Maleficent238’s BodyBlog

I ended up working legs and glutes yesterday evening instead of arms.  My right tricep was a little tender, so I decided to give it an extra day of rest.  It’s all better now, so tonight I’ll be doing some pretty intense arm work.  I plan on giving my forearms a good beating.  My biceps and triceps always get a hard and heavy workout, but my forearms get ignored all too often.  That ends now.  Oh, and I weighed myself this morning.  122.  My weight has never been this steady.  It’s a strange thing.  I mean, I know that I’m losing body fat.  I can feel it.  I can see it.  Am I gaining the same amount of weight in muscle?  I just don’t know what to think.  Keep on keep on.

So it’s National Eating Disorders Awareness Week.  It’s this outreach effort sponsored by the National Eating Disorders Association.  And this week every year they sponsor all these events throughout the country.  I was in treatment for an eating disorder a few years ago and yesterday I received a letter from my former therapist encouraging me to be active in the events of this week and to “give back” what I’ve received.  It’s been a very personal struggle for me, so I don’t feel comfortable getting out there and helping with the cause, but I do feel that I should atleast acknowledge the week.  I don’t know if I have any advice or words of wisdom for anyone who may be currently struggling with an eating disorder.  However, there are plenty of things I wish I could back in time and tell myself.  I probably wouldn’t have listened though.  Or I wouldn’t have understood at the time.  That’s something I’ve noticed – a lot of the things I was preached in treatment really didn’t sink in until much later.  And there are still some things I’m just now coming to understand.  Since my treatment, health and fitness has become increasingly important to me.  Maybe a part of me wants to make up for all the self-abuse.  Maybe I’ve just transferred my behaviors to a healthier outlet.  Whatever the case, here I am.  So although I cringe when I think about my lowest points in the throes of my eating disorder, I have to say that it definitely set the stage for where I am now and – atleast physically – I’ve never felt better.  So it seems like that should count for something.  Or not.  Who knows.

Any Care Bears fans out there?  Well, I leave you with a picture of a DVD that you should own.  It looks so ridiculous….and I just ordered a copy on amazon.  Haha.

Today was a rest day for me.  I usually go crazy on rest days, but today was actually really good.  Not only is my body rested, but also my mind.  I like to repeat little mantras to myself throughout the day and today’s mantra was "this is how it should feel."  A good day indeed.

Moving on.  So I’ve been working on a protein ice cream recipe and I think I’ve pretty much tweaked it to my liking.  I basically just took a few recipes I found in the forum and played around with it until I got what I wanted.  I detest cottage cheese, but I’ll eat it in this.  It’s something about the texture that bothers me, but when it’s frozen, that texture is lost.  If interested, here’s the recipe:

1/2 cup cottage cheese, 2 Tbs lean dessert (I use whipped vanilla), 1 egg white, 1 Tbs chocolate dreams peanut butter

Mix it up and freeze for a few hours.  Good stuff. 

I guess that’s all I’ve got for now.  Tomorrow is another double-doozey day.  Cardio and pilates in the morning, then arms in the evening.  I’m refreshed and ready.  Bring on the morning.

Yoga was great.  It was exactly what I’ve been looking for.  The perfect fit.

It’s Saturday and I am happy to report that as far as my body goes, it was a perfect week. Every workout was hard and heavy.  My diet was squeaky clean.  I even managed to get some quality sleep without having to take any supplements.  This morning’s yoga class was just the cherry on top. 

Feeling good.

I’m waiting for my food to settle before I hit the gym.  It’s legs and glutes day.  Bring on the squats.

Tomorrow I’m starting a new yoga class.  Finding the right yoga class is a tricky thing for me.  I prefer a class that focuses more on balance and flexibility and less on relaxation and meditation, which is why I love pilates mat classes.  However pilates is a bit more taxing on the body and tomorrow I’ll need more of an active rest sort of thing.  Of course, there’s always the option of doing yoga on my own, but I much prefer going to a class.  So let’s cross our fingers that I find what I’m looking for.

