All Apologies

I feel like I'm doing this every other week... but I'm sorry I haven't been posting regularly. There is so much going on in my life right now and sometimes the idea of sitting down and trying to compose a coherent blog post is about the most unappealing thing in the world to me.

Positive things: I am feeling really good about this lifting program. I have 3 more workouts left and then I'm done with Stage 1. This will put my final Stage 1 workout on April 1st. I'll take a rest week before moving into Stage 2, starting April 8th. I will probably also eat at maintenance (on purpose) during that rest week, and then go back to TDEE minus 15-20% once I start Stage 2.

Probably the absolute best thing about getting back into lifting is that I really look forward to my workouts. Now that I'm reaching the end of Stage 1, I've upped sets and the workouts take me a bit longer than the 25 minutes I started with. I'm averaging about 45 mins per workout, and it's no trouble at all for me to "make time" for it. Even though today I'm feeling super tired (and slightly hungover, if I'm being honest), I cannot WAIT to do my lifts tonight and dance around to my "gym" playlist during my rests!

Official Loss?

Official weight @ 03/11/2013: 194.4 lbs

...wait for it....

Official weight @ 3/15/2013: 190 lbs. Even.

Shocking isn't it?

I was pretty shocked, myself. But then I remembered I lifted on Sunday night – the night before weigh-in. There’s lots of stuff out there that talks about water retention in the muscles after strength training, whether that be lifting or body-weight exercise, but I guess I never really thought it could make THAT big of a difference. Until now. Holy moley!

Okay, but here’s the most exciting part: I’ve been in a plateau since early January hanging out between 191 and 192 – the lowest I hit was 190.8 for ONE weigh-in in February. But my body’s favorite weight over the last 10 weeks was 191.2 exactly – week after week. But this morning that beautiful “190.0” popped up on my scale. I stepped on and off the scale about four times… just to be sure. And it stayed.

I am counting this as my first REAL loss of 2013. A) because it’s the lowest I’ve been since January 11th, and B) because this number showed up even after drinking barely any water yesterday, eating more processed food that is ever necessary, AND drinking 3 glasses of wine.

This will probably jinx it, but: I believe I may have finally broken through my weight plateau. I absolutely attribute this to being more diligent on my calories the last two weeks and staying in my 1900-2100 range most days as well as paying closer attention to my macros (protein, protein, protein!). I have also added lots more whole foods and organic into my diet, which is probably always a smart move.

I redid measurements this morning as well. Here we go:

Measurements @ 3/10/2013 (changes in blue)

Estimated Body Fat: 33.6% / 33.28%

Chest (across bust in sports bra): 38" 

Bicep: 12"

Waist: 33.5"

Waist at naval: 36.5" / 36"

Hips: 44.5"

Thigh: 26.5" / 26"

Very slow change happening, I am glad that my BF% went down even if it was only by 0.3%. I definitely feel like I’m seeing the changes more in the mirror right now, which is totally okay. I’m pretty excited to take some more pictures this weekend!

I’ve officially completed the first half (4 weeks) of NROLFW Stage 1. I have 8 more workouts to go! I’m feeling really good about this program. I’m definitely gaining strength – I’ve gone from using 8lb dumbbells and bodyweight to using 10-15lb dumbbells on everything except pushups! But I will say I’ve progressed from doing wall push-ups, to “girl” pushups. I’m hoping by the end of Stage 1 I can do a real push-up! What this means: for arm exercises I’ve gone from lifting 8 lbs to 15 lbs/for leg exercises I’ve gone from bodyweight (squats/step-ups) to 20lbs, and for deadlifts from 16lbs to 30lbs. I’ve almost doubled in everything, which I’m pretty damn excited about. I am very much going to need a barbell set soon! My dumbbell set only goes up to 25lbs. And let’s face it, dumbbells can be pretty unwieldy once you get heavier than 30-40 lbs for most exercises.

I definitely had some down days this last week. Work has been incredibly stressful and it’s kind of pulled everything else going on in my life down with it. It’s been hard to stay positive on my progress, but a blessing in disguise came yesterday when Nolan was running a high fever. It meant I got to stay home with the baby for the day and not deal with anything work related. Even though he was fussy and clingy most of the day, to the point where I couldn’t even go to the bathroom by myself – it was wonderful to be able to just hold him and snuggle him and take a nap together. It was nice that he needed me and I was actually able to meet his needs. It was demanding, but in a completely different way. And it is exactly what I needed.

