The last week of the Transformation was a particularly difficult one for me... not so much because I was in Poland, where the staple diet (especially in the winter months) consists of meats, pickled vegetables, potatoes, and other starches (cough, vodka, cough) , but more so because I had the fortune/misfortune of being the first of my transformation group to break off and try a stab at paleo living on my own. I genuinly wish I had the opportunity to finish out the last week with everyone and not cut the experience short. On the other hand, I did get to test my resolve in a place that was far FAR away from Relentless both literally - geographically and in the sense of mentality.

Looking back on the past 8 weeks, one of my main goals was to achieve a sense of balance in terms of diet and fitness.... "to embrace the consistency of a healthy lifestyle" Before this experience, I had let myself slip so far off the path of being healthy that I desperately needed a hard kick in the rear to give me a fresh start and to re-set my frame of reference as to what I expected of myself as a "fit" 25 year old.

The greatest satisfaction I have from ending this 8 week experience, is not so much my new-found love of pushups(although I'm quite proud of that accomplishment) or the compliments from friends on how great this all turned out....rather its the satisfaction of knowing that I tested myself this past week, and passed. I went back to visit my old home, but did not re-visit old habits. I stood up to my greatest fear of reverting back into my old ways. I had the opportunity.. no one was watching... but I waved it off and moved on... and that felt great.

Poland = not Paleo friendly ;/

I closed week 6 with a couple realizations:

1) We only have 2 weeks left.. which is nuts ! - Now some people get very motivated and like to sprint to the finish line. I find myself very happy to have discovered that this new lifestyle has become a habit for me.. The idea of sprinting to a "finish line" is a bit abstract for me... I don't feel this sense of urgency because I plan on keeping this up for.. umm. hopefully the rest of my life. But still, I could use a little fire under my ass to pick it up the last 2 weeks and go out in style

2) Week 6 for me also involved a lot of mental preparation for my trip. The last week and a half of my transformation will be spent in Poland... first with family and friends, who will deem it their sole mission to over wine and dine me (well vodka and dine me ) as a gesture of hospitality.. and then at a conference with a lot of people I don't know.. I'll have to be super strong and not lose focus. Will be needing lots of support from my transformation buddies.

3) Last realization ... it's time to really start planning for the future.. 2 weeks will fly by and before we know it, we'll have to fashion our post-transformation fitness plans.. something that has been a underlying worry of mine.. We've put so much effort into this thus far, we can't afford to slip back into being our old selves again.

Not really sure how I feel looking back at week 5. I feel that my body definitely contradicted me. Week 5 was stressful. I found myself running around and not having time to eat regularly or in sufficient quantities for that matter.. and still I found myself gaining weight for the first time this week.

Maybe it's a temporary plateau, or perhaps my body just held on to more fuel this week because I wasn't treating it kindly enough. I have to admit, taking a small step back has dampened my spirits a bit but hopefully next week will boost my stats and my mood for the final count down.

Week 4 worked out wonderfully for me. I lost over 3 pounds (granted I had about 9 days between weigh ins) which was motivating since I was of the assumption that once I dropped the 6 pounds of water weight in the beginning, that the rest of the weight would come off in drips and drabs.

I feel strong. I did push up-high 5's with my boyfriend last week which simultaneusly shocked and impressed him (and that was nice) I guess he never considered push ups would ever be a "couple's activity" for us.

I successfully avoided any super bowl pitfalls and valiantly munched away on clementines whilst surrounded by a cloud of delicious smelling nachos and other cheesy dips.

I admit, I feel like I've come to a bit of a plateau. I'm not as sore after work outs and dont really think too much about planning my food as much as before.. maybe that's part of all this turning to habit. Hopefully the enthusiasm doesn't wane with the novelty of it all.

Half way point... check.

Week 3 came and went quite quickly for me as I sit here and ponder how it's possible that we are almost half way done with our transformation. I had a particularly long and stressful week at work, which in turn translated into a guacamole binge when friends visited this weekend.

Oh well! It was more than worth its weight in gold (or calories) for the stress relief that a night out with friends can bring. Other than that, missed my first Saturday class, which left me feeling a little restless and unhappy about keeping up with my resolve not to miss a beat. A long run on the beach and some core workouts outdoors in the beautiful sunlight fixed that right up. Ready to take on week 4.

Week 2 brought a lot of mixed feelings for most of our transformer group, as some of us either barely lost weight, stayed the same or even gained a smidge. I myself only lost 1 lb but was happy to see all my other measurements drop and felt that that was the most important step in the right direction.

The beginning of week 2, I was still riding the adrenaline high I've been on since I started the program. However, as week 2 ended and week 3 began I hit a strange wall of muscle fatigue and malaise that I couldn't seen to shake at my training sessions and the group class.

I think my body finally responded to this past 2 week fitness onslaught with the appropriate "WTF is going on here!" and staged a minor rebuttal. But all's well, I made it through the wall and am cruising through the next week.

On an unrelated note... I had a short but passionate romance with almond butter, when we first discovered each other but then had to quickly break it off when I realized that we were getting a little to attached to each other.. farewell almond butter ;)

Week one came and went and I feel great. My greatest concern of working a new diet into my lifestyle turned out not to be as big a hassle as I thought and I actually find myself having as much, if not more energy now while eating Paleo. I feel empowered by the results that I've achieved in this past 2 weeks since I weighed in on January 2nd... 6.2 lbs and counting.

Although some of that might be water weight, it doesn't change the fact that seeing results has inspired me to make sure that I continue on working towards slimming down and shaping up. Exercise wise... sore. You know you've had a good work out when you need to get your boyfriend to help you take your sweater off because its tough to get your arms over your head. :) Good stuff.

Nicole's Recap

The hardest part of Prep Week has been digesting the influx of information that comes with starting on an endeavor such as this one. I've been trying to keep up on reading all the emails Roger sends out and starting to visualize the changes that I'll be making over the next 8 weeks. Intense.

This is a massive systems overhaul. I'm not so worried about the nutrition aspect. I like healthy food, although I hate cooking.

So far I've been concentrating on avoiding eating the bad things that are still lying around my house... Maybe I'll get inspired and venture out into creating my own dishes at some point. Who knows.

My biggest concern in starting this is hoping that I get the hang of exercise as a daily routine so that I can keep this up when the Transformation is done. I see that as my biggest challenge; using the next 8 weeks to learn what I need to know to one day do this on my own.