The Numbers on the Scale . . .

How often do those numbers ruin your day?!

How often do you judge your progress  by those digits on the crazy contraption?!

Well, the proof is in the pictures . . not that I am super dooper proud of my physique YET in the pics they do teach a valuable lesson so I will suck it up, bow my head, eat some low calorie carb free humble pie, and share them.

Those pictures are only 1 week apart. I weigh MORE in the picture on the right, YET I am tighter . . . I felt skinnier all week. then my Trainer asks for update pics because all week my weight kept going UP! (well, poo and who knows what else) it was not fat.

Intriguing , no? So many gals would be freaking out if they were eating 100% on par with trainers orders, no cheats, doing all their cardio , all there workouts , effort to the max, and you GAINED weight?!

ALSO . . what if you were training for WEEEEKS and the scale wasn't budging ??? hmm . . what then???  I started Feb 1st post surgery 6-7 weeks weighing in at 132.8lbs. Today I weigh . . .. drumroll . . . 132.8  I have had my weight go up and down and up and down . . now resting at the same weight  I started at ?!

The pics . . .

STOP the SCALE INSANITY!  Easier said than done, I realize . . . but hopefully these pics resonate with you just a little bit and you stop and think the next time you rely only on the number the scale says . . .

Whirlwind and Dieting

Well . . technically I am not reeeally dieting, I am supposed to be building muscle while putting on little to no fat. But, today I feel like I am dieting. Wholly Moley! I was doing the blank stare and pacing in the kitchen looking at the clock and the list of acceptable choices on my meal plan . .

I did resort to actually WEIGHING out a 1/4 pkg portion of fat free/ sugar free jello chocolate pudding powder and mixed that with 2 scoops of my Body Wise Chocolate protein powder ( elance frappe - soooo a girly sounding protein . . I think they are working on that lol! ) I added in 1 tbsp of chunky (OMG chunky!)all natural peanut butter. That hit the spot! Nuthin' like chewing a protein shake LOL!

I have been getting smaller . . I feel smaller. I am constantly looking for signs. Like my medium workout pants are no having loose material and the crotch creeps down and I have to keep pulling my pants up :)

I actually weigh 1lb MORE than when I started on Feb 3rd. BUT if that is muscle I am a HAPPY GIRL! Jason at Natty Nutrition seems to be confident this is muscle gain and is happy. I do have to send him new pics this weekend and he wants a side by side comparison of my first pics to now.

. . GULP! . . always makes me nervous . . excited and nervous . . .

Work has been crrrazzzy for me lately. If I am not covered in sugar from making cakes then I am covered in sweat training clients, doing my own training.

I do have a bunch of research, and client plans to work on before Monday. So I need to find a bit more time to plant my butt at the computer.

For the most part I have been VERY thankful for the extra work. I am doing what I LOVE, and the distraction makes sticking to a diet easier (as long as you are PREPARED!! and PLAN AHEAD! - very key)

But today was one of those days no matter how busy I was,  I obsessed about food just a little . .

I have talked about these days before . . it is like hitting a wall just gotta get to the other side . . .

Woah! reading that blog entry took me back. Talking about my "cycle" that just really struck me. I am not EVER going to have a period EVER again . . I forget that sometimes. It was a really cool moment when it hit me and I went thru my undie drawer and got rid of all my ugly period panties!! THAT was awesome!!

I try not to think of the things that are gone and worry too much about what may come with menopause, and having it 20 years sooner than I should . .

I have been having incredible moments of realization that this surgery was the right choice. So many things that i took for granted that hurt. I notice more now cuz I DOESN'T HURT!! So many things seem so new to me because , it doesn't hurt. I have had several moments that instead of crying tears of pain and frustration I am crying tears of joy as I experience something for the first time WITH NO PAIN . . ohhhh THAT is what that feels like with no pain!!

wow! and I was actually struggling with what to blog about ha ha!

Over and Over in my Head . .

This is what I will be repeating over and over in my head this year . . .

Feelin' Bad A$$ !

I trained a client at the local PRISON today ...

... Ya...

No, my client is not an inmate, LOL!
she just works at the local prison and has free 24 hour access to the staff gym.

We had her prison guard boyfriend with us. But really, we were never near any inmates. The gym has it's own outside entrance.

Doesn't that just sound so bad ass tho ?!!

LOL! I've been watching too much lockdown on National Geographic!

Catching Up . . .

I hate it when I get so far behind in blogging that I don't even know where to begin.

I also am not really a fan of epic length posts with wayyy too much information and really long stories.

Well, let's get caught up and try to keep it short and sweet :)

So, when I last posted I was all excited about heading to the Sandra Wickham Fall Classic. What I didn't tell you is that I was expecting to go in for surgery at any moment. I was just waiting for the call.

