Body composition

I'll cut to the chase -- I can in at just under 17% body fat (16.9 - close enough). Last May, I was 14.9 before I started working out with John Henry, so the goal of putting some fat on so I don't lean out too fast apparently has worked. Of course, I could tell you that I added fat without any fancy measurements.....

Now the really big news - my arms are 1.2 inches bigger circumference!!! Wow! I know I will lose some over the course of the next 7 weeks, but on game day, I should be bigger on my upper body -- again, the big picture goal. The last bit of good news is that both sides measured symmetrical.

I am a little bloated starting this new menu and I went up a couple lbs. of water weight with the black bean spicy burgers I ate last night....

Arms - 10.5
Chest - 35
Waist - 29
Hips - 33* wrong, wrong, wrong - when she measured me above my booty, I said I think we have to hit the widest part but she said no. Well, sure enough, last fall days before the show I was 33.5. I am definitely NOT smaller in the hips now!
Thighs - 21
Calf - 14

16.9% body fat

9/30/09 (competition on 10/3/09)
Arms - 9.3
Chest - 33.1
Waist - 26.75
Hips - 33.5
Thighs - 20
Calf - 13.5

12.32% body fat

Less than two months!

Wow! It is amazing how fast time goes and also how fast the body changes. I went from my "fat diet" in November/December to a more reasonable diet in December/January. The goal during those months was to get me "big" and build muscle so when I lean out I don't lose muscle. I definitely felt bigger and wasn't all that comfortable with the weight at time. Keeping my eye on the bigger goal helped make it tolerable. Of course, I ate and drank my way through the holidays, so some of it was my own doing.

I started my new meal plan yesterday and all I can say is AWESOME!!! I have more fruit than I ever had along with veggie burgers and black bean burgers. I've got bread and mayo every day along with the standards like oatmeal, brown rice, yams and egg whites. Plenty of chicken, turkey too. Overall, pretty damn good!!

OK, tomorrow I get body composition taken and I'll have new pictures this weekend. Hopefully I'll have a noticeable improvement from the mid-January pictures.

It ain't pretty.....

Nine weeks out until the next big competition and I have a lot of work to do! Last time I was lean from the get-go, but now I've put on the weight with my fat-diet in November and have only come down 2 lbs. this past month.

I trust my team will get me there though!! Posing started today and wow, what a reminder of the pain of wearing those 5" heels for an hour!!