"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts" - Winston Churchill

So I started off the week great.

I was traveling for work Sunday evening - Tuesday evening and I stuck exactly to my macros, even while eating meals out. Wednesday rolled around and I still did a pretty good job sticking to my macros, but since it was my first day at home I wasn't the strictest. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, however, I definitely ate all the goodies and drank my fair share of delicious wine.

I woke up feeling like a water balloon on Saturday, the day after Christmas. To add insult to injury, it was also the start of my lady time of the month meaning it was inevitable to retain water.

Does it set me back just a bit? Sure.

Is this fatal to my entire prep? Absolutely not.

Was it worth it to enjoy these times with my family who I get to see only a handful of times each year? You bet.

Workouts

The good news is I haven't blown off my workouts since I've been home. Quite the opposite, actually. Since I'm not truly "traveling" like for a vacation or business trip I've been able to find gyms in the area to go to. I found a Crossfit gym (Blue Ash Strength & Conditioning) that also has platforms for Olympic weightlifting. The owner is incredibly nice and has let me come in and use the space while Crossfit classes are going on.

In addition to Olympic weightlifting, I'm also still keeping up with my main strength program from Eric Cressey's High Performance Handbook. I completed Week 1 of Phase 3. While I didn't workout on Christmas, I made it a point to lift Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday of this past week.

Nutrition

I'm not going to lie or sugar coat it - eating out or eating meals not prepared by me makes it HARD to stay on track. There hasn't been one day in this past week that I can confidently say I know my exact macros for. This week won't be any easier as I will still be at home all week. I will have a bit more control since we won't have holiday meals, but I still will be dining out - plus we have New Year's Eve.

I have eaten some damn delicious food this week. Monday and Tuesday I was in Buena Vista, VA (aka the middle of nowhere) touring a manufacturing factory of air handling units. The food choices were...limited. I stuck to chicken and fish and of course had my protein bars with me for a snack.

Wednesday was my first full day at home and I did well staying on track (all things considered). I ate really great during the day and then that night my family went to Morton's Steakhouse for dinner - of course I was indulging in a juicy steak!

Christmas Eve we hosted a brunch at our house and my extended family came over. We featured so many My Engineered Nutrition original recipes! While not pictured below we served my Spinach Artichoke Frittata and Sweet Potato Stacks, both of which were a huge hit. Additionally, we had this awesome platter of HoneyBaked Ham.

For dessert were my Double Chocolate Peppermint Protein Muffins, Mimi's Toffee Bars and these awesome 'healthy' raspberry chocolate truffles made by my mom.

For Christmas morning I re-purposed the leftover Double Chocolate Peppermint muffins we had into a triple chocolate bread pudding. Definitely not healthy and definitely the most sinfully decadent sweet treat.

Progress

While I feel like a water balloon (and in my eyes I look like one) the damage actually is very minimal. I am holding 1.4 lb more weight and my measurements are the same as last week with the exception of my abdomen which is up 0.25" (likely because of water retention).

Measurements:

8 Weeks: