The difference you see here came from an effort in periodizing, or changing my training stimulus and nutrition for a planned period of time in order to see strength gains and support metabolic health. ⠀ ⠀ Before beginning, I anticipated a little weight gain in the form of some fat (which candidly, kept me from doing it sooner) but ideally mostly muscle, in an effort to reveal more lean body mass if I decide to cut again. Also, conveniently making me feel strong AF.⠀ ⠀ Training: I went from 5 days/week more explosive circuit training and 12-14k steps per day to a barbell-focused upper/lower split in a conjugate style (varied rep/volume ranges) 4 days a week, plus two metabolic conditioning days, and averaged 9-10k daily steps.⠀ ⠀ Nutrition: During the building phase I shot for +100 above maintenance per day, but more than likely averaged out probably +150 when you consider the major the holidays, our family’s birthday season and our trip to Florida. There was considerable ‘loose tracking’ during all of those times! (May I point out, Thanksgiving-Feb is an excellent time to plan your surplus!)⠀ ⠀ Beyond the photograph, the results looked like this:⠀ ⠀ Changes in weight: ⠀ +5lbs⠀ ⠀ Changes in measurements:⠀ Thighs: +.5’’⠀ Hip: +1’’⠀ Waist: +.25’’⠀ ⠀ Changes in strength: ⠀ Increased my 1 rep max on the deadlift, bench press and back squat ✅⠀ 1 rep max did not increase on the overhead press or chin ups ❌⠀ ⠀ This was both the most free and uneasy I have felt in my nutrition since I began macro counting. It’s no fun watching (and feeling) the scale increase but also❗️it is so liberating to be fully present and accounted for at every special moment that came during this time period. I said yes far more than I said no, and that was an outstanding practice in trust, telling the little voice in my head to shut up, for god’s sake. It would all be FINE. ⠀ ⠀ Visually, I didn’t feel like I achieved much more than fluff until my sweet husband pointed out some new muscle curves that surfaced while beachside. Then looking at these two pics side by side I can now clearly see what I was feeling at the end of November and that is, I was leaner than I wanted to be. What’s next?
To Be Continued...