Only A Half Pound A Week?!

Good Morning friends and Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

It's snowing and frozen here, so I'm wrapped in a thick blanket, fat-free hot chocolate steaming next to me, my puppies cuddling up together and I thought it would be a great time to update everyone about where I am in my competition training. 

Angel Competition Bikini

For those of you that don't know, I am currently training for my first bikini competition- not the 'regular kind' as I was asked once- a bodybuilding, macro-counting, multi-stage body composition, weightlifting kind of bikini competition. I'm just starting my twelfth week, so I'm around 2.5 months in. I've written a bit about WHY I'm doing it, if you want to know more, read here!  What a crazy two months it's been. 

 Lately, I've been feeling like I'm plateauing... Composition wise, the inches have 'inched' off - get it? Ha!- and it's been hard for me to see the differences. Sure, every week when I send in my check-in I can see if the work I've put in through the week was enough to make a difference with the tape measure, but sometimes it feels like it isn't enough. 

I'm telling you, sometimes it's really hard to believe in yourself. Especially when others are asking why you're doing what you're doing what you're doing, saying you'll end up regretting it or it's not really that difficult, etc. Oh that phrase makes me mad! It is difficult! It's all about self-discipline, it's about learning more about yourself then most people want to dig into themselves because along the journey, you unearth things and emotions that you weren't aware of. 

Anyway, end of my rant and onto the reason for my writing!
I had my monthly meeting with my coach this morning (to make sure I'm lifting correctly, pushing myself enough, etc.) and in an effort to figure out if I am on the right track and making enough progress to make sure that I can compete (and do it in a healthy, safe way) at the end of summer/early fall.  She was awesome and kept telling me that the composition changes are there, she's able to see them. After being a crybaby to her and saying that I was worried that I wasn't making progress fast enough, she explained something to me.

This is a new lesson that I want to remember and how better to remember than to tell other that read my words? Anyway, she discussed to me that because of where I started, where I need to end up and with hormones, my thyroid issues, my past food issues, she only wanted me to lose half a pound a week. ONLY HALF A POUND A WEEK. 

"But I can lose more weight and faster. Shouldn't I?" Here's what she said to that, paraphrased of course. 

I don't want to lose muscle. I don't want to overwhelm my system. I want to boost my metabolism so that I burn calories efficiently at any state; after a Christmas party over indulging, a cheat meal that was too extravagant, etc. If I lose more than a half pound-to a pound and a half a week, I start losing muscle. And muscle is what I'm trying and working so hard to build. And my mind was blown.

I hope I paraphrased that correctly for her. She really has been and continues to be such a great coach. 

Part of my check-ins are to send in side by side photos from the week previous and this week. It's week 11 and I hadn't put a side by side photo of my 1st week together to see how my body has changed. 

Well today, I was curious about if my progress - 15 pounds and two inches - is visible in pictures. 

I was pleasantly surprised! It renewed my motivation, my dedication and my obsession with making the most of every workout, every macro! 

What a difference 11 weeks makes! At least, I can see it, I hope you can too! :)