Lace em up...

Lace em up...

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Injuries, leggings, weddings and gains...

Boots and Chambray dress from Reitman's
George leggings from Walmart

The past week has been disappointing to say the least. My training has been stalled. I've completely injured my right shoulder/rotator cuff and doing anything that involves shoulders and back is pretty much impossible right now. And on Monday, I seriously strained my right glute while training with Tony. It's just starting to feel well enough to head back to the gym. So I only trained Monday and Thursday of last week. I head back to the gym today. I'm totally bummed about the shoulder injury. Back and shoulders is what I need to focus on the most. And I can't start boxing until this is resolved. I start physio this week.

Wanna know what I spend most of my days in? Leggings. So fecken comfortable. Trying to come up with office appropriate outfits for leggings is a fun challenge. Thank goodness for Pinterest! I've tried several different brands and the ones that fit me best are George leggings from Walmart. Comfy and cheap. And I've been looking at the sales on boots right now. Awesome deals. Although I can fit into most normal width tall boots, there are some brands that are of smaller circumference. Those I can't do. You know, big calf muscle probs:-(



Dress is from GonChas
Cuff and earrings from Stella and Dot
Lilith is from Brantford...

My younger sister is getting married in August. So I've completely bitten the bullet and ordered that dress on the left in black to wear to her nuptuals. Call me delusional, but I see that and think of how much work I have ahead of me to do that dress justice. I cannot wear Spanx under that! Motivates me for sure. I've also ordered some Stella and Dot jewellery to go with it. LOVE the intricate detail of that cuff and the matching chandelier earrings. I'm matching the dress with strappy gold sandals and a sloppy up-do and that is my outfit.

The wedding is a casual affair at a bed and breakfast in Niagara-on-the-Lake. I spent Friday night with my sister and we talked about wedding plans and she showed me her wedding purchases thus far. This is exciting. I've not been to a wedding in years and I'm excited to start dress shopping with her soon. She's buying off the rack. My specialty:-) My dress has been ordered on-line through one of those possibly shady sites. I may or may not ever receive the dress. If not, I'll find something equally revealing to keep the workout motivation high. Queen Steet West in Toronto always has good options.


Six months difference and a 7 pound weight gain...


I posted the pic on the right in my last blog post. I found the pic on the left from July 3rd of 2015. That was taken 3 weeks after I began working with Tony. I showed him this comparison photo and he punched my shoulder and said, "See? I told you that you weren't gaining fat!" Then he gloated. And why shouldn't he? I'm a product of his direction. I get so fucked up from the scale that it's not even funny. I'm glad I take so many pics of myself because then I have comparisons like this to confirm to me that regardless of what the scale says, I am making gains.

My body shape is changing. I have pants in my closet that I could comfortably wear in the spring/summer that are too tight in my legs and bum. Do I keep them or purge them? If I keep them it means I'm thinking I might fit into them again one day. But I think I'm going to spend the day trying on all my clothes and getting rid of things that don't fit me comfortably anymore. I need to accept the changes in my body and move forward from here. The Diabetes Foundation is going to be in my neighbourhood on February 1. I'm going to have clothing for them to pick up. Who knows what my body will look like in a year from now. One thing I know for certain is that I will be stronger. And strong is my goal. Skinny is not. I will never strive to be skinny. It's just not in my body composition to be skinny. I'm curvy and I like my curves. I'll definitely be getting rid of the size 6 jeans (the only size 6 jeans I ever owned) I wore last spring for sure, and that's okay...

Saturday, January 16, 2016

New year, new blog, blah, blah, blah...

Photo taken January 15th.


I put off writing my first blog post much longer than I anticipated. I figured I'd start writing when I began boxing. Alas, the boxing has not started yet. It will in the next couple of weeks. Right now I am nursing an injury. Don't ask me how I did it, but I popped a rib. I've been having this pain from my neck right into my right shoulder blade and down my right arm. It got so bad that it was keeping me awake at night. I trained with it all this past week. Even did a pretty strenuous upper body workout where I finally belted out 9 full military style push-ups. I failed on the 10th. I swear my trainer was happier than I was at my accomplishment.

Anyway, the pain got almost unbearable yesterday and I went to see my acupuncturist/chiropractor/physiotherapist. She did a thorough examination and determined that I popped a rib out just below my neck. I'm not sure what the heck that means, but she popped it back in and grounded me for the weekend. No gym. I feel a ton better today than I did yesterday. But I have to consistently ice my shoulder and rest. She warned me it will happen again if I don't heed to her instructions. So I listen. Reluctantly. I hate listening...

I suppose I should update you on what I've been up to the past month. I weighed myself for the first time in 3.5 months to find I had gained 7 pounds. I hyperventilated at the prospect and then freaked out to my trainer. Tony said that he told me that this would happen. I do not recall this conversation, but apparently it happened back in June when I first started training with him. He told me that he's surprised I didn't gain more considering how hard I've been training. But I don't want to gain bulky muscle, I want to gain lean muscle. I'm not going to lie. My ass and legs are pretty huge. That's where I carry all my muscle at the moment. And Tony and I always have to agree to disagree in this area because he believes I can't lose anymore fat and I insist I can. I've got back fat and hip fat that can still go away. So where does this leave me? Macro counting and cardio. That starts once the boxing begins.

I actually started running again. Just 2-3 times a week and short distances. I'm using running for cross training now. Never thought I'd see the day where running would be my secondary exercise. Before I was injured, I was at the gym 4x per week and running 2x per week. Once I'm good to go again, I need to book a private boxing session with Kingsway Boxing Club then I begin group classes with them for a few weeks. After I'm done those, I'll likely resume boxing classes at the same club I train with my trainer at. Since this is not my year to box for the Fight to End Cancer (I'm slotted for 2017), all the training I do is out of pocket. My gym's boxing club is much, much cheaper and I can still get licensed through them if I want to. I just might.

My brachioplasty (upper arm lift) is still healing. My left arm is almost normal, my right arm is still swollen and hard in spots. I go to see Dr. Patterson in a couple weeks for a follow up. The last time I saw him, he assured me everything would absorb in time. I just need to be patient. So I apply the scar cream and rub the lotion on my arms. My lipo is still numb where the fat was sucked out (that sounds lovely). Those areas are still slightly swollen too. And again, I rub the Q10 lotion all over my thighs religiously as per Dr. Patterson's instruction.

Included in this post are my 2 most recent body pictures. The top pic shows my giant thigh muscles, which I'm actually pretty proud of. And below, my resting abdomen. No flexing, just standing straight with my loose skin and stretch marks. That pic was taken this morning. My trainer told me last week that he's noticed the most improvement in my core strength of late. I'd have to agree. Floor exercises that were a challenge in the past are pretty easy to get through now. There's a good and bad side to that. The good is my abs are getting super strong. The bad is that Tony says I need to be challenged more. This just means, core is going to get crazy difficult again. We're going to start TRX now. This is just going to get harder. I never back down from a challenge...

I weigh 177 pounds and wear size 10 pants. Hard to find pants that fit properly on
account of my legs and butt...