Hey guys. I'm back from National Realtors Convention in San Diego. Beautiful weather! We had a fantastic time. It was business but we had parties to attend at night. I hit over 100k steps this week on the fitbit but no lifting since Wednesday. I'm headed to the gym this morning. Thur-Monday we ate out 3x a day with a LOT of alcohol. Traveled on Tuesday we didnt eat much but it was all salty. Needless to say I'm up. I know some of this will level out from sodium but I think I'm going to retain some. I'm reserving judgement for now but today I weighed in at 177.4. That's a big upswing! But we had 4-8 drinks every day. That's a ton for me. I'm going to meal prep today and eat low sodium, lots of water, and green drinks. I'll check in next week. I'm tossing around the idea of cutting early. It's hard to go back to 2400 up this high. Im not sure what to do. It's easy to eat high when youre not gaining and I know this gain wasn't from 2400 calories but salt/ alcohol but the temptation is there !

OK Guys- I got some feedback from my Macro Coach and had a day to talk myself down so I figured I wouldn't leave you hanging. I decided to go ahead and work towards my original plan. I weighed in today at 175.8 so a bit has flushed out and I am up about 3 lbs. Just because I'm feeling a little gross I might go a little lower just the rest of this week. However, my coach says to keep pushing to eat the fitbit burn but to swap it out to eat it on the day I burn it rather than a steady calorie level all week. We'll see what the next few weeks brings. I did bench chest press yesterday and PR 125 x 3 unassisted. Today I did hack squats 450 on the rack 10x10. So I felt pretty good leaving the gym that I "redeemed myself" in the weightroom. Eating to Perform.. I'll just keep repeating it to myself.

Hi guys so today is the start of week 11. I was tracking clean-ish calories all the way through week 6 1/2. Went on vacation to San Diego came back and had Thanksgiving and it's been a lot of food and alcohol. I think more than anything this is a mental game I was feeling guilty which made me feel fluffy and it's been hard to track because the food is not stuff I've been making myself. But I have a calendar that I have used off and on through the whole year periodically checking my weight tracking time of month calories in and out so I can look back over it and see where I was. Realistically, since November 12 when we went to San Diego and I started the food and alcohol fest, I am up 3 pounds. Compared to this time last year when I was eating a consistent 1200-1700 cal I'm up 5 pounds so I know that three of that was just from recent changes and I can basically maintain my weight on nearly 2400 cal. I feel healthy I feel strong I feel in perspective today. I'm going to continue with my goal for my reset all the way through December and come in January motivated to start with the cut. Going to enjoy the rest of these holidays , I have meal prep for during the week and I will enjoy the actual holidays eating what makes me feel happy and good without excessive consumption. Just wanted to check in with you guys. it has been a difficult last three weeks getting through Tom and a separate stressful family situation. I realize a lot of those feelings were stress and hormonal and I'm still very happy with my current state of health and fitness. We can do this!!

Good evening. Don't have much to report that's exciting but it should be expected. Lots of parties = unknown macros= scale gains. I'm 177.6 today. I'm really looking forward to structure. I've been tracking about 2200 but I really don't know since so much is eating out Ect. I'm not thrilled to see that number but thankful it happened towards the end of my bulk. I've tried to choose only " worth it" foods so I at least feel good about having enjoyed things I wanted and i think it will help with the stricter low sodium diet I'm planning. My husband went to the gym w me this week and reported, " some of the scale gains are muscle for sure". He said I'm growing in a good way so that's good. My waist feels squishy and doesn't look Great wearing my weight training belt but I feel good dressed. On the home stretch. I hope hope hope the reset was long enough and effective. I'm not sure how to tell when it's been long enough. My mental is good. I feel positive about the decision I made. You can't diet 365 days a year.

I'm also considering taking the 3500 weekly deficit and splitting it so it's much lower deficit on weightlifting days and more on rest & cardio. When I do cardio it's pretty light, measuring 500 on the fitbit burn, so it's easier to eat less those days.

Update: Started my cut 1/1. Yesterday I went to my trainer and we did baseline measurements to start the cut using the 7 point pinch. He hasn't talked much about scale weight and knew I was in a reverse/ bulking phase. I stepped on the scale and was 5 lbs up from summer ( last time we did body fat testing). I knew it, planned it, but still hated to see it. However, the body fat measurements were down 3.5%!!! Yay. I'm so excited to see some proof. I saw new muscles in the mirror but the number on the scale was in my head. I'm feeling very motivated to stay the course and lean out to see all the awesome new muscle I've been building this year.