12 Week Shred - 6 Week Checkin
In all honesty it was pretty hard to sit down and write this blog post. If I had written this two weeks ago I would have been grinning from ear to ear and tip, tap, typing away with utter joy because I was in such a good place. You see just two short weeks ago I was seeing such amazing progress. Progress that I have been dreaming about for a little over a year and a half now. I was in a really great rhythm with my routine and FINALLY seeing some solid progress with my physique. As many of you know over the past year and 3 months I have been battling a sever hormone imbalance. I gained 16 pounds in less than 3 months and no matter what I did my body composition would not change in the way I was training for it to. Just to give you a little insight into what I mean by nothing I did would help my physique change: Before I was eating an extremely restrictive diet, counting every calorie I put into my mouth, and exercising 2+ hours a day 5-6 days a week. It was literally the most miserable place I have ever been. Both physically and mentally exhausting.
After receiving treatment for my hormones I decided to start this 12 week program to get be out of the funk I was in and help me get back to eating like a normal human being. I knew the eating habits I was practicing were unhealthy bothy for my body and my mental sanity. After just 4 short weeks of training I began to see AMAZING progress both in my physique and my mental wellbeing. I kicked all those obsessive, over the top habits I was doing and traded them in for some healthy ones. I began to eat 5 times a day, not counting calories, and working out maybe an hour 5 days a week. I have been feeling so much more in tune with my body. Each day I just go with the flow and give my body what it needs. This new routine has helped me overcome so many negative things I had been doing for so long. I finally felt like I was on track to really getting my body to the place I had been training to get it for so long.
Fast forward two weeks and I now find myself in this slump. All the progress I was seeing came to a screeching halt. I started to see my body retain water (like 6 pounds worth) and my digestion start to be off. I looked at my period tracker and just assumed that my period was coming on. No biggie, in just a few short days all that will go away and I’ll be back on track. Well last week my period came and went but the bloat and GI issues decided to stay. They decided to invite their friends emotional instability and anxiety to the party. So it’s officially been two weeks and I am seeing ZERO progress. Nada. Zilch. Zip. None. If anything I am carrying an extra 6-8 pounds of water weight that wont go away! I have been SO frustrated because I can’t figure out what the issue is. I reevaluated my diet and training and according to my knowledge, which is backed by a degree in Nutrition and Food Science, I am doing EVERYTHING right.
I went to my doctor and spoke with him about what is going on and he said that we needed to most likely adjust my progesterone after we have some testing done. So with that I will go get blood work done ASAP and hope that the results get in quickly. The game plan till then is to keep steady and on my current training schedule. I just have to keep moving forward and not let my body’s trick biology get be down. I am constantly having to remind myself that this situation is completely out of my hands and that the progress that I have made both mentally and physically so far is great!
So onward and upward. I will not let this small setback mess with my future progress. Stay tuned for my test result and the adjustments we will make to my medications. I can’t wait to see what happens next! Here we go!
Week 1 vs Week 4 Progress