Lady in Weight-ing

Most of you have probably heard this at least once before.  The scale does not deserve to occupy any room in your house, even your bathroom.  That being said, I have two of them.  And I weigh almost every day. 

With a trip to the Arnold Sports Festival and one or two photo shoots in my very near future, I have had a very (VERY) clean diet for the past couple of weeks.  No cheat days, no cheat meals, no samples of my holiday baked goods...nothing.  So when I have been weighing each day, I fully expect the scale to move in the downward direction, or at least to stay the same.

Today, it was up two pounds.  Up.  TWO pounds.  I ate 125 calories under my goal yesterday.  A few months ago, this would've launched me into a very negative frame of mind.  Clearly this eating plan isn't working.  I guess I might as well have a cheat meal since the scale isn't moving.  I must be doing something wrong.  I guess I need to drop to 800 calories a day instead of 1400-1600. 

But I know the reality is that things like water retention, bowel movements (or lack thereof), muscle gain, hormones, etc., can all impact that doggone scale.  So today, when I saw that the scale was up, I did have that initial disappointment, but it was immediately followed by thoughts of, "It doesn't matter; I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing and it will probably be back down tomorrow.  If not, no biggie.  Full steam ahead."

If you keep your scale, that's fine.  But please understand that it is a tool  It should not dictate your thoughts or your actions.  Don't give it that much power.  I use a variety of tools to measure my progress:  the scale, calipers, measuring tape, and most importantly, photos.  THOSE tell the real truth. 

So keep it in perspective, and if you choose to only use one tool to measure your progress, go with photos, not the scale.

Abs

It has always been my policy to not really work abs very much.  I am blessed to have a small waist and have always been afraid that doing much ab work would make my abs thick.  But since I'm doing something completely new with my lifting program, I figure I might as well jump WAY out of my comfort zone and start doing some serious ab work.  I found a great ab workout on my favorite fitness website, bodybuilding.com.  It is Obi Obadike's ab routine and is designed to really grow some abs that will POP!  So what the heck; I decided to go for it.  Since the Super Squats program only has me lifting two to three times a week, I figure I will skip abs on those days and work them on the days in between.  So yesterday I did about 30 minutes worth of nothing but abs, and this morning, well, they HURT.  Bad.  I love, love, love the pain.  I don't think they've ever hurt like this before.

Here is the link to the article, which lists the exact routine I'm doing. 

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ask-the-ripped-dude-how-do-i-get-3d-abs.html?mcid=facetraining

And here is a picture of the dude who wrote the workout:

There were a couple of the exercises that I didn't get to do because of time constraints, but believe me, I knew they'd already been put through enough torture for one day.  I'll be doing HIIT this afternoon which will work them even more.  I can't wait!

Super Squats, Day 1

I started a new program today based on a book entitled Super Squats.  (It can be purchased on Amazon here.)  It has what I consider to be a pretty outrageous claim of packing on 30 pounds of muscle in just six weeks.  Granted, the book is geared towards men, men who are probably much, much larger than I am.  However, as a woman who would like to gain five to seven pounds of muscle (and minimize fat gain in the process), I figure this program is worth a shot.  It is very different than anything I have done before, and I'm pretty excited about it.  The basic premise is that you do primarily compound exercises and only lift two or three times a week.  You do a full-body workout on those days, and there are only eight exercises.  Of those eight, about half of them only require one set...one very large, very heavy, challenging set. 

Oh, and you're supposed to drink a gallon of milk each day.

Did I mention I eliminated dairy from my diet back in July?

Not that I never, ever have dairy, but it's pretty rare.  I thought about ignoring that part of the program, but I have about three containers of whey protein gathering dust in my cabinets and wouldn't object to mixing them with skim milk to make them taste even better.  I figure if I'm going to put forth the effort of doing the workouts as they should be done, I might as well give them the benefit of the doubt and drink the milk, too.

I'm going to TRY not to weigh for the next six weeks, but if I'm competely honest with myself, I know that's highly unlikely.  I have gotten to a point, though, where the scale doesn't automatically dictate my mood like it used to.  I'm going to mainly gauge my progress by my favorite pair of brown shorts.  They fit great right now, and as long as they continue to fit at least as well as they currently do, I will be happy.  If the scale goes up and the shorts still fit, that's even better.  That means I'm gaining muscle and not much fat.  THAT is the goal.

So here is what my typical week will look like over the next six weeks:
Monday--full-body workout and about fifteen minutes of LISS cardio
Tuesday--abs workout and about 30 minutes of LISS cardio:  HIIT in the afternoon
Wednesday--LISS cardio only
Thursday--full-body workout and about fifteen minutes of LISS cardio
Friday--abs workout and about 30 minutes of LISS cardio:  HIIT in the afternoon

Saturday will just be a day where I make up a workout if I missed one, or throw in something extra if time allows.  Sunday, as always, is my day of rest and a day to spend time with my family and in worship. 

So that's it in a nutshell--my next six weeks.  I'll get my body fat tested in about five weeks.  We'll be going on vacation shortly after that, and it will inevitably throw off my training schedule.

Side note:  I did my first workout this morning, and I'm already sore.  All over.  Really sore.  I'm one of those people who usually doesn't get sore 'til two days later.  I'm in a whole heap of trouble!  Better start medicating now...