I see a bicep!

I have been staring in mirrors all weekend. It is week 4 of the body fat challenge and I'm noticing some changes. Like the fact that I can start to see the outline of my bicep! Before when I would flex, all you would see is a big blob of arm. 

I was also looking at myself in the gym mirrors. My left ankle is a slight cankle, but considering there's a metal plate in there, prolly always will be. I can see my triceps a tiny bit while planking or doing push-ups. I am getting more parallel and my knees aren't buckling in on squats, so my form is improving! 

My goal is to ultimately work my way up to doing weighted squats in the squat rack. From all the reading I've done, if you want a nice backside, you gotta squat! (Also stalking out super fit girls at the gym, confirmed this too) You can do them on a smith machine, but it takes away the full range of motion. I tried the squat rack once with Vic and I felt so unstable/scared that I was going to drop the weight on myself. It still intimidates me... for now. 

I also read an article taking about the benefits of squats for tight hips. It all comes back to balance and making sure all your muscles are equally strong. I know from all the running, I am quad dominate, but hammys/glutes? Forget about it! So weak. Because of that imbalance, my hip flexors would "help" out and do more work than they're made to do. Couple that with poor stretching, that's why I've had hip issues. Not lately though, I have been making stretching a priority and all the classes give me a variety of ways to torture all my muscle groups. 

Working out? Just keep doing what I'm doing. Nutrition? I had my cheat meal Saturday night, but it also slid into breakfast this morning. I gotta rein that in, but still much better than usual. I was on my way to Jenny's Saturday morning and waited till I reached her house to eat the breakfast I had packed. Typically, I would've said I'm hungry now and did Starbucks drive-thru. 

This week, my focus is portion control and getting in more fresh produce. I still have  some breakfast leftovers from last week so trying to finish them off. I am also trying to push my snacks to raw fruits and veggies to help fill me up. Plus they take longer to eat. I had a few hungry moments last week.

Overall, it's slow. I'm fighting the thought that it's too slow and trying to give myself time to adapt. I know I'm working hard physically, I am wiped out by Sunday and tonight's bedtime walk with Molly was rough! I'm able to work hard because my body has fuel. There's tweaks I can make in food and I'm exploring that. I guess because I'm doing so well and I have so much weight to lose, I feel like more should be coming off!! I'm working on patience.....not my strong suit :P