So I’m now in training mode and focused on competing in the Golden Gloves. I’m training 8-10 hours a week and trying to trim to my fight weight of 141 pounds. 141 pounds. That’s small. I’ve been at 141 pounds before and maintained it for 6 weeks or so just to make sure I could even be that small, and for the record: I think I’m too skinny at that weight. Regardless, this is the weight my coaches have determined is the safest weight for me.
It’s actually quite difficult to think about what my true weight is. After dropping over 50% of my body weight, I pretty much have loose skin…..everywhere. So…..it’s hard to calculate my real weight, muscle mass or body fat. So I’ve been obsessed with getting to that number again and I’ve been really struggling. I have been eating within my calories everyday. I have been working out more. I have haven’t have a sweet treat (soda, candy, cupcake, cookie……) all month. I have totally cut alcohol out. And the scale………kept going up. I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong.
My elbows hurt all the time. My knee hurts every day. My should hurts every day. Weird aches and pains pop up all throughout the day. Am I going to be able to: 1. Stay in one piece until March? 2. Make fight weight?
So I reached out to my amazing friend, Jessica Kidd, once again. She is studying for her nutrition degree and often has to make a certain weight or look for events. I knew she could help. I know I still have almost two months to get to fight weight, but I’m starting to go to an unhealthy place about it and I want to make sure I do it right.
At first she noticed that I wasn’t eating enough. My body was pretty much in starvation mode and if I didn’t increase my calories, I would never drop the weight. I know it seems CRAZY. But if you aren’t eating enough, you body saves every last calorie because it doesn’t think it’s ever going to get calories again. But if you feed it when it asks, it learns to take what it needs and throw the rest away. My body was saving everything because it needed everything. I lost my ‘excess weight’ quickly. But then it started coming back.
I reached out to Jessica again.
Since I’ve been tracking my food in Myfitnesspal (LOVE!) I could simply send her a photo of what I’d been eating and my nutrients. She noticed right away that my protein was too low and my fats were too high. Honestly, I usually don’t pay much attention to anything but my calories and sugar. I’ve gotten away with this for a looooong time. But I’m training differently now. I’m training as an amateur athlete. (What?!) So I have to provide my body with different things. She told me the new levels she would suggest and I reset my app. I went shopping the next day and prepped food for the whole week. And. It. Worked.
I’m finally dropping some of my ‘excess weight’ that my body has been holding on to. I thought I was getting enough of what I needed because my body was still going. But now I realize how much my body was telling me it needed something different. Now that I’m eating the way I need to, it’s not complaining. My elbows don’t hurt. My knee is only sore after running. My shoulder doesn’t hurt. I feel so much more put together and stronger. And the scale has agreed. I’m not to fight weight consistently yet, but I’m getting there!