[Bytsi]

Originally Posted by jesca

Everytime I try short sleeved blouses I have to buy a larger size because my arms don't fit. They're about 12" and I guess that's big. Whatever it is, it's a pain! I don't imagine getting ripped is going to help much since it will eventually make my arms a little bigger.

I don't know if my arms'll get much bigger - they have a nice layer of fat on them now . I can really see my triceps when I'm doing certain lifts (especially woodchops, although I try not to use arms/shoulders for them). I'd love them to lean out a bit so even if the muscles grow a bit, the overall size would be smaller (just like I'm hoping for my abs!)

Cute blouses would be fun though...

Originally Posted by LWilson212

I think your back view shows a lot of improvement! I love your description of your test - it sounds grueling. I can't wait to hear if you passed! I would probably not drink much either because I wouldn't want to have to pee in the middle.

Originally Posted by Celestialmom

Can't wait to hear your test results!! As for the pics, you are really slimming in the belly area, and realcdn is right, the back view is improving also! Great job...

Originally Posted by beach_plums

Bytsi-your test sound grueling! I can't wait to hear how you did.

I can see an definite change in you back, butt, and mid-section. You've had some great progress!

Originally Posted by marthand99

First, I loved reading the description of your test. That sounds brutal! Good on you for getting through it, and I hope your foot is okay.

AWESOME job on the planks!

Finally, I see nice differences around your back and midsection. Great work, and good for you!

Good luck finding out about the test tonight!

Thanks guys! I'm so nervous... just keep thinking about other good strong tests I've seen where someone failed anyway because it wasn't good enough (whatever "enough" is)... At least my foot's ok (whew!) - just a bruise.

I hope the back/abs changes people have commented on are real... I remeasure in early June, and I'll see if the trend is downward... Everyone has been very nice and not laughed (in my face, at least) at the pics. It's so hard to put that out there, ya know? . Even DH hasn't seen 'em (thus the handheld camera in the pics).

Originally Posted by kfisherx

I have to agree with everyone here who is seeing some significant changes. You may be eating correctly to get bf changes (slowly) If you want the scale to move and to go faster than you'll have to drop cals. The good news is that you know already that the cals you are eating today are very near maintainence so a body bugg might not be that useful to you. It might be a simple matter of dropping 2-3 hundred and see what happens in a month.

If you have great hunger even at maintainance levels then it is likely the case that you have something not entirely correct in your macros or you are not eating evenly distributed meals throughout the day. Best thing to do if at all possible is to create ahead of time 6 meals that you can eat at specified times throughout the day. This makes it pretty easy to avoid cravings.

Thanks Karla... your common-sense advice is always helpful. You're right about the eating, timing it, cutting a few more cals (which I'm working on). I am hungry, but I'm trying to eat regularly (not always easy at work), and I'm also trying to differentiate hunger versus appetite. I am going to get Leigh's ebook, probably some time this week...

I'm reading a book now called "Mindless Eating" (by Wansink) - it's really cool. Not about psych, more about marketing and how we decide when and how much to eat, what to eat... Fascinating! Stuff like studies with a bottomless soup bowl and how much people ate compared to the people with bowls that could empty eventually, how much they THOUGHT they ate, etc etc... how marketers and restaurants get us to eat, and how we can use those same "tricks" to mindlessly eat LESS.

Today I am TIRED. DS woke up at 1:30am vomiting, and I've been up since then. He's home, sleeping it off with grandma, and I'm at work being a useless zombie... I do not function on sleep deprivation. Can NOT skip karate tonight either, or I won't find out if I passed or not...

YAWN...