6 week Check-In

So, remember last month I posted about getting my body composition measured? Well, last week I went back and had my measurements taken again, and the results were kind of funny, and a little surprising.

The good news was I lost .5" in my hips! The funny news was I also lost .5" in my neck. I am really not sure how I managed to do that, but I did! The surprising news was that my body composition went down 1%, meaning I actually did manage to lose fat! My biggest fear was that I whatever I did wouldn't have been enough, and my numbers would have stayed the same. That would have been a bit embarrassing.

So, how did I do it? Well, I think there were three main things that helped me achieve this.

#1 Change diet
Throughout the month of Jan/Feb I've gone back to adopting a mainly vegetarian/vegan diet during the week. On the weekends I ate fish and chicken (and once I had a pastrami sandwich from Katz's...) I am fully aware not everyone is willing to go vegan, and that's fine, but in order to change your body, you need to change what you put in it. Even if you start by just eating more veggies and more whole grains you're doing something good for your body.

#2 Build Muscle
Muscle burns fat, it's that simple. I got an awesome deal for a membership at Yogaworks, and have been taking yoga/sculptworks/pilates twice a week. I've also been trying to do at least one day a week of actual weight lifting. If I can throw in some lunges/burpees/squats/planks in my workout too, great! I can say, I have definitely noticed lots of muscle in my shoulders/arms that I certainly never had before. And I kinda love it. Strong is beautiful.

#3 Recovery
I tend to be very lazy with my recovery foods post workout. I bought DotFit's Pre/Post Workout Formula, and drink it after all my weight lifting, and after all my hard run workouts. (So, I drink it probably 3x-4x a week) This kind of ties in to #2, where I think this has really helped me build muscle and keep my body fueled.

I think the most interesting part of all of this for me is, even though I've lost fat, I haven't lost any weight according to the scale. I think so many of us let the scale influence what we think and feel about our bodies. We don't focus on building strength to help us run (or cycle or swim or just exist) we just focus on how low we can get that number on the scale.

There was an awesome article that I came across the other day, pertaining to being skinny (yet having zero muscle tone) versus being fit. If you're interested in reading it, the link is:
http://www.crossfitsouthbay.com/2011/05/skinny-fat/

**Please note, I am no professional. I can't really offer you any advice besides tell you what I did, and how it worked for me. There are tons of great personal trainers that can help you on a more personalized level.