lotta stats and undies mugshots

1/19/14
End of week 3
hardcore hottie challenge booya!

my goals: build as much muscle as possible in 12 weeks, learn to eat healthfully without processed foods and refined sugars, and stop measuring my worth by the fucking scale.

LIFTING -- WEIGHT STATS

Day 1 lifting routine:

*3x10 of bodyweight push ups on toes- it's not a struggle now.  i do them slowly, but could increase the difficulty somehow now a bit with these.

*tri pushdown - 50 wt., 3x10

*lat raises - 10 wt., 3x10

*calf raises-smith machine  75 wt on each side., 3x10

*goblet squat- 50 wt., 3x10

*weighted lunge - a curvy bar which weighs 25 pounds with 15 wt on each side. 3x10

*plank - 1st 2:00, 2nd 1:15, 3rd 1:00 minute, 3x to failure

*decline bench sit ups- dot 1 steepest it goes with body weight.  i will add a plate on my belly next week, 3x15

 Day 2 lifting routine: 

*db row - 30 wt., 3x10

*db pullover - 30 first set, 25 2nd and 3rd set, 3x10

*bicep curls - 15 wt. and did 20 wt. for the last 5 of the set- very hard., 3x10

*rear delt db flys- 10 wt.  the gym has no 12's.  i would increase to 12 if they were available but 15 is too much, 3x10

*rack pulls- 185 wt. w/35 bar plus 75 wt on ea side. ouch on my hands- getting some nice calluses.  3x10

*bulgarian split squat- with curvy bar only.  next week 5 pound plate on each side of the bar. 3x10

*cable rotation -wt. 20, 3x10

*lying hip raises on bench- body wt. need to increase the difficulty. 3x10

 Day 3 lifting routine:

*incline db bench - 25 wt, 3x10

*db flys- 15 wt. , 3x10

*straight arm pulldown- 50 wt. 3x10, dot 1

*cable curls-  50 wt, dot 19, 3.x10

*db plie squat-  50 wt., 3x11. need to increase difficulty or do more regular squats daily

*back extensions- body wt. dot 6, 3x11

*toe press-   90 wt 1st set, 130 wt 2nd set, 170 wt 3rd set/4th set.  4x10

*russian twists- w/ 25 wt plate. 15 reps, 20 reps, 15 reps. 

I've increased weight in nearly every exercise over the three weeks. My very hardest exercises are rack pulls since I've been botching them by lifting 185 pounds total instead of 75 pounds total, and dumbbell flys with 15 pounders. Today, I hugged that garbage can on my flys 30 times and struggled with proper form the last 5 reps of each set. 

now for my measurements:  

1/19/14

weight 150.4 (down .4 pounds)
chest 38.25 (up 1.25 inches)
arm 11.4 (up .4 inches)
waist 29 (down 1.75 inches)
hips 39.25 (up .25 inches)
thigh 23.5 (up .75 inches)
calf 14.5 (same)
measured right bicep flexed for the first time=12.13 inches

so i haven't had input from my trainer yet about my progress, oh WAIT YES I DID!!  and this is it: 

"Wowza HUGE difference Greta. You are looking JACKED."

so today i'm feeling pretty good about what i've accomplished in 3 weeks (plus a week of learning prior to starting the total program on january 1).  

1. i learned to measure food and assess macro content.  i learned to plan and eat foods throughout a day to meet my prescribed macronutrient allotments.  i learned how to convert ounces into grams and vice versa which is a large pain in the ass. 

2. i learned to identify clean foods and notice the different ingredients in foods which i should eat/which are clean and foods i should avoid/make an informed choice about eating.  

3. i learned three lifting routines with 8 exercises apiece which were almost all new moves for me to learn.  and i increased weights when i needed to, by feel.  so i learned how to assess when to increase the difficulty so i am getting the most out of each movement in my time at the gym.

4. i learned to keep off the scale.  and i learned that i have a really fucked up relationship with my weight and the scale and that i need to change my mentals so i am not measuring my worth by the number on the scale.  

fixing the way i think about my body and my weight and my worth will take time and retraining my brain, and i'm confident that over the next 9 weeks i will be getting closer and closer to meeting my goals.   i have a really great shot at achieving them!   

now for my progress pictures:  the top row is from the first day of the challenge 1/1/14.  the bottom row is from today 1/19/14 for my end of week 3 check in.  

so, ya, there's me in my undies.  whatevs.

I'm hitting my macros +/- 10 grams most every day.   It hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be to eat 155 grams of protein, I just shovel in the meat, eggs, cheese and I'm not grossed out at all. I've become an elk steak and turkey eater, shocking!


