Day Thirty-One - This is the end my friends

So, here I am at the end of my month. Not that this means a great deal in the grand scheme of things. I'm still planning on eating and exercising like I have been for the past month, the only difference is I won't be blogging about it everyday.

I weighed myself this morning - thought it might be good to see where I started and ended this month. Thirty-one days ago I weighed 70.1kg - having gained 5kg+ over the Christmas/New Year period. That was a big wake up call, a big slap in the face - having put so much work in over the past year, to then relax my eating and exercise (read: fell off the wagon big time) and see the weight pile on so quickly. Not nice, especially when I started having trouble doing up my jeans.
This morning I weighed 64.65kg. So, in the past month I have lost 5.45kg. My weight loss has definitely slowed down, but it is still slowly coming off, and I'm happy with that. It's not a race afterall - it's a lifestyle.

I'll definitely be back and blogging occasionally  when I feel the need. If I need to get myself focussed again, or just want to share an achievement, or an awesome recipe... This is not really the end. To be honest, I don't think my weight loss 'journey' (blergh) will ever end. It's something I'm always going to have to be mindful of. I wish it wasn't that way, but when I find I fall back into old habits so easily if I lose focus. Hopefully one day I can move past it, but I'm aware that this may not be the case. For now, I'm feeling good and focused (yes, even despite my curly wurly slip). Somewhere along the way, this month-challenge thing has just turned into life - this just feels like what I do/eat, not a temporary thing.

I would have loved to go for a run this morning, but it was pouring with rain, so instead I had to resort thirty minutes on the exercise bike. Not my favourite way to exercise, but a good chance to work in some arm/shoulder work too with my dumbells.

Breakfast: CADA (which I had to share with the little miss) and a cup of tea with almond milk.

Morning tea: An apricot fruit leather and some strawberries.

Lunch: A nectarine. A bowl of homemade sweet potato chips (sweet potato cut into chip shapes, coated in olive oil and a little salt and baked in the oven). A fried egg on a piece of wholemeal bread (bakery not homemade).

Afternoon tea: Celery sticks with my hummus and sundried tomato dip. I had a bit of a taste of the chocolate mixture of a new recipe I tried (which I had for dessert), and a choc-mint ball (raw cacao treat balls recipe with added peppermint essence).

Tea: A thin steak and salad (made up of lettuce, carrot, cherry tomatoes, red capsicum, cucumber and cheese).

Dessert/Late night snack: Two choc mint balls. Two small pieces of raw chocolate shortbread. Brand new recipe - it's nice. Interesting. I think it will grow on me, but it's different to what I'm used to. A cup of tea with almond milk.

And that's it. That is my month up. I feel like I should be giving a speech or something, haha! Thank you to anyone who has been following and commenting along the way - your support really means a lot. But like I said, this isn't the end... there isn't an end. The month I told myself I would blog about to get back on track is over, but I will be just be here plodding along. I have a few things coming up that will test me (a bridal shower and a lunch) - yes I'll allow myself to eat whatever, but then making sure I stick with good, clean eating afterwards will be the test. I also have a fun run coming up at the start of March, and I have some other fitness goals in mind that I'll keep working towards.

So, goodbye for now, and I'll talk to you all soon xx