There are many advantages to the caution we are taking in not restricting my nutrition too much. First, it helps keep me sane. David wants me to enjoy this process, and being too restrictive may be a set-up for failure. Also, I am still leaning out - at least 1% BF each week - and I am putting on lean mass, meaning that I am still adding muscle to my frame. All good stuff. And the combination means helps with my metabolism. Which brings me to reason number two why the plan I am on is good for me: my metabolism. I have stated before that a lot of people wreck their metabolism in the process of their competition prep. The body can only sustain so much caloric deficit plus cardio before the metabolism starts shutting down. This is known as a metabolic crash. Lots of seasoned competitors experience symptoms of serious digestive diseases, as well as things as PCOS. I have read stories of women who have had a year or more metabolic recovery period post-competition. I talked with David at length about my concerns with this before we ever got started, and we had another long talk about it yesterday. As long as I am still making progress, there is no need to take drastic measures. Which brings me to my final reason this is good for me: my skin (and sanity). My skin is tightening up nicely with my weight loss at this point. If I lose too fast, that doesn't happen, and I can't compete anyway. The advantage to not starting a metabolic freight train is that it gives my body time to do what it needs to do - with my skin tightening, everything going where it is supposed to go. Should I ever find myself in a desperate state of mind - wanting to hurry the process or lose faster than what would be healthy - this keeps me in check. My body has its own version of a checks and balances system. I don't cheat on my diet because I don't want to sabotage my weekly goals and I don't sabotage my weekly goals because I don't want to sabotage my overall goal. Interesting that this happened this way. :)
Speaking of goals - after a plateau, I have seen steady decreases in scale weight, tape measure and BF% over the last two weeks. The scale hasn't moved in proportion to everything else, as I have seen increases in lean body mass over the last two weeks, too. As I said earlier, that means more muscle on my frame. The changes I am seeing in the mirror are a little more subtle. If you were to compare my week to week pictures over the last couple of weeks, you really wouldn't see any drastic changes. My chest is leaning out. My arms are starting to lean out more, although I still have some stubborn fat on them. My back is starting to lean out, but I think I have a good way to go there (although my tattoo makes that hard to judge). My shoulders are starting to show more. My arms and shoulders really pop while I am working out, which helps me see how I am coming in. I can already see that I will have to guard for being overdeveloped in the arms and shoulders, but we can judge that as we go. My quads are starting to come in nicely and I can even tell that my legs are leaning out enough for my hamstrings to start showing a little. As always, my calves are present, as I can think about them and they grow. Lol.
I did my first big posing practice last night. My posing is rough, but I took pictures so I have comparison points as I go. Posing overall is a lot harder than it looks, and holding poses over periods of time can be exhausting. I also got my posing music put together this past week. Much thanks to our friend, Jamey R, for putting that together for me.
Here are some of the pics from this week. Like I said, my posing is rough, and needs a lot of practice, but it's a start. Also, keep in mind that I am used to seeing myself in a mirror when I pose, so not being able to see myself gives me a lot to remember when I am posing without a mirror.
One of the biggest changes I can see over time is in my face! I am post-workout here, so my hair is a mess. Lol. You can see in this pic that my legs are leaning out more. I also have a pair of shorts on that have a tighter band in the waste and I don't have muffin top. Yay!
My midsection is definitely starting to lean down. Thank goodness. I thought that would never happen. :)
My hips and glutes are narrowing out some. I still have some thickness to the back of my waist, but that is starting to lean out some, too. You can see from this angle that my arms are staring to lean out more...you can see the outline of my triceps, which is good.
Everyone has a "strong" side. Although posing from this side feels weird, since it is not my dominate side, my posing angles are better from this side. I am not officially posing here, but I look leaner from this side than I do the other side. Note the little munchkin behind me. We tried and tried to get her out of the picture , but she was obsessed with standing there (and playing with my belly button when she could).
Whew! I have been practicing this pose for a while now and it still needs a lot of work. David tweaked me last night, so I am all awkward, trying to make the adjustments in my head. I still don't look comfortable, so I will have to give it more practice time each day.
My lats are flaring, but I still need to work on looking more natural with this pose. I also need to work on flaring my lats without bringing my shoulders forward.
Like everyone else in the business, I will probably rely on this pose as my strongest pose. I need to bring my elbows up and in some to make my shoulders pop a little more and cap out my biceps. Obviously I will need to uncover my abs a little more (i.e., shed some more fat from my midsection) to bring the abs into the equation. I also need to work on pointing my left toe slightly out and pulling that heel up a little to bring my quad out.
This is a bodybuilding side chest. I won't actually be using this pose in competition, but David has me practicing it and then bring my arms out into the women's physique side chest position. It just helps me practice popping all of my muscles so they show in my posing. Also, a lot of people keep their leg extended, but the rules only no flat foot, so I am probably going to keep the leg in, like this, to downplay the rear end from this angle.
I need to pull my back shoulder up and in a little to help make my pec pop up. This looks easier than it is. It feels quite awkward, and the way I need to tilt my hip tweaks my muscles in my back. I will have to practice this one a long time to keep my back from cramping up. I can also see here that I may need to take it easy on my triceps. That bottom part is all tricep, and may need to be brought down a little.
This pose is also harder than it looks. I am working on making the mind-muscle connection, as I don't feel I am close to hitting this one yet. However, hips don't look as wide as I thought they would, which is encouraging. Lol.
Ok. So there it is. Let's see what 12 weeks can do! :)
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