I woke up in a much more positive place this morning, and my “cheat” weigh-in definitely helped perpetuate that positivity. Sometimes I still feel pretty low about the scale meaning so much to me… but I feel pretty secure that once I reach goal body fat – or close to it – that number on the scale won’t matter anymore.

!!

Sorry, guys, I just can't seem to get it together this week with a post!

Busy season at work is FINALLY about to wrap, so soon my stress level will be a little lower and I'll be a little more functional as far as drafting once I get home in the evenings, etc.

Been in the process of drafting a new post since MONDAY - hoping to get it up sometime today.

Thanks for your patience and, as always... Stay tuned!

Weigh-in and March Goals!

Official weight @ 3/05/2013: 191.8 lbs

Still maintaining strong, folks! Hey, at least I'm not gaining right? Yeah, that mantra isn't really doing it for me anymore either.

I was out of town this past weekend so I didn't have the opportunity to take measurements. That will happen this weekend.

I took some "beginning" photos for NROLFW... well, one. I got distracted and didn't get the side shot. Enjoy:

Looking at this.. compared to this:

I am definitely feeling okay with my weight loss and body changes so far!! Anyone else find it bizarre that my face is totally the same regardless of the nearly 30 lbs difference? lol

My goals for February were:

1. Break the fast-food habit
2. Finish 30 Day Shred/Start a new program
3. Do yoga with James at least once

I am happy to report that I was mostly successful in all of my goals this month. My fast-food intake has come way down. Mike and have instated a new rule that we only go out for lunch on Mondays and Fridays. This a) saves lots of money, and b) saves our health. I didn't do the last 4 days of 30 Day Shred, but I'm okay with that as I went straight into New Rules of Lifting for Women (NROLFW) and am occasionally adding some HIIT to that. I did yoga with James, as well!! Plus we did other exercising together a few other times. He really enjoys it and that makes me really happy.

New goals for March:

1. Wrap up Stage 1 of NROLFW (9 workouts to go!)
2. Make morning yoga a regular routine (I've been doing this as a "rest" day activity in the evenings, but it really helps jumpstart my day the few times I've done it in the morning)
3. Stick to consistent sleep schedule (this means trying to go to bed and wake up at around the same time on the weekends as I do during the workweek)

These all seem pretty reasonable to me.

One thing I really noticed this past week is how much more positive my body image has become. I still have "fat" days, and times where I don't like the way certain clothes fit or feel, but overall I am really loving my body. It makes it so much easier to want to take care of my body now, too. The one thing I still struggle with loving is my belly. I gained a lot of belly fat just before and even during my last pregnancy. This is always the last place fat wants to vacate, so that doesn't really help matters. I also think part of the reason my belly doesn't look the way I want it to is because I had a baby... y'know... just over a year ago. Skin gets stretched out. Shit happens. Maybe I just haven't reached my "bounce back" point yet. Maybe I never will. Maybe I'll need a tummy tuck. Who knows! ...I honestly don't think I would ever get a tummy tuck. Because I'm a big scaredy baby when it comes to surgery and/or general anesthesia. Hopefully weight lifting will allow me to get my stomach looking somewhat less stretched out and "normal" again. We'll see. In the meantime...

..."they" all say abs start in the kitchen, and this is true. I need to reign in and watch my macros more closely, as well as reign in the calories. I've been eating right around maintenance for the last month, maybe a little longer - this is showing on the scale. I need to steadily be eating between 1900-2100 calories without eating back exercise calories. This is my biggest crux. I need to just stop logging exercise calories. MyFitnessPal allows you to log exercises and assign them with a specified calorie burn - for example: I can log my NROLFW Workout A as being a 1 or 2 value in calorie burn. I did this for a couple days and then.. stopped. For some reason. Probably because I didn't want to be real with myself and admit and face the fact that I was continuing to eat at maintenance when I know in order to continue losing weight/fat and slimming down I need to be eating at a TDEE deficit. It's all good. I'm getting there. And, honestly, it may just be one of these things where I'm just going to be in a "I don't wanna" phase for a month or two and then will snap out of it. I'm allowed that. It's all a process, and if I start harping on myself I'll just end up quitting altogether, which obviously doesn't accomplish anything. However, it is good to know that I can maintain when I get to that point. Bonus points!