Before/after: 10 months crossfit, weight lifting, & eating

^^ "eating clean" is what that title should have said, lol!

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I've posted a few before/afters on here and have always found amazing support through the myfitnesspal community. I thought I would give you guys an update for my 10-month mark!

Descriptives:
Age 25, 5'3"
Weight before: 141 lbs, 31% body fat
Weight now: ?? (don't weigh myself), ~24% body fat

Le before: little bit of cardio here and there, starving and then binging:



January-April: I was doing mostly crossfit. Worked on getting form right and increasing my weights steadily. Immediately gained 10 lbs (sore EVERY day) but that slowly went down as I kept going.





May-August: I did crossfit PLUS Jamie Eason's LiveFit trainer (http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jamie-eason-livefit-trainer.html) and saw some HUGE gains. I gained 7 lbs in two months and PRd like crazy. I ate over my maintenance a few times out of the week and also jogged a couple of miles every morning (so I did a lifting/cardio split). I was STRONG.


Le famous leg picture lol


Unfortunate facial expression of choice but oh well



August-November: Started doing a carb-cycling routine with a mostly-paleo approach (it's what works for me) with cheat meals every two weeks. I slacked off for a bit in August/September because work was INSANE. However, early October I got my crap together and am now being very strict with what I eat, and it's definitely showing. Current workout is crossfit 3x per week, and then I'll go to the regular gym one day to work on any body part that I feel needs improvement (typically biceps and glutes), and then a couple days of the week I'll do about 40-50 minutes of high intensity interval training. Right now it's about whittling away the fat that I accumulated with muscle building this summer, which is normal. Bodybuilders call this the "cutting stage."

Anyway, pic of August-ish and now. Really starting to see some definition and separation in those hard-earned leg muscles. I have some KILLER abs and obliques coming in from doing so much core work this past year. I've never seen my abs before (my midsection is my biggest challenge in terms of fat loss) so I am super excited.







Feeling happier, more confident, and excited to dress up again



Woooooo!


If there's a moral to this story, it's that you need to have short-term goals in order to achieve longer-term goals. See my checklist up there? I have some goals on there that I'll likely reach soon, and longer ones that will probably take me another year. You have to decide what your goal is. Most of this past year, my goal was performance and strength gains. I went up 30 lbs on deadlift and 20 lbs on bench in a MONTH. So now, my goal is to look like a babe for my wedding and honeymoon. Strength is on hold for now. It was hard learning to be "ok" with not increasing my weights and focusing more on HIIT than RXing wods, but I feel much more confident now. Addicted to results.

98% diet for me. I can gain/maintain muscle no problem. I am VERY sensitive to carbs and can't do the IIFYM and "eat whatever as long as you're in your calorie range" tactic. That just does NOT work for me, and for those of you for whom it does work, congrats because that is everyone's dream. Anyway, I hope this inspires some of you to try weight lifting! It's a long process and I suggest you start by gaining muscle so that when the fat comes off, you have some nice definition to reveal. That's just me Cheers!