Starting Week 8

I only have 5 weeks left of the 12 week program but a lifetime of tweaking my diet and exercise beyond that. This continues to be a great program to help me learn some of the fine tuning needed to lose weight. My last two weeks haven't been extremely productive on the scale but I still feel like I'm making progress. I've lost a total of 10 pounds and find that I have to control my "free day" to moderate lapses in judgement when it comes to food. I still feel like I'm winning as I've gotten off of my plateau that had me stymied for about 6 months. I do tend to enduldge in too many sweets on my free day and then I feel sick for the next day until I get my body re-metabolized for the week and by the end of the week I'm feeling great again. I'm just like everyone else and fall into the weaknesses of my cravings. I'm hoping that by the end of the 12 weeks I won't feel that need to give in to cravings as they are all phycological at this point and not metobolic. I did better yesterday as I bypassed my favorite food in the grocery store (peanut butter M&M's - the devil's candy) and held my sugar intake to a moderate amount for the day. I'm having trouble getting to my high point on my lower body and have modified my routine to do more on the Smith Machine at the gym where I can add more weight to my deadlifts, squats, etc. If I'm not sore the next day, I know I didn't reach my high point. My arms are getting stronger as I have noticed that I can pyramid hammer curls and end 6 reps with two 20 pound weights successfully whereas when I first started, I couldn't finish the hammer curls with that level of weight after having already done 3 other sets of reps with lighter weights. Yippee! I can definately see more muscle tone in my arms and am loving the definition. I'm hoping with the change in my lower body routine, I can get even more definition in my legs and with the trainers help and encouragement, I know it will work!