3 year comparison

I'm back from a little weekend mini trip to see my parents. It's always interesting visiting them, they are a crazy bunch for sure. I had a good time though, didn't eat horrible and got quite a bit of activity in. My mom wanted to take a walk every 5 minutes and normally I'm down for that but - it was HOT, yo. Like 97 degrees every day. One day we got a long walk in before 10am then hung out at the botanical garden for awhile and I was just dying in that hot sun. We walked downtown alot too and even saw a crafts festival. My dad and I toured the naval base on boat which was cool. We also watchd the Olympics on and off while I was there.

Now that I'm back I am trying to buckle down again on my eating habits. I was doing good for awhile then fell off track a little bit. I didn't really gain any weight though so that's good.

This summer I am really noticing my composition changing due to lifting. And honestly I've kind of struggled with it a little. I have put on some fat compared to where I was 3 years ago, because my weight back then was incredibly hard to maintain. I was running alot and pretty much starving myself so I didn't stay that thin for very long. And over 3 years I've slowly slipped on diet and gained weight.

The left is me at the Army Ball in Augusta 2013, the right is me last weekend

I have mixed feelings. I have never had big legs or a big ass and now I have these tree trunk legs. I do love my strong legs, they are all muscle aside from my inner thighs. My whole lower body is just bigger than it's been in my whole life and it's very different from what I am used to. My upper body has always been big and now it's bigger. Up close you can tell I have muscle, but when I stand relaxed my arm fat tends to hide it. The reason I'm comparing these pictures is to help me figure it out in my head, and I think now I know that I want to be kind of a mix of these two. I was way too skinny 3 years ago, my head is way too big for the rest of my body and it doesn't look right. 155 lbs on my 5'8 large frame looks awkward. This was only maintainable for like 2 months anyway. But now I am more pudgy than I'd like. The quads and booty can stay, but the belly has got to get a little smaller. I am hovering around 180 right now. I am thinking a muscular 170-165 is where I wanna be. And you know what - I have gotten more compliments than ever in the last 6 months. "What sport do you play?/what do you do?/you're in such good shape!" so I think if I can just trim a few pounds I'll really notice a difference in my pull ups and running and be in even better shape!

I had an awesome morning in the gym, I don't know if it was my massage last week, some time off, or a little bit of extra food, but I absolutely crushed it. My watch said I burned 500 calories and that's ALOT for a lifting session. I also ran/walked with my husband, he has been doing it every day for the last couple weeks and I join him when I can.

And there's a whole nother week crammed into a post. Until next time ..