Talkin' Turkey

There are two things I have in common with Marty McFly:

I love time travel and aviator sunglasses.

But really, who doesn't?

Okay if I am being completely honest, there are three things I have in common with Marty McFly: I love time travel, aviator sunglasses, and I can't turn down a dare.

Nobody calls me chicken.

So when I first met David, a new guy at my gym, I thought, "oh this will be eaaaasy!"  Easy to mess with, that is.  A ready smile, a self-deprecating humor, a feigned hopelessness...he had all of the ingredients of someone who will engage in the kind of friendly smack talk that makes morning workouts so much fun.  But then he threw me a major curve ball:

this dude knows how to heckle.

Holy crap!  I am used to being the MESSER, not the mess-ee!  But David doesn't play that way.  Oh no, he calls me OUT.  I was totally not prepared.  But now that I know that he's not asleep at the wheel, it is so on.

So last week at our gym we had body composition assessments, and I got all picky about mine and did the electronic impedence and calipers first thing in the morning so I could compare and contrast.  And then I had my big boo-hoo post of how irked I was at the change in the past few months.  And then David accused me of being a chicken by not sharing what the results were.

But nobody calls me chicken.

So this chicken is going to talk turkey.  Yeah, I'm a sucker for a dare, everyone knows it. I'm easily manipulated that way.

Here's the thing - I work my butt off at the gym, and I eat really really healthy.  So when I see a body fat percentage of 28%, I get annoyed.  For a girl who is 34 years old, 5'4" of medium build, and regularly running endurance races plus eating clean and who has done all of that for eons and who is tracking it all with a GoWearFit, I really feel like my body fat should be lower.  Here's a chart to give you some perspective:


This chart is based on guidelines by the
American College of Sports Medicine and the
National Institute of Health.

You can probably guess which category I want to be in. 

So there are two ways I can look at this data: either I can say, "eh, I love my training, I am well-conditioned, and I eat healthy. I'm going to chalk this up to genetics and keep doing what I love," or I can say, "HELL NO! NO FAIR!  GIMME ANOTHER CHANCE!  I KNOW I CAN DO BETTER!  THIS IS SO BOGUS!" and assess how I moved from "fit" to "healthy" and make a plan to get back to where I feel I deserve to be.

I've done a little of both.  Some soul-searching, some pragmatic reality checks (*ahem* I am not getting any younger, FYI), and some strategizing of goals, nutrition, and training.  I feel really good about where I am going and how I'm getting there. 

So. There.  I did it.  Happy now? :)  I am, and I can't wait to give everyone around me a big high-five at the finish line.

Will you be there, Mr. Smarty Pants?

Back with a VENGEANCE

So.


I went and did my body fat % last night.  


Uh huh. Yep. 


Yes indeedy, I have me some data.

*meaningful pause*

It's cool, man. It's fine. I'm totally fine.  Totally and completely fine. I'm so fine that we don't even need to talk about it.


Instead, we're gonna talk goals.  Specifically, my goal of getting my body fat percentage BACK down the 2.5% that it rose in the six months since I had it tested.  You know, the six months that I spent living in the world of "everything in moderation."  Like I said last week or whenever it was that I wrote this about going back to being diabolical, I had a feeling that moderation thing wasn't working for me.  And I don't want to rub it in or anything, but I was soooooo right.


And now that I have cold hard facts to back up that gut (pun intended) feeling, I am really glad that I have already spent every day since that post completely focused on getting back in shape.  I'm putting my little smiley face stickers on my calendar, kicking up the intensity of my workouts, and thank the Lord I am done traveling for a while.  Those are all great springboards for getting back to my happy zone.


So while I wasn't uber-pumped to have that reality check last night, I am uber-pumped about what I have already done to take away some of reality's bite.  My goals for the past few months have been about accomplishing tasks: a triathlon, a half-marathon, regularly running 10 miles at a stretch at least once a week.  I've done those things.  Now, my goal is about accomplishing a physical state of being.  


A completely different type of discipline.


A completely different type of benchmarking.


A completely different type of sense of achievement.


Wow, that sounds like a lot of hard work.  Good thing I have a head start!  :)