Long time no post. No time to post.. I'm going to try* to post more frequently, we'll see how that goes.. Last I posted I was dieting down for a show. Did I compete? No. My metabolism bottomed out and I stopped losing weight, and I started having digestive issues out of the blue, so in order to get healthy again, I stopped competition prep. Im no longer with a coach/trainer and I'm working toward my CPT cert with NASM. I developed an allergy/ intolerance to gluten, and I'm still trying to get my digestive health back. This is the realities of dieting too long. Now I can't completely blame whatever is happening with my digestive system on metabolism, as all this happened against the backdrop of one the most stressful times of my life.. Either way gluten is gone from my diet, and that has made a huge difference. I've also added probiotics and digestive enzymes, which seem to be helping. Soon I will have answer whats been going on ( a series of expensive tests.. had a ct scan and ultrasound thus far) and why it was literally over night, but at least for the most part and most days I'm back to normal.
Am I going to compete? I don't know. At this point I don't think so. I'm really enjoying lifting and the fun/relaxing part of my day it is. I'm also enjoying eating and not stressing about it. I'm following flexible dieting and eating 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, .4 grams of fat per pound pf body weight and my carbs I'm very very slowly bringing up (by slowly bring up carbs you allow your metabolism to adjust to keep fat/weight gain at the minimum) to hit and eventual 200g a day (which would put me at my maintenance caloric intake). Something I've needed to do long before I tried to compete. Maybe once I know my metabolism is healthy and I want a fun challenge, I will consider it. But I've come realize I don't need a trophy and a bedazzled suit to feel comfortable in my skin. I don't need a show date to work out. That I enjoy pushing myself and my body without a deadline or an audience. So that's where I am. I'm excited looking forward as I'm hitting PR's, lifting the most weight I've ever lifted, stepping outside my comfort zone trying new things (zombie run this month!), and seeing my body changing without the scrutiny that doing a show had me thinking. Plus knowing my last 3 years of weight training and the years and years of disordered eating has prepared me to help future clients out the same mentality I had to break out of.
 What is great is I'm seeing big changes in parts of my physique that I couldn't seem to build before, thanks greatly to muscle imbalances. My exam studying has really helped my training and my approach to training. After I've completed my cpt exam, I'm doing a nutrition certification.
 So there's my little update, next blog I will write more about metabolism and metabolic damage in my next post.