Dropping ALLLL the Fat!

It's been quite a while since I've blogged.

Since May of last year, I've dropped a ridiculous amount of fat, and put on a ton of muscle. A few notable things have happened.

I am completely injury free!

I still dabble ;)

Remember that debilitating back injury? Well, it got MUCH worse since I stopped blogging. So bad that I had to quit my desk job, but thankfully I got approved to work as a personal trainer on Fort Drum, so I switched gears and took on clients full time. Yes, walking around and spotting/loading weight hurt LESS than sitting or standing in one spot. Go figure! I now know what they mean by "sitting is the new smoking."

My training is much different. 

I've pretty much scrapped low volume, powerlifting-based training altogether. Not to say I don't do the movements, but maximal strength training (1RM) is not the focus of my training anymore. I am doing much more hypertrophy training. Just the fact that I am injury free has allowed me to recover a lot of the muscle that I had lost during my hiatus.

My diet has been so-so.

Now here, I suffer! This is the leanest I've been at 21.6% body fat. My body is fighting me every step of the way, although I'd argue that it had always done that. I'm very goal-driven, so maintenance has been a struggle. I'm always either gaining or losing.

From ~170lbs / ~40% bf to ~148lbs / 22% bf

I'm MUCH more athletic!

Over the course of these last 6 months of solid training, I have started doing things I could never do before. Olympic liftig, pull-ups, box jumps, pistol squats, I even RUN sometimes. GASP! How weird!!


I can honestly say that my main motivation has, and always will be, my clients. I want to walk the walk, to show them that all this hard and terrible fitness stuff can be done by the average person. I want to show them that someone who works, goes to school, and who has limited time for themselves can still MAKE the time to meal prep, log meals, train, do cardio, and get into the best shape of their lives. I want them to be inspired and push hard, knowing that they can do it too!

So what's next?

This is a terrible question for me to answer. I hate that I'm always looking beyond and can never settle. In some ways, it drives me to be better, and in others, it makes me stack wayyy too much on my plate (literally and figuratively, hehe), which causes a lot of STRESS. I see my 24 hours as slots that need to be filled, scheduling as many clients, jobs, and appointments as possible, racing from one thing to another and doing TOO MUCH. I need to learn to chill and enjoy where I am at. That's definitely something to work on.

                                  

Until next time!

Mel