odysseia’s BodyBlog

I am so happy that I’ve already dropped 12.5 of 20 pounds in a little less than a month! I am plotting my next step to keep the challenge going and avoid hitting a plateau far too early. Not only do I love the progress I’ve made from my progress pics over the past few weeks, I’m loving the shape of my body (and the fact that I don’t jiggle during cardio).

I guess I should clear up my timeline. I’m hoping to meet or exceed my weight and measurement goals by my birthday, April 25. I definitely won’t be taking the following 5 days off and I’m hoping to have some really nice vacation pics up in mid-May. Now, thanks to reading some articles from Ava Cowan and Christina Lindley, I’m motivated to train as if my vacation is really a photo shoot.

I feel absolutely fantastic going into this week. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I’m now halfway to my weight loss goal with so much time remaining. Although I post weekly progress pics to keep myself honest and motivated, I think that this is the first week where you can see a marked change.
I gave myself 2 days of rest as opposed to 1 for the previous two weeks. You definitely have to let those muscles recover properly. I also believe that keeping up a clean diet and the benefits of supplementation are working wonders. I was a fool for not paying attention to my protein intake when I was a young gym rat.
Some of the real highlights of the week included two more killer upper body workouts and abs every day of training. More specifically, when I work abs everyday, there’s always variation. For example: day 1 - with weights, day 2 - obliques, day 3 - upper and middle, day 4 - lower. I’m looking forward to really seeing those abs pop out but I know that’s all a matter of eating right, stepping the cardio up and keeping the right supplementation going.

This week, I’m looking forward to going from one hardcore leg day to two moderate days and kicked-up-sweat-within-five-minutes cardio.

Just as I planned, the intensity was definitely upped. I wound up working out 5 days, salsa & samba dancing for 3 hours on a night out and even making a successful attempt at a HIIT session: 15 minutes moderate running, 3 minute-long full effort intervals with 3 minute-long light jogging breaks.

I worked my abs every day of training, mostly at the beginning of my workouts to engage them more in the following exercises. Unlike last week’s singular "killer" arm workout, I went for two. I really loved feeling the pump in my biceps and shoulders at the end. This week, I’m looking forward to using high reps/medium weight to slim my thighs. My main issue with them is that I have naturally large quads.

I gave my diet a kick by cooking up a big batch of "Stir-fry": lean chicken breasts, carrots, broccoli, snow peas, bean sprouts,  green onion, garlic, chili sauce and lime…all on top of Barilla Plus high protein/lower carb whole wheat pasta. That was a mouthful! With enough for 7 meals, it makes a great lunch.

Week 1 threw me several curveballs, but I made it through. Needing an emergency tooth extraction, I was unable to work out as much or as intense as I wanted to, but I made it count when I did. Along with my yoga/pilates/dance combos, I made sure to walk around the neighborhood a little more than usual (when you’re in the zone, you don’t care about walking through 7" of snow and below freezing temperatures).
One of the highlights was a killer arm workout on Thursday (I’m still feeling it a bit). As you can see, I reluctantly added progress pics. I’m loving the side view and I can’t wait to see how it improves as time goes on. I’m looking forward to definitely upping the intensity this week.