Week 2 Weigh In

Day 15:  Monday.  Week 2 Weigh In.  Or what I like to call "one step forward, two steps back". 

I will waste no time getting to it.  I gained 1.6 pounds this week.





 To recap: 

Starting weight:  178.00 
Week 1:  173.2 
Week 2:  174.8   

I'm all about keeping it real, so I will admit my first thought was WTF?  Followed in quick succession by, "is the scale broken?", "was there too much salt in my Panera broth bowl I had for dinner last night?", "am I getting my period?", or the furthest reach (even I will admit), "is my hair holding extra weight from all the humidity?". 

My next daunting thought was, "Why the hell did I declare I would post my weigh ins each Monday?  What was I thinking?".  No pressure or embarrassment there.  Full disclosure:  I do not weigh myself between weigh ins at all.  No peek.  Not one glance at that scale.  So when I do my weekly Monday morning weigh in, I am truly in suspense and overcome with hope/fear.

So after I weighed myself 4 more times, just to make damn sure, I sat on the edge of my bed and thought, "I feel great!  I really, truly do.  I'm going to just roll with this.  I am actually going to shake it off and continue what I started.  I'm not going to back down from my plan.  And what if I actually am building muscle faster than I am burning fat and that is the explanation for my weight gain?".

I know I have improved my fitness level.  I lost 2.5" from my waist measurements.  I was going to say a girl has to keep some secrets, but I am too much of an open book to play coy.  I started with a 39" waist and am now at 36.5".  That is something!  That is visible.  That I can see and feel.

When I did my arms and ab workout video this morning, I even increased my weights back up to 5 lbs for the movements that I could, mostly the bicep reps.  And I can see my muscles.  When I do my bicep curl now, I can actually see my muscle popping up top on the contraction instead of my original marshmallow arm.  I still have a long way to go until you could see my muscle in a resting position, but I am determined to get there eventually. 

I am exceedingly proud of myself when I do my chair dips to work my triceps (holding on to a chair with my elbow facing backward and lowering my body weight down to the floor and back up).  I am now up to 2 sets of 12 before my arms shake too much to continue.  When I did my ab exercises this morning (where my knees are held at a 45 degree angle up in the air and pulled into my core, while I simultaneously lift my shoulders off the ground to really crunch all the different muscles), I could visibly see my thighs are smaller.

As I begin week 3, I want to focus more on diet.  I think I am doing pretty well, but I definitely need to plan my weekend meals (specifically dinner) a bit better.  Our routine gets disorganized when everyone is home and in and out all weekend.  I become lax in my discipline to cook, hence the broth bowl at Panera for dinner last night.  I tried to make the best decision under the circumstances, but I do prefer my own home cooking, knowing I am controlling all of the ingredients.

My mom was kind enough to buy me these two amazing Mediterranean cookbooks (for Mother's Day).  I have looked through them several times, but now it's time to get serious.  I am going to try to prepare a dinner from these books each day this week and see how it goes.

Until next time...  Be well!
~Tracy 





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