CG Max day 24/30 - hip thrust, shoulder press, stability ball rollout, pushups, staggered RDL, upright row - with 15 min/1 mile cardio warmup. The warmup felt great, though husband walked in and startled the crap out of me while I was super embarrassingly getting into it, lol. I thought I’d be punching the clock on the workout, but after the cardio/stretching that felt great, too, though there was a bit of residual nausea. I’m seeing more and more definition, though I’m still seeing it more while in movement than because I’m flexing. Last time I walked the dog I was captivated by the size of the muscles at play around my shins, and today for the first time I was able to see quad definition. Only a tiny bit, but I’ll take it. Exciting!
Appetite is reduced, but mostly still present. I’m up to 2 mg a week now, but due to user error at the outset have not quite finished my first 5 mg bottle. I imagine I’ll be into the 2nd one this week. I think reducing meal sizes will be key. I need to drop some of the veggies, which I’ve always used for volume given my rapacious appetite, particularly if I’m going to keep protein up.
I’m definitely seeing the change. Interestingly, husband doesn’t seem to notice. When I asked him about it he said that I’ve always worked out, ever since he’s known me, and I always look great. Which…?? Did he not notice the 20 lbs I put on?
It’s always tough to see progress with people you live with as you see them every day. I feel like I make no progress until I go back and look at pics.
Retat will def dictate your appetite. Should be a balance of feeling crappy and hunger control. I found for fat loss retat works best. For strictly hunger control tirzepatide works a little better. Made me feel like I just couldn’t put food in my mouth. Could barely eat three meals a day. Great for contest prep but not really for reg life unless losing weight is all you care about. Was hard to eat enough to fuel training.
I think I’m more surprised that he didn’t notice the negative changes five years ago, which was pretty abrupt (covid) than the slow improvement, which is more understandable. I’m glad, though! If he thought I looked the same as when we met, great!
Back to the reta, it has occurred to me that perhaps, along with reduced portions, I should learn not to wolf my food down like it’s the last meal I’ll ever have and someone is coming to take it away.
Which would be advantageous when it’s time to go back to unassisted weight management.
CG Max day 25/50 - ab work, lateral raise, sissy squats, tricep dips and overhead extensions, bicep curls standard and hammer - 15 min/1 mile cardio warmup. Weight is up and it’s been a tough, sleepy week. I’ve been slacking completely - no before work dog walks, even. Could be the heat - it’s unusually hot for us - could be some sort of bug from last week, could be the reduced fuel. At any rate, today is done.
I’m sad not to get to keep the 147 of a couple of days ago, but I guess in the big scheme of things it doesn’t matter (though of course it totally DOES matter) (but not that much, lol).
CG Max day 26/50 - sumo deadlift squat, pullover, static lunge, chest press, bridge, arnold press - with a 2 mile warmup walk. I absolutely LOVED today. There wasn’t a single thing I don’t like, and I felt strong doing it. Walk was fantastic - the humidity has broken for the moment and it was only 60° when I woke up. It’ll be in the 80’s later, but it was a nice, cool morning. The kind of morning that makes it worth the blizzards to live here.
We’re going to the beach tomorrow, so poor behavior is on tap, but it’s only a day trip.
CG Max day 27/50 - 3 rounds each stability ball rollout, diamond press, 3 rounds each fwd tilt bulgarian lunge, single leg hip thrust, rear delt row, paused partial lateral raise, and diamond pushup finisher - with 10 min cardio warmup. I can’t say I loved today, but I am pleased that I’ve come so far on the lower body portion of this workout, for various reasons. The bulgarians were super difficult for me in the beginning due to balance issues along with strength, the single leg hip thrusts were similarly challenging in terms of managing my body placement while under duress, and the stability ball, which is new for me, has taken some getting used to. Husband was on the couch through the entire thing and I was comfortable with that. A year ago I’d have been self-conscious because it was all such a struggle for me. Today I know I’m rocking good form and have reached some level of competence with it all, though I have a long way yet to go. I’m using weights that are about half what Caroline uses. Slow and steady, though.
Walked with the dog on Sunday, then blew off the workout I meant to follow with for reasons I now can’t recall. Yesterday was BEAUTIFUL here, sunny and 52-70°. We extended what was meant to be a morning warmup hike because it was so awesome out there, then planned for another in the afternoon. Just a perfect weather day, appropriately spent outside.
CG Max day 28/50 - hell elevated squat, single arm row, banded RDL, arc raise, lateral lunge, upright row, body weight cossack squat finisher - with 15 minute/1 mile cardio warmup. This was one I should have loved, but I was struggling with nausea and elevated HR throughout. I had ice cream for lunch on Friday (excessive very rich ice cream, a family “end of summer” fun scheme) (I would complain about them, but the truth is that I’m the one who started things like this - ice cream for dinner on the last day of school and etc) and was super nauseated through yesterday. While there could have been something else going on, I’ll assume it’s the reta and back off on my dose this week, because in addition to making me miserable it’s interfering with my workouts. This is the second time in a month I’ve been sidelined by a stomach thing.
On the other hand, I had a nice weight drop as a result!
We’re planning a walk/hike, which I’ll update to include if/when it happens.
Nice!!
What is your current dose and where you prior? Are you takin git 1x per week or splitting it? If not splitting I would try that before dropping the dose.
I’ve actually been thinking that maybe this is exactly what I signed on for. Appetite reduction, of course, but also maybe more importantly, lessons in moderation. The big issue Friday was the ice cream. I had a cone with like three scoops of Midnight Caramel River, which Hershey’s describes as golden vanilla and dark chocolate ice cream flooded with a thick and rich caramel swirl. I mean, what was I thinking? I think I reacted so poorly because in addition to the nausea I suspect I had a big inflammatory response to all the sugar and maybe dairy, which added the achy and “sick” feeling.
Sunday we went out for Mexican. I was feeling great by then, and was prepared to be moderate. I always order the same thing - chicken enchiladas with no cheese (they use cotija cheese, which I dislike enough to pick it off when I forget to ask that it be left off) and no sour cream. I add a bowl of pico de gallo to it, so the whole thing is pretty light with the exception of the tortillas. (This is New England Mexican food, which is all we have locally, unfortunately.) I had two glasses of wine and couldn’t finish the second. Got home feeling slightly miserable. I should have stuck with a single glass of wine (which I should have had at home, beforehand, to let it settle, and also to save money) and I did bring almost half of the food home. I knew one glass was enough, and just sort of autopiloted through it. I did stop eating chips well before they were gone, and it was a small basket to begin with.
So I’m learning to push food away, which is something I’ve never been able to do. Drinks seem to make me feel heavy and sleepy now, whereas before they were energizing.
Moderation was the hardest thing for me to get used to. I never wanted to eat between meals, so I always made DAMN SURE I was full when I did eat so that I didn’t get hungry before my next meal. Honestly, I used to like the feeling of being really full. It’s been an adjustment to now just eating a little, and if in a couple of hours I need something small to hold me over until my next real meal, fine. I have gotten pretty good about asking for a to-go box right away and splitting my food when I eat out (if I order anything other than an appetizer). Before I would think, “well that’s not enough food for another meal so I might as well eat it all now”.
. Coming up on 23 years and I can’t remember that? 
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