This is Not a Weight Loss Blog.....

This is NOT a weight loss blog....This is an Empowerment Blog!

For those of you wondering what the point is to my new Blogs, I would like to clear that up for you...Apparently I have ruffled a few feathers with my choices.

This is not a Blog about weight Loss...This is an Empowerment blog...and it's for ME :)  I would like to refer back to blog #1 in my new blogs. In that blog I admitted I had an issue with food and I asked that the pressure of being looked at as a weight loss motivator, to ease off. The pressure was feeding my unhealthy choices. I have new goals I want to hit, I want to do new things, and I want to get healthy and strong. I feel I am heading towards REAL balance...not swings in my weight...where someone does the binge and purge thing, but instead a healthy relationship with food through learning and understanding how MY body works. 

Before this Challenge with Popeye's I was in a bad cycle. Craig has a great was of explaining things...I call them "Craigisms"...Anyone that trains with him knows about his little "isms". Craig explained that I was just the body of a car...in that car was only a Gas peddle. So all I was able to do with myself was Gas on weight loss, I was only able to go in one direction. I was so focused on loosing, so afraid of gaining, feeling so much pressure that I gassed on to a very unhealthy 107lbs.

After Craig sat down with me and made me talk about my issues and seek help from Alyssa I gained a Gear box for my car :)...I can now Gas on weight Gain...Gas on Weight Loss...or just sit in Neutral. Choosing to Go through this gaining process for this contest, I have now gotten the last part I need for my car. I have a steering wheel!!...YAY!. So now I can Gas on...Break...Shift and Steer my little muscle car in ANY direction I want...I have total control of my Car...It's a very empowering feeling. 

I'm very excited to start on a healthy diet with Alyssa...to learn to love food again. I'm so excited to see my body change the way I want it to...I'm ready to do new things...I'm ready to walk away from loosing weight...and finally become what I want, with true balance and no pressure.

This contest prep has taught me soo sooo much. I am going to be able to better help our main two customer groups...The ones that wish to Gain. I have struggled sooo much with gaining...I will explain why in a moment. And I will be able to help the other part of our customer base, the ones wishing to loose.

Ok...Onto Metabolism...I'm sticking with the Car "ism" for this Blog...Zoom Zoom!!

We were given 4 weeks to prepare for this contest...the contest is called..."Can you walk the walk??" So we could choose how we wanted to come in to this opportunity. We could Bulk and loose...we could loose and bulk or we could just go in and see what happens. Craig, Alyssa and myself felt the Bulk to loose would be best for me because it would give me control...it gave me the parts of my car I needed to have control.

We tried to bulk me in a lean healthy way...NONE of us had any idea how my body was actually working....so we had to resort to trying junk food to gain a few lbs and to help me learn to loosen up the reins on my food issues. Well after 2 weeks of GAS on crappy eating....I've yet to hit 120lbs. I've stopped training...I'm a little soft...but no movement in the scale. I was baffled by this...I was feeling gross, and upset. So Craig once again hooked me up with a "Craigism"

He explained that when I was a runner I was this little car....cute eh ;)

Cute pre lifting Sheryl :)

There is nothing wrong with this little car...it is efficient, it gets you where you need to go...but the one thing it does not do, is burn very much fuel. As a runner I was what we call in the fitness industry "Skinny Fat" I was small but I didn't have any muscle on my body. When I ran, I ran to eat!...I knew if I wanted a burger, or an ice cream I needed to run to earn it. Remember me saying a million times..."earn it to eat it"?! So if I was still this cute little car I would have bulked in a week...I would have gained my 10lbs with ease. I've still been thinking of my body as this little car...so I ate that way.

I've been training HARD with Craig for about a year. When we lift, it's HEAVY...Lucky girl eh! And now my metabolism runs like this Bad Ass Muscle Car...Yippee!! :)

Me as a Bad Ass Car...Zoom...Fast Metabolism baby...Finally!!

Craig explained that the more muscle you have on your body the more fuel you need to operate. So what that means is that for far to long I have been afraid to use the engine that is my metabolism. He has built me a Metabolism by introducing me to heavy lifting. Something I truly truly love. I can't describe in words how it feels to hit a personal best in the Gym. To squat like a boss...or dead lift like a strongman!! Now more than ever I am HUNGRY for personal bests...I'm hungry to be strong and build the body I want...and not care what the scale says! My goals are more than weight loss. "It's not about what you have done, it's about what you are doing". 

If you learn one thing from this Blog post please understand this...Lifting heavy will do way more for your metabolism, and more for your over all physique than endless hours of cardio EVER will... PERIOD!

So far I feel really positive about where I am going and what I have learned. I have learned that gaining is HARD when you train hard. I have leaned that I have total control over my body. I have all the parts of my car...So Look out...I'm going to drive it to an awesome level of Bad Ass!! 

Fully fed body by Alyssa....Training like a Beast thanks to Craig! I'm excited to see what happens after weigh in on Monday...I may not win this contest...but I have won back my body, and beaten the scale!! :)

YEP...Best years to come! :)

I will be posting blogs through this contest, progress pictures and all-Yikes, be brave Sheryl!!...I want to teach women about lifting heavy and eating within your Macro's. It's a livable way of eating that I think will work for many people. 

Lifting heavy will not make a woman bulky...it makes you solid, strong and kick ass ;)