Decisions, Decisions

Had another great week with the weights and the scale.   Once again I made continuous progress in all of my exercises.   I've been getting stronger and faster every week and the scale weight has been continuously dropping.  

I've also been aware of God's grace that has been helping me through it all.  Many times this week before going into a workout, my physical body just felt weak and I was dreading the workouts.  I did not want the momentum of continuous strength gains to hit a wall and I thought for sure I wasn't making any progress this week because of how my body felt.   So before and during each workout I had to completely rely on God's grace to give me the strength needed for further breakthrough.   I can say from experience He helped me increase my intensity, lift more, run faster and even subdued my cravings.   His grace is very real and thrusts me from surviving to thriving.  Another big yay God.  

Now comes some serious decisions I need to make over these next two weeks.   I totally forgot about some changes that are occurring in my workouts.  In the fit2fat2fit program, week 17 and 18 have five lifting days instead of three to shock your muscles and metabolism.  I've been following very strict caloric guidelines for weight lifting, cardio and rest days in order to make muscular gains while losing fat at the same time.   If I continue with my same diet routine, I am going to have 5 high calorie days per week instead of 3.   So for the next two weeks, I would expect to either maintain or even slightly gain some scale weight.   

Now I have to ask myself am I ok with that?   Am I ok with not being a certain scale weight or body fat percentage by my birthday?   Or is my main goal establishing a lifestyle and continuing on with my current caloric guidelines.    These are the questions I will be asking myself this weekend.  These are the questions I have to completely surrender to God and ask for His wisdom and grace to help me through it.  I will not make any progress and will be miserable if I waver and don't make a solid decision and follow through with it.  So I must be content with whatever decision I choose.  

As long as I acknowledge Him, He promises to direct my path.  With that I have peace and that's all that matters.  

Oh My Speedo!

Had to post this as a memorial.   Today I maxed out the speed on the treadmill while doing sprint intervals at the gym.  I was maintaining a speed of 12mph at 1% incline for one minute during my sprints.  It was a bittersweet moment.   I was ecstatic of my progress but was saddened that I wouldn't be able to push myself any further in the nice air conditioned gym.  Haha.   Looks like the only thing I can do at this time is increase the incline during my sprints to continue making progress towards my goal to break a 5 minute mile.   Sounds crazy but all things are possible.  What an awesome way to break through the mental struggles I was having over the past few days.  Yay God!   

The Struggle is Real

Down almost 2 pounds!   I'll take it.  :)  

Even though I had a good week on the scale, it's been a real struggle to keep my mind in a breakthrough mentality.   It started on Wednesday night when I only had 3 hours of sleep.   I decided to take a rest day on Thursday because with the lack of sleep I knew I couldn't put forth the intensity that my workouts demand and I did not want to put additional stress on an exhausted body.  I had a decent workout on Friday but then struggled again during this morning's cardio session. I truly had to rely on Him.  I had to dig deep and trust for His grace to manifest when I needed it most.  Sure enough, His grace is more than enough. Once again, He helped me press on when I just wanted to call it quits for the day.  

I thank God for His grace because it's been very evident that He has been carrying me through these last few days. 

It's His grace that gives me the ability to maintain a breakthrough mentality.  It's His grace that gives me the supernatural strength to believe that all things are possible.  It's His grace that says I can help you do another rep, increase the incline, sprint faster, push harder.  And He never fails me.  Not once.  Well His grace has been very real, carrying me when I personally wanted to call it quits.  It's His grace that always believes the best of me, that I'm a true champion even when I don't feel like it.... and in some way, somehow He convinces me that I am.     Priceless.  Oh I thank God for His grace.  

I'm officially 11 weeks out from my birthday.  Time is going by quick.  I've made great progress over the past couple months.  My greatest victory has been 62 continuous days without a splurge day.  That has NEVER happened in my entire life.  That alone is breakthrough.  That alone leaves me in awe.   That alone convinces me that He is more than able to accomplish more than we could ever ask or dream.  Yay God.  :)

Ups And Downs

So I'm down close to half a pound this week after completing week 14 of the fit2fat2fit program.  It may not seem like much, but I'm actually satisfied with it because I progressed and grew stronger AGAIN in all of my muscle groups by either increasing the weight or increasing the amount of reps.    Push-ups, pull-ups, squats, lunges, military press, curls and dips, all seeing increase.  My speed has also increased in distance and sprint running. Week after week I have been continually dropping weight and increasing in strength.  How can I not be happy with that?   

I'll say this again and again.  My goal is not to reach a certain goal weight.  My goal is to reach a certain body fat percentage.  When I'm continually dropping weight while I'm increasing my strength it is a clear indication that my body fat percentage is dropping.  

