Hmm, can it really be a month down already? I'll be honest, I was hoping to have at least 5 of my 10 pounds of fat gone by now. And I'm still the same weight as when I started. Like with anything fitness/weight loss related, I must be extremely patient and trusting in the process. Because it's like erosion. You chip and chip away and nothing. And then one day...something. Progress. A goal being met. Something concrete that makes you wanna celebrate your own awesomeness for being successful at something that's been such a tormenter.
Some of those milestones for me have been:
1. Pointy Elbows
K, I totally get the confusion on your face right now. I didn't even know pointy elbows were something to strive for. I didn't even know I didn't have pointy elbows until one day I found them. I was in the weight room at the gym and my arm was bent and I spotted it in the mirror. What the? Why does my elbow look funny? Then, a closer look revealed a very pointy bone, one I had only read about in A&P textbooks, showing itself all pokey-like through my skin. I wanted to run up to random strangers and show them my discovery. I ran home and tore through some magazines I have and sure enough, lean people have pointy elbows. Who knew?! I waited with baited breath all day until my husband got home. I told him "Look! I have pointy elbows!!" He said "oh yeah, you always did have round elbows". HUH?!?! I did? How have I managed to miss this? A MAJOR victory on the fat-front and I didn't even know to look for it. This discovery made me start really studying the bodies of people, namely fitness-competitor types that I gravitate towards in magazines to start "shopping" for body attributes I want.
2. The Lack of Butt Slapping During Running
One of the major disappointments when I started running was feeling my but shake, rattle and roll every step I took for miles. What a downer. It made me very hyper-aware of what I might look like, hoofing it out on the road for others to see. It made me focus on the size of my butt and what I had ignored in my life and let it become. And how unhappy I was with it in it's current state. Depressing thoughts like that are very counterproductive because what they make me want to do is drop everything and go hole up in the house all depressed-like and watch movies and eat cupcakes. It took a lot of internal dialogue for me to keep running. I tried to just be logical and explain to myself depressed cupcake gorging doesn't take away this butt slapping but to continue running does. So keep running. I had this conversation with myself like a broken record each and every time I ran for months. And one day, more recently than not, I noticed the absence of butt slapping during my run. I even threw my hands back there to feel it in motion to make sure I hadn't just tuned it out. Nope. It was gone. This is a major victory because I am of the firm belief that my butt has it's own metabolism and conveniently ignores any efforts I make to alter it. It's the final thing on the fat front to go and man, it's a doozy.
3. Push-Ups (the real ones)
Last year my goal was to be able to do a push-up, form perfect, from my toes. It seemed so impossible. Today, I did 60 of them. Split up into groups of 10 with a 20-30 second break in between, but still. 60! Form pefect, from my toes. Erosion, baby!
Whatever your personal victories will be, they ARE big and totally worth the wait. So, with the anticipation of more inspiring discoveries, I press on.
Here is my knight in shining armor, the long awaited but heavily anticipated 2,600 Calorie Meal Plan:
Meal 1 - Cottage Cheese, Peanut Butter Toast, Grapes (If you mix the grapes in with the Cottage Cheese and make darn sure you have a grape in every bite, the cottage cheese's rottenness is less noticeable).
Meal 2 - Banana and Yogurt
Meal 3 - Chef Salad - homemade with eggs, chicken, veggies and Light Cheese Fantastico dressing
Granola Bar & THREE plums
Meal 4 - Zone Perfect bar and a peach
Meal 5 - Hummus, veggies, almonds
Meal 6 - Chicken tenders, brown rice, veggies, fruit
Meal 7 - Quesadilla
The main difference is I get 2 afternoon snacks now instead of 1 and all the meals are more robust. All the things on the menu I like immensely this week, so that's in my favor.
Day 1 - Ahhh, to be back on track does feel really good. I was a little hungry after evening snack and I was stunned that after the gargantuan lunch they give me I was more than ready for my first afternoon snack, but I hung in there and that's a step in the right direction.
Day 2 - I swear when you actually stick to the plan, you start leaning out immediately. My abs are incredibly leaner today. I have a sneaking suspicion that underneath this last fat layer, I'm ripped. I could be wrong, but hints of it are starting to show as I continually get leaner and I think there's something awesome brewing beneath the surface. I'd like to find out for sure. I am a Plan Diva today!
I checked in with my NT today, we did my weigh-in and although I only weighed in 1 pound down in a month, we showed it was all fat. She also informed me my fat is getting squishier which means it's breaking up which means that the last month of suffering and thinking I'm faltering has actually yielded some positive progress after all. It's encouraging.
She asked for my commitment to stay on the plan for a whole week. I quickly said yes like it was no big deal. But ouch. Hopefully she doesn't think that was the issue for me. It really was just that I was hungry. She also is having me check back in in one week to get my stats again and see if 2,600 calories is where I need to be or if I need to go back to 2,300 and just increase the frequency of my meals. Double ouch. I'm sure she sees all kinds in the diet program. I know, because I used to be one of them that would cover up reality in denial so heavily that I believed I was really trying hard when I wasn't. And acting like I couldn't lose weight no matter what when really my mind wasn't in it and I wasn't ready to change. I get it. But I need to prove to her that's not where I am with this program. I'm just a hungry girl trying to make it all work.
Day 3 - Still on the plan. I'm determined. It's been good. I would not say I am a rabid cheetah, but at night, I tend to be more of a Savage Beast of Hunger. It's a step less traumatizing and I'm dealing with it fine. Today I noticed the scale moved. Up .2 pounds! Uh oh, I like the calorie plan, please don't make this be too much food! I honestly don't know how I will cope if I can't eat this many calories. I feel so much better.
Day 4 - Ah, the scale moved. I am now sporting a 1.2 pound weight loss from start of program, down 1.4 from yesterday. Thank you thank you thank you. But Houston, we have a problem. Now that my muscles are obviously getting food and not withering away from starvation, I'm experiencing some serious muscle growth. I lifted weights on Day 2 of this week and immediately noticed what I'd only ready about -a bodybuilder's "pump". After my workout, my biceps looked to me like the Incredible Hulk- they were all hard and defined and looked like they had grown instantaneously from the workout. Alarming to experience this for the first time and without intending to. I kept grabbing my arms all day and finding the same thing. Now, two days later, my arms are rocks. And if I flex, I have a serious bicep there now. Seriously?! And today, I did Lats & Pecs and I'm finding more of the same. As much as the instant gratification of musculature feels good, I am going to have to fix my workout routine STAT if I don't want to actually become the Incredible Hulk in the weeks to come. Holy moly. I'm like a chia pet of muscles. I wanna look fit, I don't wanna look like a dude.
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