25 weeks out – A Fine Balance…

It’s been about 2 weeks since my last post. A lot has happened in 2 weeks, including an injury which had me off for a week. Things happen for a reason, and so maybe this needed to happen. In any case, I feel rested, and am back at it.

My trainer/coach is fantastic. I am happy to have her pushing me, coaching me, and leading me. What I am discovering is that while I have her, I also need to trust myself. Time for a little re-focusing, re-calibrating and balance. I have been gaining a little too much weight. It sucks to even write these words, but when I started this blog, I vowed that I would be honest and write about the good, the bad, and the ugly. Not that gaining weight was an unexpected part of this journey. In order to gain muscle, you need to eat to a bit of a surplus. My surplus is a little too much.

Instead of beating myself up about this anymore (trust me, I have) I am going to go back to what works for me. I believe that all bodies are different, and we know ourselves best. Time to trust that. Time to actually count those calories to find that delicate balance where I can gain some muscle, and not pack on the lbs…

25 weeks to go…

27 weeks out….

Last week was interesting. Switched my program with a focus on building my upper body. I must admit, I am anxious to start seeing the changes, but to be honest, I am a little nervous that they will not happen. That little voice of doubt has been creeping into my head a lot more lately, which I am not at all thrilled about. I am trying to push that negative little voice OUT of my head entirely…but this will take some effort. It is time to put in more effort.

This holiday season is a real challenge. Those of you who know me, know that I love to eat, and that from time to time, the scale is an issue. I continue to research on diet, supplements, exercise, and everything that I read, says that diet contributes to 80% of a successful journey. I kid you not. This frightens me. I am struggling between eating enough for my muscles to grow, and not eating too much because I do not want my body to convert the excess to fat.

I have tried to stay away from the scale, and when I do, my weight creeps up. So while I hate being a slave to the scale, unfortunately, it is the only way that I can be honest with myself. Because of this, I will use the scale to keep my head focused and in the ‘game’. Time for some tough ‘self-love’ and way less of a dependency on food to deal with the things that happen in life. Yes…I can hear myself chanting right now…”hi, my name is Liz, and I am an emotional eater….”

Alright. So that was the ‘not so awesome’ part. There IS lots of ‘awesome’ that happened last week.

* Increased chest press from 40 lbs to 70 lbs on the chest press machine.

* Learned how to do a ‘hack squat’, and love the addition of dead lifts to my current program.

* Found a new love called the ‘ballerina squat’ 70 lbs. Planning to increase this weight.

* Found out that I can do 39 push-ups. My goal is to do 50 push-ups by December 31.

* Can feel a difference in my shoulders. They feel fatigued. My new program will definitely build them. I am so happy about this..

* Diet? Well, we talked about that. I’ll keep trying my hardest, and doing my best.

* Motivation is still high, and I am learning new things daily!

Looking forward to reporting next week that I have my diet under better control.

Have a happy healthy week! 27 weeks to go…

28 weeks out…

28 Weeks to go till I step on stage. Seems like a long way off, but lots of work to be done in that time.

Christmas is so close, and my battle with ‘Fat Girl’ is in full swing….breaking with routine allows for my inner fat girl to visit. I don’t really want to see her, but I know that the next few weeks, she will inevitably come to visit. My goal is to only see her once on the weekend, and then, come January, I’m gonna have to say goodbye to ‘fat girl’ for a while…I am mentally preparing for this. She loves to bring me candy… 🙂

Jokes aside, this week, diet was a challenge. Water as a challenge. With the cold weather, it is getting harder to drink my goal of 4L of water, so I am trying to drink peppermint and green tea, which helps….but it is still difficult. I feel like I have entered hibernation mode, which has me craving lasagna, home-made baked bread, and all other sorts of comfort food. So I acknowledge this, and my goal for this week is to find variations of these foods that will still keep me on course for what I am setting out to accomplish. Growing muscles. The great thing about training through the winter, is that because I am trying to grow muscles, I do not need to cut calories, but my focus is on eating as clean as possible, and fueling my workouts. I noticed that it is nice not to let myself be hungry. I know that when cutting time arrives, this will be different, but I am also trying to focus on now. Not yesterday, not tomorrow, just NOW. Every choice I make NOW will make a difference.

I took some pictures this weekend, and noticed that my legs are less jiggly, my back is leaner, and I am starting to see some abdominal muscles. My coach, noticed that my bum is less ‘fat’. :). I will continue to clean up my diet, and will NOT beat myself over the head come Christmas. My plan to manage Christmas is to allow myself Christmas day to eat those things I completely enjoy. I will not eat anything that does not taste good to me, and I will savour every single bite of the things that do, paying attention to my portions (of course)…and there will only be 1 day of indulgence. On New Years Eve, I will enjoy a couple of glasses of champagne (my fave) as well as a really delicious meal. Those are the two days which I intend to enjoy with food, all the others, I will enjoy the company of my friends and family, without the food. (I am saying this out loud to be held accountable, and will report back).

Big accomplishments for me last week…Leg pressed 340lbs. Never thought I would ever do this, and I did.

Finally curled 30 lbs (couldn’t get past 25)

Did 1 legged push ups 4 x 12 (never even tried to do one before)

What I learned from this? I am stronger than I think, or give myself credit for.

What I need to do this week?

PUSH PUSH PUSH!!!!

Focus this next rotation is to build my upper body, which to me looks piddly compared to my legs. (Which have gotten bigger) So instead of talking myself out of lifting really heavy, I am going to give it all I’ve got. I am looking forward to seeing my pictures on January 6. I hope I see some progress. Scratch that. I KNOW i’ll see progress. 🙂

Off to the gym.