25 Days Later - Are the losses from Autumn Calabrese's 21 Day Fix sustainable?

It's been more than 21 days since the last day of my 21 Day Fix day. I can literally say "Been there. Done that. Got the shirt."  When I started the 21 Day Fix program I joined the Beachbody Challenge. By tracking my progress and sharing the results with Beachbody I got free swag. Works for me! Who doesn't love free? I was so proud of my accomplishment when that shirt came I totally could not wait to wear it so I rocked it at my daughter's track meet on a beautiful spring day.

So where am I now that it's been 25 days since completing the program? I'm excited to say that many of the positive habits established over those initial 21 days have stuck in some form or another and I realized I learned a few things along the way that I didn't expect.

I am hovering right around 160 pounds. That puts me in a healthy weight range for my height. I'm a tall girl. That is a few pounds up from where I finished the 21 Day Fix. I am okay with this for a few reasons but in the end it is still a maintained loss of 10 pounds. I am pleased with this.

1. I am not eating much more along the lines of the 80/20 concept. Eight percent of what I eat is good well planned healthy food. The other 20 percent are incidental cheats when life can't be helped or planned cheats to keep the peace in my family. 
2. I am not watching my salt consumption quite as much. I've really picked up running since wrapping up 21 Day Fix. I need to be mindful of my electrolytes.That is content for a whole post all by itself but for now let's just say I am not one of those cute girls who sparkles or shimmers after her workout. Nope. I sweat.
3. Weight displayed on the scale can change anywhere from 2-5 pounds in one day. This is one reason I was so intentional about when I weighed myself during the 21 Day Fix.

Changes I've made to my life after completing 21 Day Fix.

1. Eating 5 -6 small meals in a day.
2. Intentionally taking time to eat.
3. Intentionally drinking water throughout the day.
4. Drinking Shakeology daily.
5. Working out 30 or more minutes at least 5 days a week. 
6. Saying no to sweets
7. Eating candy and other treats in moderation. I am capable of having one small slice of pie or a small handful or candy.

Things I learned after completing 21 Day Fix.

1. I am a different person when I don't eat on time. It isn't pretty.
2. I am a happier person when I workout. Miss a day no big deal miss 2 and well it isn't pretty.
3. Just living a positive healthy lifestyle will impact the people you have in your life.
4. Stress makes me not want to cook or eat but if I do either it isn't good food for my body.
5. Plain water can be made delicious with simple additions that don't make it unhealthy.
6. My portions were way to large even with healthy meals.

I've moved on from this program and have selected my next but I see myself coming back to this soon. I enjoyed the accountability and how intentional I had to be. It isn't about control but guidance and intention. Now I'm working on Insanity The Asylum Vol. 1. It's a little bit of research for work since it is very sport conditioning based. I have a love hate relationship with it right now just like I had with preseason conditioning training for soccer many years ago. Once an athlete always an athlete I guess.