So I slacked and never updated a second time in March... whoops! I promise I started to but never got it finished or could get pictures done. So I decided when I got home from work today that would be the first thing I'd do. Honestly there is nothing better to jump start a cut than taking progress pictures (insert eye roll here). Can you say reality check?!
So late in February I did something to my back during back squats and it has really bothered me since then. Clearly I need to work on form once I get back to doing them, but its really put a damper on me. My doctor (whose husband does Crossfit, yay!) just recommended doing less weights, more cardio and yoga. I've started yoga but probably haven't been resting it like I should so I figured now would be as good of a time as any to start a cut. Now I'm not "dieting" per say, but i do need to get my body fat percentage down because being at (or around) 30% BF is not doing me any favors mentally or physically. Why should I kill myself to try doing a pull up when I literally have 15 (25 if I wanted to go extra small) extra pounds weighing me down?! So This week I'm starting with 1600 calories a day and cutting back as much sugar as possible. Maybe next month I'll look more into cutting carbs, but I don't do well on super restrictive diets.
Progress
Here's where I'm at physically: I kicked my cut off with my very first EVER 5k yesterday, on a treadmill of course, but still I was stoked! I'm the girl that hates running. I'd rather row or swim but running just makes me want to die. To me, its mind numblingly boring and my shins hate me for days afterwards. So, running 3 miles in 38 minutes is huge to me. Of course the Swamp Rabbit 5k is in less than a month so leave it to me to procrastinate training for it.
Last week I hit a big milestone on bench: 125lbs! I'm literally 10 pounds away from my goal for the entire 2018 year! Its only April! So I've adjusted that goal to 150 for the year. Here's to hitting that goal early too!
Another big goal I've settled on this year would be hitting a good snatch. Lets be honest here, I SUCK at snatches. I absolutely cannot get to parallel, much less beyond, with a bar over head. So I've been working on my shoulder, hip, and thoracic mobility as much as possible-which is where the yoga comes in. Holy cow, I am so not flexible. Its humiliating. So hopefully even 30 minutes a day will improve my mobility.
Last but not least, my other new goal is doing a handstand. This is also where losing 15 pounds would help drastically. Plus shoulder mobility is needed. I'm just all around lacking in those departments.
Mentally, I'm alot better than I was but I still have a long way to go. I did two-a-days one to two times a week through March and literally lost about 2 pounds. My diet is all over the place and I know it. If you haven't yet, get a My Fitness Pal account and track every single thing that you eat/drink for a day. You will be shocked. And even though I've been tracking for months, I wasn't adding in sauces, butters, oils, etc. I know that doesnt sound like much, but did you know Chic-Fil-A sauce is 140 calories per container. That's another 300 calories on top of my grilled chicken meal. That's turning a meal that's around 500 calories into a 800 calorie meal. On a 6'4" man, that isn't a big deal, but when you 5'4" and have a calorie limit of 1600, that adds up fast. Plus I was being very lax in general when it came to food. "I'm working out twice a day, I'm not worried about this extra hundred calories here and there" is a quick and sure fire way to kill your progress. I learned this the hard way. Don't do that to yourself! It's so discouraging!
So hopefully April will yield more progress when it comes to losing the weight. Here's my dreaded progress pics (the husband wasn't here to help so had to go with the self time and zero help form angling the camera) and my measurements. Let's see what this body will do in the next month!
