musclesandmakeup

[musclesandmakeup]

Okay so to prep for the wedding I’m going to be in this fall, I really want to get my eating and activity levels on point to help me look and feel my best on a day where I’ll be in about five thousand pictures standing up with a bunch of gloriously beautiful women. Because I’ve been staying at my parents’ house the last month and not walking as much or had access to the gym or access to normal food and have had to eat at restaurants/fast food a lot, I’ve kind of put on some pudge that makes me not super happy about how my clothes fit or my energy levels. My skin has also been crazy angry with this change in my eating habits.

So, starting Monday, I will be doing another Whole 30, along with 3 days of strength training a week and a daily walk. I’ll be tracking my cals and macros, and after this month, I will continue to eat strict Whole30 paleo 6 days a week, with one day a week in which I can go off plan. But, on my off plan days, I still have to stay within my calorie and macro allotments. 

That is totally reasonable for me to do over the next six months, especially because I have a very specific event that I want to look and feel my best for. 

Totally also fits in with just singing up for a farm share delivery and will be getting local veggies delivered to me every week in very large quantities for what is actually an amazing price. So that takes a lot of work out of it too!

Also really excited that Sofie will be joining the same gym as me and she wants to train with me, so we’ll both be doing Strong Lifts 5x5 together! Yay! 

[musclesandmakeup]

"When bulking, you aren't full when you're full. You're full when you hate yourself." - weightliftingcanadian

TFW you are full to the point you don’t feel good but know you need more calories…

[musclesandmakeup]

This is beautiful.

Spotted at the gym today:

Guy wearing American flag shorts and a muscle shirt with a wolf on it. Has been training his arms for almost an hour now.

[musclesandmakeup]

I'm a little jealous that I was just lying in bed watching Netflix while this went down.. but I am glad for all the food we ate later. Ummfff.

Musclebros doin’ our thing. weightliftingcanadian fitnessandfeminism

[musclesandmakeup]

I have one more month left that I'm comfortable being in full bulk mode. Let's see what kind of damage I can do ;)

Me at last night’s dinner with barbellsandbacon and weightliftingcanadian. 

So glad I was wearing leggings.

[musclesandmakeup]

Wow turns out one of the meals I've been eating for the last week is only 220 calories a serving... Which makes sense since it's just chicken and vegetables and a bit if broth, very little fat or carbs... Shit I need to eat more.

[musclesandmakeup]

barbellsandbacon said: Great body comp results! 3” off your stomach is wild!

barbellsandbacon Thank you!! No wonder I've been so happy about my stomach selfies lately haha

[musclesandmakeup]

bergopher yeah the dairy is the saddest thing for me, I had done keto for weight loss a couple years ago so I'm pretty used to not having grains or beans or anything like that, but I miss cheese and lattes so much :( I haven't tried using heavy cream or butter in anything yet though, and they're supposed to be the least reactive for skin, so we'll seeeeee.....

[musclesandmakeup]

Whole 30 Results and Reflection

Okay so I've reached the end of my first Whole 30 for 2015. I followed it mostly to the letter, with the sole exception of allowing myself alcohol but less often than I usually do.. only drinking once a week rather than two nights of going out on weekends + a glass of wine or two with dinner during the week. 

I've done some reintroduction at this point, and have figured out that dairy definitely does have a strong impact on my skin. I noticed when I first started my Whole 30 that my skin cleared up very quickly, and then after I finished when I reintroduced dairy, my skin was breaking out by the second day. So definitely going to eliminate dairy from my diet for the most part, with the exception of butter for cooking and high quality dairy sources for special occasions.

I've gotten really good at figuring out my hunger cues and eating enough, and my workouts all were fantastic. This was of course until I hurt my shoulder and had to take a bit of time off, but I made consistent progress each workout and felt great. I had more energy, I was sleeping more and better, and my digestion has greatly improved. 

I'll take pictures this weekend to do comparison photos, but for now, here are my before and after stats:

Weight: 172.8 lbs to 168.5 lbs (4.3 lbs lost)

Measurements:

Waist: 31" to 29.5" (1.5" lost)

Stomach: 37" to 34" (3" lost)

Hips: 45" to 42.5" (2.5" lost)

I know I could have lost more had I completely cut out alcohol, but I'm still happy with this. I am really feeling great about my body again and feel so much healthier. 

