Progress pics and screwin' around

Here I was just bein' goofy..You know you do goofy shit too don't lie!...Anyway, I was gonna try to look all serious and stuff and well....that idea kinda went out the window! So much for serious. :)



















My skinny jeans that I just fit into 2 weeks ago for the first time in 2.5 years..THAT felt AWESOME!
























Keepin' an eye on the slooooow progress of my glutes that I expect to get amped up over the next month...Also seeing my back progress nicely....When I cut I think it'll rock. (but what do I know?!)..SLOW proegress is better than NO progress.










DEFINITELY progress made here...Though I didn't flex my leg as much as I should've but OH WELL...I am my own photographer so I can't remember EVERYTHING.





































I'm liking the way that my quads are coming along...I really tried to hit 'em hard this week...I KNOW they come in quickly for me and I need to focus more on my hams and glutes 'cause they tend to be more undersized, esp. my hams.....All of the cross lunges on the stairs seem to be helping them though..I can feel the size change and hardness changes in them and I'm stoked.






















Not bad progress considering the move and my cold that all came crashing in on me this month...To say that I haven't been totally on my game would be completely accurate.....So now I am gonna get even more serious (since I've gotten more serious over the past week or so)....And see what happens.


So I think I'm gonna start playing around a bit with my diet....by playing I mean getting more clean (HMPH!)...Just to sorta see what will happen.......I'm gonna add in fish oil which I have been seriously lacking....I am going to slow down on my grains consumption...up my fats from nuts, avacado, olive oil and yummy fish oil :) (I gotta get ones that don't give me fish burps....something I learned about by listening to ESPN radio (who knew?!)........I've already upped my veggies over the past week and have taken out alot of the grains after my 3rd meal anyway....oh yeah, and my fruits have to slooow down.....Now to figure out what exactly I will eat and how.

I am also going to change up my workout and come back to dropsets at another time.....I'll continue super-setting...maybe, most likely.....but I am going to go back to my original pyramid workout....Hope it does me well.

I also have an appointment at a new gym tomorrow....I will be meeting with one of the coaches there but then I will also meet with Rachel Cosgrove and see what it would entail to have her train/ coach me if I should get really ambitious and decide to compete next spring....OOOSH....scary and exciting.

My bf will be gone and that'll give me the perfect opportunity to focus STRICTLY on myself and these changes........So it will all begin next week sometime.

I am thinking....I have my son's 17th bday in Nov about 14 weeks away.....I have my 20th class reunion 9 weeks away so those are two great goal dates for me to consider if I decide to bulk/cut to test my body and mind and see what happens with these little tweaks.

I hope it all goes well....if not, I can tweak some more....and I can ALWAYS do what has been working well for me so far.....CALORIE CYCLING.....Not sure how ready to give that up I am....I am lovin' all that's happened and changed in my body/mind over the past 11 weeks and 10 +lbs....I could go on like this indefinitely........BUT of course I want more...better.....so I will try this tweaked out thing and see what turns up.

Do you want to wear the door prize?

So as I was sitting in the jacuzzi soaking my sore muscles to go back and do it again today I had a thought...I can do this and I don't ever have to go back to what I was (well, until I am waay old)....I don't have to keep my chubby clothes or get rid of my skinny clothes 'cause I haven't worn them in over 2 years (if I'd done that I wouldn't have gotten to put on my skinny black jeans last week)....I've heard people say that "If you haven't fit into them since forever, just get rid of them, 'cause it ain't gonna happen"

WOW, what a defeatist attitude!!!

I realized that I hold ALMOST ALL of the control with my body...as we ALL mostly do..we just don't realize it....I didn't put it together until just a bit ago...in case you haven't, consider it...YOU HAVE THE CONTROL!

My body no longer has to be the mystery gift, door prize that I am just stuck with.....I have the POWER to change it to my own desires. Sure, I can't make it any taller or younger BUT I can make it leaner, more shapely and longer lasting. I can make it stronger and I can make it look and feel younger. I HAVE THE POWER!

What a tremendous feeling.

By choosing to eat a certain thing before a work out....by choosing to eat a very specific combination of something directly after my work out...I can illicit a response from my muscles...I CONTROL THEM AND WHAT THEY END UP DOING!

By manipulating my exercise program and switching it up...by cycling my calories and manipulating when I eat my carbs and what kind.....I CAN CHANGE ME.

By lifting weights, little metal things that would just sit there doing nothing if I (or you) didn't pick them up and push or pull them....I can add muscle to my body.....I can delete fat from my body.....

I can be my own designer....to design my own "outfit"...a one of a kind show stopping creation...If I don't like the way the "fabric" lays here, I can change that......If I want it to curve out more there, its in MY POWER to make it happen....

The outfit I wear under my clothes changes the way that I feel inside when wearing those clothes...they are a coat and I can choose to hide under them or I can take charge and change the way I feel and look in that coat....My own creation can be waay better than any store bought tarp with a label and someone else's name on it...It's better because it's mine and it's home made....and I did it.

I HAVE THE CONTROL...YOU HAVE THE CONTROL.

I can and will manipulate and psyche myself out to have the tastes that I want and to achieve the design I want......I can and will keep my body guessing by changing my work out to "confuse my body"...Something that can be confused like that can NOT be in control of me.....I HAVE THE POWER.

So think about that today....Do you want to wear your own creation, your own design? Or do you want to wear the mystery gift, the door prize?...."They" don't want you to know how MUCH control you have...HOW MUCH you can do...BUT YOU CAN.

Of course, with all of that control and power comes responsibility and work...but it's waaay better than being a pawn...Waaay better to manipulate than to be manipulated.

TODAY I AM IN CONTROL OF MY OWN DESIGN! How about you?

(copied from my sparkpeople.com page)