Body Fat Update: 22%

In the past eight weeks, I've dropped a little over 4 pounds of fat. I had hoped to drop twice that in this time frame but with the water I'm retaining, I'm not sure how reliable the metrics are. I'll just have to keep my eye on the goal of getting stronger and stay committed to measuring my progress along the way.

Welcome to the Gun Show

I've been busting my backside at the gym since January. I'm up to 4-5 days a week of intense exercise and though I get compliments, I have to say it's hard to see much of a difference. That is until I started doing some side-by-side comparison of progress photos.

My arms are the source of my deepest insecurity, so seeing the photos above have really made an impact on how I see myself. The photos speak for themselves but I have to admit, that picture on the right looks foreign to me. It's not what I see when I look at my arms in the mirror. I suppose I can't trust my own eyes. I need to focus on solid metrics and progress photos for reality checks.

Scale weight is another misleading marker for me right now. I have been fighting some serious water-retention. It's not uncommon for me to gain 8 to 10 pounds in water over the course of a couple of days but clean eating and exercise have helped mitigate that until recently. I've put on 9 pounds over the last week. My legs are so swollen that there is no taper to my legs at all. I have Shrek-size feet. Thank God for flip-flops or I wouldn't be able to wear shoes at all.

I know the water weight will go away at some point. I just wish it would leave sooner rather than later. In the meantime, I'm sucking down a gallon of water with infused with lemon and cucumber in addition to my green juices and smoothies. Something has to give, right?