Fitness Friday

It's been a while since I have written one of these.  Mostly because it has been a while since I have had any sort of workout routine going on.  I was hitting it hard for a solid 2 months and then classes got crazy and then I started working my second job and was too tired to get up in the morning and working til bed time.  Yes, those sound like excuses, but I believe proper nutrition and needed rest are what help keep you in good shape, so I will take those over running myself down to get mo' fit.

Wanna hear something crazy?  Since I stopped working out in November, I have lost 10 lbs.  Your eyes do not deceive you, my friend, you read that correctly.  TEN.POUNDS.  This would be great if I was obsessed with the scale.  I still only weigh myself at the gym on the same scale, but I have only been weighing myself when I go in to get my hair done.  Yes, the gym has a salon in it, which my friend works at.  So anywho, back to that 10 lbs....

I started to notice a change in my body as soon as I stopped working out.  It was like my body waited to respond to all the work I was doing until after I stopped doing all the work.  I haven't really changed my eating habits since I stopped working out, except for cutting out the extra protein shakes after workouts and I have been able to maintain.  Knowing what little I know about body composition, I knew that if I my body seemed to be staying the same as I was losing weight, it was because I was losing muscle.  I had hubs measure my body fat and sure enough, even though I had lost 10 lbs, I had gained 5% body fat, meaning my muscles were dwindling away.

I refuse to have my body looking it's best during the winter months when it is hiding under all these layers and then plump up just in time for summer, so I need to get back on track.  Luckily, tax season is slowing down and will be over on April 20th, so I can get back to the grind.  Apparently if you don't use your muscles, you lose them.  And from what I have heard, it's harder for women to maintain muscle mass, which means I have to work that much harder.

I do my best to encourage people who are working on their fitness goals to focus on the changes they see in their body instead of the numbers on the scale and to use a different form of measurement than just their weight.  For me, standing at 5'6" and weighing 155 isn't an issue when my body fat is only 20%.  I am currently 146 with a 26% body fat and that tells me there is room for improvement.  Hubs sent me a photo he found online to prove my point:

It will be interesting to see if the number on the scale starts to creep back up as my body fat percentage decreases.  I'll be sure to keep you posted.