Busy Sunday!

I took measurements and photos and got in a Yourself Fitness flexibility workout this morning while DH snoozed, made some breakfast with him when he finally woke up, strolled around the Maitland Art Festival for a few hours, went to the library to do some free book shopping, and rounded out my grocery shopping for the week with a few forgotten items on the way home. I plan to do some more bulk cooking tonight: a healthy pasta-less eggplant lasagna, a chicken pot pie, and some more stir-fried veggies.

Week 2 Measurements (Starting measurements in parentheses; CHANGES indicated in BOLD)

Height: 5′6″
Weight: 143.0 lbs (146.4 lbs)
BMI: 23.1 (23.7)

BF% (7-Site Skinfold): 15.9% (17.68%)
BF% (Omron): 21.7% (23.0%)
BF% (Tanita scale): 26.0% (26.3%)
BF% (AVERAGE): 21.2% (22.3%)

Neck: 12 5/8″ (12.75″)
Chest: 35″ (36″)
Waist: 26″ (26.5″)
Waist - 2″ below belly button: 31.25″ (31.5″)
Hips: 38.25″ (39″)
Thigh: 23.5″ (23.5″)
Calf: 14.75″ (15″)
Bicep: 11.75″ relaxed / 12.5″ flexed (11 7/8″ relaxed / 12 5/8″ flexed)
Shoulders: 41.25″ (41.75″)

Week 2 Review
I seem to be dropping 1/4″ each week in most of my measurements except my thigh, but that was expected. My scale weight only decreased by 0.6 lbs since last Sunday, but my body fat is markedly lower according to all three of my testing methods: Tanita scale, Omron handheld analyzer, and 7-site skinfold. I’m VERY happy about this because it’s telling me that RCR is not causing me to lose only lean mass.

According to my weight loss spreadsheet’s “Fat Lost/Muscle Gained” calculator, I’ve lost 2.33 lbs of fat and 1.07 lbs of lean mass since starting RCR two weeks go. This is based on the average BF% I took from all three testing methods, so there could be a pretty significant margin of error. Besides, lean mass also includes water weight, and I KNOW I was retaining water when I first started the program due to TOM and dairy/wheat intake. I have 112.68 lbs of lean mass at the moment, and I’m hoping to go no lower than 110 lbs on lean mass at my final goal of 15% body fat. Based on my current stats, that puts my target at 130.22 pounds and would require that I lose another 12.78 lbs of fat (and 2 lbs of lean mass).

Most of the fat seems to be coming off my upper hips and boobage at the moment.

If it comes down to either having lean legs or a bust, however, I’ll take the legs without a second thought. There is always the Wonderbra for chest deficiencies, but nothing in the world will hide a jiggly bum and fluffy thigh baggage.

My shoulder circumference is coming down a bit, but I’m all right with this as long as they become more defined and don’t lose that slight cap they have finally developed. I am continuing to go slightly heavier on shoulders and doing the upper back and shoulder-heavy Forza workout at least once a week.

My pants fit differently already. The legs feel looser and the waistbands sit lower on my hips than they used to because I am losing upper hip padding daily. My legs aren’t showing any girth changes yet, but they’ll start coming along in a few weeks after the rest of me is lean and there’s nothing else to lose but leg padding. In my back photo, I think there is a bit less lumpiness going on in my legs.

I got in all of my RCR circuit workouts using the original Week 1-3 A and B programs from the original book as well as all three of my 30 minute interval runs. The workouts are not burning as many calories as they did in week 1 when I was less efficient at them. I’m glad that I’ll be changing them out after week 3 before I adapt TOO much.

I also completed week 5 of the 100 Push Ups program and got my max up to 80+. Bonus non-RCR activity included:

* Yourself Fitness Cardio x 1 session
* Recumbent Bike x 1 session
* Forza x 1 session
* Yourself Fitness Yoga x 1 session

Nutrition was on target for most of the week with my daily average coming in between 1500-1600. Friday was slighly high at 1750 due to my Thai lunch cheat meal. I feel that my sodium intake was a bit higher than desirable this week, so I’ll be trying to reduce that in week 3. The limited dairy/limited wheat experiment is going well. I don’t miss the ingredients at all, and my water retention level (and therefore weight) doesn’t fluctuate nearly as much now.

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TODAY’S EATS
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1. 10 almonds, 20 g raisins, 1 packet hawthorn fruit snack
2. 5 four-inch oatmeal pancakes, 3 egg whites and 1 whole egg scrambled with 1/4 c. mashed cauliflower, 2.5 slices turkey bacon, 1 T. honey
3. 10 almonds, 20 g raisins
4. Vietnamese pho with 3 oz. beef, 1.5 c. daikon radish and luffa squash, 1/2 c. brown rice
5. 6 oz. sauteed tofu, 1 c. bok choy and broccoli in oyster sauce
6. 1 c. light soy milk, 3/4 scoop protein powder, 1/2 oz. walnuts

Water: 16 cups
Supplements: multivitamin, calcium 600+D, 6 fish oil capsules

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TODAY’S WORKOUT
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* YF Flexibility (45 min)
* 100 Push Ups Week 5 Test