Still shrinking, I promise!

Wow, how did I go almost a month without blogging? Maybe because my whole routine has changed and my eating went down the drain there for a minute so I didn't feel like confessing my rekindled love for pizza to you guys. oops. =P SO here's a status report

I am still plateaued at JUST SHY of -80 lbs. I'm really frustrated but trying to be patient. I'm trying to stay more focused on what my body can do and not how much it weighs. I'm still progressing pretty well on my lifting, which is really rewarding about 90% of the time. I had a rough workout Saturday that I was just not feeling and got really discouraged. I felt better with a solid workout Monday and a new bench press PR today! Bench press is one of the hardest lifts for me. Part of it is the fear factor of having a heavy bar positioned above my body instead of on my shoulders or on the ground. But also I just really struggle with upper body strength in general. I've never trained or developed any kind of arm strength prior to this journey, whereas strong legs were a given with 13+ years of soccer. I feel like the opposite of one of those curl bros that never seems to have a leg day.

This has never been my problem

Also in lifting news, my favorite group in Fitocracy is having a group challenge that's basically like a mini power-lifting meet. So out of 152 girls in the challenge, I'm 39th! I'm pretty happy with that considering I'm still relatively new to lifting. Although I've pretty much reached the end of my "beginner gains", so now I'm actually going to have to focus a little more on how I'm training if I really want to make gains and have this be more than a means to an end. Well, I am really enjoying it and I do want to take it more seriously. There are a number of lifting programs I've been reading about so eventually I need to pick one and do it. The Olympic lifts are part of most of them so that'll be something new. I've been dabbling with a snatch progression but haven't gotten very far with it because my back and shoulders aren't really powerful enough yet for a "power" move. *sigh* anywho...

I'm back on a good IF schedule, I got off of it for a while which might've led to a few pound back-slide that I had along with ALL THE CARBS. haha. I really love them. And it's not like I'm trying to do a super low carb diet or anything, but if I ate everything I wanted to, I would definitely be out of balance. haha. Despite my stall in weight, I've still been shrinking! Those size 12s I got from Old Navy are almost too big! =D When I hit -80 I'll post my progression but I'll post a new picture on my facebook page soon! =) If you're following me on there you saw the picture of me in a tank top that was too small in college is now indecently huge on me. haha.

I am really sad because one of the choirs I'm in changed its rehearsals to Tuesday nights. So, I'm gonna have to start missing my Zumba class I've been going to since January! =( AND since my Yoga class is Wednesday mornings at my boyfriend's gym, I'll also be missing THAT for the foreseeable future. The start of rehearsals kind of snuck up on me so I haven't come up with a good contingency plan yet. I need to find another cardio class, if not another Zumba class. I've tried several yoga classes and haven't had any real success with any of them, so I need to figure that one out, too. I've done yoga by myself every once in a while so I'll hopefully be able to take myself through some "practice"s on my own until I can find a suitable replacement. I've also done my own Zumba before when I needed cardio and wasn't able to make it to a class. I would just go in the empty classroom and dance by myself to my workout music, which is all upbeat and mostly dance music anyway. haha. So yeah, trying to figure out my workouts!! Hopefully my next post WILL be progress pictures, or at least deeper than this update has been. haha. Thanks for reading, guys! 

Why my pants sag off? I'm working my ass off!

Paraphrasing a Kanye line there that has always made me laugh. Finally took some new pictures today!

Woot!

Went to Old Navy today because they were having a sale and, of course, because none of my clothes really fit. I'm down another 2 lbs this week still going strong on IF so I think this is working for me! haha. If anyone has some size 12s they want to donate to a good cause, I'll be there soon! These are a 12 from Old Navy which really means that I'm probably pretty solidly in a 14 at most stores possibly a 16 where they run small. This is a medium top, too. Today was the first time I've ever experienced the frustration of the average-sized girl. There were no mediums/14-12s left in the colors I wanted!! So, this is what I ended up with, which I do like. I'm gonna wear it to a Rangers game this upcoming week! =)

So in honor of the summer, here is a look at the last 3 summers in comparison to this one. I'm so glad I've discovered lifting heavy and more recently IF. I've made much better progress in the last 6 months than I have in the last 3 years! haha.

Sizes 2x/24, 2x/22, 1x/18 and M/12 respectively 

Maybe over the summer I'll do a monthly progression from where I've been since December, which is when I really started back up again. Luckily between being in a sorority and recently actually trying to document my progress, I've got a LOT of pictures from the past several years. =) I've got some progress pics planned to debut in August that I'm pretty excited to see where they are. =D

Still slightly bummed about all this subcutaneous fat/ "loose skin" on my upper arms and thighs but it's shrinking too just at a much slower rate. I've been doing lots of random stuff to get it to tighten up and I think it's working to some degree. I just want to wear tank tops and be able to flaunt my newly discovered biceps and shoulders and shorts to show off my squat-strengthened legs! *sigh* I'll get there, I know. I dunno why I'm all of a sudden impatient now, I guess because I have been making such substantial progress lately, I feel like I should have more to show for it than bingo arms and saggy inner thigh cellulite. =P

So...what's new? I got back to all of my classes this week! I forgot if I said that last time but I went to my normal Tuesday Zumba and Wednesday yoga. Felt sooooo good! I was actually sore from yoga until yesterday! We did a lot of twists so my obliques were really angry afterwards. haha. I did back/shoulders yesterday and legs today. I would usually do chest/arms today but my shoulders were SO SORE that I had to switch because I didn't think I was gonna be able to do anything. haha. My low back was still a little sore today so my squatting didn't go as well as it normally does. I did get some satisfaction that the skinny guy in the rack next to me was deadlifting less than I can, but by the end he was probably lifting more than I am as far as percentage of body weight so I gave him a break. =) I still felt really strong even with my sore back.

I really love lifting weights. Y'all might be tired of hearing it, sorry. It's hard to explain the sense of accomplishment of lifting something heavier than you did last time if you don't already understand it. It's just such a tangible measure of strength. I had 135lbs across my back, a 45lb bar and two 45lb plates, and thought "This is a lot lighter than I thought it was gonna be". As my warm up/deloading weight. 2 months ago I wasn't near maxing out at that and I wouldn't have DREAMED that would be this easy for me. I've gotten to the point on some lifts where my grip strength or accessory muscle strength is limiting my actual lifts.  I need to get my back stronger so I can squat more, and I need to get my grip stronger so I can dead lift more. And I need to actually focus on form and technique for bench press. I swear it's the red-headed step child of my workouts. haha. I'll get to it soon! I'm sure I will be posting a triumphant blog when I start making big gains in my bench press. =) Sorry about the spotty updates recently, I've been getting back on my normal schedule now that Will is home. I've been keeping my facebook page pretty well updated though, if you're on facebook(ha) and want to follow that. =) As always, thanks for all the sweet words and encouragement!