New, new all things new.

My ONE word for the year: New.

(Instead of making tons of resolutions I focus on one word as a theme)

Isaiah 43:18-19 "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness, streams in the wasteland."

Little did I know, these "new" lessons were going to be some of the toughest ones I have ever had to face.  

For those of you curious how I am holding up since my competition:

The Physical(mostly)

>> Reverse diet is in full swing (probably would be going better if I had been more compliant to begin with) Want to know about reverse dieting? Check  here

I went from If It Fits Your Macros... to this post comp:

The dirty truth: Doing this competition a. killed my metabolism b. screwed up my hormones c. caused me to fight some mental battles with food for a few months as I got a handle on the "post contest non-restriction" mindset.  There were a handful of times I ate myself into oblivion and felt quite miserable... that "binging" mentality is what counting macros and reverse dieting is supposed to help counter.  I am super grateful for my coach who has been constantly encouraging and ALWAYS truthful with me as I chose to do this to my body(sound crazy?! It is). Trying to get my head in a healthy place to a good few months, but I am back to macro compliance and slowly working my way back up as my metabolism is kicking back into gear! As far as my hormones, those are a disaster but also slowly regulating.  I won't go into crazy details there... 

Here are two current pictures weighing in at 141:

>>I have just finished six week of physical therapy for an inflamed SI joint and hamstring tendonosis, and I am recovering well!!

Yea, I said the same thing Jennifer.  I had been training on some intense glute/hamstring pain for about three months when I FINALLY decided to go to an orthopedic doctor.  My physical therapist said she thinks as I was training heavy, while dieting down, I was not giving my body enough nutrients to rebuild the muscle so the chronic breakdown caused the "osis." This breakdown and not doing alot of single leg isolation caused allllll kinds of muscular imbalances which led to the inflamed SI.  

The Spiritual(and lots of emotional)

Back to those tough lessons: I was convinced teaching Zumba 3 days a week, training non-stop, all while building relationships with the women I was teaching/at the gym was the path God was carving out for me.  I always want to be involved in ministry in some way and when I had to STOP completely, I was at a loss.  I couldn't teach Zumba, I couldn't do cardio, I couldn't train legs.  I went from working out 6-7 days a week to training upper body 3 days and having LOTS of free time.  All I could do was rest and focus on teaching.  

I spent a lot of time confused, alone, and down.  Not only was a down because I could not be as active as I was used to being, and could not get that endorphin release; I had no clue what God was trying to do with me.  All the things that had been so right and good last year had been taken right out from under me.  I have had to learn that it is OKAY to rest, that my body is not going to FREAK OUT if I do not work out every day, and most importantly, I have learned how to surrender control.  Through my first Beth Moore study I have learned how to get in the "secret place" and let everything go and sit back and watch as God works in me and those around me.  

...I am going to try and do a better job of posting and updating on the things I am learning as I get my PERSONAL TRAINER CERTIFICATION!!! HECK YYEAAAAA.  It's about time I get paid to do what I love (besides teach precious young minds Spanish).