Contest Prep Week 7 Weigh-In

Posted on October 25, 2013 Updated on October 25, 2013

We left off with a week of miniscule weight loss and a slight gain the week prior to that.  I’m not going to sugar coat it, I was really discouraged after two weeks of feeling I wasn’t going anywhere.  If I had a third week like that, I’m not sure how easy it would have been for me to want to continue working so hard and monitoring everything single thing I eat so carefully.

Can someone pass the paleo-fied dessert, please?  It’s paleo which is healthy, so I can have the whole pan of brownies, right?

You know I’m kidding, but it was starting to get me really down.

My trainer switched up my meal plan a tad and added more cardio to my schedule.  I even started entering my food into My Fitness Pal again, just to visualize my macros, calories, meals… to see the exact break down of my nutrition.  Keep myself in the zone.  I’m a geek, so I like data.

Here’s your reminder of where I began.  Starting weight of 197.5 pounds.

Week 1 5.5 pounds lost, bringing me to 192.

Week 2 1.5 pounds lost, and 190.5 pounds.

Week 3 2.5 pounds lost, and 188 pounds.

Week 4 1.5 pounds lost, and 186.5 pounds.

Week 5 1 pound GAIN, and 187.5 pounds.

Week 6 0.5 pound lost, and 187 pounds.

(Keeping weekly progress in posts for now.)

And on weigh-in morning…

Week 7 Weigh In: 182.5 pounds

Weight Lost: 4.5 pounds (15 pounds total)

Whaaaaat?  I had to triple check the scale!!  I kept thinking, C’mon 185.  That’s all I’m asking for, just two pounds.  I can live with two pounds.  It’s much better than a half pound lost or a gain.

My gym has a balance scale (with the two little sliders like doctor’s offices always had growing up) and I pushed the large weight to 150 then slid the small weight right up to 35, for a total of 185. *clunk*  Too much weight.  I kept tapping it to the left, bit by bit.  Closing in on 183, still too heavy.   Another half pound and it’s perfect.  I’m completely stunned. 182.5.  So close to 170s.  I can’t even fathom it.

I got off the scale and stepped back on, thinking that maybe I was standing on it funny.  Put my clothes back on even and got back on, up only a pound with those on.  Wow.  It must be real.

15 pounds total lost in 7 weeks.  I’m averaging just over 2 pounds per week again.  I love it.

Lessons Learned & Highlights of the Week:

• Sub 30 5k.
  In case you are not a runner, this means a 5k (3.1 miles) in under 30 minutes.  This has been on my goal list all year.  I’ve gotten close twice by about 20 seconds and missed.  I was starting to give up hope that it would happen.  I should REALLY stop doubting myself.  I’ve been daring enough to add sub 25 5k to my list of Goals for Life now.  Eep.

  Hopefully, I can make time to write a post soon about that experience.  It was a superhero run and my kids did the fun run together.

• Disappointing competition news.
  My trainer broke the news to me that he thinks I’ll likely be a bikini candidate this year rather than figure.  Honestly, I understand where he’s coming from, so I’m not upset with him for saying it.  I like that he tells things straight and he’s not going to have me compete in figure if I’m not on that level yet.

  He said I might be bikini this year, take time off to bulk up more and hit figure the following year.  He also said that he could be wrong, we still have time.  I told him I’d like to be able to prove him wrong. 😉

  The more I look at bikini girls and competitions, the more I realize that’s not really me.  It almost feels like the main point of the category is focused on sex appeal not as much the physical fitness and muscularity.  I’m uncomfortable with the posing especially.

• Avoided office temptation.
  My office has a potluck for every birthday.  We had one yesterday and since our staff is small, I pretty much had to bring something.  Even though I wouldn’t be eating anything because of my meal plan, I brought in hummus and carrots.  The co-worker whose birthday we were celebrating enjoyed hummus and carrots the last time I brought it, so that’s what I got for her.