I've dieted countless times before when my goal was strictly based on a certain scale weight.  I sacrificed a lot of muscle in the process just because I was in a rush to be at a certain weight.  Yes weight would drop quickly, but with the wrong diet and exercise program I found myself losing a lot of strength and endurance because I was losing a lot of muscle along with the fat.  So after I would reach a certain scale weight I would then have to train differently to put on the muscle that I lost.   So why not just be healthy and happy and do it right the first time.  I'm learning to be patient and trust the process.  

I'll also say this again and again... there is no way I could do this without God's grace.  He continues to give me supernatural discipline, strength, will power and wisdom and its producing supernatural results.  To God be all of the glory.  It's Christ in me, living through me. Yay God. 

Bittersweet

Down 2.6 pounds this week!    I'm grateful for the loss. God's grace has definitely been helping me.   I've been committing each day, each workout, each meal to Him and the results are coming.  

I'm just being real now... 2.6 pounds is a good loss, but with that loss came feelings of weakness, prolonged soreness throughout the week and one of the days I was just hungry all day... even while eating 2500 calories.    

Every 2 weeks the exercises change with the fit2fat2fit program I'm doing.  This week was week one of a new routine.  So basically I was setting a baseline for next week.  My body was just really sore from the new exercises and my recovery time has been slow.  I really like pushing myself, going all out in my exercises, and it was hard doing that while feeling weak.  

So for this coming week, I'm probably going to increase my calories by about  300 cals on workout days for more energy, faster recovery time and to make sure I'm not losing muscle mass and strength.  I'm looking forward to this coming week and seeing how my body responds to the additional calories.  I'm continually thanking God for His grace, it's more than enough.  

Speeding Up!

So another one of my goals that I set back in June was to break a 7 minute mile by my 40th birthday in November.   My baseline mile back in June was 8:08.  I decided once a month I would run "my fastest mile" to check my progress and make adjustments if necessary.

Well after today's run, I'm excited and nervous at the same time.  Today I ran a 7:11 mile.  That's almost one minute faster in just 5 weeks time.  I'm nervous because I know I need to set my goal higher... so here goes... I'm aiming to be under a 6 minute mile by my birthday in November.  

I've actually been there before.  Last November my fastest mile was in the 5:45 range.  But after not running for 6 months, from January through June, my fastest mile slowed down almost 2 1/2 minutes.

 I wouldn't set the goal that high if I didn't think it was attainable.  With God all things are possible.  I've seen great results so far, so I'm believing for supernatural results to continue.  Why not?  God gave us the invitation to dream with Him and I accept.  I have a supernatural helper who's with me 24/7 and He's never failed me.  He's always faithful and I believe He's faithful to complete every work He began in me.  

Confirmation

Got my body fat percentage and it confirmed that most of my weight loss this past month was from fat and not muscle.  My goal was to be at 21% but I'll take 21.1%.  

I started monitoring my body fat when I was at 224 pounds.  I was at 25% body fat with a lean body mass of 168 pounds.   Today my body fat was tested at 214 pounds and came in at 21.1% with a lean body mass of 168.85.  That means not only did I lose 10 pounds of scale weight, I gained close to one pound of muscle at the same time.  

I thank God for His help in guiding me and giving me the strength to follow through with the nutrition and workout plan.  It really is working.  I'm not in a rush.  Slowly but surely I'm making progress in the right direction.  I couldn't ask for better results.  Yay God.  

Breaking Through

Yay another goal met!   My goal this week was to be at 215 and I weighed in at 214 yesterday morning (August 1st).  Our family had a busy day yesterday and I wasn't able to post my weigh-in.

Looking back over the past 5 weeks, I think my biggest struggle has been to take this journey slow.  There have been times in the past when I've been so focused on reaching a target goal weight that I would often sacrifice muscle loss because I would cut too many calories to drop weight fast.  When I was on low calorie diets, I would often find myself splurging every couple of weeks with a crazy 10000 calorie day all because I was denying myself food instead of training myself in living a balanced lifestyle.  After splurging, I would often feel horrible and cut even more calories to try and make up for the splurge.  This is a horrible recipe for fat loss and often results in muscle loss.  I can testify to this because I never progressed in my workouts and would often lose strength and endurance along my journey.  So I'm glad I'm taking things slow this time around and I'm focused on a lifestyle change, living a balanced life.

I must give credit to where it's due. I've been doing my best to commit each day, each workout, each meal, each desire and thought to God, to bring transformation from the inside out.  It's making a huge difference in helping to renew my mind for a lifestyle change versus a seasonal diet.  It's also helping me see the big picture, enjoying each day to the fullest, and not be so concerned about rushing to meet goals.  I also noticed that when I dedicate each workout to Him, it gives me faith to reach for supernatural breakthrough in my workouts.  I'm definitely achieving the best results I ever have in my nutrition and my workouts and for me that's breakthrough.   Yay God!  :)