Change of Mindset

Thursday “The Man” and I had our annual physical exams. The doctor that we have seen for the past few years has left the practice so we saw someone new. Since my weight has been up a little this month, it was of course up there too. This new person I saw, actually a nurse practitioner, told me I didn’t need to lose anymore weight (which overall I agree with) or lose the couple of pounds to get back to where I was. Is it time to change my way of thinking? Have I been too fixated on a number?

Saturday morning I headed off to the meeting of the #saturday7amsocialclub AKA Weight Watchers. Since this was the first meeting of May I had to weigh in to establish my free lifetime status for the month.  As expected I was up a couple of pounds from my April weigh in. However, when I looked back, I was actually a bit less than I was in May of 2016 when I was carb loading for running the five half marathons in five weeks. So at the end of the day, I guess, I am ok. Last year I had planned that I would be up for the weigh in but I still had a hard time with it mentally. I don’t think you can work hard to lose weight and not be upset with an up number, even if you know why. If there is a solution for that; please let me in on it!

After the meeting I headed off to my session with, my trainer, Jeff. We talked about my “gain”. Jeff is still pretty sure this gain is from adding muscle weight and not a “real” weight gain. He said “there is no way to lift like I have been, fuel properly, and not gain weight”. These are things that I know in my mind. But I’m still not completely convinced that this is where this gain is from; even though I know I have stayed with in my WW points; I also know that I have not always eaten the best food choices the past month.

So I will continue to track my food intake on the WW app, as usual, but I am also going to use the “old fashioned” way and put pen to paper. That way I can just glance back through and see what I did. I will also be tracking my exercise and weight lifting 🏋 more than I have been.

In 2016 WW came out with the “beyond the scale” campaign. The idea behind it is to focus on the whole you not just the number on the scale. That is easier said than done especially when you are trying to lose weight. I will try. Since my goal isn’t to lose, I must now shift my thinking. I just know that I have to keep working the plan and working my training.

I will get my head wrapped around it and make this work.

After my “mental health” session and some warm up, it was time to get to work. Last week I told you I was going to start working with Jeff twice a week instead of once. This was the first week for that. I will now be working with him in Wednesday and Saturday😳! Whose idea was this? What was I thinking? Lol! Wednesday was arm day so Saturday was leg day….squats, squats, and more squats, lol! We kept the weight low and just did a lot of reps! The video below is the last set at the highest  weight we used; 85lbs. I had already done 5 sets of 5 at this weight. This one was to go as many as I could. Jeff stopped me at 12; I was going for 15!

​I need to work on getting down a hair lower on these squats. It’s amazing, and mind boggling just how much stuff you need to do/remember to get everything right. Much of it of course is to help prevent injury. No one has ever accused me of being overly coordinated so remembering to put it all together and execute it is a challenge in itself. Picking up heavy stuff is the easy part, hahaha.

I teased Jeff that I was still able to walk around town in heels after leg day. He said he didn’t do his job then….I got up Sunday morning and thought I was going to die, ok not quite, but I could sure feel it! (DOMs) delayed onset muscle soreness is a real thing!!!! I was still able to wear heels though…a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do!

How are things going for you? Have you experienced weight gains from building muscle after losing weight? How have you reconciled it in your head? Did you find it easy or hard? Do you have any thoughts, tips, or ideas? I’d love to hear from you.

I will, of course, keep you updated.

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Until the next time

Janet