Please know that before you read this, by no means am I an expert, nor am I claiming to be an expert at any of this. I'm only sharing information that I have been taught by trainers either by asking, getting caught up in conversation about it, or reading articles, blogs, etc. from people who are well respected out there in fitness. Overall, I have learned a lot and am going to continue to learn more.
Goals. At least everyone, somewhere has one. Lately, Tyson and my goal has been to look like a lean, strong, and buff looking couple. Tyson and I have set many goals with this Lift Strong Run Fast crossfit program we've been doing. Tyson's been going at it for 8 months now, while I've been doing it for 7. In this short amount of time, we've accomplished a lot! The trainers at Lift Strong Run Fast set the bar high and have high expectations for you. When I first walked into crossfit, I was totally intimidated. All of the women looked lean and strong. The guys as well. I looked like a skinny-fat weak-ling compared to all of the other clients. Let me fill you in from the beginning...
I started running about 2 1/2 to 3 years ago to lose my "college pudge." I had gained at least 15 lbs. since high school. I know...real "shocker," but you have to remember I'm 5'1, so every pound shows.
I started running about 2 1/2 to 3 years ago to lose my "college pudge." I had gained at least 15 lbs. since high school. I know...real "shocker," but you have to remember I'm 5'1, so every pound shows.
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| After looking at my engagment photos and seeing how much weight I had gained, it was a huge wake up call for me. I knew it was time for a change. |
One day, I looked in the mirror and told myself it was time for a change. I changed my eating habits and started running........A LOT! I had a certain body image in my mind. I wanted to look athletic and fit. I ran 5-6 days a week, and lifted weights for 3. Knowing what I know now, what I was doing was NOT going to give me the body image I had in mind. Running that much EATS at your muscle, so when I was slimming down, what was REALLY happening was muscle wasting. I was burning more muscle than fat, which is BAD for your metabolism. To save your time reading, I'm not going to go into the science of that. With weight lifting, the heaviest I EVER lifted was 10 pounds on almost everything I did, which I now know was a complete joke of a workout!
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| I can tell you right now that this women did not get those muscles and that shapely look from lifting those size of weights. Some magazines show images like this which causes women to think they'll look like that if they lift only that much. |
I was skinny, but I was a "skinny-fat" person, and that was NOT what I wanted; I looked skinny, lost sizes, but still complained to Tyson all of the time how pudgy I still looked and how some things were still digging into my fat and "muffin topping." Here's an article from my Oxygen fitness magazine which is a PERFECT example of this. Only cardio and not incorporating weight training:
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| To the left is the woman's before picture when she was putting in miles per week just running. |
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| Here's part of her article. |
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| After. A product of mixing in weight training with her cardio and a clean diet. |
Walking into crossfit for the first time, I looked really weak and I was quickly, but kindly schooled by the trainer how ineffective JUST running and baby weights were for my body. He was talking in some fitness jargon I was having a hard time understanding, but I seemed to have gotten the jist that he was politely telling me I have no muscle, I'm weak, and I'm skinny-fat. To top it off, I thought I was in great endurance shape, but then was sorely mistaken when I tried my first crossfit workout. ALSO! I thought I had cleaned up my diet and was eating "healthy," but I wasn't. I wasn't fueling my body right.
So, walking into crossfit, I saw the women's bodies and told myself, "Now THAT is what I've been trying to achieve!" When I finally saw and heard stories of what got them there, I was completely shocked. You mean to tell me I need to lift as heavy as I can go!?! I thought that bulks you!?!?! You mean to tell me incorporating plyometrics and intervals help get me there??! What are those???!! You mean to tell me that I have to eat MORE! Who knew?!?!? Now when I say eat more, I mean eat 5-6 small, CLEAN foods everyday as well as loading up on protein. 1-2 grams per one pound of body weight a day to be specific. I thought only body builders did this. If I don't fuel my body like this with the amount of working out I do, guess what???......MUSCLE WASTING!....not, and I mean NOT fat burning. I overheard the most ABSURD conversation at work back in May. A teacher friend of mine said, "I'm going to eat less so my body eats at my fat for energy." HA!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought I was going to DIE when I heard that. Not only is your body going to take the muscle FIRST for energy, your body will store fat for survival! Now, if you're overweight, OBVIOUSLY lowering your caloric intake would make sense, because usually the overweight are taking in TWICE the amount of their daily alotted calories....sometimes more! And usually, there's not clean diet happening there.
Well, I listened to what my trainers and fellow crossfitters were teaching me, and guess what?! It works! Not only have I become stronger, I've become a little leaner and more shapely. Pretty much the direction I was trying to go my first go around at this whole working out, healthy eating thing.
