.....So, it's time for an update! I am well overdue.
My current body measurements are:
My Measurement Update
Underbust/Bust: 29"/35"
Waist: 25"
Hip/Butt: 39.25"
Towards the very end of my break, I was 39" and even sometimes fluctuated under that by a quarter of an inch. Now I am fluctuating over 39" by a quarter of an inch to a half inch (I measured 39.5" two weeks ago).
Diet Update
I have now been working my lower body for 5 weeks, and have been eating pretty LEAN (meaning, I am not packing on the calories) and eating CLEAN (meaning I am avoiding refined grains and extra unsaturated fats and added sugars). I wanted to see how far I could get while on this diet (as opposed to last time, when I was eating moderately clean and definitely NOT lean, lol). But now I have discovered that there IS a way to pack on the calories (which helps muscles along with protein--as you may have seen in my earlier posts, muscles thrive off of calories too so max building comes from both protein AND calories) without packing on the extra fat, necessarily. I am planning on going on a high-calorie, low glycemic index diet. There is nothing like getting fast mass on your derriere with a high-calorie diet and then, when attempting to trim down a bit on the stomach with a temporary "lean out" later, losing all this mass off of your butt! It makes me feel like I am regressing, so I think I am going to go on a high-calorie, low glycemic index diet and have hopefully faster butt results from the higher calories, while continuing to always keep my stomach flat by keeping a low glycemic index diet. The specifics of my diet are posted in the next post.
Upper-Body Workout Update
So, I have been working out my upper body now for 2 months and 1 week. Since it takes a lot for me to gain fat on my upper body, and I gain muscle easily, my arms have always been tone. The point of my upper-body workout is to further tone them so that they will be more defined and have a nice shape to them. Just after two months, I DO already notice increased muscle definition! Another reason for doing these upper-body workouts is to strengthen my back so that I will not injure myself while lifting heavy weight for my lower body routine. And NO, strengthening a muscle DOES NOT require making it bigger! Although it can become more tone, as my upper body is becoming. So, my upper body is getting stronger and more defined, NOT bigger. It is all about HOW you workout. I make sure to lift light weights (heavy enough where I feel resistance, but light enough where I can do probably up to 30 reps at a time if I wanted to). I also do less sets, and more reps (typically, 3 sets and 12 reps). I have a "back & biceps" day, a "shoulders & lower back" day, and a "chest and triceps" day. I do chest & tris only once a week, and at most I will do back & bis and shoulders & lower back twice a week unless my schedule gets crammed or I am super tired that week. So I will spend either 3 days a week on upper body or 5 days, depending on what works for me. Obviously, if I do any of these routines twice a week, I make sure to have two days of rest for that body part before running that routine for the second time for the week. The specifics of my upper-body workout routine is posted in the next post.
Lower-Body Workout Update
What you must know ladies is that I planned to take only a month and a half (6 weeks) off, but then LIFE happened at the same time *gasp* and my break was then 9 weeks long. I worked out my lower body for two weeks and then came down with a really bad cold that just wouldn't go away, so I stopped my lower body again for about a month. Now I have started up again and have been working out my lower body for 5 weeks now, but with a much better approach than last time, as my new lower body routine is better tailored to avoid muscle memory. (Note: As many of you may already know, muscles quickly learn your routine and, with that, ADAPT to the routine-- which means that they will not respond to it nearly as much as they would to something they are not used to.) My new routine has a basic skeletal structure to it, but I will mix up the exercises I use after just 6 weeks of certain exercises (except for two main exercises which I superset--more on this later). This should avoid muscle memory from interfering with my gains. I also have reduced my workout to only once a week because, the idea is that I will give my muscles more time to recover and grow by giving them the whole week, AND with only working out once a week, I will be able to really give it my all and really tear down those muscle fibers (which, I will add, is what we are SUPPOSED to do when weight lifting for building muscle... it's just that on Wednesdays I used to be so fried after work and volunteer work after work, that I would just go through the motions in my workout routine to keep from getting too overwhelmed). Now that I only workout once a week, I can really focus on making that one REALLY count! I REALLY kick it. The specifics of my lower-body workout routine is posted in the next post.
Waist-Tucking Workout Update
So, this is an update on my plans, as I have not started it yet. My stomach is already flat, so I just want to pull in the sides of my waist a bit more by tightening/toning my obliques. My goal is to get to 24" if possible, so that means I would like to lose an inch. This is rather experimental, so I'm going to give it a go! I ran into a bodybuilder/personal trainer who works out at the same time as I do at the gym, and he told me that these workouts are the best (and told me to toss the other ideas I had, so I will spare you all and not bother mentioning them). He said that with these workouts, he brought his waist down to 27"... which is pretty damn small for a guy!! And he does NOT have a small frame, he is built very well, eats very well (and, therefore, his issue was NOT having a belly! He lost inches off of the sides of his waist from tightening his obliques) and so when he said that, I was like "What the heck? Ok, I'm in!"). These workouts I will be doing for 3 days out of the week, since the workouts are going to be very light for the sake of toning. Additionally, all of the abdominal muscles are the fastest muscles in the body to recover from a workout, so there is no need for recovery time. You just don't want to do them any more than (I'd say) 4 days out of the week, to avoid over-training. Yes, that is possible. Maybe (I'm hoping) if this exercise regimen works well enough, it should be enough to keep my waist trim if I decide to get back into a high-calorie diet for mass muscle gains in my lower body... so I won't need to go on a lean diet ever again! Yey! Please see the next post for specifics on the waist-tucking workout routine.