Monday night.  I took off yesterday because my knee was acting weird and my body just needed the rest.  I awoke this morning feeling very refreshed so I ate a light breakfast and did 20 minutes of HIIT.  I went back to the gym this evening and did an hour of back and abs.  My back work was solid, but my ab work kept getting interrupted.  First I bumped into someone I met at the race on Saturday and he was feeling very chatty.  Then a friend of a friend saw me and wanted to catch up.  It was a little frustrating.  I just have to remember to 1) never take out my earphones (even if there isn’t any music playing through them) and 2) never make eye contact.  Point is, my abs did not get the attention that they needed.  Not a big deal.  I’ll just work in some extra ab work this week. 

So a little off topic but kind of not: I found an old picture of myself today that made me laugh.  This was taken on my 21st birthday (about 2 1/2 years ago) when health was not a major concern to me.  I loved cake.  A lot.  And it wasn’t enough to just eat the cake.  Oh no.  I had to dive into it head first:

Yep.  I just thought I’d let you people have a little laugh at my inner fat girl’s expense.  That’s all for now.  Thank you and good night.

Before: 

After:

 So there you have it my friends.  My third 5k race.  But enough of this running business.  Back to the weight room.

So I ran a 5k race today.  I clocked my best time yet at 24:05.  That put me in first place in the 20-24 female age division.  I got a trophy and everything.  It’s all very exciting.  After the race there was free jambalaya (yum!) and this crazy broccoli pasta salad business.  It was very tasty.  There was also free beer which didn’t interest me in the least.  It blew my mind that people were able to kick back and enjoy a pint after running a race.  I mean, just the smell made me a little woozy.  Not to mention that it seemed to completely negate the health aspects of running.  Well, that’s nothing compared to what I was later invited to.  Apparently there’s this annual race around here called the Beer Miles.  So get this - the race starts out as any other race would, but at the one mile marker, each runner has to chug a beer.  Then they continue to run until the next mile marker where they - you guessed it - chug more beer.  The amount of beer chugged increases with each mile.  Vomiting results in disqualification.  Have you ever heard of such a thing?  It sounds horribly painful.  Needless to say, I will not be participating the the Beer Miles race.  I think I’ll stick to exercising while sober - it’s seemed to work for me thus far. It’s been a long day and I’m tired.  Tomorrow I’ll post some pics from the race.  Be on the lookout.

I woke up feeling a little sluggish, so I decided to snap myself out of it by hitting the gym early.  I worked arms and got a triceps compliment from one of the trainers.  I’ve been a little frustrated with my triceps lately, so that was nice to hear.  I can’t seem to get them to really "pop" like I want.  Keep on keep on.

The race is tomorrow.  I have high hopes.  Wish me luck!

And that pleases me greatly.  I expected to feel a burn in my hams today as well, but alas there is none.  No biggie.  I’m not too concerned with my hamstring development right now.  Glutes are my main priority.

Today I turned in my entry form for the 5k race I’m running on Saturday.  I’m getting kind of excited about it.  I’ve run a couple of 5k races before and my best time was 24:30.  And that’s when I was running steady state pretty regularly.  So I really have no idea what to expect now.  My speed work has improved a lot over the past couple months with all the HIIT I’ve been doing.  I can clock a mile in under seven minutes, but I certainly can’t keep that pace up for any longer than the one mile.  That’s my concern - I don’t know if I remember how to pace myself properly.  Eh, whatever.  It’s 3.1 miles.  It’s just a fun thing to do.  I’m not going to stress.  I’ll just go out there and see what happens. 

Today is legs and glutes day, which also means that it’s upper calorie limit day.  Lots of squats and lots of chicken.  My life is a party.

My workout went well last night.  I was completely beat by the end.  Swimming laps is serious stuff my friends, especially after a grueling chest workout.  In other news, my abs are still sore from Sunday.  Crazy.  I worked them pretty hard and I incorporated a few new exercises, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.  I got inspired by an article in the new issue of Hers Muscle and Fitness.  Six pack here I come.

I’m running a 5k race on Saturday.  A friend talked me into it last night.  I really haven’t run straight steady state in a while, so this should be interesting.  I should just HIIT it up.  I average a decent pace.  We’ll just see how I”m feeling.

What else?  Oh!  So my new macro breakdown.  It’s only been a few days and I can already feel the difference.  Upping my fats was the correct thing to do.  I feel fuller and more energetic.  And that’s exciting. 

All for now.