State of the meatsack
Jul. 6th, 2015 06:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
breakinglight11I’ve been investing a lot of effort lately into working up the old mortal shell through which God would have me experience His creation. I am probably a little too wrapped up in my own vanity, but I also care about keeping myself healthy and in shape. It makes me feel really good to look pretty and feel strong, so though it adds a fair number of extra responsibilities to my list, for me it acts as a form of self-care.
I’m in my fourth week of my current diet and exercise regimen. It’s a low-carb, no-processed-sugar plan, focused on protein and vegetables, with one cheat meal a week. It’s actually been easier to stick to than I thought, as most of the things I like to eat fall under it. I’ve been eating a lot of meat, eggs, yogurt, fruit, vegetables, and nuts. I miss Coke, my favorite vice, and bread, but not as much as I thought I would. The weekly cheat meal, which can be anything I want, makes it a lot easier. The only thing I don’t like about it is that I rarely feel totally satisfied. My body feels strong and energetic, but I feel like I just want to eat constantly, even when I’m not really hungry. I wonder if that’s something that will go away as my body adjusts to the lack of easily processed energy, or if it’s just a feature of eating this way.
The exercise plan alternates an ab-focused routine with cardio, six days a week, with the seventh being for rest. Ballet class is out for the summer, so I’m in charge of all of it on my own except for the one circuit workout I do a week with a trainer at a gym. It’s not easy, and some days I cringe at the thought of dragging my ass up to do it, but… I think it’s working. My goal, since I was like nineteen, has always been to have visibly defined abs, and this combination of diet and exercise has made them the best they’ve ever looked. In the right lighting, they actually look pretty good. 😊 I may have unreasonable expectations, but I’m hoping that there’s room for even more improvement.
I’m not really concerned with losing weight so much as increasing muscle definition, but I think getting rid of some subcutaneous layers are necessary to see the muscle underneath. In the course of my adult life, I’ve weighed between a hundred and five and a hundred and twenty-five pounds at various points, and frankly due to my mild body dysmorphia, I’ve never really been able to see any difference in how I looked. I always thought I looked basically the same, whether plus or minus those twenty or so pounds.
I bought a dress that I really like but was just a smidge too wide at the waist than I like, but I’m pretty good at taking dresses in by now, so I figured I’d just do that. I’ve found that if I put dresses on my dressform and tailor them so they’re skintight on her size 6, they fit just right on me. But I when I put it on Adelaide… it already WAS skintight. So I guess I have slimmed down. But I’m never able to perceive it except from outside evidence like that.
My skin is vastly, vastly improved, the nicest I’ve had since before college, other than a brief period where I was on a medication that cleared it up. I’ve finally got it down to routine to take care of it right every day, by washing it with an apricot scrub and applying moisturizer. It’s still not perfect, my pores tend to be pretty huge and I’ve got some scarring that will probably never go away, but I’m very happy my complexion is no longer a seething hellscape. I’m trying to add in a nighttime topical acne cream, but I haven’t managed to get it down to habit yet.
My hair is very long right now. Not intentionally, but it’s just grown out nicely enough that I haven’t felt a pressing need to spend money on a haircut. But I do think it’s the longest it’s been in years, which eventually leads it to it becoming too heavy and flat, and I do miss the dimension of having layers. So when I’m feeling up to paying for it, I’ll probably get it cut soon.
I’ve been lucky that I’ve always had nice teeth, but I drink a lot of tea, so lately I’ve been concerned that they were looking a little stained. I added in that Listerine whitening to my routine, and I think it’s demonstrated improvement. It’s always a fair bit of work for me to change my habits, but once I manage to do so, routine usually serves me well.
So I'm pretty pleased. I've made a lot of adjustments and I seem to be not only keeping to them, but making the most of them. I think I'm in the best health and shape I've ever been.
I’m in my fourth week of my current diet and exercise regimen. It’s a low-carb, no-processed-sugar plan, focused on protein and vegetables, with one cheat meal a week. It’s actually been easier to stick to than I thought, as most of the things I like to eat fall under it. I’ve been eating a lot of meat, eggs, yogurt, fruit, vegetables, and nuts. I miss Coke, my favorite vice, and bread, but not as much as I thought I would. The weekly cheat meal, which can be anything I want, makes it a lot easier. The only thing I don’t like about it is that I rarely feel totally satisfied. My body feels strong and energetic, but I feel like I just want to eat constantly, even when I’m not really hungry. I wonder if that’s something that will go away as my body adjusts to the lack of easily processed energy, or if it’s just a feature of eating this way.
The exercise plan alternates an ab-focused routine with cardio, six days a week, with the seventh being for rest. Ballet class is out for the summer, so I’m in charge of all of it on my own except for the one circuit workout I do a week with a trainer at a gym. It’s not easy, and some days I cringe at the thought of dragging my ass up to do it, but… I think it’s working. My goal, since I was like nineteen, has always been to have visibly defined abs, and this combination of diet and exercise has made them the best they’ve ever looked. In the right lighting, they actually look pretty good. 😊 I may have unreasonable expectations, but I’m hoping that there’s room for even more improvement.
I’m not really concerned with losing weight so much as increasing muscle definition, but I think getting rid of some subcutaneous layers are necessary to see the muscle underneath. In the course of my adult life, I’ve weighed between a hundred and five and a hundred and twenty-five pounds at various points, and frankly due to my mild body dysmorphia, I’ve never really been able to see any difference in how I looked. I always thought I looked basically the same, whether plus or minus those twenty or so pounds.
I bought a dress that I really like but was just a smidge too wide at the waist than I like, but I’m pretty good at taking dresses in by now, so I figured I’d just do that. I’ve found that if I put dresses on my dressform and tailor them so they’re skintight on her size 6, they fit just right on me. But I when I put it on Adelaide… it already WAS skintight. So I guess I have slimmed down. But I’m never able to perceive it except from outside evidence like that.
My skin is vastly, vastly improved, the nicest I’ve had since before college, other than a brief period where I was on a medication that cleared it up. I’ve finally got it down to routine to take care of it right every day, by washing it with an apricot scrub and applying moisturizer. It’s still not perfect, my pores tend to be pretty huge and I’ve got some scarring that will probably never go away, but I’m very happy my complexion is no longer a seething hellscape. I’m trying to add in a nighttime topical acne cream, but I haven’t managed to get it down to habit yet.
My hair is very long right now. Not intentionally, but it’s just grown out nicely enough that I haven’t felt a pressing need to spend money on a haircut. But I do think it’s the longest it’s been in years, which eventually leads it to it becoming too heavy and flat, and I do miss the dimension of having layers. So when I’m feeling up to paying for it, I’ll probably get it cut soon.
I’ve been lucky that I’ve always had nice teeth, but I drink a lot of tea, so lately I’ve been concerned that they were looking a little stained. I added in that Listerine whitening to my routine, and I think it’s demonstrated improvement. It’s always a fair bit of work for me to change my habits, but once I manage to do so, routine usually serves me well.
So I'm pretty pleased. I've made a lot of adjustments and I seem to be not only keeping to them, but making the most of them. I think I'm in the best health and shape I've ever been.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2015-07-06 03:30 pm (UTC)What does an ab-focused routine consist of? I've largely ignored those so far but wouldn't mind mixing in a little more core into my training.
no subject
Date: 2015-07-07 03:03 am (UTC)