Eating right and gaining strength

Before my surgery I had started lifting weights and was really pleased with the progress that I saw in such a short amount of time. I found under a pile of clothes grabbed my book, "The New Rules of Lifting for Women". This book is divided into stages. I had completed Stage 1 before my surgery and decided to pick up where I left off and start Stage 2. I don't *know* that this was the best decision, but yesterday I found myself starting Stage 2. Two parts of Stage 2 really stuck out during my workout. The first was the front squat with an overhead press. I nailed the squat part, but when it came to the overhead presss it was TOUGH. I ended up lowering, and lowering, and lowering my weight until I only had 30 pounds on my bar. I just couldn't lift more than 30 pounds over my head. (BTW- it hurts to pick up my coffee cup this morning...)

Another part of this workout called for holding plank for 60 seconds. I *thought* that this would be easy. Ummm, not so easy, but I DID IT! I held plank for 60 seconds TWICE! A few months ago I couldn't even do one full push-up. Yesterday I did 5 real push-ups (X2) and 5 modified ones.

Eating has been much better this week. I started tracking again on SparkPeople and feel fantastic. I have been eating between 1500-1700 calories a day. I will need to increase my calories next week since I am back to full time exercise and need to fuel my muscles. I am also happy to report that I dropped 4 of my vacation pounds. :) I am at 191.1 this morning. My next goal is to get to 185. When I get to 185 I am going to order a Prior Fat Girl t-shirt. Have you seen this blog? It's super! Go check out those Prior Fat Girls.... Off to meet Thomas the Train for Bug's 4th Birthday!