Now that I'm done, I'm going to be tracking my food intake again to make sure I'm eating enough calories to fuel my workouts, and to make sure I'm getting enough protein to maintain/build muscle. I'm not going to be obsessing over other numbers like I usually do though, and will continue to avoid "food with no breaks" and any forms of sugar unless it's a special occasion. 

[musclesandmakeup]

#DailyCalfPic

[musclesandmakeup]

Okay feeling pretty good about my post-brunch stomach is right now though. Maybe I’ll do progress checking tomorrow??

[musclesandmakeup]

I'm a fat lazy depressed piece of shit. I want to change. Where do I start? Sign me up.

Before we start: 

You are not a piece of shit! Sometimes we let ourselves go, we are creatures of habit so being overweight (don’t use the word fat, ever) can happen, relax take a big deep breath because you’ve already achieved step 1: Decided to make a change, this is the hardest step of all.

Now that we have that out of the way my advice would be as follows:

Start of with some basic research, look up the site iifym.com and check out their calculators for what you need in regards to losing fatt and building muscle

Also check out bodybuilding.com this is a fantastic site for beginners when it comes to finding a routine to start off with, all of the movements required come with video tutorials to help you better understand how to perform a particular exercise

Scout out your local gyms, find one that suits your lifestyle 24/7 is a good choice especially if you lack confidence (we all did when we started lifting weights) this way you can go during early/late hours when the gym is less busy so you don’t have to be as self conscious.

Speak to the staff at the gym, seek guidance from a PT. This can be very helpful as they can generally help set you goals, work out programs and nutrition plans as a good base to start off with.

Ask friends that you know that train for advice or even others you may know in a similar situation if you can tag along with them. Having a trainer partner during the early stages can help tremendously with confidence and enjoyment in the gym as well as having further motivation between yourself and a friend to push each other.

The dreaded scales! Ignore the scales, take progress photos weekly from the front/side/back both tensed and non tensed as well as measurements of your neck, shoulders,chest, arms, forearms, waist, hips, thighs and calves (you can track your measurements on bodybuilding.com. When you see those visual changes you will be overwhelmed with the motivation it will provide you.

Don’t be afraid of food, remember to still treat yourself in moderation but try your best to reduce sugar intake mostly, sugar is the biggest contributor towards your body storing fat.

Most importantly, have fun! Enjoy yourself at the gym, it will be hard at the start but what ever you put into it, you WILL get back.

My final bit of advice, trust the process. You might not see results today, you may not see them in 6 weeks or 3 months but as long as you trust the process the results WILL come.

[musclesandmakeup]

So this is super handy for anyone that wants to keep track of their protein intake but finds tracking of other macros or calories to be triggering. 

I know that once I'm done my Whole 30 I'm going to be loosely keeping track of my food intake to make sure I'm getting within a decent calorie/protein range, but with a much greater emphasis on making sure I get enough protein.

As long as I'm eating enough protein, a healthy fat source at each meal, and lots of vegetables, I'll be happy with my food intake, but I have a hard time tracking protein without also feeling like I need to track carbs and fat and calories, and I get obsessive and can start slipping back into more disordered habits, so this chart will be really handy for keeping track of this without tracking everything else.

[musclesandmakeup]

barbellsandbacon said: Oooh no!! Maybe you should go to physio? Sometimes only one or two sessions are required to address these things!

barbellsandbacon I knowww I probably should, but that's money I don't have (I'm assuming it costs money because it's not primary care or anything like that or I'd need a referral). 

[musclesandmakeup]

barbellsandbacon said: You’ll get it in a couple of weeks, no problem.

barbellsandbacon I ended up realising that the nagging pain in my shoulder I've felt for the last three days is actually some kind of injury because the same thing happened on my bench.. failed on my last rep of my last set and had to do the roll of shame :(

Couldn't even do rows either and now I can't put on a coat without having some serious shoulder pain, so I'm going to have to ease off for a week and see how it feels. 

I'm still going to workout, but I'll be stuck doing things that don't actually involve using my shoulders at all (or at least as little as possible), so looks like I'll be doing leg press and other shit like that for the next week. 

UGGGHHHH SO MAD. STUPID INJURY. GAINS GOBLINS GOBBLING UP MY GAINS.

[musclesandmakeup]

Welp looks like 135 was my absolute max for squats. Just failed on my last rep of my third set at 140 lbs... Pissssseddddd....

[musclesandmakeup]

Really feeling my stomach this morning. This is also with shark week bloat so fuck yaaass feeling good.