MIA to the Exreme

Soooooo.. I have been a horrible blogger this past couple of months. Between my job transfer, my health and diet complications and training for this NPC Bikini Competition I've had my hands full and I'm still working on finding a good balance. That's right though, you read it correctly.. I entered a figure competition!

I don't think it's possible for me to condense all that I have learned and gone through in the past couple months into one post. Actually, I know it's not possible. I will however have a steady blog flow for a while as I try to update all of you on the things I've learned :D

For this post I am going to focus on where I was when I came to the point where I realized I wanted to begin a fitness challenge. I had just finished the marathon. In the span of 6 months (November to May) I gained about 11 pounds while training for this marathon. Something was up. It is not normal to run miles upon miles every day and gain weight. At first I thought I didn't have a balance between my calories in and calories out, perhaps I was eating too much? I keep a food log and after further research that wasn't the problem. Sure I had a little more peanut butter than I probably should have from time to time but not 11 pounds worth.

I talked to a gastro neurologist and it turns out I have a gallbladder problem. I think I briefly touched on this before, honestly it's been so long that I don't remember. The gallbladder is what processes the fats that we eat. Mine was being faulty and wouldn't process fat that was being taken in through my diet so it was just storing it in my body tissues! Long story short I needed to alter my diet, yet again, and eliminate almost everything. Egg (yolks), dairy with fat, oil (except coconut oil), soy, corn, and basically all other allergens. Once I did this it was like a miracle had struck. I began loosing weight, having more energy, my skin began to clear up, I wasn't having stomach pains and indigestion. It was great.

On to the fitness side now. I wanted to rid my body of the weight I gained over this 6 month span. I decided I needed a plan. I needed a set goal and structure to follow so I could be accountable for my results. I started Jamie Eason's LiveFit 12 week challenge from bodybuilding.com and so it all began. I won't go into detail about that plan but I will say that her program really got my feet under me and without it I wouldn't have ever dreamed of entering any kind of fitness competition. I highly recommend checking it out! A few of my friends have started it themselves and are loving it!

I began following body builders in instagram and their lifestyles fascinated me. Enough so that I decided to take a plunge. I had all the necessary tools and plenty of knowledge right at my fingertips to play with. I decided to enter The Ohio State bikini competition on September 14, 2013. Stay tuned and be ready for pics because with how hard I have been working, you had better believe there will be a slew of pictures! haha :)

Fast forward to now. I am down 8-11 pounds give or take depending on the day. I've learned that the number on the scale is nearly irrelevant because muscle weighs more than fat and I'm certainly higher in muscle mass now. I don't let the fact that my weight is at a plateau bother me too much because I still see physical changes in my body regardless of what the scale says.

The picture on the left was about 2.5 months after the one on the right and I can see a solid change in muscle tone. However I actually hadn't lost but about a pound at this point in my journey.

 

 

I have so much I want to share, so much I have learned. I'll finish out this post on one note; patience. Patience truly is a virtue. And I've had to learn patience throughout my journey and I still have more to endure. Much, much more. But, it's important to realize that progress is progress, no matter how big or small.

 

^^ Nothing more true has ever been said.

Well that's all for today folks, sorry again for my disappearance. But I'll be back tomorrow, don't you worry ;)