  I used to be the person who would bring dessert.  I loved baking cookies, cakes, pies, etc.  Anything new and delicious looking that I found a recipe for, I would make.  That’s not part of who I am anymore though.  Especially being paleo, I don’t keep regular flour and sugar in the house at all.There is one woman in my office who CONSTANTLY encourages me to eat shit.  She also complained that she didn’t like hummus (Well, it’s not for you, bitch!!)  And at this party, she kept saying to me, “C’mon, you can cheat one day.”

  She doesn’t get it.  I remind her probably weekly that I used to weigh 240 pounds.  I’m down close to 60 pounds now.  Still, she won’t stop.

  Yes, I do WANT to eat that shit.  My “lizard” brain wants to eat the cheesy potatoes, corn chowder, deli baked chicken, blueberry cheesecake and whatever else you have.  My rational brain takes over quickly though and reminds me of how far I’ve come, how good I feel and how terrible that food is going to react with my body.

• Made almond butter.
  I ordered a bulk 5 pound bag of almonds that came in just before my trainer removed afternoon almonds from my diet.  I decided that I could be making my own almond butter with those.  I pulled out the food processor and after much patience, raw almonds and a tiny bit of coconut oil, I had almond butter creamier than the store bought processed stuff!  (Google if you want a recipe!  So easy!)

  

  No palm oil or sugar.  This is straight almond butter with less than a tablespoon of coconut oil.  It’s DELICIOUS.  Next time, I’m going to give roasting the almonds a try.

And coming next week, I’ll have a blog up about my first ultra this weekend!  12 hours of a 4 mile loop, as many laps as possible, the Bad Apple Ultra.  We’ll see if that was a good idea or not. 😉

Contest Prep Week 6 Weigh-In

Posted on October 20, 2013 Updated on October 21, 2013

The good news this week is that I didn’t gain weight.  The bad news is that I didn’t lose much.

I also have some GREAT news!  I have finally made the decision to buy my domain.  LEGIT stuff people.  If you look up in your browser at the web address, you’ll now notice www.fitfatfut.com!  Baby steps toward my dreams, people!

Here’s your reminder of where I began.  Starting weight of 197.5 pounds.

Week 1 5.5 pounds lost, bringing me to 192.

Week 2 1.5 pounds lost, and 190.5 pounds.

Week 3 2.5 pounds lost, and 188 pounds.

Week 4 1.5 pounds lost, and 186.5 pounds.

Week 5 1 pound GAIN, and 187.5 pounds.

(Keeping weekly progress in posts for now.)

And on weigh-in morning…

Week 6 Weigh In: 187.0 pounds

Weight Lost: 0.5 pounds (10.5 pounds total)

I am happy my weight isn’t up again, of course.  But half pound feels so disappointing still.

I’m tried to change my mindset by remembering that I have lost 10.5 pounds in 6 weeks.  That averages 1.75 pounds a week.  So yes, two weeks in a row weren’t up to par, BUT my average remains high.  I can’t focus on things I haven’t achieved yet.  I must remember the victories, like this…

Whaaaaat?  I’m seriously loving the shapeliness that’s occurring in the glute and hamstring region.  Something to feel really good about.  And yes, my stomach is smaller but it’s something I’m really really tired of looking at.

Here’s what I’m talking about…

That’s what my stomach looks like with my underwear rolled down.  *sigh*  I call it my stomach mustache.  Totally mustache shaped, tell me you see it?  This is what happens when you are overweight and get pregnant, twice, and end up closing in on 300 pounds.  Skin stretching beyond capacity.

Many people don’t realize that being overweight when you get pregnant will likely cause more stretch marks and issues with “bouncing back” because your body is already being pushed to its limits.  It has gotten better with more weight loss, less prominent.  I hope that it continues to improve.  I can live with all the stretch marks, but I don’t want the saggy wrinkly skin!

