This past week has been an emotional and frustrating week. Things at work went in the opposite direction than what I was expecting/told would happen and it upset me to no end. I slept maybe 5 hours, on and off, the night before this big announcement and had the same sleep the night of the announcement. Thursday this week I was an emotional basket case, could cry at the drop of a hat and usually when I get like that I emotionally eat and give up on my fitness journey. The last thing I wanted to do yesterday evening was go the gym and I thought about skipping it and taking a rest day but I got into my workout clothes and hit the gym for leg day hamstrings and quads and pushed myself. I felt energized and accomplished afterwards and was so glad I didn’t make an excuse and went to the gym for my workout. It’s amazing how the post workout endorphins make you feel and help you forget about the stresses of the day. I was able to fall asleep and stay asleep last night and woke feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the day for the first time all week.
Aside from the stresses going on at work, this week I officially started my Macros 101 journey. I have tracked every meal, every day this week and hit my calorie goal 3/4 days and I’ve exceeded my protein goal 4/4 days. I’ve been weighing myself every day and tracking that and taking an average for the week and I’ve lost 1.3 pounds so far based off my average to date for this week. I have made piece with the scale and understand its just a data point to collect and the daily fluctuation in weight doesn’t bother me anymore. I hope I keep reminding myself of this the next time I see a spike in my weight.
I was looking through some old photos of myself from last year and can see physical changes in my body from the last almost year of consistently working out. Not only that, but the confidence I feel inside my skin now is a thousand time more than it used to be. My legs feel toned and strong and my arms have muscle definition when I’m not flexing, something I’ve never had before! It will be interesting to see if my measurements have gone down anywhere this past week vs the previous 2 weeks.
The biggest accomplishment for me this week was the mental aspect of my journey. I had a mentally tough week and I stayed on track with my workouts and nutrition and didn’t get discouraged when I couldn’t accurately track my meal or not hitting my numbers. Also the physical way I’m feeling. I was able to increase weights from round 1 of my new program in most, if not all, of my workouts and that gave me confidence and I’ve started looking at myself in the mirror differently. Instead of looking for all my flaws, I’m looking at my accomplishments and how far I’ve come over this entire fitness journey. I used to be wearing size 16 clothes, I would never be caught in form fitting clothes, I was always hiding behind bagging sweatshirts (even when I was younger and much slimmer) and never wanted to be seen. Now I wear form fitting clothes, I’ve noticed my favourite go-to tanks are getting big in the chest and arm area, I wear bright colours proudly and don’t hide anymore. Fitness is more than just physical, it’s mental too!