Long story short, after 15 years of near constant pain that had gotten worse and interfering more and more with my life and daily activities,  my malfunctioning woman bits had to come out  - ALL of it - ovaries and uterus, cervix. It was a decision I had been avoiding for years . . but I finally made peace with it. I have two very beautiful, healthy, wonderful children. A boy and a girl. I am blessed.

After a longer wait than I expected and then a change in surgery to a later date I finally went in on Dec 16th.

Well, my body has some crazy genetic phenomenon that has been discovered over the years. My chiropractor discovered a calcification around the nerve and blood vessel in my neck at the base of my skull called a pons posticus, only something like 10-15% of the population has it.

My Chiropractor also discovered a deformed vertebrae in my lumbar spine called facet tropism.

Then when I had dye injected and my kidneys x-rayed it was discovered that I have an extra tube on my right Kidney.

WELL, during my surgery it was discovered that a large vein in the abdominal area ,that is supposed to be much deeper in the pelvic cavity , in my body is near the surface. This was discovered when the surgeon severed it as he was at the end of my opening incision.

Let me repeat, there is NOT supposed to be a vein there. The surgeon was not careless. Woman have c-sections and hysterectomy all the time, there is not supposed to be a vein there.

Well, I am bleeding profusely. I lost a Liter of blood in just about 2 minutes. They had to call in another surgeon to help stop the bleed and do a repair. The severed vein had retracted up into my abdominal muscle and they had to separate my muscle tissue layer to retrieve it, clamp it and then repair the vein and then sew my muscle tissue back together.

As a result a 3 day hospital stay turned into almost 6. I had to convince them to let me go home on the 6th day, with the promise I would stay in bed. They were wanting me to be more independant before they released me. i was not able to walk more than 5-10 feet with assistance and supervision. My hemoglobin had gotten dangerously low, I was very weak and at major risk of collapsing or fainting.

Well, after 3 weeks at home my hemoglobin had recovered from 5.8 to 11.5 by now it should be back up to 13. It will take longer for my iron levels to recover, I still feel fatigued.

But this Thursday I am coming up on week six of recovery.

I GREATLY underestimated how difficult this surgery would be. This had been my 7th time under anaesthetic. I was thinking "how difficult can this be?!  I have been thru surgery before. I am young, healthy, active, I will recovery faster than most. "

Well, I am still sore internally, not too bad externally. I can move almost pain free, sneezing and coughing are bearable now, but still very scary and unpleasant. I can bend over to tie my shoes!! THAT was a major obstacle to going back to the gym LOL!

Even tho I should be able to go back to the gym this week for light activity ( not sure I know what constitutes "light activity" )  I am scared. Scared I will push to hard and hurt myself. Scared that I look fat, and that for a sponsored competitor I should be representing better!

But I am back to work Monday training clients, so that is getting me back into the gym whether I am "fat" or not! LOL!  Hoping this lights a fire in me again, and I just stop whining about feeling fat and just DO something about it!!

So, I kept that as short as I could and hopefully not too "boo hoo poor me"  - which is why I hesitated and procrastinated posting this here in the first place.

Let's get back to training, and life, and adventure! After I am all done healing and I have the wonderful prospect of feeling healthy and pain free this could be a GREAT year !!

WHAT A SHOW!

This years Sandra Wickham Fall Classic was huge!! HUGE I tell ya!! Almost 150 competitors , making it the largest show in BC history. The audience set records too, the evening show had 1,103 attend, THE biggest crowd at ANY Canadian show, nationally or provincially!

The girls did great for their first competition. The competition was TIGHT! Wow! the caliber of athletes was IMPRESSIVE! definitely gonna make me work hard and focus for Provincials this summer!!

Jodi looking Fab during pre-judging

Mel, giving a little sass during her photo shoot

Jodi Placed 7th and Mel placed 6th.  It was their first figure show and nerves got them a bit, and their posing was a little off . . could have been more relaxed at times, or more tight at times.  But they really looked beautiful and they did great, I am so proud of them!! They used it as a great learning experience and will use that for their next show. Both want to work on their lats, they need to work on V-Taper :)

Two great super classy girls, so glad to call them teammates!!

WAY TO GO GIRLS!

This is SO COOL!

I am finally catching up with 21st century technology! I am able to blog on the go now. I updated my ancient little flip phone and got me an iPhone!

This is going to be so handy for this weekend. I am traveling down to New Westminster to see my two BWX Sports teammates compete in the Sandra Wickham Fall Classic. They are looking fabulous, they are the complete package. I am confident they will be placing in the top 3!

I enjoying my new toy, er business tool.

Downloaded and started using a free app called MyFitnessPal it is super handy and takes all the guess work out of my meals.

Also a run tracker app. Maps my route, my speed, distance, elevation all that cool stuff!
I tried that for the first time today and now I can't imagine doing an outdoor workout without it.

Yup took me less than 24 hours to be addicted and dependent on my iPhone