So after emailing my trainer, we discussed how to change up my routine.  My diet is slightly modified now (such as decreased dinner carbs and no afternoon almonds, sob!) and my cardio is going to be increased a few days a week.

Lessons Learned & Highlights of the Week:

• Drink more water.
  Always a problem.
• Ran a half marathon without stopping on Sunday.
  Blog post about this is in progress!
• Hit some new PRs.
  Notably, I headed back to the gym on Tuesday night and hit 350 on the leg press for 3 reps.  I’ve never maxed out the machine and wanted to see what I was capable of.My regular sets of leg presses involve 20 reps so I keep the weight much lower than that maximum.  I’d been stuck around 140-150, and kept feeling so weak when I did them.  This week I was pushing 180 during my sets.  After hitting 350, I feel like I really need to push harder!

Contest Prep Week 5 Weigh-In

Posted on October 15, 2013 Updated on October 20, 2013

I have been dreading having to write this post.  The first week that feels like I didn’t get anywhere.

Let’s get the pictures out of the way.

So here’s your reminder of where I begin four weeks ago.  Starting weight of 197.5 pounds.

Week 1 brought a 5.5 pound weight loss, bringing me to 192.

Week 2 brought 1.5 pounds, and 190.5 pounds.

Week 3 brought 2.5 pounds, and 188 pounds.

Week 4 brought 1.5 pounds, and 186.5 pounds.

(Keeping weekly progress in posts for now.)

And on weigh-in morning… (Decided to start taking pictures in more revealing underwear for progress sake.  Can’t really see something like glute progress in the others.)

Week 5 Weigh In: 187.5 pounds

Weight Lost: 1 pounds GAINED (10 pounds total)

I was very bummed this week with gaining a pound.  I understand that I am building muscle, but I still have plenty of fat to lose.   I’ve also been having constipation problems this week (sorry, not sorry for sharing… it impacts weight and my stomach felt bloated most of the week). Was frustrated and kind of dreaded telling my trainer.  Like he’d think I was cheating.

My fears were amiss though.  He replied to my progress email and said he’s not surprised, given how much I dropped the first few weeks, that I went up a pound.  This week, he expects my weight will be back down.  I hope so!  If it slows or stalls, then we’re going to discuss the first round of changes to my plan, but he’d like to wait one week.

As with every week though, I see changes in my body that just don’t come through in the photos.  New muscle definition that I’ve never had before, clothing fits differently and I’m pretty sure my glutes are getting perkier, more firm.  I just need to keep following the plan, stop worrying about the scale and do what my trainer says.

I was feeling down about it, my weight was up all week.  Texting my boyfriend though, he said this…

“It’s natural.  The same darkness u battled at xmr and u got through it.  But u are strong and u have a strong boyfriend. Together as a team we will conquer your doubts.”

Seriously… find people who help empower you.  Struggling through weeks like this last year, would have been very different for me.

Lessons Learned & Highlights of the Week:

• Drink more water.
  Self explanatory.  I don’t drink enough water.
• I FEEL PRETTY AGAIN!
  Wanted to dress up for my boyfriend’s arrival on weigh-in day… BAM!

• The number on the scale isn’t the everything.
  I know this.  I’ve heard it a million times and even said it, but the reality is, when you’re still overweight, the number holds importance and power over you.   A shrinking number is an indication of progress if you’re trying to lose fat.  Simple as that.  Honestly, when my body fat is lower, I really don’t care what the number is.  Right now, it’s just the biggest indicator of getting lean.

And just a reminder, meal prepping is a huge key to success!  You don’t have to be on a contest prep diet to meal prep.  Make your meals ahead of time and you’ll be less tempted to reach for the fast/junk food options.  Don’t bring snacks into your house and they won’t be there for you to sneak either.

This week, I had all of my meals (including my morning scrambled eggs) in bags and containers ready to go.  I also made mini pancakes for my boys, their dinners for the week and coconut milk.