Quarterly Evaluation

I had my quarterly evaluation at the gym this morning, with good results. With a quarter in which I ate like crap, I'm pretty damn pleased. Of course, I don't know what my eating was like before this quarter, since I only started my food journal at the beginning of May. But I'm looking forward to seeing how I do feeling like I have control over my eating habits.

Which, by the way, so far, so good. I took one high calorie day last Saturday, eating out with Mom at the Button Factory and then UFC at Buffalo Wild Wings. It was kind of difficult getting back on track again early this week, I've averaged 1615 calories this week as opposed to the 1500 I'm aiming for, but I'm still under 1600 for the month, so I'm on track with that goal.

Back to this quarter's results: I'll give the stat as of 4/28, the date of my last evaluation, then the stat for today.

Weight: 167.2/159.6 lbs.
Body Fat %: 23.6%/20.79%
Neck: 13/12.6 inches
Chest: 35.5/34.5 inches
Waist: 29.5/29.4 inches
Hips: 43.75/42.4 inches
Thigh: 23.75/23.05 inches
Calf: 15.75/15.0 inches
Arm: 12/13.2 inches
Abdominal: 33/32 inches

So weight is right on track, as I was thinking 2 pounds per month was a perfectly reasonable rate. Although my scale at home says about three pounds less, but whatever. Body fat percentage hit a milestone, or close to it, anyway. According to the American Council on Exercise, 21-24% body fat in women is Fitness level, and 14-20% is Athlete level, so I'm in no man's land between the two. (Note: my BMI is 25.0, categorized as overweight, which just goes to prove it's a bullshit measurement.)

Other big changes were in the hips, which I definitely knew because I had to retire two pairs of dress pants that were just starting to look ridiculous on me. Which means I have to go shopping sometime soon, or figure out how to handle skirts on my motorcycle. :) Lost an inch off my abdomen (I think the difference is the waist is about an inch above your belly button and abdomen is lower?) and an inch off my chest. I knew about the chest because I went in and got measured at Victoria's Secret Saturday and I'm down to a 35A. Stupid weight loss distribution. And check out that arm! That's all muscle, baby.

Goals for the next quarter. I'm thinking I'd like to aim for 17% body fat, which means losing about 7 pounds of fat. This last time, I lost almost eight pounds, but only 6 pounds was fat. So that goal may or may not be reasonable, since that body fat percentage is getting down there. Looking at my body, though, I think I could easily lose three pounds of fat off each butt cheek and still be completely healthy. ;) So maybe that goal would be more reasonable spread out over six months.

To test that theory, I'm going to keep working on those things that help me feel like I have control over my eating habits, and I'm going to add 2-3 days of cardio on the treadmill per week. I bought new running shoes and a subscription to Netflix to help with the second goal, and I'm already three episodes into How I Met Your Mother (finally!) and a pretty little blister from breaking in the shoes.

Thanks to everyone for your messages of support. Being able to talk about it, hearing about your struggles, sharing tips and successes...it's all a network of support I think I was lacking. I'm also going to use you to make me accountable. One of the things that helped me when I was doing the Biggest Loser at work was knowing at the end of the week I'd have to report my results. Three months is an awfully long time, so I'll have to think about what other intermediate results I can track and report.