Level Up Fitness

 We'll call this week 8. 

132 lbs.; 4.1% bodyfat.....

So, according to this reading, I added about a pound of muscle and stayed about the same in terms of fat.  I actually weighed myself on the same scale a few hours before, before some activity and when I was better hydrated.  I weighed 5 or 6 lbs. more then. 

These pictures and statistics illustrate an important point

The scale is a fickle thing.  Body composition is hard to track precisely too.  These measurements are good for tracking broad trends but, as you can see, their function is limited.  I could say I gained 1 lb. in 3.5 weeks or I could say I gained 7 lbs....This is why it is always a good idea to take pictures.  The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. 

My gut tells me I'm making progress and I am making performance gains but without photographic verification, the numbers might have gotten me a little bit discouraged.

So I'll chalk that up to a win!  Go me!   

On that note, please enjoy this picture of me looking like a goober.
Can you tell I am not into having my picture taken?  :) 

I have some negative space to fill here so I suppose I'll take the opportunity to wax philosophical for a moment:

I think it's good to consider where we're headed because we all get where we're going bye-and-bye....Whether it's the destination we've chosen or the one somebody (or some random collection of events/circumstances/habits) has chosen for us.
  
Once you've got that whole mess sorted out, it's just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other. :)      

It is so often that I either hear somebody criticizing somebody else in their general vicinity, speaking harshly of themselves, or both.  Even if these kinds of words are directed solely outward, I find that it reveals a lot about the insecurities of the speaker him/herself.

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle" ~ Plato

We all show up here with our own baggage to sort through.   I've found that the more willing I am to let others slide when it comes to things that tend to rub me the wrong way, the easier it is to not take myself too seriously.  Give yourself (and others) the permission to just be and to accept yourself unconditionally, faults and all, and suddenly you are able to look at yourself honestly.




"Forgiveness is the act of admitting that we are like other people." ~ Christina Baldwin

To somebody who has never been in that space, I suppose that kind of introspection might seem pretty insignificant.  Nothing could be further from the truth, in my opinion.  Everybody knows what it's like to have ups and downs.  A lot of times the sucky things that we experience seem to have no rhyme or reason behind them.  Most of the things that happen to us though, are actually happening because of habits and mental tendencies that we've had so long we don't ever think to question them.

"All that we are is the result of all that we have thought" ~ Gautama Buddha

When we stop being afraid to really examine ourselves and we set aside a little time to do so regularly, we start noticing, "Hey, this thing I'm always doing doesn't really seem to make sense." or, "This just doesn't seem to be working out well for me anymore."  In this way a lot of useless old junk that we've been dragging around for no good reason just gets dropped.  It can become a rapid evolution of a person's consciousness. 

Cultivating this type of attitude and awareness is beneficial in every area of a person's life.  I bring it up here because the majority of the barriers to physical fitness and overall well-being that people encounter are these types of habitual patterns that have outlived their usefulness but are still being acted out.

Break down those barriers.  Level up!