Cinch check in-is it working??

So.....how are things going here in the middle of the 5 day fast forward?

Astounding.
Amazing.
Crazy.
Wow.

I will admit that I may never look at raspberries the same way again though.

I had hoped to lose 2lbs this week.  I consider myself a pretty fit person, I don't have dozens of extra pounds hanging around to lose, but it seems like those last few are always the hardest.  I wanted to drop that extra pound I was carrying from my preholiday weigh-in just prior to Thanksgiving, and one more to get started on my road back to the happy number I saw about two weeks before Christmas.   Thank goodness I've been working out regularly, or that New Year's weigh-in would have been really ugly!  I managed to put on a full 4 pounds in the last two weeks of December, putting me up 1lb from my pre-holiday weigh-in.  oops.  I thoroughly enjoyed it though.  Anyway, I usually don't let go of weight easily when I'm breastfeeding, so it takes a lot longer to get it off than it normally would, and certainly a lot longer to get it off than to pack it on!  But that's always the story, isn't it?  So between the 5 day plan and my workouts this week, I was really hoping to be down two pounds come Friday.

Uh.....I kind of blew past that on Monday.  Monday people!  One day!

Halfway through this plan and I'm down 5 pounds.  Yes, five.  So I am now below that happy number I had worked my way to last month.  
The husband?  He's down 9.  Nine pounds!  Granted I think that's a big skewed thanks to the New Year's weekend binge, but still.  That's a huge number.  When he did Weight Watchers for a bit years ago he lost 9 pounds in the first week.  He's lost nine pounds in three days!

Crazy.

I mentioned three other friends doing this 5 day plan as well; two of them are down 4lbs, the other one starts the plan tomorrow.

Overall, I'd say it's working.

Now, a couple of things:
First, me: I am still maintaining my workout schedule, one that I consider fairly rigorous at this point, so I have no doubt that is contributing to my total loss.  I am not doing any running this week though b/c this plan is not enough to fuel my working out plus running.  Plus breastfeeding.  Plus functioning.  Also, I have doubled the eggs to add more to my intake and am carefully monitoring my baby's eating patterns (and outgo) to make sure that this is not affecting my milk supply.  So far we're good!  I did add a protein bar to my intake today, because I was reeeeeally dragging and I don't plan on curbing my workouts this week.  I will reevaluate how I feel tonight and tomorrow morning and make sure I'm good to finish the last two days of this.

Second, my husband:  he is *not* working out.  It is recommended that you not workout during the five days because the caloric intake isn't all that high on this plan.  He did forget to take berries to work yesterday so he was short a couple of cups on those, but otherwise is doing great following along.

Third, the cost.  A lot of people have asked how pricey this is and a few others have mentioned that anything to help you get healthier shouldn't cost you more.  Well, yes and no.  It is cheaper to buy crap that good produce sometimes.  Sure if you usually spend fifty cents on a candy bar or even granola bar for a snack and now you are using a yogurt, a cup of berries and some almonds, it's going to be more.  But overall, healthy eating tends to be a little less than stocking up on processed foods.  Unless you shop at Good Earth or Whole Foods.  Which I am convinced many people do just so they can say they shop there.  Many of their products can be found at normal stores for around half the cost.  But hey, if shopping there is your thing, more power to you!  
I bought my spinach at Costco-less than $4 for the week.  I bought frozen raspberries at Walmart, and there is more in the bag than the nutritional info on the back indicates, so I will be going through 7 bags instead of the indicated 10 bags.  That works out to be about $21.  Pricey, but not outrageous.  When you consider what most people spend on soda or treats/sweets or going out to lunch in a week, this isn't too bad.  Almond butter I did buy at a natural food store, and paid dearly.  If you want to grind your own, that's the place to go, but I just bought it in the jar, the one where the ingredient list reads Ingredients: almonds.  Found the same thing as Costco (after I'd bought it of course) for less than half the price.  Dang.  Eggs are cheap, and I already had a bag of slivered almonds on hand-also purchased at Costco (so it's huge enough to last me for months), for about $6 so we'll add that in as well.  Yogurt is pretty inexpensive, a 32oz tub running around $2-3.  Sam still doesn't do well when I eat dairy, so I had to go another route and went with Coconut Milk yogurt.  Super yummy, but super pricey at $4.75 for a 16oz container.  Ugh.  The only place I could find this was that natural foods store unfortunately.  I'm sure if Walmart carried it it would be less, but they don't.  Which is too bad because it is really good!

So yes, it was a little pricey.  But with no treats being purchased this month, no eating out, and no junk filler foods, it evens out pretty well.

Our five day fast forward lasts through Friday, so I will be back this weekend with end results.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for your own copy of Cinch!, go HERE to do so!

It's time for my yogurt parfait.

(who is slightly tired of raspberries)