Body Fat

It is finally Friday.  This is fabulous because it now is 2 weeks period until I am on my plane.  Crazy to think about really.  My life really has come full circle if you think about it. I just spent some time rereading some old blog posts from before I went to Maui over 2 years ago.  In June of 2013. This also happened to be around the time that I joined the gym for the first time.  I had finally lost the weight AGAIN and was close to 140 pounds and ready for my tropical Maui vacation.  But I was scared what would happen when I returned from Maui because that was the same exact point I have been at in my life so many times previously and I ended up gaining all the weight back.  I knew I needed something different and enter the gym.  It’s beyond crazy to me to think about this entire journey I’ve travelled down.  To find the woman I am today.

If you had told me 2 plus years ago, on the heels of going to Maui that I would return in approximately 2 ¼ years to run a full marathon I’d laugh my ass off at you. Although secretly I think I’d believe it.  I remember that on that vacation I packed 1 running outfit because I thought it maybe might be fun to run outside on Maui once.  It never happened! At that moment in time I was too scared to run outside in public.  Crazy how 2 years can change a person to their core.  Today I read some of my posts around that time and I kept smiling, and shaking my head and mostly just felt grateful.  I had no idea what strength training was. I mean, sure, I knew what it was, but I’d never done it.  

When I got back from Maui within the week I was signing my name on a million forms for a solid years’ worth of weekly personal training.  One of the best decisions I ever made in my life.  Seriously. My random musings told me how I scared I was and afraid.  I know now how life changing it all really was.  I spoke lots of the athlete that I thought I was deep down on the inside.  I spoke of the fit chick that was dying to get out.  And I did cut down on the running as per the trainer.  But what you love will always find a way.  It’s been a long journey and a struggle at points.  Balance is an interesting thing.  I found a true love for my fit chick but also a strong realization that I am actually a bonified runner. And that shit will never go away.  I embrace that now.  Running is my passion.  But I can still lift and build muscles and work on being the best overall all around version of myself. 

I can certainly tell that running changed me.  Truly running.  After I did all the strength training and my body did change I was still utterly disappointed with myself and how I looked.  A year post working out, when I honestly looked great I wasn’t happy.  I still belittled myself and had way to many body image issues.  But I wasn’t running the way I have the past while.  It’s like when I really started to run, all the other stuff went by the wayside.  It’s really been in the past year, but more specifically the past 4-5 months since I really started this whole marathon journey that I have found a sense of love and contentment and happiness within myself and my body.  It’s like I appreciate it in a way now that I never did before.  I feel blessed that it is so strong and capable. 

I remember back almost 2 years ago now, when I was standing at that defining moment where I knew I was at the brink of some major upheaval, something big going down in my life that I pretty much looked at Chris and told him… this is it, I am not turning back now. I have turned a corner and I know now I am a different person.  That I am moving forward full steam ahead with this life and either you get on board for the ride and allow me to soar or you need to get the fuck out of my way.  That sounds harsh but I remember the conversation clearly.  I knew I was in route to bigger things.  To his credit, Chris was never standing in my way.  And to his credit, he got on board.  The man is running a marathon after all.  But it’s like this inner beast in me was awoken and once she was, there was no caging her again. I’ve pretty much felt that way solidly for the last 2 years of my life.  But nothing like I’ve felt the last 4-5 months. 

Marathon training has changed me.  It has once again been that major crossroad of my life that everything is suddenly different and I can’t ever go back.  I can’t explain it.  I don’t know why that is. But it just is.  I am forever altered and that is perfectly okay.  Joining the gym was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life, and deciding to run a marathon was another one.  2 of my greatest most defining life altering moments. 

When I got back from Vegas in May, actually on May 14 to be exact I was 153.1 pounds and my body fat percentage was 26.9%.  I have an OMRON body fat machine I bought from Amazon years ago.  But funny thing is I didn’t hate myself. I didn’t really care about those numbers.  But I just generally knew that I wanted/needed to overall be in a bit better condition to run a marathon.  And thus that Marathon Training began.  REALLY began.  And so to begin the best 4 months of my life.  Funny how I describe training for a marathon as the best time of my life.  But somehow it has been.

I really was just doing the things that I love for the past 4 months and in doing so, found myself completely.  I didn’t “intentionally” lose weight, not really.  I didn’t intentionally try to drop my body fat.  These were all just the side effects of doing what I love.  And this is probably what has made it the best time of my life.  I was truly enjoying my life.  Bonding with my husband.  Doing these epic things and feeling great and happy.  The body was the side result. 

