Fitness Journey Pt 3: What I’m doing for insane progress!

I’m so excited to share this post with you because in November 2021 I decided to get back in the gym and take my fitness journey seriously. I’ve written other fitness posts in the past and while it’s great to look on them, things are totally different now! I’ve seen crazy progress in just a few short months and I’m so proud of myself for putting in the work. Today I’m sharing everything I’ve been doing for this progress!

Why it’s different this time…

I definitely was serious about my fitness when I wrote my previous blog posts, but looking back I feel like I wasn’t as serious as I thought I was. I wasn’t committing to editing my diet, I wasn’t doing a good job tracking my progress, and I easily fell off of my fitness routines when I got distracted by other things.

The difference between then and now is that I finally realized what I looked like.

Here’s what I mean by that…

I have gained almost 25 pounds over the past few years. I was okay with this because many years ago I seriously struggled with being under weight. I gained the weight and I was finally happy with the number on the scale. It was the healthiest I had ever been (so I thought).

What I didn’t know is that I carry most of my weight in my back. So a year and a half into be being satisfied with my weight, I was at the pool with my daughter and I was wearing a bikini. I asked her to take a photo of me and that’s when I saw it.

LOTS of back fat. Rolls on rolls. I was in complete and utter shock. I had only always seen myself from the front in the mirror, I never had a view of what I looked like from behind.

Once I realized that I needed to get to work, I allowed myself to enjoy the summer because I knew that I would have to get really serious in the fall if I wanted to see results. Here are 5 things that I’m doing differently this time around.

1.I started seriously tracking my progress

If I was going to start spending money to go to the gym, I wanted to make sure that I was getting my money’s worth and actually making progress.

• I took proper photos of all angles to use for a reference of my progress. Every time I take progress photos I am always wearing the same clothing that I wore in the first photo
• I took my body measurements. Every body is different and so is the way that we all carry our weight. I took my measurements so I could see where I was losing the most fat and seeing the most progress.
• I checked the number on the scale. My actual weight isn’t as important as how I am actually feeling about my body and the all of the changes, but it is important to record that data.

*Steal my workout playlist*

I know that this blog is all about elegance, but my workout playlist is anything but. I love to channel my inner baddie when I’m in the gym.

2.Lots of research on different workouts to try

I wrote down what type of results that I was looking for and I started doing a lot of research. I took screenshots and saved all of the exercises that I could find. I spent time at the gym trying all of the exercises that I found and waited 2 days or so to see how I felt about them.

If I was sore in the areas that I wanted to target, I would keep the exercises in the rotation. Sometimes I would try an exercise and find that I was sore in an area of my body that I wasn’t looking to target. Perhaps I wasn’t doing the exercise properly, but either way I would remove the exercise from my routine.

3.I analyze my results every month

At the end of each month I take progress photos, measurements, and check my weight on the scale to see how much weight I’ve lost. I gather all of the data, then figure out if the exercises I’ve been doing all month are working. If they are then I keep them and also add a couple of new ones to the rotation. I also evaluate if I need to add more weight or not. Trying new workouts is annoying but as much as I would love to do the same exercises for ever, there are so many out there and I want to make sure I’m doing the best ones for my specific needs.

4.Essentially cut my diet in half

In the first phase of working out, I knew that I wanted to lose a few pounds so I continued eating the same foods but I would only eat half the amount of food that I normally ate. The diet changes combined with working out a lot is the key to the progress that I’ve had so far.

5.Eating more protein

I would love to see some more growth in my glutes so I am having to eat more protein in order to gain healthy weight. This is the part of the journey that I’ve been dreading because I feel like sometimes I’m eating because I have to and not because I want to. Hopefully I get used to it but I’ve only just started adding more protein so I’ll see how it goes.

Overall I am very happy

With the results that I’ve seen so far and I still have several months until summertime. I am confident that when it is time to go to the pool I will be a lot happier with my body! I can’t wait to share more updates with you!