gingerrockypoint’s BodyBlog

So, my place of employment started a type of preventative health problems type program this last August.  They pay $50 for every category employees are able to improve on, so of course I was in!  For overall fitness they measure flexibility (a hamstring stretch), body comp (weight and body fat) strength (bench), pushups, situps, measured jump, mile and a half run, and 300 meter sprint.  In August I weighed in at 130 and my fat percentage was 19.7 (measured by calipers).  We recently tested to see which areas we improved in.  I made all my goals except for my run, which was 12 seconds off, and my body comp.  I lost 4 pounds, but I stayed the same on my fat percentage.  Wait a second!  Doesn’t that mean that I lost muscle if I lost weight and stayed exactly the same percentage wise?  How is that possible when my strength has increased?  I one rep max on my bench went up 40 lbs alone!  I am baffled, I mean I even see results in my pictures.  Did I lose muscle in other areas but gained in others?  That is the only explanation I can think of.  Either that or I was carrying more water when I was measured the second time.  Even though it was a downer, it’s only given me the extra motivation I need to switch it up in the gym and push even harder.  Six months from now I will meet all my goals and then some

I had been browsing the forums of the "female bodybuilding" section and found a post that was similar to a problem that I’ve recently been having.  This particular person stated that her husband found it "ugly" when women put on lean mass, and further stated she was selfish in her endeavor to have an athletic looking body.  My husband has said the same thing in casual conversations in the past, but it was just recently that he told me that he thought I was selfish for going to the gym five days a week.  I work full time and am also a full time mom, so this is the only "me time" I get for myself!  I was shocked to find out all of this had been building up for years, and he finally tells me his hidden hatred for my dedication for a better me.  Now I know what you would say "well just get him to go with you."  Well, let’s just say his idea of working out is bending that elbow!  I have asked him to go with me and when we are off together he does on occasion, but he just can’t get motivated to go more than a couple times a week.  He tells me "that’s your thing not mine."  I wish it could be his thing too, but he’s exactly right!  It’s my thing so why is he trying to take it from me?  As you can imagine he’s not in the best shape, but I love him all the same.  I don’t say anything to make him think different.  Is this his way of wanting me to stay out of shape also because he feels I will leave him for someone in better shape like myself? 

So I have this friend… No really true story and it relates to nutrition but first we have to get through the whole history.  I have a friend who use to work with me at my current place of employment, but in February of 2007 she quit, re-married (for the third time) and now is a stay at home mom to one daughter and four other step children.  She married in March of 2007, and since then the contact with her seemed to get more and more sparse.  I would e-mail, asking if she had time to catch lunch, or just time for a visit at either of our homes, and she would set a date but a couple days before she would e-mail to cancel saying that something had come up and she wouldn’t be able to make it.  Well after four or five times of this I began to wonder if she really wanted to keep being friends or if it was just one sided on my part.  The last time she cancelled by e-mail I did not reply.  The following week she asked if I had become upset by her recent cancellation.  I told her of course I did!  I had not seen her for five months, and we used to be the best of friends.  Now the kicker…  She told me that she kept cancelling because she had gained some weight and was afraid that I would gossip to my co-workers about her weight gain.  Now, granted I’m not a perfect person when it comes to the office gossip, it’s something I’m trying to work on, but nevertheless I would never do something like that, especially to such a close friend.  I also forgot to mention the previous year she had to have a hystorectomy at twenty-six because of endometreosis, and I hear that can royally screw up a person’s metabolism.  Long story short she did eventually set a date for a barbecue at her house and our families did get together.  When she opened the door I expected to see a significant amount of gain, but it was a mere fifteen pounds at the most.  For dinner we had kabobs, corn on the cob, rolls and shortcake for dessert.  For the most part a healthy spread considering it could have been a lot worse.  I filled my plate, not wanting to make her feel self conscious about her weight gain, and when I was done with my plate went back for seconds and thirds even (on the kabobs only).  My point is I was way past full but I felt like I had to eat more or I would hurt her feelings, if by some way saying I was full would make her feel self conscious about how much she had eaten.  I don’t know if all of this is making sense or if my rambling is just going to waste here, I guess what I’m trying to say is that we, as a society use eating to relate to how people are feeling and when someone is sad or depressed about the way their body looks.  Especially in a social setting where we don’t want to rub in their faces “hey look at me, I can be as disciplined as I want to when it comes to my diet, and you obviously can’t.”  In the end everything turned out good, we caught up and reminisced about old times, and I can’t wait till I get to have a girls night out, but I hope I can realize that I can’t lose sight of my goals for another person’s insecurities, even if she is my best bud. 

I guess you could say I’ve never been very athletic or good at sports, and I’ve, as far as I can remember, hated running.  It wasn’t until I started working at my current job that I was even remotely interested.  Hey if out of shape cops can run every now and again why couldn’t I?  So I started, slowly.  At first I couldn’t even run half a mile before getting winded, as I ran thinking "why am I doing this again?"  But each time, after I had completed my run, each time going a bit farther than the first, I felt this great sense of accomplishment that I hadn’t before.  But now I was torn between my love of running and my love of lifting.  It seems when I concentrated too much on one, the other would suffer.  It was hard, and is still hard to this day too keep that balance.  Now I know why after recently learning that running is one of the forms of cardio that will send your body into that catabolic state that will destroy hard earned muscle tissue.  By the way if anyone has any more information or any helpful ways to lessen that effect it would be greatly appreciated!  I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m a long distance runner.  I usually just do my 25 minutes at a moderate pace, no more of a speed of 7.8 on the treadmill then I’m done and off to lift.  But I’ve noticed my legs aren’t progressing to heavier weights as well as my upper body seems to be.  So i decided to take a week off of running substituting other cardio to see what happened.  Come leg day I lifted 10 plus lbs. more for each exercise!  From this point I guess I don’t know what I’m going to do.  Switch running to 2 times a week to help develop my legs a bit more?  So far running hasn’t done much for my leg tone.  Any feedback appreciated.

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