood, feeling great about your week's workouts and meals.  You step on the scale.  The number that pops up is not what you had in mind.  You step off the scale pissed off.

Sound familiar?  I've been guilty of this many, many times before.  Six months ago I only used the scale to measure success.  The number of that little machine controlled more of my disposition than I'd ever care to admit.  Here's the thing though, I didn't just want to be lighter.  I wanted to be healthy.  I wanted to be fit.  I wanted to be strong.  Healthy, fit and strong aren't things the scale can measure.

Want to know the difference between the first photo and the last?  Six pounds.  Six pounds and over 5% body fat.  If I had been using just my scale over the last six months to measure my success I would have been pretty disappointed. But I haven't been using just the scale.  I know I've lost inches, body fat, I've taken pictures so I can see the difference for my own eyes and most importantly I've tracked my workouts and know that I am in fact getting stronger.

How do you track your progress?

Ok! On to the giveaway winners!

On Monday I asked you to share who you like to break a sweat and I got some great responses!  Running, Crossfit, Weight lifting, kickboxing- all excellent ways to exercise.  Because I'm really high tech, I drew names out of a bowl for the winners.

Drum roll please.......

Twitter: Jennifer @betterjNel 

Instagram: @carlsone16

Blog: Joanna

Please send me a direct message or email to annie(dot)brees@hotmail(dot)com with your address so you can get your own sweat pink laces!  Congrats to the winners and thank you to all of you who participated!

Have a great weekend everyone!