diets

Given that I absolutely adore food and haven’t really ever actively tried to lose weight, this has been a somewhat trying time. :[ I already eat pretty healthily most days, and I already work out fairly regularly, but I’m pretty sure I used to eat way more than I actually needed to on a fairly regular (aka daily) basis because I like food more than I like drinking fluids (and I hate having to get up all the time to go pee), which basically translated to me being in a perpetually dehydrated state.

It sucks, but I wanna do well, so I’m doing it.

Truth be told, I was supposed to start dieting back in mid-April, when my whole I’m-going-to-enter-a-powerlifting-competition ambition began. But two days after this idea was placed into my head, our town had their annual chocolate festival…and then a week later, it was my birthday…

Basically, I made all the excuses in the world to avoid having to diet. :[ I’ve never actively tried to lose weight because weight can fluctuate so much so easily. I also don’t own a scale, so I’d much rather go by what I look like in the mirror. A couple days ago, my friend suggested I check out how much weight I lost from night to morning, so I decided to take him up on that.

At 7:30 p.m., when I weighed myself, I was at 125.8. 5 cups of tea/water and a meal of grilled tilapia + steamed veggies later, I was 3 pounds heavier (3 hours later). The next morning, I’d lost 2.2 pounds.

(You see why I’d rather just look in the mirror? >_> )

(I also think people put way too much emphasis on what they see on the scale.)

I really, really wish I could just work out harder instead of watching what I eat, because to me, lifting a couple hundred pounds is infinitely easier than curbing the sheer amounts of food that I consume. (Let’s not factor in how much I crave unhealthy food when I need to study. :'( )

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. :[ When I stepped on the scale about a week ago and saw that my weight hadn’t changed at all (still at 127), I got pretty worried, because I need to be at 123 for the competition. Granted, a lot of this must be water weight (at least, I hope so), because I’ve been guzzling water/green tea like a fiend (it helps to curb the hunger and possibly increases insulin sensitivity/has potential effects on energy metabolism + fat oxidation). In a sense, this is good because, I kid you not, this is the most well-hydrated I’ve ever been. I seriously need to start some kind of a caloric deficit though if I don’t want to be completely miserable next weekend (last-minute ideas include not drinking anything on Friday and then putting on all the clothes I own and running a mile or three, or spitting in a cup all day).

My “maxes” (quotations used because they’re not my 1RM; I still have no idea what those are, but I guess we’ll see) are currently as follows! (This is probably what they’ll stay at because today’s my last day for gains.)
Deadlift: 255
Squat: 225
Bench press: 120

I was at the gym on Tuesday and one of my friends (co-officer for FM club) asked me what I was working on.
F: Today’s deadlift day!
J: Is that all you do?
F: Well, there’s squats and bench press and several other accessory exercises too, but that’s the big one for today.
J: Cool. I’ve always been really impressed by your deadlifts.
F: Really? :D!
J: Yeah! They’re awesome!
D: What are you at right now, 235?
F: Yep! I did 225 last Friday, so I figured I’d move up.
(I was going to shoot for 250, but they convinced me to try for 255.)
J: Alright, let’s do this, Farrah!
F: Alright!! (manages 2 reps)
J: Holy shit. That’s really, really impressive. I wonder if I can do that. I’m a little scared to try now.
D: Yeah, it looked like you weren’t having much trouble with it. You know what’s really impressive though?
F: What?
D: Can I see one of your hands?
F: (holds up hand) They’re puny, I know. :[ It sucks for piano.
D: Your hands are about half the size of mine and you can still lift all that weight.

Encouragement and positive self-talk has been monumentally helpful.
From mid-April to now, I’ve gone from:

• 110 to 120 for BP
• 185 to 220 for S
• 215 to 260 for D

I still don’t know what my 1RM is for any of em’ though. My bench press sucks. :[ We’ll see if I find out my maxes next week!

Daniel and Justin say that if I do manage to break the national records (I’m pretty far off right now, but someday!), they’ll put up a banner for me in the second year classroom. :D

Waking up in the morning and seeing some really awesome abs staring back at me = amazing motivation. If being driven by sheer vanity and dreams of badassery can make me stick to this, so be it!