So, walking into crossfit, I saw the women's bodies and told myself, "Now THAT is what I've been trying to achieve!" When I finally saw and heard stories of what got them there, I was completely shocked. You mean to tell me I need to lift as heavy as I can go!?! I thought that bulks you!?!?! You mean to tell me incorporating plyometrics and intervals help get me there??! What are those???!! You mean to tell me that I have to eat MORE! Who knew?!?!? Now when I say eat more, I mean eat 5-6 small, CLEAN foods everyday as well as loading up on protein. 1-2 grams per one pound of body weight a day to be specific. I thought only body builders did this. If I don't fuel my body like this with the amount of working out I do, guess what???......MUSCLE WASTING!....not, and I mean NOT fat burning. I overheard the most ABSURD conversation at work back in May. A teacher friend of mine said, "I'm going to eat less so my body eats at my fat for energy." HA!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought I was going to DIE when I heard that. Not only is your body going to take the muscle FIRST for energy, your body will store fat for survival! Now, if you're overweight, OBVIOUSLY lowering your caloric intake would make sense, because usually the overweight are taking in TWICE the amount of their daily alotted calories....sometimes more! And usually, there's not clean diet happening there.
Well, I listened to what my trainers and fellow crossfitters were teaching me, and guess what?! It works! Not only have I become stronger, I've become a little leaner and more shapely. Pretty much the direction I was trying to go my first go around at this whole working out, healthy eating thing.
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| I take progress pictures as much as I can in order to see the changes. |
Also, I am being pushed beyond my limits. When you work out with some strong and fast people, it makes you push yourself just to keep up! Also, I stopped obsessing about what the scale said and did the "clothes test." The scale tells you NOTHING about your body composition. You could weigh 110 lbs. and still be fat. I have actually GAINED weight since starting crossfit, but I know it is muscle because I'm still fitting into my clothes that I fit into when I was 5 lbs. lighter. In some stuff, I'm actually fitting into them even better than 5 lbs. ago. Muscle is more dense than fat.....and NO.....muscle DOES NOT weigh more than fat. A pound is a pound. Muscle just takes up less space, but the beauty of muscle is that the more muscle mass you have, the more your metabolism is sped up and has the capabilities to rip into your calories even up to 36 hours after a strength training workout, thus causing you to lose fat. Running lasts only up to 45 minutes after you stop. I still battle, at times, about trying not to freak out about the scale. I just have to remind myself that it doesn't tell me what I want to know.
Now, goals. I'm reaching them. I still have a long way to go, and I'm certainly no success story yet. However, I have been getting compliments by many people how fit I look, which tells me that my body is indeed changing. The fact that this is already happening after only training for 7 months speaks volumes to me! It makes me excited to see what I can accomplish in another 7 months! I am now benching triple digits, where, at the beginning, I could barely bench the 45 lb. bar with half pound plates on each side. You do the math. Not much, huh?! I can knock out 16 strict straight pushups (still working on 20!) when at the beginning I could barely do ONE! I run faster, I can do a kipping pull up, and the list goes on. I'm just a heck of a lot stronger, and I'm becoming more shapely, like I wanted. I wouldn't have recognized myself years 3-6 years ago. Another thing that I have benefitted from doing crossfit is that I have been told by people that I motivate them to get in the gym. To me, that feels so good to hear that! I LOVE hearing that I give people motivation.
Tyson looks FANTASTIC and he just keeps looking better. He's got more muscle definition, and he's leaning out considerably, and faster than I am.................because he's a guy, and women tend to hold on to fat for dear life. So bitter right now. Lucky boys!
Now, goals. I'm reaching them. I still have a long way to go, and I'm certainly no success story yet. However, I have been getting compliments by many people how fit I look, which tells me that my body is indeed changing. The fact that this is already happening after only training for 7 months speaks volumes to me! It makes me excited to see what I can accomplish in another 7 months! I am now benching triple digits, where, at the beginning, I could barely bench the 45 lb. bar with half pound plates on each side. You do the math. Not much, huh?! I can knock out 16 strict straight pushups (still working on 20!) when at the beginning I could barely do ONE! I run faster, I can do a kipping pull up, and the list goes on. I'm just a heck of a lot stronger, and I'm becoming more shapely, like I wanted. I wouldn't have recognized myself years 3-6 years ago. Another thing that I have benefitted from doing crossfit is that I have been told by people that I motivate them to get in the gym. To me, that feels so good to hear that! I LOVE hearing that I give people motivation.
Tyson looks FANTASTIC and he just keeps looking better. He's got more muscle definition, and he's leaning out considerably, and faster than I am.................because he's a guy, and women tend to hold on to fat for dear life. So bitter right now. Lucky boys!
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| I love this picture of Tyson. You can see the striations in his muscles here. Of course, if the picture was bigger, you'd be able to probably see them better. |
Tuesday, after our weight training workout, Tyson walked out in jeans with no shirt, while changing for one of his night classes. I wished I had my camera with me because I wanted to snap a picture of him to show him how great he's looking. Back when Tyson used to seriously weight train (before crossfit) he could NEVER bypass 200 lbs on his bench press. Crossfit has taken him to the next level and has put him over that. Tyson used to have absolutely NO endurance. I feel like he's now catching up to me in that department. Tyson used to make excuses as to why he couldn't go to the gym. Now, he feels mad at himself if he skips a workout. Tyson used to eat fast food ALMOST every day, and sometimes BARELY anything. He's now joined me on the clean eating train and has been supportive with my efforts to make us look and feel good. I'm so proud and excited for him to see all of the changes he's making. I'm glad we can share this experience together.