This morning for the hell of it, I took my body fat again. 

Yup. 21.3%.  Yesterday my weight was 134.1  So that means, just by doing my thing, in 4 months I went from 153.1 t0 134.1 and from 26.9% to 21.3%  That is pretty insane.  And because body fat percentages mean not a whole hell of a lot to me, I looked it up.  Turns out that’s LEAN.  For my age that puts me in the lean category. Yes, the high end of lean. But still lean.  Women have 10-13% essential body fats.  Meaning that for us to function we are simply going to be 10-13% body fat.  That is our zero point, unless you are like insanely shredded or doing steroids.  At like 14-15% women start to lose their periods, etc.  That is about the lowest women tend to get 14% ish.  Anyway, without really trying or working at it I will gladly be thrilled with 21.3% honestly.  Who am I kidding I’m not putting out the muscle building effort as of late that I have in the past. 

I actually miss some heavy strength training and fully intend to tackle it again once I get back from Maui.  I am NOT giving up running though.  I will still try to come up with some plan and stick to it.  I need consistent running in my life and basically I don’t want to lose my ability. I want to always be able to run a half marathon on a moment’s notice.  That’s my plan.  

I don’t tend to track my body fat the way I do my weight because well it doesn’t change that often I think.  But I do have a few numbers from my life here and there.  When I joined that gym and signed up for personal training back on 6/17/13 my starting body fat was 27.7%  Those first couple months when I didn’t run so much and hit up strength training really hard I did get my body fat around the 21% mark, somewhere around there.  But that was the only time I’ve seen it that low.  I’m thrilled with where it’s at right now.   Again, I don’t anticipate it getting much lower.  This is pretty much as good as it gets for me.  This is pretty much me in my peak condition right now.  You probably don’t get much better than 2 weeks before a marathon that you’ve spent 4 months training for.  I accept that. I really do. I would anticipate that all the numbers are going to go up a little. But for today, I am just happy with where I’m at.

This all leads me to that whole post Maui what now thing.  Seriously. I anticipate and expect an increase in weight and body fat.   But I don’t want to gain a ton.  I really do like where my body is at right now. I feel so good about myself. Probably partly because I am working towards such an identifiable goal.  But I’m just going to have to try and figure something else out honestly.  That’s pretty much my thinking.  And for the record Chris is experiencing the same kind of results by marathon training to.  He is down almost 20 pounds and dropped about 6-7% body fat too.  He is also loving his body and results right now so he’s not keen to give it up either.  I keep telling him that when we get back I just want to go right back to the way we’ve been living and eating.  He agrees.  So maybe. We will see.

I’m pretty happy and content and excited about life.  Who wouldn’t be excited about going to Maui in 2 weeks and accomplishing a goal you’ve been working towards for a solid 4 months.  Anyhow. As for the rest of it. Well today is a much needed rest day.  I realized last night at the gym how much I needed a rest day when my body didn’t want to do boot camp class.  It was HARD.  I realized my legs were sore.  My butt was on fire and my hamstrings were in pain.  Yup. The night before kind of fried them.  I had mentally promised myself I was going to burn 400 calories.  I was only at 250 post class. I didn’t want to run.  I ended up on the stair climber.  That thing is a beast.  My heart rate doesn’t get higher than it does when I run but I drip sweat in an unbearable way.  I ended up doing 20 minutes and got to 450 calories burned.  GOOD enough.

 

And I am overall tired and glad today is a rest day. I need it. My body needs the day to repair itself.  No half marathons this weekend.  There is one tomorrow I considered but ultimately passed because I didn’t want to spend the money.  It would be like $80 for each of us and right now, on the heels of going to Maui that seems like a waste of $160.  We don’t need to run another half nor do we need another medal.  And honestly we don’t need the mileage. My training plan is calling for 8.5 miles this weekend. That’s it.  We are going to go to a park and just run.  Run somewhere between 8.5 and 10 miles is my plan.  That’s it.

So this was me this morning. Yeah Friday!

And then these happened yesterday and honestly they are good so I’m going to share them.

Oh yeah, this is my body right now at 134 pounds. I like having documentation of that because I promise you in another 2 years I might be back here reading this exact post. Seriously. Comparing numbers and percentages, etc.  And that transformation. Well, you get the idea.  Okay that’s about all I got for now.