Merry Christmas Eve!!
So I am in the 4th week of my Project Fit competition and wanted to give you an update on my progress. While I can’t say I have been completely perfect with my diet especially with the holidays, I can say that I have bumped up my workout intensity to make up for it. We did our mid competition weigh in and the results were not what I expected. Even with eating a less than perfect diet, I still lost 1.8% body fat! One thing to note is that as of the weigh in, I hadn’t lost more than a pound which is EXACTLY what I want right now and here’s why…
I have put on 1.3 lbs of muscle and lost 2.4 lbs of fat. All too often we focus solely on losing body weight when instead we should be focusing on losing body fat and here’s why…
When I was younger I remember thinking muscle weighs more than fat. This simply isn’t true; 1 lb of fat is exactly the same as 1 lb of muscle. The beauty of muscle is that it is denser and takes up LESS space in the body AND the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism. Tighter body, better fitting clothes, higher metabolism, same weight? I’d settle for that any day.
When I was at my lowest weight, my “peak”, I had 19 lbs of body fat and I was 125 lbs. I currently have 24.5 lbs of body fat and am 136 lbs. Let’s say I lose the 5.5 lbs of body fat I have left to get back to my goal body fat but I keep the same amount of muscle. That means that I will weigh 130.5 which means I will have 5.5 lbs MORE muscle than when I was at my “peak”. More muscle and a higher metabolism which means on those days that I do eat much less than perfect, it will not wreak havoc on my progress and goals.
That all being said, losing weight and body fat hasn’t been the primary focus. Instead I am choosing to focus on the healthy HABITS that I am re-forming in my life, such as eating more greens, that will allow me to see the results I am working towards. My eating has gotten better since December 1st and my workouts are more consistent and focused. I create behavior goals for the day and/or week that helps me stick to my overall plan.
When you set behavior goals, which are daily or weekly goals that are accomplishable and manageable, you are more likely to see progress towards your goals. I find the more I think about the results, the more stressed I get and the less results I see. A major focus for me has been meal prepping at the beginning of the week so that I can bring my own meals to eat throughout the day.
Bottom line ladies (and gents), take your mind away from the scale and focus on the process. Make a plan that is realistic and manageable and stick with it and you’ll see results you never thought you’d see.
Check out the link below to learn more about why muscle mass is so important (and no you won’t look like a body builder when you put on muscle).
http://www.popsugar.com/fitness/Why-Building-Muscle-Mass-Important-21059579
****This is more aggressive of a link but it would be good for you to read it just so you know more about the topic. It’s a huge issue with women
http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/9-reasons-muscle-is-good-and-you-should-get-some