We have built some relationships in this crossfit culture. It's nice to be surrounded by people who support you, push you, and help educate you on fitness and nutrition to help you get you where you want to be. I have learned so much, as you can tell from all of my rambling up above. Fitness and nutrition is such a science!
Now, I wrote this long, possibly pointless to some people blog because I feel good about the lifestyle changes Tyson and I have made and I just have to scream it out to the world! :) Also, on Facebook lately, I see posts from friends about being upset with what they saw on the scale that day, how they're planning to devote 2 1/2 hours doing cardio in a gym (and YES, one of my FB friends statused that and actually did it!), , working out harder and not smarter, complain how they want to lose weight, yet I read on their Facebook check-ins that they were at a Mexican buffet or McDonalds, say that they'll plan on skipping a meal because they feel fat, etc. Also, I'm tired of hearing, "I worked out today, so I can eat this slice of pizza." No! Put is down! Just say no! The best thing I ever heard come out of someone's mouth when talking about nutrition and fitness is, "You cannot out-train a bad diet." Also, please, PLEASE get off that scale! It's not completely reliable. Now, I'm not saying I'm pefect because everything that I just wrote above.........................I admit I used to be this girl, and I'm still in the process of training myself to get out of this mindset.
This is the first time in a long time I have been this passionate about something, well, besides graduating college and being a teacher. The last thing I was passionate about was dancing for my high school dance team back in high school. I have become so passionate that it has inspired me to set new goals for myself. I want to eventually study nutrition and fitness. Also, I plan on taking my physical education certification test so I can teach P.E. I want to teach children how to be healthy. As I observe kids at my school, I get to see what's in their lunches, what foods the cafeteria provides, obese children (which makes me sad), and the fact that some of my kids can't even run for one minute without stopping and gasping for a breath, looking like they're about to die while doing it. I also get to see the copius amounts of high calorie, high fat, or high sugar snacks parents provide for every holiday under the sun. This all just makes me sick.
Overall, after my work outs this week, I have been feeling like the happiest person alive. Tyson and I like to just sit and talk about the work out that day, and how much we were kicking butt in a certain area that we never were able to before. This all has made me think, and I had to write it all down. We are reaching goals that we have set for ourselves, and we are darn proud of it. I know we are not huge success stories, but we hope to be one one day. To me, making a healthy lifestyle change makes me feel successful. :)
We have built some relationships in this crossfit culture. It's nice to be surrounded by people who support you, push you, and help educate you on fitness and nutrition to help you get you where you want to be. I have learned so much, as you can tell from all of my rambling up above. Fitness and nutrition is such a science!
Now, I wrote this long, possibly pointless to some people blog because I feel good about the lifestyle changes Tyson and I have made and I just have to scream it out to the world! :) Also, on Facebook lately, I see posts from friends about being upset with what they saw on the scale that day, how they're planning to devote 2 1/2 hours doing cardio in a gym (and YES, one of my FB friends statused that and actually did it!), , working out harder and not smarter, complain how they want to lose weight, yet I read on their Facebook check-ins that they were at a Mexican buffet or McDonalds, say that they'll plan on skipping a meal because they feel fat, etc. Also, I'm tired of hearing, "I worked out today, so I can eat this slice of pizza." No! Put is down! Just say no! The best thing I ever heard come out of someone's mouth when talking about nutrition and fitness is, "You cannot out-train a bad diet." Also, please, PLEASE get off that scale! It's not completely reliable. Now, I'm not saying I'm pefect because everything that I just wrote above.........................I admit I used to be this girl, and I'm still in the process of training myself to get out of this mindset.
This is the first time in a long time I have been this passionate about something, well, besides graduating college and being a teacher. The last thing I was passionate about was dancing for my high school dance team back in high school. I have become so passionate that it has inspired me to set new goals for myself. I want to eventually study nutrition and fitness. Also, I plan on taking my physical education certification test so I can teach P.E. I want to teach children how to be healthy. As I observe kids at my school, I get to see what's in their lunches, what foods the cafeteria provides, obese children (which makes me sad), and the fact that some of my kids can't even run for one minute without stopping and gasping for a breath, looking like they're about to die while doing it. I also get to see the copius amounts of high calorie, high fat, or high sugar snacks parents provide for every holiday under the sun. This all just makes me sick.
Overall, after my work outs this week, I have been feeling like the happiest person alive. Tyson and I like to just sit and talk about the work out that day, and how much we were kicking butt in a certain area that we never were able to before. This all has made me think, and I had to write it all down. We are reaching goals that we have set for ourselves, and we are darn proud of it. I know we are not huge success stories, but we hope to be one one day. To me, making a healthy lifestyle change makes me feel successful. :)
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