 

eggs and chicken sausage for brekkie

a few days breakfast and snacks for the 730-430 time frame at work 

a delicious clean meal prepared by alan, lovingly and perfectly macro-y

bacon'ed green beans- alan is a genius!

if i could have calculated this graph BEFORE yesterday my percentages would have been spot on or 1-2%age points off only.  but whatever, yesterday i ate a bunch of fat (good fat though), a whole lotta fat, and well so there it is.  i am very proud of how close i am to my macro goals already 3 weeks in.  overall, i struggle keeping the fat at 75 grams per day, but i'm doing well hitting 225 carbs and 155 protein pretty closely each day.  

this is showing my last 7 days of macros eaten. i'm only concerned with fat, carb, protein grams.  you can see i'm in the red on fat, but i'm oh so close on carb and protein.  score!!  i'm feeling like this is the best i need to do to meet the goals i have set for this challenge.  i do not intend to be rigidly strict with myself in nutrition, i couldn't enjoy that.  i can, however, and have, enjoyed this last week of eating.  i'm feeling good and looking good.  

some workouts from this week:

tough.  that's all i will say.  very tough.

i was holding a 50 pound weight doing goblet squats.  yep, i'd say this program is working just fine!!   (my arms do not look like this in rest, but give me 50 pounds and this happens!!!)  :)

weighted lunges.  i was really struggling here, i will take off 5 pounds on each side next week.  this was too much for 3 sets of 10 reps. per leg.  i plan to be back up to this level in 2 weeks though!!

 

rack pulls are giving me some blisters so i considered gloves and my bad ass trainer MEG said nope, you grow those calluses and lotion up half hour prior to lifting so they don't tear during lifts.   i'm officially scared of her, and in awe of her simultaneously.

I AM FEELING GREAT!  

but i keep in mind:

that's why i don't wear them!

demise of the carbs

12/17/13
Plump to Pump
Blog #7 for No Quit Fit Outdoor Bootcamp


I'm going to be starting my Hardcore Hottie Challenge on January 1. Two weeks ago I turned in my personal evaluation which was umpteen pages long and detailed my goals and present status as a bootycamper extraordinaire. Last week I received my plan from my trainer Meg. I have spent a few days figuring things out but have oodles of kinks to iron out before New Years Day so I can hit the ground running, er uh, well not running obviously. Running is out, protein is in. Shocker. Since I love running so much, Meg says one day of running per week is my choice, but if I want the big guns, my focus is nutrition and lifting and HIIT workouts. I feel like a million bucks after I run, so I will miss lacing up my purple sneaks and pounding the pavement for an hour at a time. But it's fucking cold outside, and the pavement is covered in at-the-beach-style snow which makes running not quite as fun. I think this is the longest cold snap in my recorded history, so ya, I think I'll live with just one run per week this frigid winter. Check. 

Ok, next. The protein. Jesus in heaven the protein. 155 grams per day of protein. Visions of chicken breast and deli turkey dance in my head until I throw up. I don't like to eat meat THAT much. So I've been researching all the ways I can add protein without wanting to become a vegetarian (again). My regular protein intake is around 90 grams at very most, so I've got some ground to cover. AND I have to cut back on the carbs. Oh delicious womanly carbs. I will miss you so. I have a max of 225 prescribed carbs in my plan (on workout days). Oh woe is me, that number is so sadly small. I am going to throw a little "celebration of life" for the demise of my mountains of carbs I like to scarf down every day. I'll light a candle for carbs. 

Throw an egg or cottage cheese in with every meal. Cut out my frozen Smart Ones lunches. Explore butters other than peanut. Craft my own salad dressing. Chuck the scale. The scale is the devil and, wait, what?? No weighing myself? But I just wrote a pithy blog about why I think the scale is just fine. I use it healthfully to keep my weight in check. I'm wrong?! I'm wrong. Muscle weighs more than fat blah blah blah. Yeah yeah. We will be measuring my progress weekly solely with photos and how my clothes fit. So if you liked my sneak-snap in my brassiere that my husband took last blog, you'll be disappointed from here on out. I am a terrible poser. Get the camera out and tell me to look a certain way and I freeze up. Something stupid happens and I look stupid and effortful. My daughter took over 100 pictures of us in our halloween costumes and there was one usable picture where I didn't look ridiculous and over-acted. Our costumes fucking rocked the house mind you, but me trying to act out Mia Wallace from Pulp Fiction in her revived-with-syringe scene for the photograph was laughable. Or cry-able, Alan was visible irritated at many points in the kitchen photography session. 

By the way, I haven't weighed myself for 5 days, my longest stretch since I began weighing myself about 2 years ago. I'm going to try to hold off until Sunday. And maybe say fuck it on Sunday too.