[12-Week Challenge] Week 6 and Quarter 2 Updates

@denice65 Consistency has been my best achievement so far. I've been so consistent in eating, lifting, even CARDIO! My goal is to continue my gym schedule of 4 days lifting/ 2 days cardio / 1 day off, which seems to be working really well.
 
@denice65 I'm realizing some of my goals were way too ambitious (wanting to squat 1.5x my body weight, anyone?). But! I'm up to 135lb squats, and my deadlift is growing too! I'm more consistently running, and I've started reframing my thinking to treating this 12 week challenge as setting myself up for summer (I'm a teacher) and exercise.
 
@denice65 I didn't think I was doing that well but just looked at my entry for my first week and I was 136 then. I am now 126 pounds!! Maybe 116 pounds by the end of the challenge?!?! I love that this challenge is keeping me on track.
 
@denice65 As someone who is small and muscly (5'3 - 122 lb; GW:116 lb) those "last few pounds" are very hard because my body does not like even a slight deficit (I can't sleep at ALL - my stomach feels empty and grumbly, even if I eat lots of protein and fats for my calories).

So last week, I had pretty significant deficits the first 2 days (600, 500 calories) then I allowed slightly lower deficits the next few days which helped me keep my sanity and lose over 1/2 pound if my calculations are correct. Woohoo!
 
@cowboysfan22
As someone who is small and muscly (5'3 - 122 lb; GW:116 lb) those "last few pounds" are very hard because my body does not like even a slight deficit (I can't sleep at ALL - my stomach feels empty and grumbly, even if I eat lots of protein and fats for my calories).

Are you me? Seriously. Same feels here. Congrats on the .5lb loss!! As a fellow small woman (5'1"), .5lb loss is exciting as hell. Keep it up:)
 
@denice65 I'm killing it at the gym. I've been going 4-6x a week, with swimming twice and yoga once! I'm feeling really good about my baby gains BUT I cannot get my diet to match my exercising.

I can't control my sweet tooth. I've tried not to snack. I've tried to not totally cut them out because then I'll end up eating ALL the sweets. I'm keeping track of my calories on MFP but idk. It doesn't help that when I go out with my friends and bf, we always end up eating out and drinking. How do you guys manage? When you go out to bars or to restaurants? How do you stay on track?
 
@petercheck12 I'm not a sweet person but for going out, it has helped to eat a bit less for lunch, get a cardio workout in that day or the next, and stick to either vodka sodas or a bitter beer that will take me a while to get through. It's not the season for it where I am but that's Guinness in the winter. I stick to grilled meat & salad or half salad half carb side and go easy on sauces & dressing
 
@denice65 I met one of my main goals - PR in the 5K I had this weekend. 27 mins and 3 seconds. =) I am also pretty close on some lifting goals. Got 4 reps on 175 DL - goal of 5. Bench is progressing again too.

Getting that PR was a much needed boost since my whole maintain/recomp thing is a bust - up 5 pounds from 6 weeks ago but I am moving into trying to cut some fat and maintain my lifts now . I am hoping to still meet my strength goals since they were nothing too extreme and I am super close to what I had set out for them at the beginning. Maybe by the end of the next 6 weeks my weight will be back where it was and I will have "maintained". Lol.
 
@denice65 So on Sunday I finally convinced myself to get dressed and go to the gym to lift again (I've been on like a half a year hiatus since I became obessed with rock climbing) BUT THE ELEVATOR IN MY BUILDING DIES (literally only the elevator I'm in dies) so I waited over an hr for the fire department to come rescue me......... I really took it as a sign from above and just went back to my condo. #Notmeanttobe

But really I will try to convince myself to go next week haha.
 
@denice65 Hi all - I updated last week that my husband was in the ICU after a motorcycle accident, and I received some kind replies and advice. He is no longer in the ICU now, and is recovering fast. He can now stand for one second, and sit down in an armchair for an hour. These are huge for him and me.

So - I feel better about getting back into working out. I woke up early this morning at 6a before work to complete my strength training, and I feel a lot happier. I've updated my last two weeks, and I'm back on track. Glad to be part of this group again. I measured myself, and it looks like most everything just stagnated, and I didn't take a huge step back from progress by taking my week off. My BF % is up by a lot, but I can't really trust that, because I was able to hit all my strength training goals this morning. Ah well, hopefully that measurement drops soon! I know it's not terribly accurate.

Love to everyone here, and congrats on making it halfway through!
 
@wheelgirl Glad to hear he's recovering, motorcycle accidents are so scary. Car drivers often seem to forget that while they're in a metal shell bikers are in leather or denim most of the time.

Also glad to hear you didn't lose what you were working on but you just stayed where you left off.
 
@denice65 These 6 weeks have been pretty decent. Weight loss-wise I've lost 12 lbs. (which I didn't realize until I went back and looked at MFP logs) even though I felt like I've had a couple stalls. Haven't missed a day at the gym and have been sticking to my PHUL, which was my main goal for this challenge. I'm not sure how much my lifts are supposed to be increasing, and I've modified the routine so much as I go along that I should probably recalibrate my app to the original program, as I've increased reps and haven't gone up as much on weight. So according to JeFit, my 1RMs have gone up decently even if my rep weights haven't.

Kind of a bummer, I had taken some progress pics 4 weeks ago as part of a different challenge and took pictures today and really didn't notice much of a difference. I know 4 weeks is nothing, but I feel a lot stronger and that just doesn't show (except for in my quads, always in my quads).
 
@denice65 Yaaaas I hit my running goal this week. FINALLY. I want to say its because I ordered a training t-shirt for my October marathon and it arrived and motivated me. Now to keep it going.
 
@denice65 Ow, that's kinda sucky that only 25% of people are still posting and updating :(

Well let's see. What's working? Making sure I track my food and alcohol intake. As I suspected with the nice weather hitting my beer consumption has gone up, but unlike last year I'm not going to let that stall my weight loss. I'm making sure I add all the beers I drink to MFP and that helps keep me accountable.

Not working? Well, I could be losing weight faster if I wasn't enjoying beer so much, but then I would be unhappy and susceptible to binging. I do really need to limit the weekday drinking though, outside of our Wednesday date night.

On pace, yes! My goal was to lose 10lbs and I'm down close to 6, depending on when I weigh myself :p So my goal is definitely realistic and losing another 4-5 in 6 weeks should be np, and I'll only be a few pounds away from my goal weight. No need to improve what I'm doing really, I'm on track for success!

Onward ladies!
 
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