My current body measurements are:
My Measurement Update
Underbust/Bust: 29"/35"
Waist: 25"
Hip/Butt: 39.25"
Towards the very end of my break, I was 39" and even sometimes fluctuated under that by a quarter of an inch. Now I am fluctuating over 39" by a quarter of an inch to a half inch (I measured 39.5" two weeks ago).
Diet Update
I have now been working my lower body for 5 weeks, and have been eating pretty LEAN (meaning, I am not packing on the calories) and eating CLEAN (meaning I am avoiding refined grains and extra unsaturated fats and added sugars). I wanted to see how far I could get while on this diet (as opposed to last time, when I was eating moderately clean and definitely NOT lean, lol). But now I have discovered that there IS a way to pack on the calories (which helps muscles along with protein--as you may have seen in my earlier posts, muscles thrive off of calories too so max building comes from both protein AND calories) without packing on the extra fat, necessarily. I am planning on going on a high-calorie, low glycemic index diet. There is nothing like getting fast mass on your derriere with a high-calorie diet and then, when attempting to trim down a bit on the stomach with a temporary "lean out" later, losing all this mass off of your butt! It makes me feel like I am regressing, so I think I am going to go on a high-calorie, low glycemic index diet and have hopefully faster butt results from the higher calories, while continuing to always keep my stomach flat by keeping a low glycemic index diet. The specifics of my diet are posted in the next post.
Upper-Body Workout Update
So, I have been working out my upper body now for 2 months and 1 week. Since it takes a lot for me to gain fat on my upper body, and I gain muscle easily, my arms have always been tone. The point of my upper-body workout is to further tone them so that they will be more defined and have a nice shape to them. Just after two months, I DO already notice increased muscle definition! Another reason for doing these upper-body workouts is to strengthen my back so that I will not injure myself while lifting heavy weight for my lower body routine. And NO, strengthening a muscle DOES NOT require making it bigger! Although it can become more tone, as my upper body is becoming. So, my upper body is getting stronger and more defined, NOT bigger. It is all about HOW you workout. I make sure to lift light weights (heavy enough where I feel resistance, but light enough where I can do probably up to 30 reps at a time if I wanted to). I also do less sets, and more reps (typically, 3 sets and 12 reps). I have a "back & biceps" day, a "shoulders & lower back" day, and a "chest and triceps" day. I do chest & tris only once a week, and at most I will do back & bis and shoulders & lower back twice a week unless my schedule gets crammed or I am super tired that week. So I will spend either 3 days a week on upper body or 5 days, depending on what works for me. Obviously, if I do any of these routines twice a week, I make sure to have two days of rest for that body part before running that routine for the second time for the week. The specifics of my upper-body workout routine is posted in the next post.
Lower-Body Workout Update
What you must know ladies is that I planned to take only a month and a half (6 weeks) off, but then LIFE happened at the same time *gasp* and my break was then 9 weeks long. I worked out my lower body for two weeks and then came down with a really bad cold that just wouldn't go away, so I stopped my lower body again for about a month. Now I have started up again and have been working out my lower body for 5 weeks now, but with a much better approach than last time, as my new lower body routine is better tailored to avoid muscle memory. (Note: As many of you may already know, muscles quickly learn your routine and, with that, ADAPT to the routine-- which means that they will not respond to it nearly as much as they would to something they are not used to.) My new routine has a basic skeletal structure to it, but I will mix up the exercises I use after just 6 weeks of certain exercises (except for two main exercises which I superset--more on this later). This should avoid muscle memory from interfering with my gains. I also have reduced my workout to only once a week because, the idea is that I will give my muscles more time to recover and grow by giving them the whole week, AND with only working out once a week, I will be able to really give it my all and really tear down those muscle fibers (which, I will add, is what we are SUPPOSED to do when weight lifting for building muscle... it's just that on Wednesdays I used to be so fried after work and volunteer work after work, that I would just go through the motions in my workout routine to keep from getting too overwhelmed). Now that I only workout once a week, I can really focus on making that one REALLY count! I REALLY kick it. The specifics of my lower-body workout routine is posted in the next post.
Waist-Tucking Workout Update
So, this is an update on my plans, as I have not started it yet. My stomach is already flat, so I just want to pull in the sides of my waist a bit more by tightening/toning my obliques. My goal is to get to 24" if possible, so that means I would like to lose an inch. This is rather experimental, so I'm going to give it a go! I ran into a bodybuilder/personal trainer who works out at the same time as I do at the gym, and he told me that these workouts are the best (and told me to toss the other ideas I had, so I will spare you all and not bother mentioning them). He said that with these workouts, he brought his waist down to 27"... which is pretty damn small for a guy!! And he does NOT have a small frame, he is built very well, eats very well (and, therefore, his issue was NOT having a belly! He lost inches off of the sides of his waist from tightening his obliques) and so when he said that, I was like "What the heck? Ok, I'm in!"). These workouts I will be doing for 3 days out of the week, since the workouts are going to be very light for the sake of toning. Additionally, all of the abdominal muscles are the fastest muscles in the body to recover from a workout, so there is no need for recovery time. You just don't want to do them any more than (I'd say) 4 days out of the week, to avoid over-training. Yes, that is possible. Maybe (I'm hoping) if this exercise regimen works well enough, it should be enough to keep my waist trim if I decide to get back into a high-calorie diet for mass muscle gains in my lower body... so I won't need to go on a lean diet ever again! Yey! Please see the next post for specifics on the waist-tucking workout routine.